Frugal GM Review: Mead & Mayhem

This week I have an interesting little RPG supplement that covers probably the wildest and most chaotic thing I can think to GM: a bar brawl.

Mead & Mayhem is a 6 page PWYW supplement pretty much consisting of a single bar-brawl table. The general idea is to consult the table at specific intervals and use the results to guide the brawl to its inevitable conclusion, which is the utter destruction of the establishment.

Put out by D-oom Products, Mead & Mayhem uses the much-maligned d30. Most rolls have a positive modifier to the next roll and when you hit 30......well, it is time to find a new watering hole.

I love the fact that this uses a d30, that the PDF is open, and that they've also included a "printer friendly" version of the cover. I think a little more work could have been done with the "printer-friendly", since the woodcut is not black and white, but it is a minor point. Since it is an open PDF I can (and did) "fix" the cover for my personal file.

While I'm on the point of files, this PDF is way too large in terms of size. Storage-wise this 6 pages comes in at 11.6 MB while the "printer-friendly" cover is 3.71 MB. I don't know if this is a factor of the Ghostscript distiller used or incorrect settings, but a quick "re-print" using Adobe Acrobat set to "Press Quality" resulted in a PDF not much larger than the cover. The PDF is sized for A4 paper, which might seem a bit off to Americans, but is perfectly normal for most of the world.

I think I'm more of a fan of the idea of the bar-brawl resolution table and using a d30, but I think there needed to be a bit more to this PDF than a single chart. Another table to two to run in conjunction with the main table could spice things up a bit so the table could be used multiple times with seemingly completely different outcomes. Speaking of outcomes, it'd be nice if there were multiple options for the end-result. Even something as little as when you hit result 40 roll on a sub-table to generate the ending of the bar-brawl.

Personally I don't think Mead & Mayhem is worth the suggested $3, but I love the idea and the use of a d30. With a little tweaking, some of which I've already done, I think this supplement will find a place at my table.

Frugal GM's End of the Year DriveThruRPG Review 2014

At the beginning of each year I like to do a quick review of "sales" over at DriveThruRPG. This helps me gauge my "work" over the previous 12 months and allows me to keep things in check with the initial goals I had when starting this effort.

I think I'm right in line and while some goals may change over the course of 2015 (i.e. I have some plans I'm not announcing yet) at the core I want be able to give back to this hobby that has given me so much over the previous years.

For some of you, these numbers may be surprising and for others it might be useful to have something to compare to.....just be aware that there that are going to be some discrepancies by design. None of these number incorporate the free Lunch Box Heroes game that was put up recently.

1,201   The number of RPG products "sold" by Frugal GM on DriveThruRPG in 2014
   667   The number of "sold" products that were new in 2014.
55.5%  Percentage of new items "sold" in 2014

42.3%  Percentage of 2014 sales compared to all sales since April 2012

$58.01 Gross Sales
$39.34 Pay-What-You-Want Sales
$97.35
      .70 Commission
$68.14 Net Sales

$0.06   Average Net Sale

     6%  Percentage "For Profit" Sales
     2%  Perecentage Pay-What-You-Want Sales
     8%  Percentage of revenue-generating sales


This means that 92% of everything downloaded from Frugal GM through DriveThruRPG was free. My overall goal was to hit at least 90% I think I've been successful in this regard. I'm a little disappointed in that there have only been three product reviews this year, but it's within the expected range of 350-400 downloads per review norm that has been established.

The one thing I'm personally not happy with is that there were only seven new items released this year. While I didn't exactly have a goal in mind, I think I need to shoot for at least one a month.

I do think things have been steadily progressing and as I find more free GM resources to post and more cool RPG products to review I like to think that this blog is slowly becoming a more valuable tool for my fellow GMs. Thank you for being a part of this endeavor and for helping more folks enjoy RPGs.

Game on!

Free GM Resource: Mini Terrain Domain YouTube Channel

This week's Free GM Resource is another YouTube channel, somewhat in the similar vein of the popular The DM's Craft. This channel is called Mini Terrain Domain and I'm digging the videos so far.

There isn't a large offering of videos yet, but it is apparent (at least to me) that some recent setup changes are leading to more videos. It seems that a new overhead camera rig was created to make filming easier and the majority of the videos have been produced since then.

I'm not nearly as big of a RPG crafter as I pretend to be. Sure, I have a ton of supplies and projects waiting in the wings, but some days I think I just collect supplies in preparation for some catastrophic event where I have nothing to do but game or prep for games. I'm not sure if that would be a dream or a nightmare.

At any rate, I enjoy watching the videos as they not only teach me how to make something in particular, but help get me to think of alternate ways of creating things....should the opportunity arise. While I do like watching the YouTube channel directly, because I get a bunch of suggestions, there is something I different to enjoy watching just the videos in the G+ feed. I think I like the clean aesthetic more than anything.

Looking forward to seeing more from MTD.

Frugal GM Review: The Gnomes of Levnec

I've been a little naughty this holiday season because I've bought so many things off of DriveThruRPG.....seriously, my downloads folder is a mess that I have to sort through just to find stuff to review (and file away appropriately for later use). There were tons of offers I just had to have, and at least one that didn't really interest me, but I ended up getting anyway.

One of my interweb buddies alerted me to an odd-ball promotion being offered by Zzarchov Kowolski regarding his The Gnomes of Levnec adventure: The $5.59 adventure was PWYW until 13 people had downloaded it for free. Now I don't know how many were downloaded as PWYW, or how long this promotion lasted, but I can tell you from experience that with PWYW I'd say only about 3-5%

OK, while I didn't really care to get an adventure I'd probably never run, what the heck....I had to take part in this....and I'm really glad I did.

There was very little I didn't like about this adventure and I think even those things were pretty insignificant. I'm not even sure "didn't like" is an appropriate term.

The first, and biggest, is that the PDF has a lot of dark, almost muddied, pages and each page has a huge black band. It is really obvious that this was designed as a professionally printed physical product that was sold as a PDF. I looks great on the screen, but I wouldn't want to print this at home.

Another thing that bugged me a bit is that this is a low-level adventure for the "Neoclassical Geek Revival and OSR Roleplaying Games". Now I don't know what this NGR game is and the first mention of this other system is on page 5 when a "stat" is listed as OSR & NGR. I didn't have a clue what NGR was until I read the back cover and then only the Neoclassical Geek Revival name. The level "range" is also on the bottom of the back cover.

Last is one of those really stupid things for me, but is telling (I think) of how the PDF was designed (i.e. What makes me think this was a simple PDF made from the production files.), is that there is a "special thanks" to a blog author for inspiration with a printed URL to the specific blog post. Why that isn't a hotlink in the PDF is beyond me. Another reason I think this was designed as a printed product is that the page count comes in at 20 pages. At least this PDF doesn't have any security and is not watermarked....always a huge plus with me.

I'm not going to go over the finer points of this PDF too much because it is a great read and I really don't want to venture into spoiler territory, which would be far too easy to do. This was one of those rare few adventures that were a sheer joy to read. I don't think I'd ever play this with my regular group because there are elements that scream "KILLER GM", but if it was a one-off type thing with somewhat disposable PCs....oh yes.....let me adorn my GM shield with some more skull stickers....it's been far too long.

There is a great table set for being lost in the woods that is brilliantly complex and simple all at the same time. Just this one idea alone made the PDF worthwhile to me.

The adventure itself is a little free-form and I think it would really work well as more of a setting area for some other adventure where the two were intertwined some. The area map is nothing really needing to be used (it works just fine though) and everything is loose enough to really integrate into something else if you wanted.

The Gnomes of Levnec is a great little adventure that is worth getting to read, get a new table idea, or possibly screw with your players some. I think it is totally worth it, even at almost $6....which is saying a lot for me.

Happy Chrismahanukwanzika Everybody! Here's a RPG Present for You!

I'm pretty stoked to be able to announce "my" Christmas present to you loyal 12 readers (and anyone else who happens by).

Somehow I managed to get involved with the creation...well more editing and creative input after-the-fact (if you ask me) of Matt Jackson's Lunch Box Heroes.

This all started out, at least on my side of things, as looking for a rules-light game I could play with minimal fuss. I'd come close a couple of times, but each step lead me a bit closer to finding exactly what I was looking for.

I'm thankful for Matt letting me get involved and even more so for being able to give this joint-gift from us to you. I know that usually those "it's from both of us" Christmas gifts can be a bit lame (unless the givers are married or some such, then it's not weird), but hopefully you'll enjoy this anyway.

Since it is a gift it is free...not as in Pay-What-You-Want, but free...free.  Enjoy.

Lunch Box Heroes on DriveThruRPG.

You might want to check out the rest of the Frugal GM "line" of stuff, or Matt's efforts with Chubby Monster Games.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

I don't really expect many folks to be online checking this blog over the holidays, but if you do...well I have little more than fond wishes for you......for now. I'm working with someone on a Christmas present for all of you and when it is ready I'll put up a post letting you know all about it!

I get to spend Christmas Day with my wife and later with my gaming group, so I'm set. We'll watch the last Hobbit movie and then come over to the house for a nice turkey dinner.

I hope you all get to spend the day with your family & friends as well.

Free GM Resource: Pinterest

I don't know of too many GMs using Pinterest, probably because I've always thought of it as the domain of women's arts & crafts sharing, but recently I've discovered it can be used as a useful tool for the Frugal GM.

In the past when I saw something I liked that I might want to reference later.....maybe a product I want to buy, a map I might use, or even some game concept/idea I want to borrow....I'd have to go through a whole "thing" where I'd create a file to save a picture or PDF printoff or even the URL. Information would end up getting stored in one or more places and maybe I'd get back to it.

Now with Pinterest I have a quick shortcut on my browser tool bar that pretty much lets me store a graphic and link altogether easily and quickly. Lumping items together into a single "board" is easy to do and sharing the board is a snap. You can follow boards and use Pinterest to search for things as well.

Right off the top of my head I can think of several ways this would be useful for GMs, but I'll only highlight one (the biggest IMO):

Click for a bigger view.

Here is a board for Fantasy RPG Battlemaps. If this particular board interests me I can use it to get more information I'll probably enjoy. In this case I can "follow" the board, getting a social media link I can check in on easily, and I can "drill down" to look for more stuff. In this case I end up at another cool board and see some links for sites I'd never come across yet.

Today I found a "must have" accessory that, while not obviously designed for in-game use, is the perfect thing for me integrating my iPad at the table. With luck I'll have something put together by this weekend!

I also found this gem of a video. Although it is for a system I don't play, it was a good watch. Luckily I saved so much time from saving ideas on Pinterest that I could waste them watching this video.

Frugal GM Review: Inked Adventures Blocks

These last few weeks I've easily dwindled down any DriveThruRPG credit I had on purchasing a ton of new products. While not intended for review, I'm sure I'll review most of it eventually.

This week I decided to work on the new Inked Adventures Blocks set. I'm lucky in that the creator, Billiam Babble, and I have a friendly exchange of emails and he's pretty much offered me any his stuff I want for free. Well, I'm Frugal, not cheap, so I try to pay for things I want to use and play with. Things I get just for review (hint, hint), feel free to send my way.