Review of “Starter Adventures” by Tim Shorts
I wrote the following review specifically as requested by Zak S in his recent blog post:
http://dndwithpornstars.blogspot.com/2011/10/would-you-like-to-be-helpful.html
But, when I posted it there, Zak deleted it. So, in hope that somebody here might find it helpful even though Zak considers it unworthy of his blog, I'm reposting it here:
“Starter Adventures” by Tim Shorts is a free, 10-page (+cover) PDF collection of 8 short scenarios designed to teach new players the basics of old-school ‘Generic Medieval Fantasy’ tabletop RPGs through 1-on-1 play.
It doesn’t use any specific game-system, so mentions very few game-mechanics to maintain its generic utility.
The 8 scenarios consist of 4 pairs specifically designed for each of the 4 basic ‘Generic Medieval Fantasy’ character classes: Cleric, Fighter, Magic-User & Thief.
Each scenario is set in some ‘Generic Medieval Fantasy’ location (“Forest”, “An arena”, “Busy town market and a tavern”, “Mage tower and underground passage”...) and involves 1 or 2 encounters with some ‘Generic Medieval Fantasy’ antagonists (humans, animals & monsters).
Each scenario also has potential long-term consequences which might affect, or even lead into, campaign play.
Even though the scenarios are so simple that it’d be easy to come up with ones like them, because they were specifically designed to teach new players the basics of old-school ‘Generic Medieval Fantasy’ tabletop RPGs, and they seem well-designed to do that, I might actually use them for their intended purpose.
The only things like them that I’ve ever seen anywhere else were designed to teach new players specific game-systems.
My only critique is that the writing needs just a little more proofreading.
http://gothridgemanor.blogspot.com/2010/06/starter-adventures-is-here.html
I wrote the following review specifically as requested by Zak S in his recent blog post:
http://dndwithpornstars.blogspot.com/2011/10/would-you-like-to-be-helpful.html
But, when I posted it there, Zak deleted it. So, in hope that somebody here might find it helpful even though Zak considers it unworthy of his blog, I'm reposting it here:
“Starter Adventures” by Tim Shorts is a free, 10-page (+cover) PDF collection of 8 short scenarios designed to teach new players the basics of old-school ‘Generic Medieval Fantasy’ tabletop RPGs through 1-on-1 play.
It doesn’t use any specific game-system, so mentions very few game-mechanics to maintain its generic utility.
The 8 scenarios consist of 4 pairs specifically designed for each of the 4 basic ‘Generic Medieval Fantasy’ character classes: Cleric, Fighter, Magic-User & Thief.
Each scenario is set in some ‘Generic Medieval Fantasy’ location (“Forest”, “An arena”, “Busy town market and a tavern”, “Mage tower and underground passage”...) and involves 1 or 2 encounters with some ‘Generic Medieval Fantasy’ antagonists (humans, animals & monsters).
Each scenario also has potential long-term consequences which might affect, or even lead into, campaign play.
Even though the scenarios are so simple that it’d be easy to come up with ones like them, because they were specifically designed to teach new players the basics of old-school ‘Generic Medieval Fantasy’ tabletop RPGs, and they seem well-designed to do that, I might actually use them for their intended purpose.
The only things like them that I’ve ever seen anywhere else were designed to teach new players specific game-systems.
My only critique is that the writing needs just a little more proofreading.
http://gothridgemanor.blogspot.com/2010/06/starter-adventures-is-here.html
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