It's that time again

[thebitterguy]

The Gmailinvites are piling up (99!). Anyone want one?

Comments

Please

[jeffreyab.livejournal.com]

What the heck I'll take one.

Re: Please

[thebitterguy]

Done!

[brand-of-amber.livejournal.com]

I had 100.

Now I have 99 and the gmail addy RandomNinjas@gmail.com

I am random, and a ninja. I think I will rename Brand's Brand to be Random Ninjas.

[(Anonymous)]

Westbrook
A d20 Beginnings sourcebook from 3 a.m. Games
126 Pages
Written by Don Bessinger
ISBN 1-59516-000-0

It is a truth commonly held that to run a D&D game, you need at least three books: The Players Handbook, the Dungeon Masters Guide, and the Monster Manual.

Once you have those three books, then, the DM and his players are on their own. For experienced players and novices both, this can be an imposing task.

Westbrook is part of the Beginnings line from 3 a.m. Games. The Beginnings books are designed to serve as a fourth book, helping DMs starting D&D campaigns. They provide a basic campaign setting (in the case of Westbrook a trade city), several adventures and assistance for the GM to start his game.

The city is a well constructed one, and perfect for a low level party to cut their teeth on. Westbrook is a city on a major trade route. There are taverns and merchants in the city and farmers and woodsman who work outside of it.

The city is well constructed and detailed within the book. There are a number of NPCs who can interact with the PCs, and a number of organizations to run afoul of. These include the town watch, the Greenwards, an undermanned group of Rangers who patrol the king’s roads, and a thieves guild. Westbrook, at 2000 people, seems a bit small to have a thieves guild, but there you go.

The town is well detailed, with businesses, organizations, and personalities outlined. The only flaw with it is one of layout; there should have been a town map included near the front of the book, instead of back in the appendices.

Westbrook is a fairly good generic fantasy town in a standard generic fantasy setting; DMs would have no problem

The GM’s section is a great tool for novice DMs. It gives advice for helping the players even before the game begins by giving advice for building a cohesive adventuring party. Then, depending on which one the party chooses, the first adventure gets them started on the mini campaign.

The idea behind the Beginnings books is a clever one; a DM doesn’t need to worry about starting his campaign. They’re given an initial concept, and can expand it in whatever direction the players would like. The adventures give options for getting the players deeply involved with the setting, establishing them as important people within Westbrook, which can then allow them to expand their sphere of influence to whatever campaign world.

[(Anonymous)]

Westbrook
A d20 Beginnings sourcebook from 3 a.m. Games
126 Pages
Written by Don Bessinger
ISBN 1-59516-000-0

It is a truth commonly held that to run a D&D game, you need at least three books: The Players Handbook, the Dungeon Masters Guide, and the Monster Manual.

Once you have those three books, then, the DM and his players are on their own. For experienced players and novices both, this can be an imposing task.

Westbrook is part of the Beginnings line from 3 a.m. Games. The Beginnings books are designed to serve as a fourth book, helping DMs starting D&D campaigns. They provide a basic campaign setting (in the case of Westbrook a trade city), several adventures and assistance to help a GM to start his game.

The city is a well constructed one, and perfect for a low level party to cut their teeth on. Westbrook is a city on a major trade route. There are taverns and merchants in the city and farmers and woodsman who work outside of it, and the city’s history is detailed in the book to give a sense of how it grew organically.

There are a number of NPCs who can interact with the PCs, and a number of organizations to run afoul of or possibly join. These include the town watch, the Greenwards, an undermanned group of Rangers who patrol the king’s roads, and a thieves guild. Westbrook, at 2000 people, seems a bit small to have a thieves guild (even one that could charitably be called a street gang), but there you go.

The town is well detailed, with businesses, organizations, and personalities outlined. The only flaw with it is one of layout; there should have been a town map included near the front of the book, instead of back in the appendices.

Westbrook is a fairly good generic fantasy town in a standard generic fantasy setting; DMs would have no problem building a campaign around it, or placing it into pretty much any standard RPG world (Forgotten Realms, Scarred Lands or Greyhawk would all accept it pretty readily).

The GM’s section is a great tool for novice DMs. It gives advice for helping the players even before the game begins by giving advice for building a cohesive adventuring party. Then, depending on which one the party chooses, the first adventure gets them started on the mini campaign.

The idea behind the Beginnings books is a clever one; a DM doesn’t need to worry about starting his campaign. They’re given an initial concept, and can expand it in whatever direction the players would like. The adventures give options for getting the players deeply involved with the setting, establishing them as important people within Westbrook, which can then allow them to expand their sphere of influence to whatever campaign world.

Visually the book is good, although the cover is unfortunately one of the weaker aspects of the book. It gives almost no sense of what the book is about, instead being an unforgivably generic shot of a group of adventurers walking through the woods towards a ruined tower. Interior artwork is good, and the cartography is well done (although I’d be inclined to, once again, have a map in the front of the book for ease of consultation).

Westbrook is a great product for both new GMs, and busier GMs who want a good campaign framework to start building a larger game on. I look forward to seeing a variety of products in the Beginnings line.