Review: Mother of All Encounter Tables

 by: Greg Ragland

Publisher: Necromancer Games
ISBN: 1-931275-54-8
Hardcover Pages: 141

"The Mother of All Encounter Tables" authored by Greg Ragland and produced by Necromancer Games and distributed by Troll Lord Games definitely has the usual Necromancer Games "Third Edition Rules - First Edition Feel".  After the Intro, there is a short section of how to customize the book, and then not one, not two, not even three, but no less than ten different examples of how to use the tables inside.  Then there's a table index followed by the Master Tables charts.  There are tables for: Arctic, Sub-Arctic, Temperate, Sub-Tropical, Tropical, (all of which have both day and night charts), Aquatic, Underground, and Deep Earth.  Then there's a short section for weather and terrain, followed by a series of Non-Monster encounters.  There are also charts for Roads and Trade Routes - on land, over seas, and even subterranean.  There's a couple of charts for NPC adventures such as a caravan.  My only fault with the book is the mostly sideways printing.  But you'll get used to this after a short while of really using the book for those moments when the players go one way and the DM had plans for them to go another.  The unique use of a d1000 (yes, three d10's) makes for plenty of differences in randomly generated encounters.  Not for Players mind you, but for overworked DM's.  140 pages of good crunchy stats.  As the book says: "You never know when ants will infest your food, or when the cleric gets hit by lightning!"  Highly recommended.