I don't think it is worth the pain of writing a full-blown review for Eureka and Masks. Trolling the net you will stumble upon tons of enthusiastic opinions about both products. Here is mine! I'll cut is short. If you fall in one of following descriptions:

• game master (or GM wannabe)
• designer/author
• writer
• illustrator/visual artist (yep, I'm serious) then, simply put, buy this bundle. Maybe you still don't know but you need both the books. Dot.

If you don't, keep away! Reading such material could spoil years of gameplay, even if your master doesn't use it. Believe me! These are that kind of books that should be kept right behind GM screen (or in a writer secret drawer) to express their full potential.

With Crimson Exodus, this is the best product I've ever bought on this site.

I don't think it is worth the pain of writing a full-blown review for Masks. Trolling the net you will stumble upon tons of enthusiastic opinions about this product. Here is mine! I'll cut is short. If you fall in one of following descriptions:

• game master (or GM wannabe)
• designer/author
• writer
• illustrator/visual artist (yep, I'm serious) then, simply put, buy this book. Maybe you still don't know but you need it. Dot.

If you don't, keep away! Reading such material could spoil years of gameplay, even if your master doesn't use it. Believe me! This is one of that books that should be kept right behind GM screen (or in a writer secret drawer) to express its full potential.

With Crimson Exodus, this is the best product I've ever bought on this site.

I don't think it is worth the pain of writing a full-blown review for Eureka. Trolling the net you will stumble upon tons of enthusiastic opinions about this product. Here is mine! I'll cut is short. If you fall in one of following descriptions:

• game master (or GM wannabe)
• designer/author
• writer
• illustrator/visual artist (yep, I'm serious) then, simply put, buy this book. Maybe you still don't know but you need it. Dot.

If you don't, keep away! Reading such material could spoil years of gameplay, even if your master doesn't use it. Believe me! This is one of that books that should be kept right behind GM screen (or in a writer secret drawer) to express its full potential.

With Crimson Exodus, this is the best product I've ever bought on this site.

Another excellent item for any GM (no matter what genre). I love that the electronic version comes with PDF and text versions of the information. This makes using the information much more useful.

(originally posted at TenkarsTavern.com)

Does anyone else remember the AD&D Encounter Cards? They were my GoTo Resource when I had nothing planned for Sunday's Weekly Game (which happened more often then I would lie to admit). I'd pull a few cards at random, figure out which one (or more) had a seed of something larger in it, and ran with it.

Eureka: 501 Adventure Plots to Inspire Game Masters is similar, but for the most part the plots are deeper on role-play the those old encounter cards ever were. The pieces here also tend to have more depth and dangling threads, as these are plots - or plot seeds if you will.

167 plots each for fantasy, sic-fi and horror, but you can tweak nearly all to fit outside their default genre. Which puts this at less then 4 cents a plot.

Did I mention this is a full bookmarked PDF? And that they are further broken down by Dramatic Structure? Nicely done. This, my iPad and Goodreader will have me making notes right on the PDF for the plots I want to use.

Incredible. Clean, well-organized, almost zero typographical errors, inspired... If you liked Eureka: 501 Plots, you'll like this one. NPCs are given background, motivation, names, and either "neutral, ally or villain" along with other tags ("Academic, leader, focal" to name a few) in three genres and several indexes covers not only most of the tags, but also the genres, groups, by author, and more. Note that none of their traits (Leader, Academic, etc.) are rated to give a power/skill level (better than your character or just a mook).

Originally posted at: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product_reviews_write.php?products_id=93319

When a book is aimed 100% at gamemasters, there is only one thing I am really looking for: utility. Time I spend searching through a book is time that I am not running my game. The first thing I look for in a book for GMs is an index. Masks: 1000 Memorable NPCs has 4 indexes. The PDF has bookmarks to each and every entry, and the text is liberally linked with hypertext. In the future, I will be judging PDF implementation based off the standards of Masks.

As a product of the Gnome Stew crew, I expected the GM advice to be top notch. I was not disappointed. The first chapter takes great pains to explain the process by which the NPCs were created, what each trait assigned to the NPCs means, and how to insert these characters into a game. That the last entry in the first chapter is an entreaty to use these NPCs as if they were your own is indicative of the spirit this book was written under. This is not just a reference, this is a flexible tool.

The NPCs are broken down by genre and alignment. There are 334 Fantasy, 333 Sci-Fi, and 333 Modern NPCs. Within these genres, the characters are further divided into Allies (25%), Villains (25%), and Neutrals (50%). All of these divisions are ultimately up to the GM’s discretion. For a cyberpunk campaign, characters from the modern and sci-fi chapters are almost equally useful. For a Shadowrun campaign, all three genres are fair game. I even found that most of the hackers could be converted to wizards, and vice versa, with a little imagination.

Utility being my touchstone, I was quite taken with the structure of Masks. Each of the 1000 NPCs is described in a terse quarter page. These descriptions are carefully laid out to explain the motivations, appearance, and behavior of each NPC. Every character has stories to tell, and some have whole campaigns worth of tales. There are occasional portraits of characters, which are thoughtfully labeled. Honestly, the descriptions of each character are clear enough that the portraits are almost unnecessary. The bottom of each page has six names, first names on the even pages and surnames on the odd ones. By flipping through the pages randomly and rolling a d6, it is easy to create names for characters.

More than anything, though, I love the indexes. Index One breaks the NPCs down by Traits. There are 47 Traits and each character has 3. This makes it easy to find a Child or a Merchant in seconds. Index Two breaks the characters down by name. Index Three breaks up the characters by author. There are 10 different authors, so this index is useful if you find yourself liking one particular writer’s style. Index Four is the one I found the most useful. By breaking the NPCs down by Group, it is easy to fill out a Thieves Guild or a Police Department without much work. Need an Acting Troupe? Here are 10 potential members!

In the end, Masks promises 1000 memorable NPCs and it delivers them. Moreover, Masks delivers these NPCs in a clear, concise, well-organized manner that makes it a must have tool for GMs. Without reservation, I can see any GM, no matter what their system of choice is, getting plenty of use out of Masks.

This is a must have for any experienced GM. With over 30 years as a GM the challenge has become keeping the characters fresh and alive for the players while keeping the story exciting and alive for myself. It is hard to stay out of ruts (rehashing the same characters again and again). This is not "Festival in a can," and will not excuse you from investing the energy and time to your ensure everyone's enjoyment, but it is a handy tool for the GM who likes to spend his time playing a game and not spend it in exhaustive preparation. As the creator of Scaldcrow Games, I always seek good products that not only bring me satisfaction but also elevates the craft of interactive storytelling. I feel that this book will enhance your game and further, will guide you into designing and orating better NPCs of your own. Hats off to the "Masks," and its creators. Good times and good gaming.

You'd think a thousand NPC's in four categories and three genres, indexed by character trait would be enough, but Masks has hints and tips for making your own memorable NPCs, bringing those NPCs to life, and how to adapt and adopt these characters to whatever you need. Each NPC is vivid and brimming with personality, and I'm getting plot ideas from each one I come across. I think if you're ever thinking about becoming a GM, this is an invaluable resource.

This is an awsome GM-Book. Not only are there a thousand easy to use NPC's in there, but there are also tips how to make several thounds out of that, a quick Name Generator and it is also extremly well structured (Genre, Traits, Villian/Neutral/Ally,...). A book that every GM should have! 8D

Overall, Masks: 1,000 Memorable NPCs for Any Roleplaying Game is an impressive product that fills a particular, specific niche in a manner that is very difficult to top.

The book is a must for any GM, but is especially helpful for ones like me who have trouble thinking of more than a dozen NPCs at any given time without turning them all into two-dimensional stereotypes. Each and every NPC in this book is interesting, amusing and ready to run in any campaign.

The amount of work put into the organization of the book is to be commended, as it is clearly made to be easy to use, something that I find is very rare for most RPG products.

I have absolutely no problems recommending this book to almost anyone who has ever been a GM.

This is an excerpt from my full review on Life and Times of a Philippine Gamer. If you'd like to check out the full review, kindly visit: http://philgamer.wordpress.com/2011/07/25/review-masks-1000-memorable-npcs-for-any-roleplaying-game/

Other reviewers have gone into detail about what the book covers, so consider this more of a testimonial.

This is a book that any GM should have. Period. It has gotten me past GM's writer's block. It has helped me finish half-formed ideas for story arcs.

The fact that it's available in pdf makes it even better. While the indexes are impressive (to say the least), the ability to search for a keyword like "horror" or "space opera" and flip immediately to those entries is a huge value.

Great product. it really helps get the creative juices flowing when you are having problems coming up with adventure ideas.

This one is going to be pretty short. This book is exactly what it says it is . . . 501 plot hooks. The helpful part of the book is that it is organized and indexed in several ways. Chapters focus on Sci-Fi, Horror, and Fantasy. Within the chapters, the hooks are organized by the general theme you are trying to convey. The book is then indexed so that you can pretty much pull anything out by any combination of the tags in a matrix. There is a broad set of themes, tons of cool hooks, and some introductory advice on building adventures.

This is a good book for GMs wanting to put some fun hooks into their games.

Nearly 300 pages of plots (usually two per page). EXTENSIVE hypertext linkage and 3 indexes, each adventure tagged for the genre and tone (cyberpunk pulp action). Although it uses as a focus the classic book "36 Dramatic Situations" it goes beyond that. Far beyond that. Includes GM advice and how to re-skim plots. Compares very favorably to the "Seeds" (supers/western/pulp) and the 100 (planets/adventures/conspiracies) series.