Elisabetta Golzio
We thank Game Master Worlds for the amazing physical edition of Worlds at a Glance: Towns and Villages, which we’ll discuss in this review. It’s a supplement for D&D5e (adaptable to other fantasy game systems) designed to quickly provide locations and characters without interrupting the narrative.
The product can be purchased here at the price of €141.14 in the full edition we present in this article or, if you prefer the manual only, here is the link where you can get it together with some digital content for the price of €54.45. Both prices do not include shipping. If you’d like to restock all the extras from the first box in the future, they can be purchased separately for between €16 and €30.
What could you really use for your campaign among what we’ll find in the box? Let’s find it out together.
Using Worlds at a Glance: Towns and Villages in Campaigns
Worlds at a Glance: Towns and Villages was designed to be implemented in D&D5e campaigns. This doesn’t mean you can’t use it for different systems, but you’ll simply have to adapt it.
The challenging task undertaken by Games Master Worlds is to eliminate (or at least drastically reduce) the time it takes to create the locations where your stories unfold. Every town, shop, NPC, and available item will already be at your complete disposal, making the world as realistic as possible. Everything has been written to simplify the dungeon master’s life. We’ll be provided with the tools to try to predict all the possible questions and moves of the players at the table in those specific locations. That’s not all: if your group doesn’t seem ready to face the main story you’ve created, within the pages of Worlds at a Glance: Towns and Villages you’ll also find small quests related to the location where they could go so that they can collect a few extra potions or coins.
I know, it sounds too good to be true, but the care and attention that goes into this production will indeed solve several of the critical issues typical of a master’s life. The complete edition we received comes in a very large box, designed to contain all the materials we will now present to you.
Worlds at a Glance: Towns and Villages Rulebook Review
The heart of this project is the manual itself, which comes in a hardcover with gold embossing. The 230 glossy, high-quality, full-color pages present all the potential challenges we might face in creating a new town.
Let’s take an example: the tavern, a crucial place to start any campaign. At the beginning of the book, we’ll find not only potential names for our establishment, but also phrases of welcome the innkeeper might offer, as well as a list of local legends and folklore we might stumble upon while drinking. Want to liven things up? There are also some minigames available to play at the tables.
This could be repeated for any type of shop you can think of: alchemist, blacksmith, baker, butcher, and so on. Depending on your adventurers’ interests, you’ll have well-defined merchants who will offer you different products and endless inspiration for your campaign. Of course, there are also many useful weapon racks, potions, and other items for your quests.
Equally important is describing your town in great detail. In this case, you’ll find numerous tables offering suggestions, depending on the emotion you want to evoke. Want a friendly first impression? The first villager our heroes will meet will be a child with a small pet pig. Do you want them to understand at first glance that they’re in a spooky place? What could be better than a meeting with the gravedigger? Finally, if you’ll need to deal with the local nobles, we’ll have numerous pages about security and government, including the locations of castles, fortresses, dormitories, prisons, and so on. Whatever you can think of, you’ll find it here.
Dungeon Master Screen
Many dungeon masters will likely already have several screens at home, all more or less similar. They’ll have the basic combat rules, ability bonuses, and so on. If, however, you’re in the middle of a campaign and need to quickly come up with a name for a character you’ve just met, the screen included in this box is perfect for you. We’ll find ideas for names based on races, suggestions for houses, and defining traits for our NPCs.
We’ll then have tables with values from 1 to 10 to describe a critical failure depending on whether it comes from a melee weapon, a ranged weapon, or a spell. Was the attack a complete success? Here’s a list of accurate descriptions of what happened to your enemy. If it was a fatal blow, you can consult a list of splendid items to obtain as loot (and their durability, if applicable).
There is also a series of obstacles that we can have our players encounter with their relative consequences, conditions they might encounter and benefits that a rest could bring them.
The external illustration instead shows us the panorama of a city and its surroundings with a transition between the light of day and the darkness of night.
Initiative Tracker
Initiative Trackers are instead a reminder of the turn order in which adventurers and any enemies can act. They come as double cards that can stand upright, creating a row visible to everyone. The creature’s name is displayed at the top, with its identifying symbol checked underneath. On the back, we’ll find the armor class, initiative, hit points, and any other notes. Inside the box, we’ll find 30 Initiative Trackers, but don’t worry: they’re semi-laminated, erasable and reusable.
Worlds at a Glance: Towns and Villages Map and Town Ledger Review
Of course, having a map that can direct your characters to places of interest at a glance is always useful. That’s why you’ll find 12 customizable black and white maps measuring 28 x 36 cm, printed on glossy paper. Their distinctive style looks like someone hand-drawn them, lending them greater credibility. At the top left, there’s a space for the name of the city, while random spaces are left blank on purpose for the locations of specific buildings.
To help us remember all the information about our newly created town, we use the Town Ledger. It’s a spiral-bound notebook containing a smaller version of the maps but with much more space for notes and descriptions. It also includes two pages of small stickers to place on our maps in the designated areas.
This accessory, like the dungeon master’s screen, is designed to remain upright and be consulted quickly.
Shop Cards
Tired of flipping through the pages of the rulebook for your players’ constant requests for purchases? Shop cards solve the problem. In Worlds at a Glance: Towns and Villages, you’ll have 72 of them already filled with every type of item available in the shops, plus six left blank for further customization.
The cards, 9 x 9 cm, were printed in color on semi-rigid glossy paper.
Final Thoughts of the Review of Worlds at a Glance: Towns and Villages
From the moment you receive the box with all the components, you’ll be immediately impressed by product’s excellent quality. The manual, cards, notebook, and maps are all extremely well-made. The number of variables taken into account is remarkable, making it an excellent accessory for those looking to add more depth to their settlement creation. All the materials come with a plastic organizer, which is useful for separating cards and quickly finding them when needed.
If you really want to find a flaw, the size of the maps is too large for the box they come in, so you have to fold them slightly: nothing serious, but purists might turn up their noses a little.
Author Nathan Horn is working to expand the offerings. It seems that this project for simplified building of locations to visit in a campaign is continuing, to the delight of all the lazy narrators.
So, is it worth buying the complete set, or can the manual alone make a difference? Of course, the most important content is contained within the volume. But it’s also true that, since it’s about places, using maps is a must. Furthermore, the box containing the entire collection is a must-have for any collector.
The illustrations have been created by different artists, but they’re all of the highest quality. I’m listing the artists’ names so you can get an idea: Arte Desastre, Brian Flores ,Chaim’s Cartography, David Ceballos, Hiidra Studio, JessArt, Milton Das, Mitch Mueller Art, Prayogaardip, Santi Bosch, Stan P., Victor Garcia, Whiteghoul studio And Wizardry Brush.
Happy searching!
