Frugal GM Review: 47 Ancient Maps, Scrolls, and Handouts

This week I picked up an item that was listed as a "Silver Best Seller" over at DriveThruRPG. As such I had some high expectations....after all, who couldn't use 47 Ancient Maps, Scrolls, and Handouts?

I thought it odd that the download was listed as two pages, but the item description said that the maps were attached to the PDF, something I've never seen.....

FGM039: No Place Like Gnome Available Now on DTRPG

I wrote up a Tweak & Toss "adventure" using last week's free map and put it up on DTRPG. It is quite a bit more broad than I usually do with these things, so I'm not quite sure how it will be received.....

.....but since the overwhelming majority of folks will get this for free (it is PWYW), I'm not going to lose much sleep over that fact.

When I run a game I often keep things rather loose, with a couple of ideas half-formed. Depending on with threads the party decides to pull, I then spend more effort along those lines, but keep those other potential adventure paths dangling (or move them forward as needed).

This Tweak & Toss, No Place Like Gnome, is one of these loose threads. Something is happening in this small hamlet. Maybe the PCs take notice, maybe they decide "screw them" and move on. They could take the side of the villagers (what do you call the inhabitants of a hamlet?), maybe they take the other side.....or maybe they ignore everyone and the problem gets a bit worse.

Feel free to click on either graphic in this post to go the DTRPG listing.

Free Map060: Into the wilderness

This week's free map is a nice stretch of wilderness with a nice river, some streams, and some mountainous terrain (nothing too huge though).

This was another one of those, "I'm working backwards" type maps. I had a specific idea for a Tweak & Toss and thought of a good location for it. Usually I find what I think is a nice location, make a map, and then figure out how to use it.

Whatever works, I guess.

The freebie map is letter-sized with a nice white border which would allow people to print it out at 100%. There are actually two versions, one with contour lines (technically edited index contour lines) and one without. My Patrons get a much larger size of this map at 18" x 24".

All of the maps are PDF. I looked at making them layered PDFs, but that jacked up the file size to large than just having two separate maps.

As usual, click on either graphic to go to the free maps, or use this link.

Free d30 Table: Random Gem Generator

This month's freebie (well, technically PWYW) d30 table is up on DriveThruRPG for download.

This table is a random Gem Generator inspired by (not transferred from) tables 13B through 13J of the 4th Edition HackMaster GameMaster's Guide (say that 5 times fast!)

That game had a mechanic for altering the value of gemstones based on quality and size. Of course rolling on five separate tables or sub-tables can be a bit much, especially since you'll need to use three different sets of dice.

Nope, one d30 is all you need with a minimum of two rolls and a maximum of four. These tables should pretty much be drop-in compatible for any OSR game. My next few tables are likely to be for other types of treasure.

Free GM Resource: The Map of Early London

This week's Free GM Resource might not be everybody's cup of tea (kind of a pun), but it really appeals to my inner map geek.

The Map of Early Modern London is a bit of a work in progress, but it has improved much since I first became aware of it. Basically this is an online copy of the Civitas Londinum, AKA The Agas Map, a woodcut map of London made in 1561. The really cool thing about this historical map is that because it is a digital map, the folks behind this project are able to overlay a bunch of cool information onto the map.

You can choose to highlight specific neighborhoods or all the guildhalls. Want to look up all the known taverns? Just a few clicks and you are there. You can kind of look at things in reverse as well. Click on a spot on the map and you'll be told what is there and be given a list of historical references for that location.

Now for a lot of folks, this is just something fun to poke around with, but I could see this as a real boon to GMs trying to get their head around a large urban location in their campaign. Being able to see how things are laid out can help give some ideas. Heck, you could probably use this map as a major location in your game and use this online version to help flush things out some. Change a few names here & there and depending on how you lay it out for your group they might be none the wiser....

I think the Map of Early London can be a valuable resource and even if it isn't, for you, it could be a fun historical diversion.

Frugal GM Review: Free Map Pack from 2 Minute Table Top

Today's Frugal GM Review is a bit of a twofer in that it is also a Free GM Resource. Just consider the freebie part a nice bonus because I'm not trying to milk this one thing for two regular posts.

Earlier this week I came across a new YouTube channel quite by accident. A little bit of link-hopping and I managed to find the homepage for 2 Minute Table Top. That led me to the 2 Minute Table Top Patreon site and well.....I'm hooked. I'm definitely signed on as a Patron, and I'll probably add the website to the links page.

For the purposes of this review, I'm taking a rather broad view and reviewing the collection of 2 Minute Table Top Free Map Pack.

Free Map059: A Small Hamlet

This week I'm working a little backwards from my norm in that I have an idea for a Tweak & Toss and I'm working backwards from it to come up with a new map.

Last week it the idea came to me to try my hand at developing a couple of new map-making techniques. I wouldn't say either effort was a rousing success, but now I do have a couple of ideas to expand upon these original ideas to get even better at a couple of the "tricky" parts.

 Personally I much prefer my cavern maps or the USGS-based maps I make over small area maps like this, but if I don't try I'll never get better.....

This map is a "standard" letter-sized PDF print. There is a 1/4" border around the map, so printing at 100% should work since most printers can get in that close to the edge. My Patrons get a "Press-Quality" PDF print without the Patreon ad.

Like usual, click on either graphic in this post to go to the appropriate place to download the PDF, or you can use this link.

Free GM Resource: Drunkens & Dragons YouTube Channel

This week's Free GM Resource is another YouTube channel. I spent some free time this weekend surfing YouTube, admittedly on this nothing to do with gaming, but I re-watched a couple of terrain-making videos and managed to link-hop to the Drunkens & Dragons: Play D&D Like a Badass channel.

Now whatever you do, use the provided links or actually write-down the name of the channel. Don't be like me and scribble down "Drunkards & Dragons". That is....how do I be polite....not a channel I got any enjoyment out of. I'm generally OK with the occasional live-play podcast, but not videos.

Anyway......you would be amazed at how many channels, webpages, etc. are some variation of "Drunk and Dragon". Thankfully I was able to go to YouTube on my computer and navigate through my viewing history to find the right channel.

There are a few videos I really got something out of. My favorite has to be quick sculpting of ice/winter terrain using blue insulation foam and a lighter. It doesn't get much easier than that. I still have a few of their videos I want to watch and know I have the right channel I can subscribe to Drunkens & Dragons: Play D&D Like a Badass.