Yes, both Worlds Without Number and Stars Without Number are fantastic for generating worlds like this. I also like Solar Blades & Cosmic Spells for science-fiction TTRPG world-building, and its fantasy companion, Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells.
Oh yeah! I just started using WWN with Worldographer to build a hex-mapped starting region. Lots of fun! I want to do something with the Tome of Adventure Design as well. Maybe when I get to more details on my Brass Pyramid of the AI Worshipping Cult 😁
I almost never roll on random tables, but I always read them and use them when I find combos that I enjoy. There is so much inspiration in a random table.
Yes! That's very similar to how I use them. I use them during prep and I will use a mix of rolling or choosing, but it's usually not done in real time at the table during the game.
Okay, I can add that to the list of potential future topics. Oddly when I started the channel, I thought I'd be doing a lot more reviews than I'm doing now. Cheers!
Ironsworn Ironsworn: Starforged (the random tables found in these two can drive infinite campaigns) Tome of Adventure Design - Revised is also on my list The Storyteller's Dictionary (and The Storyteller's Thesaurus) - the Dictionary, especially, should be in every GM's library
Ironsworn is great, although I'm not familiar with Starforged. Can you tell me a bit more about the Storyteller's Dictionary & Thesaurus? I'm not familiar with them, either, but they sound like fantastic resources!
That's a great choice! I'm familiar with this one from reviews, and it's on my list to get, but I haven't picked it up yet. What can you tell me about it in terms of how it's helped your games? Hopefully others will see your comment and it will help them as well. Thanks!
Into the Wyrd & Wild is such a great book! One of my favorites! I use it for the B/X game I run for my 13yo daughter & her friends all the time. As you probably saw, I included the AD&D DMG in my list, too. I am very intrigued by your last choice! I think you're talking about Twilight 2000? I never got to play the original despite all the ads I saw in Dragon magazine in the 80's. I've played a more recent version, although my GM switched the mechanics to Savage Worlds, and I don't own any of the actual books/boxed sets. What else can you tell me about it?
Two books I would bring to my desert island are the two Hero 6th edition core books. Because then I would actually have the time to learn the game and make a campaign with it. Hehe
I have an earlier version of this, and I've found it very useful for fleshing out further details in adventures. I've never used it for top down adventure design though. 🤔
I haven't, either, but I've used it to help create locations for the game I run for my daughter and her friends. Sometimes I just pick something that strikes my fancy. Other times, I roll for true randomness. Sometimes I do a combination.
Oh man! I re-watched this because my wife asked me what I want for Christmas 😁 I would really like Barrowmaze in physical form because I've been browsing it again and looking at the main map and I just want to lure a bunch of adventurers in 😅 Tome of Adventure Design is another one I've been wanting a physical version of, especially since the revised edition came out. It looks so much more enticing and practical than the old. This kind of book doesn't quite work in pdf either.
I have not backed it yet - thanks for the reminder! And thanks for watching and commenting. I have an earlier version of S&W in PDF format. Currently I'm running Old School Essentials & B/X D&D for my daughter's game.
Ooh, I would really like that. I got this book off Ebay a couple years ago and it wasn't cheap. I use it often so the investment is worth it, but I'd love for something like this to be available to more people. Coincidentally, I went to college with Jim (we didn't really know each other well at the time) but I also used to patronize the game store he worked at in Diamond Bar, California (All-Star Games). It was the first store I'd ever visited in my life where the staff knew my name and greeted me when I walked in. It felt like home. I was there all the time in the early to mid-90's. Thank you so much for watching and commenting!
@@MrRourk Oh, wow, that's so cool! If you remember, the next time you see him, please tell him I said "hi" (he'll remember Martin who used to shop at All-Star Games). Cheers!
@@MrRourk Who knows? We may have shopped there at the same time! Back in those days, I was mainly buying MtG cards and Warhammer 40k miniatures, but I bought some D&D Gazetteers there and some of the 2E "Complete" books as well.
Thank you! Yes, it's a fantastic book for session planning, but it is a beast, hence the hefty price tag. But you get your value! Thanks for watching and commenting!
Awesome video -your reflections and reasons for choosing your four are amazing. I work in digital form mostly these days so that colors my choices. Matt Finch's expansion of the ToAD volume makes it a great resource. My 4 - Rules Cyclopedia 1e AD&D DMG 2e Monstrous Manual (along with 1e MM&MM2, not trying to cheat just for reference in PDFs if I had a laptop with me) Master of The Game by E Gary Gygax. With the Tome of Adventure Design PDF fighting for its place in there too lmao. So many to choose from.
Thank you so much for commenting and sharing your four choices! I really appreciate it! Yes, there are so many good choices and every time I look at my bookshelf, I wonder if I should have picked some different ones. Rules Cyclopedia is a great choice - as you saw my video on the "History of D&D Editions," I referred to it as a "Desert Island" book for many old-schoolers, so that's a natural choice. You'll see my reasons for the 1E DMG in a few more videos. And that 2E Monstrous Manual - I *love* it for Tony Diterlizzi's art. His art makes that book, at least, to me. I sadly don't have, and have never read, Master of the Game. I'll need to check that out. Thanks again!
Those are nice books. I like and own the original TOAD and know those are pretty good. My 4 books would be Scarlet Heroes Heroes and 3: D100 Dungeon Books.
Thank you so much for watching and commenting! I really appreciate it! I need to learn more about both Scarlet Heroes and the D100 Dungeon Books, but they sound right up my alley!
I love it! It's a beast of a book and perhaps not that friendly to use at the table (due to its size and weight) but if you're playing an online game, the PDF could work great and the table. I use it mainly for pre-session planning, but in any event, it *is* a great book. Thanks for watching and commenting!
@@daddyrolleda1 .. I don't like pdf's and online reading. I prefer "the real deal." A good physical book. Love that it has all these tables and charts. A great asset to widden your imagination and creativity.
@@PpAirO5 Oh, I'm totally with you! After spending all day at working staring at a screen, my eyes need a rest, so I dislike reading PDFs of game stuff (the same reason I prefer physical comic books over digital). There's a reason I have this book in physical form! It's just super big and "unwieldy" so it's a bit more difficult to use spur of the moment at the table for inspiration. I'm more like to want to use Dungeon Alphabet of Cthulhu Alphabet for that, as they are smaller and easier to use quickly.
Nice video. I guess there's not much point to me watching it though because I didn't know about the Kickstarter and I guess I can't purchase a hard print version since I'm too late.
I'm sorry for the inconvenience. When I posted this, the book was still available in hardcover from Mythmere Games. I'm sure they'll do a second printing soon. Also, in my video at the end, I cover some alternatives that I've used in my games in case you either don't like and/or can't get this.
I really enjoyed your videos! You're clear with what works and why it works for you and clearly have given it a lot of thought. But I have to say, the name of the channel is adorable but, in my opinion, terrible for growth. A more marketable name would go a long way of boosting your great vids!
Thank you so much for watching and commenting! I had never thought about my channel name being bad for growth. I wonder why that is? I started my blog (also called Daddy Rolled A 1) a few years after my daughter was born. A friend suggested the name, and I thought it was funny and that gaming dads & parents could relate. I've been using it since 2011 and built it up on FB and Twitter, which is where my initial followers on YT came from. How did you find my channel? And do you know if it's possible to change a channel name after it's live? I wouldn't want to have to start building my audience all over again. And, just so I understand your perspective, why do you think the name is bad? Thank you so much - I really appreciate your comments and insight, and I am glad you are enjoying my videos!
@@daddyrolleda1 The way I see it, "Daddy Rolled a 1" is a great blog title because, personally, I believe the best blogs are informal and a bit messy. Genuine and authentic are the name of the game. Which isn't to say that can't be the case on UA-cam... However, unlike a blog, which only hosts your thoughts and writings and is very personal (often leading to direct engagement and conversation with your audience), UA-cam is a competitive space and closer to a broadcasting paradigm. Which means that success, as I've seen it happen, means more nuanced branding than a blog. That branding is usually either personal -- Matt Colville, Markiplier, etc -- or, and I lack the vocabulary to come up with a better term, "titular": short, punchy, memorable, wide audience appeal, and search engine friendly, . (Questing Beast, Bandit Keep, Bastionland, The Alexandrian) "Daddy Rolled a 1" is fun and a nod to parents but what about the younger crowd of 5e players who want to explore the old school stuff? (Which I think your videos are just absolutely great for) And, not to put too fine a point on it, "daddy" is a rather loaded term these days, particularly with the 18-35 demographic that makes up a huge part of youtube viewership. They are also the demographic that review videos (like those of Questing Beast's) are aimed at: young enough to be interested in new (to them) things and with disposable income to spend on those things, leading them to look up reviews. Another example: Colville's "Running the Game" series, what made his channel big, started off as an introduction to DMing and delved into more detailed topics due in part to his decades of professional game design experience and addressing questions from his audience. A sort of Feynman's Physics 101 situation -- intended for beginners, ends up appealing to experienced dms as well. Note that despite the more "official" sounding branding of both Matt and Ben, their content does still feel genuine and authentic. (Although Matt is too much of a writer to not have a polished script) I hope that explains some of my thoughts, although I am just an armchair quarterback shouting from the peanut gallery (am I using those metaphors correctly?). You make great stuff and I'd love it grow so don't let my nonsense detract from the fun you're having!
@@daddyrolleda1 Oh! And I found the channel because I've been away from the hobby for a while and started watching Questing Beast reviews to see what stuff has been coming out in the years I wasn't paying attention. A video of yours was recommended after I watched one on the recent Knave kickstarter.
@@titusgroen Wow - thank you so much! This is very insightful and gives me a lot to think about. It never occurred to me that my blog name might be off-putting to folks who think it's either not for them if they're not parents, or due to the word "daddy" (although I should have guessed, having looked at the search results for my blog and seeing some of the... "interesting" search phrases people use to find my blog). I will need to put some thought to this, but I really appreciate you taking the time to articulate your thoughts, and also for your support. It means a lot!
@@titusgroen I love Questing Beast! I found that channel years ago, before I started my own, and have purchased many old-school products based on his reviews. I backed Knave2, as well! I'm glad to be in such good company. Cheers!
It’s new to me, but the world building tools in Worlds Without Number are phenomenal. Also, I want this book because Matt’s great.
Yes, both Worlds Without Number and Stars Without Number are fantastic for generating worlds like this. I also like Solar Blades & Cosmic Spells for science-fiction TTRPG world-building, and its fantasy companion, Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells.
Oh yeah! I just started using WWN with Worldographer to build a hex-mapped starting region. Lots of fun! I want to do something with the Tome of Adventure Design as well. Maybe when I get to more details on my Brass Pyramid of the AI Worshipping Cult 😁
I almost never roll on random tables, but I always read them and use them when I find combos that I enjoy. There is so much inspiration in a random table.
Yes! That's very similar to how I use them. I use them during prep and I will use a mix of rolling or choosing, but it's usually not done in real time at the table during the game.
I am so stoked you are doing a flip through of this book. Its next on my ROG list.
Oh, great! I love the book and I hope you enjoyed the video and found it helpful. Cheers!
Would love to see a more extensive review of the Ultimate Toolbox!
Okay, I can add that to the list of potential future topics. Oddly when I started the channel, I thought I'd be doing a lot more reviews than I'm doing now. Cheers!
I backed it. Matt’s amazing!
Ironsworn
Ironsworn: Starforged (the random tables found in these two can drive infinite campaigns)
Tome of Adventure Design - Revised is also on my list
The Storyteller's Dictionary (and The Storyteller's Thesaurus) - the Dictionary, especially, should be in every GM's library
Ironsworn is great, although I'm not familiar with Starforged.
Can you tell me a bit more about the Storyteller's Dictionary & Thesaurus? I'm not familiar with them, either, but they sound like fantastic resources!
Return of The Lazy Dungeon Master is one
That's a great choice! I'm familiar with this one from reviews, and it's on my list to get, but I haven't picked it up yet. What can you tell me about it in terms of how it's helped your games? Hopefully others will see your comment and it will help them as well. Thanks!
@@daddyrolleda1 Helped me my not due too much prep and thous am less stressed at game time
@@daddyrolleda1 The GM should only plan the first encounter. Which is put into play at the start of the session.
I think it's a great book, but its pretty easy to get the steps down to the point where you don't really need the book anymore.
Rules Cyclopedia
Wyrd and Wild
Adnd Dm’s guide
T2K 4e (a box not a book but eh I’m taking it anyway)
Into the Wyrd & Wild is such a great book! One of my favorites! I use it for the B/X game I run for my 13yo daughter & her friends all the time.
As you probably saw, I included the AD&D DMG in my list, too.
I am very intrigued by your last choice! I think you're talking about Twilight 2000? I never got to play the original despite all the ads I saw in Dragon magazine in the 80's. I've played a more recent version, although my GM switched the mechanics to Savage Worlds, and I don't own any of the actual books/boxed sets. What else can you tell me about it?
Two books I would bring to my desert island are the two Hero 6th edition core books. Because then I would actually have the time to learn the game and make a campaign with it. Hehe
That is a great way to approach it! Hm... that would definitely change my list!
Yes... thanks for this.
You're welcome - I'm glad you enjoyed the video. Thank you for watching and commenting.
I have an earlier version of this, and I've found it very useful for fleshing out further details in adventures. I've never used it for top down adventure design though. 🤔
I haven't, either, but I've used it to help create locations for the game I run for my daughter and her friends. Sometimes I just pick something that strikes my fancy. Other times, I roll for true randomness. Sometimes I do a combination.
Oh man! I re-watched this because my wife asked me what I want for Christmas 😁 I would really like Barrowmaze in physical form because I've been browsing it again and looking at the main map and I just want to lure a bunch of adventurers in 😅 Tome of Adventure Design is another one I've been wanting a physical version of, especially since the revised edition came out. It looks so much more enticing and practical than the old. This kind of book doesn't quite work in pdf either.
Yes, I very much agree that a physical book for this is far superior and more useful than a PDF.
I hope Christmas is good to you this year!
@@daddyrolleda1 I hope the same for you! 😄 I actually ended up making my wish for Castle Xyntillan. I'm very excited for that!
His Swords & Wizardry is currently on kickstarter. You back it? You have previous version?
I have not backed it yet - thanks for the reminder! And thanks for watching and commenting.
I have an earlier version of S&W in PDF format. Currently I'm running Old School Essentials & B/X D&D for my daughter's game.
Jim Pinto is supposed to be working on a New DM Toolkit Book
Ooh, I would really like that. I got this book off Ebay a couple years ago and it wasn't cheap. I use it often so the investment is worth it, but I'd love for something like this to be available to more people.
Coincidentally, I went to college with Jim (we didn't really know each other well at the time) but I also used to patronize the game store he worked at in Diamond Bar, California (All-Star Games). It was the first store I'd ever visited in my life where the staff knew my name and greeted me when I walked in. It felt like home. I was there all the time in the early to mid-90's.
Thank you so much for watching and commenting!
@@daddyrolleda1 I see him like 2x a year at the Space Gamer / Fantasy Gamer reunion games. He published Good Guys Finish Last a year ago.
@@MrRourk Oh, wow, that's so cool! If you remember, the next time you see him, please tell him I said "hi" (he'll remember Martin who used to shop at All-Star Games). Cheers!
@@daddyrolleda1 I shopped there a couple of times :)
@@MrRourk Who knows? We may have shopped there at the same time! Back in those days, I was mainly buying MtG cards and Warhammer 40k miniatures, but I bought some D&D Gazetteers there and some of the 2E "Complete" books as well.
Maze Rats is only 12 pages, but it's so good!
This looks like a fun prop for any GM, much to the regret of my wallet. Good review!
Thank you! Yes, it's a fantastic book for session planning, but it is a beast, hence the hefty price tag. But you get your value!
Thanks for watching and commenting!
Please do a review on the ultimate toolbox it looks pretty cool.
Okay, fantastic! I will add that to the queue and might even do a "short" video flip-through as well. Thank you for watching and commenting!
Mythic game master emulator is a great book for random charts to spark imagination.
Thanks for that tip! I am sadly not familiar with those! I'll work on correcting that!
@@daddyrolleda1 It is by Wordmill Games.
Awesome video -your reflections and reasons for choosing your four are amazing. I work in digital form mostly these days so that colors my choices. Matt Finch's expansion of the ToAD volume makes it a great resource.
My 4 -
Rules Cyclopedia
1e AD&D DMG
2e Monstrous Manual (along with 1e MM&MM2, not trying to cheat just for reference in PDFs if I had a laptop with me)
Master of The Game by E Gary Gygax.
With the Tome of Adventure Design PDF fighting for its place in there too lmao. So many to choose from.
Thank you so much for commenting and sharing your four choices! I really appreciate it!
Yes, there are so many good choices and every time I look at my bookshelf, I wonder if I should have picked some different ones.
Rules Cyclopedia is a great choice - as you saw my video on the "History of D&D Editions," I referred to it as a "Desert Island" book for many old-schoolers, so that's a natural choice. You'll see my reasons for the 1E DMG in a few more videos. And that 2E Monstrous Manual - I *love* it for Tony Diterlizzi's art. His art makes that book, at least, to me.
I sadly don't have, and have never read, Master of the Game. I'll need to check that out.
Thanks again!
@@daddyrolleda1 Really agreed in that - I think it's one of the most comprehensve 'monster books' out there.
Those are nice books. I like and own the original TOAD and know those are pretty good.
My 4 books would be Scarlet Heroes Heroes and 3:
D100 Dungeon Books.
Thank you so much for watching and commenting! I really appreciate it!
I need to learn more about both Scarlet Heroes and the D100 Dungeon Books, but they sound right up my alley!
@@daddyrolleda1
I can't wait to add the book Shadowdark to my collection.
There's got to be a book out there where someone got way too pedantic about boat building. Might be handy. Just saying.
Great book. I need it.
I love it! It's a beast of a book and perhaps not that friendly to use at the table (due to its size and weight) but if you're playing an online game, the PDF could work great and the table. I use it mainly for pre-session planning, but in any event, it *is* a great book.
Thanks for watching and commenting!
@@daddyrolleda1 .. I don't like pdf's and online reading. I prefer "the real deal." A good physical book.
Love that it has all these tables and charts. A great asset to widden your imagination and creativity.
@@PpAirO5 Oh, I'm totally with you! After spending all day at working staring at a screen, my eyes need a rest, so I dislike reading PDFs of game stuff (the same reason I prefer physical comic books over digital).
There's a reason I have this book in physical form! It's just super big and "unwieldy" so it's a bit more difficult to use spur of the moment at the table for inspiration. I'm more like to want to use Dungeon Alphabet of Cthulhu Alphabet for that, as they are smaller and easier to use quickly.
Nice video. I guess there's not much point to me watching it though because I didn't know about the Kickstarter and I guess I can't purchase a hard print version since I'm too late.
I'm sorry for the inconvenience. When I posted this, the book was still available in hardcover from Mythmere Games. I'm sure they'll do a second printing soon. Also, in my video at the end, I cover some alternatives that I've used in my games in case you either don't like and/or can't get this.
@@daddyrolleda1 thanks for the follow-up. I'll have to rewatch and look for those
I really enjoyed your videos! You're clear with what works and why it works for you and clearly have given it a lot of thought. But I have to say, the name of the channel is adorable but, in my opinion, terrible for growth. A more marketable name would go a long way of boosting your great vids!
Thank you so much for watching and commenting!
I had never thought about my channel name being bad for growth. I wonder why that is? I started my blog (also called Daddy Rolled A 1) a few years after my daughter was born. A friend suggested the name, and I thought it was funny and that gaming dads & parents could relate. I've been using it since 2011 and built it up on FB and Twitter, which is where my initial followers on YT came from.
How did you find my channel? And do you know if it's possible to change a channel name after it's live? I wouldn't want to have to start building my audience all over again. And, just so I understand your perspective, why do you think the name is bad?
Thank you so much - I really appreciate your comments and insight, and I am glad you are enjoying my videos!
@@daddyrolleda1 The way I see it, "Daddy Rolled a 1" is a great blog title because, personally, I believe the best blogs are informal and a bit messy. Genuine and authentic are the name of the game. Which isn't to say that can't be the case on UA-cam...
However, unlike a blog, which only hosts your thoughts and writings and is very personal (often leading to direct engagement and conversation with your audience), UA-cam is a competitive space and closer to a broadcasting paradigm. Which means that success, as I've seen it happen, means more nuanced branding than a blog.
That branding is usually either personal -- Matt Colville, Markiplier, etc -- or, and I lack the vocabulary to come up with a better term, "titular": short, punchy, memorable, wide audience appeal, and search engine friendly, . (Questing Beast, Bandit Keep, Bastionland, The Alexandrian)
"Daddy Rolled a 1" is fun and a nod to parents but what about the younger crowd of 5e players who want to explore the old school stuff? (Which I think your videos are just absolutely great for)
And, not to put too fine a point on it, "daddy" is a rather loaded term these days, particularly with the 18-35 demographic that makes up a huge part of youtube viewership. They are also the demographic that review videos (like those of Questing Beast's) are aimed at: young enough to be interested in new (to them) things and with disposable income to spend on those things, leading them to look up reviews.
Another example: Colville's "Running the Game" series, what made his channel big, started off as an introduction to DMing and delved into more detailed topics due in part to his decades of professional game design experience and addressing questions from his audience. A sort of Feynman's Physics 101 situation -- intended for beginners, ends up appealing to experienced dms as well.
Note that despite the more "official" sounding branding of both Matt and Ben, their content does still feel genuine and authentic. (Although Matt is too much of a writer to not have a polished script)
I hope that explains some of my thoughts, although I am just an armchair quarterback shouting from the peanut gallery (am I using those metaphors correctly?). You make great stuff and I'd love it grow so don't let my nonsense detract from the fun you're having!
@@daddyrolleda1 Oh! And I found the channel because I've been away from the hobby for a while and started watching Questing Beast reviews to see what stuff has been coming out in the years I wasn't paying attention. A video of yours was recommended after I watched one on the recent Knave kickstarter.
@@titusgroen Wow - thank you so much! This is very insightful and gives me a lot to think about. It never occurred to me that my blog name might be off-putting to folks who think it's either not for them if they're not parents, or due to the word "daddy" (although I should have guessed, having looked at the search results for my blog and seeing some of the... "interesting" search phrases people use to find my blog).
I will need to put some thought to this, but I really appreciate you taking the time to articulate your thoughts, and also for your support. It means a lot!
@@titusgroen I love Questing Beast! I found that channel years ago, before I started my own, and have purchased many old-school products based on his reviews. I backed Knave2, as well! I'm glad to be in such good company. Cheers!
Cha'alt!