A review copy of “Cristo’s Compendium of Crimes” was provided by the publisher. Find more reviews on my website and YouTube channel.
Support my work by using my affiliate links and pledging via Patreon.
Designed by: Angus Bessai
Cristo’s Compendium of Crimes is a 60-page encounter book, filled with 20 encounters of a sordid nature, for levels 1-10. It’s far from the most attractive presentation, but the ideas and situations are certainly worth the stroll through a dark alley.
“Crimes” is a broad term, and Cristo’s includes a bit of everything: human sacrifices, an insane magic-bomber, a child-napping troll, bank embezzlement, a drug den posing as a school, a devil-pigeon stealing souls, and my personal favorite, an awakened horse as a contract killer-for-hire.
Sadly Cristo himself barely makes an appearance. The gruff dwarven bounty hunter headlines the book, but other than a brief introduction, he’s nowhere to be found.
The wide range of encounters and themes are in bad need of some content warnings. The quite serious crimes lean more toward CSI and Law and Order than a Guy Ritchie romp, for example, though the one with the clueless cultists is a clever bit of both.
In “All Dressed Up,” a group of misguided folks have gotten way over their head, led by a man who claims to have dark powers, but literally is just making stuff up on the spot. They’ve kidnapped folks and are very serious about ritualistically killing them.
There’s a neat twist where one of the victims is a bearded devil in disguise, who’s mostly amused and looking to make some deals.
The horse-assassin in “The Dark Horse,” is a brief murder mystery. The PCs investigate a death at a stables, with very little evidence. Turns out one of the horses did it, an awakened horse who can cast spells and kills for money.
That’s some Baldur’s Gate 3 shit right there, and I love it.
Another favorite is “For Laugh of a Dragon,” which involves a cruel faerie dragon playing pranks around a market plaza, sewing discontent among the merchants. The dragon goes way too far when its polymorphs a playful child into a Tyrannosaurus Rex, causing panic and mayhem — and more than likely the poor child’s death, unless the PCs act carefully.
Each of these encounters is brief, well-organized, and easy to run, taking only about two pages each.
I’ve been spoiled on CZRPG’s encounter books, as only half of these include maps, and none of them feature color. I have to remind myself that many encounter books don’t offer maps, but it’s still a disappointment.
A few encounters bite off a bit more than they can chew, and would’ve been better served as fully-fleshed side quests, including the dark snow white vampire encounter, the drug den posing as a a school (which has a connected second encounter in a warehouse), and a sewer full of newly hatched slaad infants.
But for the most part, this is a hidden gem of an encounter book. Urban settings are the most intimidating locations for adventure, and this book features lots of fun, varied encounters to help break up the next shopping trip.
Pros:
- 20 two-page urban encounters with fun ideas.
- Range of styles and themes, including exciting chases, drug den bust-ups, haunting investigations, and a talking horse-assassin!
- Over 20 statblocks and magic items.
Cons:
- Needs editing and clean-up.
- Could benefit from content warnings (drugs, children in peril, sacrificial murder, etc).
- Half the encounters lack maps (and all maps lack color).
- Needs a lot more Cristo!
The Verdict: Cristo’s Compendium of Crimes is a bit rough around the edges, but offers a wealth of fun, original ideas in one of the more challenging areas to create encounters in.
A review copy of “Cristo’s Compendium of Crimes” was provided by the publisher. Find more reviews on my website and YouTube channel.
Support my work by using my affiliate links and pledging via Patreon.
RogueWatson 