''Ready Ref Sheets'' is a supplement for

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, 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 these roles within ...

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, but became best known during the late 1970s and early 1980s as one of the leadin ...

in 1977.

''Ready Ref Sheets'' is a supplement of GM's reference tables for such things as encounters of all sorts, character social levels, movement obstacles, wilderness terrain movement rates, magical research times, and resurrection results.

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 a large envelope containing loose leaf sheets and the occasional stapled booklet, starting with their ''Initial Package'' (1976) as a plain, unmarked envelope. Since the ''Initial Package'' was labeled "I," Judges Guild continued on from there with "J," then "K," then "L," and so on, as they released new subscription packages on a bimonthly schedule. ''Installment J: Thunderhold'' (1976) and ''Installment K: City State Campaign'' (1977) were similar to the ''Initial Package'', but somewhat smaller. Judges Guild later repackaged many of the charts that had appeared in ''Installments I'', ''J'', and ''K'' as the ''Ready Ref Sheets'' (1977) — making the rest of their early subscription material available in a retail form. 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 o ...

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

Reception

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

White Dwarf A white dwarf is a stellar core remnant composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. A white dwarf is very dense: its mass is comparable to the Sun's, while its volume is comparable to the Earth's. A white dwarf's faint luminosity comes fro ...

'' #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 (pen and paper), role-playing game designer best known for his work with West End Games and on the computer game series ''The Elder Scrolls''. In February 2007, he elected to join th ...

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 Kent State University (KSU) is a public research university in Kent, Ohio. The university al ...

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

Reviews

*''

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' ...

''https://archive.org/details/playboywinnersgu00free/page/276/mode/2up

References

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