Everyone Else

[HellHound]

Formerly an Ambient Inc Product
"Everyone Else" (known around the office as "Librum Ceteri") is a book detailing NPCs for use in just about any fantasy setting. This book presents stat blocks and descriptions for over 80 archetype NPCs, each with four different stat blocks (one for each of four different experience levels).

When the party slips into a bar, exactly how good is the bouncers intimidate check? or the barmaids diplomacy? What is the Sense Motive base for the princes seneschal? It is all here, along with guidelines and tips for using each character type, how to find them, and what they do when the PCs are not around hassling them all day long.

 

[Krug]

(Review copy supplied)

Everyone Else is a 70 page PDF product from Ambient games, who have established themselves as one of the best d20 companies out there, particularly with their well-received Librum Equitis products and the award-winning Portable Hole Full of Beer. The zipped file provides two versions of the book; one that's more aesthetically pleasing and another that's easy on the printer ink.

The goal of Everyone Else is to give stat blocks for those NPCs you'll find in any situation, from bartenders to fishermen to aristocrats. The book itself is divided into twelve sections, giving the NPCs one would encounter in each situation. So the barracks section gives stats for conscripts, field officers and military types, for example.

Each profession has a short description, their role in society, some have a rules to remember section which is useful, four stat blocks given at 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th level and finally customization notes. As expected, most of the characters use the Commoner or Expect NPC class.

I have some issues with the stat blocks. The characters are all totally average, and the rather odd weapon choices. The weapon a Courtesan wields is a club... while smugglers wield quarterstaffs? Farmers as well, wield clubs. Even Miners too, wield clubs. I really think it wouldn't have been too complicated to come up with stats for rakes or pitchforks or picks.

Also, since most of the stats are similar, in the 8 to 13 range for ability scores, the only great spot of deviation is in the skills. The stat blocks also don't include items or equipment, which means the DM would probably still need to come up with them if he intends to make greater use of the NPC in his campaign. It's fine for low level riff raff, since most of them would be totally average. But wouldn't a master stonemason possibly have a magic item to help him in his craft? Surely a 7th level Knight would have some weapon (and armor - by default no armor is listed) to differentiate himself from the 1st level soldier. I realise including equipment would have made the NPC less generic, but making it so undetailed does mean you can't just plug-and-play these NPCs.

Furthermore, all stats given are for humans only which further means more work if you want a non-human NPC. It's not as simple as having an ability score increase or decrease, since it has to be reflected in the skills, and since some races receive bonuses in certain skills, most DMs will have to do some book-flipping to make sure things are correct.

The artwork, composed of classic woodcuts and Juan Navarro is an odd mix. You get a medieval woodcut which has very little shading, and then an ink-heavy showing halflings and orcs. The artwork is actually good; it just doesn't look well together side by side and I think they should just gone with one or the other. Otherwise, the presentation is top-notch, and kudos to Ambient for supplying two versions of the product.

Everyone Else is one of those products I find really hard to 'grade'. It'll be very useful for DMs who emphasize role-playing and city-based interactions, and possibly less so for for DMs whose games are more dungeon and hack and slash oriented, or who don't writeup their own adventures, or who prefer to use high level characters for interactions with their party members. It is certainly useful, but more as a time saving device. The stat blocks merely lay a foundation for the DM to embellish further, particularly for higher level characters. Perhaps a list of items to go with each character would have made it a product one can use instantly. Overall, it's a good product but not essential. However, if you're a DM who spends a lot of time building NPCs, you might want to take a look at this product which would definitely save you time.

 

[Crothian]

Review of Everyone Else by Ambient

This book was received as a review copy.

Everyone Else is an E-Book by Ambient. The book is full of the more mundane Non Player Characters that fill up a campaign world. This book is very well done and will be useful for any DM that uses NPCs in their game. The E-Book is seventy pages in length and is filled with useful information.

The lay out is absolutely beautiful. There is a very good theme of images and pictures that give this product a medieval feel. I really like the look of this book. It sets the tone and helps put one into the mood of the people stating out here. The pictures are simple looking, yet really fit perfectly into this product.

The product comes with two versions. One is created to print, and the other one is for easy using on the computer. I’m very happy with seeing companies do this. It’s great having products that can be easily printed out and at the same time can be easily used on the laptop at the gaming table. The version to use on the computer is very easy to use. There is a side index that allows one to easily jump to the different section. One can even bookmark places for easy reference later. I really like this style with the E-Book of two versions one designed for printing, the other for the computer.

The book starts off with a simple introduction. It tells exactly what this is and what to expect. Then it goes into a full-page table of contents, which shows all the different types of people that are in this product. Then it goes into the sections on the stat blocks. The stat blocks are the main focus of the book, but that’s not all that’s in here. Each type of person is fully defined and shown how one can use them. Then it has different rules to remember like suggested synergy bonuses and DCs for certain skills the person will most likely use. This will save a lot of time from looking it up in a different book. Then come the actually stat block. They give examples for each character type at level one, three, five, and seven. And then it lists some suggestions for customizing the stat blocks. They suggest are what skills to switch ranks in and what feats to swap. It is all very well done.

There are thirteen different sections as the book groups related NPCs together. The first section is In The Shadow, which covers Bartender, Fences, Smuggles and others. Then is On the Docks that includes Dock Workers, Sailors, and Navigators. Next is On the Farm or In the Village, which has among the NPCs Animal Trainers, Herders, and Vintners. Then is In the Woods, which has the Hunter and Tracker. On the Jobsite has Unskilled Laborers and Masons. In the Shop has Brewers and Smiths. In the Market has Art Dealers and Shopkeepers. At Your Service has Clerks and Lawyers. At the Bedside covers people like Midwifes and Surgeons. For the Greater Glory covers Missionaries and Hermits. In the Bureaucracy deals with Jailors and Lawyers. At the Barracks has Conscripts and Town Guards. And In the Castle has Diplomats and Spies. Now those are not the only people covered in this book. I think there are about 90 different types of people in here. It’s hard to imagine a common character type that is not somehow covered in this book.

The book only uses the NPC classes from the Dungeon Masters Guide and makes good use of the Commoner Class. All the people in here are human and have very average ability scores. The few errors in here like Clubs being listed as having a x3 critical multiplier are easy to overlook and will not get in one’s way. This is a great book and will be extremely beneficial to Dungeon Masters everywhere.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Librum Ceteri
Everyone Else
Written by Richard Ruthman and Michael S. Thibault
Published by Ambient Inc.
70 pages

So what is Everyone Else? It’s a book chocked full of stat blocks for NPCs that fill the ‘common’ roles in your campaign.

The book is broken up into different broad sections with breakdowns of character types found within. We have In the Shadows, On the Docks, On the Farm of in the Village, In The Woods, On the Jobsite, In the Shop, In the Market, At Your Service, At the Bedside, For the Greater Glory, In the Bureaucracy, At the barracks and in the Castle. Under For the Greater Glory, you get stats for the Hermit, Missionary and Preacher.

Each profession has information on what it does and ideas on how to customize the stats to match your own campaign. In addition, there is a section, Rules to Remember, that provides you with a quick reminder of important pieces of d20 mechanics. For bouncer, it’s “Sense motive is checked against DC20 to have a hunch that trouble is brewing.” It then details a bouncher a level 1, 3, 5, and 7. One of the most useful parts of the book to me is actually the Appendix that lists the index of professions.

I found the book useful but a tad bland. The writing is functional but doesn’t really give the GM enough tools of his own. Perhaps it’s just my huge library of books, but if I’m really in need of a ‘commoner’ type of NPC, I can wing it pretty good for the most part. Other products, like Experts by Skrimish, provide Expert Types which allows the GM to flesh out the NPCs to a much greater detail. Other products like 1000 Faces provide more details and make the characters more usable right away.

I found the book had substandard layout. My copy, which has its share of typos and spelling errors, has lots of white space, uneven columns, and its share of windows and orphans. The art involves the use of a lot of woodcuts, which gives the product some class but are used too often, and Juan Navarro, who does several good illustrations that start off several sections like the bar scene heading “In the Shadows”.

The book is a good buy for time pressed GMs who don’t feel comfortable winging it. It’s almost 100% OGC (all the text). More experienced GMs who want ideas and methodology on how to construct their own NPCs or simply want pregenerated characters and character ideas, might want to see what else is out there before buying Everyone Else.

 

[cthuluftaghn]

Everyone Else (Librum Ceteri) is an NPC collection from Ambient d20 Games. Don't roll your eyes and say "oh, another NPC book!". This compendium rates high on the "usefulness" scale! In fact, the same day I received my copy for review, I put it to use in my current campaign.

The first thing I'd like to point out in this book is the quality of the artwork. The genuine woodcuts, and simple monochrome sketches truly breathe medieval life into the characters detailed in this work. Printer friendly, and tastefully understated, the art lends atmosphere to Everyone Else without overwhelming the content.

The NPC's in this book represent a wide range of professions. In general, these are not cunning foes for PC's to face off against in daring encounters. Everyone Else assigns d20 statistics to the common folk that PC's come across on a daily basis: dockworkers and woodsmen, shopkeepers and innkeepers, bureaucrats and diplomats, and much more... all are detailed in a well organized (and bookmarked!) format.

For each NPC, Ambient takes the basic DMG classes (Adept, Aristocrat, Commoner, Expert and Warrior), and customizes the skills, feats and abilities to match the specific profession. A brief flavor-text background is given for every class which gives valuable information for role-playing more than 80 new classes. Statistics for all professions are presented at 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th level for maximum flexibility.

At just $6.00, Everyone Else is more than worth the purchase price. Similar products that cost at least as much may only offer 12 or 24 NPC's. Everyone Else contains more than 80, at four different levels of experience. The characters contained within are generic enough to add into just about any campaign, but detailed enough that all a DM really needs to do is give them a name. I give this book two thumbs up!

 

[Simon Collins]

This is not a playtest review.

Everyone Else is a source for NPCs from Ambient Inc.

Everyone Else is a 70-page .pdf file of just over 3 MB. It costs $6. The download comes with two copies of the file - one deemed the 'fancy' copy, the other the 'printer' copy. To be honest, there is little difference between the two to the naked eye - an orangey background and bookmarks on the 'fancy' copy is about all, but it will save your printer ink. The mono artwork is a mixture of mediaeval woodcuts and pen-and-ink drawings, neither of which appealed to me. The writing style is somewhat banale whilst editing seems good.

The NPCs covered in Everyone Else include such standard characters as Merchant, Town Guard, Bartender, Bouncer, Courtesan, Tax Collector, Herald, Hermit, Midwife, Scribe, Innkeeper, Servant, Smith, Hunter, Miller, Farmer, Sailor, and Smuggler, as well as many others (80 in total). The NPCs themselves use standard ability scores, are all humans (use the PH to make racial amendments), and are presented at levels 1,3,5, and 7 in terms of the stat blocks (thats 320 stat blocks). They also have a brief discussion regarding their profession and role in a campaign, and a section that reminds you of relevant rules from the PH that may come in useful when running some types of NPCs (e.g. healing rules for the Surgeon NPC). A short section on Customisation gives some advice for changing skills to give a slightly different flavour for the NPC. The characters are all based on the standard NPC classes from the DMG. There are some errata - notably giving clubs a x3 critical damage and not factoring in strength bonuses into the stat blocks (though there are very few NPCs with Strength bonuses).

An appendix gives an alphabetical list of the professions included in the book.

Conclusion:
Your interest in this book is totally dependent on how you run your NPCs. If you run minor NPCs completely on the fly, if you look for some personality/background in your NPCs from a product, or if you're looking for high-level or core-classed NPCs, then Everyone Else is not for you. If you like all your minor NPCs statted out but like to add your own personality to NPCs on the fly and can't be bothered to generate stats for them all, then I would recommend this product.

I count myself in the 'I run minor NPCs completely on the fly, but if I'm going to use a product the most important thing is a bit of personality' camp. Therefore, I found Everyone Else very disappointing and my score reflects this, but I'm sure this product will appeal to many others, particularly rookie GMs.

 

[Messageboard Golem]

Everyone Else is a book of common NPCs, exactly as advertised.

It sells for $6 on RPGnow.

Layout is good, artwork is mostly classic woodcuts, and are attractive "period pieces" that help with the flavor of the text.

It comes it two versions (included in the same zip when you buy it), one with a pretty velum-like background, graphical pagination and an EXTENSIVE bookmarking (both a sequential bookmark in the order the book is read, as well as one set of bookmarks that are done alphabetically), and one on a white background for easier printing.

In all, there are over 320 stat blocks in this book, all for basic NPCs suitable for a fantasy RPG such as bartenders, sailors, dockworkers, farmers and blacksmiths. All use the NPC character classes from the DMG. A majority of the NPCs in question are commoners, which feels strange at first (instead of being experts), but since a majority of the population in a game world is supposed to be level 1 commoners, this makes sense in the long run (after all, if the job CAN be done by a commoner, why would an expert do it instead?).

Most NPC archetypes include rules to remember for the skills and abilities typical of the NPCs, as well as some of them having rules to customize the NPC in question in other roles or environments.

This is an excellent toolkit for a DM who doesn't want to have to run NPCs on the fly for skill ranks and bonuses, or for games where the party gets totally side-tracked with trouble with the town guard or trying to shake down a bartender for information.

On the other hand, it is not a book of "full" NPCs. The characters have no background, no personality, and no equipment. They are the skeletons of typical NPCs, ready to be fleshed out for a game, or for when you already have the persona of an NPC fleshed out, but suddenly find yourself needing stats for him also when the party rogue pulls a knife.

As a DM, this is an essential part of my toolkit, along with a random NPC motivation system (I use the old "deck of cards" method for determining NPC motivations from Twilight 2000). For a DM that focuses on higher-level games, or "epic adventures" where the townsfolk are never pivotal to a game, then this book becomes significantly less useful.

But, as someone pointed out, this book is also useful for players. I've had a player ask to see a typical level 1 dockworker so he could base his character on that concept, thus having a good feel for his character's history, as well as the appropriate skills.

All-in-all, this was WELL worth the $6, and makes running urban games a lot easier, and I also cut-and-paste the NPC statblocks into the adventures I write, to hae them at my fingertips (another great advantage of the PDF format).

 

[DDK]

Simon said: "Therefore, I found Everyone Else very disappointing and my score reflects this, but I'm sure this product will appeal to many others, particularly rookie GMs."

I have to say that I find this comment to be rather inane and somewhat insulting.

I would consider myself to be a fairly experienced GM since I've run hundreds of games with hundreds of people. That is not an overestimation, either.

With a rules heavy system like d20, stats matter. In 2nd ed you could much more easily get away with fudging things and just 'doing it on the fly'. But with the introduction of a detailed and important skills system, feats, and the various NPC classes, suddenly a DM can find themselves in a tight corner. It no longer suffices to just "give 'em a +3" because the system makes it critical to KNOW these things.

Of course, ones game can vary and less import can be placed on skills and feats but then one wouldn't be playing standard d20, they'd be playing a customized homebrew version of it.

So for DM's and groups who like d20, in all it's rules heavy glory, such easily referenced works of mere stats are a godsend. And as far as personality descriptions go, well... by the time I need a set of stats for an NPC, the personality is already established through 'on the fly' roleplaying. And reading a personality description when you're DM'ing is little more than an annoyance and would slow a game down.

Oh, and btw, you spelled 'banal' wrong.

 

[DDK]

My comments on Simon's review somewhat extend to this review in the sense that I feel it more than a little arrogant to presume that an experienced GM would have no use for such a product.

I would also ask just who your target audience is, with this review. Stating that a product has "...it's share of windows and orphans." means absolutely nothing to people who don't know the ins and outs of desktop publishing.