Tales of the Valiant: Pocket Editions

When I got them, I thought they were a waste of money and that I would need to wear reading glasses. Even with my older eyes, I can still read them (a little slower, but not unreadable due to the font they used).

These have become my daily go-to for rule lookups, surpassing the 5E SRD and the Black Flag SRD. Their compact size allows them to sit on my table, ready to be grabbed like a paperback book. I can quickly flip to the rule I need, making my reference process quick and efficient. Regarding usability, the PDF on my computer is the most convenient, followed by the pocketbook, then the iPad PDF version (which can be a bit slow to navigate), and finally, the hardcover.

I am truly enamored with these hardcovers. I envision using these smaller books as versatile table references. Their value extends beyond desk use, as they also serve as quick and easy table references, making them an invaluable resource for any situation.

Level Up A5E and D&D have nothing close, and only Pathfinder 2 has something similar. However, that font is tiny for me. This is really the best pocket-sized 5E reference out there.

Surprisingly, these smaller books outshine even the iPad version. While the iPad is undeniably portable and my preferred choice for on-the-go, these little books are hard to beat regarding desk reference.

I am taken with ToV and feel a sense of freshness here. Kobold Press avoids controversy and does not make players angry. The game doesn't surprise players with new rules. It feels playable and "innocent," like the original B/X. Yes, it is in all respects "5E," but more importantly, it isn't D&D. With D&D, I get this feeling of sadness, even with the old versions, knowing what it became. I know, my games are my games, but it feels like trying to get excited about the original Matrix movie knowing how bad the sequels sucked.

ToV feels fresh; it is like "my game" to do what I want. Nobody tells me how to play it, not the game, anyone online, the mainstream, or the art or words in the books. The mainstreaming of AD&D 2nd Edition killed the game and TSR along with it, and stripped anything cool out of the game for fear of upsetting anyone.

Tales of the Valiant does not have the D&D baggage.

I can also mod the rules, like the promise of the original 2014 5E. The core books are just that, core books. I am glad they did not add too much; this lets the game be itself and open to modding, which it should be. A "community rules platform" like 5E should have been, with no one trying to roll it back or telling you the game is a social platform for identity marketing.

ToV is still innocent and fresh and reminds me of the days when D&D was still that way.

Old School Armory

This is one of the best OSR equipment lists and resources out there. This quickly drops into any OSR (or generic system) game and gives you an instant gear list with prices and weights.

You get gear sets and packages, so you can pick a pre-created gear loadout and get playing!

There is a discussion of encumbrance rules and an alternate system that uses slots. Are you playing an old-school game that doesn't have an encumbrance system, like Dungeon Crawl Classics, and want to add it to the game? This is your book, and since it only covers gear, it becomes an expanded gear book for the game that fits right in perfectly - with much more to buy and choose from.

You also get primitive gunpowder weapons, in case your DCC game is more Renaissance. A side note, the Crawl! issue #8 has a more DCC treatment of the subject, with some nice critical and fumble tables for firearms specifically in DCC, along with an expanded selection. There is nothing stopping you from using those tables with this expanded list of guns though (2 gunpowder-era guns in Crawl! #8, and 14 here plus bombs and cannons).

One of my highest recommendations, especially for using DCC to simulate old-school play, hauling treasure out of dungeons, and for players who love spending and shopping.

Star Wars RPG Resources: The Essential Atlas

The Star Wars: The Essential Atlas is a book I cannot recommend highly enough, especially if your group is serious about playing in Fantasy Flight's Star Wars RPG universe.

First off, there is a lot of Legacy/Expanded Universe universe content in this book, but you can look at this three ways:

1. The EU is cool and pull from it what you want.
2. We play in a specific EU period.
3. We play in the current Star Wars cannon and timeline and this book lets you identify cannon versus EU lore.

The third one I find interesting, because of the state of Star Wars, there are things in the RPG and also the general community that may have more of a place in EU than the current timeline. This book gives you enough timeline to decide if something fits, and gives it a place in the universe. Me? I am part of the crowd that enjoys some of the EU content, and I will pull from it freely to develop my own timeline for the universe going forward. I would like to start with the movies, but have familiar faces drop by and make the universe my own combination of the best of Star Wars - Legacy and current movie timeline.

Hey, it's the "my universe" (MU), and it's all Star Wars. It's cool.

What I love about this book is the sense of place and time. You get maps of the movies, where people were, how they got there, and a chronological order of what happened. Each movie and the flow of how things happened gives you a broad perspective on how to run the game, especially with planet hopping and action that can take place light years apart. The maps of the movies are perfect 'sample adventure models' for the game, and they provide a model for how your game should flow.

Of course, you get pictures and descriptions of the major planets, and detailed star maps for everything else, so you can use this as a master atlas to run your own campaign, and drop in iconic planets and places as you see fit. The roleplaying books give you a couple planets and a starmap, but this jut goes to town, gives you maps and history, and drills down on specific events and tears them apart in detail.

You could create a campaign that parallels the movies and play in that, like a squadron of X-Wings that is running a diversionary operation for the attack on the first Death Star, or rebels protecting supply lines for the battle of Endor. If you love one-off historical roleplaying adventures, this is a great source book to base your own creations from. Those sorts of 'what if' scenarios can also be inspiring for your own adventures should you stick with the official timeline, have your own battles of Endor, or kick off the threat of a third Death Star upon the galaxy.

It is the "your universe" (YU) after all, so do what you want.

This book is useful for all three game books, no matter if you play Jedi, smugglers, or rebels (or Imperials) - you will find something to pull inspiration from and use. It is also a great player's guide, especially for smugglers plotting routes and avoiding the long arm of the Empire, rebel plotting their next move, or Jedi seeking artifacts from long-lost civilizations. Give this to players and watch them dig in and create their own adventures, it is that cool and inspirational.

So a must-buy for this today, and a highly useful and cool book to flip through when developing your own Star Wars adventures. May the force be with you, and oh yeah, remember to bring a map.