"DM's Idea Pipeline: 2004 Collection" by Michael Hammes and Philip Reed
Published and distributed by Ronin Arts
ISBN = unknown -72 pages
Ronin Arts obviously meant this booklet to be the beginning of a line of idea pipeline selections, but as for as I know, there were no books either before or after this one.
The ten chapters include a host of new feats, new classes, new spells, new treasures, rumors, new contacts and NPC's, locations, events, and monsters. I particularly liked the Specialty Priests, and loved the Elemental Priests. There are four new Prestige Classes, but I, personally, found them to be uninteresting. The Spells and Treasures are a mixed bag of good and not-so-good. But, I use rumors quite a bit to start new adventurers for campaigns. There are only nine of them, but the small amount of basic info provided makes a great jumping off place. I also use NPC's for the same purpose, and the fifteen provided here have good info to give to players. The ten locations are good in a city setting, and the five Events include some really good ones. The four monsters, and one unique monster (you have to see it), have a place in many D20 campaigns.
GM's may want to scan this book to see if the info is useful to them or not. Personally, although I liked it, I thought it was generally a mixed bag of varying quality.
Saturday, February 28, 2015
Add realistic guilds to your campaigns!
"Guilds and Adventurers" by Various
Published and distributed by Mystic Eye Games
ISBN = 0-9708265-6-7 128 pages
This older book was supposed to be part of Mystic Eye's "The Hunt: Rise of Evil" campaign. In its 44 small chapters, are details for 30 different guilds. There's also a section on other groups.
The Prestige Class presented is better off used as an NPC. But where this book really shines is in the descriptions of the 30 guilds presented. Everything from an Adventurer's Guild to a Weaponcrafters Guild has at least a couple good pages of design notes. Although the art is black and white, it is good, and complements the text nicely. About 70 pages of the 128 pages are devoted to guilds. The remaining pages give details on Associations, Societies, and Specialty Groups.
Every guild presented also has an icon associated with it which could be useful when in a strange city with a strange language. The crests are universal to the guilds. There are also tables and charts scattered throughout the book in places where they relate to a specific guild. New feats, new skills, new items, even a new monster or two, and new spells are also included.
I could not find anything in this book that could not be used in almost any campaign, although the book is designed for D20. It's too bad Mystic Eye Studios is no more. So far, I've come to really enjoy almost everything they produced. GM's - even if you're running, say, Pathfinder, you will probably find this book to be incredibly useful. Highly recommended even just for campaign city flavor.
Published and distributed by Mystic Eye Games
ISBN = 0-9708265-6-7 128 pages
This older book was supposed to be part of Mystic Eye's "The Hunt: Rise of Evil" campaign. In its 44 small chapters, are details for 30 different guilds. There's also a section on other groups.
The Prestige Class presented is better off used as an NPC. But where this book really shines is in the descriptions of the 30 guilds presented. Everything from an Adventurer's Guild to a Weaponcrafters Guild has at least a couple good pages of design notes. Although the art is black and white, it is good, and complements the text nicely. About 70 pages of the 128 pages are devoted to guilds. The remaining pages give details on Associations, Societies, and Specialty Groups.
Every guild presented also has an icon associated with it which could be useful when in a strange city with a strange language. The crests are universal to the guilds. There are also tables and charts scattered throughout the book in places where they relate to a specific guild. New feats, new skills, new items, even a new monster or two, and new spells are also included.
I could not find anything in this book that could not be used in almost any campaign, although the book is designed for D20. It's too bad Mystic Eye Studios is no more. So far, I've come to really enjoy almost everything they produced. GM's - even if you're running, say, Pathfinder, you will probably find this book to be incredibly useful. Highly recommended even just for campaign city flavor.
Too bad there were no more...
"Sun and Scale: The Gryphon's Legacy" by Wolfgamg Baur
Published and distributed by Gaslight Press
ISBN = 0-9713526-0-7 48 pages
Generally, when you see the name "Wolfgang Baur", you can pretty much guarantee that this Role Playing Game product is gonna be a good one!
The Gryphon's Legacy was to be a start for Wolfgang's Sun and Scale world.
At only 48 pages, plus coded maps on the inside front and inside back pages, this is basically a module for the D20 system.
It includes:
1 - The World of Sun and Scale
2 - Adventure Intro
3 - The Gryphon's Legacy
4 - Conclusion
There are three Appendixes:
1 - Quick References
2 - New Items and New Spells
3 - The usual License Agreement
Most of the meat of this module takes place in a small castle with a tower. The series of maps, which includes the main floor, the tower cellar, the three upper floors of the tower, and the two crypts, are keyed to the text. There are 56 keyed areas. This would provide for one very long session, or a small series of smaller adventures.
As usual, Baur does not disappoint, and this is a worthy mod for anyone still using the D20 system.
Published and distributed by Gaslight Press
ISBN = 0-9713526-0-7 48 pages
Generally, when you see the name "Wolfgang Baur", you can pretty much guarantee that this Role Playing Game product is gonna be a good one!
The Gryphon's Legacy was to be a start for Wolfgang's Sun and Scale world.
At only 48 pages, plus coded maps on the inside front and inside back pages, this is basically a module for the D20 system.
It includes:
1 - The World of Sun and Scale
2 - Adventure Intro
3 - The Gryphon's Legacy
4 - Conclusion
There are three Appendixes:
1 - Quick References
2 - New Items and New Spells
3 - The usual License Agreement
Most of the meat of this module takes place in a small castle with a tower. The series of maps, which includes the main floor, the tower cellar, the three upper floors of the tower, and the two crypts, are keyed to the text. There are 56 keyed areas. This would provide for one very long session, or a small series of smaller adventures.
As usual, Baur does not disappoint, and this is a worthy mod for anyone still using the D20 system.
Second Storehouse of Treasures
"Adventurer's Vault 2" by Various
Published and distributed by Wizards of the Coast
ISBN = 978-0-7869-5204-5 160 pages
Adventurer's Vault 2 provides some more treasures for your D&D 4th Edition campaign.
Broken down, it looks like this:
In the 1st chapter, Magic Items, you find: Armor, Weapons, Ammo, Holy Symbols, Orbs, Rods, Staffs, Tomes, Totems, Wands, Arms Slot Items, Feet Slot Items, Hands Slot Items, Head Slot Items, Neck Slot Items, Rings, Waist Slot Items, Wondrous Items (including Wondrous Lair Items...), Tattoos, and Consumables.
Next, the 2nd Chapter, Item Sets, has sets of weapons and armor grouped by Heroic, Paragon, Epic, and Group sets.
The appendix has an Item Table.
I was hoping that there was more to treasures than what was in the Core Rulebooks. This provides at least part of the answer. There's also a first "Adventurer's Guide" with even more...
The Item Sets portion of this book was my favorite part. I can see players scattering alll over the world trying to find that one last part... :-)
Although players can use this book, it is, of course, primarily for Game Masters. It contains literally thousands of new items for adding to 4th Edition. Thank the maker that someone had the idea to group the Master Table by Item Level, and sub-grouped by type. If you want to still DM using the 4th Edition, I'd say this was a no-brainer. GM's should try to limit player access to this book. If you're running 4th Edition, it has my recommendation.
Published and distributed by Wizards of the Coast
ISBN = 978-0-7869-5204-5 160 pages
Adventurer's Vault 2 provides some more treasures for your D&D 4th Edition campaign.
Broken down, it looks like this:
In the 1st chapter, Magic Items, you find: Armor, Weapons, Ammo, Holy Symbols, Orbs, Rods, Staffs, Tomes, Totems, Wands, Arms Slot Items, Feet Slot Items, Hands Slot Items, Head Slot Items, Neck Slot Items, Rings, Waist Slot Items, Wondrous Items (including Wondrous Lair Items...), Tattoos, and Consumables.
Next, the 2nd Chapter, Item Sets, has sets of weapons and armor grouped by Heroic, Paragon, Epic, and Group sets.
The appendix has an Item Table.
I was hoping that there was more to treasures than what was in the Core Rulebooks. This provides at least part of the answer. There's also a first "Adventurer's Guide" with even more...
The Item Sets portion of this book was my favorite part. I can see players scattering alll over the world trying to find that one last part... :-)
Although players can use this book, it is, of course, primarily for Game Masters. It contains literally thousands of new items for adding to 4th Edition. Thank the maker that someone had the idea to group the Master Table by Item Level, and sub-grouped by type. If you want to still DM using the 4th Edition, I'd say this was a no-brainer. GM's should try to limit player access to this book. If you're running 4th Edition, it has my recommendation.
The first storehouse of treasures
"Adventurer's Vault" by Various
Published and distributed by Wizards of the Coast
ISBN = 978-0-7869-4978-6 224 pages
Adventurer's Vault (1) provides some sorely needed treasures for your D&D 4th Edition campaign.
Broken Down, it looks like this:
In the 1st chapter, Equipment, you find: Masterwork Armor, Masterwork Weapons, Vehicles, and Alchemy. There are lots of charts for all of these.
Next, in the 2nd Chapter, Magic Items, you find Magic Armor, Magic Weapons, Implements, Arm Slot Items, Companion Items, Feet Slot Items, Hand Slot Items, Head Slot Items, Neck Slot Items, Rings, Waist Slot Items, Wondrous Items, and Consumables. Yes, more charts here.
Appendix 1 deals with Unique Items, Item Level, and Enchanting Items. Some good higher level info here.
Appendix 2 is simply a huge chart (called a "master table") for all Magic Items in this book.
There are only about 16 pages dedicated to Equipment. However, at least 150 pages for Magic Items. There are only about 28 pages for both appendixes.
I was hoping that there was more to treasures than what was in the Core Rulebooks. This provides at least part of the answer. There's also a "Adventurer's Guide 2" with even more...
Although players can use this book, it is, of course, primarily for the Game Master. It contains literally thousands of new items for adding to 4th Edition. Thank the maker that someone had the idea to group the Master Table by Item Level. If you want to still DM using the 4th Edition, I'd say this was a no-brainer. GM's should try to limit player access to this book. If you're running 4th Edition, it has my recommendation.
Published and distributed by Wizards of the Coast
ISBN = 978-0-7869-4978-6 224 pages
Adventurer's Vault (1) provides some sorely needed treasures for your D&D 4th Edition campaign.
Broken Down, it looks like this:
In the 1st chapter, Equipment, you find: Masterwork Armor, Masterwork Weapons, Vehicles, and Alchemy. There are lots of charts for all of these.
Next, in the 2nd Chapter, Magic Items, you find Magic Armor, Magic Weapons, Implements, Arm Slot Items, Companion Items, Feet Slot Items, Hand Slot Items, Head Slot Items, Neck Slot Items, Rings, Waist Slot Items, Wondrous Items, and Consumables. Yes, more charts here.
Appendix 1 deals with Unique Items, Item Level, and Enchanting Items. Some good higher level info here.
Appendix 2 is simply a huge chart (called a "master table") for all Magic Items in this book.
There are only about 16 pages dedicated to Equipment. However, at least 150 pages for Magic Items. There are only about 28 pages for both appendixes.
I was hoping that there was more to treasures than what was in the Core Rulebooks. This provides at least part of the answer. There's also a "Adventurer's Guide 2" with even more...
Although players can use this book, it is, of course, primarily for the Game Master. It contains literally thousands of new items for adding to 4th Edition. Thank the maker that someone had the idea to group the Master Table by Item Level. If you want to still DM using the 4th Edition, I'd say this was a no-brainer. GM's should try to limit player access to this book. If you're running 4th Edition, it has my recommendation.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
