Filippo Franco
The prolific team of Sign of the Dragon sent us another product to evaluate: Realm Events, a PDF supplement for D&D5e that gives hooks for events in civilized areas, from villages to towns, cities and realms. They can be used to enrich the description of the world in which the characters live or as ideas to involve them in various plots.
Events for every world and every system
From the introduction:
This book was written to help DMs add depth to their campaign worlds. Specifically, this volume gives DMs the chance to quickly create events and encounters in villages, towns, and cities. This will be especially helpful when the characters go off script and end up in an area that the DM has not fleshed out at all.
Sign of the Dragon
Realm Events makes no particular geographic references so it can be used in any fantasy setting. In reality, many of the ideas in it are universal and, with the appropriate modifications, they could be suitable for any setting. Although the product was created specifically for the most famous roleplaying game in the world, there are no statistics or references to rules. Therefore it can safely be considered a universal resource for roleplaying games.
Realm Events in detalis
Realm Events is a 20-page PDF, with the classic layout of D&D5e, as usual for Sign of the Dragon. There are beautiful original images and others reused through the Dungeon Masters Guild, some more apt, others seemingly only to fill up space. Nevertheless, the visual effect is pleasant and the product is easy to peruse.
The content includes 55 events are presented, 37 of which are set in a village, town or city and 18 that can occur in a larger area, a region or a whole kingdom. For each event there is a short description and a brief paragraph entitled “what the characters can do”. The possibilities are further expanded thanks to 40 tablesfor randomly generating details.
For example, one of the regional events is the arrival of an ambassador. The motivation for the visit can be chosen according to one’s taste or by chance from among 6 possibilities and the same variety of choices is provided for character interactions with the ambassador. It is possible to generate the core of an interesting event in just a short time. Realm Events can be used simply to generate background, to bring to life the location where the characters find themselves, or it can provide milestones for the continuing plot for many subsequent game sessions.
My thoughts about Realm Events
I consider Realm Events one of the most successful products out out by Sign of the Dragons for D&D5e. Don’t expect unique ideas or ideas never heard before, but this compendium attends to the purpose for which it was written very well. The hooks are short, not very detailed and allowing different possibilities, perfect to be easily taken and inserted in any campaign quite easily. They are like a spark that can ignite the fire of fantasy in masters and players, alike. I also like that it’s so monographic. You keep the PDF ready for need and, without having to find the tables in a larger manual, you immediately have everything you need.
You can buy it for around 2.99$ at the site Dungeon Masters Guild. The format is right, the content adequate, and the price too. Although speaking of small sums, before reading I believed that the most correct cost would have been under 2$, being 20 pages. After reading it I think instead that its quality should be rewarded and the asking price makes an excellent investment. Sometimes masters (and players) don’t need amazing pre-made adventures, but only a gentle nudge in the right direction and then the freedom to pursue whatever their minds create. In this sense, Realm Events offers hundreds of small sparks lighting the way to different adventures, in a small page count, for only a few dollars.
