Okay, I've been kind of putting this off to get my thoughts straight about it. So much has already been said about the fantastic B/X Companion by John Becker, that I've spent a great deal of time considering whether I wanted to try to avoid trodding on already well-worn ground. In the end I decided to just give my best shot at a straight-up review. Now, for those familiar with my reviews on RPGNet, I usually do a "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly" layout. "The Good" and "The Bad" are self-explanatory. "The Ugly" refers to layout and design. I will do my best to point out those things I think are just nitpicks on my part. The Good First things first: I'm going to skip the "spells" chapter, as it's mostly standard spells. There is a metric ton of good in this book. For a 64-page volume, it's packed to the gills with stuff. The obvious is level advancement to 30 and beyond. This is a given for a Companion set,

So I know I'm late to the party here, and lots has already been said about this , but I just got my copy yesterday. I'm reading through it now and plan to post a review soon. Just wanted to give everyone a heads' up. I understand that Mr. Becker is sold out of these and is awaiting a second print run. If you can pick this up and are a fan of Moldvay/Cook or Labyrinth Lord, definitely pick it up. So far, I have to say that it far outshines the version put out by Barrataria Games , which is too much of a move towards AD&D, includes a few too many d20-isms (such as adventuring kits for equipment), and is FAR too tied to Barrataria's campaign setting. That's not to denigrate their effort in any way; I own it and rather enjoy it;it's got some good stuff and would work well and serves a very worthwhile purpose as a Labyrinth Lord supplement. And while it is tied to Barrataria's campaign setting, these elements are easily divorced from the rules therein,

This post is mostly for the players in my upcoming Freeport + PotSM campaign, but it may be of use for others seeking to combine the two and overcome the "hump" of demihumans with the Cthulhu Mythos and Pirates of the Spanish Main setting. Came to some decisions about my game. 1. I am NOT using "The Continent" from the Freeport campaign setting . We will be using the pseudo-historical, pseudo-fantasy setting from Pirates of the Spanish Main. In this context, Freeport itself becomes the capitol of Tortuga. It fits pretty seamlessly in that respect. 2. We are dropping demihuman races altogether. However, there is a slum/ghetto in Freeport which in the book was constructed specifically to keep the orcs who showed up out of nowhere to bail out Freeport when a massive fleet from the Continent tried to take down the city. In our game, a massive fleet comprised of a rare cooperation between the British, Spanish, and French navies moved to take out Tortuga; during