Masters & Minions: The Hookclaw Gang by Eric Hindley is a role playing game supplement published by Fat Goblin Games for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. As such, it is covered by the Open Game License and some parts are considered to be Open Game Content as a result.
The supplement is available as an 18-page PDF from DriveThruRPG for $1.25 but was purchased at a reduced price as part of a special bundle. Two pages are the front and rear covers, one the front matter, one the Table of Contents and one the Open Game License.
The Introduction explains this supplement has a band of NPCs that act in concert that could be used as rivals or antagonists, or possibly even allies or support. The groups draw more heavily on influence from comic books and action movies, adding a colourful bunch. This volume is a group of thieves and extortionists with a leader who is something of a folk hero.
Hookclaw Gang explains that when the penalty for stealing is the loss of one or both hands, few carry out petty theft. The gang offers a refuge for those who have suffered such a fate. The gang is run by a man called Lobster – he later features in Vathak Times #1 – and are known for their hook hands. They have so far proven moderately successful.
The Boss has the stats for the leader, John “Lobster” Methos, giving his history, including how he was caught and lost both hands, and how he had a pair of claws crafted onto the stumps.
Henchman covers more of the gang in a similar way. Mr. Hook is an enormous orc with a harpoon hand and The Surgeon is a half-elf who serves as the healer, grafting on hooks and patching wounds.
Minions has general members, with the thief being a generic thief member and the enforcer being a generic enforcer member.
Hideout maps and describes the gang’s base in an abattoir.
Hooks/Plots has three adventure hooks and some details on running the gang and how the characters encounter and deal with them.
Masters & Minions: The Hookclaw Gang in Review
The PDF is bookmarked with the various sections and subsections linked. The Table of Contents is to a similar level of depth and is hyperlinked. Navigation is good. The text maintains a two-column format and appeared to be free of errors. There are a number of custom colour illustrations. Presentation is good.
This supplement covers an organisation of criminals that the characters could run into in a decent level of detail. It could be dropped into various campaign settings; the qualifiers are that it could do with being a city with docks and it definitely needs to be somewhere with a legal code strict enough that hands of thieves are chopped off, otherwise the gang wouldn’t exist. Masters & Minions: The Hookclaw Gang can be found by clicking here.
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