Spinning Thorns

Sleeping Beauty has woken. The world has been renewed. Everyone is living happily ever after . . . Almost. Sharp, blood-seeking thorns still surround the castle. A feud remains between those who wield magic and those who were subjected to it. And while the kingdom is divided against itself, nothing can thrive. A rebellion may be needed - and that's where Sleeping Beauty's daughter comes in . . .

d20 combat is efficient yet abstract. While the concept of hit points works well when envisioning a tense fight of sweat, parrying, near misses, and fatigue, it falls on its knees the minute your character takes a solid and brutal blow to the head. How exactly are you supposed to adjudicate a broken arm, a gouged eye, a lacerated liver, or a crushed spine? Torn Asunder provides a complete and comprehensive system for critical hits in any d20 game. The system is elegant and easy to use, it does not do away with hit points, or even alter the combat rules, it simply provides an optional way to deal with critical hits besides piling on additional damage. Critical hits are real hits - disabling function, mangling body parts, and leaving real wounds behind.Torn Asunder pulls no punches; it provides a realistic and effective injury system for d20, covering all creatures, anatomies, and body types. Included as well are rules for natural healing, scarification, and herbal treatments. Torn Asunder also provides a wide variety of resources allowing characters to take advantage of the new system, from quick and precise prestige classes to devastating weapons to powerful and essential magical devices.Don't just beat your opponents into submission, tear them limb from limb.

After being abandoned by her mother in a most unusual place, a defiant heroine sticks to her plan for staying hidden—even though getting caught could mean saving her life. Twelve-year-old Mouse calls an amusement park home. Nobody notices her, and that's the way she likes it. Mouse sweeps the streets and wears a uniform she “borrowed” and sleeps on the top floor of the Haunted House of Horrors. She knows which security guards to avoid, eats the bagel left out each morning for the Ghost of Summer (a popular theme park legend), and even has the taco guy convinced that her lunch is paid for. She has her special hiding methods down to a science. But one morning, a girl named Cat comes looking for Lauren Suszek. Cat notices her, and Mouse doesn’t like it. Mouse cannot let this nosy pest find out who she really is! If Mouse gets discovered living in the park, Mama might come back for her, and Mouse doesn’t want that. Or—even worse?—Mama might not come back at all. Mouse knows she can lose this girl without blowing her cover. She just has to follow her rules. A carefully constructed life in the park is all she needs. Right? Anchored by memorable characters and an extraordinary setting, Maura Jortner’s brilliant debut novel is bursting with grit, humor, and heart. A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection