Unboxing Barsoom VII - The Narrator Toolkit & The Narrator Screen
As noted, I've started to unbox the materials from my John Carter of Mars Roleplaying Game Kickstarter backer pledge box of goodies that arrived. The sixth unbox journal entry covered the Poster Map of Barsoom, which you can see by following the link as noted.
Next up are the photos of the Narrator Toolkit & the Narrator Screen for the game.
First of all, the Narrator's Toolkit is everything a GM (called the Narrator in the game) is a useful tool that has a Narrator's Screen with useful reference tables (more on that later) and a Narrator's booklet on how to craft stories for the game using different elements and some news rules that Narrators can add to their mix.
The Narrator's Booklet (pictures above) is a lovely 34-page booklet on good quality paper with a glossy look and feel to it. It offers excellent suggestions on crafting adventures in the Burroughs's fashion for the game and explores Pulp Adventure themes for the game. It includes a marvellous Adventure Generator that is so Barsoomian its not funny, and really cool in a lot of ways. There's a section on Narrator Characters, and neat material on giving them Peculiarities. There's an Adventure Hook section divided into Racial and Cultural hooks and Archetype hooks. This is followed by material on Traveling Across Barsoom and optional rules and some mechanics for travel. The booklet wraps up with a nice set of Large Scale Actions and Conflict rules. From a Narrator's point of view, this booklet is invaluable and offers some excellent material and is worth the price of the Narrator's Toolkit alone, but it's not an essential book (other than a few sections). Since it comes with the Narrator's Screen, however, it's a good thing.
The Narrator's Screen for the John Carter of Mars Roleplaying Game is one of my favourite GM Screens of all-time. A lot of folks don't like GM Screens because they don't need to hide behind the screen or whatever. I like GM Screens that are well done because they collect all the tables I need without having to constantly rifle through the rulebook looking for the information I need. (And the fact that I'm getting older means I don't remember things.) The Narrator's Screen for the game is a full-colour 4-panel screen that depicts the main art piece of the Core Rulebook in all its glory with two end panels showing the map of Barsoom on the outside and all the useful tables from the game on the inside. Conditions, Weapon and Equipment Qualities, Momentum Spends, Luck Point Spends, Upgrade Costs, Action Types, Attibutes and their Descriptors, Damage Types, among other things... It's all on this Narrator Screen! Even Barsoom Distances and Measures. Yes, there are a couple of charts that I would have liked to have seen (notably detail on the types of Damage), but overall this is a *superb* Narrator's Screen. From my pov, this product is well worth the cost and is a solid product. (Note I've not included any photos of the stuff inside the Narrator's Screen; you can see some of those in various places on the internet.)
When taken in combination with the Narrator's Booklet, this product for the John Carter of Mars Roleplaying Game is solid, chock full of useful material and information, and I very much recommend it. The price point on this one is what will get some folks, so I think it's the individual's call as to whether one purchases this product.
Next up are the photos of the Narrator Toolkit & the Narrator Screen for the game.
First of all, the Narrator's Toolkit is everything a GM (called the Narrator in the game) is a useful tool that has a Narrator's Screen with useful reference tables (more on that later) and a Narrator's booklet on how to craft stories for the game using different elements and some news rules that Narrators can add to their mix.
The Narrator's Booklet (pictures above) is a lovely 34-page booklet on good quality paper with a glossy look and feel to it. It offers excellent suggestions on crafting adventures in the Burroughs's fashion for the game and explores Pulp Adventure themes for the game. It includes a marvellous Adventure Generator that is so Barsoomian its not funny, and really cool in a lot of ways. There's a section on Narrator Characters, and neat material on giving them Peculiarities. There's an Adventure Hook section divided into Racial and Cultural hooks and Archetype hooks. This is followed by material on Traveling Across Barsoom and optional rules and some mechanics for travel. The booklet wraps up with a nice set of Large Scale Actions and Conflict rules. From a Narrator's point of view, this booklet is invaluable and offers some excellent material and is worth the price of the Narrator's Toolkit alone, but it's not an essential book (other than a few sections). Since it comes with the Narrator's Screen, however, it's a good thing.
The Narrator's Screen for the John Carter of Mars Roleplaying Game is one of my favourite GM Screens of all-time. A lot of folks don't like GM Screens because they don't need to hide behind the screen or whatever. I like GM Screens that are well done because they collect all the tables I need without having to constantly rifle through the rulebook looking for the information I need. (And the fact that I'm getting older means I don't remember things.) The Narrator's Screen for the game is a full-colour 4-panel screen that depicts the main art piece of the Core Rulebook in all its glory with two end panels showing the map of Barsoom on the outside and all the useful tables from the game on the inside. Conditions, Weapon and Equipment Qualities, Momentum Spends, Luck Point Spends, Upgrade Costs, Action Types, Attibutes and their Descriptors, Damage Types, among other things... It's all on this Narrator Screen! Even Barsoom Distances and Measures. Yes, there are a couple of charts that I would have liked to have seen (notably detail on the types of Damage), but overall this is a *superb* Narrator's Screen. From my pov, this product is well worth the cost and is a solid product. (Note I've not included any photos of the stuff inside the Narrator's Screen; you can see some of those in various places on the internet.)
When taken in combination with the Narrator's Booklet, this product for the John Carter of Mars Roleplaying Game is solid, chock full of useful material and information, and I very much recommend it. The price point on this one is what will get some folks, so I think it's the individual's call as to whether one purchases this product.