Review: Raging Swan Press – Stairs (Dungeon Dressing)


Dungeon Dressing: Stairs
Stairs is a fantasy supplement from the Dungeon Dressing series of supplements for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game written by Creighton Broadhurst and published by Raging Swan Press.
By Venus De Coy

Learn more about Dungeon Dressing: Stairs here
Purchase Dungeon Dressing: Stairs here
Find other Dungeon Dressing products here

CONTENT

Dungeon Dressing: Stairs is a small 13 page supplement for the Pathfinder System. Along with some nice rules explanations about stairs, it includes the following:

  • A table presenting 50 options for interesting features of your stairs.
  • A table presenting 100 pieces of stair dressing to breathe life into your creation.
  •  Three clever, challenging stair-based traps (CRs 3-7; and four variants).

It is currently available at DriveThruRPG and Paizo.com for the low price of 1.99.

OVERALL

This was a first for me, to consider a new way to look at stairs besides them being broken or working fine. And I can simply say that I am not going to look at stairs the same way again. In this case, that’s a good thing.

RATINGS

Publication Quality: 10 out of 10
Presentation of Layout: Layout is done once again in simple, minimalistic format that comes with Raging Swan Press. The bookmarks are done well and the format is quite nice. But I would love more than anything to see these supplemental products have a little bit of color, or Sepia for that matter, to balance out the simplicity. Since I do not think they will change that, it would be nice to see one day.

Ease of Mobility: This product transferred over well to my Kindle with ease. They have a printable and a digital version, and I love both.

Mechanics: 9 out of 10
Now, this was the first product that I actually playtested somewhat before reviewing it. I run an online game with a few family members who live far away, and I had written a “Never-ending Staircase” while players were scaling up a Wizards’ Tower. The stair case had a few of the traps that were quite brutal for them to handle even at their CRs.

Mechanically, the staircases are sound, and the information providing the staircases with their functions and works are quite informative and helpful whether you are playing a homemade campaign, or a regular Pathfinder adventure like Masters of the Fallen Fortress in which I was running (revamp in progress) at the time.

Value Add: 9 out of 10
So the downside to all of these supplements that are specific, is that they are only for one or two things, and then they aren’t really applicable to other things outside of it. The price is quite right for the item, and you still get a good return for your money. I would recommend Raging Swan Press consider a bundle for their series, so that way you can get a little more, but as is, it’s quite well worth it.

Overall: 9 out of 10
Minus the specialty of product, this is a product that is quite a lot of fun, and you will want to use the product right away the next time you have people going up stairs.

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