A Review of the Role Playing Game Supplement Weekly Wonders – Urban Herbs

Weekly Wonders – Urban Herbs by Alex Riggs and Joshua Zaback is a role playing game supplement published by Necromancers of the Northwest 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.

This is an eleven page PDF that is available from DriveThruRPG for $1.49 but which was purchased at the reduced price of $1.12 during a sale. Two pages are the front and rear cover, one the front matter and one the Open Game License.

This is an entry in a series of supplements that started with The Secret of Herbs. The aim is to make alchemy in a Pathfinder game more interesting, by having unique ingredients that can be harvested and then used to create new and useful items using Craft (alchemy).

The first page is largely duplicated content from other supplements in the series. It explains the principles behind the supplement and has the rules on harvesting herbs, how the herb descriptions are laid out and what preparations are. This duplicate content means that the supplement can be used by itself; it doesn’t require other supplements in the series to use.

Next are the herbs. There are five new herbs listed, all of which could be found in urban environments. Each entry has the herb’s name, a description, a Forage DC, a value and where it grows. Some herbs have effects without anything else doing to them whilst others don’t. There are three new preparations for each herb, each of which has different effects, although generally related. These range in value and effect. The new herbs are Cobbleweed, Gloryfleurs, Razor Vine, Streetshroom and Wall Creepers.

Finally, there are five compounds. These are similar to preparations but require at least one dose of at least two herbs to create.

Three standard sidebars are included, which give rules on foraging, growing your own herbs and a herbal economy. These sidebars take up about two pages.

Weekly Wonders – Urban Herbs in Review

The PDF is bookmarked but only the major sections are linked, not the minor ones such as individual preparations or any of the sidebars. Navigation could be better. The text maintains a two column format and is almost error-free. Although a colour supplement, there are no illustrations. Presentation is okay.

As with other entries in the series, the alchemy in this supplement harkens back more to fictional and historical versions of alchemy than the, rather boring, version practiced in most D&D-based games. This supplement, and the others in the series, do fulfil this admirably. Adventures could be built around quests for specific herbs. Weekly Wonders – Urban Herbs is a great addition to improve alchemy in a Pathfinder game and it can be found by clicking here.