Free GM Resource: Dave Rumsey Map Collection

This week's Free GM Resource is more map porn in the form of one of the best online old map depositories. The Dave Rumsey Map Collection.

There are over 71,000 maps online going back as far as the 1600's. Now that might seem a lot, but the physical collection is easily twice the size.

Have fun checking out these maps!

Frugal GM Review: The Golden D6 #6 Preview

I do like to change things up a bit now and then, but I often just pick up something that catches my eye. This week's Frugal GM Review is something different that piqued my interest: a preview of a Zine called The Golden D6 #6 from Sprue Grey Toy Soldiers.

The preview is 9 pages and free, but the Zine itself is 55 pages and $4.54. I'm wondering if the odd price is due to some conversions from US Dollars to Australian Dollars. I'm not quite sure where I picked up the idea that this was an Aussie product*, but since this review is on the freebie that aside really isn't that important.

This preview is basically one article taken straight out of the Zine and that article is "How to Clean and Maintain an Airbrush". I do have an airbrush that I've never used, largely because I'm a bit intimidated by it. I have no clue how to use it, much less take care of it, so this article is quite appealing to me. One thing I really liked is that there is a little bit more to the article than I expected in that the author goes into cleaning between colors as well as post-painting cleanup. There is also a little bit of troubleshooting as well. Overall this article is much better than the instructions I received with my airbrush and now it doesn't seem so intimidating.

Free GM Resource: The 5th Edition Herbalism Guide for RPGs

Today's Free GM Resource is a pretty cool PDF guide to fantasy herbs called "The 5th Edition Herbalism Guide for RPGs".

I had an older copy I was using, but this newer edition looks so much nicer. Basically the same information, just laid out better using a more familiar "old school" font. Much easier on the eyes.

I especially love some of the information compiled in the appendices. Truly great stuff to be had there.

I've found a couple versions of this guide. 1st there is this online copy, view-able here. The second versions, which is a complete PDF, has download links available in this RPG.net forum post. I'm not including direct download links here because a) that's not how I roll (pun intended) and b)  if the authors change distribution channels they would most likely update the link.

Frugal GM Review: River City Map Pack #1

While I usually don't review straight maps, this River City Map Pack #1 caught my eye, so here we are.

This map is by Terry Maranda and although it is marked as Pack #1, this is the only item, much less map pack, from Terry. No biggie as we all have to start somewhere.

The file is a 3 page PDF that only comes in at 7.57 MB, even though the pages are 82.02" x 61.88" at 300 DPI. I'm kind of jealous because I can't get my big maps down to that size (with only 1 page!), but that is probably the difference between vector and raster art. I did run some basic math here and the given size should print up quite nicely, if a bit small, on a US Letter-sized sheet.

Frugal GM Work-In-Progress: The Humid Harvest

I've been a bit....slow....on the writing and map-making front as of late, for personal reasons that really have no place here on the blog.

Even if my output has slowed down temporarily, my mind hasn't, so I have all these ideas floating around in my head. A couple of them I really want to spend some quality time on, but like everything else in life, these ideas have to take their turn.

With back-to-school season coming up I did manage to snag some obscenely cheap composition books that I'm using to jot down ideas and even work out a few things when I'm away from the computer.

Currently I'm tackling another Tweak & Toss OSR adventure seed, but I'm planning on making it a bit bigger than normal by adding a new monster and a new plant/resource that GMs can introduce (or not) into their game world. Normally a Tweak & Toss is a four-page deal (1/2 Letter) consisting of the title, a map, some encounters, and a bit of overview/back-story. Every once in a while I'll add a new creature as a single page item to put up for free while the Tweak & Toss itself is PWYW. This time I'm just including the so-called "bonus content" inside. Since I have another sheet to play with I'll probably spread the map over two pages.....

.....anyway, here is the working title page. I'm using The Slog map for this Tweak & Toss.

Free GM Resource: Journey Calculator

This week's Free GM Resource is an interesting Journey Calculator from the folks over at Arc Dream Publishing. While obviously created with The One Ring Roleplaying Game from Cubicle 7, this calculator can easily be adapted for other games.

It is an online-only tool, but the footnotes seem to indicate that this page can be accessed easily enough with mobile devices.

I've always liked this purpose-built tools that help with the small aspect of games that easily get overlooked. Sure, most systems will tell you how far you can hike or ride, but not always with terrain in mind......

Frugal GM Review: One Page Dungeon Compendium 2015 Edition PDF

This week I've decided to pick up a PDF copy of the One Page Dungeon Compendium, 2015 Edition.

DriveThruRPG has all of the One Page Dungeon compendiums going back to 2013, and the best deal...assuming you don't already have them, is probably the printed copy bundle of 2013-2016 for $40.

I picked up 2015's Compendium thinking it was the latest, but there is a 2016 available.....it just didn't show up in my "search". Ninety-five one page dungeons in a 40 MB, $3 PDF...sounds like a winner to me. The PDF is not secured or watermarked, which is fairly important because some of the dungeons take up every bit of space they can on the page.

August's d30 Table is Available Now on DTRPG

This month's free d30 table is now available for download from DTRPG.

This particular d30 table is a rather simple set of critical hit charts, separated into minor and major critical hits with 30 entries each. It is not intended to replace a more robust critical hit system that some RPGs use, but it can add a little bit of flavor to simpler systems.

I could also see this being used as a called-shot chart as well.

My Patrons have had access to this particular d30 table since June. Like usual, if you want to go to the download site for this d30 product click on either graphic in this post, or use this link.