Free Role Playing Game Supplement Review: GM’s Monthly Miscellany: August 2017

GM’s Monthly Miscellany: August 2017 is a free role playing game supplement published by Raging Swan Press. The supplement is intended for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and, as such, is covered by the Open Game License with some parts being considered Open Game Content as a result. This is one in a regular monthly series of free supplements that consists of eleven standard releases a year and a twelfth, compilation, supplement that is also available as a print on demand softcover.

This is a fifteen page bookmarked PDF. Two pages are Raging Swan’s standard plain front and rear covers, one page is an ad for their Patreon campaign, one page an ad for their website, one page is the Contents and front matter, one page is the Foreword and one page is the Open Game License. The PDF comes in two versions, one optimised for print, desktops and high end devices and the other for screen and mobile devices.

10 Ogres with Personality described ten different ogres. Not their stats, but such as their appearance, possessions, behaviour and personality.

Needlebriar At a Glance is taken from Village Backdrop: Needlebriar. Needlebriar is a fairly unpleasant settlement inhabited by cannibalistic halflings. A brief history of the village is given, including how the halflings came to be this way, and its demographics, marketplace and lore, as well as a d6 table of whispers & rumours, some true, some false, a list of notable locations and a map of the village.

Oleander’s Sanctuary At a Glance is an extract from Places of Power: Oleander’s Sanctuary. This is an odd place inhabited by some intelligent animals and the deliberately not fully defined Oleander. There is a brief overview of the location, which heals animals, the marketplace, lore, a d6 table of rumours, notable NPCs and locations and a map of the settlement. There is also a sidebar on using Oleander, and why the individual is not fully defined.

Goblin Crunch is from 100% Crunch: Goblins. This provides stats for eight different goblins.

2 Things NOT to Include in Your Dungeon Design is a brief article on designing dungeons. The three thinks are unavoidable, unkillable monsters, “It’s Just Magic” handwaving for things that don’t make sense and linear layout.

The PDF is decently bookmarked for its length, with the major sections linked. However, as is often the case now, some of these bookmarks are wrong, decreasing their utility. The Contents has a slightly lower level of detail. Navigation is okay, but it could be better.

The text maintains a two column format and a few minor errors were noticed. Apart from the maps of the two locations, the only illustrations are black and white stock art.

As always, this supplement is intended to promote the publisher’s supplements but, as always, it has use in itself. Needlebriar can be used as is, although there is something that isn’t developed in this extract, and Oleander’s can be used as well, but would need more development probably. The ogres are interesting, especially if they aren’t going to be simply cannon fodder, and the goblins provide useful stats that can easily be used.

GM’s Monthly Miscellany: August 2017 is a useful entry in this series and it can be found by clicking here.