''Ready Ref Sheets'' is a supplement for

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, or abbreviated as RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out ...

s published by

Judges Guild Judges Guild is a game publisher that has been active since 1976. The company created and sold many role-playing game supplements, periodicals and related materials. During the late 1970s and early 1980s the company was one of the leading publish ...

in 1977.

''Ready Ref Sheets'' is a supplement containing reference tables for use by the

gamemaster A gamemaster (GM; also known as game master, game manager, game moderator, referee, storyteller, or master of ceremonies) is a person who acts as a facilitator, organizer, officiant regarding rules, arbitrator, and moderator for a multiplayer r ...

including items such as encounters, social levels for characters, obstacles to movement, rates for movement in wilderness terrain, times for magical research, and results of resurrection checks.

Publication history

''Ready Ref Sheets'' was published by

in 1977 as a 56-page book. Judges Guild published a second edition in 1978. In 1976,

began releasing packages to their early subscribers in the format of loose leaf sheets in a large envelope, sometimes with a stapled booklet, starting with their ''Initial Package'' (1976) that came in a plain, unmarked envelope. Since the ''Initial Package'' was labeled with an "I," Judges Guild continued releasing subsequent subscription packages with first "J," then "K," then "L," and so on, on a bimonthly schedule. ''Installment J: Thunderhold'' (1976) and ''Installment K: City State Campaign'' (1977) were smaller than the ''Initial Package'' but otherwise similar. Judges Guild later included many of the charts from installments ''I'', ''J'', and ''K'' in a package called the ''Ready Ref Sheets'' (1977) as part of making their previous subscription material available to retail customers. A listing of cumulative sales from 1981 shows that ''Ready Ref Sheets'' sold over 20,000 units.

Different Worlds Publications Different Worlds Publications is an American game company that produces role-playing games and game supplements. History Tadashi Ehara used ''Different Worlds'' as the basis of a new company, Different Worlds Publications, although he only put out ...

later acquired and distributed Judges Guild game products, including the ''Ready Ref Sheets''.

Reception

Don Turnbull reviewed ''Ready Ref Sheets'' for ''

White Dwarf A white dwarf is a Compact star, stellar core remnant composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. A white dwarf is very density, dense: in an Earth sized volume, it packs a mass that is comparable to the Sun. No nuclear fusion takes place i ...

'' #3. Turnbull commented: "Needless to say, it is very helpful to DM and players alike to have these useful data assembled in compact form and in sufficient copies to go round the same board conveniently."

Ken Rolston Ken Rolston is an American computer game and role-playing game designer best known for his work with West End Games and on the computer game series ''The Elder Scrolls''. Tabletop role-playing games Ken Rolston began working as a professional g ...

reviewed the

version of ''Ready Ref Sheets'' in '' The Dragon'' #133. Rolston commented that "Here are 56 pages of neat junk. My favorite is the Offensive Locution (verbal melee) rules, providing characters with a means for engaging in 'witticism' and 'repartee.' Another great piece is the Non-Player Character Cutups table, where you roll dice to see what horrendous social gaffe your hirelings have just committed ('This is to be used at judge's discretion, in large crowds, taverns, on the street, etc.'). This supplement contains lots of other wacky and even relatively useful stuff, like the elaborate Crime, Trial, and Punishment rules. Ready Ref Sheets deserves a six-star rating."

Lawrence Schick Lawrence Schick is a game designer and writer associated with role-playing games. Early life and education Schick attended Kent State University in Ohio. Career Schick, as the head of design and development at TSR, brought aboard Tom Moldvay ...

, in his book ''Heroic Worlds'', commented that it contains "More tables than you can shake a stick at, basically.

Reviews

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The Playboy Winner's Guide to Board Games ''The Playboy Winner's Guide to Board Games'' is a 1979 book by Jon Freeman. It is a revised edition of ''A Player's Guide to Table Games'' by the same author, but under the name John Jackson. Contents ''The Playboy Winner's Guide to Board Games' ...

References

{{reflist Judges Guild fantasy role-playing game supplements Role-playing game supplements introduced in 1977