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Review: The Dungeon Dozen, by Jason Sholtis

Holy shit, this book!

If you like random fantasy tables, fantastic old-school fantasy artwork, or Jason Sholtis, that may be all the review you need. I’ll add a sentence for good measure: The Dungeon Dozen is one of the best gaming books I’ve bought in recent memory, and a fantastic value. Need a sample? Here’s the blog it’s based on, which is chock full of goodness: The Dungeon Dozen [1].

It’s available on Lulu in softcover [2] and hardcover [3], and you should absolutely buy a copy. (I recommend the hardcover, which is what I bought.)

If you’re currently kicking a can and grumbling, “This crummy review is only 94 words long. What a rip!” then read on! Better yet, look on, because this book is fucking gorgeous.

Every chart in the book (of which there are oodles — the book’s around 200 pages), barring a few with sub-tables, is 12 entries long, hence the title and the dodecahedron-headed monster.

The cover’s also a pretty good indication of the tone, which is generally gonzo, over-the-top, funny without being so ridiculous as to be unusable in the average fantasy game, and — above all else — of the quality of the book’s contents, which is uniformly very high.

It’s jam-packed with art. Seriously, as packed as you think and then some. A piece of art per four pages is a pretty good average in the RPG industry; The Dungeon Dozen packs in a piece per two pages, plus many instances of a piece per page. And every illustration is great.

The one on the right is among my favorite pieces in the book, and a good example of the clean, sharp, evocative layout used throughout the book.

This is my favorite table in the book. If you can’t peel 12 or more adventures out of those succinct and succulent fruit-gems, I don’t know what to tell you.

In closing, holy shit, this book! It’s awesome.

3 Comments (Open | Close)

3 Comments To "Review: The Dungeon Dozen, by Jason Sholtis"

#1 Comment By Sabrina On April 8, 2014 @ 5:39 pm

That page all by itself gives me ideas. I’ll have to check this out.

#2 Comment By David Friant On April 9, 2014 @ 4:52 pm

To be honest I didn’t think I’d be interested in this book, but then you had go and drop all those pics in your review. Curse you Mister Ralya, curse you.

All kidding a side I found your review very helpful, because of the pictures you included. I do believe you have just made someone a sale. To bad I didn’t know about this product in time for [4]. Oh well there is next year. Thanks for the review.

#3 Comment By Trace On May 2, 2014 @ 7:58 am

Worth. Every. Dime.