Gearing up for NTRPGCon

For those of you who don't know, next week is North Texas RPG Con. Last time I was at this convention was 2015 and it happens to be the last time I got to sling some dice. Between my divorce, move across country, and a new job.....let's just say I don't have a home group anymore and haven't really been able to even look for one.

Needless to say North Texas RPG Con 2019 is a big deal for me. I've spent a lot of my free time last week working on some thank you gifts for the GMs running my games. It's just a little something I like to do, a thank you card and a small something-something. Last time I made some gaming boxes out of some wooden boxes for high-end booze. It helped that I was working at a couple Liquor Stores at the time. I like to think my personal gaming box is the coolest, followed up by the one that "Mrs. Tenkar" got, but only because they were made from cases for really expensive Scotch.

A Twofer of Free GM Resources from Lord Zsezse Works

My unfortunate vacation lasted a day longer than expected because the new laptop charger arrived a day later than expected.

That's ok I guess because my hotel has HBO Go so I can catch up on the final season of Game of Thrones. I also found an awesome local comic book/game store and found some gems that are going to cause me to have to check an extra bag on the way home. I'll have to post about that later.....

Anyway, this week's Free GM Resource is a quartet of (freebie) cardstock models from Lord Zsezse Works. You can find models for a tuck box (I could see changing the dimensions for other sized boxes), armor stand, Crystal chamber, and a Cloister.

You can find the freebies here.

Now I'm not sure how well received four paper models are these days, so maybe I should also highlight some of Lord Zsezse Works other freebies. On this second page are a couple more paper models, some cut files (assuming you have a Robocutter), some maps, and a few free tiles.

The good thing about these freebies is that if you like them, then you'll probably enjoy Lord Zsezse Work's for-sale products.

Unexpected "Vacation" for the Frugal GM until May 20th.

Guess who went on a business trip and forgot his laptop charger? The same guy who also bought a replacement "universal" charger at the airport that didn't have the correct tip for his system. To top it all off the internet in my room doesn't work anyway and only one of my four other devices wants to connect to the crappy WiFi.

Another new charger has been ordered from Amazon, but I'm remote enough that the "next day" delivery will actually be a week.

Assuming nothing else goes wrong, and that both my internet connection and power issues get resolved, the next Free GM Resource should be posted Monday, May 20th.

Side note: trying to post from a small tablet blows.

Free GM Resource: Azgaar's Fantasy Map Generator

Ugh......confession time here. I had already decided last week what this week's Free GM Resource was supposed to be. Yesterday I sit down to be all productive and actually write the post and setup for scheduled delivery............and

.......and....the resource (Wonderdraft).....isn't free. Well that kind of defeats the purpose. I think I had come across some old information where it was free in a beta, but not anymore.

I'm still eyeballing Wonderdraft because it isn't terribly expensive and it might actually work rather well for what I have in mind, even if I cannot share it as a Free GM Resource...but here's a twofer in the form of Free Wonderdraft Map Icons.

Ok, enough about a program that isn't free and about something that is.....and something that is pretty cool to boot because I made Narmer wait until "next week". I think Azgaar's Fantasy Map Generator really fits the bill. 1st off....there is something like a bazillion tweaks/options for you to tinker with. Loading the page gets you a random seed and you can really just build from there. The thing is, there is so much to this generator you'll get lost in the weeds unless you just hit it on a high-level pass.

Fortunately there are several ways you can do a deep-dive and get everything possible out of this generator. There is a quick-start guide, a wiki, and even a Reddit community to help out.

Here is an initial proceduraly-generated map that I only tweaked maybe two or three options that really don't show up until I zoomed in. On this map you can see where cultural boundaries overlap geo-political ones:

I'm planning on trying to replicate one of my old world-maps in Azgaar's Fantasy Map Generator and seeing just how far I can take it. If I can get it to where I'm happy with it I will definitely share it. Regardless, you should definitely bookmark, and check out, Azgaar's Fantasy Map Generator.

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.