Before we dive into this review of Peculiar Discoveries, I wanted to thank Dream Plots for sending us a physical copy of this colorful volume. This manual, I can tell you in advance, is a very long and detailed compendium of magical items, creatures and everything you might need to enrich your D&D5e campaigns. Magical swords, incredible books, powerful sceptres… I’m overwhelmed by magic!
If after reading this review you would like to purchase the volume, you can pre-order it in the hardcover version at the price of 62 Canadian dollars, approximately 42 euros. In addition to the physical manual you can find the digital version, various accessories and some convenient bundles to save on the purchase.
Review of the Volume of Peculiar Discoveries
The aesthetic aspect of the manual is remarkable; Leafing through it you are first and foremost fascinated by the bright and intriguing colours. Personally I would have preferred matte pages, since the glossy ones used don’t do justice to the contents. Even a more solid binding would have benefited the manual which, otherwise, presents itself with a decidedly professional quality.
An element that is certainly appreciable is readability; the font used is particular, but the font size used helps with reading. Leafing through the manual you easily notice that the layout used is similar (but not the same) to that of the official D&D5e manuals; the tables with the statistics of the creatures are almost identical to the official ones.
As anticipated, tokens, maps and cards are available on the site. They are very useful accessories with a strong visual impact, both for the players and for the DM; their physical version in my opinion is more useful in practice, generating wonder at the gaming table.
A Very Colorful Manual
The illustrations in this manual are very valuable; they follow different styles based on what they represent, but they are all consistent with each other and of excellent quality. Being an expansion volume to the most famous role-playing game in the world, the quantity of cards, drawings and tables is notable and adequate. Since so many magical objects are presented, the quality of the illustrations certainly helps to visualize them and prevent reading these pages from being boring.
Among them, one magical object in particular caught my attention: Death. Yes, you read correctly, that’s exactly the name of the object. It is a long legendary weapon covered in pink flowers, which gives you a +3 bonus to attack rolls and when it hits, it releases a cloud of spores that generates a random effect on the target. As with any other magical object, in addition to the illustration and the mechanics we also find a very useful written description to give the right narrative context.
The Contents of the Manual
As already mentioned in the previous paragraphs, Peculiar Discoveries is a supplement for D&D5e. The character and creature sheets that we will find within the manual follow the classic style; the values of the characteristics, skills, attacks, class, race and any other peculiarities are indicated.
The manual then not only contains magical objects, but reserves many surprises for us. In the first part (which has 35 pages) we are introduced to traveling companions, creatures of various types that we can take with us on the adventure.
Next there is the most substantial part, the one dedicated to objects. These are divided into various categories, based on their rarity; there are common, uncommon, rare, very rare and legendary items. This classification is carried out for every type of object, from demonic to celestial ones. It may seem obvious, but it is certainly intuitive and useful especially for new players.
My favorite part, however, remains the mounts. Animals and creatures of all kinds are ready to transport us around the worlds. They range from a very cute frog to the terrifying skeleton of a moose.
In the final part of the manual, an adventure divided into five chapters is presented, suitable for parties of 3 to 5 players.
There is also no shortage of random tables, useful both for determining some specific characteristics of objects and for establishing a random reward, for example.
Conclusions of the Peculiar Discoveries Review
I conclude this review of Peculiar Discoveries by saying that, despite some flaws, it is truly an excellent product. The price is certainly adequate for the length of the manual and contents.
I recommend this manual to expert Dungeon Masters who want to add something new to their adventures with seasoned players, but also to novice storytellers who need original elements other than those contained in the official manuals.
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