In this review, I will share my thoughts on the complete Worlds at a Glance: Towns & Villages box set.
Publisher: Game Master Worlds, designer: Nathan Horn.
In my text, I explicitly use the term Game Master instead of Dungeon Master, as this tool can also be adapted for other TTRPGs.

Worlds at a Glance: Towns & Villages is a tool for Game Masters (GMs) in D&D, a supplement to help build worlds faster. It is designed to be implemented in D&D 5e campaigns, but it is also adaptable for
other tabletop roleplaying games.
The book contains all kinds of options for quickly building shops and placing characters in towns without having to adjust or interrupt the entire story. The book allows GMs to save a lot of time spent building the world in which a campaign takes place. Everything is ingeniously organised into clear tables.

Nathan Horn, the creator and author of the book, encountered the significant amount of time required to work out every detail repeatedly when starting a campaign as a GM. He also noticed that a lot of time is often spent developing certain locations that are ultimately not even visited by the players. That is why he thought: there must be a better way, and began to develop his idea for this product.
Would you like to learn more about the origins of this tool and the creator’s mission and vision? You can find the in-depth interview with Nathan Horn here.

The box includes the following components:

• Book
• Town Ledger: notebook
• 12 large posters of city maps (these can also be found in the notebook, visible to the players)
• Game Master Screen
• 80 Shop Cards (6 of which are blank for you to create yourself)
• 30 Initiative Trackers
• Box insert

Book: Worlds at a Glance: Towns & Villages

The book contains countless possibilities, presented in tables, for creating any city, shop, NPCs (non- player characters), items, etc., so that the city can be built as realistically as possible. You can build a city at a glance using the book. That’s why it’s called “at a glance”.

Worlds at a Glance: Towns & Villages provides tools to reduce this time to a minimum. The book also offers small side quests to guide players to a specific location.
The book has 230 pages with possibilities to create your world, focusing on different elements: taverns, every type of shop you can imagine (alchemist, blacksmith, baker, butcher, etc.), but also what products
they can sell, what people you can find there, how much they cost and what the products do. Almost too good to be true.

The book is divided into 30 chapters that allow you to quickly build more than 30 different locations using tables. Unique NPC characters are described with their own history, desires and secrets.
The book contains tables that you can use to describe and build your city, allowing you to distinguish between different atmospheres that you want to evoke. If you want to keep it cosy, limit yourself to the options provided in the green tables. If you prefer something very creepy, let your gaze wander over the red tables. Something in between? You’ll find it between green and red. The title says it all: everything you need to build your world can be found at a glance in the book.

There is also an extra treat. At the end of the book, you will find the short story of Grunk. Be sure not to miss it ;-).

Town Ledger: notebook with customisable cards and stickers

Here you can write down what is happening in your towns and cities. It is a display with two panels, so that one side is shown to the players and one side with information about the city and its details is shown to the GM. You can make notes here.
You get a nice overview of where you can write everything down, such as the name of the city, its history and any rumours that are circulating. There is a special place in the notebook where you can write down all the important actions caused by your players so that they can be easily retrieved.

The notebook comes with 50 different vinyl location stickers. You can use these on the map that is shown to the players.

Twelve spare posters with city maps

These are only included in the gift box. The maps are the same as in the notebook, only larger and on glossy paper. They can be a nice addition for the players, on which they can apply stickers and possibly also write notes.

Game Master Screen

We all know GM screens: usually beautifully made, but often with only basic information. Here too, Nathan wanted to incorporate broader support for the GM in order to quickly optimise the players’ experience.
The GM screen helps to improve the flow of your game. On the outside, you have tables for every situation. By having your players roll an extra d4, the outcome leads you to tables where you can let them find loot.
There are fumble and final blow tables to easily guide each fight. They provide fun extra elements for your fights.

NPCs at your fingertips: for me personally, this is my favourite part of the screen. The screen provides perfect inspiration for names, characteristics and descriptions. This way, you won’t have an Esmeralda walking around in every city.

The screen also lists the benefits players can gain when they rest, obstacles they may encounter and the consequences of those obstacles.
In any case, it’s much more than just the basic rules you see on an average screen.

Shop cards

This box contains 72 completed shop cards, describing all the types of items available in shops. Not only are the items listed, but also a description of what they do and their cost price. This saves a lot of time, because you don’t have to look up products and effects over and over again.
There are also 6 blank shop cards included, so you can develop your own shop and fill in products, properties and prices. These cards are wet erasable, so you can erase and reuse them over and over again.

From cosy bakeries full of sweet pastries to shady alleys where strange services are offered. Whether your players visit a blacksmith, a fortune teller or a bathhouse, each card contains carefully curated items, prices and services tailored to the environment. With dozens of ready-made shops, your players can discover and buy lots of new things.
A big advantage is that you can give the shop cards to your players, so you don’t have to list everything in detail and look it up again later in the book.

Initiative trackers

Initiative trackers are used as a reminder of the turn order in which adventurers and any enemies can act. These trackers are designed to stand upright, making them visible to everyone.
The name of the creature is at the top, with the identification symbol below. On the back, we find the armour class, initiative, hit points and any other comments.
There are 30 in the box, but here too, reusability has been taken into account. These are also wet erasable and can therefore be used countless times.

Box insert

This insert prepares your box for a good overview and storage space for the cards you need during play. Very handy and user-friendly.

Conclusion

This GM toolbox can make things easier for experienced GMs and help new GMs grow into their role and build confidence.

The artwork and design are beautifully crafted. The book in this box is an edition with gold embossing on the cover illustration. All materials in the box are of very high quality. The GM screen shows an illustration of a city on the players’ side, partially bathed in sunlight, with the transition to another part shrouded in night. The graphics on every product in this box are sharp and well finished.

The values that Nathan strives for in terms of reusability (see interview) are also perfectly reflected here. This toolbox takes so many variables into account that it can really provide support, giving the GM more time to spend on telling the story and monitoring the interaction between the players.

Worlds at a Glance: Towns & Villages therefore deserves a 10/10, both for the innovation of this product and for its execution.
What I like is that Nathan’s passion is fully reflected in the final product. Would you like to know more about this? Then read the interview with him on my interviews page.

News! News! News!

There’s more to come. A sequel is currently being developed that focuses on travelling between cities, an GM tool we can already look forward to. This campaign is currently still running on Kickstarter. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/worldsataglance/encounters-at-a-glance-into-the-wild

What will become reality even sooner: Nathan and his partner Laurence are opening their own shop in Antwerp in 2026, named after the character Grunk, whose story can be read at the back of the book. I am eagerly looking forward to taking a look as soon as The Grunk’s Tavern opens its doors. Who knows, maybe we’ll see each other there.

Meer info: https://shop.gm-worlds.com/products/box-set-worlds-at-a-glance-towns-villages

Text and photography: Esmeralda Wolf