Tenkar's Tavern: Mini Review - GM's Miscellany: Wilderness Dressing (System Neutral Edition)

Saturday, September 26, 2015

Mini Review - GM's Miscellany: Wilderness Dressing (System Neutral Edition)

Tables. It seems like everyone is publishing tables these days. 101 Names for the Tavern Keeper's Wife is probably on sale somewhere. I like tables but they need to be useful. GM's Miscellany: Wilderness Dressing (System Neutral Edition) is extremely useful, especially if you like to run sandboxes as a DM.

See the sample above? The full table is 100 entries. How many tables are there? Here's the Table of Contents:

That's a sandboxing DMs treasure trove of content. Hell, the Folks section alone is giving me about a half dozen hooks I'd like to use and that's from just a quick read.

There's lots of stuff to love here if you are on the improvising side of the gaming table.

Much of this has appeared previously in individual releases. GM's Miscellany: Wilderness Dressing (System Neutral Edition) is a compilation of those releases and some new content, but if you have the prior releases the added value might not be enough to justify the complied purchase.

GM's Miscellany: Wilderness Dressing (System Neutral Edition) is currently $8.39 in PDF.

3 comments:

Purple Duck MarkSeptember 26, 2015 at 10:56 AM
Or even cheaper if you are on the Raging Swan patreon.

https://www.patreon.com/ragingswanpress?ty=c
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AnonymousSeptember 26, 2015 at 3:04 PM
Raging Swan's GM's Monthly Miscellancies are good, too, and for free. Pathfinder, but no stat blocks ;). I think in almost each one there is a description of a small village and some random tables and stuff. I like.
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DougSeptember 27, 2015 at 9:03 PM
Raging swan also has a money-back option if you buy it and don't like it.
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Why "Swords & Wizardry?"

Believe me when I say I have them all in dead tree format. I have OSRIC in full size, trade paperback and the Player's Guide. I have LL and the AEC (and somewhere OEC, but I can't find it at the moment). Obviously I have Basic Fantasy RPG. Actually, I have the whole available line in print. Way too much Castles & Crusades. We all know my love for the DCC RPG. I even have Dark Dungeons in print, the Delving Deeper boxed set, Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. BOTH editions of LotFP's Weird Fantasy and some dead tree copies of the Greyhawk Grognards Adventures Dark & Deep

I am so deep in the OSR when I come up for breath it's for the OSR's cousin, Tunnels & Trolls

So, out of all that, why Swords & Wizardry? Why, when I have been running a AD&D 1e / OSRIC campaign in Rappan Athuk am I using Swords & Wizardry and it's variant, Crypts & Things, for the second campaign? (Actually, now running a S&W Complete campaign, soon to be with multiple groups)

Because the shit works.

It's easy for lapsed gamers to pick up and feel like they haven't lost a step. I can house rule it and it doesn't break. It plays so close to the AD&D of my youth and college years (S&W Complete especially) that it continually surprises me. Just much less rules hopping than I remember. (my God but I can run it nearly without the book)

I grab and pick and steal from just about all OSR and Original resources. They seem to fit into S&W with little fuss. It may be the same with LL and the rest, but for me the ease of use fit's my expectations with S&W.

Even the single saving throw. That took me longer to adjust to, but even that seems like a natural to me now. Don't ask me why, it just does. Maybe it's the simplicity of it. At 45 52, simplicity and flexibility while remaining true to the feel of the original is an OSR hat trick for me ;)

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Saturday, September 26, 2015

Mini Review - GM's Miscellany: Wilderness Dressing (System Neutral Edition)

3 comments:

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