Customer Reviews

World Builder's Guidebook (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As a DM with 15+ years experience working on the 3rd incarnation of his world, I was unsure whether this guide book would be of any real value to me. I must now admit that I have been very pleasantly surprised.

This book, when used properly, is a SPECTACULAR aid in world design/creation. Note that I said "when used properly". This is important. Although you COULD create a completely random world, it is likely to be conflicting and disjointed if you do so. This guide works best as just that, a guide. Take a basic idea and refine it with the guidelines in this book. You WILL have to make decisions and draw upon your imagination at some point, my recommendation is to start drawing upon it immediately. Used in this fashion, the guide will help you avoid gaps and pitfalls that have befallen many first time world creators (myself included).

The best part of this book, in my opinion, were the tables and accompanying explanations. I didn't roll many random dice on them, but they gave me a number of new ideas. Ideas I had not considered before seeing them on a comprehensive list. Granted, I have done some things in my world that the book does not allow for, but that's where my ideas and originality add to the basic framework this guide presents. Customization is the secret. This guidebook, however, helps build a solid foundation.

I disagree with those experienced builders who label this book as less than useful. I think this guidebook has lots to offer to new and experienced DMs alike. Of course, if you don't want help, then you're not going to get much from the book. If you're open to new ideas, details you might not have considered before, and variations that might help stimulate your OWN imagination, then by all means give this book a look.

Use this book wisely by adding a generous dose of your own imagination and personality and you can only benefit from it.

At last, an AD&D book I can't complain about! The World Builder's Guidebook has to be one of the best DM's supplements ever written. Going far and beyond just world-building, this contains a pantheon-creation table, a list of governments to rival most dictionaries, and rules on how to create a d16! This book is a no-brainer - so many tables, tools, and neat things - in one well-proofread, affordable book - that it really is a must-have. TSR's only mistake was selling it for so little; the World Builder's Guidebook is worth far, far more...

I have some experience in the AD&D game. I started 6 years ago, but i am not a veteran.

This book is great for building really BIG, vibrant worlds. I do not think it is suited for building a world starting from stratch. There's just too much information that would not come into play until much later.

This book has you select a core theme or "hook" (idea that makes it different from any other world) for your campaign first (a VERY good idea). The book then flips you to the revelant "starting" chapter, such as Mythology or legend. In the chapters, there is a host of revelant information. I did not like the idea of die-tables; to me it's a subsitute for imagination. But that's my opinion. I think it would have been better if Rich started out with the theme and then added on it enough to get your campaign off the ground and THEN in later chapters it addressed the details that you can add later.

All in all, it's a good book, although it tries to make a too realistic world as opposed to a fantastic one. But at the same time, saying throw the rules out the window and do your own thing. My score, good but not spectacular.

This book is by far the best guide that I have seen for designing your own Fantasy worlds to play in. I cannot say enough about it, and it was definately worth what it cost. The template pads of hex grids are useful, although I have not used them all that much. But overall, definately worth it

The handbook presents a nice array of steps and approaches to creating a world, but in the end it is pretty much lacking. The handbook deals with a number of features rarely grappled with when creating a world, but almost any section can be summed up in a couple of sentences. Moreover, the material is dispersed with seemingly no logical scheme. Despite the fact that the consecutive chapters "zoom in" into the campaign world, I frequently had to hunt down specific useful portions of the chapters which were seemingly misplaced. Other parts are simply redundant, such as the random terrain tables, which are repeated in several sections. Another gripe of mine was that the material presented was hardly inspiring. The author on several occasions clearly endorses copying maps from boxed adventures or ripping off major works of fantasy literature. The random selection of cultures is even more questionable. The author simply lists various cultures and ages from the real world. This sort of thing seems to be the current trend for TSR. The only time actual use of creativity was encouraged was a statement that said approximately "What if firearms were invented in the Roman Empire?". The maps were unnecessary for the most part. They are also printed in blue and yellow which makes them rather hard to read. Overall, the book looks and feels amateurish. I rather liked the section on the creation of towns and villages, which details the game-relevant professions and the overall demographics of standard medieval settlements in reasonable detail. All in all it is pretty useless.

I've built a lot of game and story worlds just because i love it, and have been doing it for quite a while, so i was intrested in seeing what this book could teach me. The short answer, alot! The sections on climate where great. I've always thought games like World of Warcraft where kinda funny because I could leave a frozen area and walk into a near tropical, I did not want this in my campain world.
Yeah you'll need a little knowledge for this book work but I would say even if you have never made a fantasy world before it will be of use. It sorta lets you eat your elephant one bite at a time.

Believe it or not, I bought this book AFTER I stopped DMing. The reason is simple: I still write a lot of fantasy. AD&D comes with many well-thought-out worlds, but when writing, you have to make your own. This is a great guidebook for making any run-of-the-mill fantasy world really come to life.

This accesory seems excellent, but make sure you want to build your campaign world from the bottom. If you are currently using a world that you are happy with and plan to remain in (like Forgotten Realms or Greyhawk), this accessory will do you little good.

The title says it all. Rich Baker, part of the team that developed TSR's latest campaign world, provides the reader with the tools to either hand craft a world in all its' details or to put one together in an hour for a night's worth of gaming. The level of detail that this book provides at times is stagering. It is a chart lovers dream and has tables for just about anything you can imagin. The included pad includes sheets for every level of design and is almost worth the price of admission on it's own. In short, a useful book for every Dungeon Master; and at the price one that every one can afford.

I've written many, many notebooks about my world. I ordered this and expected an inprovement in my world. But, it really didn't help(but the blank hexagonal maps are nice!) However, if your having problems making your world and don't want to use others, this is for you.