The Game Master's Deck of Boons and Banes: 40 game-changing, character-shifting cards and a companion book for 5th edition RPG adventures (The Game Master Series)

I was really pleasantly surprised by the quality of everything about this. The box is great. The cards have a wonderful finish. The art is fantastic. The content is fun and creative. Some of them are anything but mild, but self-aware about it: they include ways to scale them back. This is a great product from a great creator who would have earned the support even if the product were terrible. And it's anything but terrible. If I have one nit to pick, the binding of the book is a bit stiff. With its small size, reading takes a bit more effort than is ideal. And it certainly isn't something you can set down open to a certain page. I'm more than willing to overlook that because having the content separate from the arts on the cards opens up the possibility of reusing the cards for other purposes. But a digital reference to consult during play would be very handy.

Omg. These are SO FUN. I run a regular game with some friends, and I added these in early in our new campaign. Three of four people have already drawn cards, and it has been such a fun addition to the game. The little booklet gives great ways to scale up or down the cards as needed, and I've taken some creative license myself just to make them fit a little better in my homebrew world. But they add a great element of chaos to my campaign that I absolutely adore. I'll definitely look at more items from this brand/creator.

I tend to buy things related to rpg gaming without a lot of research, only to be disappointed later. This set of cards and booklet was priced at about $12 and the reviews were good, so I bought it, still expecting to be somewhat disappointed. Much to my surprise this product is a homerun. The box is very high quality with a magnetic hold to secure everything. The booklet is slightly stiff but has nice art and is full of creative content. The cards have great art and are of good quality. The cards list the name of the boon or bane, and the booklet goes into the details on a deeper level, while also offering some options on how the boon or bane can be implemented for different levels of play. I think this product is easily worth the $12.

I really like the content of these cards (Ginny Di is awesome!) but the size of the booklet's typeface is a no-go for me. I had to photograph each page so I could enlarge it to reading size. For content I would rate these cards at 5 stars; the product's physical design would be 2 stars (putting artwork in the 5-star Content category). I understand that cards are the new cool thing right now, but this product would be much more usable if it were a PDF, or a real book, with numbers next to each entry facilitating use as a random table (players could still "choose" by rolling the dice themselves -- 5e and similar RPGs ARE dice-rolling games after all). Yes, right now players get to choose their own card, but if used often enough, eventually the cards will get beat up or lost (you know that one guy who never returns anything they borrow (or if they do return it, it looks like it's been left out on the bathroom floor for a month)... and that other guy who always has greasy orange cheese dust on their fingers...), making the cards not so cool or functional. In the short run, the format of the product is a profiitable sales gimmick; in the long run, it's a liability. (Plus, a digital format makes showing things over VTTs so much easier.) I think most of us reviewers here purchased this product to support Ginny, and I, for one, am happy to do so (it IS fresh, usable, and flexible content, and the artwork (by Tim Foley) is gritty and full of texture!). I'm just sorry her publisher didn't have the foresight to design a more usable product (even an extra one-sided page per card to allow for larger font would have been an improvement). Hopefully they will take pity on us "mature" DMs and release a PDF later (or sooner).

Firstly, this product is an amazing source of ideas for a campaign. Whether it’s a bane or boon, it gives the players one or more paths to acquire or get rid of it. I will definitely be using this in my next campaign. Secondly, I love the form factor. The cards are a fantastic way to allow my players to choose their own fate. I’ll likely have them each draw one (or more…maybe a bane and a boon each) face down. From there I can use them to add side quests and flavor to the story. Having the booklet in the same package is a great idea. And I’m delighted it’s not a simple tuck box. The product feels to be of very good quality materials and I hope to use it for a good long time. I’d love for this to become a series of products.

I really liked the quality of Ginny Di's deck. It's gorgeous illustrations, good materials, and well written. I haven't seen anything else like it, and especially not for the price.

I have purchased others in the "Game Master's" series so I figured I would be getting good quality. I was worried about the cards as they would be handled a bit. The cards are a nice mix of thickness and weight, making me feel safe about handing them to a player without damage. The book is a bit on the small side, though my vision is not the best so I acknowledge a larger print would be a preference. I am very happy with the story/flavor section for each card. The potential scaling of the cards is also helpful to lessen the burden of a particular card draw if needed.

This is a great resource for Table Top games. Most of the effects are interesting but there's a few stinkers, or at least some I can't see really using at my table. All in all, definitely worth the money.

This deck of beautiful cards will give you as a DM, inspiration to side-quests and a way to reward/challange your players. As a player a way to deepen your player characters story.

Edit: Concerning the reviewers complaining that card info is not printed on the back of the card, this is absolutely the same as, and in theme with, the official DnD cards developed and sold by Wizards of the Coast… Go look at them… Comments on the book size, are kind of fair though… Neat little set with a tarot card feel, that could be used for many things. Nice solid box to keep everything together, with a magnetic closure. The book could have MAYBE been, like 1 cm wider, to match (see side on picture) but it’s not too small, still manageable despite the large amount of content. Only noticed this set is by Ginny Di (once I had received and handled the product) a very engaged D&D content creator, (amongst other things) that I only recently came across. An amazing opening product to have put on Amazon!

Another inspiring product from the Game Master's series, this time a small book and a series of cards presented in a high quality magnetically sealed box. These cards and the book provide a series of conditions that might help or hinder your players, for each one you get a page of text describing the condition with ideas as to how you might work them into your story and how each could be gained or removed. These were created by Ginny Di and they provide excellent inspiration. The artwork is first class and atmospheric. Love them.

Ginny Di não decepciona! Arte linda, efeitos incríveis, sidquests ótimas para trabalhar em cima!

My favorite dm series has been the Gms book of blank___ I really appreciated this creators written adventures and have used 2 of then in my campaigns. They inspired some really good staples in my current campaign. In gratitude for her free content and with it being my favorite ttrpg resource i just picked up her boons and banes. I didn't know exactly what to expect. I was expecting cards and some positives and negatives. The quality was much higher then I had expectations for. The small book inside fits nicely in the box. It's a touch tough to keep open but that's OK it's a new book it will with time. The art is beautiful and the cards inspire. The book is concise and makes sense.