What is happening? I am the first to post? Anyway has anyone seen this book? I would be interested in hearing opinions about it.

Hello, Earth.... I mean, Golarion to anyone?

Just my 2 cp.

I have the Toolbox, and it is quite useful. I am interested in this book, and would like to see an index.

Thanks!

My opinion is...IT MUST BE MINE!

In my shopping cart, now!

What is happening? I am the first to post? Anyway has anyone seen this book? I would be interested in hearing opinions about it.

I've seen it, only because I wrote it (along with my wife and AEG's jim pinto). So, while I think it's pretty slick I can't say so! ;-)

If you have any questions about it at all, ask away!

-DM Jeff

I have the Toolbox, and it is quite useful. I am interested in this book, and would like to see an index.

We have 4 or 5 PDF outtakes for you to peruse, including the HUGE index, on the Ultimate Toolbox wep page of AEG:

Ultimate Toolbox

-DM Jeff

silverhair2008 wrote:

What is happening? I am the first to post? Anyway has anyone seen this book? I would be interested in hearing opinions about it.

I've seen it, only because I wrote it (along with my wife and AEG's jim pinto). So, while I think it's pretty slick I can't say so! ;-)

And a little kobold helped.

Thank you!

Elorebaen wrote:

I have the Toolbox, and it is quite useful. I am interested in this book, and would like to see an index.

We have 4 or 5 PDF outtakes for you to peruse, including the HUGE index, on the Ultimate Toolbox wep page of AEG:

Ultimate Toolbox

-DM Jeff

And a little kobold helped.

And, of course, we also had help from Dale McCoy during some of our serious crunch times!

-DM Jeff

Well, it looks like you will be getting some of my tax money then!

An index for the Ultimate Toolbox, along with several free PDF samples are available at www.alderac.com.

Hope that helps.

Not to mention tons of freebies that Jeff and I have been slinging over at enworld.

CURSE THIS HORRIBLE ECONOMY!

Ah well, when I am recalled to my cubicle dungeon I will be sure to snag a copy.

You know, while developing Toolbox over the past few years Dawn and I originally had a lot of ruleswork written into the text. When the 'edition community' began to fragment and everyone started taking sides, we had very little discussion about how to go about it.

When a game master is sitting staring blankly at a small library of rule books trying to put together a story for the upcoming session, numbers aren't the main ingredient. They're important, but there are already so many stats available. Including them would mean any given entry of any given table wouldn't necessarily be scaled to your group (and thus not as useful).

So, despite the fact I've been personally wary of "statless" game books before, for Ultimate Toolbox it seemed a much better fit. There's that much more room for entries. There will be no clutch of numbers to 'skip over' on your way to the good, meaty stuff.

Ultimate Toolbox is aimed at breaking the writer's block. It's end goal is clear: inspiration, sparks of enthusiasm, and turning the old new again. And although this is available on the UT website, here is one last sneak peak, one of our favorites: PLOT. After going over the entire chapter, we're hoping you might actually forget about tossing those old modules or magazines on EBAY and instead recycle them for a new generation...with all new surprises and twists.

And while we drew on inspiration from a bunch of different editions (and even different game system worlds on ocassion), Dawn and I like to think we had a classic feel to our inspriation, from the worlds and ideals of earlier editions of you-know-what.

-DM Jeff

An index for the Ultimate Toolbox, along with several free PDF samples are available at www.alderac.com.

Hope that helps.

Not to mention tons of freebies that Jeff and I have been slinging over at enworld.

I must be blind or have missed 'em all.

What's the format of the book? At 400 pages I wouldn't be surprised at either hardcover or softcover?

jim pinto wrote:

An index for the Ultimate Toolbox, along with several free PDF samples are available at www.alderac.com.

Hope that helps.

Not to mention tons of freebies that Jeff and I have been slinging over at enworld.

I must be blind or have missed 'em all.

What's the format of the book? At 400 pages I wouldn't be surprised at either hardcover or softcover?

I believe that it will be a hard cover book.

I beleive Mr. Alvarez is correct on the hardcover bit.

Here's the thread jim pinto mentioned: LINKY

And it seems the fine Paizo store is the first to have it up for preorder as far as I can tell! :-)

-DM Jeff

As an update, Ultimate Toolbox turns out to be a softcover, perfect-bound book!

-DM Jeff

Not to be too much of a wet blanket but... I was on the fence on this one when I thought it was a hard cover for 49.95. A softcover for 49.95 is just not worth it in my opinion, if for no other reason than durability.

I guess I will be waiting until Amazon has a used one at a more reasonable price.

Looks like some kind annoymous reader (I wonder who...) gave GamingReport the info...

http://www.gamingreport.com/article.php?sid=26200&mode=thread&order =0

Pre-ordered and waiting. If this was just half as good as the first, it would still be invalueable.

Zux

If you have any questions about it at all, ask away!

-DM Jeff

Are there any tables that overlap from Toolbox?

Are there any tables that overlap from Toolbox?

About 3 or 4 yeah. We found out no matter how hard we tried we couldn't make those tables any better! :-)

-DM Jeff

Pre-ordered and waiting. If this was just half as good as the first, it would still be invalueable.

Awesome! We did everything we could to make this as useful as possible, mostly because so much of the content came from our own games. Thanks for the vote of confidence!

-DM Jeff

Is it OGL?

silverhair2008 wrote:

What is happening? I am the first to post? Anyway has anyone seen this book? I would be interested in hearing opinions about it.

I've seen it, only because I wrote it (along with my wife and AEG's jim pinto). So, while I think it's pretty slick I can't say so! ;-)

If you have any questions about it at all, ask away!

-DM Jeff

The description says that the book is chock-full of tables and charts, but also says that it contains no rules. In my experience, tables and charts tend to be full of numbers, and numbers tend to fall under the category of "rules," so I'm very curious: what kinds of information are in these tables and charts? I realize that you don't want to give away your material for free here, but it would be nice to know as much as you're comfortable sharing with us.

Dude, have you gone to the AEG webistie? There's like 20+ pages of downloads on the Ultiamte Toolbox page.

silverhair2008 wrote:

What is happening? I am the first to post? Anyway has anyone seen this book? I would be interested in hearing opinions about it.

I've seen it, only because I wrote it (along with my wife and AEG's jim pinto). So, while I think it's pretty slick I can't say so! ;-)

If you have any questions about it at all, ask away!

-DM Jeff

Hi DM Jeff!

Is it OGL?

It is not. It's not associated with any license because there are no rules. It's flavored with the best styles assumed from 30 years playing the world's most popular roleplaying game, without a single stat to tie it to any one rules system.

The description says that the book is chock-full of tables and charts, but also says that it contains no rules. In my experience, tables and charts tend to be full of numbers, and numbers tend to fall under the category of "rules," so I'm very curious: what kinds of information are in these tables and charts?

Mostly correct, however these tabels and charts are not of the numbers kind. There are no stats, and we're glad to share examples! As noted by Mr. Kushner above, the book's website has plenty of pages of examples of what is inside.

The categories fall under a basic assumption: no DM will ever sit looking blankly into space wondering how to tie together his plot or provide a new experience for the players this coming session. He'll open this book and the problem is solved.

I have the original Toolbox but if one doesn't will one need both to enjoy "Ultimate Toolbox" or is it s "stand alone" product?

It is a standalone product. Charts that we felt were completely vital from the first book we included here (and rewrote them), but expanded in all ways. While having the first book is neat and means you'll have that many more tables to use, the Ultimate Toolbox is a standalone book ready to be used on its own.

Thanks for asking!

-DM Jeff

I guess I should ask what is the percentage of the old book that was used. I know 95% of the new book is new. What is the percentage from the old book that was used. 30%, 40%?

Zux

I guess I should ask what is the percentage of the old book that was used. I know 95% of the new book is new. What is the percentage from the old book that was used. 30%, 40%?

Not even that much at all. Just a handful. But I think I get what you are saying. We cover around 20% of the same subjects, but with new material in Ultimate Toolbox. One of the things to remember is the first book was loaded with pages and pages of quick monster stats. So we never got into the type of detail or possibilities with those chapters we really wanted to.

So, for example, while the "civilization" chapter in the first Toolbox was about 45 pages, but nearly 25 of those were all stats, in Ultimate Toolbox the civilization section is over 100 pages, with NO stats.

In the first book we had 1 table called "crime and punishment". In Ultimate Toolbox we have prisoners, crimes 1 & 2, local criminal gangs, punishment 1 & 2, an essay on running fantasy criminal trials, types of trials, trial complications, sentencing, arbiters, etc.

While the first one helped you fill in the blanks on a city, Ultimate Toolbox lets you build a city from the first brick to its hundred-year history complete.

Hope that helps!

-DM Jeff

It does look quite cool, and more than that, useful.

Wish it were hardback. Paperback would soon disintegrate with as much as I think I'd check it.

A small note: On the Index and Intro sample pages, the link on the Intro image leads to the Index sample instead of the Intro sample. The Intro sample can be gotten to by changing the address bar (and guessing the obvious name for the file) but it would be good to have the link get to the right sample off the bat.

I'll weigh in here late at night after a rousing Pathfinder RPG game to talk about the hardcover/softcover issue.

As of late we've been the recipients of a number of hardcovers that were either badly warped or that wound up cracking in poor places after just a few lay-outs at the game table.

Then there's books like the Pathfinder Beta and other huge perfect bound tomes where it perfectly set the "don't judge a book by it's cover" motif.

The price tag is for the content, 100%, not a cover to deflect a bullet. It's the meat of the book that's in the telling. And we hope that even if it were a hardcover it would have suffered from "multi-referencing syndome" just the same! ;-)

-DM Jeff

Well, let me see how taxes go. If I get better than I am expecting, then I will order this ASAP. Otherwise it will have to wait a bit.

Look at these penny pinchers. I just want Ultimate Toolbox Volume 2 to come out by the end of next month. Then I would show you sales, I tell you! I would lay down more cash in a heartbeat for this kind of gaming help than any other aid. As much as I love Paizo products, this is at the top of the list, the top!

Zuxius

As much as I love Paizo products, this is at the top of the list, the top!

And as much as I hope you still enjoy the book when it releases, Ultimate Toolbox isn't a Paizo product, but an AEG tome. It just contains...Paizo influences, as former Dragon editors worked with Dawn to hone her list skills in days when she wrote a handful of articles for that magazine.

-DM Jeff

On the Index and Intro sample pages, the link on the Intro image leads to the Index sample instead of the Intro sample. The Intro sample can be gotten to by changing the address bar (and guessing the obvious name for the file) but it would be good to have the link get to the right sample off the bat.

Good point. I alerted the powers that be.

In the meanwhile, here's a direct link to the intro PDF: UT INTRO.

-DM Jeff

On the Index and Intro sample pages, the link on the Intro image leads to the Index sample instead of the Intro sample.

Good point. I alerted the powers that be.

Update: FIXED, thanks!

-DM Jeff

ME WANT.

The price tag is for the content, 100%, not a cover to deflect a bullet.

Hey!

Hey!

Hi!

-DM Jeff

Gimme the book already!

I really want it now. NOW!

Zux

It's out tomorrow by the word of the website. DM's writer's block, you've come to the end of your days!

-DM Jeff

It's out tomorrow by the word of the website. DM's writer's block, you've come to the end of your days!

-DM Jeff

Our distributor does have them in stock now, so we should be getting our preorders soon.

Disregard this post. An earlier poster had asked this question and received an answer.

silverhair2008 wrote:

What is happening? I am the first to post? Anyway has anyone seen this book? I would be interested in hearing opinions about it.

I've seen it, only because I wrote it (along with my wife and AEG's jim pinto). So, while I think it's pretty slick I can't say so! ;-)

If you have any questions about it at all, ask away!

-DM Jeff

Yeppers Questions!

First of all I will say, based upon the description so far, I am thinking this may be the most desirable book I have seen in a while. So kudos. Almost guarenteed I will buy it. Going to FLGS tomorrow to see if they have it.

Question revolves around background generation. There were a series of books, ages ago, don't remember their names but for Fantasy, Modern and Future, that used charts and die rolls if you wanted randomness, for a varied background- things from parents and events of childhood and young adulthood. How does your book approach this topic? :)

DM Jeff wrote:

silverhair2008 wrote:

What is happening? I am the first to post? Anyway has anyone seen this book? I would be interested in hearing opinions about it.

I've seen it, only because I wrote it (along with my wife and AEG's jim pinto). So, while I think it's pretty slick I can't say so! ;-)

If you have any questions about it at all, ask away!

-DM Jeff

Yeppers Questions!

First of all I will say, based upon the description so far, I am thinking this may be the most desirable book I have seen in a while. So kudos. Almost guarenteed I will buy it. Going to FLGS tomorrow to see if they have it.

Question revolves around background generation. There were a series of books, ages ago, don't remember their names but for Fantasy, Modern and Future, that used charts and die rolls if you wanted randomness, for a varied background- things from parents and events of childhood and young adulthood. How does your book approach this topic? :)

I used to have those book. They were very fun to use. I wish I knew what the name of them was?

As one who already owns the original Toolbox, I'm intrigued. I've found the first version invaluable when mining for ideas, campaign flavor, etc.

This new version seems a significant improvement upon an already fine product, I'll have to budget it in for future purchase.

Bought it. Eagerly awaiting it to be shipped. If it's on any sort of par with the first Toolbox, I can guarantee I won't be disappointed!

Krome wrote:

Question revolves around background generation. There were a series of books, ages ago, don't remember their names but for Fantasy, Modern and Future, that used charts and die rolls if you wanted randomness, for a varied background- things from parents and events of childhood and young adulthood. How does your book approach this topic? :)

I used to have those book. They were very fun to use. I wish I knew what the name of them was?

<threadjack>

Anyone recieved this yet?? I'm tempted....but need to know more.