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Eureka delivers 501 adventures, each detailed to a half-page of text. Most are typically 6-8 paragraphs and present an opening, major stepping points for the plot, and a wrap-up, often with some ideas from branching out or linking. These plots are as good as anything you'll read in a typical published adventure and often feature good twists and NPCs that can be made memorable. Each would typically features 3-5 encounters or major scenes.
Three genres are covered (fantasy, science fiction, and horror), and within those 36 situations are covered. If that number sounds familiar, it's because Georges Polti wrote the seminal book, "36 Dramatic Situations", way back in 1917. ("36 Dramatic Situations" is now in the public domain and can easily be found on the net). What Eureka does is take each of those Polti situations - kidnapping, daring enterprise, revolt, slaying of a kinsman, etc. - and flesh it out into a ready-made RPG plot.
The book is designed to work with any system, so of course you don't get stat blocks, encounter maps, etc. But personally I find that stuff is easier to generate (almost mechanical) than the "what happens next" part of campaign creation.
The book begins with a forward by Monte Cook and then a detailed 25-page discussion on how to use the plots, hooks, foreshadowing, reskinning, adapting, etc. Then each plot is presented with a system of tags so you can see which focus on investigation, tactical planning, heavy roleplaying, stealth, etc. and also which are best for which sub-genres (steampunk, swashbuckling, etc.)
There's also an index in the back that lets you look up tags, so if you want to see all the plots that feature an isolated area, just turn the index and look them up. Same thing for genre. This is very helpful. A lot of times, I'll perhaps have an idea for a kidnapping or insurrection but not the full step-by-step story development. The index and tag system lets me look up the relevant plot ideas.
I've read through about half the fantasy plots and already can see using quite a few of them. One thing that is subtle but should be appreciated is that the plots are worked out in ways that will work in RPG campaigns - so no hidden information the GM has to awkwardly present.
The work isn't all done for you - this is at the "6-8 paragraph overview" level, not the detailed outline or encounter level. But I personally find the book a fantastic resource, giving plot skeletons that are easy to adapt. I think if you buy this product, you'll immediately have a lot of interesting stories in your GM inventory.
One thing I would point out is that the 501 number is derived from three genres at 167 plots each. If you only run fantasy campaigns, then you're really only getting 167 plots in the fantasy section. However, I found there were certainly horror plots that could be used in fantasy and probably vice-versa, and some of the sci-fi plots could probably be reskinned. The introductory material does have a discussion on reskinning and reusing plots.
In terms of artwork and layout, the product is solid and classy looking. It was obviously assembled by a competent graphic designer. The layout is clear and the art non-intrusive (though not particularly inspiring). Frankly, this product doesn't need much art, since the plots are the point! I like the overall graphic design, page layouts, and fonts.
It's interesting to read the Contributor Bios section, which makes you realize how many people went into the production of this book. Engine Publishing recruited nine authors to write the plots, assigning them different themes and genres. This was really a large effort and a lot of creative genius went into it.
I bought the PDF for $16.95 and liked the ability to search through it for words when looking for a particular idea. However, this is also the kind of book I could see reading for an hour on the couch, flipping through it looking at different ideas, so the $34.95 print version might be better for some.
This product delivers exactly what it promises and will enliven my campaigns for years to come.
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