Based on the award-winning RPG book Toolbox, the Ultimate Toolbox starts off where the original stopped. Focusing on inspiration, the Ultimate Toolbox is 400 pages of the best charts, tables, and seeds of gaming adventure. From character backgrounds and world building to pirate lore and magical portals, every page is the key to adventure.
Covering seven distinct and ever-important topics, the Ultimate Toolbox is a must for any GM. Whether your games take place in the city, dungeon, wilds, or even at sea, there’s a chapter dedicated to it. Even PCs, NPCs, and magical creations get their fair share of attention, as well as advice and charts for building an adventure or campaign from scratch.
Begin your journey now.
This book can be used with any fantasy game system. There are no rules, no powers, no stats of any kind—merely page after page of charts, tables, advice and good solid gaming inspiration. With over 1,000 tables and a fully-loaded index, what else could you ever need?
This book is terrific for DM's or fantasy writers who tend to get hung up on minor details like myself. If your players decide they want to stop into a small village for a night, it takes just a few minutes to browse through and quickly come up with a description of the town, the inhabitants and even the iconic tavern scene. It really helps minimize the dreaded "ummms" which come when my players take a turn and do something completely unexpected, something I am incredibly grateful for.
It's great sometimes to just flip open and browse through until something catches your eye, and then letting that idea expand into a full-on aspect of the game. It's also very good for giving your random loot piles a little bit of flavor or history, or giving your magic items a bit of personality and memorability.
All around this is a fantastic resource, and any GM who doesn't bring this with them to every session is missing out, well worth the money and I hope a follow-up is in the works.
I just love this one.. it's not a must, but it is very nice to have.
it's brainstorming in a box.. systematic chaos ... or a structured creation kit. it has multitudes of uses from figuring out what you pick from a pocket to creating an entire world.
What are those two men in the corner whispering about? roll a D20 on "overheard conversations" and find out..
the funny thing about this is that is so basic.. so simple that its mindnumbing why one self didnt think of this :D it's spectacular in its simplicity. Need something totally random or are you after something very specific, it's got it all... and you dont even need to adhere to the "categories" need a nick name for a dragon why not browse the suggestions for "inn names" or even "the pick pocket" tables mix and match as you see fit.
I will never regret buying this book and are eternally grateful that the authors ever thought of this concept.
I know I can enjoy this product and its eariler companion in hours after hours of brainstorming and dungeon assembling.
Here's a little sniplet of what I did recently.
Legends and recently unearth journals state that the location of the Blackrock Tomb, once lost after the Battle of the Twelve, is located behind a waterfall in the Downshipp Mountains. An unholy vault, dedicated to hostile foreign planar entities and their foul mother-goddesses, whose interior has never been mapped now beckons to the foolhardy, greedy and curious alike. Likewise, all attempts to map the interior are somehow foiled. Earlier recordings stated that some passages twist and turn on their own through tainted sorcery. The tomb is also believed to be the final resting place of the Paladins of the Righteous Scar, a fallen knighthood now lost as they sought to extinguish the evil with the vaults of the tomb itself.
Twin nude Mariliths form the archway and entrance, their many arms grasping their counterparts from some fifteen feet above the entrance’s floor. The tomb consists of several single corridors, all housing mirrors, duplicated down to the smallest detail and engraved with elaborate tactile knots carved into the woodwork into the stone by magic. Ghostly faces appear with in the mirrors, or sometimes colors but no shapes. Phantasmal sounds chime horrifically with armor and weapons scrapping across the stone floors of the tomb. Soon voices howl, then all is silent.
I know that few of you may know the above reference, and that is okay. It got your attention which was its purpose. I have had two days of flipping through this book and I can tell you that it might just take me a year or more just to comprehend most of the material. I like several sections of the book, such as the Civilization, Dungeon, Magic, and Plot sections. I will admit to finding several fragmented sentences and misspellings but that does not detract from the amount of information available to someone using this book. In the Thread there is a concern that as a softcover it might not stand up to constant use. It appears to be the same type of binding that the Beta has and my copy of that book has stood up to 4 different people using at the gaming table so this book should stand up to similar use. All in all I am impressed with the book and thank the authors for taking the time to compile this information in one place. I recommend you get this book.
Just my 2 cp.