Frugal GM Contest: Monster Stand Ins

It has been a while since I've had any sort of contest here on the Frugal GM blog, so I think we are overdue.

In the past the contests have been a bit hit or miss and I think know I'm to blame because of the contest parameters I've set up.

This time around I'm going to make it simple....but I'm getting ahead of myself.

This contest prize will be the complete Monster Stand-In set I picked up at GenCon and reviewed here. I haven't cut out any of the monsters, but I have (obviously) removed the shrink-wrap on the cardboard and opened up the packages of stands. The whole set is in impeccable shape and I'll leave it to the winner to cut these things apart and use them as they will.

The rules will be quite simple:
1) Comment on this post that you'd like the Monster Stand-Ins
2) No spamming the comments
3) Wait until next Thursday's (August the 27th) post to see if you win.

I'll count up all the comments on Wednesday evening (about 10PM Eastern) and use a random die generator to figure out which comment wins. If I'm available I'll do it on the Tenkar's Tavern chat, so if you tune in you can to find out early.

That's it....no muss & no fuss. If you would like this, speak up in the comments of this post and you'll have as fair a shot as anyone else. I'll ship the prize to the winners.......


Late day edit:
Some folks might want to know which monsters are included...and here is a link to the list.

Frugal GM Essential Gear: Dice Box

Honestly, I thought I was done with the whole idea of "Essential Gear" for gaming, but it was pointed out to me that aside from dice, which I've repeatedly stated I'm not going to cover, there are several more things that I simply don't game without.

One of them is my dice box.

Like so many of you I do have dice bags, with the old standby being the much beloved Crown Royal bag. That was my first dice bag ever and I still have a small pile of them.....our local liquor stores keep them just for folks like me.

Free GM Resource: Awesome OSR PC Classes by James V West

Sorry guys, but this week's Free GM Resource is not some low-hanging fruit.....you're going to have to jump through some minor hoops for it (but it'll be worthwhile!)

Over the last week or so, the highly talented James V West has been releasing some awesome new "OSR" PC classes. He has also released an OSR PC Sheet as well and I don't think he has plans on slowing down anytime soon.

These new offerings aren't on his website, but you can check out his G+ feed and look for them yourself. I realize some of you might not do the G+ "thing", so I've checked and his feed is view-able without a G+ account.

Because I know people might be seeing this months or years after I've posted it, making reading through a long G+ feed impracticable, I'll post some linked previews for the four files he has up now. You'll be on your own for any others.....

First up is the OSR PC Sheet...

Then we have the Chainmail Chick

Next up it the Sinewy Barbarian

Followed up by the Star Wizard

Now all of these were created with Labyrinth Lord in mind, which means they should work decently well with just about any OSR game. You might need to make some minor tweaks to XP or some such, but nothing terrible.

Free Map051: A Small Village

While my wife was playing in an online HackMaster Game I was working on a new map.....OK, I'll admit it, I was working on the map for a few hours before and after her game as well.....

Often when I'm working on something I've got several objectives, usually more than "just make a map". In this case I was experimenting with new techniques and materials. At first I really thought it was all going to come together, but when I digitized the work.....not so much. A lot of fine detail was just utterly lost because the scanner can only do so much.

Now I'm not saying I don't like this finished map, it just didn't come out nearly like I had hoped. There was a particular use for this map in mind and now I don't want to use that map anymore and pretty much have to start from scratch. These things happen and truth be told I learned several great things from the process.

Click to enlarge

The map is 8" x 10" and a standard-quality PDF print. My Patrons get a high-quality version of the map as part of their Patronage of the Frugal GM.

You can get the free map by clicking the lead-in graphic above or by using this link.

Frugal GM Review: Far Away Land Pawn Pack I

I think one of the reasons I was so interested in checking out the Monster Stand-Ins last week was because I had downloaded the Far Away Land Pawn Pack I set right before I headed off to GenCon.

I managed to get the Far Away Land Tome of Awesome in hardcover (it is by they way...awesome), and I'm still waiting on getting in on a game.

A BIG part of FAL is the art. While I could use my normal minis with FAL, they really come up short. After picking up the rules I want to play in that game world, with those characters. FAL feels like Futurama meets Adventure Time with a large dose of Heavy Metal. I'm sorry, but a handful of Ral Partha or Reaper minis just isn't going to cut it.

FGM034: Spell Cards (Magic Card-Size, 9 Up)

A couple weeks ago, before GenCon, I accidentally washed my little idea notebook, totally shredding it. Well, shredding might be too harsh, but it isn't going to usable any longer.....

This means I had to painfully flip through the soggy, somewhat torn pages looking to see if I could salvage any information. Luckily, most of the lost data was mostly calculations and scribblings for old projects, so no big whoop.

The only project in the book that hadn't been at least started was some generic spell cards I wanted to work on. Most of the spell cards I've seen are for specific systems and none of them have enough details for my current....well, heck, even my old game systems I would want to use them for.

For example, my HackMaster 4th Edition Double-Specialist Invoker essentially changed every spell he cast. Even if there were spell cards for HackMaster 4th Edition, I had to remember all of those changes. If I had these cards I could have simply filled out a card for each spell and when he leveled up, I'd just fill out new cards.

These cards come 9 to a page and while I have put in a back-side page of graphics, I'm assuming that most people wouldn't print the backside, placing the cards in card sleeves or making their own backs. I could have made these into forms as well, but the idea was for the player using them to personalize them to their needs.

I'm sure that I'll get some negative comments regarding the fact that the cards are greyscale and not fillable forms, but they were conscious decisions on my part, so I'm not going to get worked up about that. If that is a problem, then I assume folks won't download them, much less use them!

I'll eventually put this up on DriveThruRPG, but for now...and probably the next couple weeks, you can download these off of my Patreon page.

Cavern Map-in-Progress (With Free Map)

I'm trying to put a small series of Tweak &Toss adventures out for possible publication, more of an attempt to see if the idea has any merit outside of putting it up on DriveThruRPG. While I have some base ideas in my head I usually prefer to work on the maps 1st, so I'm alternating between my normal "publication" cycle and work on these alternate maps.

Worst case the publisher goes, "Thanks but no thanks" and all I have to do is reformat for my normal audience.

For a while I think I'm going to be sticking to the cavern maps because I enjoy them and there are still some things I can learn from doing them, or at least I think there are still some things to be learned. It has occurred to me that some may find value in the work-in-progress map as it is during the process, so even though this is technically a work-in-progress, I've decided I could make it available on my Patreon page.

This is the low-res version and here is the link to the high-resolution version. When I'm done I expect to have a color and a crisp black and white version, but those will probably be reserved for my Patrons and the Tweak & Toss (respectively).

FGM031c: Smack-Down Table (Free d30 Table)

I've just finished up a new d30 table that was suggested by a buddy of mine. I have it up for a free download over at my Patreon site and I'll probably get it up to DriveThruRPG in "a while".

This table is listed as FGM031c: d30 Smack-Down Table and it a decedent, of sorts, of the old HackMaster Smartass Smackdown Table (HSST). For those familiar with the HSST, this is obviously inspired by version 4.1a and not version 2.1.

I hope at least a few folks understand that reference....

While I think the simple existence of such a smack-down table has some merit of its own, I tried to write this up with the thought of actually using this in play (as needed). A couple of options for use have been given for implementation, even if you don't have a d30...but you really should have a d30......

Click here to go to the Patreon Page