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Random Fantasy Adventure Generator
Publisher: Adamant Entertainment
by Jim [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 06/18/2024 10:45:55

You get 5 tables of 64 entries each to create a MadLibs-style situation summary: "The main characters must [DO] [SOMETHING], at [LOCATION], but have to contend with [COMPLICATIONS] while being confronted by [OPPOSITION]." Example: The main characters must [Track] [Outsider], at [Wizard’s Tower], but have to contend with [Rivalry] while being confronted by [Criminals].

The table entries are fantasy-oriented but fairly general. You'll need to flesh out the table results, such as who that Outsider is, who the Rivals are, who the Criminals are, and how they're connected to each other.

You'll also need to address matters like the hook that gets the characters into the adventure, the results of failure or success, and any helpers or useful resources. The tables don't cover those issues.

Because there are 64 entries per table, you can create 64 unique combinations of elements. The product page mentions 1,073,741,824 possible results, which is technically true because that's 64 to the 5th power, but there can be no more than 64 completely unique combinations of table results. That still might be plenty of material for you, especially because your added details can create variety beyond what the tables offer.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Random Fantasy Adventure Generator
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Adapting Non-Roleplaying Material
Publisher: Lightspress Media
by Jim [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/19/2024 14:34:50

I found this disappointing. It's 51 pages of generalities and concepts. I was hoping for examples, techniques, and case studies, but the content labeled as such amounts to a paragraph or two each of generalities and concepts.

For instance, we're told that "Thematic consistency is necessary for maintaining the integrity of the narrative and player interactions." How does one do that? "Player choices and actions should reflect and contribute to the overarching themes of the game." How? There's nothing on how to ferret out themes, how to implement them in an RPG setting, or how to play them out. All we're told is that it's important, and that the writer has done it. There are no spelled-out techniques or worked examples.

Similarly, we're told that NPCs and locations are important (we knew that), but there are no particular techniques presented on ways to implement the material or play it out. "I considered how Gandalf's motivations and growth could intersect with the players' journey, ensuring that his guidance remained relevant and impactful." And how did you go about that? We don't find out.

There are no worked examples showing the concepts in action. There are no step-by-step methods for preparation or play.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
Adapting Non-Roleplaying Material
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Mythic Game Master Emulator Second Edition
Publisher: Word Mill Games
by Jim B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/13/2023 12:26:07

I bought this solely on Tana's track record for solid ideas and solid writing, and I wasn't disappointed. This edition neatly ties together the first edition and material that has come out since then.

I like the fact that it recognizes different ways you might want to use the various tools. I like the fact that it offers options and variants. That could, however, be daunting for someone new to all this when they face over 200 pages of material. My tip for someone brand new to this who wants to start small: Use just the Fate Chart (and only the gray column) or just the Fate Check (only the odds modifier) to get a simple yes/no answer to a question you would have posed to a GM. Get the hang of that, and then you can read up on exceptional results, the Chaos Factor, and random events, and then move on to lists or scene setup.

The examples are well worth reading.

While I'm glad to see all those meaning tables, I'd rather have the entries in "chaos" order than alphabetical order. That is, in the same sense that "Yes answers are typically more active than No answers," push the terms that involve greater chaos, action, tension, excitement, or danger toward the high end of each table, and the terms that are more about safety, calm, or relief toward the low end of each table. That would give me more opportunities for blending expectations and randomness. A simple d100 roll would still work as before. In addition, I'd have the option to bias the results if I want. The bias can take various forms, such as swapping the d100 digits (e.g., 82 becoming 28 if I'm biasing low), or taking the higher or lower of two d100 rolls, adding or subtracting 50 when the d100 roll is in the "wrong" half of the table, or maybe even using the Chaos Factor as the tens digit and rolling d10 for the ones digit. Take the Character Identity table as an example. "Killer" would be toward the high end and "Lackey" toward the low end. If I'm creating a character who should probably be a dangerous enemy, I'd bias the roll toward the high end. If I'm creating a character who's probably neutral or harmless, I'd bias low. If I'm creating an intriguing or puzzling object, I might make two rolls on the Objects table, one biased high and one biased low. But it's still random; I'm only biasing the roll, not dictating an exact result. And I could always use a straight d100 roll when I don't want to bias the result.

There wouldn't be a perfect chaos ordering for each table, but "close enough" would be close enough. For example, two people might disagree on whether "dangerous" is more or less chaotic than "threatening," but both terms would be toward the chaotic end of the table, while "reassuring" and "ornamental" would be more toward the low end.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Mythic Game Master Emulator Second Edition
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SoloCutz - Le Morte D'Arthur
Publisher: Tangent Zero
by Jim B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/12/2022 03:35:42

You get a lot of variety from a SoloCutz spreadsheet (compared to generic table-driven solo oracles), while at the same time you can be more focused on the tone and genre you're seeking.

One advantage of the SoloCutz approach over certain other solo tools is that you can choose the title that best fits your genre and tone. In some other solo tools, you're rolling on generic tables that are supposed to work regardless of the tone or genre of your campaign. Fairy tales for kids? Science fiction for adults? Generic oracles would have you use the same word tables for both.

Another advantage is the sheer number of possible results. A generic oracle might use d100 tables or something smaller. Statistically, if you're rolling d100, you're likely to start repeating previous rolls by about the 12th roll. A d20 table is likely to start repeating after 6 rolls. That's not much variety. In contrast, Part 1 of Le Morte d'Arthur has 20,539 entries, and Part 2 has 24,028. For a table of 20,539 entries, repetition doesn't become likely until the 169th result.

The spreadsheet gives you 20 random excerpts from the text. Each excerpt is several words long, typically not a complete sentence. The spreadsheet offers you a way to flag some results as keepers so you can you reroll the rest. Once you're satisfied, you could then copy the results elsewhere.

My preferred usage is to pose a concrete question, and then I use a result that answers my question or that implies or inspires an answer. If I ask "Where does this scene take place," a result like "he put Sir Tristram in prison, and" suggests that the scene takes place in a prison. A result like "talking together, therein came twelve" doesn't name a location, but it implies a location where people would be talking together, so I could make the location a noble's hall, during a meal. If I ask "What is Sir Leodorak doing," the result "he put Sir Tristram in prison, and" could suggest that Leodorak is either imprisoning someone or being imprisoned himself -- whichever seems more likely or more interesting in context. The result "talking together, therein came twelve" could suggest that he's in conversation, or that he's arriving as part of a group (of twelve, maybe).

A nice touch is that Tangent Zero trimmed the fat from the original -- no extraneous stuff like front matter, end matter, or chapter headings. All results are from the body of the work.

The spreadsheets include a few common dice results for when you need a numeric answer or when you have a yes/no-style question. For my part, I don't need these spreadsheets to be my dice roller, but the dice results don't inhibit my use of the tool.

You need no more than basic spreadsheet skills to use the spreadsheet, such as triggering a recalculation or copying and pasting.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
SoloCutz - Le Morte D'Arthur
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Dungeons for the Master
Publisher: dicegeeks
by Jim B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/23/2022 10:31:39

Short version: This is for you if you want lots of unfurnished, unpopulated, one-page dungeon maps, and tables of random room contents.

The first section is "100 Original Maps," except it's 82 maps, not 100. Then you get "77 Other Maps" that were published previously, apparently. The 77 figure is accurate, so that's 159 maps in total, not 177.

All the maps are one-pagers with about one or two dozen rooms. None of them have overlapping layers.

The maps don't include grids or scale indicators. There's no indication of room height.

A few dungeons include pits, but the majority of changes in depth are marked as stairs -- no slopes, ladders, chutes, or other options. There lots of doors; none of them are marked as secret doors.

Every dungeon has an evocative name (such as "The Warehouse of Sprax"). There's no description, backstory, or hooks, so the name is just for inspiration.

Very few of the dungeons have multiple entrances, and fewer still have entrances in different parts of the map. From an in-world perspective, a single entrance is a dangerous single point of failure, whether you're a dungeon resident or a dungeon delver. Blocking the sole exit entombs or imprisons everyone inside. From a gaming perspectve, a single entrance diminishes player agency. It doesn't give the players any choice over how to enter or leave. If you like jaquaying a dungeon, you'll want to doctor the maps to add another outside entrance. A few of the random table results could give you alternate exits to the outside.

Most of the maps allow multiple paths that the players could take through the dungeon, so that's good for player agency. Some maps are fairly linear instead.

In every map, the rooms are unnamed, undescribed, and unfurnished. If what you really need is a layout, you're in luck. If you want a furnished dungeon, you're out of luck, unless the random tables fill that need for you.

There are no natural features or water sources on the maps. Everything is either a room or a hallway, and almost all of them are rectangular with vertical and horizontal sides (very few diagonals or curves). You can roll up a well or river randomly on the tables (only a 1% chance of each, each time you roll), so you'll probably want to doctor the maps yourself if you want water in there somewhere.

Seemingly all of the maps assume an underground environment. There are no windows on any map, for example, although you can roll one up randomly on the tables. In many cases, you could declare that portions of the map are above ground, and then you'd add windows, outside entrances, and so on as desired.

The "1d100 Dungeon Encounters" section offers 49 pages of random tables (1 initial table, 48 pages of subtables). You start with a table of 100 entries: 4 character types (dwarf, halfling, human, or elf), 7 mundane animals (rodent, wolf, etc.), 1 "monster" (a ghost), several room types (pantry, barracks, etc.), a couple of dozen fixed features (a tree, a bridge, etc.), and dozens of entries for loose items.

Regarding room types, you can easily come up with several that aren't represented in the tables, especially if your dungeon has a particular purpose or theme (a community, a monstrous lair, a stronghold, a holy site, a secret hideaway, catacombs, etc.). You'd have to come up with your own themed room types.

The initial d100 result leads you to subtables that add a few details. For example, if you roll up a vase, you can then roll for its size, position, and contents. If you roll up a human, you then roll for the human's size, disposition, and profession. Some subtables indicate that the result is magical or valuable, leaving most of the details up to you.

The product info says it's system-agnostic, but the tables make occasional references to d20 terms and concepts (damage dice, alignment, etc.). There's not much of it, so you could easily tweak it for a different system.

You'll often need your improv or creative skills to put the tables to good use. The table results might give you, for example, a note with a poem of death on it, a book that's sitting on a raised dais, or a wolf. But then what? Why is that wolf there? What makes that book interesting, valuable, useful, challenging, or dangerous to the players? What's the poem's connection to the dungeon or the adventure? The tables hand you a prop (or a being), but the rest is up to you.

What it all comes down to is that you get 159 empty dungeon maps and tables of random room contents.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Dungeons for the Master
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Interstellar Patrol Adventure Cards
Publisher: Nothing Ventured Games
by Jim B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/06/2022 08:52:47

This is an optional but useful companion product to Interstellar Patrol. It expands on the situations and worlds found there. Note that you're still getting seeds, not fully fleshed-out adventures or worlds. This is good for a low-prep or pickup game.

The plot cards offer a good variety of situations. Each card gives you two brief situations that fit a certain theme, such as Strange Phenomenon or Enemy Action. As an earlier reviewer said, the description font could have been bigger. The adventure fractal icons on the plot cards are unnecessary, so they just take up real estate that could have left room for a bigger font. Each situation description is just a sentence or two, so it's up to you and your group to run with it.

The adventure fractal cards are for those who are following the adventure fractal model described by Ryan Danks. Here's his archived description: https://web.archive.org/web/20160309215516/http://ryanmdanks.com/?p=496

Each adventure fractal card assigns the values +0, +1, +2, and +3 to the adventure's or scene's four skills: combat, diplomacy, exploration, and science. In aggregate, the cards cover every possible combination of skills and values.

The world cards offer good variety. Each card gives the world a skill level, a world aspect (e.g., Well-Established Colony), a story aspect (e.g., Hidden Technologies), a world type, and a name. The world and story aspects and the names are unique to each card. The world type is one of those described briefly in Interstellar Patrol. Apply the world's skill level to the world's denizens and challenges. Invoke the aspects when appropriate, and use them as narrative guidance for the kinds of denizens, locations, things, and events you're likely to encounter.

You can play Interstellar Patrol without the cards, but the cards are a good addition.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Interstellar Patrol Adventure Cards
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Brazen Backgrounds: Character Backgrounds for Bronze Age Settings
Publisher: Gundobad Games
by Jim B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/11/2022 14:21:02

Nicely done. As another reviewer said, it does exactly what it says on the tin. The character backgrounds offer variety and interest if you have a Bronze Age setting and you want some historical accuracy.

I'm glad to see the author is a Bronze Age expert. The introduction gives you a few pages of overview for a Bronze Age setting, plus a list of recommended books where you can find out more.

Even though it aims for historical realism, there's nothing stopping you from putting a fantasy spin on things.

There are four groups (broad categories) of character backgrounds consisting of six roles each, for a total of 24 roles. A nice touch is that you get four ways to roll up results:

  • Diverse d6 by group: roll d4 to chooose the group then d6 to choose the role within the group. All roles have equal probability.
  • Weighted d10 by group: d4 for the group, then d10 approximately matching the historical frequency of a role within the group.
  • Diverse d100, no groups: d100 almost evenly distributed across all 24 roles.
  • Weighted d100, no groups: d100 distributed across all 24 roles according to approximate historical frequency.

Each background gets a paragraph telling you how that role works in a Bronze Age setting. I had never heard of the "Speaker at the Gate" concept before. The brief description is enough to work with, but I'd probably want to dig into one of the books listed in the introduction to find out more. The other roles were conceptually familiar, but it was good to see the descriptions telling you what they were like in the Bronze Age that might not be what they're like in other eras.

Most of the backgrounds include a tweak or two for your character, such as additional equipment or a bonus to a characteristic.

Each background drills down further. Most of them have a d4 list in response to "Tell us about this background." The exception is the Artisan/Skilled Laborer, which rolls against a d12 list (twice) for craft specializations. This additional info gives you a subtype for your role. Your charioteer might have been a charioteer/archer, for example, or if you're a foot soldier, you might have been a skirmisher in particular. It's almost like having 96 roles instead of 24.

Another nice touch is that each background also gives you a d4 list of responses to "Tell us why you left." In fact, you could use a lot these for other settings as well. How come you're off adventuring when you had a day job? These lists answer that question with plausible, creative stories described in a sentence or two or three. Maybe your manual laborer ran off to join a bandit gang. Maybe your caravan member fled after being accused of spying. You're left to flesh out any details (How's that gang working out? Are you really a spy?). You could start adding your own variations to these stories, such as using the bandit gang story for some other role, or choosing a different crime in the accusation story.

The extra benefit of these "why you left" stories is that they offer continuing adventure material, such as recurring NPCs, places where you're especially safe or especially at risk, or on-going personal quests.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Brazen Backgrounds: Character Backgrounds for Bronze Age Settings
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Creator Reply:
Thanks so much for offering a detailed review! I'm glad you're enjoying BRAZEN BACKGROUNDS.
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Be Awesome At Dungeon Design (Augmented Edition)
Publisher: Raging Swan Press
by Jim B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/09/2022 14:48:06

As other reviewers have noted, there's a lot of really solid advice on creating an engaging dungeon environment.

Chapter Five (The Dungeon's Ecology) offers a list of reasons to include some unoccupied rooms. I'll add one more: modularity. If you realize during play that you've overlooked something or that you really ought to add something (a crucial clue, a monster's lair, bathrooms for the denizens, etc.), you could easily repurpose a nearby unoccupied room. Several chapters could benefit from factoring in ways to make the dungeon modular and adaptable during play. Wandering monsters, for example. Use them to introduce crucial clues that the PCs have missed, or to give the PCs an easy, rewarding encounter if they're demoralized or a tough encounter if things have been too easy.

Precisely one chapter gives me heartburn: Chapter Nine, Creating the Illusion of Detail. You could just rename it "How to Waste Everyone's Time When You Haven't Prepared." In the first two sentences, it states a valid problem: when the PCs reach a part of the dungeon you haven't prepared. After that, the advice is problematic. The NPCs can deceive the PCs, but the GM should never deceive the players. Deliberately stalling them and wasting their time only because you haven't prepared is not the way I'd treat my players. Besides, the advice in Chapter Nine can easily backfire. If you put up extra encounters and barriers, you could make the PCs more interested in seeing what's beyond. If you give them an unbeatable monster, they might think you wouldn't do that to them, and then you have a TPK on your hands. How hard do you keep stalling them before they realize they've wasted their time? How much will they enjoy finding out that you gave them an unbeatable problem? You could kill the mood or erode trust. Chapter Nine isn't the illusion of detail. It's the deception that the PCs think they have a chance of going in a direction you don't want them to take.

There are two ways to keep the PCs out of areas you haven't prepared: Be straight with the players, or don't put temptation in their path.

Being straight with the players: "Let's take the action elsewhere. I'm not done with this part." Good players can accept that and move on. They'll appreciate that you didn't waste their time. Problem solved within seconds and you've reinforced trust. It's no worse than saying, "Let's break for pizza."

Refraining from temptation: Instead of putting up barriers and encounters that you hope will divert the PCs, put nothing there. Instead of a door they can't open protected by monsters they can't beat, make it a blank wall. Instead of a collapsed tunnel they might try to get through, there's no tunnel. They'll walk on by. Again, problem solved within seconds.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Be Awesome At Dungeon Design (Augmented Edition)
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Creator Reply:
Thank you, Jim, for taking the time to post your thoughts on Be Awesome. I am sorry chapter nine gave you heartburn! I can certainly see your point of view regards the illusion of detail. If/when I revise this book I will add in a section presenting your suggested solution to the problem of the characters eandering off in the "wrong" direction! Thanks again
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Creature Decks Fate PDFs [BUNDLE]
Publisher: Inkwell Ideas
by Jim B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/16/2021 02:57:25

With 54 creatures in each of five decks, you have 270 creature types at your fingertips. The previews show you exactly what you get with each creature: good artwork and the Fate specs for the creature: concept, trouble, other aspects, Fate Core skills, stunts, extras, physical and mental stress tracks, and size.

Most creature types get a single card: one stone giant card, one red dragon card, one ettercap card, and so on. Some get two or three cards for subtypes, such as goblin, goblin leader, and goblin shaman or lamia and lamia matriarch.

If you're using Fate Accelerated, Evil Hat has a Fate Accelerated/Core Conversion Guide that gives you a conversion method. That guide also notes, however, that "it’s not really going to wreck anything for you to just leave them as is, roll what you gotta roll, and stay focused on the players." (It's referring to Core/Accelerated conversion in general, not the creature decks in particular.)

Each card gives the creature a scale rating, which isn't a Fate term. The title card says that scale is "an indication of the creature's power." Whether and how you use the scale rating is left up to you; the cards provide no game mechanics for it. One might quibble with some of their choices, such as giving an ordinary toad (Small and Harmless Amphibian) the same scale rating as a zombie.

Monster stat blocks in other RPG systems tend to focus heavily on combat stats, leaving non-combat elements to the descriptive text. These cards include combat and non-combat elements, fortunately, and sometimes hints on when they'd seek or avoid combat. The drider is a Corrupted and Shamed Elf/Spider Hybrid. The goblin leader has If You Can't Beat 'Em, Hide. A griffon is a Mythic King of Beasts of the Sky and Earth. A manticore has Buy Me Off - Please.

There's no narrative description of the creatures beyond what you see on the cards. You'd take inspiration from the card elements and from your own understanding or vision of the creature. Some of the listed aspects are obvious and straightforward. An eye of the deep Sees in All Directions. A hippogriff is a Half-Horse Half-Hawk Flying Steed. Some aspects are more open to interpretation. A harpy has A Taste for the Exotic as its trouble and What Is That Scent? for one of its additional aspects. A stone giant has What Has Been Hewn in Stone. This is good news if that inspires your group, or bad news if you want a more detailed explanation of what it all means.

Magic-using creatures have magic-related aspects, stunts, or extras. There's no particular system of magic other than using these things to create magical effects. A kobold shaman, for example, has Trap Magic and Minor Illusions as stunts, with brief descriptions of each.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Creature Decks Fate PDFs [BUNDLE]
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The Accelerated Book of Approaches
Publisher: Dice Monkey
by Jim B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 10/13/2021 18:55:05

As other reviewers have noted, this is more like an extended blog post or forum comment than a "book" (as it calls itself). At least it's only 59 cents currently.

The sorta good: Overall, there's nothing terribly compelling, but there are a few things that are sorta good for Fate Accelerated Edition (FAE).

  • Each of the usual FAE approaches gets a couple of sentences about downsides. That's a good way to view approaches. You gain something by taking one approach or another, but you also risk something. That can help you narrate failure or success at a cost. The shortcoming here is that that idea could have used a deeper treatment beyond just listing a couple of examples.
  • It refers to your highest approach as your default stance, which guides the GM on what to describe to players. The most careful character picks up extra details, the most forceful character is better at sizing up threats, and so on. This too could have used a deeper treatment, given that this work calls itself a book of approaches. Adjusting the level of description might enhance the game if handled well. It can be problematic if it means you're withholding information the players need. Fate assumes that player characters are competent, so there's a case for giving them what they need just for that reason, instead of witholding information because their careful (or whichever) is only +2 instead of +3.

The not so good:

  • For each FAE approach, it gives a couple of additional examples. You could easily do better with an online search or with a brainstorming session in your gaming group.
  • Each FAE approach ends with "Familiar Characters of this Archetype." That misses the point of what approaches are about. Approaches aren't archetypes. Archetypes aren't approaches. A key feature of FAE is that you can use almost any approach for almost any task. If you can describe it, you can do it. No matter which approach is your highest, and no matter how you envision your character, you could be careful this time, quick the next, and forceful after that, even for the same sort of task. You can assign values to your approaches as you see fit, without being limited by your archetype or vice-versa.
  • The "Attribute Approaches" section repeats three sets of character attributes from other RPG systems: d20, d6 (six attributes "which should cover most situations"), and Traveller. It gives the descriptions you can easily find elsewhere. And that's it. There's no discussion of how they change the flavor of the game or how you might adapt these alternate systems to FAE.
  • The "Skill Approaches" section offers three sets of alternate approaches: a James Bond-like setting, a wizarding school, and a space knights setting. There are a few problems with these sets. First, they list six skills as approaches. If you want Fate with skills, play Fate Core (or Fate Condensed, published more recently) instead of Fate Accelerated. Second, each set of skills is tailored to one type of character. Is everyone in a superspy setting a superspy? Is everyone in the school of wizardry a wizard? Does everyone in the space knight setting have space knight skills? There's no discussion of the non-superspies, non-wizards, and non-space knights in these settings. Third, there's no discussion on how to handle these alternate sets of approaches or how they would change the flavor of a FAE game.
  • The product description says "the FATE Core Rulebook provides an excellent set of approaches." The one with approaches is Fate Accelerated, not Fate Core.


Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
The Accelerated Book of Approaches
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Adventure Outline Maker - SciFi Edition
Publisher: Ennead Games
by Jim B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/26/2021 09:56:23

In essence, it's a fill-in-the-blanks adventure summary, which is much like the log line of a movie or novel. To me, calling it an "outline maker" suggests a hierarchical set of lists (outline format), but that's not what this is. You get one or a few sentences that summarize an adventure situation.

It gives you seven templates: one that uses all the d100 tables, and others that use only certain tables. You might find individual tables useful outside of the adventure generator as well: Personality and Profession tables, Action and Target tables for a mission, Locations, Complications, Help/Opposition, and Rewards.

Here's one example of the full template, in which bracketed text comes from d100 tables: A [Joyful] [Prospector] wants you to [Repel] a [Government Building] that is located in [Deep Underground]. Along the way, the party runs into [Riddles] and are aided or hindered by [opposition - Pilot]. Their reward for success is [Map].

Creative interpretation is often required. What does it mean to repel a building? Maybe you have to ward off or resist the agency housed in this building, or you have to keep the guards away from the prospector. Or you reroll an element or choose from the table yourself. Or maybe you toss out one element and make up your own answer.

Fleshing out the adventure is up to you, whether you plan in advance or improvise during play. This adventure generator just gives you the situation. What does the prospector want? Why this building? Why you? What does the pilot have to do with this? The adventure generator leaves those questions to you.

It's system-neutral, which means of course that system-specific game mechanics are all up to you.

You'll find Adventure Outline Maker helpful if an adventure summary is the inspiration you need.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Adventure Outline Maker - SciFi Edition
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Adventure Generator: Volume I
Publisher: Lightspress Media
by Jim B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/10/2021 17:34:10

Adventure Generator Vol. 1 includes four d20 tables, but it goes beyond the madlibs-style of adventure creation or the hook approach.

The tables are: adventure type, environment, adversary, and theme.

The adventure type table (and the accompanying text) is the heart and the main value of the generator. You get ten adventure types. Volume 2 provides ten more. If you like what the adventure types offer (which I'll describe below), you'll probably like the Adventure Generator (either or both volumes). If it doesn't sound like your style at all, this isn't the product for you.

The product description says the Adventure Generator is for a fantasy setting, but the adventure types themselves aren't specific to fantasy. You could use these same adventure types in a variety of genres with little or no tweaking.

Each adventure type gets about 2000-3000 words of text. First, it gives you an adventure summary. The "Block by Block" adventure has this summary, for instance: "The player characters head into a dangerous situation to rescue someone from the adversary and return them to safety." It goes on to offers tips for basing an adventure on that summary: Adapting for the System, Adapting for the Campaign, Adapting for the Environment, and Adapting for the Adversary (one or a few paragraphs each).

Next, each adventure type lays out a five-encounter model, which is reminiscent of (but not identical to) the Five Room Dungeon model by Johnn Four. Whereas a Five Room Dungeon leans toward adventures that are relatively quick and lean, Adventure Generator gives a deeper treatment. It describes the storytelling function of each encounter as it relates to the particular adventure type. For example, Encounter 1 gives tips on establishing the situation, demonstrating the stakes, and creating character connections. In other words, you're getting "here's how encounter N fits into the adventure" instead of "here's who you encounter" or "here's what the PCs must do."

You get tips on where and how you might expand the number of encounters or tweak the model, such as: "If you wish to expand the adventure beyond 5 encounters, this can be broken into a separate challenge."

Some people automatically declare "railroading" the moment they see anything resembling a structure, but the Adventure Generator isn't railroading. The encounter descriptions don't dictate to the players how they should achieve the aventure goal. The descriptions don't limit player choices. They also don't limit the GM's options. Knowing that Encounter 4 is a good time for "adversary retaliation" helps you (as the GM) adapt to the situation. Maybe you have some ideas in advance. Maybe you improvise on the spot, based on what's happened so far and any previous ideas you had. "Adversary retaliation" is inspiration and guidance, not a script that must be followed.

The environment types and adversary types are all things you've seen before, if you're familiar with the usual fantasy RPG settings. You get a brief paragraph on each environment that probably won't tell you anything new. For the adversaries, you get one of the usual fantasy adversary types (humanoids, undead, etc.), with a brief paragraph on what they are and a list of example creatures of that type. You might find them helpful, but most likely, you already have your own ways to choose adventure settings and adversaries, and they're already adapted for your setting. If you have those resources, you might not be interested these two tables. If you don't have such resources, environment and adversary tables here give you broad types, not specifics, so you'd still need to come up with the details you need.

If you have your own environment and adversary resources, you're also not confined to the fantasy genre. You can use the adventure types and the themes in other genres, using your own methods for devising the environment and adversaries.

The theme table, marked optional, gives you "something akin to literary theme" for focusing the adventure conflicts in a particular direction. You get ten themes, such as "Crime Doesn't Pay" or "Humanity vs. Society." Each one gives you a couple of paragraphs discussing the sorts of conflicts you'd see with that theme. The theme is basically a lens as you develop the adventure. If you decide that your theme is "crime doesn't pay," then you develop the adventure with a focus on wrongdoers trying to get away with wrongdoing or eventually getting what they deserve.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Adventure Generator: Volume I
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Empire Builder - Fortifications
Publisher: Ennead Games
by Jim B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/10/2021 09:47:16

This is a solid tool for helping you create pre-industrial fortifications in a fantasy setting. You could use these tables for non-fantasy settings if you're willing to skip over the fantasy elements when they arise. There's a Visual Style table that names various historical and fantasy styles (without describing them), but several of the tables use medieval European castle terminology in particular.

The document helps you spec out the fortification, but it's not a map generator and there are no maps or diagrams included. You wind up with a list of elements and descriptions, but if you want to map it out, roughly or on a map grid, that's all on you.

If you're creating a fortification from scratch, you could use most or all of the tables to generate the fortification randomly, using your judgment along the way to decide what's worth rolling up and how it all fits together. You'd use most tables once each, and some tables more than once. Rolling it all up from scratch and forming your mental image of the place could take a little while, so you wouldn't do that in the middle of a session. If you have an existing fortification or decisions you've already made, you can roll on only the tables you want. They're modular that way. You could use some of them for ad hoc rolls during play to answer specific questions, such as the current status of the place.

There are a couple of tables that refer generally to the area around the fortification (purpose and general location), but there's nothing about generating the fortification's support systems, such as surrounding villages, fields, and other resources. If you want to model the fortification's economy, you'll need other tools. There's also no distinction between the features that would appear in a fortification that's embedded in a city, for example, versus a lone wilderness outpost.

The document is system-neutral, so there are no prices, statistics, or modifiers. Converting this to your RPG's stats is on you. Similarly, there are no exact size or population numbers. You get abstract size and population units that give you an idea of relative size or population, but turning them into specifics is left to you (if you want the specifics).

Many of the tables include descriptions of the entries. If you don't know what machicolation is, for example, there's a brief paragraph that explains it.

The document provides a method for determining how many military and civilian "population units" (PU) are present. The PU is a relative term, not an exact population count. If you have 3 military PU and 2 civilian PU, it's up to you to decide what those might mean in terms of numbers or subgroup roles.



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Empire Builder - Fortifications
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Empire Builder - Era Names
Publisher: Ennead Games
by Jim B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/10/2021 00:02:12

This is a world-buildng tool that generates names for historical periods in your timeline. It's only a name generator, not a mini-game for generating histories. There are no details: no dates, no durations, no causes, no impacts, no heroes or villains, etc. It simply gives you an era name and then it's up to you to figure out what it means.

It's system-neutral and largely genre-neutral too. You could have the "Regime of Sorrow" or the "Epoch of Nightmares" or the "Week of the Exalted" in your history whether you're doing fantasy, science fiction, or some other genre.

If your setting already has a history laid out with era names and other details, you probably wouldn't have a use for this.

You get a d100 table that chooses the era type (such as Regime, Epoch, or Week as shown above) and two d100 tables for filling in subjects (such as Sorrow, Nightmares, or Exalted).



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Empire Builder - Era Names
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Mythic Magazine Volume 2
Publisher: Word Mill Games
by Jim B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 06/05/2021 14:56:47

"Randomized Location Crafting" is an excellent update and improvement on The Location Crafter. It's cleaner and easier to use than the original. The Area Elements Table is a nice improvement.

The Random Element Descriptors Table is good on its own for describing a Location, Encounter, or Object. It has an additional use that the text doesn't mention: It can stand in for the Descriptor 2 table from Mythic Variations 2. The Descriptor 2 table strives to be a generic, one-size-fits-all list of adjectives you could apply to characters, places, and things. Some of its entries are harder to apply to one category or another. If you know you're describing a character, a place, or a thing, you can use the Encounter, Location, or Object column from the Random Element Descriptors instead of the generic Descriptor 2 table.

The Area Elements Table creates the opportunity for external plug-ins: random generators you've found or created outside of the Mythic family of products.

  • If you get the "Random" result from the Encounter column, the article has you roll up a couple of Random Element Descriptors to figure out what it might be. Instead (or maybe in addition), you could use an external encounter generator you like.
  • If the Area Elements Table gives you the "Known" result, the article has you roll on the Known Elements Region Sheet. You could add the name of your encounter generator as a known element. Maybe you added "Tusken Raiders" to the Encounter column because you want them to be present, but you might also add "desert encounter generator" as a known encounter. You won't roll up the encounter until you see that result during play. That reduces your prep time and gives you adaptability during play. It lets you factor in other considerations on the spot, such as day vs night encounters or common vs rare encounters, without having to fill up the region sheet and without having to hard-code specific encounters ahead of time. Similarly, you might have external generators in mind for locations and objects.

"Making the Most of Altered Scenes" is also helpful. I do find occasions when I want more inspiration for altering a scene. By the way, it took me a while to realize what the heading "Random Event Graft" was supposed to mean. I was immediately thinking of "graft" in the sense of political corruption. Eventually, it sunk in: "Oh, right, like grafting plant parts." :-)

As usual, Tana Pigeon's writing is clear and organized. The fully worked examples are very good.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Mythic Magazine Volume 2
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