Artifacts II: Lawn of the Dead

Game: Artifacts II: Lawn of the Dead
Publisher: The Le
Series: d20
Reviewer: Wyrdmaster
Review Dated: 14th, November 2004
Reviewer’s Rating: 5/10   [ Perfectly acceptable ]
Total Score: 8
Average Score: 4.00

I recalls rumours about the D&D movie sequel being something about a black orb. Wow. That’s a flash from the past. The Black Orb (commonly known as the Death Shard) is one of the artifacts from The Le Games’ Lawn of the Dead. This is the second product in the Artifacts series and follows on the heels of the Ducks of Doom.

In fact the title is probably the most interesting aspect of the product. The contents are all pretty similar to the Black Orb as we’ve the like of the Grey Club, Bone Sword of even Hazel’s Staff. It’s not all weapons as we’ve Grieg’s Violin too. It’s not a very nice Violin as, once a month; it summons a hoard of undead.

The Wooden Army of Kristiane stands out as the most interesting artifact, or rather, collection of artifacts. These 15 dolls come to life whenever any undead gets within 60 feet. These little warriors (and wizard) will then stop at nothing to defeat the threat and at level three they’re not too easy to push over… and they’re small enough to be very awkward to hit.

In fact, every one of the 11 artifacts has a connection to the undead – summoning, controlling, fighting or otherwise manipulating them. This is a themed collection of PDFs.

At 21 pages in length we’ve got about two or one and half pages per artifact, that’s more than most artifacts get in d20 supplements but the very minimum required from such a specialised one as this. In addition to just the game crunch we’ve a description and a history for each.

Perhaps the talking point on Lawn of the Dead is the price. It’s $2 if you have to pay full price but only $1 if you catch it at the right time. This isn’t a converted Word file either. This PDF comes in a screen version, print version and even rich text (so reviewers can lazily cut and paste samples). We’ve nice, if simple, formatting and illustration too.

There’s no reason to go out and buy Lawn of the Dead. There’s every reason to toss it into your electronic shopping cart, especially if you’re trying to reach the minimum check out value, when you next go PDF shopping.

Oh, and the sample promised from the rich text version of the supplement – provided for the purpose of product review, you understand.

“Grieg Jilass is a famed bard for the joyous songs that he writes and sings. When he comes into a town or village, an impromptu festival or gathering is usually held to hear his one of a kind musicianship. The elven bard makes no promises to return and seems to intent to wander aimlessly. Little does he know that he leaves misery and death in his wake.”