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Title: Robin's Laws of Good Game Mastering by Robin D. Laws, Steve Jackson, Peter Bergting ISBN: 1-55634-629-8 Publisher: Steve Jackson Games Pub. Date: March, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (4 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Good but short... or is that good and short?
Comment: This book is a collection of related 'articles' on how to be a good GM that could be a chapter in the GMs guide for any RPG. It is completely system agnostic but the author demonstrates an understanding of most popular systems. It contains a lot of good common sense about being a GM all compressed into 32 pages - really good tips on assessing your players and training yourself to improvise in particular. I also liked that the author doesn't take sides between role-playing and roll-playing but rather advises the GM to focus on what makes the players happy. I cautiously recommend this book as follows:
If you are new to GMing or are thinking about being a GM this book both contains useful information and will build your confidence. You just need to decide if you are willing to pay this much for a 32 page 'pamphlet'. You could probably find all of this information somewhere on the web but it would take a lot of looking and it probably wouldn't be as well written. It certainly wouldn't be as well organized. For the new GM I would say that you probably are better off spending your money on this book than on another game supplement or adventure because you will use what you learn here in every game session.
If you are an experienced GM intent on 'mastering your craft' then you have to buy this book just to know that there hasn't been anything written about GMing that you haven't read.
If you are a competent GM (as indicated by the fact that you have a group of satisfied players) then take the author's own advice and spend your money on something else. We'll actually he says that if your players are happy then ignore everything that he has to say but he would probably want you to buy his book anyway ;-).
Rating: 4
Summary: Robin Lays Down the Law
Comment: Robin Laws states early on in the book that roleplaying games are supposed to be as fun and entertaining as possible for all participants. He continues by expanding on two main themes: (1)knowing the players and what they define as "fun" and (2)knowing the adventure and what its objectives are. This sounds deceptively simple, but Robin points out that different players want different types of adventures, so consider the group of players and suitablity of the adventure to their desires. He has many humorous examples of do's and dont's. I could see many of the examples have happened during adventures that I gamemastered over the years.
The book is mainly geared towards gamemasters, but does have an interesting section on different player types. I discovered as a player I am a "Method Actor." What type are you?
I strongly recommend this smallish, simple-looking book. It made me think of things about a gaming session that I had only given a passing glance to prior to reading this book.
Robin lays down the law, and I like the rules.
Rating: 5
Summary: Awesome - informative, concise, useful, and the right length
Comment: I really didn't think that I would give this 5 stars when I initially learned about it. I figured it would be another really simple little book from someone else in the industry saying "Here's how I do things and I'm great"...
I love being wrong.
I've never read any of Robin's other works. I've been GMing RPGs for a long time (it doesn't really matter how long), but I've been out of the "main-stream" games for years. I found his analysis very accurate, his experiences coincided with my own, and his thoughts and suggestions made a lot of sense.
The fundamental premise of Robin's Laws is that players can be categorized into a specific group, making it easier to understand what they enjoy in a game, what game you should play with that group, what the campaign and adventure should be like, how they should be structured, etc. He goes into a great deal of detail on how to accomplish this, while avoiding being preaching or arrogant in the process. He has even come up with a way to quantify some of these determinations, which really impressed me.
To be honest, I think that it is very difficult to make the determination of a player's type, in many situations. Possible, yes, but very difficult. His observations of what you can do with this information are very intriguing and inciteful, however, and well worth a look.
I highly recommend this to anyone who ever has or ever will GM an RPG. It has a great deal of useful information and ideas.
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Title: Arcana Unearthed: A Variant Player's Handbook by Monte Cook, White Wolf ISBN: 1588460657 Publisher: White Wolf Publishing Inc. Pub. Date: 26 July, 2003 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: Player's Handbook: Core Rulebook I (Dungeons & Dragons, Edition 3.5) ISBN: 0786928867 Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Pub. Date: 18 July, 2003 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: Book of Exalted Deeds (Dungeons & Dragons Supplement) by James Wyatt, Darrin Drader, Christopher Perkins ISBN: 0786931361 Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Pub. Date: 29 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $32.95 |
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Title: Complete Warrior (Dungeons & Dragons Accessory) by Andy Collins, David Noonan, Ed Stark ISBN: 0786928808 Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Pub. Date: 03 December, 2003 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
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Title: Underdark by Bruce R. Cordell, Gwendolyn F. M. Kestrel, Jeff Quick ISBN: 0786930535 Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Pub. Date: 29 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $32.95 |
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