Stone Angel said:
I've had the book for a long while now. At first I really didn't like it, thought it was just a rehashing of thing anyone that has been game mastering for more than a year already know's.
Yes, I predicted that experienced GMs might find more utility in the brainstorming aspect of the work, its chief focus. Some of my inspiration for this book came from the "Dungeon Master’s Design Kit" (Harold Johnson & Aaron Allston, 1988), and the 2nd Edition "Catacomb Guide" (Paul Jaquays & William W. Connors, 1990). I liked both of those works for different reasons, but the Dungeon Master’s Design Kit was more along the lines of what I wanted for Insidiae; a "plot-seed smorgasbord" to facillitate quick adventure design. So I decided to focus more on creating a structured brainstorming aid for plot design, rather than a "how-to" guide on gamemastering scenarios. After all, I thought, we already have "Robin Law's of Good Gamemastering", a book I'd highly recommend. Of course, I would have been remiss if I hadn't incorporated adventure design "theory" as accumulated through the years by our industry giants. There was no way I was going to reinvent the wheel there, I felt, so I tried to write those parts without pandering too much to neophytes or boring the hell out of experienced players (such as my own friends). I lost sleep with that dillemna. Ultimatley, I tried to make sure what gamemastering advice was included best reflected Gary Gygax's current preferences in adventure design, not just mine. It is, after all, part of the "gygaxian fantasy world" series.
But in general, yes, I absolutely do agree, great advice on GMing is out there in many forms, scattered and contained in many excellent sources...the sort of stuff some ENworlders live and breath.
But now I have come to love this book and all of it's elements. It has really came to make my games dramatic, insightful and most of all interesting. My PC's look forward to little plot twists and red herrings and such. Nathal I am not sure how much success you have had sales wise but its a ten in my book.
Well, few of us freelancers are in it for the money (LOL), but it's a pleasure working with the guys at Troll Lord and a longtime dream to work with Gary, and I couldn't be more pleased. Even if I please 10% of the crowd, I feel I've made at least some people enjoy their games a little bit more. Hopefully, and it seems so from what you've written above, you've seen that the vast bulk of the work was dedicated to brainstorming, and because its a book dedicated to plot design rather than a book of pregenerated plots, it still requires a good bit of creativity, the more experienced GM the better (which is why the basic advice contained within is every more critical for the beginner).
In fact, I had just handed in the final manuscript to Gary, and he wrote to me after he finished his edit, telling me I needed to use my own work to come up with at least 20,000 words of pregenerated scenarios within the week, using only what material I had included in the previous chapters. I had to demonstrate how the book was to be used. "Oh crap," I thought, with only a week to spare before deadline, "this book had better work the way I expect...". Appendix A (ready-made plots) is the result of that, and is why I feel my book aids with exactly what its designed to do. I can only hope that it summons the Muse for others in a creative bind.
I really appreciate the feedback!
It is a book I will read and reference over and over. (In fact, this thread prompted me to pull it out again.) You know--you spend so much time entrenched in creating, sometimes you need to break out and think about how you create.
