Free GM Resource: Scabbard

This week's Free GM Resource is a free web-based campaign manager called Scabard.

The cool thing is when you sign up for a free account there are a few freebies you get access to. There is a PDF download of tips and tricks and there are a few (5) "extras" you get access to.

There is an example campaign you can check out. The relationship graph is particularly cool.....cool enough to warrant signing up and using this particular campaign manager.

Seriously....check out the example campaign. The site seems mostly low/no frills, but I think it is a hidden gem you might get a lot of use out of.

Frugal GM Review: Dungeons in Blue- Small Dungeons #8

I was browsing DriveThruRPG this week and the Dungeons in Blue line caught my eye, specifically Small Dungeons #8. At $1.29 I figured it was worth a purchase to check out what looked like a cool old-school dungeon map.

My download consisted of what appeared to be four maps, a map legend, a lower-res preview map, and a PDF. All the maps, and the legend, are 100 DPI files, which makes them suitable for use with various online displays.

After poking through my download it occurred to me that this was essentially one map that has simply been dressed up in a couple different fashions. One map has some extra rooms in it and there are basically GM versions with listed traps and hazards and the player versions. While the maps were appropriately size for online use, I don't think you'll get a lot of mileage out of trying to print them out full-size (1" = 5') for table top use.

For a $1.29 I'm generally ok with this.

What I'm not particularly thrilled about is the expectation from the product page site and the included PDF that these maps are "geomorph ready", because they simply aren't. Being able to slap one map up against the other along a single entrance/exit does not a geomorph make. I went ahead and downloaded the recommended "Dungeons in Blue Master List" and looked at the assorted tiles from this line....they aren't geomorphs. Some could be, but as a whole....no. Again, being able to line up some map tiles does not make a set of geomorphs. From the "Master List" Product Page:

Every geomorph tile seamlessly connects to every other tile in the series, providing the megadungeon builder tremendous freedom and flexibility.

...and from the Small Dungeons #8 product page:

All Small Dungeons also include geomorph-ready versions of the GM and player maps, with the added doors, rooms, and corridors required to connect to otherDungeons in Blue tiles.

While I'm at it, the "Master List" is supposed to be a full listing of all the Dungeons in Blue product line, but of course this product isn't in it. I find that a bit irritating, but probably just more so because I had certain expectations based off of the product text(s).

I'm certain that the Dungeons in Blue product line will prove useful for online GMs who want to use some old-school-blue dungeon maps. For anyone wishing to use this on a table-top or as part of a geomorph set.....not so much.

Free GM Resource: Gridzzly

This week's Free GM Resource comes from a reader who wanted me to share this nifty little online resource for creating various types of graph paper.

Gridzzly is quite easy to use. Select one of six basic types (3 dotted, one lined, and two basic shapes....square or hex) and move a slider left to right to change the size. Print and you are done!

There is a ruler of sorts across the top of the screen for trying to size out the graph paper, it isn't marked in either numbers or even system, so I'm not sure if the largest hexes are measured in mm or inches.

If you can get past the issues with trying to make a specific size graph paper, probably a minor issue for many, then you might get a lot of use out of Gridzzly.

Frugal GM Review: One Page Dungeon Shamble

I've been keeping tabs on the One Page Dungeon Contest, eager as anyone to see what gets put together.

A pretty cool teaser is looking back to a small collection hobbled together from last year's contest. One Page Dungeon Shamble is a collection of five loosely-related adventures.

The premise is roughly that all of the PCs have died and come back as altered undead and by working through these five adventures they have a way to come back from their state of undeath. In some ways the PC's new state makes them a bit more powerful than they might have been in life, but there are some measures within the adventures that take some of the bennies of undeath away from the PCs.

I liked the general theme of the adventure and if I was planning on using the One Page Dungeon Shamble I know I'd need a lot of tweaking to make it work, and for some game systems it would never work.

Still, if you have the right system and the right players, this could be a fun way to let them stem the tide of death......once. The price is right and it is available now on DriveThruRPG. This adventure might work best if you did all the prep work and had it waiting for a TPK, so you might want to download it sooner rather than later.....

Free Map 027: A Small Tavern

I've had a couple of ideas kicking around in my head for this week's map, but getting said ideas down on paper is a lot harder than it appears.

I started out with a tavern map that I thought was a cool idea, but I had difficulty making these meat clubs I call hands draw something delicate and stately.

If I was going to post anything today I had to change tact and do something I could manage. In this case it is a rather simple small tavern. My original idea was to take a small fortification and convert it to use as a tavern. The walls are mortared fieldstone and the entrance is over-sized, with a large bar.  There are some generous supports holding up the ceiling so there is a load bearing wall or support basically every 15'. This place is supposed to be a bit on the small side and over-built. There are no windows for light as those would be weak areas of the wall. Perhaps this tavern is actually underground, or at least buried enough so the outside of the roof is ground level. There is a trap door going down into the depths under one of the torches.

I think I spent more time playing with the torch and fireplace lighting effects than anything else.

Let me know how you end up using this tavern, if at all. Almost all of the objects have come from various contributors from Dundjinni forums. Like always, you can click on the lead-in graphic for this file, or you can use this link.

Free GM Resource: Risus Monkey's Dungeon Geomorphs

This week's Free GM Resource is a bit of a twofer from the Risus Monkey blog.

The first is a collection of 100 geomorphs that have been bundled up together into one kick-ass PDF. Instead of directly linking to the file, here is a link to the blog page containing the file.

If you were to poke around the interwebs a bit more you'd find those same geomorphs working together to create another cool GM tool. This random map generator stitches these together into a default 4x3 tile map, which can be altered and refreshed to suit your needs.

Taken together, this is a pretty cool selection of dungeon geomorphs that is worth a check-out. I know I'm glad I did!

Frugal GM Review: Assault Against the Menace on the Mountain

A while ago, when I first discovered New Big Dragon Games Unlimited, I downloaded one of their cheaper adventures. This one is called Assault Against the Menace on the Mountain and for some reason it isn't available for sale on DriveThruRPG. I'm hoping that will change soon

This is written as a low-level (1-3) adventure for "old school" games. As such, everything is super easy to adjust for just about any "close enough" game system.

The real value of this adventure....the reason you should really snap it up if it ever comes up on market, is that this adventure does a great job of introducing some "big" ideas that I think a lot of GMs, myself included, could pick up on to make their own adventures seem so much bigger than what simple level-limits would imply.

When I first read Assault Against the Menace on the Mountain, or more appropriately first skimmed it, I had difficulty believing this was a low-level adventure. There was a lot going on and the BBG at the end, well it is a very Big Bad Guy....

Richard J. LeBlanc, Jr., the author, did a really good job of condensing a lot of extra "stuff" into what is realistically 10 pages. A couple of random tables and a much-needed flow chart allow the players to go a bit "off script" while still keeping the GM in control.

It is really hard to not toss in any spoilers, so you'll just have to believe me that this is a great low-level adventure that doesn't feel small by any means. Even if you don't ever plan on running it, there are a lot of good details/tips/ideas that a GM can glean out of it for future use.

Free Map 026: 3rd and "Final" Underground River

I've been sick pretty much since I posted last week's map, but there is a spot of light on the horizon thanks to a doctor's visit and some scripts. Today is the first day in almost a week I haven't woken up with a fever and I thought I was "good to go"....right up until my first normal adult interaction outside of the house.

I don't know if is the drugs or just being sick, but it seems like I'm not firing on all cylinders. While up in my own head everything seems fine, when I'm faced with simple situations I'm slow on the uptake and it seems like I'm only getting about 80% of what is going on.

"Gee Chris, sucks to be you....but why do we care, just give us the damned map already!"

Like normal you can click on the lead-in graphic or use this link for the free map. The whole bit about me coming off being sick is that it occurred to me that what I'm feeling/experiencing right now is totally how a curse effect that knocks off a few points of INT would feel like, with the noted exception that the person under the curse just wouldn't care and would just learn to deal with it. Maybe this is just my pathetic attempt to attach a little fantasy into my reality, but it seemed interesting to me.....

....of course I have pretty-much self-identified as being somewhat dumber today so it could just be another symptom.

This map didn't take as long as the others to put together, but at the same time I didn't quite follow the "normal" routine. I think I need to play around with some effects to create more/better variations in the water color, but I haven't quite figured out how I want to accomplish that. Invariably I'll either get someone to show me a super-simple method or it'll come to me while trying to figure something else out.

I don't know what I want to try my hand at next.....I am open to suggestions.