Akrasia, Thief of Time

[Coik]

Akrasia: Thief of Time is a 32 page release from Eden Studios. It retails for $8.95. Art is black and white and scattered throughout the text.

Here's a brief overview:

• 
  *8 pages of Akrasian myths, legends, and doctrine.
  *15 pages of developed plot hooks, including a shrine, a temple, and an inn devoted to the worship of Akrasia. There are five in all, and a section in each entry is devoted to how they might interconnect.
  *6 pages of "crunchy bits." 7 new spells, the Distraction domain, the Distractor prestige class, 5 monsters, and 4 magic items.

Presentation is overall good...there don't appear to be too many grammatical or usage errors...the biggest problem with the text is that a two words very occasionally run together. There are some omissions, most notably on page 25 (where the temple map is missing a door) and page 28 (where the Steal Time ability is missing the word "half," so it reads "The number of actions that can be stored equals the distractor's class level," instead of half the level, rounded down, as shown on the chart), but all in all the book gives the impression that someone actually went through and proofread it, something that can't be said of a certain other company's (whose name I won't mention) releases.

However, some of the abilities presented seem almost too powerful...the spells, creature, and Distractor power to Steal Time, particularly. Basically, they allow the user to steal actions and use them, usually in the next round. All are 5th level or above, though, so it might not be as bad... (One spell is 5th level, one is 9th, the monster is CR 7, and the Distractor gets the ability at 2nd level, which is a minimum of 8 character levels)

My only real point of contention with the book is that they cast Akrasia as an evil goddess...in my mind, she could have worked just as well as a neutral goddess (she's goddess of procrastination, weakness of will, and wasted potential). Particularly since neutrality has been given the short end of the stick (dare I say the shaft?) in 3e...with the disappearance of two powerful neutral races in the "official" cosmology, neutral clerics not really being allowed to be neutral due to their restrictions on the type of energy they channel, etc. Despite this, though, an excellent job is done as showing Akrasia as a subtle evil...indeed, most people consider her harmless. A far cry from the standard evil deity, who will slaughter a million peasents first thing in the morning just to demonstrate how evil they are...

All in all, I'd say that this book is more than worth the $10 asking price.

As a side note, the inside cover contains an ad for "Campaign Magazine," from Corsair Publications...it's unclear whether CP is an independent venture or part of Eden Studios. It looks like it's going to be a combination of Dungeon and Dragon...you can view the ad (and, apparently, find out info as its released) http://www.corsairpub.com/campaign/campaign_f.html

 

[Tuerny]

Nice review.
Keep up the good work.
Any chance of reviewing Wonders Out of Time?

 

[Simon Collins]

Beware! This review contains major spoilers.

Price: $8.95
Page Count: 32
Price per page: About 28 cents per page
Designed for Character Level: 2-12

Format: Softcover

External Artwork: A good quality colour picture of the goddess Akrasia pictured in front of a jungle temple.

Additional Page Use: The front inside cover has an advert, the back inside cover has the OGL. The back cover has an introduction and overview to the module. The first page has contents and credits.

Internal Artwork: Limited in quantity, but a few stylish and attractive black and white sketches appropriate to the text. There are sketches of the new monsters and magic items.

Maps: The maps are basic but clear and practical.

Text Density: Text density is tight and there are no margins, but there are regular patches of white space in the text.

Text Style: The style of writing is intelligent and succinct. There are a few typos, but nothing that distracts.

The Adventure: Actually a series of vignettes (short essays or character sketches) that can be used as part of a set of linked adventures, spread throughout a campaign, or used standalone. Each of the vignettes centres round the cult of Akrasia, the goddess of distraction, procrastination and wasted time.

After a brief introduction (2 pages) with some flavour text giving an example of the cult's work, the module discusses the goddess Akrasia (7 pages) - her doctrine, followers, clerics, temples and the nature of her evil (and how it might affect PCs). There is also some detailed information about The Leaking Hourglass - the symbol of Akrasia, and possibly a real magical item which promotes distraction and procrastination. There follow some Akratic Legends and the section finishes with a detailed example of Litarra, a halfling rogue cult member - included are adventure hooks to promote her use as an NPC villain and statistics for her at 9 total class levels, and 14 total class levels.

The next section is a 1 page outline of an Akratic shrine, an unfinished temple built by an ancient race - the temple is guarded by a spider-like outsider, a Gloomholt (new monster), sent by Akrasia herself to stop people leaving the temple if they shelter there. The section also provides a hook into another Eden Odyssey module, Wonders Out Of Time.

Yaraemon the Bard is presented in the next section (2 pages). Yaraemon is a wandering NPC cult member, again including statistics, this time at three different levels (5, 8 and 11). He owns a magical item, the Harp of Distraction, which is detailed in the Appendix. A sidebar gives possible connections into the other adventures detailed

The Way Choice is an inn run by a follower of Akrasia (4 pages). The layout of the rooms is covered, and details of the staff given. There is a shrine to Akrasia in the basement of the inn, guarded by a life-reft (a new monster that steals PC actions) and containing night candles (a new magical item that deludes characters into thinking that little time is passing).

The next section (3 pages) deals with a plan by four Akratic cult members to impede the building of embankments to stop a river flooding a small town. The NPCs involved are detailed including their motivations and roleplaying tips, with some links to other sections of the module.

The Temple of Present Delights (6 pages) is a more established Akratic temple than the ruined shrine outlined previously. The temple was only finished through a set of unusual circumstances (the Akrasian cleric who finally finished the temple (by adding little bits here and there) hanged himself in despair after he realised what he had done). 11 NPCs are detailed, and the rooms of the temple are detailed. The temple is guarded by the outsiders introduced in previous sections plus a Phanera (a new monster that shoots hallucinogenic darts at victims and then releases a construct (the phanera decoy monster) which the victims blame, kill and forget so that the phanera can remain undetected until the hallucinogen kicks in, at which time it attacks) and the Saphard (a new monster, a magical large feline whose appearance mesmerises victims).

The Appendix details 7 new spells (from the 1st-level 'indolence' to the 9th-level 'steal time') and introduces the Distraction domain. A new Prestige Class, The Distractor (whose class features include silver tongue and drinking companion), is followed by the 5 new monsters from the module, and 4 new magical items (including the amusing magical 'red tape' that can be wound around documents to force the reader to read it carefully, no matter its contents).

The High Points: Looking back on your life you become aware of some of the things you could have achieved if only you hadn't stayed for that one last drink, if only you hadn't watched so much TV, if only you could have been bothered. How much better would the world be if we all got off our backsides and actually completed that great idea we had but never saw through? Eden Odyssey take this idea to its conclusion and highlights its insidious evil (exemplified by the section 'Akrasia As The Enemy'). Then they build a cult and a goddess around that idea and put it in a fantasy setting - detailing various locations and NPCs who represent this concept (for TV, read bard with magical harp for instance). Exploring the quiet evil that is inherent in the Akrasian ethos can lead to some interesting thoughts on the echoes it has in our own lives. The more I read, the more I came to understand the possibilities of how the ideas presented here could be used to seriously antagonise my players and their PCs. Mwahahaha!

The detail of the NPCs in particular was very good, and the new monsters, spells and items reflected the theme of the module well. The use of statistics for NPCs at different levels should prove useful in integrating the ideas into a home-grown campaign.

The Low Points: Despite the module introducing the concept of linking in different sections to create a coherent whole (and sidebars to help you do this), the module still felt a bit disjointed at times, and it would require some time to thread the various sections together (if you can be bothered of course). There are no comprehensive adventures here, purely a series of well-detailed NPCs and locations, with some related crunchy bits. The theme of Akrasia introduced in this module is one that you have to be interested in introducing to your campaign as it is quite specialised and unusual.

Conclusion: This is a useful book if you are intending to add a new goddess into your pantheon and want something that will bring a sense of underlying and subtle evil into your campaign. Of limited use otherwise, and requiring some work from DMs to integrate into adventures or campaigns, nevertheless this contains some excellent ideas, is well presented, and is an interesting and unusual divergence from the mainstream adventure/sourcebook offering, both in style and content. Its a shame that the cover price may put off some from taking a look at this imaginative though specialised product.

 

[Messageboard Golem]

Akrasia, Thief of Time, presents a series of vignettes that can be used individually or in total to enrich any fantasy campaign using the d20 game system. In it, you will find:

- a description of the cult of Akrasia, its clerics, treasures and legends.
- a new Prestige Class called the Distractor, and a detailed member of that class to bedevil your characters.
- an almost abandoned shrine to the Goddess, with a haunting inhabitant.
- a wandering servant of the Thief of Time, with a dangerous secret.
- an inn beholden to the Lady of Lost Dreams, where adventurers can lose their way or gain a great boon.
- four Akrasia devotees who plot to destroy a small town.
- an active temple of The Delayer, with worshipers, creatures and mystical items.

 

[Ron]

Unlike many d20 products, Akrasia is a vignette book. It contains information in Akrasia, the evil goddess of failed resolutions and weakness of will, her cult and followers, as well as small chapters detailing adventure hooks and interesting NPCs. A couple of appendixes add a few new spells, monsters, magical items, and a new domain and prestige class related to the goddess cult. Production values are very high, within the best of all d20 industry. Cover art by Allen Douglas is very good, as well as the interior art by Kieran Yanner. The layout is clear and classy. Eden studios are headed by a graphic designer and do shows it.

Akrasia is the patron deity of the distractions that prevent people from fulfilling their potential. As such, her followers are rarely seen as evil but harmless hedonists, encouraging entertaining over hard work. However, if predominant, such behavior is very disruptive to the society and may cause its fall, which is Akrasia's final objective. There are some gems in this book, such as the incomplete Book of Thirteen Prophets, which, we are informed, is composed of twelve incomplete chapters written each by one of her prophets. Being inspired by the Goddess of Distraction, her prophets were unable to finish their job, although one of them reports a thirteenth prophet who was able to finish his chapter. Eventually, Akrasia destroyed him and his chapter appalled by this sheer demonstration of self-discipline.

The vignettes describe situations related with the Akrasian cult that may be dropped in any campaign. They cover adventure hooks, major NPCs (sometimes with stats for different levels), including their motivations, and area descriptions. They aren't adventures per se but situations in which the DM can build upon. They are all generic enough to be included in any campaign although at least one make a small reference to another Eden Odissey book, Wonders Out of Time, which may be easily ignored. There are few editorial problems, as the main NPC from chapter five been referred several times before an introduction, but overall the text is very well written. The appendixes describe a new prestige class for dedicated Akrasian cultists as well as the Distraction domain and its correspondent spells and a few monster and magical items. They are designed mainly as resources to NPCs and they appear to be well thought. The first-level domain spell, Indolence, might appears a little to powerful for its level, but I don't think that it is more than some first-level heavy weights such as Charm Person, Sleep, or Color Spray.

Akrasia: Thief of Time is a worthy addition to any DM library. It is provocative and offers a wide range of situations that may be dropped in a campaign. Although I think it is to easy to blame lack of determination to an outsider force, this might work very well in a campaign, especially if the DM takes care not to inform the evil side of the Akrasian cult to the players.

 

[tsadkiel]

In most fantasy campaigns, evil is pretty easy to spot. The gods of evil obligingly outfit their minions in some combination of spiky, blood-stained armor, sinister black robes, and/or tight leather dominatrix outfits, making the average paladin's job that much easier. In Eden Studio's first d20 vignette book, however, a more subtle evil is presented.

Akrasia, the titular goddess, presides over failures, lost opportunity, and wasted time - not as glamorous as the traditional killing and pillaging, certainly, but often more effective.

The Book - The cover features a nice portrait of Akrasia herself, holding her leaking hourglass symbol. Interior art is generally pretty good, and shows a consistent style (also found in "Wonders Out of Time.") layout is good, with very little wasted space. There are a few typographical errors, but the grammar is good and the prose style is engaging. There isn't a lot of fiction in the book (fortunately, as it's a short book) and what little there is takes the form of legends of the Akratic faith.

The book begins with an overview of Akrasia, her legends, and her faith. This section details her nature (including alignment and domains), doctrine ("one more game of cards, then to work"), followers, clerics, and temples. There's a quite useful section on how Akrasia's followers would fuction as enemies in a gaming campaign, focusing on their more subtle nature, and then the overview concludes with the faith's major artifact (the Leaking Hourglass), some Akratic legends, and an example of a follower of Akrasia - Littara, a halfling Distractor. Litarra's write-up contains a brief note on how she relates to the vignettes in the book - a nice precedent, and one that is followed.

The vignettes are as follows -

"The Sheltering Shrine" - probably the weakest vignette in the book - the PC's discover a shrine inhabited by a gloomholt, an outsider servant of Akrasia. Unfortunately, there's very little guidance provided on just what the gloomholt actually does. The episode does little more than provide a tie-in to "Wonders Out of Time."

"Yaraemon the Bard" - another sample follower of Akrasia. yaraemon possesses a Harp of Distraction, and uses it and his native wit to mislead, distract, and delay adventurers.

"The Way Choice" - probably my favorite vignette in the book. The way Choice is an inn run by a follower of Akrasia - his influence has corrupted the surrounding villagers to the point that they behave like villagers in a stereotypical adventure, hanging out at the inn and handing out rumors to passing strangers.

"Until the Rains Come" - a town which straddles a river needs to build embankments to control floodwater; unfortunately, a quartet of Akratics are hindering the construction. A very good example of akrasia's followers in action, and an entirely role-play driven scenario. The Akratics are also quite nicely detailed (even if Godric reminds me too much of myself) and make good use of NPC classes. This vignette will rewuire some work on the DM's part, since the only NPC's detailed are the Akratics.

"The Temple of Present Delights" - a detailed temple of Akrasia.

The Appendix details the domain of Distraction and its spells, the Distractor Prestige Class, four new monsters, and four new magic items. The domain and its spells are powerful, but probably not overwhelmingly so, and mor elikey to be used my NPC's than PC's


The Distractor Prestige Class is an interesting case - the mechanics highlight the nature of the class well, but make the class less useful than it should be. The class skills are a case in point - the distractor chooses any ten skills that the character doesn't already possess as their class skills. These skills are now considered exclusive to the distractor class, meaning they can't use skill points from other classes to raise these skills. Similarly, the distractor can't use distractor skill points to raise any skill they possessed before taking the prestige class. Confused? So was I. These mechanics highlight the nature of the class, but make gaining the class more trouble than it's worth. Similarly, the class requires the ability to cast second level divine spells, but doesn't ptovide any spellcasting ability at all.

The mosnters are inventive, but there is some mechaical wonkiness - some of the mosnters have the wrong hit die type. Also, the monsters seem to be an afterthought, as they distract from the essentially human nature of Akrasia's evil.

This is a very original and entertaining book, and presents an unusual set of opponents for fantasy d20 adventures. teh individual should, however, be prepared to do a little work.

 

[Warchild]

Warning!!
I was given this product for free in exchange for a review. Eden Studios stressed that all that they wanted in return was a FAIR and HONEST review of their product.

Akrasia, Thief of Time is Eden Studios' first entry into the D20 market. The first in a line of 'Vignette' sourcebooks, this book is composed of an Introduction to Araskia, an introduction the Akrasia' Cult, 5 mini-modules, and the appendix.
I like the Vignette style. I buy very few adventure books because i invariably end up rewriting such a large portion of it that i usually just end up wasting time and money. I think Eden Studios have chosen a very fine presentation style for their "Odyssey" books.

Artwork:
The artwork in this book is decent and keeps the tone of the subject matter.

Investiture:
Here you are introduced to Araskia, the Thief of Time. She is a goddess who, due to her slacking, was passed over by the other gods when they divided up the world amongst themselves. Angry that she was deprieved of her rights, she named herself the goddess of failure and Lost opportunity and plotted to steal the domain of Time. She was successful and became known as the Thief of Time, Goddess of Distraction, Lost Dreams, Breaker of Promises, and The Delayer.

Cult of Akrashia:
Here you are introduced to the Thief of Time's doctrines. Followers, Clerics, Temples, tips on using them in your campaign, legends of the cult's conquests, and an example of one of the cults prime agents.

Mini-Modules:
The mini's are generally designed to link to each other in a variety of ways, but can be easily used as stand alones.

The Sheltering Shrine - starts off the vignettes and is designed for 2nd-4th level parties. It entails a trip to an abandoned shrine once dedicated to Akrasia and is barely a dungeon crawl. It also spends a third of its page with a blatant plug for another of Eden's studios' products.

Yarraemon The Bard - Here you are introduced to one of Akrashia's devious and covert minions, Yaraemon, who can either beguile your players with a night of wasted opportunities, or entrench Akrasia threat into your campaign. He can also be used to springboard into other modules in the book. The module is presented to scale from a 4th to 12th level challenge for your players.

The Way Choice - is a pleasant place to visit and you may want to live there forever!! Designed for 6th-8th level characters, this vignette depicts an Inn (with map) that is secretly run by an Akrasian Cult member who seeks to further his Goddess' cause. Again this module contains Plot intersections to other parts of the book.

Until The Rains Come - Followers of the Thief of Time plot to destroy an entire town. It is designed to scale to any character level and, again, contains plot intersections.

The Temple Of Present Delights - Sets a challenge rating of 7th-10th level and illustrates a temple dedicated to Akrasia. This adventure is presented as something of a "temple" crawl, complete with a map of its different floors.

Appendix:
The appendix holds 7 new spells, 4 new magic items, a Cleric domain, 4 new creatures, and 1 new prestige class. The appendix can be easily referenced while looking thorugh the adventures, due to the book's small size. Each of these new offerings are quite tasty and thought provoking, i think you will find them strange and beguling.

Mechanics:
The definite weak point of the supplement. The spell Steal Time, though 9th level, seems terribly broken. beware.
The prestige class, The Distractor, seems oddly cobbled together, but not over powered.
The creature, Saphard (a large magical tiger-like feline), has Distraction power that seems overwhelming for its challenge rating and probably needs lowering.
Two if the books new magical items have faults, as the Harp of Distraction is undervalued for its powers and the Morningstar of Delay is clunky and could have been easily representation by existing rules.


Value:
At a whopping 28 cents per page (32 pages total) this supplement is not exactly on the cheap side (8.95)!!!

Bottom Line:
With a very minimum of adaption (if any), these mini-adventures will fit into your campaign quite nicely. Expect some rules tinkering, however. It's cost is a bit high.

 

[Weylan]

First let me say that I received a free copy of Akrasia from Eden Studios in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

I fully expected to dislike this product as I am not big fan of published adventures, finding they require too much work to modify to fit my campaign. So, I was surprised by Akrasia.

The look of the supplement was good. It has a nice glossy full-color softcover and the artwork on the front is ok. The interior of the book is entirely in black and white with sparse but well done art scattered throughout. The layout is clean, straightforward and easy to read.

The content of Akrasia was great! Provided in this slim, 32-page, supplement you get more useful ideas than I have come to expect from d20 products of this type.

What you get:

> A description of the godess Akrasia and her Cult, including guiding doctrines, types of people she would attract as followers and useful background material.

> 3 legends that describe what followers of Akrasia can accomplish in her service.

> 4 scenarios that you can use to snare your party and expose them to the worshipers of Akrasia.

> 13 well fleshed out NPC followers of Akrasia

> 1 new prestige class

> 5 new monsters

> 4 new magic items and 1 magical artifact


As for value: Akrasia is priced at $8.95 for a 32-page supplement which seems a little steep but is what I've come to expect recently for a product of this size.

Overall, I was very pleased with Akrasia. It delivers good and useful content in a well written style and a clean layout. It will still need to be tailored to fit your campaign but with its vignette style Akrasia makes that task a lot easier.

 

[Messageboard Golem]

Eden Studios provided a free copy of this book to me in exchange for a fair and honest review with no strings attached. I felt no pressure to give it a favorable rating.

For the most part, I have avoided the whole d20 thing, sticking with materials produced by WotC. This gave me a chance to examine a d20 product without the risk of having to pay for it first. I must say that, although it was far from perfect, the product did cause me to rethink my position on avoiding d20 materials.

This book is not really an adventure. It is a collection of background materials and "vignettes" (related to an evil godess named Akrasia) that can be easily dropped into an existing campaign. I found this idea intriguing.

What I liked about the book:

1. The interior pencil art was good. Actually, it was much better than the artwork in WotC's class books.
2. The background material on Akrasia was interesting. She represents a very subtle evil (the way I believe evil is most often in the real world). Although she is chaotic evil, she is not out to violently kill everyone. Instead, she focuses on distracting people until they give up doing the important and noble things in their lives. I found this material very original, although I felt that this would be difficult to roleplay. The lure and temptation of another drink or a round of cards is hard to communicate to players who only want more combat and XPs. I also wondered if Akrasia has had something to do with me not finishing my dissertation yet.
3. The focus on storytelling rather than combat. There are some encounters in this book, but they are few and far between. The focus is on role playing and political situations. To me, this is a welcome change from WotC's "hack and slash" dungeon mentality, but not every group will appreciate this amount of storytelling.
4. Major NPCs all have a "roleplaying" paragraph which instructs the DM how to roleplay that particular character. I think WotC could learn from this.
5. "Plot intersections" show potential ways to tie the vignettes together. These were nice and allow the DM to weave a "tangled web" of plots.
6. The cool "Distractor" NPC prestige class.

What I disliked about the book:

1. The cover art was okay, but left a little bit to be desired. Akrasia's face looks a bit out of proportion.
2. Some of the plot hooks seemed implausible and difficult to work into a campaign. For example: The players own a plot of land in this town so they want to prevent it from flooding.
3. The editing and proofreading needed some improvement. I noticed about a dozen errors. Despite this, it was better than Sword and Fist (which isn't saying much).
4. Some of the vignettes seemed a bit boring and not very "adventurous." Some were just NPC descriptions.
5. The book introduces the "Merithians," a long-lost, Roman-like culture. I would prefer that things are left more generic so that the vignettes can be placed into any campaign--without also having to add the Romans to it.

Overall, I liked this product. Although I have to admit that I don't yet know how much I will actually use it in my own campaign. A party that gravitates towards political intrigue rather than combat would probably absolutely love this material. Unfortunately, that doesn't exactly describe my group. The "related vignettes" idea is original.

Bottom line: If you have a party of hard-core "role" players, you should probably consider this book. Hack and slashers need not apply.

 

[drnuncheon]

Ignore the stars. Read the review, because while this is overall a good product, it's not for everyone.

Summary: Don't buy it just for the rules. Definitely buy it if you're interested in the ideas.

This is a non-playtest review of a product provided for free (along with Wonders Out Of Time) by the publisher, Eden Studios, in exchange for posting a review on ENWorld. There was no pressure to write a good review. Those familiar with my other reviews can breathe a sigh of relief as this one is a bit shorter - but hopefully just as useful. Comments are always appreciated.

Akrasia: Thief of Time is not for everyone. It is a "vignette sourcebook", which basically means that it is not an adventure that you can plop down in front of your players and have them go through it, and then forget about it afterwards. Akrasia is more akin to books like Green Ronin's Arcana: Societies of Magic or Atlas' Touched by the Gods, and it is in that sense (not as an adventure) that I will be reviewing it.

You can probably pick the book up in your Friendly Local Gaming Store to get a good idea of the physical aspects of it, so I'll be brief on them. It's 32 pages (with the OGL on the inside of the cover instead of taking up one of those pages - bravo!) with a color cover and black & white interior. My wife, on seeing the cover, was happy that it portrayed a sensibly dressed woman - she's still rather annoyed at certain other covers in the industry. The text is easy to read, and the maps inside are clear and concise.

So what's inside? Well, as I said, this book has more in common with other "organization books" than it does with adventures, but it has the advantage of not needing to share space with other organizations - so you get a 32 page look at the cult of Akrasia, with plenty of NPCs (16 with stats, and 2 more with stats for multiple levels), spells (7 and a new clerical domain), creatures (5), magic items (4, and an artifact), and a prestige class - all centered around the Akrasians. Plus details of a temple, legends of the cult, and possible encounters. This makes them much more strongly fleshed out than most other groups presented in d20 material. Speaking of d20 material, the entire book is Open Game Content - another nice touch.

The book begins with a discussion of the goddess and her religion, and the effects that a group of Akrasians might have on the communities that they have contact with. Akrasia is essentially the goddess of "wasting time" and failed ambition, and the author does a good job of presenting the paradox of a group of people dedicated do a goddess who wants to see people fail - if they're too successful they're working against their goddess. While this could easily fall into Stooge-like silliness, the author does a good job of keeping it on the side of subtle, dry dark humor. For example, the book later mentions a cleric who started no projects, but merely worked on ones begun before his time: "In late life, he came to realize that no part of the temple had escaped his influence, and that he had, in fact, achieved something great. Stricken with remorse, he hanged himself."

This section also presents an artifact (the leaking hourglass), some Akrasian legends that do an excellent job of illuminating the cult and the kinds of activities they engage in. There is also an NPC - Littora, a halfling rogue, cleric of Akrasia, and member of the new Distractor prestige class. She is presented at two levels (9 and 14) to be easier to customize for your game. All in all, this section presents a very solid look at the goddess and her followers. The one aspect I would have liked to see more detail on was a discussion of why various people would choose to serve Akrasia - what do they get out of it? It seems her followers are just as bad off as everyone around them.

Next come the actual vignettes. Starting off, we have a one-page description of an Akrasian shrine on a rarely-used road (unfinished, naturally) inhabited by one of the new monsters, a gloomholt. There's a couple of hooks to get PCs inside where they can encounter the thing. This vignette also has a minor tie-in with Wonders Out of Time, as the shrine was built by the civilization described therein.

Next is a very detailed 2-page description of Yaraemon, a bardic servant of the goddess, with background, roleplaying notes, and stats for 3 levels (5, 8, and 11).

The Way Choice Inn takes up the next 4 pages. It's run by a worshiper of Akrasia, and there's suggestions for a scenario based on the effect it's having on his village. The inn is fully mapped, and the author includes such useful information as break DCs, lockpicking DCs, and the like - information that is far too often left out, leaving the DM to search for the information in the PHB.

Next, a 3 page vignette describing a very character-based situation in a small town. Four Akrasians are secretly preventing the building of embankments along the river, each in their own way. This would be an excellent scenario for parties that enjoy a lot of roleplaying and character interaction, but would obviously require plenty of work from the DM to run.

Finally, the last vignette is 6 pages detailing a Temple of Akrasia and its inhabitants, from the clerics to the lay worshipers and the mercenaries hired to guard it. Like the Inn, the temple and the personalities inside are very detailed, making it more of a setting than an adventure.

After the vignettes is a sort of appendix with the new rules-oriented things. The "About the Author" section reveals that this is the author's first d20 product, and I think that it shows in some areas, particularly the balance of certain spells. Indolence is a fine idea, requiring a Will save to act decisively, but when it lasts for 5 minutes per level and is a first level spell, it is definitely too powerful. Steal time is almost certainly too powerful, even for a 9th level spell, and its wording is unclear to boot. Akrasia's blessing affects a community with lassitude, but it does not have any game-mechanical effects.

The five new creatures are all fairly interesting, ranging from an incorporeal spider that crawls into your head and makes you afraid to leave to a strange starfish-like outsider that fires hallucinogenic darts and then uses decoys to distract its victims until the drugs take effect. Unfortunately, there are deviations from the d20 rules in all of the creatures - incorrect hit dice for monster type, miscalculated saves, etc. This sort of thing doesn't bother me, but I know there are many people who are far more concerned with it than I am. The only thing that truly bothered me was the fact that the special abilities of the creatures weren't separated out and clearly defined. How often can the phanera create its decoy? What is the save DC for the gloomholt's suggestion power? Given the amount of material in the book, these are comparatively minor flaws.

Last are four new magic items - sort of. One, the morningstar of delay, is described as if it were a weapon quality instead. Again, a minor problem that doesn't really detract from its usefulness. Also present are the harp of distraction, night candles, and perhaps the least subtle bit of humor in the book: red tape, which uses a suggestion effect to make oyu read and carefully fill out the forms it is wrapped around.

I think the strength - and the weakness - of this product is obvious. It is a very detailed, very complete sourcebook for introducing the cult of Akrasia into your game. It's not plug-and-play adventure, which I think many people come to it expecting - it's more of a sourcebook. Unfortunately, it's focus is also its weakness. If you don't like one of the societies in Touched by the Gods, there are a dozen others. If you don't care for the Akrasians, or if you just want an adventure, then there's no reason to purchase the book.

Similarly, I can't recommend that you buy the book for the new rules contained therein - there are just too many mechanical problems. If you're buying it for the details of the cult, you'll find it easy enough to work around them - if they were the reason for your purchase, you'll feel understandably disappointed.



I hope this review has been helpful. Comments are always welcome, here or on the messageboards.