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A tremendously generous bundle for Skirmisher Publishing's fans, followers, and potential customers, that has somehow cycled through 13-15 products instead of just the ten mentioned in the description at any one time. I was thrilled to see the 5E supplement Aigyptos, and then again when the Cardstock Characters for 5E Ethiopia appeared. Time to weave in more ideas into my upcoming home campaign! The bundle has also included quite a few products that I'd not considered trying out before, but now will enjoy reading. And I'll definitely be completing my collection of 5E material from Skirmisher once this bundle is over and done with at last. I've picked up quite a few things over the years from them, but I've never been quite so blown over by such customer appreciation from a company before!
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An incredibly generous bundle of very high quality material. Even though I no longer play Pathfinder (and would almost certainly never run it again), I've continued to pick up stuff here and there from Raging Swan Press because of its depth and versatility, and this bundle encompasses a great many things that would work for any GM, regardless of system. Even if you only entered the tabletop hobby via D&D 5th edition, or another less prominent RPG, you will find something that you can put to use immediately in your game, enriching the experience for yourself and your players. While I'm very glad that RGP has recently branched into 5E and system-neutral versions, I didn't hesitate a moment at picking this up (who could, at this price?!), and what I can't use directly I'll convert, and what I can't convert without losing too much of its soul, I'll just read and enjoy for the inspiration. I'll have lots to read this winter! Thanks, Creighton & Co.! :D
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Kev knocks another one out of the park with this set! Or rather pair of sets, for he's created two "editions" of the same six excellently-rendered bar staff for our gaming tables: a male barkeep, bouncer, and 4 female waitstaff.
In the Basic Edition, the paper minis come in one pre-defined colourway apiece - which is usually enough for any game with only one regular bar/tavern/inn, and/or less-than-observant players. If, however, your players pay close attention to the minis, or their PCs frequent more than one watering hole, I heartily suggest you spring a couple bucks more for this Deluxe Edition, where--depending on the character--you can choose between 3-5 skin colours (a nice racial diversity), 0-5 hair colours, and multiple colours for multiple items of clothing. The colour combinations probably number in the millions, and should cover your NPC waitstaff needs for fantasy/medieval gaming for the rest of you and your players' lives, without running into a duplicate once. I doubt anyone would quibble about their each only having one pose ;)
The quality of the artwork is very high, and the resolution such that you could blow up the minis to 4" high or more without distortion. Each miniature has a single frontal image about 2-1/2 times larger beside it; it's used to toggle and preview the colour options in this Deluxe Edition in a very user-friendly way. The minis themselves have removable paper craft bases, also included in the set. There is a stone-floor and a wooden-floor base set in each; for more you can go to Kevin's web page - papercraftdungeon - to get more options.
I've purchased just about everything that Kev's Lounge has published, even pre-ordering and testing his meadow tile set as he improved and elaborated on it. He makes some of the very best paper miniatures out there, and they really look terrific on the tabletop! Certainly better than most paint jobs I've seen ;)
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Kev knocks another one out of the park with this set! Or rather pair of sets, for he's created two "editions" of the same six excellently-rendered bar staff for our gaming tables.
In this Basic Edition, the male barkeep, bouncer, and 4 female waitstaff come in one pre-defined colourway apiece - which is more than enough for any game with only one regular bar/tavern/inn, and/or less-than-observant players.
If, however, your players pay close attention to the minis, or their PCs frequent more than one watering hole, I heartily suggest you spring a couple bucks more for the Deluxe Edition, where--depending on the character--you can choose between 3-5 skin colours (a nice racial diversity), 0-5 hair colours, and multiple colours for multiple items of clothing. The colour combinations probably number in the millions, and should cover your NPC waitstaff needs for fantasy/medieval gaming for the rest of you and your players' lives, without running into a duplicate once. I doubt anyone would quibble about their each only having one pose ;)
The quality of the artwork is very high, and the resolution such that you could blow up the minis to 4" high or more without distortion. Each miniature has a single frontal image about 2-1/2 times larger beside it; while it would have been nice to have that on a separate layer in the Basic Edition to save on ink, it appears it's used to toggle the colour options in the Deluxe Edition in a very user-friendly way. In the case of the Basic Edition, you could set that image aside and use them for NPC cards to use for GM/player reference, and/or hang them off the GM screen. The minis themselves have removable bases, also included in the set. There is a stone-floor and a wooden-floor base set in each; for more you can go to Kevin's web page - papercraftdungeon - to get more options.
I've purchased just about everything that Kev's Lounge has published, even pre-ordering and testing his meadow tile set as he improved and elaborated on it. He makes some of the very best paper miniatures out there, and they really look terrific on the tabletop, so I think you'll be as happy as I am.
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A fun and beautifully illustrated way to get discounts on Lord ZseZse Works' equally beautiful products. Although I've already bought almost every one of their papercraft pieces, I still enjoy these little seasonal games. The Easter one had a Dragon Egg Hunt ;)
As for the previous reviewer, I had no problem using it with Adobe Reader on my MacBook. I suspect he may have been opening it with the default reader which is Apple's Preview, which does not allow for interactivity or layers. Adobe Reader is a free download, and a more powerful and flexible tool; worth picking up for many things, and a necessity for the best in papercraft product customization.
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Wow! First of all, I love Okumarts stuff, and I have since I first found his stuff a year-and-a-half ago. I've everything but the latest spy set, since I only really play fantasy (the space and western stuff I like enough to find a use for "someday"). The cultists are going to see use very soon, since I'm playing through D&D5E's Tyranny of Dragons in Encounters & Expeditions (organized play), and will be DMing them in my turn. The 'Nandals" I'll be repurposing as great ogres, by enlarging them just a little, or merely putting on a larger base. The trees I love, especially the fact they will come apart and fold flat when I'm done with them.
Secondly, I can't believe how the two previous reviewers are taking off stars. The first one is complaining he has no use for the terrain - the FREE, BONUS terrain that he need never print off or even keep on his hard drive (they come in separate PDFs from the figures themselves). He feels there should be more creatures? Well, go buy another set - Okumarts are already the best deal there is on quality minis. At $2.45 for 12 minis, that's about 20 cents apiece, not even accounting for the fact that you can have 8 colour variations of each! You couldn't even get a single cultist in unpainted Reaper Bones for the price of this whole set!
The second reviewer takes off a star because he's got no use for Neanderthals, and finds them a waste of ink. Well, for one thing, you can use them as ogres, as I will. For another, the 'Nandals' are specific to the RPG this set was made for - Beasts & Barbarians for Savage Worlds - and it's not like it's a surprise, since it's in the title, and front & centre on the cover. Thirdly, you can take a screenshot of just the cultists you want, import into GIMP or Photoshop, duplicate it on the page, and you'll have 12 cultists (you could even do them in different colours!). Fourthly, if you just wanted cultists, you could have picked up OneMonk's Evil Cultists (through Mayhem in Paper) 10 for $2.95, though they only come in red.
Sorry for the rant, but I can't stand it when people complain about A) getting exactly what was advertised in title and photos and B) when they are getting great quality for a bargain price. I, for one, am really happy with the set!
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Frankly, this is one of the very best values I've ever seen in battlemaps &/or map tiles, here or anywhere else.
The quality is excellent, the detail level good, the grid lines clear but not intrusive or overwhelming, the colours bright but not too much (nor too dark to print well).
The only (possible) downside is that the file is not a layered PDF, so what-you-see-is-what-you-get.
But what you get are tiles that you could use for any tropical location, from deep jungle to forest edge, bare ground, garden patch, paths, stone/concrete ruins (era-neutral), a wooden fort/palisade you can build yourself from various tiles (so size/layout entirely up to you), a couple of buildings, an outside table w/chairs and a hearth, a small chapel/temple, a pit trap, a couple of water features (including one with a man in a cage or spike trap). There are several tiles that could be used for temperate locales as well, since not all show palm trees. But since tropical maps/tiles are few and far between, that's my primary goal in purchasing the set.
All this (plus setting specific tokens and a map of Vietnam, none of which I'll be using in my fantasy games) for about $1.20 (less when it goes on sale) - good product, and great value.
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These are terrific outdoor map tiles, worth far more than the publisher is charging for them (currently $0.50, down from the original $1.50 IIRC). Reminiscent of early Fat Dragon Tiles, they are of good resolution (zooming in at 2-3X print size they still would look nice), lovely textures, and colour depth that will look nice on the table without draining your ink or toner tank too quickly. These are not layered PDFs, instead the publisher has included variations on the same few tiles.
The set consists of 32 map tiles; 16 tiles repeated in two versions: grid-less, or with a subtle 1" square grid. Each version includes map-tiles of 2 empty grass/dirt, 6 grass with 1-3 trees (trunk, leafy shadow), 3 streams (including 1 with a small island), 5 streams with trees.
I will happily be using them for Pathfinder, D&D5E, and Song of Blades and Heroes games, and to supplement my already substantial collection of battle-maps and map-tiles.
5 of 5 stars, even at 5 times the price
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Creator Reply: |
Thank you for taking the time to review my product, and for the glowing rating. |
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Lord ZseZse Works has long proven itself as the king of textures for gaming paper craft, and the current Kickstarter campaign they are running (this free model being a teaser of it) is LZW at its finest. Now their fantastic textures are teaming up with equally fantastic geometry and modularity. The possibilities shown by that animated .gif are giving me chills!
While most (if not all) of their new models will eventually make it here to RPGNow, the Dark Elf texture (so popular as a limited edition layer option on the initial release of their Elven Mill) is exclusive to the Kickstarter. So you should check it out.
The Kickstarter version of this particular model, the Ruined Sanctuary, will have four textures altogether, including the one here, and the Dark Elf edition - all for a buck worth of pledging. Although you'll probably not want to stop there.
Cutting and assembly of the model is fairly easy, if a little painstaking, and you'll be rewarded with a great terrain piece for your shelf or gaming table.
P.S. Cutfiles for this model (and many other paper craft models and minis) have been made and shared by members over at the Cardboard Warriors forum. Filled with artists, publishers (most of them here on RPGNow), and fans of gaming paper craft, you should join us for a visit!
Cost: 5/5 for value (not only is it free, it is beautiful)
Quality: 5/5 for artistic skill, terrific textures, intricate & evocative architecture
Utility: 5/5; usable as a standalone terrain piece in RPG encounter or wargame scenario, or as part of a larger complex, or as display for your miniatures
Overall: 5/5
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I've been following the artist, Aaron Hopkins, for almost a year now, on both his page at DeviantArt, and on the Cardboard Warriors forum. He's been hard at work on an original wargame for more than a year (Temporum Oblitus - coming soon to a printer and then table near you), and just recently started creating the figures that have become the Splinterwood. Amazingly, the Splinterwood is the result of a lost bet - one that we fantasy paper craft gamers have all won. Aaron's already got a vivid and ever increasingly detailed backstory for it, which I hope will see publication in a cohesive form sometime soon. His figures are dynamic, original, and lovingly detailed, and they fit in well with paper minis from publishers such as One Monk, OkumArts, Reivaj, and others, and terrain I already have from Fat Dragon, Lord ZseZse, and Dave Graffam.
As for the previous reviewer's problems with malware? Well, I don't have an antivirus active (that I know of, I leave too much of that up to hubby and my Mac itself) but I never had any trouble downloading and unzipping it either tonight when I checked on it, nor originally (nor anything else from DriveThruRPG and its sister sites), nor did my gmail account catch anything. I strongly suspect that the customer's unzipping program may have caused the problem. I would assume that DriveThruRPG, etc. have anti-virus software running on their systems too, no?
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The triumphant return of David's hand-drawn figures to the Grey Matter catalogue: eight all-new goodies. This expansion to the fast-growing Deadly Missions line has me more excited than any other in terms of the story and figures. While the artwork of the tiles leaves something to be desired (also largely hand-drawn), the specific nature of the tiles would have made it very difficult to find them among existing GMG partners. While the combination of hand-drawn, grey-scale floor-tiles and full-colour (illustrated? computer-rendered?) water is a bit jarring at first, it works better than I expected. The map tiles would normally have cost this rating a half- or even full-star, but I'm so happy with the hand-drawn figures, and the new aquatic twists, that I'm rounding up to 5/5 stars for this one. Now I've got to get this set printed and ready to play!
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I hate zombies.
And it's more than just because there's been an oversaturation of them in recent genre media, it's personal.
But even though a full third of the paper minis in this set are the creeping, cannibalistic, bloody undead, OkumArts figures are always so fantastic that it was an insta-buy for me. Even if this set had been all and only zombies, Okum's vivid artwork with wonderful line and colour, dynamic poses, evocative characters, and humourous easter eggs, illustrated in an old-school dungeon-crawling style are really the best paper miniatures you can get, anywhere. Don't believe just me - he's already been twice nominated for Ennies for his minis, and it's only the Pathfinder behemoth that's kept him off the podium, I'm sure.
This particular set includes 7 files, a product cover, an ad for his forum and other work, two sheets of instructions, and three sheets of figures. The first is a layered pdf with alternate colourways, which includes 3 zombie villagers, 4 old-school orcs (p'orks), and 5 grey gravelings. The second includes 8 giant rats, 6 giant maggots, 4 giant flies, (and a partridge in a pear tree - nope, sorry, wrong song). The bonus (non-crypt themed) sheet includes 4 giant ferrets, 2 giant weasels, and 2 terrific owlbears. I'll be posting photos of the figures over the next week at my blog (dungeon-mama.blogspot.com).
I have each and every one of OkumArts Darkfast and other fantasy sets, and I'm looking for an excuse, a game, any way to justify picking up his Pulp Sci-Fi and Western figures too. The figures are easy to print, cut, glue, and have on the table in short order, and look better than 95% of home-painted 3D miniatures.
What are you still doing reading this review? Buy 'em, you won't regret 'em!*
*Unless, of course, they actually come to life, and go after your brain. They are lively-looking enough to do that. You can be mad at me then, but I'll be already been dead and eaten. ;)
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Have your adventurers ever had anything to celebrate? Perhaps they've started out their adventure at a village fair, a medieval feast, a jousting tournament, a masked ball, or simply in the better brand of tavern… then you need this set. Or perhaps your bard falls on the foppish side, and needs a few changes of clothing and/or instruments...
With bright colours evocative of the period's stained glass, illuminated manuscripts, and tapestries, Permes here rolls out every musical medieval entertainer you could ever need, in wondrous variation. He's also included a framed stage on which your musicians can perform; in theatres, fairs, castles, etc. The figures are well-drawn, with the right level of detail, nice line quality, proper poses, well developed character, and variations in colourways and accessories. There is a page dedicated to each type of musician with the numerous options available, illustrative artwork, and the 3D paper craft stage.
If this set caught your eye before, but you hesitated because it looked ready to deploy whole armies of minstrels from your printer, then fear not. The artist responded to a recent request for a quickstart page, so that those overwhelmed by choice, or those lacking time, ink, or skill, could print a single sheet including a couple of each figure. He's also added a gong and beaters, so that you can end your sessions (or begin your goblin invasions) with a bang ;)
This was the first of Permes' sets that I paid for (I began with his free ones), but even after more sets this one is still my favourite, hands-down. I don't know of any other commercial paper miniature or standee set that fulfills similar roles, and plastic or metal minis would cost you far more in materials, time, and effort to get figures only half as good looking as these. For NPCs that might see no more than a half a session, yet provide wonderful --even essential-- flavour, it's great to have such a set as Permes' Medieval Musicians.
Now if we could only talk him into publishing an orcish marching band to really break up the party, as he teases in his product pictures… ;)
Cost: 5/5 for value (9 core figures with multiple variations in accessories & colour = 92 minis, plus a 3D papercraft stage as BONUS)
Quality: 5/5 for artistic skill, numerous variations, full front & back art
Utility: 5/5; while a niche set, it is one that nothing else fills, and the figures are so great you'll look for ways to work them into your campaigns.
Overall: 5/5
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