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If you are a fan of Goodman Games modules, then the Gazetteer had to set your eyes alight. The product is massive, comprising 3 huge full-color maps; 2 adventure modules in classic Goodman Games retro style. A Gazetteer book, with history, demographics, and other details of the world; a DM book, with specific feats, spells, etc. for the world; all are included.
This is such a huge product that I am going to break my review into 2 parts. First, comments on the material itself, second, comments about the pdf itself.
Material
Maps: The maps themselves are beautiful, without too much verbiage cluttering them. The location of all of Goodman?s modules are marked on the map, which makes it easy to find a spot to place a group, with ample opportunities for pre-made goodness.
Gazetteer: This is a fine document. I have not read it all, but the sections I have read have plenty of information, but also leave plenty of creative room for the gamemaster to make it his own. One definite complaint is a lack of an index. With all these cities, countries, geographic features and personages, an index would be a Godsend, and it is not that hard to put together in this electronic age.
DM Book: Another fine document. The feats are interesting, but not overpowered. Plenty of campaign starting ideas for a GM. Adventure paths give you a flowchart of sorts to carry your players through, using Goodman?s modules. (OK, so it is a bit of self-promotion, but it is well thought out and a neat idea.)
Modules: 2 modules are included. The first is for a set of 0 level characters, who start with whatever the village can dig up for them, plus what they find along the way. The second is for 4-6th level chars. I have read the zero level game pretty thoroughly, and it looks very good. Arranged in the classic 1st edition style that Goodman is so proficient at, is has multiple styles of challenges, and looks to be a solid challenge.
Pdf product
This is a massive 300+ MB product. The maps are delivered as 45 single page maps, there are printer-friendly versions of the two main books.
These pdf?s are pretty no frills. No internal links from the chamber of contents, the bookmarks are tied to the chapters, but give no help within the chapter. There is no overall view of the maps, which makes getting a worldview, without printing all the maps and taping them together, very difficult. A 4 page document, 1 page with the three maps combined, and single pages for a combined version of the individual maps. Having these maps link to the existing full page maps would be a nice bonus.
While there are printer-friendly versions of the two main books, printer friendly maps for the modules would be a great addition, as the old-style maps eat tons of ink.
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<b>LIKED</b>: The material itself. The modules.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Maps are hard to use. INDEXES!! I would like to see more use of the possibilities of the pdf format (and would be glad to download another 300 MB version that corrects some of these flaws. Hint, hint, hint.)<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>
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