GM Gems: A Tome of Game Master Inspiration is filled with a wealth of information and ideas to empower every aspect of your game. Never run boring, vanilla games and never be caught flat-footed!
Inspiration and Perspiration
This 80-page collection of tricks and tips is systems-neutral, so you can play it with any role playing game you choose. GM Gems is written by veteran Game Masters and some of today’s best known RPG designers, and includes:
Alchemical Mishaps
Empty Rooms Worth Describing
Extraordinary Campsites
Familiar Creatures with Unfamiliar Faces
Short Encounters for Short Attention Spans
Unique Taverns and Inns
Unusual Holidays
100 Unique Treasures
And much, much more!
Includes the original 64-page systems-neutral edition and the expanded 80-page second printing that is updated for DCC RPG rules!
This product not only gives a GM so much cool material to use, but it also gives an imagination a kick in the pants! I find that just reading through this has inspired so much more detail in my games descriptions and added a truly unique style to my worlds. Thank you to all who worked on this and a hearty 'Good Job' to all of you!
Where to start? I'll start with the negative first (very little), move through the neutral, and on to the positive.
The Ugly (negative): I really don't like the layout. This should not be attributed as fault of the writers. But it feels really cramped to me. “Clean” section breaks are rare, meaning if you aren't paying close attention as you flip through the book, you might not notice you left one section and are almost done with the next. And with most charts having one hundred separate entries, they often span several pages. Also, the Black print on Medium Grey background on every other chart entry can be hard to read for some. Now that thats over with.
The Bad (Neutral): This book, or PDF, will be most useful to those running Homebrew games, or those whose group never seems to follow a plotline. If you have those mythical groups of players that always follow the plot of an AP style game, or don't really care about the world around their characters, you won't have much need for this.
The Good (Positive): There is a ton, metric or otherwise, of material in here. While I pick on the layout, a “better” layout would require more pages, and therefor more cost. If you are the kind of person that loves window dressing your game, but have difficulty keeping it new and fresh – you really need this book. If you are the kind of person that found the Appendix section of the 1st Edition DMG the most entertaining, this is a must have book. It ties in well with those charts, and doesn't replace them in any way.
I have enough space to write about one of the twenty five sections split between three chapters, roughly organized by type. Alternate “Wonders” for the Rod of Wonders – brings the item back into its chaotic glory.
I dare say that everyone will find something useful, or at least fun to read, in this book.
First, let me say that this is, indeed, an awesome resource full of all kinds of amusing, creative, and useful pieces of material. From alchemical mishaps through unique poisons to things in a pocket, there's a lot of cool stuff here.
One caveat: the book claims to be system-neutral, but there are a *lot* of things that directly reference the OGL/D20 system scattered through the entire book. While there are a fair number of genuinely system-neutral pieces, the overall book is very definitely biased toward the D20 system.
I liked this book for two reasons. One, it has a lot of creative "fluff" to it, which is what I am all about. Second, it really has an old Judges Guild-type of suppliment feel to it, where the fantastical could erupt at any moment. Give me tattooed monks streetfighting and Goblins chanting 'Daddy!' at the hapless PC. When I get in a fix as to what to tell an adventuring party when they say 'now what?' I'll be reaching for this gem.
As some of you may know, GM Gems was the lovechild of many Paizo posters who spent 1,000+ hours in an orgiastic fit of unbridled brainstorming (they tell me sex sells). Goodman Games is releasing our book in February and Joseph Goodman talks about it on this recorded interview on Pulp Gamer. We'd be so very grateful if you'd spare the time to lend an ear. GM Gems is discussed specifically between 2:25 and 5:35 into the podcast.
If anyone happens upon any further press or hype, point us to it from this post if you can. We're all quite excited about this work and truly hope you enjoy it.
The Writers: Lou Agresta, Rone Barton (the Jade), Russell Brown, B. Matthew Conklin III (Great Green God), Elizabeth Courts (Lilith), Adam Daigle, Ashavan Doyon (neddiheht), Tom Ganz (Dryder), Stephen S. Greer, David Hall, Stefan Happ (Farewelltokings), Ed Healy, Tim Hitchcock, Phillip Larwood (Phil L.), John E. Ling, Jr. (Zherog), Hal Maclean, Rob Manning (Drunken Nomad), Greg Oppedisano, Greg Ragland, Craig Shackleton (Rambling Scribe), Patrick Smith
Steve Greer was the project manager and Lou Agresta, Rone Barton, Matt Conklin and Ashavan Doyon were the project developers.
Yes, you can download a form from their website and fill it out and send it in. I was tired of trying to figure out if something new had come out and amazon is a bit hit and miss with them. That was before I started buying most of my stuff here.
Joseph Goodman has informed me that GM Gems will be hitting stores on February 11. He will also have a web freebie on his site to give everyone a little taste within the next few days. Go here to check it out in the next few days.
I should note that on the paizo boards my username is Koldoon :)
Working on a project with so many authors was a fascinating experience and I hope people like what we came up with.
- Ashavan
Except that you sign everything with Ashavan - I'm not sure I'd recognize Koldoon as easily as I do Ashavan as I'm not sure that I've ever seen you not end a post "- Ashavan".
Anyway I like the authours so I'll get my local distributer to send me a copy...err, I mean I'll special order that for a customer (Hey I count as a customer of mine ... I think).
It's nice to be able to put some real names to some of those avatars, at last! Especially the ones who've discussed their Dungeon/Dragon submissions; I can see if they succeeded.
Are all these people Were-Cabbages, or just a few?
It's nice to be able to put some real names to some of those avatars, at last! Especially the ones who've discussed their Dungeon/Dragon submissions; I can see if they succeeded.
Are all these people Were-Cabbages, or just a few?
[/selfish plug]Screw it! Order a few and see what happens.[/selfish plug]
Yeah - I own an environmental bookstore, so gaming stuff does not really qualify but their is a kind of loop hole in the industry where one can always contact a distributer to special order products, so I opened an account with Lion Rampant (my local distributer) and every so often I special order gaming stuff for a 'customer'.
[/selfish plug]Screw it! Order a few and see what happens.[/selfish plug]
Yeah - I own an environmental bookstore, so gaming stuff does not really qualify but their is a kind of loop hole in the industry where one can always contact a distributer to special order products, so I opened an account with Lion Rampant (my local distributer) and every so often I special order gaming stuff for a 'customer'.
As someone who got to browse the awesome brainstorm threads where these amazing ideas were spawned, I can say only this: This book is incredible. I am definitely buying it. It's like the Dungeon, Journey, City, Cast and what not articles in the back of the old Dungeon Mags, but on crack. Some of the most innovative ideas I've seen for topics so often left bland and undeveloped in our games. Most entries inspire entire adventure arcs in and of themselves. I highly suggest picking this up. It's packed full of goodness.
I should note that on the paizo boards my username is Koldoon :)
Working on a project with so many authors was a fascinating experience and I hope people like what we came up with.
- Ashavan
Except that you sign everything with Ashavan - I'm not sure I'd recognize Koldoon as easily as I do Ashavan as I'm not sure that I've ever seen you not end a post "- Ashavan".
Jeremy -
There was a time in the dim recesses of memory when I didn't. But you'd probably have to be looking far into the archives to find that time (though the once famous Wil Saves thread may have some of those posts).
I should note that on the paizo boards my username is Koldoon :)
Working on a project with so many authors was a fascinating experience and I hope people like what we came up with.
- Ashavan
Except that you sign everything with Ashavan - I'm not sure I'd recognize Koldoon as easily as I do Ashavan as I'm not sure that I've ever seen you not end a post "- Ashavan".
Jeremy -
There was a time in the dim recesses of memory when I didn't. But you'd probably have to be looking far into the archives to find that time (though the once famous Wil Saves thread may have some of those posts).
So i just noticed: GM Gems is live for purchase at Paizo! In plenty of time for all you folks with your 25% off coupons. For everyone else, it's still a bargain at the Paizo's baseline 10% below MSRP!
So i just noticed: GM Gems is live for purchase at Paizo! In plenty of time for all you folks with your 25% off coupons. For everyone else, it's still a bargain at the Paizo's baseline 10% below MSRP!
[/corporate shill]
Already did, along with another two hundred and thirty some dollars of gear. All for $170!