Free Map071: Another HUGE Cave

It's been a while since I've put out a free map....

This map is the 1st level of what I intend to be a rather large 3 level cavern map for an adventure I'm writing up. I haven't decided on just how fleshed-out I want the adventure to be because the maps are quite fricken large and it might be better to put together some tables to make it into more of a random dungeon crawl that uses a specific map.

There are a few ideas percolating at the moment.

The original map this free map is based off of is rather large at 90" by 30". I wanted it to be even larger, but this thing took me a good 10 hours or so as it was....

My patrons get the PDF map at A1 size and a bunch of PNGs so they could print it out to create the huge physical map (or tweak it for a VTT).

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

Free GM Resource: Paper Miniatures Link Collection

Missed getting this up yesterday...

This week's Free GM Resource is a link collection of sources for paper miniatures from "Zen Seeker's Home on the Net". The miniatures are grouped by category, with each category having it's own sub-page.

As is the case with this sort of thing, some of the links from these pages are dead, so you are forewarned. On the bottom of the main miniature page is a suggestion to try the Wayback Machine.

Even if every mini link was dead (they aren't) one of the pages has a rather useful scale converter.

Small Dungeon Maps Vol. 2 Kickstarter is Live

Well, I guess this is the week to pimp Kickstarters....

I got notification this morning that Jean Francois Senay had launched his newest digital map Kickstarter, called Small Dungeon Maps 2. I've backed a couple of his earlier Kickstarters and thought they were totally worth it, especially since the biggest backer level is less than $30 and that is only because there are physical prints made & sent out.

Personally I would rather just have the digital copies that I could print out locally to get however many copies I want/need quickly and at the quality level I desire.

I did a review of the 1st set of Small Dungeons that was made. Bottom line, for me, is if you run a game online, these unique maps should hold a lot of value. I've continued becoming a backer because the maps are good, fulfillment is relatively quick, and I think I've always gotten my money's worth.

Be sure to check the Kickstarter out.

Fat Dragon Games DRAGONLOCK 3: Dangerous Lairs Kicksterter is now Live

Today is the launch of the DRAGONLOCK 3: Dangerous Lairs Kickstarter from Fat Dragon Games (FDG).

Now I've always been a fanboy of Fat Dragon Games ever since I 1st met Tom Tullis, FDG's main man. I won't go into the story but it is safe to say I have purchased most everything FDG has produced that fits my game table.

As far as paper modeling goes, I don't think you can do much better than Fat Dragon Games, but if you have the appropriate resources their 3D printed dungeons pieces and parts are pretty damned cool.

I spent this morning on a huge post about the various terrain options and how 3D printed models from FDG fit into the scheme of things, but the bottom line is if you want a high-quality high-end terrain for you table that doesn't rely so much on your artistic abilities or on your ability to cough up huge sums of cash, 3D printing is the way to go. Fat Dragon Games has done a great job producing on their Kickstarters ($5 says all the base 3D files were rendered before the Kickstarter went live) and you can get some great models at a good price if you take part in the DRAGONLOCK 3: Dangerous Lairs Kickstarter.

I'm in for Hero Level 2 5 6 (Damn you Tom!):

• Tower of Terror
• Dungeon Delve Part 2
• Realm of the Mountain King
• Dungeon Delve Part 1
• Mountain Adventures Terrain Set
• Wilderness Encounters terrain Set
• Trees
• Streams
• More stuff (damn you Tom for adding more cool add-ons!)

Free FM Resource: A Threefor of HackMaster Basic

This week I really want to show some extra love for my main RPG of choice: HackMaster.

I've featured a few freebies for this game before, most notably this post on the free release of HackMaster Basic. I played HackMaster Basic for a couple of years before we moved on to the "advanced" game, which is just referred to as HackMaster.

While the freebie HackMaster Basic is really all you need (rule-book wise), there is also a HackMaster Basic Quickstart Rules which covers a truncated character creation process. If you want/need even more help the quickstart character creation, the 1d8 Blog has a character creator that takes the simplified process (HackMaster Basic Quickstart Rules) from the simplified game (HackMaster Basic) and makes it even easier by only requiring a couple of mouse clicks.

I still prefer to roll up PCs the old-fashioned way, but sometimes you need/want something quick & dirty......

Technically this post is a twofer since we've already covered HackMaster Basic, but mentioning that again makes this a threefor. I have no clue if threefor is a thing, but I'm going to run with it....

Free GM Resource: Fat Dragon Games Mapper

Any long-time readers know I have some mad love for Fat Dragon Games (FDG), so I try to keep tabs on what is going....like the Dragonlock 3 Kickstarter coming soon.

Until then those of us lucky enough to have some of the other FDG terrain can make use of this cool freebie, which is basically a down & dirty mapping program using FDG tilesets. This isn't a mapper for your home game so much as a planner for making maps using already owned tilesets.

1st off, you'll need to be a member of the FDG Forums and then head on over to the last page of the "Mapper for FDG" thread, which as of the timing of this post is here.

Download the mapper from the Dropbox link (while I could technically just link straight to the file, that is kind of an ass-hat thing to do and would only work as long as the current file is....well current), or wherever the current version is linked to on that forum thread.

Free GM Resource: FileZigZag

This week's Free GM Resource is a generic utility that I think might help some GMs with their game prep. Since I already have what feels like a bazillion computer tools at my disposal it isn't normal for me to be unable to utilize just about any file type I comes across, but every once in a while I have something in one format that I cannot use.

Enter FileZigZag, a free online tool that converts one file type to another. At first glance this converter tool looks like it only does a few types on conversion, but this is misleading because the homepage only lists the "most popular" converters.

Pop on over to the list of available conversions and odds are if you have file type "A" that really needs to be type "B", FileZigZag can help get it there.

If you beg, borrow, and/or steal material for use at your home game, you need this tool in your arsenal.

Free GM Resource: Black Magic Craft YouTube Channel

I really hope my 12 regular readers aren't getting tired of YouTube Channels being posted as the week's Free GM Resource.

Personally, I don't watch TV. Well I do, but I don't watch broadcast television. I cut the cable cord years ago and while I do have a homemade HDTV antenna (I used to be a radio operator in a past life, was easy enough to make) so I could watch on-air TV....I just don't.

My TV gets used for three things, Movies (DVDs, Blu-Rays, and Netflix), video games, and YouTube. I like YouTube for the same reason I like link-hopping on the interwebs: you'll never know what you'll find.

Case in point: Black Magic Craft. Never heard of this channel until today. My guess is you haven't either....

I'll try to get the last few YouTube channels added to the +12 Links of Helpfulness this week.