2/06/2018

Just a Quick Admin Note

Just a Quick Admin Note
Just a quick admin note that I've gone ahead and edited the site to remove page "ads" for Patreon as well as the Patreon page where I listed my Patrons.

I have NOT deleted my actual Patreon campaign...yet, and I might not do so since Patreon was hosting some of the free map files, and all of the Patron maps I've made so far.

I'm still up in the air on what to do, but for now it is far easier to keep the inactive Patreon Campaign up so access to those files is not lost.

I will most likely migrate everything over to DTRPG and then start the laborious task of editing all of those Frugal GM posts to include the new links. Seeing as there are at least 73 maps......this could take a while.

2/05/2018

Free GM Resource: Fantasy Name Generator

Free GM Resource: Fantasy Name Generator
I'm pretty sure this week's Free GM Resource is related to last week's resource, but it needed it's own callout.

The Fantasy Name Generator is pretty straight-forward, generating.....fantasy names. What I really liked about this particular generator is that there are three categories of names (Serious, Fun, and Specialized) and a lot.....I mean a lot of individual generators.

The generator doesn't just make a name, but a whole block of names, so you can have a bunch to choose from or just use. There are several specific generators I've never seen before, like a Pokemon name generator and a Hawaiian name generator.

I'm sure some of my regular readers might think they'll never need some of the generators, but if you think about it.......a Pokemon generator would be a great way to rename/reskin some classic monsters in your campaign. Sure, the players may have run into hundreds of Ogres before, but when in a new land they hear about these massive creatures called Ardymons.....

Thanks to Samuel Stoddard for version 1.5 of the Fantasy Name Generator!

1/29/2018

Free GM Resource: OSR PC Generator

Free GM Resource: OSR PC Generator
I know I didn't post a Free GM Resource last week, mostly because of some personal stuff I was preoccupied with.

This week though we have a pretty cool OSR Random PC Generator from Ramanan Sivaranjan. The generator is a quick, down & dirty online tool that can generate Basic D&D PCs, 1974 D&D PCs, Holmes D&D PCs, and even Lamentations of the Flame Princess (LotFP) PCs.

Basic magic-userYou don't really get any options, aside from setting, and if you want to generate a different PC, just refresh the page. I guess one other option is to generate the PC in plain text. If you want a specific race/class.....well standby with the F5 key.

Here is an example Basic PC:



1/15/2018

Free GM Resource: Identifont

Free GM Resource: Identifont
If you spend some time going through older posts (the Table of Contents is good for this) you'll see that I do like to find some not-so-obvious "things" to feature as a Free GM Resource.

This week is another not-so-obvious resource: Identifont.

Identifont has proven itself useful to me over and over again because it has enabled me to try and emulate a specific look from something I'd like to tweak and add to my game table. Instead of simply going to some free font websites and searching high and low for the perfect font for my project, which is kind of working backwards and not an effective use of time, I could start with an unknown font and work forward through the Identifont interface.

Search by Appearance Example
For example....here I tried to figure out what font was used for the title of TSR's Wilderness Survival Guide. I won't step through all the steps, but I simply typed "WILDERNESS SURVIVAL GUIDE" in the "Fonts by Appearance" tab and limited the results to fonts created before 1987 (The copyright for the book is 1986). I answered specific questions regarding the available letters and here was my 1st result: ITC Korinna.

Now ITC Korinna is damned close, but not perfect. The "W" doesn't match up quite right, but is close. Cycling through the other possibilities I found that ITC Korinna Bold is perfect.

Now I can go and look for that specific font for my project. This was just an example and NOT an actual project need.

I've found Identifont to be quite useful and I think some of my 12 regular readers will as well.

1/08/2018

Free GM Resource: Spellburn Podcast

Free GM Resource: Spellburn Podcast
I've made it clear a few times that my favorite OSR game has always been HackMaster, even though the argument could easily be made that the current edition isn't OSR, but the previous edition was definitely the 1st OSR game that wasn't a specific edition of D&D/AD&D.

I have managed to play in a couple of games of Dungeon Crawl Classics at conventions and I really did enjoy the game(s). Even though it isn't a home-game for me, I do listen to the Spellburn Podcast and really recommend it as a Free GM Resource.

Without having a great grasp of the rules, just listening to the Judges J can give a ton of great ideas for the creative GM/DM/Judge. If nothing else I think it is worthwhile tuning into the podcast while you are doing other gaming tasks, like painting minis, building terrain, game prep, etc.

As a little bit of a twofer, the Spellburn Podcast's website has some bonus material in the form of "Dungeon Denizens" you might enjoy reading/borrowing.

The Spellburn Podcast is available via iTunes and RSS.

1/01/2018

A Quick Look at Frugal GM's 2017...

A Quick Look at Frugal GM's 2017...
Hopefully everyone had a good Christmas and was also able to gather with their gaming group for a little bit of dice throw-down.

Since my "day job" is in retail, I've been busy, so I was on a "vacation" for the last couple of weeks.

Once the turmoil of the holiday season is passed I like to take a little bit of a look at the last year and, if I'm able, give my 12 readers a look ahead on my plans for the next year as well.

Since I started the Frugal GM blog I've been using DriveThruRPG as a barometer for how I've been doing as a small-time content creator.

Overall: It has been a bit of a mixed bag. Due to a few personal issues that I won't get into here, I've not been as productive as I was in the past, something that needs to change. Few "products" means fewer sales and downloads. On the plus side, one of the metrics (percentage of free downloads) increased from 86% to 91%. That might seem like a negative, but achieving a 90% was probably the 1st goal for using DTRPG. Adding a PWYW option in 2014 skewed the free downloads percentage.

As an aside, a LOT of the PWYW purchases were for a dime or even a penny, which really messes up the numbers.....

By the Numbers:
-17.4% Products "sold"
-35.1% Gross sales
-17.2% Free downloads by count
+05.4% Free downloads by percentage
91% Percentage of free products of all products "sold"

What's next?
The last couple of years I have been sharing content through DTRPG and Patreon, but after Patreon's little pass-the-buck cash grab, which they have since rescinded, I'm just not comfortable using that platform any more. I might give them some time to see if they come around to dip into Patron's pockets again, and I might...might, go back to them, but so far that's not in the works for me.

I have a couple of projects that I really want to see in printed form. I don't know if this will mean local printing and distribution, using Lulu, DTRPG print services, or some option I haven't even considered.

I do plan on taking some/all of the maps I've created and disseminated on Patreon over to DTRPG, and to put future maps on that site as well. I might go back to using Dropbox for some files....I'll know more when I start the process.

I'd love to be able to attend some conventions with professional-looking product in hand, but my ability to travel is up in the air for now, pun intended.


12/18/2017

Free GM Resource: 12 Days of Christmas from Frog God Games

Free GM Resource: 12 Days of Christmas from Frog God Games
Normally at this time of year gaming becomes a little more scarce because we all have many more things taking up our free time. For me, well I work in retail so the Holiday Season is the busiest time of the year.

Since this is the season of giving, this week's Free GM Resource is a series of free downloads from Frog God Games. If you set up an account you can head on over to the "Free Downloads" section and check out the freebies as part of Frog God Games' 12 Days of Christmas.

These downloads are supposed to be a daily type of thing, but I think there have been some issues with the website and email reminders. As of the time of this post, days 2-4 are still available for download. If you haven't used the Frog Gods site before, you "purchase" the freebies and after your order is complete you'll get an email with a download link.

While you are at it, you should pick up A Quick Primer for Old School Gaming and maybe even the Swords & Wizardry Core Rules.

12/04/2017

Free GM Resource: Revisiting Printable Heroes

Free GM Resource: Revisiting Printable Heroes
This isn't a new Free GM resource, but a revisit of something posted over two years ago. In that earlier post I was promoting Printable Heroes Tumblr account.

Now with over two years of posts on Patreon, GMs and players that want free paper minis should really just bypass the Tumblr and just go straight to the Printable Heroes Patreon page.

Now I am a Patron and Printable Heroes is a feature of the "+12 Links of Helpfulness" page, but with the advantage of being able to go back a couple years, you really should check out the Patreon.

I'm currently a $3 a month Patron, but I'm about to move up to $4 a month so I can get cut files for a cutting machine I don't own yet (maybe a Christmas present?). I highly recommend this particular Patreon campaign and the reason for me revisiting this Free GM Resource was prompted by a recent question posed on Tumblr:

Q: "By pledging for a Tier 3, would that give me access to older stuff ?"

A:"Yup, by pledging for Tier 3 you’ll get access to all of the older stuff and all future work that will be accessible through areas of my Patreon page that will become visible at the tier you sign up for."

To me this is an awesome reason to sign up......