10 Reflections on Lovecraft by Michael O. Varhola and William T. Thrasher is a role playing game supplement published by Skirmisher Publishing for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. As such, it should be covered by the Open Game License but the license is not included or referenced in the supplement.
This is a fourteen page PDF that is available from RPGNow for $1.99 but which was purchased for $0.01 as part of a special bundle. Two pages are the front and rear covers, one page is blank, two pages are the front matter and one page is an ad for other supplements.
The supplement starts with a paragraph on how the author decided to read H.P. Lovecraft‘s stories in order and selecting one element from each story to put into OGL terms, and that this supplement is a collection of such.
The first section is Monsters. This starts with a Cave Beast, a fairly puny underground humanoid. The Bird of Heaven is a bird of the Dreamlands and is the Ultharian Cat Swarm. The Child of Dagon is a slightly more dangerous aquatic humanoid. The Ghost Pirate Cluster is an amalgamation of undead pirates with quite a few abilities. The Gnophkeh is another humanoid.
Skills has Forbidden Knowledge which can allow a character to cast certain spells, ones that could be considered to be dark magic, a level higher.
Feats has Great House which means the character was born into one of the great houses of the realm and receives various benefits from this (it’s not really a feat).
Spells has Doom of Bokrug, a 9th level spell that transforms the victim into a Bokrug and Phantasmal Encounter, a 7th level spell that sends the victim into a deep slumber and also makes them think they have entered an area which the caster can enhance with other spells.
10 Reflections on Lovecraft in Review
The PDF is reasonably bookmarked, although individual pages rather than the specific items on a page are linked. However, given the length of the supplement, navigation is decent. The text maintains a two column format and appeared to be free of errors. There are a number of images, including black and white and colour photos and illustrations, which appear to be stock. Presentation is okay.
The name of this supplement is a bit misleading. It can give the impression that the supplement is analysing Lovecraft’s work, which it isn’t. Instead, it is a collection of monsters, skills, feats and spells based on concepts in Lovecraft’s work. The collection is a bit eclectic, as it’s just a collection of different game things inspired by different stories. Interestingly, the author has included a sidebar for each of the ten items which explains his logic in choosing and developing the items. Most are quite weak or low level, with the exception of the spells. 10 Reflections on Lovecraft is a sometimes interesting disparate collection of Lovecraft-inspired items and it can be found by clicking here.
Leave a Reply