Frugal GM Review: Dungeon Monthly 2015 Compilation

This week's Frugal GM Review is on a "free" map-set that you can pay $1 for over at DriveThruRPG.

I really like the idea of this product because...well you can pretty much get it for free if you want, or you can pay a measly buck and skip a bit of hassle. Now I'm all for saving a buck or two when possible, but there is being frugal and there is being cheap......

Spending a lot of time to save $1 isn't being frugal....

Crooked Staff Publishing has a blog where they put up some good content (I should add them to the +12 Links of Helpfulness) and part of that content is a monthly geomorph map. Now you can easily just go through and download those monthly maps in either 50 or 70 pixels per grid, or you can spend $1 over at DriveThruRPG and get the Dungeon Monthly 2015 Compilation.

There are definitely pros and cons for downloading the free maps vs. paying a buck a year, with the freebie option winning out if you want the "larger" 70 px/grid maps. OK, downloading 36 geomorph maps (the last three year's worth) is pretty simple and pretty much one click if you use Google Photos. I like the bigger map parts myself, but the downside if you get one option (aside from size).

For $1 (per year) you get a download of the "complete" map, with the pieces all stitched together. There are three files to download. The 1st is a Letter-sized overview map, pretty cool, but only good for the overview. The next two files are the assembled maps at the "50px" size. One map is on a dark background, like the free monthly maps, and the other is on a white background. These two maps are actually 150px per inch and 38" square. I'm fairly certain this will work out fine on a VTT where a lot of folks prefer 100px per inch resolution.

In my opinion what you are buying for your $1 is a heck of a lot of convenience. The download of individual files might be relatively easy and I guess you could search through the blog to find out how the individual maps work together, but then you have to go and assemble them yourself in Photoshop or the like.

That is a bit of work, more for some than for others, but for $1.......this is pretty damned good. The only way Crooked Staff Publishing could make this even better would be to use the 70px grids. Odds are I'll end up downloading the larger individual maps from the blog and be thankful that I can do something else other than trying to figure out how to assemble it into a larger map and taking the time to do it as well.

I really think this was a buck well spent.....and now I need to buy the other two year's of compilations.