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Science Fiction Codex of Lists (2nd Edition) $0.99
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Science Fiction Codex of Lists (2nd Edition)
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Science Fiction Codex of Lists (2nd Edition)
Publisher: JEN Games
by Marc [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/04/2024 23:50:43

Amazing amount of useful material provided at a steal of a price. This is minimalist tablecraft, perfect for getting the noggin joggin' so you can come up with your best material. Priced to move by the dozens, this publisher blows away the competition in terms of value for dollar.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Science Fiction Codex of Lists (2nd Edition)
Publisher: JEN Games
by Brian B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/15/2023 14:21:35

The titles of the books is "Science Fiction ...", which should be taken in a broad sense. The breadth of these books covers multiple sci fi genres, including generic sci fi, post apocalypse, cyberpunk, space, steampunk, etc. They might not be the end-all of sci fi table books, but they seem to be a nice rounded out set, and I think they'll take me a long way.

These aren't just lookup tables. They are a factory of ideas. Roll on a table, and you are treated not only to the name of the rolled element, but also an example or description of the element. These make good idea seeds, and perhaps enable even faster DMing.

While I'd also bought the PDFs of this and the second book, and was aware of the number of pages, I was really unprepared by the sheer physical size of both of books!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Science Fiction Codex of Lists (2nd Edition)
Publisher: JEN Games
by Gabriel L. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/10/2022 06:51:01

Tons of interesting prompts and idea, garbage ideology - unless you support the far right. Welfare state as a nefarious plot against humanity? Since when do megacorporations support a system that undercuts their ability to hold workers by the balls with wages?? Atheism as a dark ploy to destroy society? Yeah, because the Church never commited genocide in North America, South America, Central America, South Africa, West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, Eastern Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific. Atheism is responsible for Salem, the inquisition, the crusades, and 9/11... You forgot: "a movie megacorporation is scheming to overtake basic white brithrights and turn real men into homosexuals slaves." Fascist prick.



Rating:
[1 of 5 Stars!]
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Science Fiction Codex of Lists (2nd Edition)
Publisher: JEN Games
by Jim B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/06/2020 04:03:18

This is a solid collection of tables.

The 2nd edition has more than twice as many pages as the 1st edition. That's mostly by expanding the existing tables. Many tables have more entries in the 2nd edition, such as Alien Races going from 36 entries to 200. Some tables expand brief entries into a few sentences, such as Alien World Encounters, which goes from brief phrases in the 1st edition to the phrase plus a few lines of explanation in the 2nd edition.

As you can see from the product description and the preview, the tables cover a variety of science fiction flavors. You probably won't use every table in any given setting, but you'll probably find some relevant tables for most settings.

The tables cover a variety of needs: planets, species, encounters, equipment, technology, social structures, and so on. You could use these tables to flesh out your prepared adventures or to throw in some random elements on the fly. You could use them to aid character generation (PCs or NPCs).

The tables are system-neutral. It's up to you to figure out how to represent the results in your game system. For example, you could generate a world with low gravity or an NPC who's an explorer, and then you decide how to stat them up.

Overall, there's little risk of rolling up nonsensical combinations. Many of the tables are stand-alone. When you combine tables, such as rolling up a planet and an alien species to go with it, you could wind up rerolling. For example, your planet might have low gravity, and then you could roll up a species that calls for a high-gravity world. This can happen, but most combinations work out reasonably well.

One thing that's missing, and I'm glad it's missing, are entries like "GM's choice" or "Reroll." I don't need a table's permission to do what I want. These tables give you a result, every time.

My frequent complaints about other random table collections include "That's not what that word means; look it up" and "Sheesh, run a spelling checker." Those complaints do not apply to these tables (yay). So maybe there's a missing hyphen here and there, but for the most part, the entries are written clearly instead of making you figure out or tolerate poorly written descriptions.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Science Fiction Codex of Lists (2nd Edition)
Publisher: JEN Games
by Chris J. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/14/2017 16:03:51

If you're the sort of GM who likes and uses random lists and tables in your games, and if you're running SciFi, then this product is a treasure trove. Holy crap, you get a ton of stuff for your money! Nearly 90 different list/tables of various sizes covering a wide array of subjects. When you consider that your typical random table PDF product sells for between 50c and $1 for a typical d66 table, that represents tremendous value. Some are going to be more useful than others depending on the specifics of the game you're running, but I think there's enough in here for most GM's to get their money's worth. Personally I would have liked to see the lists laid out more like traditional tables, with the dice roll numbers first. but since I'm likely to be importing these and using them in Inspiration Pad Pro, it's not a dealbreaker for me. Of particular note are the planetary generation tables, which cover all the usual details, including a D100 list of Planetary Options that looks like an excellent supplement to the World Tags in Stars Without Number. If you're the sort of GM who prefers to carefully plan out every detail of the worlds your PCs visit, you might still find looking over these lists useful as inspiration, but if you're a seat-of-the-pants improvising GM running a sandbox like SWN or running a solo game, then adding this to your toolbox is a no-brainer.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Science Fiction Codex of Lists (2nd Edition)
Publisher: JEN Games
by Michael R. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 06/08/2016 22:31:34

Incredibly useful compilation of system neutral lists. Regardless of the genre, any one running a sci-fi campaign will find this pdf a very fertile idea generating tool. This PDF has been by my side the entire time I’ve been running my year-long bizarro star wars campaign and has proven to be invaluable!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Science Fiction Codex of Lists (2nd Edition)
Publisher: JEN Games
by timitjy f. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/20/2015 12:19:47

It was useful at helping getting the juices flowing with ideas



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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