Messageboard Golem
First Post
This new 5-page PDF, by Michael Hammes, details 12 items perfect for adventure ideas when a rogue "pick pockets" someone. These creative items can be used as simple treasure or the stepping stone to adventure.
Pocket Picked
- Thread starter Messageboard Golem
- Start date
der_kluge
Adventurer
A dozen pockets picked.
A dozen pockets picked is yet another in Ronin Arts' line of "a dozen" products. These products are typically very short, very inexpensive, and feature a dozen of "something". In the case of this product, the dozen is of things that you might find if you were to pick someone's pocket. A better title might have been "I'll take 'things you find in people's pockets' for 100, Alex", but that's just me.
The pdf is short, so you won't find a lengthy review here. I could go into a lengthy discussion about each of the items found, but then that would kind of negate any reason to purchase this pdf, written by Michael Hammes.
The product starts off with a brief introduction, and then delves into the first object. In this case, it is a map. Each object follows a specified format. First, there is an appearance given for the object, and this typically describes it quite well. Secondly, each object has appraisal information. This details the value the item might (or might not have), and talks briefly about who might value such an item, as not all items are equally valuable to just anyone. Then there are special rules concerning the items. These rules cover ways to integrate the item into the campaign, or ideas to further enhance the usability of the item. Obviously, these rules are optional, but give some good direction for GMs are just stumped as to what to do with the item. As is the case with at least a couple of the items, this information is pretty much required.
The bottom of page 1 also has a special box titled "role-play alert" which talks about other ways these items could be obtained, aside from having them stolen out of someone's pockets. In that vein, these items could almost be considered "12 more mundane items", and would work just as easily in that vein as well.
I'm a big fan of Ronin Arts' products, and I especially enjoy his "a dozen" line of pdfs. This product is no exception. The ideas are well presented, and are generally not things that I would have thought of on my own. The author really stretched his imagination on this one, and came up with some stuff that will really make your players stop and say "what?".
Downsides? Well, this thing costs like $1.35, but for the discriminating GM, I'll list the downsides to this product. The biggy is the font-size/layout. This pdf is 5 pages long, and the 5th page is almost just the open game license. I say almost, because two small paragraphs (in the two column format) dangle into the 5th page. Seems like if they had chosen to just reduce the font size by 1 pt. they could have squeezed it into 4 pages. The font size is rather large, anyway, so it wouldn't have hurt. As it is, I'm forced into printing the OGL if I want the last tidbits of the last item. Unless you didn't care for the 5th item, and you just ignored those last two paragraphs, you could save paper doing that as well. Second downside is there is no art, but most of these don't have any art, so that's not entirely unusual. And for 5 pages, do you really need it?
Some art would have been really awesome for some of these objects, though, and put it over the top for me. Like, if there was an actually map included for the first item, that would have been awesome, for example. Then I could just hand the player the map and say, "this is what you find!"
Lastly, I want more. Of course, this is true for all the "dozen" line, but for $1.35, I got what I paid for. Since rpgnow has a minimum purchase price, I suggest picking this product up along with several of Ronin Arts other "dozen". You can't go wrong.
A dozen pockets picked is yet another in Ronin Arts' line of "a dozen" products. These products are typically very short, very inexpensive, and feature a dozen of "something". In the case of this product, the dozen is of things that you might find if you were to pick someone's pocket. A better title might have been "I'll take 'things you find in people's pockets' for 100, Alex", but that's just me.
The pdf is short, so you won't find a lengthy review here. I could go into a lengthy discussion about each of the items found, but then that would kind of negate any reason to purchase this pdf, written by Michael Hammes.
The product starts off with a brief introduction, and then delves into the first object. In this case, it is a map. Each object follows a specified format. First, there is an appearance given for the object, and this typically describes it quite well. Secondly, each object has appraisal information. This details the value the item might (or might not have), and talks briefly about who might value such an item, as not all items are equally valuable to just anyone. Then there are special rules concerning the items. These rules cover ways to integrate the item into the campaign, or ideas to further enhance the usability of the item. Obviously, these rules are optional, but give some good direction for GMs are just stumped as to what to do with the item. As is the case with at least a couple of the items, this information is pretty much required.
The bottom of page 1 also has a special box titled "role-play alert" which talks about other ways these items could be obtained, aside from having them stolen out of someone's pockets. In that vein, these items could almost be considered "12 more mundane items", and would work just as easily in that vein as well.
I'm a big fan of Ronin Arts' products, and I especially enjoy his "a dozen" line of pdfs. This product is no exception. The ideas are well presented, and are generally not things that I would have thought of on my own. The author really stretched his imagination on this one, and came up with some stuff that will really make your players stop and say "what?".
Downsides? Well, this thing costs like $1.35, but for the discriminating GM, I'll list the downsides to this product. The biggy is the font-size/layout. This pdf is 5 pages long, and the 5th page is almost just the open game license. I say almost, because two small paragraphs (in the two column format) dangle into the 5th page. Seems like if they had chosen to just reduce the font size by 1 pt. they could have squeezed it into 4 pages. The font size is rather large, anyway, so it wouldn't have hurt. As it is, I'm forced into printing the OGL if I want the last tidbits of the last item. Unless you didn't care for the 5th item, and you just ignored those last two paragraphs, you could save paper doing that as well. Second downside is there is no art, but most of these don't have any art, so that's not entirely unusual. And for 5 pages, do you really need it?
Some art would have been really awesome for some of these objects, though, and put it over the top for me. Like, if there was an actually map included for the first item, that would have been awesome, for example. Then I could just hand the player the map and say, "this is what you find!"
Lastly, I want more. Of course, this is true for all the "dozen" line, but for $1.35, I got what I paid for. Since rpgnow has a minimum purchase price, I suggest picking this product up along with several of Ronin Arts other "dozen". You can't go wrong.
TheAuldGrump
First Post
Heh, the only real problem is that I would have liked 101 Pockets picked! 
I have found this useful when they are looting the body (not always a dead body) of a middling important bad guy.
The Auld Grump
I have found this useful when they are looting the body (not always a dead body) of a middling important bad guy.
The Auld Grump
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