DCC55 Isle of the Sea Drake (Goodman Games)

The heroes find themselves stranded on a jungle isle, and find themselves in the middle of a small war between two ancient tribes. One tribe is since recently in control, after striking a deal with an evil wizard and his pirates. The wizard is there to gain control of a magic item that would allow him to control the local sea-drakes. Overall IotSD is a decent adventure with a great tone, and some opportunities for role-playing. It’s also fairly different from the standard urban or dungeon feel that we encounter in 90% of all adventures.
Rating: * * * *

Phrenic Shards (Dreamscarred Press)

Much like the Noble multi-class from Alea Publishing, Phrenic Shards uses a wide array of feats in order to simulate a class that does not exist. In this case, it is the psion. While the idea has merit, and there is definitely possibilities (Alea proved that), Phrenic Shards falls short. Way short. This is mostly because they are so many broken feats in there. “As One” gives you +2 to hit and +2 damage with your shard when you use a martial power. Two other feats buy you an aura (50’ radius) that gives you a surge or an AP every time an ally uses an AP or a surge within your aura – seriously?
Rating: *

DCC53 Sellswords of Punjar (Goodman Games)

SoP is a dark urban adventure that pits the heroes against a possessed Beggar-King and his shadowy allies, in order to avoid the spread of a shadow-plague. Goodman Games have here created a solid adventure with a distinct old-school feel. It has an interesting plot and some good set pieces. There is some innovation with regards to the rules, for example with regards to the shadow-stuff toxin which worsens your condition each time a save is failed, up to 5 times. It’s a mix of the normal poison rules and the disease track. Good stuff.
Rating: * * * *

The Apelord (One Bad Egg)

Have you ever wanted to play an intelligent animal in D&D? I haven’t; in fact, I have never allowed such races in any of my campaigns during the 20 years I have been running them. However, this is about to change. The Apelord is simply full of win.
Rating: * * * * *

Peasant House (Alea Publishing)

Peasant House is not really a 4e product, since it works equally well for all editions of the game. However, it was listed under 4e products, so I bought it. And I wasn’t disappointed. The first two chapters, who describe how the different classes and races interact with serfdom and peasants, were a bit weak. Not poorly written or anything, just not interesting. However, the next chapters, describing the day to day life of the peasants, the atmosphere of their home and such, made it worth buying. I have always had problems with describing accurate peasant homes, and this product really gives a good picture of how they lived.
Rating: * * *

Noble (Alea Publishing)

Noble is a multiclass, with a class that doesn’t exist. The idea is brilliant, and my bet is that we will see many of those in the future. However, when I read this the first time, I wasn’t sure if it was a joke, or merely of poor taste. Names like “Tongue Lashing” and “Courtier’s Retort” didn’t help I guess. However, as I read more, I realized that the names didn’t really matter, because the noble multiclass is a great way of handling such things. Noble comes with a full set of powers (38) ready to buy with your feats. Also included in the pdf, are power cards, ready to print out. That’s just great.
Rating: * * * *

Anointing the Seer (Unicorn Rampant Publishing)

AtS is an adventure, where the heroes are pursuing an evil family (the mother: the witch, the son: the warlock, the father: the dragon!) that have kidnapped the beautiful priestess and turned many villagers into pigs. They go from the town, to the mother’s hideout, to the son’s hideout, ending in the father’s hideout. It is simple and straight forward. There are some interesting opportunities for roleplaying and skill challenges, so with a little work, it could be a decent adventure. However the editing is atrocious. In fact, I will go as far as say that anyone asking money for a product, should be ashamed delivering one of such quality. Not only is the spelling bad, but it is full of 3.5-isms, and it is quite clear it was written as a 3.5 adventure, and then hastily converted in order to cash in on the October 1st date. Now, $5 isn’t much, but it is the principle. When you ask people to pay for your stuff, certain things are expected.
Rating: *

Forgotten Heroes: Fist, Fang and Song (Goodman Games)

I think this was easily the biggest disappointment yet. Goodman Games are to me one of the best 3rd party publishers out there. It’s not that FH:FFaS is a bad product. It’s just not what I had expected. You see, they had the opportunity to make some great versions of the old classes, more than 5 months before WotC does their version. However, instead of making real 4e versions, their classes feel like 3.5 versions, with 4e rules; needlessly complicated. I am sure some (lots of) people will enjoy those versions, but to someone who really has embraced the smoothness of the classes in 4e, they are a disappointment.
Rating: * *

Lands of Darkness #1 - The Barrow Grounds (Expeditious Retreat Press)

The Barrow Grounds is basically a cemetery you can put anywhere in your campaign, more or less. The idea is great; however the result is less than stellar. They have 12 encounters, and most are pretty boring. Rats and undead! I dunno, but a product such as this, which basically is a list of encounters, should give me more than I can think up in 20 seconds. There was some good stuff in there though. As the place is made for levels 1-3, each crypt/area has its encounter(s) adjusted depending on what level your players are when they arrive. One of the encounters, with a guardian golem could also lead to some great roleplaying. This saves the product from being a *.
Rating: * *

Plague (Expeditious Retreat Press)

Everything you ever wanted and needed to run a plague in your 4e games. Lots of great fluff and information on plagues, as well as the crunch needed to make them truly lethal, even for epic level characters. Buy it and release death in your campaigns!
Rating: * * * * *

Advanced Player's Guide (Expeditious Retreat Press)

Written by Ari Marmell aka Mouseferatu, this book brings the monk, the barbarian, the bard, the druid and the illusionist to our tables. The 1e feel promised is delivered to the best of my knowledge, and apart from (the barbarian) the savage warrior, the classes are awesome, and ready to be used in your campaign. Definitely one of the best third party products made for 4e at the time of writing.
Rating: * * * * *

Adventurer’s Vault (Wizards of the Coast)

AV should have been the 4th core book. There is no way around this book, and even though it does have it flaws with some items that can cause problems in the game, this is simply a resource that is too good to pass up. It brings new weapons, new armors, mounts, vehicles and alchemy (non-magical rituals) to your table. Not to mention hundreds and hundreds of magical items. And when I say hundreds, I do mean it. The index of magical items is 24 pages long!
Rating: * * * * *

Pyramid of Shadows (Wizards of the Coast)

Following TL, the heroes are drawn towards the Pyramid of Shadows, an ancient pyramid that has entrapped Karavakos, a tiefling of considerable arcane ability. PoS has a kind of old-school feeling to it. You have a lot of very different monsters, in a very small area, just like in the good old days. At least the writers have tried come up with an explanation as to how it is possible, but I must admit that the whole non-stop dungeon-crawling doesn’t appeal to me another. There are however plenty of very interesting encounters to steal and use in your homebrews. So all in all, worth buying for inspiration and the encounters, but it would require too much work to make a great adventure.
Rating: * * *

Thunderspire Labyrinth (Wizards of the Coast)

Following the trail picked up in KotS, our heroes are led to an ancient underground minotaur complex, now a semi-secret tradepost run by a group of wizards. The heroes pursue the trail of a renegade wizard attempting to size control over the small community, through 4 distinct dungeons, where they battle hobgoblins, duegar, gnolls, demons, evil wizards, and of course a dragon.
The dungeons in TL are of a much more manageable size than in KotS, with plenty of interesting fights, and via The Seven-Pillared Hall, there are plenty of opportunities to create some great roleplaying moments.
Rating: * * * *

Keep on the Shadowfell (Wizards of the Coast)

The Darkness of Shadowfell Keep is looming over the surroundings lands. All clues concerning foul things happening to the region lead the heroes there, where they battle kobolds, goblins, hobgoblins and undead, in order to stop the nefarious high priest of Orcus from opening a portal to the Shadowfell.

Not the greatest adventure ever made, even by a long shot. The dungeon is way too big to get through in anything but many days, requiring the heroes to rest either inside, or go in and out multiple times. There are too few opportunities for great non-combat interaction. However, some truly lethal fights earn it a star more, just because I like deadly adventures.
Rating: * * *