Inns, taverns, and restaurants and ndash; these are the places of role-playing legend. Well, maybe not so much restaurants, but places to eat are important too! Such businesses are often the first place characters go when they enter a city, and the last place they leave before waving goodbye. In the history of RPGs, taverns have spawned more adventures than any other location. Inns are important too, because they serve as urban home bases and refuges for recuperation. Restaurants are less common game elements, though I hope this book will change that. They are a fresh break from typical locations, and are places for PCs and NPCs to meet, intrigue, and plan.

In many campaigns and groups, inns and taverns are gamed so much they and rsquo;ve stopped being special. They and rsquo;ve become clich and eacute;s. Many GMs run the same ideas and concepts over and over, stuck in a rut they might not even know they are in. If it isn and rsquo;t broken, don and rsquo;t fix it, right? However, breathing new life into these classic pillars of your game sessions is important. Nothing should be taken for granted. Don and rsquo;t let things become mundane, stale, and uninspired. This is a sure route to burnout and player apathy.

Next time the characters enter an inn, tavern, or restaurant, surprise them. Let them know things are different this time around. Make them second-guess their assumptions. Inspire them to look around with fresh eyes, and bring the wonder back to your game.

It starts with fun and interesting designs. This book is about helping you craft cool, useful, and entertaining establishments. It will help you create locations that feel real and interactive.

This book will also guide you in creating important puzzle pieces that snap into your games. There and rsquo;s little point designing campaign elements that have small story payoff. You have little enough time for preparation as it is, so this book is about earning double or triple wins from your designs: world development, campaign development, and encounter development. If you make a single inn, tavern, or restaurant serve all three needs, you and rsquo;ve saved time and improved your game sessions in one swoop. Let this book help you craft locations of superior quality. Your players will notice.

It and rsquo;s interesting to note that inns, taverns, and restaurants often overlap in gaming. Inns serve food and offer entertainment. Taverns and restaurants might sell lodgings in the back or upstairs. All three types of businesses have similar design elements, so by considering one, you and rsquo;ll learn and be inspired to design all three. That and rsquo;s why I wrote this book and mdash;to cover each of these types as a group to save you time and energy rather than writing three separate books. You can apply the tips and advice that follow to any inn, tavern, or restaurant and mdash;learn once, design often.

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2003 Ennie Gold Winner!

Over 80 pages!

About Johnn Four:
Johnn Four has been publishing the highly popular and respected and quot;RolePlaying Tips Weekly and quot; since 1999 (over 130 issues and 1300 tips to date!). He and #39;s is also a regular columnist for the d20 Magazine rack, Knights of the Dinner table, and Dragon magazine.

Read ENWorld.org and #39;s review of this product.
Read the gamewyrd.com and #39;s review of this product.
Read the RPG.NET and #39;s review of this product.
Don and #39;t forget to check the comments left below.

GM Gems: A Tome of Game Master Inspiration is filled with a wealth of information and ideas to empower every aspect of your game. Never run boring, vanilla games and never be caught flat-footed!

Inspiration and Perspiration

This 64-page collection of tricks and tips is systems-neutral, so you can play it with any role playing game you choose. GM Gems is written by veteran Game Masters and some of today and rsquo;s best known RPG designers, and includes:

• Alchemical Mishaps
  
• Empty Rooms Worth Describing
  
• Extraordinary Campsites
  
• Familiar Creatures with Unfamiliar Faces
  
• Short Encounters for Short Attention Spans
  
• Unique Taverns and Inns
  
• Unusual Holidays
  
• 100 Unique Treasures
  

And much, much more!

Project Manager: Stephen S. Greer
Project Developers: Lou Agresta, Rone Barton,
B. Matthew Conklin III, Ashavan Doyon
Writers: Lou Agresta, Rone Barton, Russell Brown, B. Matthew Conklin III, Elizabeth Courts, Adam Daigle, Ashavan Doyon, Tom Ganz, Stephen S. Greer, David Hall, Stefan Happ, Ed Healy, Tim Hitchcock, Phillip Larwood, John E. Ling, Jr., Hal Maclean, Rob Manning, Greg Oppedisano, Greg Ragland, Craig Shackleton, Patrick Smith
Editor: Aeryn and ldquo;Blackdirge and rdquo; Rudel
Art Director and Graphic Designer: jim pinto
Cover Artist: William O and rsquo;Connor
Interior Artist: William McAusland
Publisher: Joseph Goodman

GMG4371, 64 pages, $8.99

This eBook is about helping you plan, prepare, and GM better adventures. While you can use the information that follows to craft interesting holidays, my main goal is to help you use holidays as the backbone for campaigns, adventures, and encounters. Holidays can be much more than the minor quirk of your game world. With strategic design, as outlined in the coming pages, you can transform holidays into a vital GMing tool to create immersion, realism, and most importantly, more fun in your game sessions.

Holiday Essentials Overview:

Chapter 1: How To Design Compelling Holidays

The first chapter gives step-by-step instructions for building a holiday. It helps you pick the right level of detail creation as well, so that you don and #39;t waste time over-planning, or don and #39;t get caught under-planning.

Chapter 2: Holiday Design Elements

This chapter is your holiday design toolset. It goes into detail about how and what to design for each of the steps outlined in chapter 1. Numerous examples are provided.

Chapter 3: GM and amp; Campaign Advice

Chapter 3 provides tips and tools to help you design holidays and use the advice from the first two chapters.

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• Two dark wood bookcases
• Two light wood bookcases
• Two styles of chairs
• Benches
• Three stone tables
• Four empty tables
• Four tables with various items
• All art is 300dpi for maximum detail
• Designed for the novice card modeler
• Full color instructions

  
  
  
  
  
  

  

  and nbsp;

  Sample bookcase artwork:

  

The players have to constantly adlib and adapt to plot developments. If they become overwhelmed, it is "in character" to stop and discuss the situation with each other. The Game Master on the other hand has no confidants. He is expected to react instantly to what the players describe their characters doing.

The typical GM spends hours preparing before a game; planning for everything the characters might try. But no matter how much you prepare, the only sure bet is that the players will think of something you didn't. In fact the more material you prepare, the more likely it is that one of the players will latch on to an incidental detail and take off in an unexpected direction faster than you can say "Red Herring."

Every Game Master has his own style. But all of them need to be able to think on their feet. Improvising during a game is easier if you are ready to step away from the written game and go in the direction the players want to try. Remember the player characters are the main characters in the story you are telling. By definition the plot is what they do, not what you planned for them. You want to gently guide the group 'back on track' without letting them realize that they ever deviated from the script.

There are three techniques which can improve your improvisation behind the GM screen: Plot Seeds, Stock Characters, and Rakugo Props. (On a personal note: Some of the best games I've ever run, I've shown up at the table armed only with this bag of tricks and no fore planning to get in the way.)

• The anatomy and physiology of the mind flayer.
• The terrible truth about the mind flayer life cycle.
• Illithid-kin, undead mind flayers, and new' flayer-kin monsters.
• A balanced look at illithid psionic powers.
• a detailed description of a typical mind flayer community
• Unique mind flayer psionic abilities and items.

One of the dangers of having PCs go into a town for rest an relaxation is that the majority of the time you have no idea what should be there. Many PCs of course just want to go to the latest and greatest tavern for a barfight. But there are those out there that want to go shopping. Those are the ones that will ask the dreaded phrase and quot;Whats on the shelves? and quot;

Includes:

• Dozens of complete NPCs
• Dozens of new items for use in your campaign.
• 13 Complete shop locations
• 64 Pages of useful text

• Herbalist - Miralle and #39;s
• Brewer - Blithes Spirits
• Misc - Scribes and Paper
• Misc - Gizelle and #39;s Fine Herbs and Potions
• Clothier - Silken Dreams
• Blacksmith and amp; Stables - Traken Brother and #39;s Stables
• Weaponsmith - Ringing Steel
• Cobbler - diCarpoli and #39;s Shoes
• The Armorium
• Misc - Reston and #39;s Wood Creations
• Misc - Expedition Outfitters
• Bowyer/Fletcher - Stormfeather Fletchery
• Inn - Blue Flame Inn

• List of every floorplan for immediate, single-click access.
• Elaborately detailed floorplan sets of 20 inns, presented in a collection of 45 separate floorplans.
• A comprehensive thumbnail gallery of inns floorplans, providing convenient floorplan overview, size comparison, and fast, single-click floorplan access.
• Elaborately detailed floorplan sets of 15 taverns, presented in a collection of 26 separate floorplans.
• A comprehensive thumbnail gallery of taverns floorplans, providing convenient floorplan overview, size comparison, and fast, single-click floorplan access.

1. Load the desired floor plan from the 5011_inn_taverns/images folder.
2. Marquee select an area 7 squares wide by 10 squares high.
3. Select Copy from Paint's Edit menu.
4. Select New from Paint's File menu. Do not save the original image.
5. Paste the copied selection.
6. Select Page Setup from Paint's File menu and perform steps 7-9.
7. Change the page margins: right and left to .75", top and bottom to .5".
8. Ensure Orientation is Portrait.
9. Set Scaling to "Fit 1 by 1 Page" and press Okay.
10. Print the floor plan.

By JD Wiker, co-author of the Star Wars Roleplaying Game and the d20 Menace Manual.
Interrior and cover art by Clarence Harrison.

"Cromagh judges goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears by the same standards he applies to everyone else: Are they stronger than Cromagh? And, if so, does that mean Cromagh will need help carrying their treasure when he loots their corpses?"

Cromagh's Guide to Goblinoids compiles years of first-hand experience fighting against and alongside goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears. Offering the observations and opinions of a veteran half-orc barbarian, as well as more fact-based insight and information, the material contained within this sourcebook gives new dimension to the goblinoids of any campaign.

Cromagh's Guide to Goblinoids includes:

• Insight into the daily life, psychology, myths, and beliefs of goblinoids
• Eight new feats, including Bolt, Kickfighting, and Trophy Hunter
• Goblinoid armor, weapons, and magic items, such as goblin scrap armor, throwing hooks, and sand bombs
• Six new prestige classes, including the Bugbear Scout, Goblin Scrimshander, and Hobgoblin Warlord
• Combat tactics and sample encounters that illustrate how each of the three goblinoid races make the most of their strengths
• Six goblinoid NPCs, each fully statted out at two different character levels, for use in any campaign

Cromagh's Guide to Goblinoids is the first in an innovative series of sourcebooks providing new ways for players and gamemasters to create and play monstrous characters in any d20 fantasy setting.

Cromagh's Guide to Goblinoids is a 38-page PDF for players and GMs, plus the included front cover page. For more information, please visit The Game Mechanics website. There, you can also find Goblinoid NPCs, a free publication with additional information on the six goblinoid NPCs found in Cromagh's Guide to Goblinoids.

About the Author: JD Wiker is a former Wizards of the Coast RPG R and D staff member whose credits include work on the Star Wars Roleplaying Game and the Alternity line, particularly the Dark*Matter campaign setting. He is also the author of Swords of Our Fathers, also available for download on RPGNow.com.

Requires the use of the Dungeons and Dragons and #174;, Third Edition Core Books, published by Wizards of the Coast, Inc.

and nbsp;

The following pages contain one-hundred adventure seed ideas for you to use in your fantasy based games.

Each adventure consists of the basic idea, three twists and an epilogue which, in effect, means you're actually getting closer to 900 different combinations and possible adventures!

Feel free to add your own embellishments or to combine or string together the adventures in any way you please and, if you have particular success with any of them we'd love to hear about it.

Flashing bladework, brave warriors, martial mastery, wise priests, honor, stealthy assassins, demons, magicians, spirits, war -- the stuff of Legends, the Legends of Japan. BUSHIDO is a role playing game that allows you to adventure on the Misty Isles of Nippon.

Players in BUSHIDO design their characters to suit the profession they choose. A skill system is used to determine the character's success in both martial and peaceful endeavors.

Take a break from the Western European and sample the mysterious world of the Far East. Try adventuring in a world where a man's honor and fame are as important as the number of foemen he has slain.

Come follow the code of the Samurai, the Way of the Warrior. BUSHIDO!

The night was dark and the road deserted, as a lone traveler moved toward the lights of the village lower on the mountainside. He was Tokasi Benkai, samurai and warrior. Gold glinted from the fittings of his katana.

The woods hid their shadows. They were bandits, and hungry. They were also five to his one. They attacked.

The first went down as the samurai made his Iai draw. The second fell under a pear-splitting stroke of the katana. The third and fourth were more cautious, but also were sent onward by the warrior's flashing sword. Tokasi flicked the blood from his blade and turned to face the last.

The bandit was also a swordsman, as could be seen by his stance. Tokasi knew that this man would not be an easy victory. But if it was his karma to die this night, Tokasi would meet death true to his code of . . . BUSHIDO.

THE HEROES OF NIPPON: This is the players' book and contains the information needed to run a character. It includes sections on character generation and improvement, skills, combat, magic, and the Professions. It also covers the means of fitting the character into the culture of Nippon. This section is 80 pages long.

THE LANDS OF NIPPON: This is the Gamemaster's book. It contains all the information needed to get him started in developing his own version of Nippon. Sections cover men to be encountered, beasts, legendary beings, battles, treasure, and campaign building. It also includes an introductory scenario. This section is 60 pages long.

With the current offering, the village of Applehaven, the characters will find forty locations that range from simple farming establishments to craftsmen. There is even an abandoned dwelling that a wealthy character may purchase as a home as well as an inn for less settled explorers to stop at for rest and food.

WRITTEN BY: DAVE WOODRUM
PAGE COUNT: 15 PAGES (Includes Cover And Map) ]]> Wed, 08 Sep 2004 00:00:00 CST Publisher: UKG Publishing

The Master Plan series is a collection of quality, printable floorplans for use in Fantasy Gaming. Each Master Plan set comes with a selection of 25mm scale (1 inch = 5 feet) floorplans in both colour and greyscale, presented in pdf format and accessed by a web based interface.

Master Plan: Caves is a set of large cave tiles, 3 x 3 interconnecting tunnels and small caverns and other sections which can be used to build a cavern complex of almost any size.

This set comprises

	Fourteen large caves, including entrance, water features, split levels and chasms.
	Ten smaller caves.
	Thirty Three tunnel sections.
	Four small filler tunnels.

Master Plan: Caves is a full stand alone product but will also interface with our other fantasy products such as:

	Master Plan: Crypts and Corridors
	Master Plan: Dungeon Rooms One
	Master Plan: Shrines
	Master Plan: Chambers of Pain
	Master Plan: Wizards Chambers

Designed by John Milner.