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today we are covering the evils of ilm
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it is for me it's one of the best
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modules out there and it's a lot lot
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more than a module it is uh a setting
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you could run it for months and months
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it does every little bit of the heavy
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lifting you want it to do um and there's
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so much value in it you don't just get a
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module you get a lot lot more when you
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download it so let's just jump straight
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in right cool so the evil of Maya um
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it's written by a gentleman called Zack
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wolf um it's 76 pages long and it is
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just fantastic um it is written for um o
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school Essentials but let me jump across
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here and this will be a bit of a teaser
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um this is what you get when you buy the
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module not just the module you get
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desktop backgrounds you get GM screens
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handouts everything plus you also get
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conversions there's a conversion for 5e
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so if you're a 5 player you can
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literally just run this super easily no
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issue at all sh sharp swords and
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Sinister spells dungeon World um but
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also it's really really easy to convert
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so um yeah you can run it for whatever
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you do I'm going to break down some of
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the stuff that you the extras that you
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get when you download it um but yeah
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like there's loads of stuff in there so
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let's jump straight in um the back uh
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kind of story of this uh module is there
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is a nightmare cult in this town or in
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these hexes in this Village um and it's
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there's this extra dimensional
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dimensional being called the fair mother
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um who has uh has given birth to these
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fear spawn creatures and they uh they
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basically take control of people's minds
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they use mind fages which are like
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parasitic worms and they've infiltrated
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the village in which the players are
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thrown straight into um there is the
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thing I love is there's things here for
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players who want to fight there's things
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here for players who want to investigate
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and there's things here for players who
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want to role play and it kind of like
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ticks as well as kind of like exploring
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so it tis every box that you want from a
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module um so yeah it's super super cool
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and there's this kind of like they're
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not going to know who to trust and it's
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interl with all the little bits in it
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are interl which is really really cool
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to give you an idea of the sort of stuff
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that's that's been thought about here is
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um the ctist have dumped a potion of
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fear into the town well this gives the
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town folks a supernatural nightmares and
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seething paranoia so you immediately
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this is going to be a tough place for
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the players to actually get through um
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but continued exposure to the
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Quicksilver using the potions is causing
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terrible sickness now they give you a
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list of all the the characters there
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people are going to start dying in this
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Village which creates a natural ticking
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clock for your play for your players and
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if they're drinking the well they're
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going to be getting infected by this as
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well um and they call it bold fever uh
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as people go blind and loose fingernails
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I mean it's this isn't a a module for
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the faint-hearted but it's very very
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cool so um when you start here and this
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this is an example of kind of all the
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things that have been thought about with
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with this module is it starts with
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Adventure Hooks and the adventure hooks
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are really really good it gives you
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loads of ways to get your players and
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drag them into this and I've written
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down here it does all the heavy lifting
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and that when you get a module that's
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one of the things you want to do you
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don't want to have to prepare stuff you
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don't want to have to rewrite stuff uh
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it's because you're busy you want to be
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able to read it first off and enjoy the
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reading and then be able to look on the
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second read do some highlights and just
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run it and you can do the run this thing
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for months based on on literally just
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doing that um another thing I really
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like there's General notes on how to run
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the module which is really great so um
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it just helps you with things like um
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kind of like holy water where that's
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available or how that's available um hex
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isn't time to get across them and um
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encounter checks gives you information
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on climbing and climbing events so even
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here there's a mount in which you've got
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a climb there's a climbing events table
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um there's just loads and loads of
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really really good helpful stuff in such
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a short place of TI or short kind of
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like space um so here's an example one
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of the things and this is just a bonus
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it doesn't does make a big difference uh
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to the module but it's a nice bit of
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flavor once per day Esmeralda um offers
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uh read a fortune she stares deep into
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her crystal ball chanting incantations
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when a swirling mist seems to manifest
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inside normally clear crystal orb her
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eyes roll to the back of her head she
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speaks in a strange unnatural voice when
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she performs the ritual and then she
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suddenly gets tired and needs to go to
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bed that's just cool it just is cool now
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the only thing I can say and this isn't
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against the module cuz I would have done
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this if was talented enough to write
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this module um is it pushes the edge of
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its uh format because there is so much
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stuff in here so things like here's a
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climbing events table um personally I
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would love to see that in a table
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because my brain would process it better
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um I can understand why they've done
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that because they're limited to space
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and they've had to use the space as much
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as they can but this isn't like a
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criticism in any way it's just an
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example of kind of they've thought it
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out and they've squeezed so much in that
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there's been a couple of little
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sacrifices made but they're not going to
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impact you on running it so here is the
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map right it is absolutely amazing right
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if I can run in here a little bit better
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right it's just gorgeous I mean so so
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cool and there's obviously with all the
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goodies you get there's a players
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players one which you can hand out to
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your players um and uh let me zoom out
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ah I've done that wrong facing players
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there um and fit page cool yeah so um
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yeah it's really really cool now in the
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background of this there's an observer
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um so an observer has a tower over here
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in in HEX 2 um and basically it's it's a
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powerful sorcerer that's just been
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messing with people here for ages
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they're not the main villain of this
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piece but they're there in the
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background and it kind of gives an
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understanding why things have been
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messed up here so much what I also love
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is this is not just about the fear cult
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or um and that that there is a bunch of
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kind of subplots going on in the
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background that your players can get
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involved with there's loads loads and
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loads of factions here so if we look
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here and these are just two that I've
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pulled out cu I want to leave you have
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the fun to actually explore this
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yourselves but there's mantis men here
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and there's frog men there um the Mantis
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men are formid formidable formidable
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hord of mantis men um they built a huge
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Mound they regularly make phas to
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hunting pillage neighboring hexes um
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they've got a particular love for
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frogling meat and the frogling are in
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this Village and they're tucked away um
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and they've basically been beaten beaten
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down by the Mantis men but there's loads
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of interaction you can have and you can
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pick sides and you can it's really
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really cool for player involvement um
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another cool little add-on here is
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there's weather thing so again it gives
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you as I said it gives you all the tools
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you need to actually make this a little
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bit more interesting and in there if you
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roll doubles that there's smoke from the
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volcano there's lightning storms there's
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loads of cool stuff that you can it just
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gives you that little bit of a help
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helping in you not having to do any work
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so then right once you get past that you
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get into The Gazette here now as I say
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right what I really do like about this
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is the layout I've been able to print
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out this one I've had this one for a
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long time um printed out it's actually
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been improved since then which is really
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cool that that they um that they keep
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adding things to this to make it a
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little bit better as you go along so
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this is kind of like the layout so there
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is an information on each hex there's a
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big rundown of what's in there um then
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there's a there which where it would say
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which um
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there's dungeons later on that that are
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situated in that hex and then there is a
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um random encounter table for that
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particular hex and the random encounter
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tables are not just two goblins they are
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for the hex and also for the hexes
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around the impact and everything is
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beautifully interl
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um yeah uh okay so one of the things in
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this module and it's good thing and a
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bad thing is things like here is um it
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would be great to have a page number um
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of where that is is now it's not in the
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module itself but it is something that
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the uh that Zach has actually listened
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to and there's a DM GM screen there that
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has all of the page numbers in I'd
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probably just write on the page numbers
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of of where the uh um where the actual
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dungeons were but yeah it it it has been
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improved a lot as you go through so
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um again I'm not going to go into
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massive detail but right let's jump into
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a couple of these things here so you can
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see kind of how good it is um here's the
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frogling that we were speaking about
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this here the information on the hex uh
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the language consists of croaks and
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ribbeting noises the numbers of dwindled
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to repeated conflicts with the amantis
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men they'll attack anyone that seems
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aggressive they'll befriend anyone that
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kills mantis men or Broach with gifts or
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shiny Treasures immediately again heavy
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lifting done you know what their
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reaction is going to be depending on
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what the players actual work has been so
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far they'll treat anyone who ends uh the
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threat of the Mantis uh as a hero and
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they'll teach their Heroes their tream
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climbing techniques
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um and uh they'll also teach them
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crafting skills uh and they'll give them
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entrance to the for forbidden ubet so
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there's actually almost like an
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extension to this that you can do but
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this is kind of stuff that's been added
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which is super cool if we jump back to
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the folders here you've got the frogling
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hand out the players you can just give
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that to the players and they've got the
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ability to then start creating things
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like a bullfrog Helm that can that
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they'll have to do a bit of work to do
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it that can help them breathe underwater
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which will help then open up different
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areas of this uh module so again just
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really really well done um give you
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another idea of how good these tables
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are um here is just a random random
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table for the Lost CPS hex in it one of
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the things you can roll as cult is
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investigating the undead and collecting
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Quicksilver and again that is relating
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back to the Quicksilver earlier on and
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there's so much of this sprinkled
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through that you won't you probably
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won't even get it the first few times
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you run it but as you actually or the
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first few times you read it but as
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you're running it this stuff will get
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become more and more obvious and and
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you'll Discover it yourself in Play
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here's a town really really cool image
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um again a lovely touch living souls in
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the beginning of the campaign display
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the handout for all the villagers that
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they meet as time progresses Place those
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villages in a separate pile called the p
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and you can also add the PCS there so
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this is almost like helping emphasize
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the the ticking clock and you have um
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where are the
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villagers here you have these and again
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you can cut them out if you're running
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online all these cool images of the
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villagers and you're kind of building a
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p of people that are dying because of
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the NPC's intera or inactions which is
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really really cool um so this is the
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general layout um again really good with
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this kind of like twofold layout which I
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really like um everything is so if if
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you go to any of these this is how it
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kind of like looks on a page you have
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the map and you have the um all of the
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description there
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so it the layout is done really really
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well everything that can possibly be
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done on two facing pages is done there
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um so um yeah uh and again it makes
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things really easy the cult is
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infiltrated the end the owner has been
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turned into a brain poet uh with a mind
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phage worm she goes about a normal
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business in the Mindless malaise uh
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mumbling uh answers to questions bumping
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clumsily into things cult members now
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run the in they use it for profit um and
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also for kidnapping Travelers it just
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like you know exactly what you're doing
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to run this module um again uh this is
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the defiled Temple of the Lumina star uh
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it remains close to the public for
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renovations the front door is barred uh
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three cultists have disguised the temp
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as Temple guards Patrol the Courtyard at
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all times the cultist use a secret
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entrance to uh have um and a hatch
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inside so your play your players will
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immediately go hold up there's a temple
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in town and it's locked up you know
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they're going to get into trouble there
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but it gives you exactly how you're
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going to run this and it it it will just
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unwrap really really well it also gives
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you a better breakdown of people like uh
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ridus the defiler who is the the the
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priest um in the town and he's obviously
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he a member of the cult but he's
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also it's going to be really hard to
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convince villagers that he's that he's
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evil and it gives you kind of like the
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the feedback that you need to understand
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how that's going to run as well so um
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I'm going to pop through because there's
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76 Pages here this gives you an idea of
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what you get with it um everything
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twofolds really cool maps from Dyson
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logos really well written and remember
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these hexes you've also got Random
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Encounters when people are going into
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them from the gazeteer already so it's
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really just it's just a brilliantly done
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module um there's an obsidian Forge um
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for lava dwarves and there's just really
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cool characters throughout it and
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they're not all tied to that Central
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plot which is really really cool
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um artwork is superb um it is just a
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fantastic module um and when I read it
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it was everything I could do not to run
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it immediately um so there's a extension
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to the underdog and there's some maps uh
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in the um in the actual extras they give
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you if you want to extend the module and
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there's a load of stuff on Dyson's logo
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for their under for the underdog that
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you could run that area for absolutely
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ever um the beaster is at the back but
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again you've got your conversions for
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the modules so whether you're running it
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in Fr or whether you're running it in
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any of the other stuff it doesn't really
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make any difference um and uh there's
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all of the treasures that are involved
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in it at the back and the treasures are
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really cool as well it is just overall
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an amazing module now I'm going to give
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you a quick show of some of the stuff
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you get with it there shown you the
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conversions there's maps that have been
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broken down for you for all those areas
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and this is literally just as it gets
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downloaded um there a really really cool
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camera character sheets um like they're
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just they're just cool character sheets
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um what else we got in here they've got
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the frogling handouts and stuff like
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that this is the GM screen um it gives
00:14:10
you everything you need to run the
00:14:12
module um behind the screen if that's
00:14:14
your style um it gives you your random
00:14:16
tables everything that you could just it
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would just make it super easy to run I
00:14:20
just have that as a print out on my
00:14:22
table um you've got loads and loads of
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handouts that you can give to your
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players print out and give or use them
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on a VT um there's pregens here with
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artwork which is super cool there's just
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so much great great stuff in here that I
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really really love there's a players
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guide something that you can uh print
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out and uh give to your players that
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gives them a breakdown of the Town um it
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gives you items that they can barter for
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just how did I get here just just cool
00:14:51
stuff to again just does all the heavy
00:14:54
lifting for you so um there's a link to
00:14:57
this module below it's an affiliate link
00:14:59
so I'll get Pennies on it it won't cost
00:15:00
you anything um but yeah it helps me get
00:15:03
more modules to to review here if you if
00:15:05
you're still here um and you haven't
00:15:07
subscribed please do there's loads of
00:15:08
you who watch this it makes a big
00:15:09
difference to me I do a happy dance
00:15:10
every time someone does and yeah buy
00:15:13
this module man it will make your
00:15:14
weekend to uh just to read it um never
00:15:18
to mind run it CU running it will be
00:15:20
awesome so uh hope you enjoyed this and
00:15:22
um I'll catch you next week take care
00:15:25
bye