Product Review (Sort of?) – Tome of Design: Fantasy Adventure Builder

Dear Readers, you cannot IMAGINE how excited I am to have written this review. Seriously. And for all of you DMs out there, this one is DEFINITELY for you! This product was the reward for a Kickstarter that I recently backed.

First off, let me review the “physical” product, which I’d purchased awhile back on the DMs Guild website ( dmsguild.com ). That will give you the framework of what I’m actually reviewing…

In the vast realm of tabletop role-playing games (RPGs), the creative process of crafting immersive and captivating adventures is a delicate art. Dungeon Masters (DMs) constantly seek tools that enhance their storytelling abilities, allowing them to weave intricate narratives and build worlds that come alive. One such tool that has generated a buzz in the RPG community is the Tome of Design: Fantasy Adventure Builder. In this comprehensive review, we’ll delve into the depths of this resource, exploring its features, usability, and overall impact on the RPG landscape.

Unpacking the Tome

The Tome of Design: Fantasy Adventure Builder arrives in a substantial hardcover format, adorned with intricate fantasy artwork that sets the tone for the creative journey within. Authored by seasoned game designers and world-builders, the book promises to be a treasure trove for DMs seeking inspiration and guidance in crafting their fantasy worlds.

The book is divided into several chapters, each focusing on a specific aspect of adventure design. From world-building essentials to encounter design, narrative arcs, and even tips on fostering player engagement, the Tome aims to be a comprehensive guide for both novice and experienced DMs.

World-Building Wonders

The foundation of any great adventure lies in the world it unfolds within. The Tome of Design excels in providing DMs with a robust framework for world-building. It delves into the creation of rich and dynamic settings, offering guidance on geography, cultures, histories, and even the intricacies of creating believable pantheons.

One notable feature is the inclusion of prompts and tables designed to spark creativity. Whether you’re struggling to name a city, develop a unique cultural quirk, or flesh out the history of an ancient empire, the Tome provides an array of prompts that can serve as springboards for your imagination.

Crafting Compelling Characters

A key element of any memorable adventure is the characters that inhabit it. The Fantasy Adventure Builder doesn’t just stop at world-building; it extends its guidance to the creation of engaging non-player characters (NPCs) that populate your world. From major quest-givers to quirky merchants and enigmatic villains, the book provides insights into breathing life into characters through backstories, motivations, and distinctive traits.

What sets this chapter apart is its practical approach. The authors understand that time is often a precious commodity for DMs, and the book offers efficient methods for creating compelling characters without getting bogged down in excessive details. Quick-reference tables and character-building exercises streamline the process, making it accessible to DMs of all experience levels.

Plotting the Course

The heart of any adventure is its plot, and the Tome of Design doesn’t disappoint in this regard. The chapter on narrative design breaks down the components of a compelling story arc, offering guidance on pacing, twists, and character development. It emphasizes the importance of player agency, providing tools to adapt and respond to the unpredictable choices made by the adventurers.

One commendable aspect is the incorporation of examples from well-known campaigns. By dissecting the narrative structures of classic adventures, the Tome serves as a valuable resource for understanding what makes a story resonate with players. This chapter is not a rigid set of rules but a flexible guide that encourages DMs to experiment and find their narrative voice.

Mastering Mechanics

No adventure is complete without a solid mechanical foundation. The Fantasy Adventure Builder dedicates a chapter to the intricacies of encounter design, balancing challenges, and handling in-game mechanics. Whether you’re crafting a tense combat scenario or a diplomatic encounter, the book provides tools to ensure a balanced and engaging experience for your players.

An innovative feature is the inclusion of a modular encounter builder. DMs can mix and match various elements – from adversaries to environmental challenges – to create encounters tailored to their campaign. This not only saves time but also encourages creativity, allowing DMs to customize their adventures with ease.

Art of Atmosphere

The atmosphere is a subtle yet crucial element that can elevate an adventure from mundane to memorable. The Fantasy Adventure Builder devotes a chapter to the art of creating ambiance, guiding DMs in using descriptive language, music, and even props to immerse players in the world they’ve crafted.

A particularly useful section discusses the use of sensory details. By engaging all the senses, DMs can transport players to fantastical realms, making the experience more vivid and immersive. The Tome’s emphasis on atmosphere showcases an understanding of the emotional impact that a well-crafted setting can have on players.

Navigating Challenges

Even the most seasoned DMs encounter challenges during their campaigns. The Fantasy Adventure Builder doesn’t shy away from addressing potential roadblocks and provides practical solutions for common issues. Whether it’s handling player derailment, managing a diverse group of characters, or dealing with unexpected plot twists, the book offers insightful advice and strategies to keep the adventure flowing smoothly.

A noteworthy aspect is the inclusion of anecdotes from experienced DMs. These real-world examples add a relatable dimension to the advice, making it clear that the challenges discussed are not theoretical but part of the shared experience of running tabletop games.

Enhancing Engagement

The success of any adventure hinges on player engagement. The Tome of Design recognizes this and dedicates a chapter to techniques for fostering player investment in the story. From collaborative world-building sessions to personalized character arcs, the book provides tools to ensure that players feel an active part of the unfolding narrative.

One standout feature is the exploration of player motivations. By understanding what drives each player, DMs can tailor the campaign to cater to individual interests, creating a more personalized and rewarding experience for everyone at the table. This chapter acts as a bridge between the narrative and the players, emphasizing the importance of a cooperative storytelling experience.

Unleashing Creativity with the Tome of Design

The Tome of Design: Fantasy Adventure Builder stands as a comprehensive and invaluable resource for Dungeon Masters seeking to elevate their tabletop RPG experiences. With its well-organized structure, practical advice, and emphasis on fostering creativity, the book serves as both a guide and a muse for DMs of all levels.

What sets the Tome apart is its adaptability. It doesn’t impose a rigid set of rules but instead provides a toolkit for DMs to pick and choose from. Whether you’re a newcomer looking to start your first campaign or a seasoned DM seeking fresh inspiration, the Fantasy Adventure Builder offers something for everyone.

As with any tool, the effectiveness of the Tome ultimately depends on the user’s willingness to engage with its content. DMs who approach it with an open mind and a desire to experiment will find themselves equipped with a powerful resource that enhances their storytelling capabilities and enriches the experiences of their players.

In the ever-evolving landscape of tabletop RPGs, the Tome of Design: Fantasy Adventure Builder stands as a beacon of creativity, inviting Dungeon Masters to embark on a journey of imagination and innovation. As the final page closes, the promise of countless adventures lies open, waiting to be discovered and brought to life at the gaming table.

Now…all that said, there came a revised version of the document. The revised version is much better (as it should be) with a lot more content.

Then…then they did something awesome. They built the book into an electronic tool.

Let me show you the wonders of this tool!

When you open the software, you get this screen. There’s not much going on, but I’ll do my best to walk you through it so you can best get an idea of how very cool this software really is.

We start with the obvious, the “Adventure Builder” button. That takes you to the following screen:

As you can see, we have a bit more to work with. All of those options to the side are things you can roll from the tables that are found in the book. Let’s start with, you guessed it, “Starting Points.” Now, without selecting a sub category (clicking the little icon to the left of “Starting Points” and really any of those options), gives you a roll from all of the sub sections.

As you can see, there are a number of sub-sections that you can choose from. We will instead roll from “Starting Points” to get a roll from all of the sub-tables. Notice that clicking on that changes “Choose from Index” to “Starting Points.” This lets you know what table(s) you are rolling from.

From here, you select the icon centered above “Starting Points” (or whatever you’ve selected), and you get something like this:

Okay, we have the basis of an adventure now!

Now, say we don’t like the patron it generated, a Pikeman (mercenary). You simply mouse over just that part, and BAM, new Patron rolled! This means you can reroll from specific tables within the rolls themselves!!!

Now we have, as our patron, an Emissary (commercial). Neat, huh?

Okay, so now we have something we like. We’ve done our re-rolls and we like what we see. Now we are going to press that “Keep” button below to send what we’ve gotten to our “Notebook.”

This should look familiar as we just saved what we had from the previous screen. From here, we can actually add notes simply by clicking on the line and typing, like so:

As you can see, I’ve added onto the Patron with a description of who he is and what he does. You can do that for any and every line. Also, if you changed your mind about an aspect, you can click on the title, and select “Delete” when it comes up, deleting that section. Keep in mind that there is no undoing this once you’ve deleted something and the program will tell you so.

From here we can save our “Notebook.” Here’s where things get a little tricky. When you try to load a saved Notebook, it doesn’t take you to where it’s actually saved. You have to go to the following path (for Windows anyways):

This PC>Windows (C:)>Users>[Your Username]>LocalLow>Brave Alice Games>Fantasy Adventure Builder

It’s was a little convoluted to find, but thanks to Mrs. Daily DM, I was able to find it.

Next though…oooooohhhhh, next is probably my favorite part…

If you go back to the starting menu, you’ll see an option called “Table Designer.” You should then see something like this:

This is where you can generate your own tables! For example, in mine, I’ve created, with the tables in the books The Game Master’s Book of Random Encounters and The Game Master’s Book of Non-Player Characters , a table with first names, last names, race, a brief description, wants and needs, secret or obstacle, and what they are also carrying. Now, as the materials contained in these tables aren’t mine, I won’t be publishing them (you know, for legal reasons; I don’t want to get sued), but I will be using them for personal use.

One of the cool things you can do after creating your table(s), are to give it a “Test Roll” where you can see what it will look like to generate based on your tables. For the Main Tables, you can create a series of tables that will generate something like this:

As you can see, it gives me exactly what I ask for. Then you have “Results Tables.”

Then we have “Results Tables.” These are really cool and really spice up your tables. Say you have an entry that you want to say something like “…who wants to find a [insert dragon color] egg” but you want to generate a random dragon color into the table. Well, that’s where “Results Tables” comes in. You can, within a main table, click on “Ask a Result” when editing the main table, wherein it will ask you which results table you want to use. Simply click on it (I selected a table I called “Dragon Colors”) and when it generates that option, it will randomly select from this other table, one of the options therein! In this way, you can customize each entry as you see fit. I am currently in the arduous, daunting, and time-consuming task of filling out a results table with literally every non-named monster contained in dndbeyond.com (I own everything, so I might as well). I’m not even out of the “A’s.”

sigh

I’ve got my work cut out for me. BUT IT WILL BE WORTH IT WHEN I’M DONE!!!

Because at any point, with any table, I can use it to insert a monster/animal in an entry in one of my tables. The only thing I’m wondering is if you can copy a table from one table to a new table without having to recreate it. So far, it doesn’t seem to be an option. You can, I guess, duplicate the save file under a different name and change the main tables to whatever else you are making that you would need the results tables for, but I think that’s the only way to make that happen. A minor inconvenience at worst.

As for the software itself, as I said, I got this off of a Kickstarter, so the Steam version, as of the time of this post, has not been released. There is also, I’m happy to announce, an Android and iOS mobile version of the software, which I also have. That, too, has yet to be publicly released, although it appeared to cost $9.99 on Android (I got it included with my KS). I also paid to get the PDF of the revised Tome of Adventure Design document on the dmsguild.com website, as well as the commercial license so I can do some of the things I am thinking of doing without worry of legalities. Worth the upgrade, if you ask me. Lastly, I purchased the DLC which included extra tables otherwise not available. The level of the KS that I pledged included all future DLC, so I’m looking forward to that. Additionally, the community will later be able to share tables with each other that we’ve created. Not bad at all.

I would post this review, or at least the text review, on Steam, but as it is not commercially available, that was not possible. Once it does become available, I’ll post this review there as well.

In summary, though, I have to say that I give this software and the accompanied pdf document a solid A+. Although some of the parts are quirky, it’s still in early release, and I know for a solid fact that they are adding more DLC tables at a later date (let me tell you how time-consuming it is just to input the tables, let alone come up with the stuff in the tables!). All in all, this is an amazing product, and when it releases to the general public, a product you are sure not wanting to go without!

Until next time, Dear Readers…

EDIT: I found that there is an option for late backers to the Kickstarter! You can head over to https://www.rpgstories.net/marketplace?Category=Software and get your copy of Fantasy Adventure Builder for yourself now! What are you waiting for? Go on! Go buy it!