Tarot Card Generator

Chaotic Shiny has done it again. Hannah 'Swordgleam' Lipski has created a tarot card generator that should be added to your next game and pretty much every game after that. Like her other generators, the tarot card generator is simple to use, created some very interesting results and most of all useful to any genre.

She breaks the tarot cards generation into four parts, the description, meaning, condition and what's on the back. And you are able to create one to twenty-five cards at a time. Each tarot card is also given a title. The Sleepless Fighter, The Fearful Knave, The enchanted Warlock ect...

The description is just a sentence of what is depicted on the card. I'll use the Sleepless Fighter tarot as an example for the descriptions. The card depicts a tall, pious lass with copper-colored eyes and a shortbow before dawn.

This is followed by a short esoteric of what the card could mean. It is associated with an agreement, physical strength, and wealth. Inverted, it represents fear, an accomplishment, a death, and fire.

The third section is what condition the tarot card is in. I enjoy these descriptions because often the focus is what is on the card. Hannah takes it that other step. The card has a large bloodstain.

And the final section is a short description of what is on the back. Another fantastic addition that normally is not considered. The back is dark grey on grey with a gate.

I encourage everyone to go check out Chaotic Shiny generators. Hannah has produced some of the best gaming generators I've found. And she keeps cranking out new ones. There are a ton of them that are free. And if you haven't bought her Treasure Hoard Generator I recommend you do so. I did a review of it and have been using since then. It adds a depth and odd intresting things I would not normally have come up with. So please check out Chaotic Shiny Productions webpage and have a blast playing with all the generators.

Monster and Treasure Assortment

This was one of the first non-core book, non-adventure module gaming supplement I purchased. You've got the great Tramper cover art and other small pieces woven in. Basically this is a two sets of random tables divided between monster and treasure. The title wouldn't make much sense otherwise. And each set is divided into nine different levels. Formatting wise, what I love, is they wasted no space. Even the backside of the front and back covers are used.

I used this book to help populate my 'folder modules' (I used Manila folders and would staple my map to the inside and some information about the dungeon on the other so when we would play I would use it like a regular module from TSR). I would draw a dungeon on graph paper, number the rooms and then start rolling. All the treasure and monster tables use 100 entries in each. No duplication or fudging with saying on a roll of 44-48 1-6 Orcs. Each one is assigned one number.

An example room would be this. I'm going to use a 5th level table for both monster and treasure. I rolled a 88 for the monster so that gives me 1-4 Giant Rattlesnakes. And I rolled a 17 for the treasure giving me 1 jewelry worth 3000gp. Now in the front of the book are three tables for how to present the treasure. One is what is the treasure contained in, the next what is it guarded by (traps) and the last one is what is it hidden by. The contained and hidden b are d10 and the guarded by is a d16. So let's see what's going on with this treasure. The treasure is contained in an iron trunk, trapped with spring darts firing up from the top of the container and is hidden under a loose stone in the floor. Of course you may only want to roll on one or two of theses tables, but its fun to roll on all three and keep what you like.

I know I stocked a lot of dungeons using this book. It is simplistic and will make dungeons that have no rhyme or reason, but that's okay. It may spark some great ideas by positioning a couple of things near one another you would have normally never attempted.

Overlooked Products

Question for the day, what PDFs or print products do you think are great and have been overlooked? It doesn't matter if they are new or old, any edition or game. One of my favorite gaming products is the old Citybooks from Flying Buffalo. I always thought those were great books and never heard too many others get excited about them or know what they were.

Weekend is almost here. And yes, I have started work on my one page dungeon. I should have it all written by tonight. Maybe.

Unearthing a Treasure

I dug through some of my gaming things and unearthed a booklet I hadn't seen in years; Apothecary on the Street of Dreams (AotSoD) written by Bob Liddil. The red cover has a sketch of a skull mortar and bone pestle that demands attention. When I saw it started with a short story, I groaned. For some reason game fiction is lousy most of the time. But I was happy to discover Bob Liddil writes a good story.

Part 1 is titled 'Tales'. It is a single story that provides background of the sinister mind that created the magics in Part 2. Griswald Grimm provides 30 interesting concoctions in Part 2. Each concoction is given a full page of detail including suggested prices and read the special properties section because some of these salves, ointments, or potions have some interesting side effects.

What I like about AotSoD is it gives the art of alchemy a personality. It's not just a simple you find two healing potions. There is a potency and danger in Griswald Grimm's designs. It gives depth to a part of the game that is often glossed over.

Part 3 is another story of Griswald Grimm and his apprentice Fleet O' Foot.

The final section, although it is not labeled Part 4, but rather The Karnuth Manuscripts. This is probably my favorite section because it describes books that contain powerful formulas. One manuscript teaches non-magic user how to throw I fireball and is noted to have been banned by the Wizard's Guild National Committee. Griswald even includes his own book in there (AotSoD). This is a great resource to make libraries more interesting.

The other feature of this book that I like is it is system neutral. There are no giant stat blocks wasting precious space, just a lot of good writing and fun. If you are a collector or need something to jazz up the alchemical side of your game Bob Liddil has already come up with some great ideas. And since my rediscovery of his book I will be implementing some of the ideas into my campaign.

Here is a link to Bob Liddil's Digitropolis webpage.