Ultimate Toolbox

AEG's Ultimate Toolbox provides over 1,000 charts to jumpstart your imagination when planning a game or create an improvised game element spur of the moment. Whether you need a maritime legend or a surprise ending, the Ultimate Toolbox has got you covered. This book is really a labor of love and it shows.

While carrying the torch of the d20 Toolbox (also by AEG), the Ultimate Toolbox is a completely different beast with all new charts. To clarify, this is an add-on not a reprint. In the words of author Jim Pinto:

Originally Posted by Jim Pinto

The overlap is something like 1-2% (in a book with over 1,000 charts, that's maybe 20 reprinted charts from toolbox). the old charts from TOOLBOX that we knew people had to have if they ONLY bought this book were transplanted, but otherwise this is all new material.

The book is divided into seven chapters, all bursting with gaming goodness.

CHAPTER ONE: CHARACTER is one of the smaller sections with ideas to help create PCs and NPCs alike, including backgrounds, motivations, character quirks and more. Like most of the Ultimate Toolbox, several charts have uses outside of the bounds of the chapter heading. For example, there's a section on druidic ceremonies that could be used to develop a plot. My favorite table was the COLORFUL PHRASES at the end - can't wait to drop those in to my game!

CHAPTER TWO: WORLD is a bit longer, with the objective of helping you fill in a campaign map, create a fantasy government, develop a religion, and other tidbits which will help flesh out a world. Throughout this chapter and the others there are bits of advice from the authors which help you make the best use of the (almost overwhelming) tables. Dawn, Jeff, and Jim prove talented guides, and I really appreciated their advice. My favorite table was the REALMS OF THE DEAD - tons of great ideas in that one table.

CHAPTER THREE: CIVILIZATION is meaty, weighing in at 90 pages. The goal here is to help a GM build a city from scratch, from first impressions down to individual contacts within the city gates. There's nothing to stop you, however, from using the tables piecemeal to flesh out a city of your own creation. Sections in this chapter include the City, Lords & Ladies, Civics, Crime & Punishment, Law & Order, Architecture & Atmosphere, Commerce, Crime, Religion, Guilds, Taverns & Inns, NPCs, Around Town, Fanfare, Contacts, and University. This has got to be my favorite chapter of the book.

CHAPTER FOUR: MARITIME is the perfect addition to a 7th sea type game. Unlike the past chapters, this one feels like more of a toolbox. While it can be used to create a pirate-y adventure, I think it excels more as a collection of charts in and of themselves. Naturally you'll find pirate ship names and ports of call, but you'll also find some surprises like a collection of nautical terms and 5 tables on "dockside diversions." My favorite table was X MARKS THE SPOT for its ingenuity and usefulness outside of just pirate adventures.

CHAPTER FIVE: DUNGEON is another skinnier chapter that is chalk full of awesome ideas. One thing I like about Ultimate Toolbox is despite its size you rarely feel like any of the tables are wasting space. You'll find dungeon dressing, legends, an entire section on corpses, traps, treasures, and more. This chapter is useful in two ways: first, to give the players information about a legendary dungeon, and second to describe the feel once they are inside. My favorite table was DUNGEON "MYSTERIES" - if you want to freak your players out, this is the table.

CHAPTER SIX: MAGIC feels the most like a toolbox of all the chapters. It provides ideas about the nature of magic, but doesn't have an end result like the other chapters do (e.g. Chapter 3 creates a city). Sections include Magic Items, Arcana, Druids & Witches, Components, Undead, the Planes, and the Bizarre. This chapter is tied with Chapter 7 for most creative ideas, and is chalk full of ways to make magic in your game feel more magical. My favorite tables were OMENS, SIGNS & PORTENTS, CRYPTIC, and MYSTIC ANSWERS; you could make a whole prophecy based campaign with just those tables.

CHAPTER SEVEN: PLOT gives you a formula to use the 60 pages of tables to create an adventure outline. You'll find more advice in this chapter, and some interesting thoughts about structuring adventures. If you don't even have time to roll on all these tables, then Ultimate Toolbox has you covered with QUICK AND DIRTY PLOTS. Sections include Villains, Gossip, The Path, Urban Inspiration, Quests & Secrets, Alternatives, and Encounters. There are two helpful outlines you can fill out at the end of the chapter. My favorite tables had to be the PLOT COMPLICATIONS, PLOT TWISTS, and SURPRISE ENDINGS - these really are the cherry on top.

The APPENDIX provides tons of names organizes by culture (both real world and fantasy) and a couple random tables that couldn't fit elsewhere.

The Good: There's something for every gaming situation in this book, and a lot of it is surprisingly creative. Sometimes the result of rolling on one table is so loaded with good ideas that you could run a game session on that alone. The authors also provide sparing and excellent advice about how to utilize the tables.

The Bad: There are numerous errors in the editing, but nothing that cripples the book. Also, it's a bit unwieldy to find a table you remember seeing - the index at the back helps, but it's not comprehensive. I've used post-it notes to help table sections I use a lot.

Bottom line: Ultimate Toolbox lives up to its name. This book is absolutely worth the steep cover price, but if it's still too much for you, there may be a pdf version in the pipeline.

Reviewer's Disclaimer: I won a contest for purchasers of the Ultimate Toolbox. While I have no idea what I've won, I just wanted to go on record saying that Jim Pinto did not bribe me to write this review even if I wanted him to.