Free GM Resource: The Hidden Tomb of Slaggoth the Necromancer

This week's Free GM Resource is an adventure that's been out for a while, but I only found out about it.....actually I don't know when I saved this link.

The Hidden Tomb of Slaggoth the Necromancer comes from a nearly two-year-old posting on the Papers & Pencils blog. The blog is a treasure trove of tidbits you might find useful, so I'd poke around a bit.

I's say the Hidden Tomb is a 3-5ish adventure, but it isn't statted as such, or really statted specifically at all. Some of the artwork could have been processed better and I wish some break out text wasn't in a dark grey box, but overall a real nice 1st effort that is far better than my first couple years of adventure writing for sure.

You should check out the blog and the adventure today!

Frugal GM Review: Knights of the Dinner Table 20 Years of Covers

I had a couple sentence "review" of the Knights of the Dinner Table 20 Years of Covers book up on another site where it "mysteriously" disappeared. Normally this isn't something I'd review, for a couple of reasons, but due to the nature of this item it is eligible for review by my somewhat arbitrary standards.

1st off, I feel it is extremely important to note that while this is a book about the Knights of the Dinner Table comic and it was written by Barbara Blackburn, this is NOT a Kenzer & Company publication. The one star on this review is a shout-out to Barbara's work, otherwise I'd have seriously considered editing my review stars for a 0 star rating (I don't have one).

2nd off, I didn't purchase this book....technically my wife did as part of her funding of the Knights of the Dinner Table Live-Action Series on Kickstarter. The problems I've seen with this KoDT book stem from there.....

Go Over to DTRPG and Pick This up While You Can (for $2)

This is a product I think I'll be reviewing soon, but not today for a couple of reasons.

I do want to make everyone aware of New Big Dragon Games Unlimited's brand-spanking-new Creature Compendium. Richard just put up a post on his blog that he's released this a bit early so folks could take advantage of a 30% sale at Lulu.

He's also put it on big-time sale at DriveThruRPG, even though it technically isn't ready (the secondary reason I'll wait to review this). Next week he'll update the PDF with the niceties like bookmarks and links, but for now go over and pick it up for $2.

Seriously, why are your still reading this? Go over to and get your copy (or copies, if you take care of the Lulu deal as well) now, while you can. At $2 he's practically giving this thing away....

....and you're still reading this? Fine, I'll remark that the cover is actually black...I just inverted it because I wanted to see what my copy will look like if I print it at home, assuming I don't get a Lulu print.

If it makes you happy, you can always come back here after purchasing your copy of CC1. I'll wait....

Frugal GM Review: Pits & Perils

Last month when I gave a bad review to my friend Matt's side adventure Bloodnut Pass I was kind of surprised by the results. Matt was fine with the review...he was trying to write a certain way (and succeeded)...but I hadn't heard of the rules system he wrote it for and when the author of that ruleset reached out....

....well I was surprised. James George was a retired Combat Weather officer and probably worked alongside some TACP guys I knew. Small world....

At this point I need another RPG system like I need a whole in the head, but I still pick them up to look at all too often. I still buy games I'll probably never play and I sure as hell don't turn down a free game. James sent me a download of his Pits & Perils  "Not looking for a review or anything like that, just wanted to share the love."

I'm not sure he's aware of my 1st two rules about this blog....

Frugal GM Links

I got a message this morning that the website for a Free GM Resource I had listed was taken over by some sort of SPAM/Phishing site.

Obviously I don't go through and check the bazillion links I have on any regular basis, but if you come across something screwed up like this was, please do not hesitate to use the email contact form on the main page to let me know what is going. Please be specific so I can fix it or delete the links!

A big thanks to my anonymous tipster!

Free GM Resource: Footprints Magazine

I consider this week's Free GM Resource to be a bit of a recycling affair, although technically I haven't specifically recommended Footprints Magazine. Footprints is the "Official E-Zine of Dragonsfoot" and I have recommended Dragonsfoot.org, although it was 2 1/2 years ago.....

....with the briefest of revisits a year ago last Christmas.

What can I say? Dragonsfoot is a great website worth going back to time and again. I'll admit I don't hang out there very often and tend to go back periodically when I'm looking for something. Last week I was looking for some free adventures and twice I succeeded in link-hopping my way back to Dragonsfoot.

While I'm specifically recommending Footprints I think you'll really want to poke around a bit to uncover many more awesome freebies. Even if you already knew about Dragonsfoot, like I did, when was the last time you visited?

Frugal GM Review: Inked Adventures Arcane Library

I had a specific review planned for today when I got a message from Billiam Babble about his new Inked Adventures tileset the Arcane Library.

Some of you might be able to remember back to last December when I reviewed his Inked Adventures Blocks set and I really wanted a line art version that was a bit more Frugal with the ink. Back then I screwed around with the files some and made my own before deciding I hated doing the coloring in by hand.

This time around the tiles come in two versions.....well technically four versions, but I'll get to that. The main variations are a full color set and the line art set. Even though I got a brand-spanking-new awesome color printer last week, I'm focusing this review on the line-art version because that the was primary reason I got this product.

March was a Great Month!

I've spent far too much time sick this last week and not working on stuff here (Monday's post was pre-written). I won't share the disgusting deets, but I will say everything ended up with a CT scan and a trip to the ER. Thankfully that sounds WAY more dramatic than it actually was.

I'm still a bit weak though and taking my time getting back into the swing of things. One thing I normally do at the beginning of the month is review the previous month's "sales" at DriveThruRPG.

I'm completely blown away by how well things went last month as I pretty much set new personal-best records for a couple of important milestones. The Frugal GM has 652 downloads last month. This might not sound like a lot, but when you consider that we only had 1201 downloads for all of 2014......

I was also able to "make" a little more than $26 through a combination of affiliate sales, regular sales, and PWYW items. This is more than I've ever managed to get in a single month, which is even greater when you consider that the percentage of totally-free downloads is topping out at 96% (actually 95.92%, but I think I can round up). This has helped let me purchase some items for review and get "stuff" I need for future projects.

This last month has been a busy one and I'm hoping that April will prove just as fruitful.

THANK YOU! It's these little boosts that make it all worthwhile.