Brick-by-Brick: Doors (System-neutral)
This installment of Moebius Adventures’ Brick-by-Brick-series is 14 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page advertisement, 1 page editorial/ToC, leaving us with 11 pages of content, so let’s take a look!
The introduction makes pretty much clear from the get-go what this pdf provides – a detailed door-generator – or rather a door-related storytelling tool! The first d10-table provides 10 entries for the purpose of a door, with sample examples being provided – and yes, the keep in/out-dichotomy is covered. The placement of a door can be determined via a d4, while a d8 determines the shape of a door, the presence of a keyhole, etc.
Two tables, each covering d8, cover the profession of the maker and the reason that led to the door’s creation. The construction type (e.g. single pane/bricked up) can be determined via a d6, whereas a total of 20 entries covers materials – including exotic ones like diamond or basalt.
Opening doors, from sliding to screwing them open (!!!), automation styles and 4 states of lock-down can also be quickly determined. 8 conditions, 6 states and 6 ages for the respective door allow for more details and yes, for more modifications.
There also are 3 pages of sample doors, again, much like each page, with inspiring suggestions, to be found here. Now for all people not that versed with the English tongue (or the peculiarities of door), the final page sports a great b/w-artwork, with arrows pointing towards e.g. lintel, lock rails etc. – teachers of English could conceivably scavenge the basic layout here for vocabulary classes, so this appendix itself may be worth the file for you – this is one handout that just asks to be adapted. (Note: I’d suggest getting your own picture of a door etc. to avoid legal issues, but still – love this inclusion!)
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are top-notch, I noticed no glitches. Layout adheres to an easy-to-read, printer-friendly two-column b/w-standard. The pdf’s artwork of a door is superb. The pdf comes fully bookmarked for your convenience.
Brain Fitzpatrick delivers an inexpensive DM-brainstorm-enhancer here – while the level of detail potentially provided by this supplement is by no means required in most settings, the sheer fact of the matter is that this generator works well at getting the creative juices flowing. This is NOT a dressing-generator, it is a pdf designed to get the creative juices flowing. Indeed, one use of this pdf made me come up with an interesting adventure idea/expansion to a concept I’ve been working on, all via the generation of a door. Add to that the crisp and concise presentation and I am left with no valid complaints – well worth the low asking price! Have I mentioned that this comes with a very handy 1-page extra-pdf, a step-by-step cheat-sheet? Yeah! Final verdict? A well-deserved 5 stars.
You can get this interesting brainstorm-enhancer here on OBS and here on d20pfsrd.com’s shop!
Endzeitgeist out.
Thank you for the great review and the kind words! This was a fun product to work on and I have ideas for a few more in the series eventually. 🙂 I’d love to hear how what you ended up with for adventure idea/expansion!
Please keep up the great work with your reviews!
I actually got a closed door in one instance where the door was supposed to be opened – it was ancient, but still in relatively good condition and so, the end result made it part of a magical containment implemented to keep a particularly nasty creature contained. So yeah, I think supplements like this make sense, though as one piece of advice – I’d make sure that the line is not intended to provide a detailed dressing-generator à la Raging Swan Press, if only to make sure that people know exactly what they get. I think the one less kind rating on OBS may have come from such a misunderstanding. Cheers!