OPEN GAME TABLE: The Anthology of Roleplaying Game Blogs, Volume 1 [Perfect Paperback]

Jonathan Jacobs (Author, Editor), Dave Chalker (Editor), Ben McFarland (Editor), Tasha Dalcher (Editor), Jeffrey Uurtamo (Editor), Crystal Frasier (Illustrator), James Keegan (Illustrator), Hugo Solis (Illustrator), Lee Barber (Illustrator), Jennifer Weigel (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 23, 2009

Open Game Table is aimed at bridging the gap between the RPG blogging community and the broader table-top gaming fan base by showcasing the best talent the community has to offer. Within these pages are 47 blog posts from 32 top-quality RPG blogs, plus a Foreword written by RPG luminary Wolfgang Baur.

Packed with juicy content and over 60 illustrations, this book is Pure Gold. The book chapters include:

1 - Play Style;
2 - Game Play;
3 - Characters & Players;
4 - Monsters & NPCs;
5 - Encounters, Settings, and Locations;
6 - Adventure Design;
7 - Campaign Setting Design;
8 - Classes, Action, and Equipment;
9 - RPG History & Commentary; and
10 - The RPG Toolbox.

This anthology is the result of the hard work of nearly 100 volunteers, authors, editors, judges, artists, and designers. A true grass roots effort; it is a tour de force of the RPG blogging universe.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The Open Game Table Anthology is a treasure trove. A tome worth slaying a few orcs for. Because it had such a diverse range of material to choose from it has been able to collate not just quality writing and ideas, but a real breadth of discussion that you don't get as often as you would like in role playing materials. There are chapters for GMs and DMs on Play Stlyle, Monsters and NPCs and Campaign Setting Design. There are articles for players such as "Advice On Being A Good Player". My favorite chapter was Chapter 9 which details some great historical moments and commentary on how RPGs have become what they are today. Open Game Table has two clear strengths: content and content. The quality of the content and the breadth of the content make this anthology worth the money. The amount of ideas for GMs on how to handle player conflict, managing scenes, improving your role playing are well chosen and topical. In many ways, this book is like a continuous improvement handbook for RPG groups across the globe. It has ideas and tips throughout each article that can help you create better games and engage better as an RPG Group and ultimately have more fun - which is what it is all about, really. Braunstein I personally would buy the whole book for just the section on RPG History. The article that describes a young Dave Arneson taking all before him in "Braunstein" - the world's first ever role playing game - is delightful. The passion with which the author, Ben Robbins encourages us all to talk to those who were at the beginning of it all, and to capture and learn from that history is what an anthology like this is all about.... ---- WIRED Magazine

Product Details

• Perfect Paperback: 140 pages
• Publisher: Open Game Table; First Edition edition (March 23, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0578014742
• ISBN-13: 978-0578014746
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.2 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,256,005 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jonathan Jacobs is the Editor in Chief of Nevermet Press, a that seeks to deliver compelling stories that bring characters, readers, and players together. Nevermet Press publishes speculative fiction and games of fantasy, steampunk, and science fiction.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Like a Deck of Many Things...without the crappy cards, March 26, 2009

By 

Julie A. Dawson "Bards and Sages" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: OPEN GAME TABLE: The Anthology of Roleplaying Game Blogs, Volume 1 (Perfect Paperback)

Many folks in the gaming community see the hobby as moving to a completely digital format. Indeed, almost all of the major publishers now make digital content available, and many focus almost all of their business on the digital market. Bloggers and fan sites create derivative works of their favorite systems and settings to share digitally online. But with Open Game Table: The Anthology of Roleplaying Game Blogs, editor Jonathan Jacobs reminds us that no matter how much we gamers use the internet to expand our gaming experience, we still want the really good stuff in print!

Open Game Table is a true gift for gamers; gathering together the most popular content scattered across the blogosphere and organizing it into one print collection. Jacobs has done a fine job organizing the various articles into logical categories, and the table of contents provides readers with an informative reference to what is inside the book. An index might have been nice, if for no other reason than those moments when you want to quickly find the page that references the Tome of Horrors or if you wanted to note all of the pages that mentioned OD&D for reference later. But it's a minor issue.

The presentation as a whole is simple and clean, and in many ways feels like an "old school" game supplement. Several artists donated original artwork to the project to compliment the articles. To be honest, a lot of it has a somewhat cheesy feel, and yet it is precisely that cheesy style that gives the collection a certain geeky charm gamers will appreciate. (I have to ask artist Jennifer Weigel...exactly how many feet of rope did that little critter use anyway?)

The bulk of the book's content is Dungeons and Dragons(tm) specific, though considering the market share the system holds and the explosion of third party content available for D&D perhaps that is to be expected. However there is still plenty of non-system specific RPG theory to be enjoyed (including a really great piece written by Ben Robbins on what could in effect be considered the "origin myth" of the entire hobby).
Jacobs has done a fine job of making sure this collection has something for everyone. Both GMs and players will find articles catered to them, just as both new recruits and veteran gamers will find articles catered to them. Yet while each article caters to a specific demographic, the information in each article is still wholly accessible to the entire gaming community.

Of course, perhaps the obvious question is why would someone pay good money for a print version of articles they can find online for free? But as obvious as the question might be, the answers are just as obvious. Jacobs, with the help of an army of dedicated bloggers, artists, and volunteers, has done the hard work by culling through the hundreds of hobby-related blogs and pulling out the true gems. This is not just a slapped together print-out of assorted blogs. It's a gamer's primer of all that is good about the hobby in general and the online gaming community specifically.

Open Game Table is the reference guide equivalent of a Deck of Many Things, except all of the crappy cards have been replaced with 50,000 XP and a medium magic item...and you can draw from it again and again.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Who has time to read all the blogs?, April 2, 2009

By 

Chris Torrence (Louisville, CO USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: OPEN GAME TABLE: The Anthology of Roleplaying Game Blogs, Volume 1 (Perfect Paperback)

It's hard enough to keep up with all of the different role-playing game (RPG) blogs. And then, once you've found a good one, you either print it out, or it ends up getting lost online. But now, with the Open Game Table Anthology, you've got the cream of the crop - all of the best RPG blog posts for 2008, along with some fun artwork!

The articles range from "Old School" Dungeons and Dragons, represented by James Maliszewski's Gygaxian Naturalism, all the way to the newest 4th edition of D&D, represented by the "Musings of the Chatty DM". All of the posts are thought provoking, well written, and fun to read.

Looking forward to the 2nd volume!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A labor of love, March 28, 2009

By 

Patrick Curtin "Bookaholic" (Cape Cod MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: OPEN GAME TABLE: The Anthology of Roleplaying Game Blogs, Volume 1 (Perfect Paperback)

This book is a wonderful compilation of many fantastic articles that have come out of the RPG blogosphere. While the Digital Age has been rough on pen and paper gaming, with the proliferation of its digital cousins the Massive Multiplayer Online RPGs, there has been an intellectual renaissance among the gaming community with the advent of the blog. Now folks can share their ideas with the world, and this book assembles some of the finest.

With illustrations from many upcoming artists like James Keegan and Hugo Solis, this book is a gem. The information is a wonderful crossection of the blogging community, and I learned about several websites I had never even heard of (and I am a hard-core gamer). Hats off to the editor Jonathan Jacobs, and I am looking forward to the next installment!