Free GM Resource: Freep!k Icon Generator

Last week I mentioned a secret project and while I'm not going to divulge the project yet, I am bringing you a possible Free GM Resource I used towards said project. I didn't need a region map for the thing, but I wanted to include one anyway. Now I'm using a USGS map that was printed out as PDF layers, lined up, then heavily edited. It didn't quite come out as I wanted, but that was more a limitation of time and the realization that what I was trying to do just wouldn't come out the way I had hoped. Basically spending the extra time to tweak it would have been just a wasted effort, but I did try....

Since this was an overview map of sorts I thought I should put on some icons and I think it's been established that I generally suck at a lot of art. If you didn't know that, it's ok because I do.....

I did some searched for map icons and most of the ones I found were for specific programs, which I'm not using. There were some cool art/.png files out there, but not with everything I wanted. I even bought some Photoshop brushes off of an artist on Etsy and that was just a waste of time & money. There was no legends showing which brush was which and trying to cycle through them was beyond frustrating. In the end I think I wasted about three hours on this futility.

I was really about to give up when I came across this free AI Icon Generator from Freep!k. Now I don't think I did a great job with the icons, but it was quick and easy to say what I wanted and then sift through the results. In retrospect I think I should have stuck with maybe some black & white icons, but I'm not totally disappointed.....

I did end up manipulating some of the icons in Photoshop to get them slightly more standardized, but that healer's hut still sticks out like a sore thumb to me. Overall though the process was quick, easy, and quite frankly a relief after my earlier attempts.

I realize this is a really specific resource, but honestly....if it saves another GM some frustration, worth it. I'd still like to get some cool hand-drawn icons, but I'm not sure they're worth it for this particular style of map.