The Mists of Akuma – Tsukumogami (5e)

This second of the FREE preview-pdfs for Mike Myler & Storm Bunny Studios’ cooperation clocks in at 8 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page SRD, 1 page KS-summary, leaving us with 4 pages of content, though one of these is devoted to the nice maps of Soburin, the continent of Mists of Akuma.

So, what do we get in these pages? The reply is simple: 4 of the eponymous tsukumogani monstrosities! What are tsukumogami? Well, in case you didn’t know – on the 100th birthday of an item, there is a chance it may awaken to sentience – with sometimes, though not often, dire consequences. Hence rules for appeasing these creatures and some nice adventure hooks and the impact of these beings on the game-world are covered first. The monsters herein would be:

-The akunomōfu (challenge 5) are soiled sheets of former soldiers, possessed by a malign intellect and capable of performing multiattacks and smothering victims, making good use of 5e’s exhaustion mechanic…take heed, though – in groups, these monsters are TPK-material par excellence!

-The chōchin-obake (challenge 1) are less dangerous – but these floating and surprisingly nimble paper lanterns occupied by spirits, with their fiery spit, can certainly still be exceedingly dangerous if played right. Again, nice!

-The Kaiyo-Horror (challenge 10) can make vast hops and gets a fright-inducing gaze attack as a bonus action…oh, and in case you didn’t know: They are basically cannons; dread warmachines awoken to malign purpose. No, you do NOT want to be in the sights of these dread beings! (The artwork is, fyi, also rather disturbing…)

-Kasa-Obake are animate umbrellas with a paralyzing gaze that bespeaks of their knowledge of dread secrets. They have keen ears, a charming tongue with which they can lick you as well as shred you with their talons. Once again, a cool critter.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are very good, I noticed no truly grievous glitches. Layout adheres to the two-column full-color standard of these pdfs and the respective creatures herein all get full-color artworks in a mix of custom art and thematically-fitting, gorgeous stock art. The pdf comes fully bookmarked for your convenience.

Mike Myler’s creatures herein are unique, fun and offer quite a lot of narrative potential and make me excited to see what’s up with the KS. Blending his trademark levity with the horrific has some rather interesting consequences I consider thoroughly enjoyable. So yeah – 4 neat creatures and some ideas for FREE – go check this and the KS out. My final verdict will clock in at 5 stars + seal of approval.

You can get these monsters for FREE here on OBS and here on d20pfsrd.com’s shop!

You can join the kickstarter (only 5 days to go!) here!
Endzeitgeist out.

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