By John Grigsby, Staff Reviewer

Available at FRP Games

Dungeons & Dragons: Dungeon Survival Guide HC Retail $19.95 Sale $15.95

Initiative Round
The Dungeon Survival Guide is a Dungeons & Dragons supplement from Wizards of the Coast. This is a 64-page full-color hardcover by Bill Slavicsek and Christopher Perkins. The Dungeon Survival Guide retails for $19.95.

Remember when you entered your first dungeon; the glory and wonder of it all? Remember when you didn’t know what an orc was or what it could do and dragons were terrifying creatures that you didn’t want to meet? Remember when you laughed at those funny little dice? It is to this person, the newcomer to the world of D&D, that the Dungeon Survival Guide is aimed.

By John Grigsby, Staff Reviewer

Available through Indie Press Revolution.

Initiative Round
Covert Generation is an independent role-playing game from Hefty Wrenches Game Design. It is presented as a 108-page softcover by Caz Granberg and featuring black-and-white illustrations by Aaron Acevado, Leanne Buckley, Garth Graham, and John Worsley. Covert Generation retails for $20.00 ($13.00 PDF).

The Covert Generation wages a secret war. Their weapons are shenanigans, hacks, and protests. They are all that stands between the tyranny and corruption of The X and an unsuspecting world.

By John Grigsby, Staff Reviewer

Available as a PDF through RPGNow.com. A hard copy is available through Indie Press Revolution.

Initiative Round
Cold City is an independent role-playing game from Contested Ground Studios. It is presented as a 128-page softcover by Malcom Craig and featuring black-and-white illustrations by Stuart Beel and Paul Bourne. Cold City retails for $23.00 ($13.00 PDF).

Berlin, 1950: While the Cold War rages, the secretive agents of the multi-national Reserve Police Agency creep through the shadows, hunting down the remnants of bizarre technologies and twisted wartime experiments.

But the RPA is riven by paranoia, fear and suspicion. Everyone works to their own hidden agendas, the different nationalities look at each other through a haze of mistrust. In the darkness, faced by horrors beyond your worst nightmares, will your comrades watch your back or treacherously stick a knife into it?

The great battles may be over, but the war carries on.

Join the fight.

By John Grigsby, Staff Reviewer

Available as a PDF and print version through RPGNow.com.

Initiative Round
Hot Pursuit: The Definitive d20 System Guide to Chases is a d20 System supplement from Adamant Entertainment. This 40-page PDF is penned by Corey Reid and features line art by Jupitermedia Corporation. Hot Pursuit retails for $6.50 as a PDF.

The PCs have just come from talking to their contact in San Francisco and are on their way to the next thrilling location when they are spotted by Dr. Yes’ thugs. Our heroes make for their vehicle and roar out of the parking area, the bad guys close behind. The heroes have a slight lead, but the enemy agents have called in some friends. From a narrow alleyway on each side of the avenue, a black jeep emerges, carrying three heavily-armed men…

By John Grigsby, Staff Reviewer

Initiative Round
The Mountain Witch is an independent role-playing game from Timfire Publishing. It is presented as a 148-page softcover by Timothy Kleinert and featuring color and black-and-white artwork by W. Don Flores. The Mountain Witch retails for $24.00.

Somewhere on the slopes of Mt. Fuji lurks the dreaded O-Yanma, the Mountain Witch. A group of ronin are hired for the simple, yet terrifying task to kill this menace. But regretful pasts and dark fate conspire against the mission, testing both the loyalty and courage of the samurai. When every heart holds betrayal, who can you trust?

By Casey Smith, Staff Reviewer

Available at the ENWorld Download Store

Initiative Round

Fantasy Money is an interesting pdf product released in October of last year. While most e-books offer new content like prestige classes, monsters, or whatnot, Fantasy Money is instead a pure visual aid. The product aims to simplify the game by offering a variety of printable cards that represent your character’s hard-earned coinage. Fantasy Money is produced by Juan Navarro (illustratons), Stefan Pietraszak (layout) and ENWorld-proprietor Russell Morrissey (editing). The product retails for $6.95 . . . though I was lucky enough to pick it up during ENWorld’s $1 pdf sale.

By Duane Nutley, Staff Reviewer

Initiative Round
Unorthodox Sorcerers is a recent release by The Le Games in the Unorthodox range. Written by Martin Jenner, Melinda Moore, John Walsh, Tony DiGerolamo, and The Le, Unorthodox Sorcerers is a 98 page pdf available from RPGNow for $9.95 and DrivethruRPG for $8.95.

The Unorthodox range of products has been a very successful range that looks at alternate options for the core classes. This is the first electronic sourcebook that I know of that includes a musical theme for a core class – A Sorcerer’s Song by Bailey Records. While a selling point in that the sourcebook has something that others do not contain, personally I see no benefit in the soundtrack as I do not use music at the table. However I could see a creative DM using part of the soundtrack to introduce the villain who is a spellcaster.

By Stephen Wark, Staff Reviewer

Available at RPGNow

Initiative Round
Temporality is a 158-page sourcebook about time travel written by Bret Boyd and published by Dark Quest Games. Temporality sells for $9.50 at RPGNow. The full-colours cover depicting a fighter, a cowboy, a modern spy and a future soldier, is by Timothy Hibbets.

The notion of time travel in fantasy roleplaying goes all the way back to the first edition AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide, which had a provocative two-page section on converting fantasy characters to the Boot Hill Western rules and the Gamma World post-apocalyptic sci-fi rules. The notion of mages and paladins traveling into the far future where they'd encounter pistols and high-tech medikits - and possibly bringing those strange devices back - certainly got my twelve year old DM creative juices flowing!

By Casey Smith, Staff Reviewer

Available at RPGNow.com

Initiative Round
The Iconic Beastiary: Classics of Fantasy is an unusual monster book from the popular Lion's Den Press writer Ari Marmell. The pdf describes itself as being "a codex of almost familiar creatures." And, indeed, it is--this product contains seven new monsters loosely based off (though still quite different from) those favorites missing from the SRD. Classics of Fantasy goes into detail with the newish creatures it provides, fitting the seven of them across the 28-page pdf. So, with the obligatory product info in mind, read on to see if this book is worthy of your gaming dollar.

By Duane Nutley, Staff Reviewer

Initiative Round
Divine Forces: Benten The Golden Goddess of Good Fortune (hereafter known as Benten) is a 16 page pdf, recently released by Interactive Design Adventures LLC and written by Steve Miller. The sourcebook details the deity Benten and a bit of history of said deity. Benten is available from RPGNow or DrivethruRPG for $3.50.