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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Crothian" data-source="post: 2011052" data-attributes="member: 232">If this book had a tag line, I’d suggest ”Putting the Role back in Role Playing”.   Very simply this book is about role playing better.  From the introduction to the final page before the Open Game License, this book offers advice and options to help role play and define a character.  It has advice for the novice and the master, the player and the dungeon master.  The advice is good, solid, and thorough     Dice and Dramatics is the first book by Ultramyth Design.  The author, Ben Mowbray, shows a clear understanding of character design and how to get the most out of details.  The pdf is 60 pages in length including the cover and OGL.  The file comes as a zip file that is a bit over seven megs in size.  After the file is unzipped the pdf is a little over eleven megs.      The pdf is laid out well.  It is very easy to read from the computer screen and it is in typical dual columns.  The border is a nice color fade that makes the pages look a bit aged.  The art is light and does a nice job of breaking up the text.  There are also a few tables and other means that make reading easy.  The pdf is well book marked making it easy to find things quickly.      Dice and Dramatics starts with a nice introduction.  It also has a neat section called “Who should read this book.”  This section not only tells who should be reading this book but why they should.  The book is for both PCs and DM but for different reasons.  I like this little section because it shows the author was thinking how the audience can use his book.  After that is a small summary of each chapter, and then a list of gaming terms with their definitions.  It’s another small section, but again shows the author is thinking about his audience.  Not all gamers will know what all the terms are, so including them just makes sure all the readers are on the same page.  The last thing in the intro section is a little note from the author to the reader.  It tells a little what the book started out as and how it evolved.      The first chapter is about getting to know your character.  It includes ideas for detailing the characters appearance and personality.  It also has a brilliant idea of basing weight off the physical scores.  So, a stronger character weighs more then a weak one for instance.  It’s a simple detail that is nicely done.  The chapter describes the personality of all the classes from the PHB.  The closer the character is to being typical of the class the more useful these will be.  One area that I’ve seen even veterans miss is including skills and feats into ones background and personality.  The character had to learn these things somewhere and it’s good to think about that with the character.  The chapter will be very useful for a novice but also there are a few things that veteran role players will think is a good idea in here.  It is very thorough.    The second chapter details role playing in game.  It starts with some simple things that really need to be stated.  The first is the importance to know the rules.  The second is a good list of gaming etiquette.  It’s good to see a product that has some focus on how to game and how to get the most out of a session by listing some things that involve common courtesy.  The chapter goes on to suggest portraits, altering ones’ voice, thinking about motivation, and other options to enhance role playing.  It also tackles the touchy issues of using diplomacy rolls and role playing in a simple way.      The third chapters deals with non human races and how to role play them.  It includes all the races of the player’s handbook and some subraces.  The book doesn’t define the sub races in game mechanics but does give advice for role playing them.  The section gives good descriptions and has a nice tidpits of advice on how to role play the races.  The chapter also covers some savage races like centaurs, minotaurs and kobolds.  These races I feel the advice given will be more useful as people have a less defiant idea how to role play them.  Finally, the chapter deals with templates as well.  How does one portray a half celestial or half fiend?  This section offers good advice on how to do just that.      The fourth chapter details new equipment and spells.  It might seem rather odd that a book about role playing has a chapter like this, but the things described here are to further detail the character.  Here one will find more mundane items to detail the equipment a character would have as well as magical items of a more practical nature.  For instance there are ten different types of mundane hats.  Each is briefly described insuring that if a character needs a hat, the right one can be found.  Some of the magical items are a belt of dryness that keeps the wearer perfectly dry and the wig of style which can alter its color and design.  Perhaps they are not the most powerful of items but the utility of them is what is important.  The spells are the same way like Aura of Cleanliness and Buoyancy both which are simple and useful.    The last section is for the DM and how to role play as one.  It covers the topics of using props and knowing your players.  It has advice for role playing cohorts as well as commoners.  It covers role playing the big bad guys as well.  It has plenty of suggestions for creating and keeping atmosphere.  The tips here I found to be useful and correct from my own experiences.    Dice and Dramatics is a rare product that takes an area of role playing that is inadequately covered and does a great job of covering it.  I was constantly surprised by the level of detail and the thought put into this book.  The author has a good idea of his audience.  This book is written with fantasy D&D in mind, but the advice can be applied to any role playing game.  Obviously, the section on role playing elves will be of little use in a Star Wars game, but the more abstract ideas can be applied to any character of any genre.  This will be of more use to the novice then the experienced gamer.  The chapter on races will be more useful if the campaign keeps the races as they are presented in the Player’s Handbook.  However, even the veteran gamer who has changed most of the races will find good advice that is easily used on how to role play better and enjoy the game.</blockquote>

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