original was pretty much perfect for my uses and now i can do 2nd ed dnd and 3.5. cant wait to go thru all my alqadim and faerun stuff and use it modern. theres lots of reddit and google stuff on twonking stuff from x to y but this is the most world class guide.

i loved the original and this is even better. i never used the npcs from the old one so this is easier. and having rules for all the systems is great even tho i never play dcc. awesome and unique stuff

I should preface this by saying that if you have no interest in the PF2E section of the conversion rules, this is easily a 4/5. This is a well-designed book with some symbols and formatting that make it easy to read and reference. There's plenty of good advice and information on the mindset one should have when converting content and when to perform a "sanity check" to make sure that you're making content that works well within the math of whatever system you're converting content into. There's also that Content Conversion Mapping Inventory spreadsheet, which is filled with valuable reference tools and starting points for converting Pathfinder 1E abilities into various systems. Most of the system's conversions seem pretty good, as someone with decent familiarity with the various systems presented. My problem with the book, however, is that I purchased it as someone who primarily runs Pathfinder 2E, and I feel that most of the math for the conversion is undercooked, and in some places it's outright wrong. I'm not surprised by this, the math and design philosophies of that system are drastically different from even PF1E, but I was hoping at least for a document that could provide a quick way to create a statblock to get past the first hurdle since I generally find it easier to tweak and fix than I do to create from scratch. However, from looking at the rules and running some test conversions, I would say that using the provided methods to convert into PF2E will create something so flawed that it'd be better to start from scratch using the "Building Creature" rules provided within that system itself. While those rules are flawed on their own, they are a fine starting point and method of comparison. When compared to those rules, the conversion rules used in this book will create creatures with fairly low stats, especially for a higher-level statblock. These could be tweaked if that were the only issue, but there are plenty of things that simply don't work in the PF2E system. The Mapping Inventory poisons, for instance, all do ability damage in a system where there are no ability damage rules in favor of conditions such as Enfeebled, Drained, Clumsy, or Stupefied. The "Special Defense" section implies that you can use the same method for deriving immunities/resistances as you would in d20 5E, even though PF2E has explicit resistance values, while 5E's Resistance is just halving the damage. Example creatures provided in one of the PDF, such as the Mimic conversion, refer to terminology that is used in other systems, such as "rolling with advantage". While other abilities listed in the Mapping Inventory do make use of Conditions and other rules to reflect the system (Green Hag's Weakness, Yellow Musk Creeper boring into brains, etc.), it's incredibly inconsistent and not mentioned in the slightest in the main text. There's still valuable things in this book even if you are using it for PF2E: the methods for converting action types, saving throws, and Spells (from PF1E or 5E at least) are all good. There's some helpful information to get in the right mindset when converting things, at least. I'm still going to get use out of this document, but it won't be what I wanted.

I just don't get it. The locations seem to be incredibly generic with lots of words but little of it gameable. Unless someone doesn't know what an abbey or a castle is I don't really understand what they are supposed to do with this book.

Edit, in response to publisher's reply:

With hindsight I think 1 star is a too harsh and have amended to 2 stars. This is just my personal take and others like this sandbox. I get no joy from criticising something that is clearly a work of love because I think the idea is fantastic, in principle. I'll try to give a little more clarity on why it doesn't work for me.

1. I think some art would go a long way to communicate tone and flavour. I find the format very dry. I appreciate that commisioned art is unaffordable but stock art, public domain and AI are options.

2. Maps of significant locations would really help.

3. I didn't find the mechanical detail and icons helpful. It just feels overwhelming. I would personally do away with all the system specific stat adjustment suggestions in favour of either actual stats for one system, or nothing.

4. I don't find the world has any character. A high res map and a description of each broad region at the start would help with that. I think listing the PoIs by map square/region, rather than alphabetical would help. I don't think generic, repeatable PoIs like an abbey or a keep add anything useful. For example, I have no idea why the armoury is located where it is. I can't see any reason all the nations of the world would buy from that one place or how that impacts the nearby locations.

5. Some listings need more info an some need much less. You could fit flavourful 2-3 sentence descriptions of 10 different abbeys in less space than is used for one. OTOH, there is an army of (sort of) undead wandering around in one particular square with some vague suggestions of how to use it. This should have quests linked to multiple other locations and huge potential impact on the region but it's not mentioned elsewhere and gets the same treatment as the Abbey.

6. You give multiple options for adventure hooks and scenarios for each PoI but they are generic and vague. I'd rather have specific details.

7. I just find all the descriptions quite bland. For example there is a mutations table near the back but it's got to be the least interesting mutation table I've ever seen. Instead of 5/6 generic options I'd love 20 really impactful mutations.

8. The small dense text is hard to parse.

TL;DR. I think quite a lot of the things I don't see are probably either in the text but unclear to me or in your head but not communicated in the way your think. I think that by trying to make the sandbox universal and usable in any campaign it's ended up hollowed out. I think you could give the specific information that you think you don't have room for in the same amount of space if you cut repetition and focus on unique, specific, immediately useable content.

As an example, this is the listing for the Windler House in Nightmare over Ragged Hollow:

"The mossy gray house sits alone, surrounded by overgrown gardens and untended paths. From inside you hear glass tinkling and metallic ticking. A tasselled rope hangs by the front door.

• Rope. Door bell. Rings a complex series of bells and chimes for 1 solid minute, all dented and out of tune now. Summons the ghost butler Andrew (see Enter anywhere). • Windows. Look in at dusty furniture, spiderwebs. • Exterior doors. Front (locked), back (unlocked). • Enter anywhere. The ghost butler Andrew appears, a polite floating skeleton in a tidy gray suit. Bad memory, can’t answer any questions, but follows the party around, desperate to help and please. The Windler family treated him poorly, never thanked or paid for his service.

• Freeing: Ofer him thanks, praise, or a single gold coin to let him and eternal rest.
• Danger: When criticized or insulted too much, Andrew screams (d3 damage from psychic energy) and vanishes for 1 hour."

Then there is a map of the interior, random encounters and detailed room descriptions. The entire listing is 4 pages. It's immediately gameable. I can run it with alomost no prep. The flavour and tone really come through.

Need more player oriented source books like this. PF1E and 2E, 5e and OSR in one go! Love this.

Fantastic system. I honestly was building a game setting and was doing it manually. Took me like a week to get progress. Found this book, and did the same in a few hours. It's a lifesaver. It can help with terrain, but if you already have a map, this makes it WAY easier to populate it

Outstanding product. I love the PDF. I plan on buying the hardcover version soon.

Got this in pdf and I used it enough for random locations in my solo games that I picked up the absolutely massive hardcover. This is the biggest book on my gaming shelf by far and it is simply packed locations full of plot hooks, ideas, encounters, etc.

Of all the "Oracle" or “Soloing” types of material I've experimented with, including but not limited to Mythic Emulator 2, CRGE, GM’s Apprentice, ChatGPT, and Rory's Story Cubes, this one is head and shoulders above the rest. All of the other systems are some combination of too concrete and/or too involved. Heck, Mythic Emulator 2’s rules summary is six pages long and starts on page 186 of its PDF. At that point you are playing Mythic Emulator 2, not your system of choice (not that there’s anything necessarily wrong with that).

FlexTale Solo Image Oracle is PERFECT. Fast, easy, effortless to learn, packed with usable ideas, elegant, concrete if you need and delightfully open to interpretation if you like.

best of igs so far. all the flex tale stuff is great but i really can do a whole campaign from this on its own i think. i have the flex crawl book and tiles too and im already writing my own stuff to add to the tables. super cool stuff and gotta have for every dm for sure

So, I’ve played D&D for over 44 years (as of writing – 1980 if you must know), from the Basic “Blue Box” through AD&D, 2e, 3e/3.5, as well as others like Twilight 2000, Gama World, Top Secret, Gang Busters, Dark Conspiracy, et al, and ✨ THIS IS A UNIQUE PRODUCT! ✨ As it clearly states in the introduction, there are PLENTY of random encounter tables available (are any better that the old AD&D DMG?) which just list monsters or potential fights. THIS encompasses SO much more, including when to get your players spooked for no reason! If you’re running a Hexcrawl or just moving PC’s to a dungeon, this is a priceless accessory to have on hand

The graphics and tables are GREAT! As one can imagine, my eyes aren’t what the were when I was pulling chits from a Dixie cup, so the LARGE print, and bold colors along columns or rows really make this an easy read.

OK, now, the for the ding. Some of the grammar is awkward. If this irks you, persevere – it’s not too bad, especially in relation to the value of what’s presented (it just disappoints me). Additionally, there are some clear Cut-and-Paste fails – the “Suffering Adventurer” “Follower” result is clearly copied from the “Missing Townsfolk” result and specifies that the adventurer is a “0th-level commoner” when, clearly, the class should be randomized (although Commoner is perfectly valid). Then I’ve found four items that refer the reader to nonexistent pages in the book for further detail – in the end it’s not necessary, but, you get the point. All in all – or should I go Cromwellian and say “Warts and all?” – this product is WELL worth acquiring!

I really like this product, there is a LOT of information in it for designing maps used for hex crawls. And I am starting to make use of it. Up front I want to let you know that the tile is slightly misleading. It is multisystem, period. Actually it is system neutral.

This is not a book that you will enjoy reading cover to cover, rather it is designed to be dipped into in for the information you need at a specific time. The problem is, until I had read a good chunk, I hadn't realized that. The book is in desperate need of a solid introduction with practical guidance on how to use it. Oh, it has an introduction with some useful information, but it doesn't tell you how to use the material to put together a hex or a series of hexes. Rather it spends its time describing the table of contents (repeatedly), and overviews the physical layout of each topic.

Using the author's Toolkit metaphor, it is like giving someone a fully stocked tool kit with a page of instructions that essentially say "We're glad you want to build a house, many of these tools will be useful to you. Use those that you need." Followed by a sheet of instructions for each tool in isolation, one for a hammer, one for a toe nailing jig, and one for a jackhammer. Each one includes "Don't use this if you don't want to, don't poke this in your eye, do use this if it sounds interesting, you can change your mind, ..." These repeated statements make it tedious to read, and the lack of an overarching design process makes it hard to know where to start.

I was expecting more along the lines of "These are the seven decisions you need to make up front. Then for each hex you design you need to do this, then that, and then you may want to do a couple of these other things. Repeat." For me, an explicit tree structure would have been better than a flat list of topics.

One minor quibble, what's with all the icons? Every time there is a key word in bold it is accompanied by a tiny, almost illegible, icon. Personally I find them distracting and of zero value. "Keep in Mind" in bold by itself tells me to keep something in mind. The associated tiny thought cloud adds nothing.

In all, I am satisfied with the product now that I'm understanding how it is used and how I need to navigate it. There is a lot of good, useful information in here, just be prepared to spend time understanding how to effectively read it to use it. Personally, I'm pulling out the key tables into my Obsidian Vault so that I can lay them out how they make sense to me.

thought i wouldn't like it. i ended up loving it. not too overwhelming while having so many possibilities. while it's geared towards fantasy-style games, i easily used it with Twilight 2k and Vampire: the Masquerade with a bit of modification on the wording. def gets a recommendation from me !

A unique concept by a very prolific author. A simple roll of three dice (preferably different colors) can quickly provide you information as easy as a Yes / No / Maybe all the way up to a monster's role (personality) and who that monster targets in combat to social answers like an NPC lying to you. 216 possibilities and as always with J. Evans Payne, the inspiration to form your own creative ideas and plans. Now I own 4 books by this author. I have become a fan.

I have grown to be a fan of this author and as a result, have purchased 3 books (so far) and I have a handful of PDFs. I wish I can comment that the whole book is great, but at 600+ pages, you may have to wait a year for me to say that. But I can say that what I have seen so far is very useful and I love how it delves into his other ventures, like his FlexAI book. The author is brave in that he gives you a lot of information in this book, including a comprehensive dabble into the FlexAI book, almost to the point where you don't need to buy that book. But I use the word "brave" because he provides so much information (600+ pages) and he is confident (and prolific) enough to author a 400+ page FlexAI. Not counting my PDFs and only counting the 3 books I own from J. Evans Payne, I have over 1,400+ pages of material. Thank Goodness it is reference material that I can just shoot to quickly and not read all of it, because that would take me every bit of 2 years to complete. I have a feeling that as Solo TTRPG popularity soars, we will all look back at authors like J. Evans Payne as pioneers that took us to the next level.