There's no beating about the bush here, this product just jumps in with both feet and opens with the listing for the first wonderous item - an aberrant mask. That's pretty wierd, so I think I'll move on swiftly to the next, which is rather neat: animated caltrops. You all know what caltrops are, right? Four spikes so arranged that one is always pointing upwards - very bad for horses' hooves or anyone going around barefoot. These ones come in a box and by use of various command words they will distribute themselves according to your desires and even tidy themselves away back into the box afterwards.

With each item there's a description of what it does, often an illustration, and three novel things: optional quirks, optional flaws and a quote that sums the item up quite neatly. So for the aforementioned caltrops, the quirk is that the user tends to expect everyday objects to do what they're told and the flaw is that some of the command words are tricky to pronounce and you may have to repeat them a few times before the little beggars respond to you. Not nice if someone is chasing you...

It's all about providing something a bit out of the usual. Perhaps it is a passing huckster who tries to sell the item to the party, or something they see someone else using or something to make a stash of loot more interesting. There are some neat and flavourful ideas here, and many could spawn an interesting backstory that the party could research or may even become objects of desire that they might hear about and seek out, to the level of being the focus of an adventure.

Used sparingly, these can enhance your game and make the party think about the things that they find. Don't over-use them, though, or they will think that they are exploring a joke shop not a dungeon.

Return to Wondrous Stash Vol.1 page.

Reviewed: 15 April 2016