Thistle Games - RPG Hand Book Review And Commentary

Introduction 
Thistle Games has been offering some interesting products lately and the Rpg Hand book is system neutral and harkens back to an earlier era of gaming. Alright who I'm I kidding this is a massive book that covers every facet of rpging the author could get between the covers.
The discription really says it all and its alot of all here. From DriveThruRpg: 

UPDATE - A bundle including an Artpack and a copy of Renegade ~ Corruption has been added on 11/5/13. For the same $1.99! Pop over to the Thistle Games page on DriveThru to grab the extras. You can take a look at Thistle Games right over HERE

UPDATE - A full colour version has just been added on 30/4/13 :)

The RPG Handbook is a system-free guide to playing tabletop roleplaying games (RPGs). The RPG Handbook looks at:

1. Inviting new players to try out tabletop RPGs.
2. Getting kids involved in trying out imaginative games.
3. Emphasizing deeper character development.
4. Making it easy to run and vary solo and team RPG gameplay.
5. Turning players into GMs - and GMs into games designers.
6. Offering GMs the means to rapidly create custom campaigns.
7. Building more player choice into adventures and campaigns.

* - Please note the hardback comes with the black cover and gold lettering shown on the website.

Including: RPG Handbook ~ Sovereignty files

The Sovereignty file delivers the adventure builder and world builder chapters of the RPG Handbook as editable wordprocessor files. The styling, lists and tables can be combined for a fast route to building very presentable RPG content - the .doc files I wished I'd had as teenage GM. The files also work in Openoffice and Libreoffice.

Options include:

1. Creating completely custom RPG adventures/ scenarios.
2. Structuring RPG campaign settings.
3. Preparing campaign gazetteers.
4. Devising random or partly random encounter tables.
5. Designing solo RPG gameplay to suit your RPG of choice.
6. Developing custom solo RPG gameplay.
7. Constructing fantasy boardgames.

Contents

Introduction p8

Part 1: Roleplaying Games

What are Tabletop Roleplaying Games? p10

Playing Tabletop RPGs p10

The Basics p10

Dice p11

Adventurers aka Player Characters aka PCs p11

Styles of Play p12

Options and Opportunities for Kids p13

Roleplaying Game Fun: Kids p15

Roleplaying Game Fun: Older Kids p18

Roleplaying Game Fun: Young Adults p21

RPGs for Kids and Big Kids p25

Part 2: Getting Started

Roleplaying Games p31

Roleplaying Game Genres p33

Roleplaying Game Props p34

Finding a Game p38

Actual Plays p40

Seven Times the Color of Fire p40

Frankincense p45

Organizing a Game p52

Setting Up a Game p53

Supporting New Players p55

Settling Outcomes p56

Part 3: Colorful Characters

Fleshing Out a Player Character p58

Prior Experience p58

Skills p63

Playing To Win? p69

Pets and Animal Companions p70

Part 4: Running Play

Ready-To-Run Adventures p74

Gamesmaster (GM) Skills p75

Mapping and Cartography p81

Prompts and Interrupts p83

Hack and Slay or Remix and Play p86

Mixed Messages p88

Making Monsters p89

Killer Traps p91

What Kind of Player or GM am I? p94

Player/ GM Profiles p94

Part 5: Campaign Planning

Signature Events p100

Player Choice, Campaign Challenges and Campaign Planning p103

Campaign Challenges and Adventure Playparks p104

Campaign Challenges and Adventure Holidays: Part 1 p108

Campaign Challenges and Adventure Holidays: Part 2 p111

Exploring Campaign Challenges p114

Part 6: Adventure Builder

Designing Adventures p122

Missions p122

Plots p123

Locations p126

Rooms, Caverns, Furnishings and Accessories p129

Tricks and Traps p138

Non-Player Characters aka Monsters and Aliens p143

Traits p143

Preferred Actions p148

Solo and Team Play p149

Creatures p152

Dangerous Creatures p152

Very Dangerous Creatures p153

Extremely Dangerous Creatures p154

Lethal Creatures p156

Tricks p157

Out and About p159

Part 7: World Builder

Landscapes p166

Gazetteers p168

The Eaglesridge Gazetteer p168

The Build p171

Exotic and Alien Worlds p171

Using Signature Events p173

Climate and Terrain p177

Characters and Creatures p180

Worship p181

Era/ Technologies p182

Territories p182

Boundaries p183

Governance p183

States and Nations p185

History p185

Currencies p186

Festivals p187

Weather and Sky Events p188

Transport and Communications p190

Weaponry p190

Commerce and Major Industries p192

Entertainments p193

Landmarks, Buildings and Premises p194

Conditions of Structures p202

Alien, Exotic or Enchanted Structures p204

Events p204

Glossary p207

Acknowledgements p213

Meat Of The Product 
 This is a 213 page massive tome of  old fashioned rpg adventure building and tool kit for any DM. This tome has everything you need to get a Saturday night special game going right out of the box. Seriously the author does an excellent job of covering all of the bases for a DM. 
 This book is a tear down book so that a DM can introduce a group of kids to role playing one night and run a down and dusty grit fest rpg the next night. The book works for just about any game system and overlaps quite nicely to existing retroclones. 
The book covers the gamut of rpg styles as well.   At a hefty 213 pages (counting covers) the RPG Handbook by David Morrison is quite a bargain! This is page after page of random tables to provide a DM with what's needed for that night's adventure. 
This book is a throw back to many of the Flying Buffalo tomes of yesteryear in style and substance. 
 The Chapters on Campaign Planning are especially well done. The whole thing comes together quite nicely. You could do worse then to take a look at this book for organizing a game from the foundation up.All and all this is very useful. 
Speaking of useful. The whole set up for all of the products in the bundle read very well and work fantastically for creating and customizing your own part of the rpg handbook for table top gaming. 

Using The Rpg Handbook In Your OSR Game 

Because of the generic nature of Thistle Game's products this is a sure fire way to plug and play with the OSR game of your choose. There's plenty of ways to deal with the myriad of tables here. This book along with any of the stuff offered in the deals they have going is easily adapted to the game of your choose. This is a good read and  has tons of tables and lists for creating adventures on the fly. Packed with helpful info that is actually useful instead of more filler that seems to come with some OSR books. 

 The Rpg Handbook is solid in the way that it lets the DM create new stuff over and over again. This is a book that should have been out in 1986 or so. The information in here ranks up with stuff found in a Game Science book from this time period. 

 Take a few random tables, your favorite story hook and sinker, and add what you want from the book and your ready to go.  

Final word

These books are on sale by the author at the moment. Get them quickly or they're going to go back soon to the regular price. Not that they're not worth it but its nice to have what you want when you want it and this is a great bargain! 

You can find the book right HERE 

31/2 stars out of four for this product!