Goodman-games.com Website Review

Once more, The Martian Vizier appears with his views to share, as he has several times before…. Gaming is not always face-to-face on Earth. So too does gaming take many shapes on various worlds we know but little of. The astralnet has been known far longer than role-playing games among the higher civilizations of the multiverse, but tireless advocates of gaming, such as the Martian Vizier, have turned it to that purpose. With the astralnet, a group may gather from far worlds, their astral forms almost solid as they sit around their Game Master’s table, throwing dice made of pure aether. On this night, the Martian Vizier was a guest of Omolo the Impas*ive, on a distant world where the Vizier’s most potent science and magic could not prevent his freezing instantly were he to appear in person. And thus it was that the Martian Vizier was introduced to the Fifth Edition Fantasy line of modules. Fifth Edition Fantasy #12: The Forgotten Hive, is a 1st level adventure for the 5th edition of the World’s Most Popular Fantasy RPG.  The adventure was written by Bob Brinkman, of Sanctum Secorum fame, and it introduces a foe reminiscent of the elves in Margaret St. Clair’s The Shadow People, which also happens to be the first novel discussed on Sanctum Secorum! The malltod are fungal creatures, but unlike Omolo the Impas*ive, they are not coldly detached, but are instead a pestilent blight wherever they are active. In fact, they are sometimes known as “blight elves”. In this module, the adventurers discover a cavern system where all is not well. A malltod excursion from de*per within the earth has altered not only the denizens of the caves, but has blighted the wood around it. Players who are expecting their foes to behave in a typical manner may be unnerved when they do not – there are kobolds, for instance, which make no pretence to stealth and an insane dryad to deal with. It is enjoyable seeing the Dungeon Crawl Clas*ics design aesthetics being applied to another system. Players will encounter new monsters as well