RPG Tool Review: The Gamemaster’s Apprentice Deck
I thought I’d quickly review the Gamemaster’s Apprentice Deck (GMA) by Nathan Lockwood of Larcenous Designs, plus touch on its myriad alternate versions. These 120-card decks (60 cards double-sided in their print version) aren’t a game so much as a tool to help GMs create and run anything from one-shot adventures to entire campaigns. GMA is also a GM-in-a-box for anyone who wants to run solo with pretty much any system they own.
The first GMA deck came out in 2015. Since then, the publisher has provided a number of themed decks, designed to focus on specific game genres: fantasy, science fiction, horror, cyberpunk, steampunk, etc. The base GMA deck recently got a second edition in 2025, with some streamlining, altered prompts, and less esoteric symbology.
Be aware that most of these GMA decks haven’t been updated to 2e yet. In fact, at this writing, there’s only one actual 2e deck available, the “generic” version. All themed decks are some variant of the original 1e variety.
Here’s a random card from the GMA 2e deck (on the left), next to one from the original deck.
That’s a lot to process, I know. But that seemingly random jumble of information can fit together in all sorts of interesting ways.
- Difficulty Generator – A number from 1 to 10, statistically weighted toward 5.5 in a bell curve. There’s only one 1 and one 10 in the whole 120-card deck. This number is useful to gauge the relative intensity of an obstacle or action, from barely impactful to death on a stick.
- Likely Odds – Use this as an oracle to figure out whether something happens based on rough probability. Bad odds show 25% Yes and 75% No across all the cards, Even odds are 50/50, and Good odds are 75/25. Sometimes you’ll run across a YES! or NO! result, which you can guess adds emphasis (“yes and,” for improvisational types). GMA 2e adds Yes? and No? for more wishy-washy answers.
- Dice Wheel – Read around the edge for random die roll results (clockwise from 12 o’clock): d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20, and two d10s for percentile dice. Handy if your dice are elsewhere. Since you still have to draw two cards to read the percentile dice, they feel kinda superfluous when you already have a d10 slot.
- Scatter Die – Either shows an arrow pointing in one of eight directions, a bullseye, or a complete miss. Besides the traditional “Where did that pesky grenade bounce off to,” this can be useful for things like answering where that weird sound is coming from, which way the bad guy ran, the prevailing wind, or anything else directional.
- Norse Rune – The red-headed stepchild of the 1e card design. In most GMA 1e decks, this area of the card contains one of the 24 futhark runes. The provided instructional PDF has a large and elaborate chart on how to interpret these symbols.
Algiz ya deez nuts
Honestly it feels a bit flaky to me. Unless you’re fascinated with the concept, use the runes constantly, and keep the chart handy until you memorize everything, this is skippable. There are easier things on these cards to loosely interpret. - Elemental Symbol – A little pictograph indicating air, earth, fire, or water. Can be interpreted as needed, either literally (“We’re on fire! Now there’s a tornado!” etc.) or metaphorically (movement for air, defense for earth, etc.).
- Prompt Icons – GMA 2e replaces the Norse rune and elemental symbol with two random pictographs which you can interpret however you please. The instructions say you can interpret the upper symbol as “positive” and the lower one as “negative,” but it’s really up to you. You paid for the deck. What perverted things you see in it are your own business.
- Random Event Generator – 120 random verbs, adjectives, and nouns. Draw three cards and use those words as the catalyst for your next epic adventure!
… well, at least the pay’s good - Sensory Snippets – Random sounds, sights, sensations, and smells for when you need some detail to spice up your descriptions. These can also be used to help determine what’s going on in a room, so the sound of “glass clinking” could indicate you’ve stumbled into a fancy dinner party, while the smell of “rotting meat” could indicate you’ve stumbled into a fancy dinner party at Mar-A-Lago. Ha ha. Zing!
- Tag Symbols – Exclusive to 1e decks, these 3 out of 10 icons exist as another interpretive tool. The instructions suggest you make up your own meaning for each symbol depending on the type of game you’re playing. For instance, the castle icon might mean “difficult obstacle” in a dungeon crawl, “stonewalling” in a crime procedural, “heavy shielding” in a space opera, etc. This supposes the person using the deck has enough foresight to plot all that out ahead of time, of course. The Adventure Guides (see below) have some suggestions on how to use these.
- Scene Types – 2e decks replace the tag icons with a brief line of text which pretty much lays the concept of a new scene right at your feet. It’s almost too straightforward after spending our days vibing plots out of two vertical lines and a picture of a penguin. Use this sparingly or else your plotline will look like Lombard Street.
I mean we all knew what I was referencing, but here’s a picture anyway - Map Icon – New to GMA 2e, this teeny-tiny little compass rose shows a cube and/or hex with its vertices pointing in the six cardinal directions: North, South, East, West, Feather (Up), and Weight (Down). Lines connect the icons on the compass to the cube, with different ways to read them: solid lines means easy access, dotted lines are hidden passages, barred lines are an obstacle, and partial lines are dead ends. No line means no way that way.
Besides the obvious roguelike dungeon generation, the documentation also suggests using the Map Icon for less concrete things, like interpersonal plots or concept maps. If you’re the sort of person who likes to map out your relationships on a flowchart, this can help. - Belongings – Your players just whacked someone and are rifling through their pockets; what do they find? While this field doesn’t give specifics, it can help you decide what kind of stuff a character may have, and from that infer what kind of person they are and what role they play in society.
- Names – Three semi-generic multi-cultural names for NPCs. One name is vaguely masculine, one vaguely feminine, and one vaguely neutral. Very helpful for the GM making up random passers-by off the top of their head. These names pick up the flavor of a deck’s theme, so you won’t come across a lot of Steves in the Fantasy deck.
- Catalyst/Location – Like the Sensory Snippets above, these are little phrases designed to get your creativity moving again when you’re blocked. Narrative Ex-Lax, if you will. Combine with an adjective from the Random Event Generator to turn that Orphanage location into a Profitable Orphanage and … wow, suddenly the story took a dark turn, didn’t it.
- Situation – The 2e version of Catalyst/Location, adding a third line for stakes, like “Tame a Beast” or “Escape Their Past.” Instant motivation for an NPC or a story beat for the PCs.
- Virtue/Vice – A quick way to figure out why this guy is worth anything and also why he sucks. All the greatest hits are here: Lust, Greed, Sloth, Gluttony, Temperance, Diligence, Compassion, Chastity, etc. The designer added a few more, like Fear and Mercy, because I guess we were getting a little too Catholic up in here.
- Traits – This is the 2e version of Virtue/Vice above, adding a third line for a physical trait like “Cold eyes” or “Mumbles.” Very helpful for off-the-cuff roleplaying that random blacksmith or storekeeper.
- Flavor Text – Also new to 2e, this contains a silly line of dialogue which may or may not spur your imagination in some way. This is probably the least important area of the cards. It’s really just there for fun. In the Cyberpunk GMA Deck, this area is used for a random megacorporation name instead.
Adventure Guides
Come on, grab your friends
If you get any of the GMA versions that come as or with PDFs, most of them add in an Adventure Guide to help you plot out a strategic-level campaign framework. Although these guides all use the same structure, there’s no generic version; each one assumes (properly) you’re sticking with a broad genre of some sort.
The Adventure Guide prompts the GM to choose a Core concept for the overarching game, like exploring the galaxy for Sci-Fi or overthrowing The Man for Cyberpunk. Optionally you should then choose a Big Question to explore, like “What makes a person moral?” or “What is true love?” or “How many roads must a man walk down?” This isn’t a question that you should automatically know the answer to. It exists as a sub-concept which colors the whole campaign.
Next you choose a Doom, the singular lurking threat that will change the world and which the players are fated to deal with one way or another. It is the storm that is approaching, provoking black clouds in isolation. The characters don’t necessarily know what it is, but the GM definitely should.
The GM then either chooses or generates three other problems. Each problem should have a plan, a cast of characters (broadly speaking, at least) and a goal. Throw these at the players to give them something to do while the big plot percolates in the background. Making connections from one to the next can really get the imagination working.
If that’s not enough, you can also ask three more questions which are relatively minor, plot-wise: Will the townsfolk rally in the face of a threat, or flee? Will a brainwashed villain be allowed to repent? These are interesting ideas that may create storytelling opportunities. Or, depending on the direction of play, the players may never really interact with any of them. Doom still comes for us all.
The Adventure Guide continues in a more mundane direction with random Questgiver/Task/Reason tables, random encounter tables, and just, you know, random tables. Slightly disappointing for a product that could make more use of the GMA deck itself.
Themed Decks
Now in mixed berry flavor
Themed GMA decks are not mechanically different except in the artwork and the details. The Age of Sail deck tends toward more nautical-themed sensory bits like the smell of sea air, the snap of sails, brass fittings and groaning ropes, that kind of thing. The Fantasy deck adds a few extra mystic auras and orbs to ponder. The Steampunk deck has lots of hissing steam and clanking clattering collections of caliginous cogs. They all follow this general formula. The differences are all in the tone and color. In a pinch, the generic deck works just as well.
But with fewer sweet eyepatch skulls
Final Thoughts
Catalyst: Mad rantings
If you’ve ever used a game oracle system before (Mythic GM Emulator, One Page Solo, Ironsworn/Starforged/Sundered Isles, etc.), you’ll see that this is … yet another one. The actual “oracle” part of GMA is pretty limited, with only three levels of odds and four-to-six levels of results. Where GMA shines is its all-in-one compactness. It’s a plot generator, an NPC maker, a dice roller, a bucket full of random sensory details (which are unique and surprisingly useful), a map builder, a difficulty selector, a vibe injection system, and even teaches you how to read Norse. What a bargain!
GMA 2e is my current go-to for random adventure action. The combination of concrete detail and pure vibe works well for me. It’s super easy to flip a card and run with it, without having to roll dice or consult tables or even really think about it. Just BAM! “South!” BAM! “Wilbur!” BAM! “Shouted blasphemies!” Detail sorted, on to the fun part.
Worth a try if you like that sort of thing. One point eight thumbs up.