Game-ready people, places, events, and landscapes from history and current events.
Hi! If you're reading this, odds are the campaign is over. But if you still want to get a copy of The GM's Real-World Reference, don't despair! Just click the 'contact us' link to the right, and we can set you up with the $8, $12, $19, $30, $300, or $1,500 reward tiers. And thanks!
The best gaming content is often inspired by the real world: real people, places, historical events, landscapes, buildings, cities, and cultures. The GM's Real-World Reference: Game-Ready People, Places, and Events is a resource designed to help the GM by providing one-page articles on awesome real-world things.
This isn't a compilation of historical events; everything in this book will be chosen based on how much fun it would be at your table. The articles themselves are written to get you the information you want without cluttering the page with details you'll never use.
The book will be in pdf format and illustrated with images in the public domain or under creative commons licenses.
The GM's Real-World Reference will be organized into four sections: landscapes (like the Bialowieza Forest, Son Doong Cave, and Glacial Lake Missoula); cities, towns, and buildings (like Shenzhen, Harlech, and the Erechtheion); people (like Procopius, Hildegard of Bingen, and Dian Fossey); and events (like the Nika Riots and the devolution of power in Carolingian France).
Each section will be contain thirty one-page articles. If we reach our first stretch goal ($3,800), we will expand each section to forty articles, bringing the book to 160 pages.
If we reach our second stretch goal ($4,700), we will add a section on ideas and cultures (like Spartiates vs. Helots and Kondratiev waves), bringing the book to 200 pages.
We hope you will enjoy the GM's Real-World Reference! Our different pledge levels have a variety of exciting rewards that we think you'll have fun with. Consider spreading the word about this book to your friends or gaming group.
And thanks.
-Joel Dalenberg and Tristan Zimmerman
Keywords: RPG, tabletop, roleplaying game, game master, dungeon master
FAQ
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Sure! For the first writing sample, look here:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1395430458/the-gms-real-world-reference/posts/291452
For the second, look here:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1395430458/the-gms-real-world-reference/posts/297277
And for the third, look here:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1395430458/the-gms-real-world-reference/posts/299931
And for the fourth and final one, look here:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1395430458/the-gms-real-world-reference/posts/302018
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Simply put, a Wiki Walk can be a really inefficient way to find awesome gaming material. If you know generally what you're looking for, it's great. However, it's usually a very slow and inefficient way to learn about completely new things. When the game is tomorrow and you realize that the entirety of your notes consist of, "The admiral wants the PCs to investigate strange reports on the frontier," and you try a Wiki Walk, you're not likely to find something cool. With the GM's Real-World Reference, the awesome material is already pulled out for you.
Furthermore, let's say you want to introduce an awesome general into your campaign, and you say, "Well, what about Patton?" If you go to General Patton's Wikipedia article, you will figure out very quickly that it is not designed for GMs. The vast, vast majority of the information on that page will never make it to your gaming table. So it's up to you to sift through his Wikipedia page – to say nothing of all the books and such that have been written about the man – looking for those choice bits that will make him an amazing NPC at your table. We want to do that work for you. When you open up the book and go to the page on Patton, our goal is that every single thing on that page should be awesome at your table. And we think that's a level of convenience worth paying for.
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We plan to make this whole process as transparent as possible. On the updates page, we've begun posting articles from the book and excerpts from the comedy rpgs available at the $30 reward level. All our backers will get a full expense report, so you know where your money is going. And we'll keep you up-to-date on our progress in writing the book. We hope that transparency will be a two-way street. We want to hear what you have to say about where we're going with this project. Are there rewards you'd like to see? Exciting ideas about the project? Let us know!
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We don't have any plans to do so at the current time. A lot of Kickstarter campaigns wind up promising the moon, and only find out after being funded that they didn't know the first thing about moon-delivering. We're being very careful not to let that happen.
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All the reward tiers higher than $12 will get this perk. We added this reward halfway through the campaign as a thank you to our higher reward tier backers, and you can't edit the description of a reward once someone has pledged to it.
180
Backers
$3,850
pledged of $2,900 goal
0
seconds to go
Funding period
Aug 9, 2012 -
Sep 8, 2012
(30 days)
- First created · 3 backed
- Tristan Zimmerman 255 friends
- Website: DLcanticle.com
Pledge $8 or more
2 backers
TIRO - You get a pdf of what we consider the best 20 pages in the book, and a thank-you in the pdf!
Estimated delivery: Dec 2012Pledge $12 or more
115 backers
MILES - You get a pdf copy of the GM's Real-World Reference, and a thank-you in the book!
Estimated delivery: Dec 2012Pledge $19 or more
21 backers
DUPLICARIUS - You get the articles in the GM's Real-World Reference as they are written. All higher reward tiers also receive this perk. You also get a pdf copy of the book and a thank-you inside it.
Estimated delivery: Dec 2012Pledge $30 or more
29 backers
CENTURIO - You get a copy of some of our sillier material: comedic adventures and rules sets with names like "Big Bear Doin' Thangs", "Swashbucklers in Space", and "Economist Mages." You also get a thank-you in the book, and a pdf copy of the GM's Real-World Reference.
Estimated delivery: Dec 2012Pledge $60 or more
4 backers
LEGATUS - You get to be part of a game we will run using online virtual tabletop software for you and four other legati! You also get the comedy rpgs, a thank-you in the book, and a pdf copy of the GM's Real-World Reference.
Estimated delivery: Dec 2012Pledge $100 or more
7 backers Limited (3 of 10 left)
IMPERATOR - You get to tell us what the topic of one of the articles should be, and you get access to our online authorial discussion space! You also get the comedy rpgs, a thank-you in the book, and a pdf copy of the GM's Real-World Reference.
Estimated delivery: Dec 2012Pledge $300 or more
0 backers
PRINCEPS - We will run a game for you and your gaming group using online virtual tabletop software! You also get the comedy rpgs, a thank-you in the book, and a pdf copy of the GM's Real-World Reference.
Estimated delivery: Dec 2012Pledge $1,500 or more
0 backers Limited (2 of 2 left)
DOMINUS ET DEUS - We will come to your house (continental US only) and run one or more games for you and your friends! You also get the comedy rpgs, a thank-you in the book, a pdf copy of the GM's Real-World Reference, and the our certification that you are the coolest person to have ever lived.
Estimated delivery: Dec 2012
