Treasury of the Macabre

By Thilo Graf

This pdf from Legendary Games is 17 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial/ToC, 1 page SRD, 1 page author bios and 1 page back cover, leaving 12 pages of content for the new magic items, so let’s check them out, shall we?

This little treasure trove of items contains 30 different items ranging from 600 GP to 58000 GP and even an artefact specifically designed to complement the Carrion Crown Adventure Path or any similar gothic setting.

All the items come with information on their auras, construction requirements etc. and the imaginative potential is quite astounding – from anatomist’s scalpels to veils that let you infuse other worldly terror into your illusions to items to manipulate constructs, a powder to throw lycanthropes off your trail to electroshock gauntlets, enchanted neck-bolts, shackles to chain ghosts, guardian dolls, séance candles to the Elder Talisman, an artefact to stand against the creatures of the mythos, these items are all killer, no filler. (And I want the supplement hinted at in the section!)

There is not one bad item among them. Not one. All of the items are appropriate for even low-magic gothic horror campaigns like Ravenloft and serve as disturbing, imaginative tools that thankfully go beyond “creepy armour” or “bloodsucking sword”. Instead, we get an array of unique items that can be categorized best by the word “unconventional” – in the best of ways.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn’t notice any glitches. Layout adheres to a BEAUTIFUL, Paizo-level quality parchment-like look with bloodstains and a horizontal, easy to read two column standard and the artworks of the items stand up to this quality, being on par with Paizo. Stunning! The pdf is extensively bookmarked and comes with an extra printer-friendly b/w-version. I’m a sucker for gothic horror. I love the genre. It’s what my home game is mostly about. But even if you don’t like the genre, you have to admit that this is the apex of what one could hope to see from a 3pp, any rpg-publisher, really – both in quality, writing and presentation, this pdf is stellar. Yes, it’s not cheap. But it’s worth every cent and I’d argue that it’s well worth the price. Try as I might, I can’t bring myself to saying anything negative about this first offering of Legendary Games – my final verdict will be 5 stars with the Endzeitgeist seal of approval. Legendary indeed, Legendary Games! I’m looking forward to more supplements!

Cerulean Seas Campaign Setting is available from: