Hi!

This tool is really good and well worth more than than the three and a bit Euros it costs. It gives you many options for the "supporting cast and locations" in RPG and normal novel writing. Sometimes the generator comes up with a combination so nice, you elevate it into the main branches of the story you weave. It gives you many starting points for your own creativity to soar up from. Definitely woth buying!

私の国日本ではファンタジーコイン といったものが販売されていません 。コインの内容は、ライオン、 グリフォン、ドラゴン、 天秤、馬、城、 太陽、カエル、騎兵があります。 どれもすごく気に入っています。 切ったものを工作用紙に のりで貼って使っています。 私としてはファンタジーコインが 無料で配布されているのは 感動したし、とても嬉しかったです。 みなさんも機会があれば ダウンロードしてみては いかがでしょうか？

"Hey Jason you only ever give five stars to the most superlative stuff out there "

"No, that's not true at all, sometimes I give five stars to something that's just really good, but has some element that especially tickles my fancy or which has had an unusual amount of use in my gaming, that's what I mean by 'reviewers tilt'."

"So are you really going to give a five star rating to just a bunch of random generators?!"

"Yes, here's why:

Although they're not quite 'tools' so much as prompts, this set of random generators goes beyond the normal 'roll on this table' nonsense that often gets shlepped around on the site as a means of brainstorming. Instead of needing dice, you just click and immediately get five options for your next plotline, short story, poem (!!!), or location. There's a gag 'motivator' telling you to write more words today ('1033 more and you learn the secret in secret sauce!) and, quite provocatively, there's a 'visual' generator that instead of saying someone likes (say) puzzles, displays a simple icon of (say) a rook. Maybe this person likes chess, or castles, or perhaps the meaning is more metaphorical.

Chaotic Shiny does a very good job of putting generators together and this is no exception. I know it's improved my writing and gaming! People who are putting out 'lists of 100 names' might do well to make actual compiled generators to make using them at the table easier!"

"Well that's just great, you give this thing five stars, is there anything it could do better?"

"Yes, two things, first, it would be better if the lists used to generate the material were easily customizable. Perhaps they could call to a particular file outside the .exe file itself. It's nice that the whole thing clocks in at under 2 megs but I think I could find the hard drive space. Second, Chaotic Shiny had best get on Google Play so I can give them all my money when they start designing apps that do these things."

"All your..."

"ALL MY MONEY"

Good little set of games to keep players occupied. Like the intuitive way that the games were made. Would have preferred more originals like "Thrag's Great Idea" as opposed to the obvious "Rock Paper Scissors" clone (still fun regardless!). I love little add-ons like these that help me build a sense of immersion for my players! Keep up the good work guys!!

Not exceptional, but for free a very fine product. I can see it adding a whole new aspect to my setting--rare coin and coin collecting markets. Of course this would be after the legal issues of trying to pass an unknown gold coin as legal tender!

This little item is more of a novelty item than a serious gaming accessory, but then, creating a pantheon for your campaign setting requires careful thought and planning, right? I've got to say that I have gotten some results on this little gem that have gotten the whole crew scratching their heads and more than a few that have got them laughing. Its free, its fun, its chaotic, and its shiny. I use it to generate little-known cults and the religions of travelers from distant kingdoms with strange ways and unusual customs. Its really good at strange ways and unusual customs.

When you look up the word “martial” in the dictionary, most definitions tend towards the use of a few key adjectives – warrior, warlike, or military. So I’d be lying if I said that the Martial Flavors book from Chaotic Shiny Productions focuses on mostly peaceful people. Most of these cultures could be described as mercenaries, raiders, or warriors whether they believe in the chain of command or the power of the strongest sword.

At a mere 55 pages, Martial Flavor has to be one of the most colorful supplements I’ve seen in a while. Color, art, fonts, and text boxes are used to provide a layout that’s easy on the eyes and convey details on multiple levels.

The use of color works well to denote different sections, such as green for the titles, introduction, and table of contents, and a red/green pattern for The Daikort Pack, a green/brown pattern for The Elessim, etc. And each section is laid out consistently from group to group – starting with a vignette, an overview, appearance, hierarchy, rituals, races, sample characters, powers, and feats.

The full color and black and white artwork used on the front and back covers and inside provides not only a great way to break up the text, but provide a feel for each culture’s dress and appearance as well as what’s important. For example, for The Daikort Pack, we see a full color picture of an fair-haired elven maid wearing leather and a plate breastplate, which tends to indicate she’s more ready for a fight than to go frolicking in the woods in which she’s standing. But for The Elessim, there are three horses in the picture on a broad grassy plain and one rider. Something tells me the horses are important!

The black and white art was also quite striking, as with the appearance of a female Elessim with her long hair “in dreadlocks, knotted full of meaningful patterns. Many also fill their hair with beads and braided ribbons, highlighting the knot patterns with bright colors.” If the image had provided a bit more color to some of the beads, I don’t think I would have needed the text to help me figure out what was in her hair as much. But that’s a minor nit.

The book covers five separate cultures in detail:

The Daikort Pack – A group of mercenaries skilled for any terrain and any mission, the Pack is not to be trifled with from within or without. As mercs, they have accomplished an amazing array of tasks over the last few years, including slaying dragons, capturing outlaws, rescuing innocents, and even negotiating treaties.

The Elessim – A nomadic group of horse breeders happy to find fair trades or fight to protect what is theirs.

The Ikanoi – Tattooed warriors from the lands of ice and snow, these are fierce people who are prepared to survive anything and keep their tribes and traditions together for the ages.

The Legions of Arytis – The Legions protect their people and their city with a distinct focus. Each member of the Legions must serve in the city military for five years and will defend their way of life from all threats.

The Sijara – These nomads can be found anywhere – cities, wilds, oceans, deserts – wherever their paths lead them. They wander freely through the world and pity outsiders or “bound people” who cannot go when and where they want.

The content in the book is tailored for Dungeons & Dragons, 4th Edition, but I think the cultures themselves could easily be used in other games. I especially liked the concepts of The Ikanoi, which would be at home in the icy wastes of just about any world or system.

Though I love the concepts, I did run across a few nits. For example, as I hinted at in the first paragraph the word “martial” is in the title, but never defined anywhere. I think that a glossary of terms or even working the definition into the introduction would solve that problem easily. And when Powers are described for the various cultures, I was trying to figure out why some of the boxes had a red title box and others had black or green boxes. It might be good to have a key of some sort indicating the purpose for each color in that context. (It may just be that it’s a 4e thing that I don’t get, as I haven’t played with it yet.)

If you’re looking for some interesting crunch for your world, I’d definitely recommend that you take a look at Martial Flavor from Chaotic Shiny Productions.

(This review originally appeared here: http://www.gameknightreviews.com/2010/10/book-review-martial-flavor-chaotic-shiny-productions/)

Easy to use accessory to give "colour" to various organization in the campaign world. I wish there were more than 10.

This is a good-sized, color PDF document offered free of charge with, as the title states, ten maps. To begin, mapmaking and place names are not my strong suit and I have difficulty coming up with them. Products that help spur my creativity for adventures and stories are welcome. Unfortunately, this product wasn't very useful to me and requiring a color printer was something that disappointed me. I would've liked to have used it, but it seemed rather amateurish. My own map creations are so fanciful as to be bizarre, but this was just not down as to have been useful. I had to delete it altogher. However, it is provided free of charge. Not to offend the designer or design team, in good faith I cannot recommend this product. I will give it "Two Stars"/"Unacceptable" simply because it's free of charge. Otherwise it would be "One Star"/"Bad".

In my opinion, there is nothing worse in a pen & paper RPG than a dull paladin player character, (and paladins are admittedly my favorite character class!) but crafting an original code of honor for your paladin is rarely simple. This short table-based generator is a nice little tool for helping spur your creativity, or for when you've reached your wit's end. Obviously, being table-based, there are some limitations inherent, but those are hard to complain about in a free supplement. It's well worth the look, especially in light of the price!

This is a nice tool for adding a bit of color and flavor to the paladin, and this can be very good, as they can be seen as too flat by many. As any random table based generator table set you must think about the relationship of each part of the code as you build it. I am neutral on it overall because I feel most people forget to add the spark of human creativity that such tables need.

Fantastic aids. I love these kinds of products as they help to get the creative juices flowing when I'm hitting a wall. Even if I don't use all the maps or ideas in here, there is still plenty for me to process and fit into games at a moments notice, or with a little tweaking. Love it!

If you are creating a tavern in a hurry, this eight-page PDF isn't going to fill all your needs, but if you already have something in the works, then it will do a great job in augmenting your work.

Having GM'd sci-fi and near-future games for almost thirty years, I have finally decided to get into running medieval fantasy games. While I would still recommend picking up some references for medieval communities and history, this ingenious PC program is INDISPENSIBLE for doing several very important things:

This is the natural starter-point for developing a fantasy city, which you would then flesh out with all the references and cartography. This program even does some of the gridwork, for example with generating a market area. You can't beat it.

The very first feature you see is the city generator, which develops for you the character of the city you aim to build; what I mean here is what you say to the players. It provides you with what is called in literary criticism 'local color', and with the many (!) other tools provided (including a fascinating and highly entertaining tavern generator), you build the city up from there.

It's a superb tool whether you're just creating a bare-bones mental image of a city community for your players to flesh out in their minds, or as I suggest (and do), are building a full-fledged homebrew supplement but need a starting point to give you the creative juice-flow to begin such a daunting project.

EASILY WORTH THE PRICE.

This is a nifty toolkit for whipping up a quick NPC, or groping around for inspiration when the GM juices aren't flowing. Installation is painless, and the author is responsive and supportive. It would be well worth it at several times the price.