Try Before You Buy – The Pocket Campaign Planner

I decided to check out The Pocket Campaign Planner, a book of “forms and prompts” from Fat Goblin Games, since I am always looking for new GMing aids and tips, and it was only US$1.95 at DriveThru RPG for a WEB PDF plus a fillable PDF. (A softcover book is on the way.) The product page says,

This led me to believe there was advice, as well as forms. But to my chagrin, it was just blank forms. (And some very good fantasy line art.) Yes, not having to create your own templates for campaign details is a timesaver, but I was hoping for suggestions on how to outline a campaign, creating settings, and the like, as well as forms. But are those forms useless?

No, most of them are handy, the Campaign Events ones especially. The first form is an overview with places for a synopsis and lists of things like key events and major NPCs. This is followed by multiple copies of event forms, to detail those key events, filling in event triggers, objectives, rewards, and creatures. Farther in, you’ll find forms for fleshing out various types of locales (cities, dungeons) and those NPCs. NPC forms are mainly for descriptions–personality, looks, affiliations– with about a third of the page for game information. These all look helpful, but although they’re “systemless,” are all clearly intended for the fantasy genre. The campaign outlines and NPC sheets, and possibly the city ones, could be used for other genres.

Other forms I consider less useful but your mileage will vary. Adventure logs appeal to some players as a way of keeping track of their characters’ lives and campaign history. The Adventure Review questionnaire got an eye roll from me. It asks for what the player liked/disliked, most/least favorite moments, if it was fun, and any advice. Come on, you don’t have to ask your players for this stuff–in fact, you can’t stop the players from telling you! I suppose handing them out when you run con games might garner some good feedback.

Overall, sadly, this just wasn’t what I was looking for or the kind of GM tool I need. But if you are looking for ready made forms for your campaign details, this might be a good addition to your GM toolkit, especially if you run fantasy games.