Free GM Resource: Kismet's Dungeons & Dragons

Today's Free GM Resource isn't going to be to everyone's tastes, but then again, this could be said for any other Free GM resource.

Kismet's Dungeons & Dragons pretty much feels like just one GM's (ok....DM's) personal website being used to keep track of campaign-specific details. I originally stumbled across this site years ago when I was looking for some information on how to value slaves for my campaign. Personally I found Kismet's Guide to Slave Costs quite useful.

There are also pages with GM DM information in the form of tips & tricks. Sometimes when I see things like this the information comes off as preachy in a "I'm smarter than you" types fashion. I didn't get that here. I won't go into everything available on the site, but will mention there is some great info on coming up with names, as well as a huge list of fantasy names.

Kismet's Dungeons & Dragons has a lot of good info you might find useful for your current, or future campaign.

Frugal GM Review: Dragonlock Miniatures from Fat Dragon Games

I'm pushing this week's review up a day so I can remind everyone about Fat Dragon Games' 50% Sale over at DTRPG.

OK, with that service announcement out of the way I can dive into this week's review. A while back I was gifted a set of Dragonlock Miniatures: Lizardfolk Set 1.

Free Map062: Civilized Countryside

I'm still working on the map that I have in mind for a particular Tweak & Toss. That map needs a few more hours of work, but I do have the free version of the map available now.

This map is 11" x 17" as a high-quality PDF.

This map is quite different from my normal map in that it has buildings and roads. I didn't label anything, but the town is called Mancatcher and the cobblestone paved roads are part of the "King's Road" that helped beat this part of the world into submission.

Of course whatever backstory you want to put on this map will work just fine.....

Like usual, click on either graphic in this post to get to the map, or use this link.

Just a Little Head's Up on Some Projects I'm Working On

First off...no work-in-progress pics on this post. I'm actually working on a couple of things at a time here. With the exception of the plethora of Combined Height & Weight Charts I did a few months ago, I've been trying to come up with one new d30 table a month.

As great as a simple idea like "one d30 table a month" goes, my planning and creative process isn't always up to snuff so I've been front-loading things by deliberately working ahead on these tables. My Patrons (over at Patreon) get the tables as they are completed, while the rest of the world will have to wait for them to come up in the monthly release queue.

I'm also working on another HUGE map, but I'm not intending to release it as a huge map but instead of several smaller maps. Most of my maps are pretty much wilderness maps, but this time the larger map is of civilized farmland and I pretty much have to figure out how to adapt the....I don't think "skills" is the right word.....processes I've been using on previous maps to the newer ones. Some of the stuff I've been doing I'll just have to toss out the window because they are too big a PITA dealing with a larger map (or even multiple smaller ones). Of course, the way I figure it, I'll probably just be trading one monotonous PITA process for another, so if I just completely lose it in the next few days, you'll all know just what did it.

I also have two Tweak & Toss adventure seeds in the works. Right now they are basically notes hanging next to my computer, but when I get fed up with the mapwork I'm hoping I have the foresight to switch over to the writing and layout for the Tweak & Tosses.

Lastly, I'm finally getting access to some tech I need to make this thing I've been wanting to review for a good month now. I know....I know....this is pretty ambiguous, but since this something I've been drooling over for a while now I don't want to jinx myself and have this last project just go sideways on me.*

Funny that I just realized that today is actually Wednesday and not Thursday like I've been thinking it is all day. Yippee! I was wondering how I was going to get everything, most, at least some of these projects done this week.


*Late Night Edit: I managed to get three hours with a rather expensive 3D printer today and I successfully managed to print out two Lizardman Minis from Fat Dragon Games. I wasn't quite expecting to be able to get access, even though I had a "reservation". Obviously more to follow....

Great Deal Going on DTRPG: Fat Dragon 50% Off Sale

It looks like Fat Dragon Games is having a blow-out 50% off Sale on all of their PDF Terrain Sets.

Normally I don't pimp peoples sales, unless I think it is a wicked good deal, and I do, so I am.

Seriously, FDG is a great bang-for-your-buck before a sale. This sale lasts until Friday.

Free GM Resource: Dundjinni Forums

This week's Free GM Resource is a bit of me dipping back into something I've shared before, but maybe not so well.....

I thought I had shared this as a Free GM Resource before, but it doesn't show on the Table of Contents page. I have, however, placed this on the +12 Links of Helpfulness. Since I had to re-do that page this last week, my omission kind of jumped out at me.

Getting on with it, I highly recommend checking out the Dundjinni Forums. There are a LOT of great maps and map items there to be poured through. The Dundjinni mapping software is slowly getting ready for an overhaul, which I think is needed, but in the meantime there is a lot of love and sweat put into sharing some great resources.

If you look (there is a search function) hard enough you might even find maps created specifically for published adventures!

Personally I recommend bookmarking the forums and waiting until you have an hour or two to pour through the forums.

Frugal GM Review: The Last Prayer for the Dying

This week I'm dipping back into my DTRPG wishlist and pulling out an adventure that interested me last month when it first came onto the site. The Last Prayer of the Dying is the result of a roughly $1800 Kickstarter campaign. Figuring all the rewards were digital, that seems like a damned good haul on a KS campaign, but this isn't a post about Kickstarter.....but a bit of backstory. The important take-away is that this piece was originally written for D&D 5th Edition, but I'm going over the OSR version.

Free Map061: More Wilderness

After battling my webhost issues today.....issues that might not actually be gone until tomorrow....I started working on a new map.

I've had this idea for a Tweak & Toss for some time, but it was filed away for later use.....because I'd need to draw a map that is not really in my wheelhouse (i.e. I suck at drawing maps). Last week I saw a picture that was almost perfect for what I was thinking. I quickly looked up where the picture was taken and headed off to find the USGS map to use as my base.....

...yeah, the local area pretty much sucks. Evidently the location where this place is located is quite barren. Like out in a boring desert canyon barren. The spot I needed? Practically a dot on the map. Totally does not work for what I wanted it for.

Meh..no worries, I'll just see how I can tweak this map to make it more interesting. Don't know if I succeeded, but I'm not displeased....

All the maps are PDFs, with two versions available for my Patrons. Their maps are Arch B, which is only a little bit larger, but they have a version with and without contour lines, and neither of their maps have the Patreon "ad" in the corner.

As usual, click either graphic to go to the map page, or use this link.

Sorry for the Mess......in the Middle of Restoration.

Just a quick note to inform folks that I'm having to do a bit of blog/website maintenance. Quite a few of my graphics were being hosted on my private webspace and everything I had there is offline for some reason.

I'm migrating files over and updating the code....I've gotten to the main page and the Table of Contents. Most of the damage, as it were, was on the +12 Links of Helpfulness page. I'll have that fixed later today......

OK, now I have to undo the changes I made and fix the stuff I "fixed" earlier. I will have a new map up by the end of the day.

Free GM Resource: Awesome Hand-drawn OSR PC Sheets

While I liked the Free GM Resource I posted this morning, I can't help but to think I just "phoned it in" with that one. That is why I'm making a second Free GM Resource today.....even though it is more a player resource...screw it, I'm just going to run with it.

The Doomslakers OSR Character Sheets Pack 1 is a good collection of hand-drawn character sheets good for your old-school game. These were created by one of this GM's favorite artists, J.V. West. I've highlighted some of his OSR work before and as soon as I'm done with this post I'll have to add his website to the "+12 Links of Helpfulness".

Now the preview over at DTRPG only shows two sheets and normally I'd stamp "sample" or some such over the pics I'm going to show here, but if you want a smaller lower-resolution (i.e. crappy) version of these PC sheets instead of downloading the free real-deal available here.....then by all means, knock yourself out:

Free GM Resource: GM Hold Music

I don't know about you guys, but for me the 1st day of Daylight Savings Time doesn't bother me, but day 2 usually kicks my ass. Between having issues falling asleep and wanting to sleep in on what is essentially my "Sunday"......

Now I don't always play mood music when I run a game, but there is one particular sound file I try to keep handy, especially when I run a convention game. Going strong GMing a four-hour con isn't always possible and inevitably the group wants to take a 5-10' "breather" halfway through.

That is when I like to whip out this little gem and play it on my iPad: GM Hold Music by R. Dominelli. This MP3 is just over 5 minutes long and is usually entertaining enough that those players that don't get up to smoke or use the bathroom are entertained.

This is listed as "Volume 1". I've been searching for a Volume 2, but I have been unlucky so far. If I was funny enough I could see trying to make something myself, but I'm not that talented.....sorry guys.

Frugal GM Review: Classes of Ruin

This morning I thought I'd be brave and blindly purchase something off of the "Personalized Suggestions" list from DriveThruRPG, or at least something that wasn't one of my own items (DTRPG somehow thinks I want to purchase items I produced)!

This one particular item, Classes of Ruin, has been pretty steady on my list for a couple of months now. It is PWYW so I tossed a buck their way and picked it up for review.

Normally I wouldn't have picked this up because the product page is full of red flags for me. First is the fact that the only preview available is the picture of this Yeti. The only product description given is "A collection of Ruin character classs [sic] for use with Labyrinth Lord."

New PWYW Tweak & Toss: FGM040 The Dwarven Delve

I have the latest Tweak & Toss "adventure" up on DriveThruRPG.

This one is called The Dwarven Delve, and it features the free map (Map060) from last week. This Tweak & Toss is larger in (file) size than normal because I just didn't like the way the map looked at a standard print-size.

The general idea behind this adventure is that after a "disturbance", some traders have gone missing and the party is asked to locate them and bring them to the trading site. I'm deliberately being a bit more vague than normal....

To go to the appropriate DTRPG page, click on either graphic in this post, or use this link.

Free GM Resource: Labyrinths of Madness

Today is a gaming friend's birthday: DM Nick from the Roll For Initiative Podcast.

Now I know he plays AD&D (although I suspect it's more HackMaster 4th edition that AD&D...), but he also has a soft-spot for Call of Cthulhu....and as an aside, should I be disturbed that my spell-checker knows how to spell Cthulhu?....

Anyway, I decided to do a little hunting for today's Free GM Resource and I managed to discover Labyrinths of Madness. This is a free PDF download from Lulu, so you'll need to have or establish a Lulu account.

Labyrinths of Madness is a short (13 pages, 8 of content) supplement for using the Labyrinth Lords rules to run a CoC-type campaign. Now this is supplement assumes you aren't running your campaign in a medieval-ish setting, but I'm sure you could with only a couple of tweaks.

Now this isn't my particular play-style, but it occurred to me that even if you didn't want a CoCish campaign, but you liked a little more fast & loose role-play heavy game that the Damage, Injury, and Healing rules (page 6) would be a real boon....

.....anyway, happy birthday Nick!

Update July 18, 2019:
Evidently this has been removed from Lulu and a few minutes of searching hasn't revealed a new source. Probably doesn't help that this is for Labyrinth Lord and had "Labyrinth" in the title, not to mention that it shares a name with a AD&D adventure. If anyone can point me out to a new source for this........

Frugal GM Review: 47 Ancient Maps, Scrolls, and Handouts

This week I picked up an item that was listed as a "Silver Best Seller" over at DriveThruRPG. As such I had some high expectations....after all, who couldn't use 47 Ancient Maps, Scrolls, and Handouts?

I thought it odd that the download was listed as two pages, but the item description said that the maps were attached to the PDF, something I've never seen.....

FGM039: No Place Like Gnome Available Now on DTRPG

I wrote up a Tweak & Toss "adventure" using last week's free map and put it up on DTRPG. It is quite a bit more broad than I usually do with these things, so I'm not quite sure how it will be received.....

.....but since the overwhelming majority of folks will get this for free (it is PWYW), I'm not going to lose much sleep over that fact.

When I run a game I often keep things rather loose, with a couple of ideas half-formed. Depending on with threads the party decides to pull, I then spend more effort along those lines, but keep those other potential adventure paths dangling (or move them forward as needed).

This Tweak & Toss, No Place Like Gnome, is one of these loose threads. Something is happening in this small hamlet. Maybe the PCs take notice, maybe they decide "screw them" and move on. They could take the side of the villagers (what do you call the inhabitants of a hamlet?), maybe they take the other side.....or maybe they ignore everyone and the problem gets a bit worse.

Feel free to click on either graphic in this post to go the DTRPG listing.

Free Map060: Into the wilderness

This week's free map is a nice stretch of wilderness with a nice river, some streams, and some mountainous terrain (nothing too huge though).

This was another one of those, "I'm working backwards" type maps. I had a specific idea for a Tweak & Toss and thought of a good location for it. Usually I find what I think is a nice location, make a map, and then figure out how to use it.

Whatever works, I guess.

The freebie map is letter-sized with a nice white border which would allow people to print it out at 100%. There are actually two versions, one with contour lines (technically edited index contour lines) and one without. My Patrons get a much larger size of this map at 18" x 24".

All of the maps are PDF. I looked at making them layered PDFs, but that jacked up the file size to large than just having two separate maps.

As usual, click on either graphic to go to the free maps, or use this link.

Free d30 Table: Random Gem Generator

This month's freebie (well, technically PWYW) d30 table is up on DriveThruRPG for download.

This table is a random Gem Generator inspired by (not transferred from) tables 13B through 13J of the 4th Edition HackMaster GameMaster's Guide (say that 5 times fast!)

That game had a mechanic for altering the value of gemstones based on quality and size. Of course rolling on five separate tables or sub-tables can be a bit much, especially since you'll need to use three different sets of dice.

Nope, one d30 is all you need with a minimum of two rolls and a maximum of four. These tables should pretty much be drop-in compatible for any OSR game. My next few tables are likely to be for other types of treasure.