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Rating: 
Summary: Add subtelty to your campaign.
Review: Fantasy Flight Games has come up with a wonderful source book (part class handbook, part trap guide) to add a new element beyond hack and slash for your campaign.The cover art of this book is very suggestive of the new 3rd Edition Dungeons & Dragons design, complete with jewel encrusted clasps. The inside is just as nicely laid out complete with page borders and wonderful illustrations, though in black and white, versus D&D's full color pages. The first half of the book offers a wide range of information dealing with thieves, and not all of it is hard core gaming information. For instance, there is a section dedicated to the 5 (actually 6) senses and how a thief can best use these senses outside of game terms to succeed. For instance, place a metal or crystal tube up against a door to help amplify the sound from beyond. There are a number of prestige classes offered, from the wiley Roofrunner to the daring Trapmaster, each with its own unique specilization of thievery. This section also details new feats, skills, poisons, magical items, and spells for use with thieves. The book offers advice for rewarding experience points for thieving marks. For example, if you don a disquise and impersonate a distant Lord in order to swindle Lady Belgrave out of her recently inherited diamond necklace the DM would assign a Challenge Rating to Lady Belgrave based on her level and the situation. This CR would then determine how much XP the thief receives. The second half of the book is full of new and interesting, yet believable traps to use in your campaign. Most of these are mechanical traps, but the book also has magical and puzzle traps as well. What I enjoy most about this book is not only do the traps come with full descriptions and stats, but most of them also have schematic diagrams detailing how the trap's mechanism works. It's very interesting. This book is recommended mainly for Game Masters, but players will also benefit from the first half of this book. I highly recommend this to add a new non-combat element to your campaign.
Rating: 
Summary: Rogues R' Us
Review: I had a high level of expectation for this product after seeing their fine Blue Planet system. I was not disappointed. Contained in this 176 (reasonably priced) hardcover is: * Complete d20 System rules for designing new traps
* Guidelines for creating memorable puzzles customized to your campaign
* New rogue skills, feats, and equipment
* New poisons, including supernatural toxins such as Medusa's Tears and Demonblood
* Rules for creating and using poisons As well as a wealth of magical and mudance traps of very clever design... If you have a Rogue in your group or you are even vaguely interested in rogues, this is the product for you. The Feats presented are well balanced and creative (and frankly, I am surprised we haven't seen Improved Sneak attack or Photographic memory before now). The Urban Lore skill was sorely needed and only adds to the overall value of the book. Up until this point I had been betting on Sword and Sorcery Press as the leader in d20 supplements, but Fantasy Flight (through their Legends and Lairs imprint) may be set to dethrone the leader. Excellent job.
Rating:
Summary: Traps & Treachery is a treat!
Review: I liked this book far better than the Wizards of the Coast's Book of Challenges. The first third of the book is dedicated to the expansion of the rogue class with new skills, feats, prestige classes, and guild development. This was a pleasant surprise, especially since my gaming character is a rogue. I also like the layout of the trap information--each trap, magical or non-magical, has its own stat block for planning game structure and sketches that show the plausability and feasibility of the trap. The last part of the book provides examples of challenges and puzzles. Overall, it is an excellent product by Fantasy Flight Games.
Rating:
Summary: Traps & Treachery is a treat!
Review: I liked this book far better than the Wizards of the Coast's Book of Challenges. The first third of the book is dedicated to the expansion of the rogue class with new skills, feats, prestige classes, and guild development. This was a pleasant surprise, especially since my gaming character is a rogue. I also like the layout of the trap information--each trap, magical or non-magical, has its own stat block for planning game structure and sketches that show the plausability and feasibility of the trap. The last part of the book provides examples of challenges and puzzles. Overall, it is an excellent product by Fantasy Flight Games.
Rating:
Summary: If only WotC could generate this type of Source Material
Review: It is a rare thing to find truely great source material these days. Especially when you are going to spend on average 20 dollars or more. This book deals almost exclusively with all things rogue. It has some very well thought out and wonderfully written sections on how a thief should shine using his abilities that are so often down played. The prestige classes offered are exceptional as are the new feats and lets not forget the entire section on traps! Some of them just make you cringe, I hope that my DM doesn't get this book and give him any twisted ideas. I feal no need to purchase the future handbook that will deal with rogues and bards for I doubt the 20 dollars I would spend on it would give me 1/16th the pleasure and information provided by this book. I recommend it to anyone looking for good source material that truelly enhances the game.
Rating: 
Summary: Some Useful Ideas But The Scope is too Limited
Review: This book gave me a few ideas. But, I was really dissapointed by the total absence of any outdoor traps.
Rating:
Summary: Some Useful Ideas But The Scope is too Limited
Review: This book gave me a few ideas. But, I was really dissapointed by the total absence of any outdoor traps.
Rating:
Summary: Great resource for DMs
Review: This book presents a great array of information for DMs. It focuses on the more "Mechanical" aspect of rogues, specifically with devices (traps). The first chapter deals with the Rogue class, with new prestige classes like the Trapmaster, a new NPC class, and some new stuff for clerics. Chapters 2, 3, and 4 are essentially a treatise on traps, both mechanical and magical, and there is a comprehensive system presented which allows a DM to exactly determing a CR for traps given various factors and DCs. There is a list of a few dozen new traps, described in great detail (three-quarters page each on average), that I haven't seen the likes of in other sources. And the last Chapter deals with Puzzles - math, logic, word games, and more, through examples that can be easily integrated in a campaign. Really loved the book! I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 simply because I would have liked to have seen more information regarding construction and integration, but really this is a 5-star book as far as 3rd party d20 books go.
Rating:
Summary: Great resource for DMs
Review: This book presents a great array of information for DMs. It focuses on the more "Mechanical" aspect of rogues, specifically with devices (traps). The first chapter deals with the Rogue class, with new prestige classes like the Trapmaster, a new NPC class, and some new stuff for clerics. Chapters 2, 3, and 4 are essentially a treatise on traps, both mechanical and magical, and there is a comprehensive system presented which allows a DM to exactly determing a CR for traps given various factors and DCs. There is a list of a few dozen new traps, described in great detail (three-quarters page each on average), that I haven't seen the likes of in other sources. And the last Chapter deals with Puzzles - math, logic, word games, and more, through examples that can be easily integrated in a campaign. Really loved the book! I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 simply because I would have liked to have seen more information regarding construction and integration, but really this is a 5-star book as far as 3rd party d20 books go.
Rating:
Summary: Rouge to the Extreme
Review: This is a great book, it really makes the rouge class shine in many ways. This book contains great traps, the prestige classes and feats are so-so but the whole trap aspect of the book is amaing, it has fine detail. I bought this book on a whim and enjoyed it much I give it 4 of 5 stars. The paper they use on the inside is cheap. The cover is quality though.
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