Knightfall
World of Kulan DM
I'll be looking to get this from my FLGS tomorrow.
Excited!!!
Excited!!!
PFRPG GameMastery Guide
I've glanced at it so far..
I"m really liking the expansion on little game situations (I really like the idea presented for making chase scenes!).
As a DM making (and remaking) stock NPCs for a campaign setting, the NPC Gallery is an AWESOME starting point for a huge number of character types. It's so much easier to grab a ready-made stat block and tweak to the flavour I want, instead of building from scratch all the time.
As for my actual review (keep in mind I've only skimmed through this thing)...
I'd say about one third of the book could be seen as GM-trainer stuff. New GMs will eat it up, while old GMs will probably skip over the majority as they already know most of the ideas and warnings presented. There were a few things that made me think, despite my years of DMing experience.
Another one third or more of the book is great for homebrew game building. From world building to adventures. While there's a lot in there that I already knew and considered as a DM, I'm finding stuff giving me ideas. It reminded me a lot of the Cityscapes book (although that had more on the specifics of different cities, etc).
I'm sure I'd use the charts for creating a last minute villain or other NPC if my players surprised me in a homebrew game. The chart for "random adventure party names" made me chuckle.
The last portion would be the specific crunch; rules to use for things like gambling, or addictions, and NPCs.
While I can see not everyone finding everything useful in this book (that's fairly rare in any case when dealing with add-on books), I can see most GMs finding something they really like in this book.
I"m really liking the expansion on little game situations (I really like the idea presented for making chase scenes!).
As a DM making (and remaking) stock NPCs for a campaign setting, the NPC Gallery is an AWESOME starting point for a huge number of character types. It's so much easier to grab a ready-made stat block and tweak to the flavour I want, instead of building from scratch all the time.
As for my actual review (keep in mind I've only skimmed through this thing)...
I'd say about one third of the book could be seen as GM-trainer stuff. New GMs will eat it up, while old GMs will probably skip over the majority as they already know most of the ideas and warnings presented. There were a few things that made me think, despite my years of DMing experience.
Another one third or more of the book is great for homebrew game building. From world building to adventures. While there's a lot in there that I already knew and considered as a DM, I'm finding stuff giving me ideas. It reminded me a lot of the Cityscapes book (although that had more on the specifics of different cities, etc).
I'm sure I'd use the charts for creating a last minute villain or other NPC if my players surprised me in a homebrew game. The chart for "random adventure party names" made me chuckle.
The last portion would be the specific crunch; rules to use for things like gambling, or addictions, and NPCs.
While I can see not everyone finding everything useful in this book (that's fairly rare in any case when dealing with add-on books), I can see most GMs finding something they really like in this book.
IronWolf
blank
Greyhawk Grognard posted a short review of the GameMastery Guide. Another favorable review...
pawsplay
Hero
Did anyone else notice gazebo is not on that list?
It's not necessarily relevant to gamemastering - it's a subject of a gaming anecdote and a part of Heroes of Might and Magic history.
Oh wait...
Regards,
Ruemere
PS. Reading the book right now. Awesome.
ancientvaults
Explorer
I sat and read through this yesterday at my local Hastings bookstore and I have to say...I was underwhelmed. I am not paying $40 for that book! I will wait and find a discount copy on ebay. Nothing really jumped out and grabbed me, nothing seemed that noteworthy, it was just kind of blah.
Taking a break from Labyrinth Lord, my group opted for Mazes & Minotaurs over Pathfinder, which didn't help much. I like Pathfinder and want to run it more, but my group is drifting away, not liking the complexity...
Taking a break from Labyrinth Lord, my group opted for Mazes & Minotaurs over Pathfinder, which didn't help much. I like Pathfinder and want to run it more, but my group is drifting away, not liking the complexity...
Stormrazor2000
Explorer
I haven't gotten all the way through it, but I concur that the material is hit and miss for me personally. Some stuff I knew, other stuff presented neat insights, but due to the nature of group individuality is hard to actually apply. The section on building worlds is nice, though I don't have time for that anymore.
I did use the chase mechanic in my last session though, and it worked quite well.
I did use the chase mechanic in my last session though, and it worked quite well.
Dog Moon
Adventurer
As one of the others and I in my group were looking through the book, we were like, some of this was neat, some of it sorta meh. However, we decided that a book with only charts and art would still be an awesome book. [Although I do like the list of misc. npcs near the back]. But still, If each page had 1-2 chart and 1 piece of art, we both agreed we totally would have bought that at even a higher price. But a lot of the information is sorta like... why is this even in here? Like there's a section of snacks at dnd and stuff. I was like.... weird.
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