If it was marks out of 10 (instead of 5 stars), I'd still have given it 9/10. If you're genuinely up for some solo roleplaying, this guide is genuinely well worth it (but make sure you also have or buy Toolbox 1). Here's why:
I knew the author's solo adventure game e-books were quite good fun, so I risked buying Toolbox 1 and 2 even though I was a bit dubious that it would help much. I'm an experienced DM for a group and a solo gamer already, but these Toolkits provided a wealth of fresh ideas through randomly generated inspirations. The 3 things I loved most are (1) you get to do some RP as a player when nobody else is available; (2) you end up with adventure incidents that you would never have come up with or if you've run out of your own ideas (see below); and (3) if you solo adventure in an established D&D world (I use Forgotten Realms or Dark Sun), it prompts you to learn about some of the established lore (see below) and weave in some of those adventures alongside random gen.
Sample highlights from a few days' gaming with this Toolkit: (1) using it to randomly generate extra rooms, traps and monsters in a playthrough inspired by the classic Fighting Fantasy "Deathtrap Dungeon" gamebook. Setting off to agree a trade deal with Sembia and capturing a pirate vessel after a randomly generated pirate crew attacked. Walking into a randomly generated sleepy farming village and ending up with a "From Dusk Til Dawn"-inspired fight with a randomly generated encounter with a pack of hungry Vampire Thralls. Random generation leading me to a place on the map and reading the wiki about it, rediscovering the existence of Aurumvorax (aka Golden Gorgers - look them up!) and promptly making them the centrepiece of a quest that was part random gen and part D&D lore. Lastly, as a DM, those experiences are also things I can put into future games with my group of players.
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