Pyramid Review
DM Campaign Record
Published by Goodman Games
Developed by Harley Stroh
Based on Campaign Tracker by Joseph Goodman
Art, graphics, and layout by William O'Connor & Peter Bradley
16-page b&w softcover; $4.99
Hot on the heels of each and every new game or edition is a fairly predictable roll of complementary products. The GM's screen is one such inevitability, and the various documents for tracking characters and events in a game are another. Goodman Games is an early adopter of the newest Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition license, and their most recent release is from this latter set.
The DM Campaign Record is meant to help the referee keep things straight in his game. It starts simply enough, with a place for the campaign's name, its participants, and the books allowed. This might be a better resource for the players than the guy in charge, of course, but without perforation it's clear the creators don't expect that page to be removed, photocopied, and distributed to the game group.
It gets more specific as it goes. There's a place to list the major kingdoms, their various rulers, and the answers to day-to-day questions. Who kowtows to which gods, what are the calendars and currencies called, and who gets the day off? Then it's a sharp drop to what the players really want to know: Where does my hero work, worship, and drink?
Plots, Legends, & Villains is a neat idea, with columns for Heroic, Paragon, and Epic levels. Here the GM is supposed to put down these entities and come . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: October 10, 2008
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