Hey! I claimed one of the community copies to run a campaign with kids at the summer camp I work at - I tried to pay 5$ for it, but it wouldn't let me. Do you have any sort of donation info? I want to pay you at least that, even if I can't justify paying that much for a game I'm going to use at work.
Hey Ginger, Sam here! Honestly, please don't feel obligated. Community copies are there for a reason, and the idea of you using Escape from Dino Island at camp with kids makes us smile. (We'd also love to hear how it went with younger players — one of our goals was making the game something we would've loved when we were Jurassic Park-obsessed 12-year-olds.)
If you truly insist, though, shoot us an email at our gmail (EscapeFromDinoIsland) and we can sort it out.
But mostly, thanks for playing and sharing our game!
I ran EFDI for four players in my group last month and had a great time!
We ended up splitting the game into 3 sessions of around 2-3 hours and even then we rushed the ending a bit to finish it up. There really is a lot of potential for storytelling with all the content provided for the GM.
Our story was a classic 'experiments gone wrong' cover up where the dinos were being bred as weapons under the cover of a theme park - and the company was trying to wipe out the evidence. Even using the tropes we had a unique and memorable adventure.
I used a free Miro board to run the game - the map in the middle, player sheets on the right and resources such as the list of dinos on the left. Then all the GM stuff far below.
Ran this in July for the podcast (so be on the lookout coming out in October!). This game is gonzo and really allows to tons of creative freedom. The map is a fantastic feature to use and I enjoyed doodling all over with my friends (we used a Google Draw) as we created our story.
Just ran this game and we all had a blast :). It was my first time running a prep-less improv heavy game, the locations and dinosaurs in the rulebook made it really easy! I wish more games would provide a such a good framework for creating adventures.
And also: Wow! I haven't had a chance to read the whole recap yet, but I'm 20 pages in and it is great so far. Highly recommend it to others, both from a "This is how Escape from Dino Island can play" POV and from a more general "This is what good play looks like" POV.
Love the way you used the prompts as inspirations rather than IRONCLAD REQUIREMENTS — it always makes us happy to see players making the game their own.
Selfishly, I'd be curious to know what ideas you're pinching for other games and how they work out!
I'm busily setting up a Roll20 game to play Escape from Dinosaur Island and I've run into a few questions. I thought that I'd throw it out to everyone here as before long I'll want to have players to test out the game play. :-)
So far I've got the character sheets, map, doomsday clock and rumors implemented. I'm planning on a mix of pop up handouts and 'cards' for the remaining things.
1) is it intended that the players always travel as a group, or should tokens be ready for the players to split off on their own?
2) Should the doomsday clock be hidden until it is running, or is it okay to show it off before hand?
3) should I have a set of tokens ready to be brought in so that the players can make up new places on the map?
Thanks for for your input! Feel free to message me at senjak <a> comcast dot net if you want to look at my current progress.
This looks very cool. I was introduced to the game by a friend who wanted to play it on Roll20 and was showing off the game to me. So I purchased a copy and dived into HTML and CSS.
8 hours later I have a Roll20 compatible character sheet based upon the Powered by the Apocalypse character sheet. All the bits (other than equipment) get swapped in and out depending upon which character you choose.
Please let me know if you want to add a community sheet for Escape from Dino Island to the Roll20 collection. You are welcome to the changes I made. Let me know.
Hey dude! I like the whole idea of a HTML/CSS made sheet. Is it open to public? I am probably making some sessions soon, so it would be great to have it.
Here you are! These were the most up to date version I came up with. It is aimed at Roll20, so there is likely to be some weirdness from their stuff. Please note that I don't really know HTML and CSS, but I can fake it with Google! Also, I didn't drop all of the translations from the HTML, so you'll likely need to either incorporate the translations or edit them out.
Neither Sam nor I really use Roll20, so we don't know much about what it means to add a community sheet to the Roll20 collection, but if it helps people play online, then we are absolutely in favor of it.
If you wanna chat more about it, also feel free to email us at escapefromdinoisland [a] gmail.com.
I was just looking to set up a game on roll20 and was disappointed not to find a sheet for this. If you could add yours/have it added (no idea how that works), that'd be sweet!
Excellently written, wonderfully illustrated and very replayable. Forgive me for indulging in crass commercialism, but this game is well worth the $1o price tag.
I only downloaded the free playsheets and I'm looking through them, but I must say I'm impressed with the move The Best-Laid Plans. It's an ancient roleplaying tradition and it makes me happy to see it officialized and put so succintly.
Just had to say I'm incredibly impressed with this game. Dino Island is now in my PbtA, one-shot quiver alongside Zombie World & Bluebeard's Bride. The structures and tools you provide to tell a satisfying story are top notch. Looking forward to running this a couple times over the holiday season.
I particularly love the "tell a story" mechanic. Such a brilliant way to introduce backstory / character development into the natural flow of the game. Already thinking about how I can hack this into other games.
Also, I'm recommending this game to players in my group who want to try out GM/MCing (Dino Mastering) for the first time. I think the game does such a good job setting the MC up for success.
I just purchased the pdf yesterday and realized that Escape from Dino Island was not yet listed on RPGGeek.com. I submitted the entries to the database, maybe you would like to add some images over there :)
Really looking forward to trying your game soon. I was searching for a dino themed game forever, and I already like PbtA games like Dungeon World. Your game seems like a match made in heaven ;)
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So excited to play this! Just have to wrangle some friends into it.
Really great game! It was the perfect oneshot and we had a blast.
I've submitted a character sheet to the roll20 github for it. Should be available for use sometime next week.
Also - I just saw the expansion with 3 more playsheets. I do plan on adding them to the roll20 sheet, but probably in a few weeks.
Hey! I claimed one of the community copies to run a campaign with kids at the summer camp I work at - I tried to pay 5$ for it, but it wouldn't let me. Do you have any sort of donation info? I want to pay you at least that, even if I can't justify paying that much for a game I'm going to use at work.
Hey Ginger, Sam here! Honestly, please don't feel obligated. Community copies are there for a reason, and the idea of you using Escape from Dino Island at camp with kids makes us smile. (We'd also love to hear how it went with younger players — one of our goals was making the game something we would've loved when we were Jurassic Park-obsessed 12-year-olds.)
If you truly insist, though, shoot us an email at our gmail (EscapeFromDinoIsland) and we can sort it out.
But mostly, thanks for playing and sharing our game!
I ran EFDI for four players in my group last month and had a great time!
We ended up splitting the game into 3 sessions of around 2-3 hours and even then we rushed the ending a bit to finish it up. There really is a lot of potential for storytelling with all the content provided for the GM.
Our story was a classic 'experiments gone wrong' cover up where the dinos were being bred as weapons under the cover of a theme park - and the company was trying to wipe out the evidence. Even using the tropes we had a unique and memorable adventure.
I used a free Miro board to run the game - the map in the middle, player sheets on the right and resources such as the list of dinos on the left. Then all the GM stuff far below.
I did a video review of this awesome game on YouTube. Check it out:
I hadn't yet uploaded the sheet to Roll20; however, if you are a a PRO member I can give you the html and css files so that you can play.
Hi there, are these files available to the public? I'd really like to have the playbooks available in Roll20.
I've never heard of roll20, if this could be added, it'd be sweet @senjak.
Our first game using the PBTA (Apocalypse World) system. It was an awesome adventure, full of fun and improvisation!
Pros:
Cons:
Ran this in July for the podcast (so be on the lookout coming out in October!). This game is gonzo and really allows to tons of creative freedom. The map is a fantastic feature to use and I enjoyed doodling all over with my friends (we used a Google Draw) as we created our story.
Would love to run this again!
Just ran this game and we all had a blast :). It was my first time running a prep-less improv heavy game, the locations and dinosaurs in the rulebook made it really easy! I wish more games would provide a such a good framework for creating adventures.
Definitely going to be running it again soon :).
Thanks for the kind words!
And also: Wow! I haven't had a chance to read the whole recap yet, but I'm 20 pages in and it is great so far. Highly recommend it to others, both from a "This is how Escape from Dino Island can play" POV and from a more general "This is what good play looks like" POV.
Love the way you used the prompts as inspirations rather than IRONCLAD REQUIREMENTS — it always makes us happy to see players making the game their own.
Selfishly, I'd be curious to know what ideas you're pinching for other games and how they work out!
I'm busily setting up a Roll20 game to play Escape from Dinosaur Island and I've run into a few questions. I thought that I'd throw it out to everyone here as before long I'll want to have players to test out the game play. :-)
So far I've got the character sheets, map, doomsday clock and rumors implemented. I'm planning on a mix of pop up handouts and 'cards' for the remaining things.
1) is it intended that the players always travel as a group, or should tokens be ready for the players to split off on their own?
2) Should the doomsday clock be hidden until it is running, or is it okay to show it off before hand?
3) should I have a set of tokens ready to be brought in so that the players can make up new places on the map?
Thanks for for your input! Feel free to message me at senjak <a> comcast dot net if you want to look at my current progress.
Assuming there aren't any physical copies still available?
Actually, there are! If you're interested, email us at escapefromdinoisland [a] gmail dot com!
This looks very cool. I was introduced to the game by a friend who wanted to play it on Roll20 and was showing off the game to me. So I purchased a copy and dived into HTML and CSS.
8 hours later I have a Roll20 compatible character sheet based upon the Powered by the Apocalypse character sheet. All the bits (other than equipment) get swapped in and out depending upon which character you choose.
Please let me know if you want to add a community sheet for Escape from Dino Island to the Roll20 collection. You are welcome to the changes I made. Let me know.
Hey dude! I like the whole idea of a HTML/CSS made sheet. Is it open to public? I am probably making some sessions soon, so it would be great to have it.
Here you are! These were the most up to date version I came up with. It is aimed at Roll20, so there is likely to be some weirdness from their stuff. Please note that I don't really know HTML and CSS, but I can fake it with Google! Also, I didn't drop all of the translations from the HTML, so you'll likely need to either incorporate the translations or edit them out.
Senjak
Dropbox link to files
Thank you! These are great enough as it is. Cheers!
Hey there! Sorry I missed this.
Neither Sam nor I really use Roll20, so we don't know much about what it means to add a community sheet to the Roll20 collection, but if it helps people play online, then we are absolutely in favor of it.
If you wanna chat more about it, also feel free to email us at escapefromdinoisland [a] gmail.com.
I was just looking to set up a game on roll20 and was disappointed not to find a sheet for this. If you could add yours/have it added (no idea how that works), that'd be sweet!
Had two wonderful sessions playing The Docto. Great fun, no GREAT FUN!!! Planning to play this again and again and more than worth the price tag.
A very well made game. I am amazed by it.
Excellently written, wonderfully illustrated and very replayable. Forgive me for indulging in crass commercialism, but this game is well worth the $1o price tag.
I only downloaded the free playsheets and I'm looking through them, but I must say I'm impressed with the move The Best-Laid Plans. It's an ancient roleplaying tradition and it makes me happy to see it officialized and put so succintly.
Just had to say I'm incredibly impressed with this game. Dino Island is now in my PbtA, one-shot quiver alongside Zombie World & Bluebeard's Bride. The structures and tools you provide to tell a satisfying story are top notch. Looking forward to running this a couple times over the holiday season.
I particularly love the "tell a story" mechanic. Such a brilliant way to introduce backstory / character development into the natural flow of the game. Already thinking about how I can hack this into other games.
Also, I'm recommending this game to players in my group who want to try out GM/MCing (Dino Mastering) for the first time. I think the game does such a good job setting the MC up for success.
Thanks for the kind words! Definitely let us know how your holiday games go, and if you end up hacking the story mechanics.
I just purchased the pdf yesterday and realized that Escape from Dino Island was not yet listed on RPGGeek.com. I submitted the entries to the database, maybe you would like to add some images over there :)
Entries can be found at https://rpggeek.com/rpgitem/284647/escape-dino-island (item entry for the pdf, could use a cover image) and https://rpggeek.com/rpg/56910/escape-dino-island (RPGGeek usually uses Logos as representative images, so maybe the "Escape from Dino Island" lettering could be added there?).
Really looking forward to trying your game soon. I was searching for a dino themed game forever, and I already like PbtA games like Dungeon World. Your game seems like a match made in heaven ;)
Cool — thanks for submitting them! We'll definitely give 'em a nice polish with some art.
Hope you enjoy the game when you give it a shot. Thanks for purchasing!
This is possibly the best example of short form theme first pbta I've ever seen. Love it. Will be playing at the nearest opportunity!
Wow, thanks! Let us know how your game goes!
I'm heavily leaning toward a time-travelling dinosaur cult. Because they'll never see it coming!