The content itself is good at first look... but then the editing and blance mistakes start up, and keep going, and going, and going.

I feel bad for anyone who buys a print version of this, it's not a not print-quality product.

Maps are EXCELLENT and really got some oohs and ahhs at the table.

Creator very responsive to concerns, fixes problems (even small ones) very quickly.

Reccomended, would buy from Jon Pintar again (and will once I use an adventure that has the associated map pack!)

The author is still updating/improving the content even after all the time since it's release. Been using this conversion guide recently and it's really helpful. If you're looking for a complete re-write for 5e, this isn't for you. If you're looking for help in running your worn out copy of S4 in the 5e system, this conversion guide allows DMs to run the original module with 5th Edition rules and provides a reference sheet for encounters. To use this conversion guide, you will need a copy of "S4 The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth", originally available in hard copy and now for sale in digital format at DMsGuild.com.

I do recommend this one!

A five-star addition to a five-star product. This supplement and the author's Stronghold supplement have completely changed our campaign. The players are almost if not more interested in running their property as they are in adventuring...

Some well thought out stuff in here, professionally formatted. Our table uses these guidelines to great effect.

Well worth a look!

Alchemy Shop is going right into the homemade town the adventuring party is currently based in. Detour has some real potential. The others I'll try to wiggle in. Just wanted to say, another great set of Shorts!

After accounting for the cover page, table of contents, thanks and recognition page and legal stuff, this supplement comes in at a whopping 99 pages of actual material. Within is a highly detailed panorama of mid-adventure options full of creative NPCs and sights to see. Rafael says in the blurb “The Village of Haven Cross is a great set-up to start a new campaign or to introduce Dungeons and Dragons to new players. It provides a fun environment both to players and DMs offering great flexibility and freedom, with the possibility of an immersive experience in between quests” and he’s not wrong. The pdf is fully bookmarked (which all my followers know is a big deal for me) and the writing is well done. The village and guild description and background is neutral enough to add Haven Cross to any campaign and most of the NPCs have some story to them. It is easy to breathe life into the Haven Cross location thanks to the prolific notes and recommendations that Rafael added. The maps are adequate to even visually stunning, depending on if you use the high res versions or not. There’s stat blocks on the same page as the entries instead of using an appendix like some writers, which is both good and bad for the DM using this supplement. Good because the relevant information is right there as you need it but bad if you have to refer back to it later, causing the occasional page flipping frenzy (of course, the bookmarks ease this problem greatly…)

My only real criticism is that the layout is somewhat plain regarding fonts and style. All the stat blocks, headers, footers and highlights use the same colors and block format. Changing it up would enhance the visual appeal. There is art but unless it’s a map most of the pictures are small and tucked along a side or in a corner, drawing the eyes away from the text instead of towards. Speaking of text, with 103 pages of seeing the same vanilla font it does get a little bit “wall of white.” Given some polish and better visual appeal, this could easily be seen as a professionally done supplement and would be hard to differentiate from an “official product.”

Unbelievably, Haven Cross is a Pay What You Want feature. It’s worth giving the author a little money for the massive amount of content. Even with the layout blahs, Haven Cross is a solid five star rating.

Review #7 Gregorio’s Traveling Emporium and Menagerie

After accounting for the cover page and legal stuff, this supplement ends up being 4 pages of actual material. The document itself is very professional looking, the layout, fonts, spacing and coloration are all spot-on. A small color map with a link to a larger size free map from their blog. You can tell that Broken Knives really wanted this to look like it was top notch work and they succeed. Within is a short scenario/encounter with the titular Gregorio-- a seemingly harmless tinker/salesman that gives a quality (and quite wordy) shopping experience to your entire party! What ensues is a fun little gotcha scene that should put a smile on everyone’s face. A great little mini-encounter to help adventurers top off their supplies and maybe make a little extra xp in the process. A few small niggles; I would liked to have seen some provided examples of “Gregorio is quite the salesman, and is very willing to haggle and make deals with the characters“ as the characterization is left up to the DM to improvise. A newer DM trying to use this as an add-on who might not yet have developed the ability to wing an NPC like this would be put upon to make sure Gregorio is vibrant and not bland. Also, in my opinion, the section about what happens with the purchased wares is out of place. It gives the reveal before the scene is actually finished, and should be moved to after the menagerie section.

“Gregorio’s” is a Pay What You Want feature. It’s short but it’s quality. Definitely take a look at it and let Broken Knives know if you liked it by giving them a little $$ for their effort. A solid four star rating.

Review #6 "10 random magic items to use in your game"

After accounting for the cover page and legal stuff, this supplement ends up being just barely over 9 pages of actual material. Balance-wise, the items themselves are hit or miss, but you can tell that Anthony was inspired while making them. All ten have some description and/or lore associated with them. The rarity ratings assigned to them seem spot-on. The mechanics of some of them will make for a fun bit of role-playing. They are separated by item type (a suggestion I made after the first draft was released) and alphabetized. A good job over-all.

The formatting-- not so much. Reviewing the pdf version, the line spacing size and large gaps in between items makes unnecessary page breaks. The document could be a page or maybe even two or three shorter if this was tightened up. I’m not aware of what converter was used, but I’d recommend another go of it with something else. The fonts are vanilla, and there’s no art anywhere in it. No bookmarks, and as the folks who read my reviews are starting to recognize, that’s a big turn off for me. The formatting and “plainness” lost this supplement 1.5 stars worth of rating alone.

“10 random magic items” is a Pay What You Want feature. There’s a good chance you’ll find at least one magic item of interest so pick it up for free and re-buy it later for a bit of actual purchase price if you think it’s worth it. I’m giving it three stars (3.5 if DMGu allowed such) because I did get a couple of items that will see use in my campaign.

(By the way, the downloaded document title and the DMsGuild title don’t match...)

After accounting for the cover page and legal stuff, this supplement ends up being four pages of actual material. Within those pages is a narrative describing a string of three “encounters” all having to do with a green gem. The author has an interesting premise that could make for a great set of mini-encounters! There are some problems, the biggest of which is the motivation for the final encounter... there isn’t one. Regardless of the how the first two acts resolve the only way into the third is “because.” A competent DM can make something up to flesh out that “because” but Ant Gitman should have developed a better segue. Another good tweak would be some more background on the antagonists, the gray robed. There’s a little information in a research chart but that’s minimal and mostly about the gem and the final scene, not about the cult itself. They would make an excellent reoccurring threat for a party of adventurers but again, it’s up to the DM to flesh them out. The creatures included do have stat blocks but lack a CR, so tweaking the combat encounter to a certain size/level party will take a little extra homework from the DM.

The Coveted Gemstone is a Pay What You Want feature. There’s a clever premise and an interesting twist, it’s well worth picking up for free and even throwing the author some $$ for the effort. I’m going to give it three stars because I’m definitely using it as a sideways in my home campaign.

After accounting for the cover page and legal stuff, this supplement ends up being five pages of actual material. Even with only eight pages total, the author took the time to include bookmarks in the pdf. That is a big YES in my book and earns The Le a star just for that. There’s art on every relevant page, and while it’s nothing spectacular it does add to the file as a whole. (Although the choice of art for the cover page confuses me, is it relevant to the materials?) The font and spacing is good, easy to read for my old eyes.

An impressive amount of materials including subclasses, feats, backgrounds, spells, magic items (including artifacts) and a Hag race, plus some deities for the area covered by the supplement. Some really excellent features (Spirit Shaman, Secondary Tradition/Domain feats, Focus Amulets, several of the Spells) that will definitely soon be included in my own homebrew campaign.

The formatting leaves much to be desired. There are no bookmarks in the pdf, and at 136 pages with no quick navigation, that’s a big turn-off for me. A rather large white border around each page makes the text smaller and ruins the “immersion” of reading the supplement. The fonts are vanilla and make the pages blur together after scrolling thru it for a bit.

The author should definitely do a big edit phase and get some better formatting.

As a Pay What You Want supplement, it’s worth checking out for $0.00, but if Sleyvas wants purchase amounts (say the $10.00 or so that this kind of supplement should sell for) there’s much work to be done. Currently it’s a two star product (too much work put into it for only one star) but with some widespread changes, it could be a five star item.

I’m going to reference the intro by the author for this supplement:

Spice up your Paladin with a more interesting Steed. The parameters for the beasts are as follows; each is a Celestial/Fiendish/Fey modified version of a natural real world animal and each is roughly comparable to a warhorse. So while there won’t be any hippogriffs or dragons in this menagerie, there will definitely be some interesting possibilities. LIKE, A VERY ANGRY BEAR, FOR EXAMPLE!

As a DM who has a Paladin in the party getting ready to get this class feature, I was very excited to see this. No usual warhorse for my campaign, I was going to get something neat-o out of this sixteen page supplement and win the adoration of the masses. Wow was I more than a little disappointed once I opened it up. If you look at the “full-size preview” for Alternative Steeds Pt 2, you get to see all the alternative steeds in the entire entry. Two pages, four steeds. Granted, the four steeds are in fact neat-o (I especially like the Giant Ostrich) but what the heck!

It’s the last bit of the intro that I now refer back too:

Like everything I do, this item includes a quirky story of a paladin with a Fey Mastiff as a steed.

Counting the cover page and 2 actual pages of alternative steeds, that leaves this “quirky story” taking up 13 of the 16 pages of this supplement. If you want me to read your fan fiction, then label the supplement as fan fiction with a little bit extra, don’t set a hook with bait and switch! Please don't take that as a bad review of the story itself, I liked it, but if I'm looking to print out just the relevant steed information and I forget to select a page range, I just wasted a LOT MORE more ink and paper for a two page section. I think it would be better served separating the material into two different documents, so that the folks looking for just game-play content don't have to download all that extra.

It's "Pay What You Want" so pick it up for the two pages, but definitely "Buyer Beware" for this one. I was so angry I wanted to give the supplement one star, but the fact that all four of the available steeds were interesting saved a two star rating for the author.

After some additional editing phases this supplement really shaped up. The creature entries seem reasonably balanced. The Rabies rules, the color coded entries for each type of creature are a nice touch, and the supplement includes a "By Environment" and "By Challenge Rating" chart. I could see this being useful in many types of campaign.

Two of the main reasons I rated this 4 stars (I would have given it 3 1/2 if the option was available, and the publisher did respond to comments so 3 would be unfair) ) There is a small ratio of ocean-aquatic entries, and 2) Some of the creature designations don’t seem right, such as a roadrunner being a monstrosity?

All in all, I deem The Bestiary (formerly known as Miscellaneous Beasts) well worth the $1.00 price tag.

Some of the dialogue still needs some punching up, but it’s a solid foundation for play. This is a good one-session adventure, especially for a creative DM who can expand on the multitude of encounters in the module.