Cool Kickstarter from some DungeonMorph Dice

OK folks....here's the deal. Inkwell Ideas is running a Kickstarter for another round of DungeonMorph Dice. These dice aren't cheap (which is odd coming from a guy who buys a lot of much more expensive dice) and at first glance I wouldn't consider them normal "Frugal" fare, but you could easily toss them in my normal realm for being a relatively lightweight/inexpensive way to generate countless locations quick & easy.

Joe Wetzel, of Inkwell Ideas, is what we'd call (if you were from my particular neck of the woods) "good people". If you look at his website you'll see several products I've recommended in the past, and I think I already have the earlier set of the DungeonMorph Dice. I know I've used them before and I can say they're pretty cool. I'm also a bit excited to see he's brought in some outside help, with some of these folks that I'd label as "Friends of the Frugal GM"....if that was such a thing.

Some designs being worked on....

There are some other products available, namely some geomorph cards of a couple sizes. I have some geomorph cards at home, but for some reason I've yet to use them.....so I'm going on on 9 sets of dice, which I think is all of the dice made to date including the three new sets from this Kickstarter. Worst case I have some extra dice, and who doesn't love extra dice?

I think this is a cool project and I think you should check it out. There's a month left in the campaign, so plenty of room to get in on the "ground floor" on some cool dice.

Free GM Resource: Inkarnate

I've been on an odd map-making kick lately....the odd part is that I don't really have anything to show for it, but that's a problem on my end, not too unlike the plethora of minis I have purchased recently but have yet to paint, much less base.

Inkarnate is an online map-making resource that is normally a subscription service, but you can sign up and get access to a freebie version. You don't get to create an HD map, but you can get close at 1024 x 728 px. You also get access to more than 100 assets on/for you map. This is your basic level of access. Moving up to Pro for $5/month or $25/year doubles your resolution, ups the # of assets by x5 AND you can use Inkarnate for commercial purposes.

I haven't used Inkarnate much mostly because I discovered another program/service at the same time and there were a couple of cool things about that one that put me over the top. Of course that is just my initial infatuation and I know that can change after a bit of use.....and that what I like about something doesn't always translate to other people....

....still I can recommend Inkarnate and think you should take it for a spin because it might be EXACTLY what you're looking for.

Free GM Resource: 3d Plate Tectonics

This week's Free GM Resource is a cool little website that proceduraly generates a whole little world. Tectonics has a bunch of settings you can play with in the web browser controls.

I've been tinkering with it for a while and I'm not down with all the settings yet. Things kind of broke for me when I sped time up to something like 10K years per second.

Still, being able to toggle "view crust density" and "view height map" worked well for me. If I did something I didn't like it wasn't a big deal just refreshing the page to get a new map. Not enough detail for me to use as a game world in my campaign, but I could really see using this to generate the view of a moon.

Still, what I'd use and how has no real importance beyond my table. Please go check out Tectonics for yourself and see if you can get any good use out of it.

Free GM Resource: Token Stamp 2

Today I got off work early and checked out some of the local game stores where I'm at. I probably spent more than I should have on minis, a Deadpool Expansion for Marvel Munchkin, and a d60....not sure if I already had a d60 or not, but what the hell.

Not everyone has, or even needs, physical minis. I do have a bunch of digital tokens for when I play online (they come in handy on some PC/NPC sheets too), but I really don't have a lot of extra time to waste making tokens......probably because I'd use the tools I already have on my computer, like Photoshop or GIMP.

Instead I can use Token Stamp 2 to easily put together new tokens. Drop in an image, tweak a few settings, maybe add some text....and done. You can easily make not just one token, but a few variations of that token with overlays (...maybe status indicators?). Regardless of how many, or few, tokens you need for your game you should bookmark (and use) Token Stamp 2.

Free GM Resource: GM Binder

This week's Free GM Resource is a bit of an offshoot from an earlier resource which was The Homebrewery (shared October 31st, 2016). I may have over-simplified the relationship between the two, but if you've used one, you'll probably like the other.....

The GM Binder is "a tool for you to create and manage your favorite tabletop RPG documents". You have to register for an account and the team behind GM Binder is up-front about wanting to offer this as a paid subscription....eventually. For now GM Binder is free and actively managed. There is a reddit for alerting folks of updates and if you want to provide a little more support there is a GM Binder Patreon.

While Homebrewery was aimed more at helping GMs make their own pages that thematically look like "official" D&D documents, the GM Binder is geared towards making useful documents in addition to "pretty" ones. A quick look at the Patreon page has the team's road map for future (and completed) upgrades in functionality.

I can speak from experience that creating RPG documents can be a royal pain in the.....dice bag. Unless you want to spend hundreds of dollars on software like Adobe InDesign, and a lot of time learning how to use it.....or in my case re-learning how to use it.....well, GM Binder can quickly look like a more attractive option, especially at the current price of free.

Free GM Resource: Graph Paper Printer (No, this isn't Déjà vu)

Yes.....yes I am well aware that *last* week the Free GM Resource was some graph pap er. I'm wondering if anyone has even noticed that the lead-in graphic is recycled from the 1st time the resource was some graph paper... five & 1/2 years ago....

Anyway, after last week I got a lead on this program to print graph paper. Now personally I would probably just use one of the earlier free resources to print to PDF and then keep a copy if I needed graph paper while offline.

That's just me.....you, you can use this Graph Paper Printer to do the same thing.

Free GM Resource: Gridzzly Graph Paper Generator

Six years or so......<insert mental commentary about aging> ago I posted a graph paper generator as a Free GM Resource. Now there is nothing wrong with that source for grid paper, but if you want something even simpler, Gridzzly is about as simple as simple can be. You see the lead-n graphic there on the left? Yeah....that's the entire interface. Click on one of seven types, use the slider or enter a size in the box, one more slider on how dark your lines/dots will be and click on print.

Gridzzly is super quick & easy to use...check it out today!

Free GM Resource: Origins 2008 Learn to GM Freebie Disc

This week I'll have a couple of Free GM Resources to make up for an unexpected lack of content the last couple of weeks cause by me not being as prepared for a business trip as I should have been.

Lessons learned for certain.....

Speaking of "lessons learned" my very 1st thoughts/attempts at this Frugal GM thing go back more than a decade to the 2008 Origins Game Fair. A GM buddy of mine agreed to co-chair a small workshop about Learning to GM. As you might expect, the workshop was free and together the two of us covered a wide array of topics, from finding players to at-the-table tips, and how to work around a variety of issues (time, weight, money & ideas.....sound familiar?). Included in the workshop were some freebies, including a disc full of files and links.

There was a distinct focus on HackMaster 4th edition, but there would be a large carry-over to AD&D 1st/2nd Edition and to an extent D&D as well. We both new the majority of attendees would come from the HackMaster community since the other GM and I were big volunteers for KenzerCo's HackPack.

There are a mix of files on here and links that will undoubtedly be dead more than a decade later, but everything here was either created by me (I cannot recall if the other GM contributed to the disk) or was given freely by the perspective creators. I did, at the time, make sure that links were provided to the content creators, but you may have to do some sleuthing to see if they still have a web presence.

2008 Learn to GM Freebie Disc (Dropbox Link).