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GRIM TALES: Gamemastering

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GRIM TALES: Gamemastering
Publisher: Bad Axe Games
by Chris G. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 04/30/2007 00:00:00

The game master needs to at times go beyond what is written in the Dungeon Masters Guide. People have found that while that book does a nice job of covering some of the basic s there are some areas that it does not do as well in. At time it has taken another company and another writer to come out with something better that over writes the rules in the DMG. For instance Mystic Eye Games did that with their Artificers Handbook which presented better rules for creating magical items. Grim Tales Gamemastering does it with encounter levels. It walks a person through the encounter levels and shows how they are calculated. This can be tricky for people not used to the math so they have also included and excel sheet that does the entire math for you.

Grim Tales: Gamemasteing is a PDF by Bad Axe Games. Bad Axe Games is one of those small RPG companies that really has deserved all the acclaims that they have gotten. They have not released that many books but those they have are just good. They have four books in the Heroes of High Favor line that cover a single race each. They have the half orc, the halfling, the dwarf, and the elf covered in this series and hopefully we will soon see their gnome book finally come out. It is the only race book series that I can say I have used all the books for in my game. Then they came out with Grim tales an almost revolutionary look at the d20 system and using it for a high adventure low magic type settings.

The PDF is not that long only nine pages total. It is filled though with just how to figure out the encounter levels and award experience based on that. The PDF is easy enough to follow but the excel sheet is really what makes this work. One enters the numbers into the proper places in the excel sheet and all the calculations are easily done. The PDF does a good job of explaining it all but it does use base two logarithms and not everyone is going to be familiar with those.

The material here is reprinted from the Grim Tales books. It is not a word for word reprint as it is expanded on here and the excel sheet is something that Grim Tales does not have with it. So, even for people who have Grim Tales like myself this PDF and excel sheet still has something to offer.

This is one of the first PDF and electronic books that really takes advantage of the benefits the format provides. The excel calculator is not something that can be done in a print book. It is really nice to see electronic products that finally offer something that print books do not. The Gamemastering PDF is well done, nicely organized, and seems easy to follow. It might be too exact for some people. Getting exact ELs is not something everyone worries about. But for those that do this book does exactly that.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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GRIM TALES: Gamemastering
Publisher: Bad Axe Games
by Jeremy F. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 10/24/2005 00:00:00

These guys worked hard, the math is slick, and it comes with neat utilities. If you write adventures, unless you're really confident about figuring out Encounter Levels, you oughta get this.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: It did what it was supposed to do.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: When I find something I'll come back and edit this review.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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GRIM TALES: Gamemastering
Publisher: Bad Axe Games
by Yair R. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 10/01/2005 00:00:00

This is a fast, easy system to determine EL that is superior to the DMG's. It is very useful in aiding you to determine how taxing and dangerous encounters and encounter-chains will be. If you're not relying on the CR system, though, you'll not find this useful. (And if the monsters or PCs have any quality that will give the CR system problems, such as immunity to the dragon's breath weapon or something, it can get wonky.)<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: The sheer simplicity of it all, the ability to figure out the likely aftermath of a string of encounters and plan accordingly.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: It requires a calculator to figure out EL; worse, it requires a logarithm to the base of 2 which it not on most calculators. The author should have chosen another base and altered the constants accordingly.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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GRIM TALES: Gamemastering
Publisher: Bad Axe Games
by Gilberto L. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/21/2005 00:00:00

The focus of this product is simple: CR and encounters. It uses a different form for measuring encounters than the one found in the Core rulebooks, but I greatly prefer this one.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: The spreadsheet used to make all the calculations. Planning of encounters has actually never been this easy.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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GRIM TALES: Gamemastering
Publisher: Bad Axe Games
by Sarah S. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/21/2005 00:00:00

This is a very useful product - I found that it was an accurate system to develop challenges for my players and the calculating spreadsheet was a great bonus. I'd like to see more publishers create useful tools like this.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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GRIM TALES: Gamemastering
Publisher: Bad Axe Games
by Todd F. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/17/2005 00:00:00

The EL calculator is the gem of the product. Makes it easy to figure out just how much you can challenge your players, with or without killing them.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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GRIM TALES: Gamemastering
Publisher: Bad Axe Games
by Scott J. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/08/2005 00:00:00

As someone who is preparing to start a new campaign with an above average number of players, the information in this product was EXACTLY what I've been scouring the internet for. Thanks Ben!<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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GRIM TALES: Gamemastering
Publisher: Bad Axe Games
by Darrin L. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/08/2005 00:00:00

I got this product as a freebie on GM's Day. I really like it. The PDF goes a long way to explain and detail CR's and EL's and it is an interesting read. But the XL sheet that came with it rocks. I used it 4 times last night to help plan out some encouters, especially since I never can figure out "how many" of a specific CR creature do I need to actually challenge my group's party. I highly recommend this product. Thanks Wulf !<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: The XL sheet<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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GRIM TALES: Gamemastering
Publisher: Bad Axe Games
by John C P [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/04/2005 00:00:00

Nice condensed GM aid. The excel spreadsheet is a little simple at first, but certainly fits the need and passes the test for use at any level. <br><br><b>LIKED</b>: It is simple to use, and can give you an Encounter level and XP in less than a minute. The PDF is nice and concise, just the way I like it. <br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: The spreadsheet is a little simple for my use, as it only follows what would happen for single encounters. When you have multiple encounters in a given session and want to calculate the encounter level, you need to start all over again, and there is no 'reset' button to clear out information you have entered. <br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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GRIM TALES: Gamemastering
Publisher: Bad Axe Games
by George A. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/04/2005 00:00:00

I own the hard-cover Grim Tales, but this update to the CR/EL relationship originally presented in that book is nothing short of fantastic. The advice on designing serial adventures is sound and interesting, and the system for rating skill-based challenges is great. Best of all it's a stand-alone product that really works with any d20 modern, Grim Tales, or d20 fantasy game.

A GM using the material in this document can benefit from also knowing the content from the Creature Creation document and spreadsheet and the the Grim Tales Mass Combat system, but neither product is necessary.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: The benchmarking examples are clear and varied. The document presents multiple styles of awarding experience. The CR/EL relationship presented in the Chi-Rho system really works well in play. The presentation is clear and professional and the charts are well-designed.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: There is no interior art. I only have Open Office on the computer I used to download this document so the spreadsheet was unavailable to me. That's not really a problem with the product though.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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GRIM TALES: Gamemastering
Publisher: Bad Axe Games
by Patrick P. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/15/2005 00:00:00

A very helpful dissemination of Challenge Ratings and Encounter Levels. It is very mathematical, but if you don't mind using a calculator (and for most things, you won't even need one), it can be very useful. The small bit about serial adventure design is very cool.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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