the eyes have it: review - advanced feats: visions of the oracle

Metric: Cards. Eyes were used in Court of the Shadow Fey.  Plus there's a fine tradition of using cards in an oracular context.
DISCLAIMER: Review is based on a PDF copy provided by Open Design.
Overall: 5 cards.  The introduction gives you a good high-level introduction.  The feats give options to oracles, spellcasters and other characters.  The builds are examples of the versatility of the class from visionary healer through fiery phoenix to bloody-handed savage seer.  My only caveat is there isn't much oracle-friendly advice for the GM outside of combat and post-combat activities.  Given such advice probably deserves another book in itself, it may be for the best.

Layout: 5 cards.  The cover fits beautifully as Christophe Swal shows a figure sat in mid-air with blood dripping from his hand.  Inside is clean layout with calligraphy resembling a blend of Farsi and Sanskrit iconography.  Page numbers in the eyes at the bottom of the page was a nice touch. PDF bookmarks and links all work fine.

Overview: 5 cards. The comparison of oracle and sorceror has merit.  The overview is careful to note that an oracle should take advantage of their armour and weapon selection.  Give the oracle a boar spear and they can serve behind a shieldwall, if they have the right mystery they can mix it up more directly   The choice of curse and mystery makes an oracle very distinct (like a sorceror's bloodline).   While more could be made of this, this is an overview after all.

Feats: 5 cards.  A plethora of feats for spell users yet only three that are oracle-specific (conditional curse, strange revelation and the DM-optional prophetic dreamer)  Non-spellcasters get some action with charmed, divine resistance,  magic sense and the fierce savage critical.  The wand feats are entertaining and well-done, giving mileage to an underappreciated range of magic items and providing a use for that wand of wonder you picked up three levels ago.

Builds: 4 cards.  Each of these has plenty of attitude and characterisation.  The visionary healer is a potent defensive ally that rivals a cleric in battle utility, the haunted past makes an apposite touch for the troubled healer with a heart of gold.  The phoenix is a destructive force of nature laden with attitude that shows the offensive capacity of this class in spades, even their curse ties into the character's harsh nature.  Finally the savage seer shows barbarian ethics at work, providing a potent battlefield ally capable of fearsome melee action given a twist by speaking in tongues on the battlefield. All of these builds are eminently playable yet seem to focus on combat rather than providing answers or lore to characters.  Though this may be for the best, not everyone would want to play Mother Shipton or Margary Kemp but a gypsy-based build would have been nice to see.

servitor apes

No. Enc.: 1 (1d4)
Alignment: Lawful
Movement: 90' (30')
Armor Class: 6
Hit Dice: 1/2 (1d4 hit points)
Attacks: 1 (dagger or improvised weapon)
Damage: 1d4
Save: H1
Morale: 7
Hoard Class: XX

The size of a full-grown halfling, a servitor ape resembles a monkey with a proportionate human head fixed in an expression of serenity with a black pearl embedded in the centre of their forehead.  Often dressed in servant's livery, their faces are masks of inscrutability.  These strange creatures were magically created to serve as valets and bodyservants to decadent wizards.  The method of creating servitor apes are known to certain wizards who will procure them for exhorbitant rates. While the apes cannot talk, they can be taught sign language and speak Common as well as the tongue apes use.  It is unknown how they gain their skills in valeting, sewing and tailoring.  A servitor ape will wash and repair clothes, cook and serve food as well as organise their master's goods in aesthetically pleasing and helpful ways.

A servitor ape is able to perform sleight-of-hand and pick pockets with 25% ability, hide in shadows and move silenty with 50% ability and can climb walls with 90% ability.  These talents are usually used to move quickly and quietly, retrieve things from high shelves and slip objects away for repair but more than one servitor ape has been employed as a pick pocket by a desperate master.

Servitor apes are fiercely loyal to their owner but if treated cruelly for longer than a lunar cycle become psychotic as their magical conditioning drives them insane.  Their morale drops to 5 and the ape's placid face contorts into a mask of malevolent rage.  They will stalk the abuser, vandalising clothes and property before ambushing them with intent to wound with a small weapon.  If the abuser attempts contrition, they will point at the abuser and then die as the pearl glows cherry red with heat and incinerates, killing them instantly (no save).  Attempting to remove the pearl results in the same consequence and can only be done by powerful magic at the Labyrinth Lord's discretion.

inns & taverns: the cup of skulls

A busy backstreet tavern in a bustling docks, the Cup of Skulls is muttered about by local fishwives. The port watch keep a discreet watch on it. The macabre painted sign of a four-sided cup atop a pyramid of skulls serves as a beacon. Decent folk will turn back. Less decent folk walk right in and the Cup's clientele range from wealthy to poor looking for shelter from their lives, a little vice to spice things up and the opportunity to kick back.

The Cup is a solidly-built two storey wood and stone building amid rickety wooden tenements, the door guarded by a burly, tattooed half-orc with angry scars on his arms and a scuffed, studded leather vest. Vekk serves as a bouncer saying little beyond 'No'. Those who hear that don't get in. Oddly Vekk doesn't enter the Cup unless invited by the landlord. Vekk sometimes has company in the form of drunken sailors and labourers, beggars are chased off with force used as needed.

Inside is gloomy, tallow candles gutter amid the smell of sea, sweat and old ale. Clay spitoons are strategically positioned and sand is strewn on the flagstones of the floor. The crescent-shaped bar is often crowded at night. The pale plaster walls are hung with tattered flags amid icons of various seafaring gods and doggerel graffiti. Tables are strategically positioned next to long galley benches along the walls. Finding nooks to conduct business is difficult but possible. Regular games of arm-wrestling, dice and shovepenny attract side bets as well as arm-wrestling. The building has a sheltered courtyard bordered by primitive privys where at least one aging prostitute works when the ships come into port.

A salty ale is served, this smooth, murky brown brew is strangely attractive with food but turns empty stomachs. A thick broth and warm biscuits can be bought for a handful of silver and this combines with the ale admirably. An almond-flavoured genever is also sold in four-sided tumblers. Limes are served with any drink for an extra copper.

The landlord, Denrys is a pale-skinned, foppish half-elf whose dark hair and cocksure charisma combine with immaculate grooming and exaggerated courtesy to women. His ear for gossip and scuttlebutt is exceptional and wit is such that he disarms most women. The staff are a mixture of local beauties beguiled by Denrys or former sailors working off gambling debts. While Denrys doesn't have any accommodation his recommendation is good to a number of local tenant landlords for a room. These landlords are used to dealing with people at all hours and from all walks of life though their tenements are uniformly grim.
Whispers that Denrys was a pirate periodically make the rounds but are quickly silenced by a cutting retort from Denrys or a visit from Vekk. Denrys is known to various pirate captains as a fence and they would be interested in renewing that acquaintance.

something for the weekend?

A few items for your consideration.  Some of these are time-sensitive so you'd better hurry up and take a look.

1. Kobold Quarterly 11 is free from KoboldQuarterly.com until 9th February.  Just go here, type in the code KQ11Gift at checkout and it's goodness is yours.  If you're not convinced, there's a review here.
   
2. Today is the launch of 6d6 Mince Pies and Murder RPG.  Using a pay-what-you-want model, it offers 1920s-style murder, mystery and savory-sweet snacks in a different approach to RPGs.  In addition there's the Ultra-lite RPG and upcoming web-based tools.
   
3. A free PDF book on Gamemastering.  Plenty of good advice, remiscent of Extreme Dungeon Mastering (XDM) but nowhere near as goofy.