I agree with the other reviewers about the non-specific/unactionable content, but I also suspect that this title (and most of the other ones I've looked at on preview by this publisher) are written at least in part by ChatGPT. There's a cadence to them that's very AI, and the problem with AI is that it's very nonspecific...just like this is. (I'm fine with AI existing; that genie's out of the bottle. I just want to be told something's AI so I can decide whether or not to support it.)

Since that's just speculation, I'm giving the content 3 stars, since it did make me think about how to adapt other type of media into games, even if there wasn't much that was practical to that endeavor contained therein.

It seems like it's written by an AI. The same few obvious concepts are repeated over and over.

So disappointing that it actually made me angry.

The authors spend way too much time expounding on how awesome they and their techniques are, and almost none on how to actually use those techniques.

Sure, there are a lot of words wasted on what you can use (Bullet) Journaling for, but not once are you shown the actual process of it. I would have expected at least one example of how to use Bullet Journaling plus Cornell Notes to document the events of a (part of a) play session.

They spend a miniscule amount of their wordcount on how the format of Bullet Journaling, i.e. the different types of bullets that help you organize your notes, actually looks, and then say how Bullet Journaling is even better when you use it with the Cornell Notes format, which gets another perfunctory description.

And then they give you hundreds of pages of example notes THAT DON'T USE THOSE FORMATS!

I mean, seriously!

It's like the journaling thing is just an excuse to showcase all the "amazingly creative" ideas they have.

A complete f@<#ing waste of time.

(2 Stars, instead of 1, because grammar and spelling are on point.)

Some of these Lux Adversaria books are excellent. Unfortunately, this isn't one of them. It looks like it was made up of many articles.

Ordinarily, that would be fine. But in this case, it desperately needed editing. We get the same topics listed over and over with very little variation... or information. This could have been edited down to about five pages.

i think this is a weakness with the "Understanding XXX Roleplaying" volumes. The "Adventures" and "Characters" volumes are much more helpful.

To improve the volume, I'd suggest editing to remove redundancies, and giving more examples for the topics.

There's nothing particularly bad here, but it's all very generic and system agnostic to the point of providing no mechanical advice whatsoever for creating creatures for a ttrpg.

The prompts and issues to be considered are decent enough as places to start, but it's all very padded and reads like a thoughtless AI-generated summary. Consider:

"Establishing the geographic range of Arctic megafauna is crucial for worldbuilding. This includes defining the specific regions of the world where these creatures are found, like the icy tundras of the far north or the frozen wastelands beyond the polar ice caps. By delineating their habitat, the worldbuilder sets the stage for encounters with Arctic megafauna and provides context for their existence within the larger ecosystem of the fantasy world."

So, arctic megafauna are found in the arctic and you'll need to decide where that is when designing a campaign setting. Essentially the same paragraph then appears in each biome section with a few words changed so that it's not completely cut & paste.

Over 40 years Edward Simbalist wrote two articles for the Chivalry & Sorcery sourcebook, 'designing C&S monsters' and, 'monsters are people too.' Between them they managed to provide more actionable advice for a DM in seven pages than this document manages in 96.

Will this also be available in epub format so I can read it through the Kindle app?

I found this disappointing. It's 51 pages of generalities and concepts. I was hoping for examples, techniques, and case studies, but the content labeled as such amounts to a paragraph or two each of generalities and concepts.

For instance, we're told that "Thematic consistency is necessary for maintaining the integrity of the narrative and player interactions." How does one do that? "Player choices and actions should reflect and contribute to the overarching themes of the game." How? There's nothing on how to ferret out themes, how to implement them in an RPG setting, or how to play them out. All we're told is that it's important, and that the writer has done it. There are no spelled-out techniques or worked examples.

Similarly, we're told that NPCs and locations are important (we knew that), but there are no particular techniques presented on ways to implement the material or play it out. "I considered how Gandalf's motivations and growth could intersect with the players' journey, ensuring that his guidance remained relevant and impactful." And how did you go about that? We don't find out.

There are no worked examples showing the concepts in action. There are no step-by-step methods for preparation or play.

There's not a lot of substance to this game - feels padded by redundant and vaguely ChatGPT-feeling text. The rules seem fine, such as they are, but there's just so much cruft.

I can't recommend this to anybody. So much padding! And so little useful material.

I am a fan of your series of books, and am happy that you have saught to continual improve upon them with your 'Director's Cut' version. You have done a great job cutting the unneeded fat from your series and have improved upon them! I have cheered you outloud while reading your 'Director's Cut', as I have noticed many of the improvements I wished to have seen actually implemented (Removing fat, re-organizing, re-sizing and choosing a better font, clarifying imformation, introducing new information.)

Though I do have some critism with the current Building Worlds and Building Adventure's. For Building Worlds you failed to clarify what type of premise is being created and for what purpose initially. You state "A premise summarizes your setting in a single sentence... etc" yet, you then go to mention Goals, Characters, and Obstacles. From reading past works, I know that the type of premise being creatd is what a chracter within the particular story would be accomplishing and for you to extract details from that. If it wasn't for that, I personally would stay confused.

For Building Adventurer's book, the tone and wording of what you are suggesting to the reader makes me feel as if you would be more accurately suggesting information for a campaign rather then an singular adventure. Then, when I came upon the Campaign chapter of the book, I thought to myself "So far it really felt like everything was refering to the entire campaign."

Though I do have these criticisms and I do feel that there is still room for improvement, you have certainly improved on your series. I am happy that you are keeping to your guns presenting your books in the unique format that you have. I am happy to have something different in my collection of books and not just the same thing that other people have created.

Berin Kinsman's gaming resource books are impressive and complete. They are especially good material for those of us new to working in game writing. I will no doubt eventually buy up everything on offer. I've purchased several of the books already, and they are being added into my gaming library at just the right time in my career.

Thank you, Berin, for these thorough, well-researched and professionally presented works. They are greatly appreciated.

This was a perfect introduction to "Bullet Journaling" for me. I've tried to absorb the methodology before, but the frame work of campagin journaling made it stick. Sort of like in math class when a good teacher puts a problem in a context that is relatable.

My only critique (aside from some very minor proofreading things like extra words likely left over from early drafts), is the term "Spread" isn't expanded on much. I take it to mean one of two things depending on context. Either, two facing pages OR any application of a calendar grid. Sometimes both, depending on the style you adopt. If I've missed it, blame the sleep deprivation of an overnight shift, not the author.

This is interesting. Drawing a random word can inspire cool ideas. A flower name, the name of a historic figure, random anecdotes. The price may be a bit steep for the production value it has, but it can be fun if combined with the bundle.

Maybe I didn't understand well enough what I was purchasing when I grabbed this, but from the introduction I thought it would be a treatise on weapons, dungeon features, terminology, and the historical Medieval sources of many of the elements we see in TTRPGs:

"Where other people were inspired by the fiction in Appendix N, I was drawn to the strange (but real) vocabulary that he used. Weapons I’d never heard of before. Dungeon features that I had to look up to know what they were. Terms for characters of various classes and levels that were drawn from actual occupations and designations that existed in the past."

What this seems to be, however, is a compilation of texts on various topics from the public domain. A lot of the articles are lifted wholesale from historian Henry Osborn Taylor, among others. There's no context whatsoever in terms of how these historical elements factor into the classic D&D setting or tabletop games of today and many of the articles focus on Latin prose and poetry, often without translation. I'm perplexed by this release.

Adventure Generator Vol. 1 includes four d20 tables, but it goes beyond the madlibs-style of adventure creation or the hook approach.

The tables are: adventure type, environment, adversary, and theme.

The adventure type table (and the accompanying text) is the heart and the main value of the generator. You get ten adventure types. Volume 2 provides ten more. If you like what the adventure types offer (which I'll describe below), you'll probably like the Adventure Generator (either or both volumes). If it doesn't sound like your style at all, this isn't the product for you.

The product description says the Adventure Generator is for a fantasy setting, but the adventure types themselves aren't specific to fantasy. You could use these same adventure types in a variety of genres with little or no tweaking.

Each adventure type gets about 2000-3000 words of text. First, it gives you an adventure summary. The "Block by Block" adventure has this summary, for instance: "The player characters head into a dangerous situation to rescue someone from the adversary and return them to safety." It goes on to offers tips for basing an adventure on that summary: Adapting for the System, Adapting for the Campaign, Adapting for the Environment, and Adapting for the Adversary (one or a few paragraphs each).

Next, each adventure type lays out a five-encounter model, which is reminiscent of (but not identical to) the Five Room Dungeon model by Johnn Four. Whereas a Five Room Dungeon leans toward adventures that are relatively quick and lean, Adventure Generator gives a deeper treatment. It describes the storytelling function of each encounter as it relates to the particular adventure type. For example, Encounter 1 gives tips on establishing the situation, demonstrating the stakes, and creating character connections. In other words, you're getting "here's how encounter N fits into the adventure" instead of "here's who you encounter" or "here's what the PCs must do."

You get tips on where and how you might expand the number of encounters or tweak the model, such as: "If you wish to expand the adventure beyond 5 encounters, this can be broken into a separate challenge."

Some people automatically declare "railroading" the moment they see anything resembling a structure, but the Adventure Generator isn't railroading. The encounter descriptions don't dictate to the players how they should achieve the aventure goal. The descriptions don't limit player choices. They also don't limit the GM's options. Knowing that Encounter 4 is a good time for "adversary retaliation" helps you (as the GM) adapt to the situation. Maybe you have some ideas in advance. Maybe you improvise on the spot, based on what's happened so far and any previous ideas you had. "Adversary retaliation" is inspiration and guidance, not a script that must be followed.

The environment types and adversary types are all things you've seen before, if you're familiar with the usual fantasy RPG settings. You get a brief paragraph on each environment that probably won't tell you anything new. For the adversaries, you get one of the usual fantasy adversary types (humanoids, undead, etc.), with a brief paragraph on what they are and a list of example creatures of that type. You might find them helpful, but most likely, you already have your own ways to choose adventure settings and adversaries, and they're already adapted for your setting. If you have those resources, you might not be interested these two tables. If you don't have such resources, environment and adversary tables here give you broad types, not specifics, so you'd still need to come up with the details you need.

If you have your own environment and adversary resources, you're also not confined to the fantasy genre. You can use the adventure types and the themes in other genres, using your own methods for devising the environment and adversaries.

The theme table, marked optional, gives you "something akin to literary theme" for focusing the adventure conflicts in a particular direction. You get ten themes, such as "Crime Doesn't Pay" or "Humanity vs. Society." Each one gives you a couple of paragraphs discussing the sorts of conflicts you'd see with that theme. The theme is basically a lens as you develop the adventure. If you decide that your theme is "crime doesn't pay," then you develop the adventure with a focus on wrongdoers trying to get away with wrongdoing or eventually getting what they deserve.