Free GM Resource: Star Wreck RPG

You know, sometimes you just need to take a break and cut loose a bit. I think this is true in life and true at the gaming table. Now I normally play a pretty serious game at the table and any humor is interjected by the players, but every once in a while I just want a different kind of fun.

The Star Wreck Roleplaying Game immediately brought to mind the funny card game of Red Shirts. In that game you are basically trying to help other people's away teams succeed so yours is the first to fail...and by fail I mean get killed off.

In Star Wrek, you are trying to succeed in spite of yourself. Your PCs don't have ability scores, but instead have disability scores. The scores initially range from 1 to 10, but you roll a 1d6 for each stat and add 2 before modifying for race and class (called class and culture). As you gain experience your characters get to add a disability point, making them worse off, but you get to also add a special talent that can hopefully hide your increasing ineptitude.

The same general group of people looks to have put out a fan film and hopefully you are familiar with their next project, which was Iron Sky. Now I liked Iron Sky, but in my opinion the Director's Cut was the one that should have been released.  Luckily both versions are on Netflix, but I think you should just sit back for the extra 18 minutes of the Director's Cut......

Frugal GM Review: Inked Adventures Hand Drawn Large Geomorph Tiles

OK this review might seem to have a couple of issues with it.......

1st of all, I reviewed some of Inked Adventures other offerings last week. 2nd, this product looks eerily similar to a review from a year ago last February.

As for back-to-back reviews from Inked Adventures.....remember last week when I stated I had "reams" of printed paper waiting to be assembled? Well I also has some self-stick Elmers foam core I picked up at the art store specifically for this project and it has been basically blocking my access to my office closet for months now. I already the tiles printed and just needed to get off my duff and get things assembled.

Now as to the similar review, well it is a similar product. Some time after that review Mr. Babble re-did the geomorph tiles and released it as a much larger product. While this essentially "fixes" every single minor issue I had with these tiles, I basically went and used this larger tile set to print off essentially the same sized tiles I would have gotten had I used the original files from the set I reviewed the first time around......

Free GM Resource: Fantasy Paper Miniature Blog

Well, the Kickstarter for the Decks minis didn't pan out, which is regrettable, but not a total loss as I'm sure we'll see them back again in another format (at least I hope we do!).

Now I've used paper minis in the past and while I don't really use them anymore outside of maybe for my PC, I still have a bit of a soft spot for them. I still drag out HeroMachine to make up a super customized mini. I've had my minis scoffed at by some (I'm looking you you D-Team!) but the ability to make an "accurate" mini is sometimes too good a thing to pass up.

Of course, let us not forget that I am not the best paper modeler in the world, so my stuff is always 2D. This is why I liked the 2.5D Decks minis. While I don't have a set of Decks minis, I can try to make up my own using the awesome minis from Eddnic over at the Fantasy Paper Miniature blog. 1st off......holy crap is this guy talented. I don't know if I could pull putting these together, much less making them.

The only downside is that he doesn't host the numerous free files himself, but uses the 4shared service. You have to register for an account or try to log in using social media. Personally I'd go with an account. I actually already had an account....didn't realize that.

The files are pretty much just the art. There aren't any cut, score, or glue markings so they are not for the beginning paper modeler....or someone of my dubious talents. If you have even a modicum of skill however, you should be fine.

Frugal GM Review: Inked Adventures Crypts, Tombs, & Catacombs

One of the few folks I "follow" over at DriveThruRPG is Billiam Babble, creator of the Inked Adventures line. His newest tile product, Crypts, Tombs, & Catacombs,  has been years in the making and I've been watching in earnest over in his G+ feed.

Needless to say I was quite stoked to get my hands on this product and give it a whirl. If you saw the reams (literally reams) of printed paper tiles and terrain I had lying in nice little bins waiting for me to assemble them you'd realize that I may have a problem. You'd also realize the simple fact that I actually put these together is quite significant on its own.

Free Map(s) 037: A Natural Obstacle

It has been far too long since I put a map up. I'd gotten some consulting work that kind of pushed some of the "fun stuff" out of the way for a while.

Of course it didn't help me losing my beautiful widescreen monitor either.....but at least I have a small backup until the new one arrives. I might be able to fix the old one, but if I do it'll have to find another good project, like a portable digital battleboard.

I wanted to create some shapes that I could pull out of the scan for use individually later. As this wild doodle of a map started coming together I decided to deliberately avoid filling large sections of the map. To me it looked like maybe a twisty series of paths running through a large amount of rock....maybe underground or a layer of a mountain. I did go in an backfill those sections, but I didn't try to tie it into the central series of paths.

Free GM Resource: The Mad Irishman PC Sheets

This week's Free GM Resource is a few large huge collection of custom PC/Game sheets from Patrick Murphy (AKA the Mad Irishman). Now he doesn't have any HackMaster sheets listed, but if you need that for the current edition I already have you covered.

Holy crap there are a lot of sheets. I started looking at the lengthy list in the menu and soon discovered that isn't an exhaustive list.....it is just a list of systems he has sheets for.

For example, if you check out the 1st Edition AD&D sheet, it is actually a collection of seven different sheets...

If you poke around a bit you are bound to find a few goodies....I especially like the Top Secret database. I don't play Top Secret (but I want to), but I can only imaging how useful having that information would be if you were running a game.

Now it looks like he hasn't had an update since 2011, but the site is up and if you are playing a game that came out earlier than that I suggest taking a look and seeing if there is something you can use.

Frugal GM Review: Pirates of Hagrost

In honor of Talk Like a Pirate Day I had to review one of the few Pirate(y) RPG products in my library: The Pirates of Hagrost.

This old Judges Guild setting goes way back to 1982. It isn't a refreshed product restored for the modern gamer, but a scan of an original printed product.

This brings back some nostalgia, but also makes the supplement a bit difficult to read. The formatting is a bit of a bear and unless you are used to running the "Judges Guild Universal Roleplaying Adventure" system, you'll probably be a bit slack-jawed at the wall of abbreviations presented on most pages. There is a glossary of sorts about 3/4 of the way through this supplement and if you want to have some fun, try to wrap your head around the armor system. You'll need a pad of paper and maybe a calculator, as well as a few look-up charts to add up the piece-meal armor system.

Still, even with it's warts this supplement, like most of the Judge's Guild line, is a great source for inspiration. You'll need to clean up everything, but for a 30+ year old product I think there is still a lot of meat on them old salty bones.

For me this product is more of an interesting read and not something I'd get too much table-use out of. If you have a group of players who have read or played in "everything" from TSR, then this might be a good source of some truly old-school adventuring. As of the time of this review the PDF is going for $2.99, which is less than the 1982 cover price of $4.99 ($12.37 in 2014 dollars).

Free GM Resource: Open Game Art

I wasted this morning trying to evaluate/get working a seemingly abandoned piece of software that on the surface would appear perfect for GM's running a campaign with a non-standard calendar. The program kept crashing and bugging out and I was attempting a work-around so I could use it for my own campaign. By fiddling with the system files I could get around some odd limitations, but I couldn't get program to save without crashing.

Ugh.

I was about to completely give up on a post today but decided to look for a specific sound effect I was hoping to use with my soundboard and I came across a pretty decent free resource. OpenGameArt.org is pretty much exactly what the title says, a collection of "open" art for games. While it seems clear that the art is for video games, a quick search of the sound effects tagged as "RPG", revealed several hundred sound effects. There has to be a few goodies in there to borrow for in-game sound effects.

 I did notice that few sound effects would be sound-board ready as they really need to be unzipped and possibly converted over to your desired format. You might even need to get creative and combine some sounds & effects, either in the soundboard or with a dedicated program to make them a more usable length. For example, a hit sound might be half a second, but if you combine it with some "whoosing" sounds and a grunt or two....it might work.

Of course, YMMV.....