What are your recommendations for additional books of random table generation?
What are your recommendations for additional books of random table generation? I see Toolbox, Ultimate Toolbox pdfs and I see Tome of Adventure Design. Which books do you use to help flesh our your Ironsworn adventures? I'm leaning towards downloading both of the Toolbox books and having them printed at the local shop (they are out of print and too costly to buy on Ebay). What say you?
If budget is a concern for you, I'd suggest some from the Castle Oldskull line: they're often on sale at DirveThruRPG (now as well) at ridiculous prices, and they're BIG.
ReplyDeleteDungeon Dozen
ReplyDeleteThanks! I see Dungeon Dozen on Amazon. I also see the Oldskull stuff on Drivethru. Hmm maybe Adventure Generator, World Generator and Delve Enhancer. They are indeed cheap PDFs though I'd want to print them. This is a great start. The print version of many of the Oldskull books are available on Amazon. I'm leaning towards that. I don't need lots of details, just basic random stuff when "Pay the Price" or something sends me on a tangent.
ReplyDeleteHello!
ReplyDeleteWhile I haven't used it yet in Ironsworn, my recommendation for random generators is always the little spaces series, especially the Big Book of Little Spaces: Haunts. As the title implies, they are about location generation (for which Ironsworn already has some tables), but I like their approach of having one feature rolled up and then one to three sensory details. They can really help flesh out a region or sometimes even force you to reconsider some details. My latest applications of it were all rather mundane in their results. When setting up a game of Trollbabe, I needed to define the Green Goo Swamp. I used the creepy copses table and got taste-smothered, smell-stagnant, and insects. Automatically, I came up with a swamp with many pools of stagnant water where mosquitoes breed in hordes and where the air is thick with the smell of stagnant water so that your sense of taste is numbed.
Likewise, while playing A Wanderer's Romance, I came across a hidden valley with some woods in it. I wanted to get an idea what set those woods apart, so I consulted creepy copses, getting hearing-bubble and bog. So, as luck would have it, another swamp/bog, but this time one with foul gases building up and forming bubbles that burst periodically. I also figured that it was an otherwise lifeless place.
Mind you, creepy copses also has flowers, moss, or the sky in its tables, not only swamps and bogs, dice just hate me (^_^;;
Yours,
Deathworks
EDIT: Oh! I hadn't seen your response above about the Pay the Price move. I thought you needed random content generators in general.
The combination Action + Theme table from Ironsworn is not enough for you? Or what kind of content are you looking for?
drivethrurpg.com - Big Book of Little Spaces: Haunts
Thank you for that recommendation Deathworks! That's right up my alley too. My Ironsworn adventures initially are planning to be Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter style. The cool creepy ideas in that Haunts will be perfect. I did order Tome of Adventure Design for a general table reference but I will also get Little Spaces: Haunts to really get it spooky. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteLazareth Minnelli About the Tome of Adventure Design: if you ordered it directly from Frog God, don't be discouraged if something seems wrong with your order/shipment, and contact them to settle things up.
ReplyDeleteI had the misadventure of ordering it when they were switching website and my order got all messed up and I got my book more than 5 months late. But they have a very caring customer support and they will make things right.
It's pricey, but it's my favourite book of this kind.
Yes, right away the website wasn't acting right after the order and I was not confident in the system. I contacted them through Facebook to double check my order. I purchased the book/pdf combo for $42 (no shipping charge shows up) which was cheaper than ordering from Amazon or downloading the PDF from Drivethru and having it printed off myself. It's about $60 on Amazon. Was told this morning that the order looked correct and ready to go but that they were in the middle of sending out tons of kickstarter stuff and it might be a few days before they ship it.I hope it doesn't get lost in the shuffle. If I don't get an email by the end of the week I'll contact them again. Thank you for sharing your experiences and for boosting my confidence that I did order a good book. :)
ReplyDeleteMy copy of Tome of Adventure Design officially shipped today but it took some effort. They had a rush of Kickstarter stuff going out this week but that's not the main problem. Their website was updated a few months ago and there are a few bugs being sorted out. They are aware of the issues (especially with my detailed report). As for their customer service indeed, they were all helpful both online and with direct phone discussion. Recommended. Once the kinks are worked out of their online ordering process it'll be all good.
ReplyDeleteLatest entry. I made a few more purchases today. After some researching I ordered Castle Oldskull's Adventure Generator book to help me brainstorm even more ideas on the fly and, in anticipation of Shawn's upcoming addition Dungeon Delving supplement/expansion, I ordered Goodman Game's Dungeon Alphabet. I think I'm all set.
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