I was in the final playtesting group. In my player role, the idea of having a home to return to really appeals to me - maybe because I'm a woman :). This book gives the DM exactly what it promises - a ready mansion for the characters to live in, with the whole area detailed and ideas for small adventures. The book is amazing to read and beaufitul to look at. To all of you DMs out there - give your players a treat!

Ring Side Report- RPG Review of Homeward Bound- Simple rules for player-owned base

Originally posted at www.throatpunchgames.com, a new idea everyday!

Product- Homeward Bound- Simple rules for player-owned base System-Dungeons and Dragons 5e Producer-Jan Sielicki Price- $3 here http://www.dmsguild.com/product/201016/Homeward-Bound--simple-rules-for-playerowned-base?affiliate_id=239993 TL; DR-Finally a use for money! 94%

Basics- You’ve killed the dragon, gotten it’s hoard, and now you just want to go back to the inn to drink? Savages! Time to get and build up your own house! Homeward Bound is a supplement focusing on maintaining a home in the adventure. Instead of just drinking in a bar, you can own land, quest to keep that piece of land safe, and drink in your own home! This book has options for the players and ideas for the DM.

Mechanics or Crunch-This book isn’t built to be a player option book, and that’s very important going forward. This book does have benefits to the player in the form of different things you can build which are nice and some of these even have levels of benefits depending on how much you build up. Those are all good additions to the players’ options in game. However, the major problems I had were the lack of player specific character options and the build your own manner option. Players can build things that give them a better start to the adventure, but there are not feats, spells, or player options that deal with their own manor. Also, players don’t have options to build their own manor out right. The typical ways to get a manor are find one or be gifted one. I’d like to forge my own. These don’t break the book by any means, but I’d like a bit more as a player. Something that might help is a character sheet for your house showing what you’ve added, the rooms that are there, and what bonuses you get from each. As a DM, I have enough from this book to do well with it in my game. 4.25/5

Theme or Fluff- This is a book of how to get and build a manor. Overall it doesn’t tell a story per se, but it gives you the theme of owning and building a house in DnD. The book does include a possible campaign for a DM to throw at the players, which is a nice touch. However, all the things in here have a good theme and description to them. It’s an entertaining read. 5/5

Execution-This book has got pictures, color, columns, art, tables, backgrounds, and story. Then why the 4.9? Size. This book has tiny font. On a tablet, it’s ok because I can zoom in. As a print out, it’s hell on the eyes. That said this is some of the best execution I’ve seen for a DnD 5e book yet. It’s organized well and even hyperlinked! Compared to some of the other stuff with just black text/white background/5 pages/5 bucks, this does raise the bar for the competition. Just be prepared to squint a bit. 4.9/5

Summary- I like what’s here. Here is the biggest part-this book picks up where the core DM’s Guild doesn’t go. You get a house/castle/tent anywhere, what do you do with it? This book gives you options. And the best thing this book does is give you options for what to do with money. Players are drowning in cash with not option for magic weapons as standard int he rules. Here, players get an awesome way to spend cash while building up a place to call home. Is this book perfect? No-I want larger text as I’m going blind, and I want player options. But here is the thing. This is a solo book done by one guy that’s as long as a Paizo player product, with pictures, and a mini-campaign, that costs less than the black and white standard adventures from the Adventure League. This book is not perfect, but book is what most of the DMs Guild need to aspire to be. 94%

I really, really want to use this in a campaign, which is the highest praise I can give any product (and is really the only thing that matters, right?). Many adventures and campaigns feature a sidebar or even a few pages about setting up a home base for the PCs -- this does the opposite, presenting the home base first, and then building adventure hooks and even campaign ideas around it.

The product describes the home base (the Sleeping Manor) and the surrounding area, but not in very much detail, which makes it easy for the DM to insert the Manor into any setting. Instead of detail, the focus is on how the PCs interact with the Manor -- what they can do there, what kinds of problems and benefits arise from Manor ownership, why they might want to improve the Manor, etc. This is the kind of stuff that drives game-play.

I especially appreciate how compact and efficient the rules are -- instead of dwelling on complex formulae and bookkeeping, you simply earn gold on a monthly basis, and pay gold to upgrade the Manor for various benefits. This allows the product to spend its space on what the upgrades are and what they do. Likewise, there are monthly random events that can happen (some good, some bad) and they are presented in a straightforward and rules-light manner.

I'm only giving 4 stars because, although I love the framework provided here, the specific HQ (a country manor with magic windows) isn't my first choice. I would LOVE to see a follow-up product with a few alternative home bases (an urban guild-hall, a keep on some borderlands, a large inn at a major trade crossroads, etc.), building off the material presented here.

TL;DR: It's great. Buy it. Use it. Your players will love you.

Longer version: The idea of my players having a castle has always been present in my mind, and I've been DMing for 15+ years. Once (back in 3ed I think) I even bought a splatbook for stronghold creations, but it was just too much work - I didn't want to build every single room, plan out every single floor and wall. Bleh. Too much work - RPGs are only one of my hobbies and I also have to work and have a family. Resources on the Internet are also too complicated and time-cosuming (and not easy to find!).

Then there is this short book - yes, it's concise but that's great - the author gets his point directly across, without unnecessary (for this type of book) embelishments. So, first of all there are the ideas how to insert this Sleeping Manor (love the windows!) into your campaign. Make sense. Then there are descriptions - very nice ones, and each room is presented in two versions (lavish and utilitarian), so the players can choose what they like. THERE ARE NO FLOOR PLANS. And GOOD! I'm from the faction that believes that the moment you show a map to the players, their imagination turns off. There is also a simple and fun system for earning money between adventures. Next - a number of upgrades for the house. This is the part your players will really love. For example, having a peaceful garden allows the heroes to start their next adventure with extra HP, having a wizard's tower allows the wizard to prepare one more spell, an alchemical lab (witha resident gnome) produces low-level potions and much much more. So the players now want to come back home - because resting there grants all these small, but useful bonuses!

The other part of the book describes neighbours and lands around the Manor. Plenty of great roleplaying opportunities and I estimate that visiting each location can be enhanced and become a separate game session. The ideas are ineresting and leave enough space for your own plot hooks etc. Finally, there is the Baron - an adversary, whose lands border the PCs' lands. Again the book offers only the spine of what could be a really great campaign, it is solid and inspiring. I really, really dig the idea of my players leading a fight against their neighbour, supporting the rebels on his lands, learning the secret of his power, protecting their home, lands and people! FUN!

The book looks nice, although nothing really stands out - the images look like standard stock photos (they probably are heh) or they're from the monster manual. There is a hand-drawn map at the end, but I've seen better.

To sum up - a really great, small book! It might seem pricey compared to other DMG products, but trust me - it's worth it. I love it so much I might buy it again :D

I like this kind of RPG stuff.

Imagine you are running a campaign, your party is hungry for new adventures, but you ran out of ideas. You need something to feed your imagination. Something well described, but still leaving space for your ideas and starting you up. If you have such troubles, this book will help a lot.

And it's cheap, so you risk nothing. ;-)

First of all, I'm not a number cruncher but more of a roleplayer myself, so from that view I'll write up this review.

As a DM I've always liked the idea of player housing, but never delved into it too much because of the work you have to put into it. This document provides it all: rules, settings, idea's, a map, homecoming scenarios etc etc. It's the foundation of a great player house, with nice possible background stories of how it was acquired, or even quests to acquire it during a campaign.

Theres a lot of detail in the room descriptions and the sidequests that can be done by different classes throughout the house. Theres even a description of surrounding lands, cities and towns and ideas for an encounter against a neighbouring villain, kudos.

Even though, it's not tied to a specific setting. You can easily tweak this to fit it snuggly in an existing campaign.

When it comes to numbercrunching, theres not a lot of specific numbers or rules in the document. You basically get the setting and the descriptions, and build your encounters and rules around it, using the document as a guide through the house and surroundings. Thats exactly what I'd be after, DM-ing. An elaborate description and setting to accomodate specific stories in my campaigns. So very happy with this!

4/5.