In November 2020 we presented two Worldbuilder’s Toolkit offers, the latest installments in our annual (well, mostly) collections of gamemastering aids. Of all the Bundle of Holding series (OSR, Cornucopia, Fate, Tentacles, Nerves, etc.), the Toolkits are the most successful. The all-new Worldbuilder’s Toolkit 7 was among the strongest yet, with two Suppressed Transmission collections by Kenneth Hite, two books by star designer Robin D. Laws, two Lazy DM titles from Sly Flourish, a Kobold Guide, and more. And alongside this new seventh installment we revived the November 2016 Toolkit 4, with Engine Publishing’s Focal Point, two more Kobold Guides, and more.
TOOLKIT 7
There were five titles in this Toolkit 7 offer’s Starter Collection (retail value $42.50) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks, including the Kobold Guide to Gamemastering; The White Box Essays, with Jeremy Holcomb’s advice on creating and publishing your own game (Gameplaywright); Palladium’s comprehensive Compendium of Contemporary Weapons; a big bunch of simple ready-to-run dungeon maps from Dicegeek, Dungeons for the Master; and 20 Dungeon Starters, a choice array of pick-up-and-play adventure recipes from Lampblack & Brimstone for Dungeon World or any fantasy RPG.
Those who paid more than this offer’s threshold (average) price also got this offer’s entire Bonus Collection with eight more titles worth an additional $65, including Ken Hite’s astonishing double helping of historical high weirdness, Suppressed Transmission: The First Broadcast and The Second Broadcast (Steve Jackson Games); Beating the Story, a close analysis of storytelling beats by Robin D. Laws; Robin’s classic advice text, Robin’s Laws of Good Game Mastering; Sly Flourish’s bestselling Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master (plus its accompanying Lazy DM’s Workbook); and two big troves of ready-to-use dungeon maps from the king-hell mapper of the Old School, Dyson Logos: Commercial Map Pack 2018 and 2019, with 142 beautiful maps you can use in your own games — or your own publications.
TOOLKIT 4 [from Nov 2016]
This revived November 2016 Toolkit 4 included two Kobold Guides, Engine Publishing’s Focal Point, and lots more. There were six titles in this revived offer’s Starter Collection (retail value $45):
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- Kobold Guide to Combat: Nearly 20 master designers give tips for creating great conflicts.
- Design for Writers and Roleplayers: Five full-length treatises by Berin Kinsman of Dancing Lights Press on NPCs, alignment, setting design, story structure, and group dynamics — Building Characters, Group Dynamics, Setting Design, Story Structure, and Understanding Alignment.
This offer’s Bonus Collection added seven more titles worth an additional $62:
- Kobold Guide to Magic: Another star-studded collection of essays that make magic mysterious once more.
- Focal Point: The Complete Game Master’s Guide to Running Extraordinary Sessions: The seasoned gamemasters from Gnome Stew detail ways to make your gaming sessions extraordinary.
- How to Run Fast & Exciting Combats: Johnn Four of RoleplayingTips.com shows you, in detail, exactly how to GM fights in half the time with double the excitement. Includes three bonus titles: The Legendary Combat Swipes Book, 3 Easy Ways to Add More Story to Combat, and Top 10 Reasons Why Your Combats Are Slow.
- Four Fat Goblin Games journals: A host of different forms for game designers, novelists, and especially gamemasters — The Gamemaster’s Worldbuilding Journal, Adventure Planner, Allies and Adversaries Journal, and Monster Memoir.
Ten percent of each payment (after gateway fees) went to these two offers’ pandemic-related charity, Direct Relief. Direct Relief gets protective gear and critical care medications to health workers, with emergency deliveries daily to medical facilities across the US and to regional response agencies across the world.
