Game: Another 101 Mundane Treasures
Publisher: Philip J Reed
Series: d20
Reviewer: Wyrdmaster
Review Dated: 25th, March 2003
Reviewer’s Rating: 6/10 [ On the ball ]
Total Score: 6
Average Score: 6.00
Do you really need me to tell you what Another 101 Mundane Treasures is about? No, probably not, certainly not if you have 101 Mundane Treasures from Philip J Reed already. Another 101 Mundane Treasures uses the PDF style that I’ll now forever associate with Philip J Reed products and Studio Ronin art. The pages are wide and short compared to the usual PDF tactic of thin and tall. And yes, I know other PDF produces use the former layout too. Dotted sporadically throughout the download are wonderful Christopher Shy illustrations. You might not need a review to tell you what you can expect to find in Another 101 Mundane Treasures but this review will tell you that it’s well worth your $3.50.
You don’t need to have the original 101 Mundane Treasures to use this supplement.
There are 101 treasures but they’re not so mundane. The treasures simply aren’t magical but that doesn’t stop from being rare, obscure, masterwork or otherwise different. That’s why the Appraise entry for every single item is so worthwhile, in addition to describing the item, noting any special effects and the gold piece cost the supplement suggests a DC value for an appraise check and what might then be found out. It’s such a simple addition but it really makes Another 101 Mundane Treasures worthwhile, especially for the busy but perfectionist GMs out there.
There are only five sections in the download; even my maths tells me that that’s just about 20 treasures in each. There’s armour (which includes shields), clothing (capes and boots, etc), jewellery (crowns, rings, buckles, etc), miscellaneous items (books, bags, candlesticks, etc) and weapons.
There are actually 303 Mundane Treasures – or, at least – 3 versions of 101. The difference between “another101treasures.pdf” and “another101treasuresbig.pdf” is about a Meg of memory. I suspect that’s down to the Christopher Shy illustrations, but it’s hard to tell really. The illustrations are probably of a better compression quality in the “big” version and so will look more pleasant when those lucky people with expensive colour printers hit the print button. For those of us with cheap black and white printers there’s the third version Another 101 Mundane Treasures. The black and white version is entirely without illustration or the peach coloured sidebar that decorates the other two. The black and white copy isn’t actually entirely black and white since the Studio Ronin logo is in colour.
Another 101 Mundane Treasures is a bit of a niche product I suppose. You can’t really expect ground shaking and convention breaking successes with a list of treasures. It would be all too easy for a list of treasures not to be worth any money at all, GMs can invent dozens on the fly themselves or search the internet and expect to walk away with even more for free. It would take a slick and professional product to be worth money, even as little as $3.50, and that’s what Another 101 Mundane Treasures is.
Favourite item: Book of Dirty Poems.
