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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JoeGKushner" data-source="post: 2010338" data-attributes="member: 1129">Tournaments, Fairs & Taverns falls squarely into the GM aid category. Need to make the bar scene a little more interesting? Have some rogues playing Drunken Daggers. Need to add a little something more festive to the campaign mood? Throw a tournament with jousting, archery and axe throwing.This book originally came out form Natural 20 Press as a PDF and has been a long time in coming to print. Never having read the original, I can't compare the two. This book clocks in at 96 black and white pages and features a cover and rear illustration by Jason Engle, the artists from the Talisman Studio books published by Bastion Press. Broken up into eight chapters, the book starts off with general rules that are added onto and changed for specific games latter on. Need rules for drinking or gambling? How about tournaments or experience points for overcoming non-fatal challenges? All here. I'll be adding the rules here to those from Skrimmisher Publishing's Book, Experts, which provides xp awards based on time and skill level. Between the two, it's easier to showcase the downtime or non-adventuring time of adventurers without completely penalizing them. Those looking for the classic games like races and arm wrestling, will flip to chapter two, Classic Games. Those looking for more martial style events will go to chapter three, martial tournaments for those rules on dueling, jousting and of course, archery, along with the new classic, Drinksmash. With a name like that, you know this is a traditional orc game where the participants punch one another while drinking. Tavern Games deserves a special mention just because of Stageless Play. Here is MEG's own tribute to D&D within D&D. See, you role play mighty adventurers who seek out thrills and chills that the Playwright composes. Funny stuff.Magical Competition has some interesting ideas but I was a little disappointed with how bland some of it is. For example, Conjuration Combat is casters summoning monsters and whatever monster wins, that caster wins. The Game of Forms, where the two casters shapechange into different forms that have an advantage over the last form used also seemed a little stale. Because there's so much material here, there are ideas on how to incorporate it into your own game by either making a tavern, fair or tournament. Of course there are products devoted to Taverns, so that area doesn't need too much material, but fairs and tournaments don't get a lot of air time in d20 so it's nice to see them covered. The author uses the questioning method so that the GM can answer questions on why, who, what, when, etc... on the subject so that its more fleshed out and ready to use.Those not up to making their own material need not fear however, for there are sample materials, a tournament, two fairs, and a tavern. Wise GMs who haven't used Necromancer's Taverns books or the previous Foul Locales book, Beyond the Walls, now have even more events that they can throw at the characters.Interior layout is standard two columns with lances for borders. The only editing problem is the dreaded “Page XX” reference. Bad MEG, no cookie for you. Layout gets hit once on page 35 where Dueling seems to be afraid of the right margin for some reason. Patricio Solar does a majority of the interior art and this is a style I enjoy so I'll leave it at that. The book does what it sets out to do. Most of the rules are simple and easy to use with little set up time or issues with integration with standard fantasy campaigns. It provides numerous sub games and rules that allow the GM to provide xp for non-lethal encounters even as it provides examples nad ideas on how to craft your own material. Tournaments, Fairs & Taverns is a utility book that'll find use in any GM's shelf.</blockquote>

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