Narrator's Toolkit

Rating:
Summary: Good Addition to A Narrator's Library
Review: I only have a few quibbles which keep me from giving this product four stars. Taken as an individual product, I'd say that the Toolkit deserves four stars. My rating of three stars comes from the way in which this product was marketed. In my opinion, the Narrator's screen should have been included with the core rulebook. The Toolkit itself should have been sold as a supplement for beginning roleplayers. The screen will make the beginning Narrator's life easier. If you you are familiar with it, the Icon rules system is simple. If you are not, it is a jumbled mess. My first session was played without benefit of the screen, the result was a session full of endless page flipping and searching for various tables. Now that I've run a few sessions, I am depending on the screen less and less. Most of the tables you'd expect to find on a GM screen are included. The only ommission I've noticed is a damage chart reference for unarmed combat, ranged and melee weapons. The artwork in the book is still shots from the series, just as the artwork was in ST: TNG core rulebook; however, Narrator's ToolKit is black and white. Overall, it is well organized and easy to read. The Toolkit itself includes advice that will help any beginning GM, regardless of what system or genre she is running. Unfortunately, Most of the "Narrator's Advice" and "Advanced Storytelling" ideas are old news for seasoned GMs, but not all. I did find an idea new to me in the ToolKit: plot-cards. Plot-cards are a simple, yet great idea which I'd never considered before. I've used plot-cards for two sessions now. The result has equaled well organized and enjoyable sessions. The included adventure "Hide & Q" is based on the episode of the same name. It is a straight forward recreation of that episode. I'm not partial to adventures that recreate a plot-line players are familiar with; thus, I didn't find the scenario to be too much of a bonus. It does serve as an example of how an episode can be structured, but such an example all ready exists in ST: TNG core rulebook. The hand outs are nice, but would be more presentable if in color.

Rating:
Summary: God for starting GM's or people new to Star Trek
Review: Ok, don't let the 3 star mark fool you. Any one who is serious about gaming in the Star Trek universe should have this book(if just only for the GM Screen). The book contents, how ever, will be most useful to people who are either new to GMing or new to Star Trek. If you are neither of these, I would suggest getting the other more important books and then this one.