Free GM Resource: The Magus Divlantia (Netbook)

 

After my home-groups' game this weekend my Magic User managed to get some new spells and I figured I might make up a custom spellbook so I could have a quick reference during the game without needing to open a full-on copy of the rulebook. Before I was going to start on this task I thought it'd be smart to do a quick interweb search and see if I could find anything already done as it's an OSR game.

Well I didn't find what I was wanting, but after too much link-hopping I came across this excellent rendition of an old netbook: The Magus Divlantia.

This netbook has been really well done and really reminds me of my old HackMaster game and if I had this 30 years ago I totally would've used it in my game! As is the nature of these things I'm not really sure who is hosting this file on their Google Drive, but I'm grateful for it and if nothing else, it's a great resource in general for an old-school rules game. If you haven't already seen all the books that this netbook used as reference material, the author listed them out starting on page 72. There's only one I don't have and should probably pick up.....

Free GM Resource: The Spudfield Good Girl (Freebie B/X mini adventure)

 

This week's Free GM Resource is technically a single thing, but you should really look at it as more of a twofer, or even a threefer!

The surface-level offering is a freebie adventure (for personal use, naturally) called The Spudfield Good Girl. I came across this via Facebook, but you really (hint, hint) need to poke around the Paths Particular blog.

There you'll find some cool art, a newsletter, and even some holy-crap-I-can-do-that! art tutorials. Seriously, just stop reading this post and head over there for while........I'll be here when you come back.

Free OSR Tweak & Toss Adventure Seed

 

I swear here in Oklahoma we had two days of fall....TWO! It was 90* Friday and today we have freezing sleet. I had to turn on the gas registers/heaters yesterday and I just want to curl up into a ball and not do anything for today's post....

....so I'm kind of phoning it in. Instead of a regular "Free GM Resource" this week I'm making a short adventure "thing" I made free for one week. I've already checked and nobody has bought one for this month so I don't have to feel guilty about that.

IF you use the link....and you have to use the link here, you can get the OSR location/mini adventure "thing" called The Horrors of Halfling Hollow for free.

It's an eight-page Tweak & Toss that might be a good seasonal stopping point for your party as they transition from one area to another. I suggest they stop by and try the Selsig......it's to die for.

Free GM Resource: WikiArt.org

 

I might be in the minority, but I find artwork important to my gaming experience. I like to use art to "punch up" my gaming projects, to show to my players as examples, and even as inspiration for sessions/games/adventures/etc.

A while ago I was on a huge Dutch Golden Age kick......I didn't know it was the Dutch Golden Age, I just knew I got a lot out of artists such as Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Actually Bruegel the Elder was Flemish and not part of the Dutch Golden Age, but bear with me as this is part of my point......

WikiArt.org is a wonderful website where you can view the works of so many artists. Do a search for a subject, artist, genre...whatever. Take a look at the results and then....start link hoping.

Example of links (in blue)

For me....that's it. I can hop through a bunch of different art and inevitably find something cool I can use.

What you do with the art once you've gotten here.....well, that's up to you. All I suggest is that you document/attribute your art appropriately. 

Free GM Resource: 5th Edition Spellbook Generator

 

So I was planning on bailing on this week's Free GM Resource....well, not bailing per se, but pushing back at least a few days. On my way home from work today I got my annual Flu shot and now I feel like I'm coming down with the flu. I've had this happen before, but not so quickly and not so strong. It's been only 3 hours now.....

Ugh....

This weekend I was looking to see if anyone had an OSR spellbook generator. I'm looking for something that actually prints out the spell info and the closest I found was something for Old School Essentials that randomly made a spellbook, but basically just listed name, level,, and where I can look up the info. Thing is....I don't want to look up the info. I want to just be able to see the spells I currently have in my spellbook and call it good.

Exactly like this Spellbook Generator for 5th Edition, which I thought I should share for those of you that might play that game. I like how you can select spells and then print off just your selection.

This is pretty good and I hope that one of my 12 13 regular readers can get some use out of it.

Free GM Resource: Modellismo Fantasy

 

I'm just coming off quarantine after my business trip, and also resting up after a back injury, so I've had waaaaaaaay too much time to myself....and "lost" too much of it to YouTube.

I know I said I wasn't going to do too many YouTube channels....I think my goal was no more than one a month, but I did one last week so I should be good until October, BUT I found an awesome terrain building channel and I'm not waiting a month..

Modellismo Fantasy does some pretty cool stuff at a level of detail that I found pretty aweseomtastic (yes, I made up a word for this channel). I stumbled across one video and thought that this might be a bit overkill for some table-top RPG use and more appropriate for diorama, but if you want to make something drool-worthy for your players............

 

It's in Italian so you might want to make sure that you have the close captions on......

New Frugal GM PWYW Tweak & Toss Location/NPC

A conversation on Facebook yesterday made me think of a particular establishment I created in one of my campaigns to serve as a potential base of operations for a new fledgling party.

I couldn't get the idea out of my head, partially because I barely tapped into the potential I had planned for the place, but the campaign didn't last....as these things happen. The next best think I could do is try to get they crap, er stuff in my head down on paper in some fashioned and set if off into the world where maybe some other enterprising GM can makes some tweaks to it and call it their own.

I had never tried doing one of my "Tweak & Toss" supplements on this particular laptop and I was having some issues with the PDF printing I'll have to iron out, but since I started late and it was after 3 AM when I finished......well I just made it a full page landscape print you'll have to duplex and then fold yourself instead of a simple "booklet print". This exchanges the ability to print the inside fold page which is the map for the ability to easily navigate it as an electronic document.

Of course this isn't an exact copy of what I used in my campaign, and I had to leave some details out, but the base shell is there and I think there is enough "meat on the bones" for a GM to work with, which is my general point with these things.

It's PWYW and believe me you are not insulting me by downloading it for free. Getting this idea out of my head and out into the world is plenty good for now. Like usual, click on either graphic in this post to go to the appropriate DTRPG page, or use this link.

Free GM Resource: Spray Primer "How To" Video

I'm not sure if I mentioned here, or over at Tenkar's Tavern, that recently I've been going through my literally thousands of minis that I have that are unpainted and needing some attention.*

I'm trying to get thing set up to start making them table ready and so I've been investigating the possibilities of airbrushing them instead of hand-painting, which has been my go-to....when I can get around to it, which was maybe a few years ago. Part of my problem is that it's just a daunting task.

Anyway, I have been picking up the supplies I need to start the task and I've been reviewing YouTube videos for equipment/supply reviews and also some introductory "How To's". One great video I found with some tips I hadn't seen elsewhere is the Vallejo Surface Primers from Scale War Machines.

Now this guy paints on a scale (literally) that I'm not going to be, but there is still some great carry-over to what I'm going to be doing.



*My mini collection has been a couple decades in the making and I have maybe 10 minis that I have HUNDREDS of dupes of because I bought them in bulk for less than the cost of the base metal because a game company just wanted them gone. Even without those I have a lot though....