Into the Green: a Review

Earlier this month, I reviewed "Into the Black" by Bastion Press. I also was fortunate enough to pick up "Into the Green" at an extremely discounted price while at Gen Con and am finally getting a chance to really go through it.

While this guide – like the others in the "Into" series – is intended to work with D&D 3rd Edition, much of the information can be used with 4th Edition (or many other games) with very few changes. While I find "Into the Black" a more useful role-playing accessory, this book contains many ideas, tables, and descriptions that make it a worthwhile purchase.

The weather tables in the back of the manual contain information broken out by season and then forests, jungles, woods, and plains includes temperature ranges and humidity as well as the more typical information such as whether or not it is raining or storming and how strong the wind is. It has never occurred to me to consider humidity in a game. To much moisture could cause the ink on scrolls or in books to smear and run. Too little humidity could cause static buildup that could potentially explode some potions or light oil stored in metal flasks.

The information in this guide is broken down into four convenient sections to allow for DMs to quickly find information related to their setting: forests, jungles, woods, and plains. Each section contains a rather large bestiary including extensive descriptions and suggestions on how to use these creatures in your own campaign. Specific weather conditions are also discussed at length including threats to player characters. Flora that characters may encounter in these areas are also mentioned. One of the most interesting things about the detail in these sections is that the book is very interdisciplinary; for instance, the sections on plants relates back to weather patterns for growing season information. This assists Dungeon Masters in helping to make their campaign setting feel more cohesive and that everything belongs in that world.

Also, what accessory would be complete without new items? Besides new magic items, there are also new materials listed. These new materials even include specific types of furs. This breakdown into more specific furs has the potential to add a great element to role-playing and story telling. For instance, what type of fur is the orc warrior wearing? It now makes a difference as to many factors in the game (such as water resistance) as well as giving a wider variety of appearances.

The information contained in this guide can assist in helping GMs in many systems spicing up their games. In addition, there are numerous concepts such as humidity in this manual that I -and probably many other Game Masters – have never considered. These concepts can help to make each game more rich, diverse, and interesting.