Free GM Resource: RP Archive YouTube Channel

 

[Sorry to have two YouTube channels in as many weeks, but I'm home recovering from a bout of sickness and in a fair bit of pain, so I'm doing "nothing" watching a lot more YouTube. I wanted to save this for next month, but it was either this or nothing......]

So I've recently started actually working on some table-top terrain and I'm not following the source documentation video to the letter. After watching and re-watching the video a few times I finally let YouTube just run it out and let the algorithm figure out what I should watch next because the part of the project that took maybe 20'......yeah, for me it's more like six hours. Seriously...I'm making some tweaks  for "realism" and it's dragging me down.

Anyway, as I'm doing my tedious work on this terrain YouTube starts flipping through a few terrain channels and eventually jumps to one I haven't seen before: RP Archive. I'm not a huge fan of the modularity of some of his blocks, but I love his furniture and how the channel creator uses magnets.  I've already picked up my supplies to make some things from RP Archive after I'm done with my current terrain project.

Free GM Resource: Goobertown Hobbies YouTube Channel

I know that I missed last Monday. Last Monday kind of sucked because I lost my job and had a going-away. Don't fret, I'm not overly concerned as this should be a temporary thing and I'm not just being optimistic.

I did have a going-away at work and some libations, and you know....the weekly Free GM Resource totally skipped my mind, 'cause I was (I hope understandingly) occupied.

The graphic isn't really indicative of this week's resource, which is another YouTube channel: Goobertown Hobbies.

Now I generally don't get too much out of watching miniature painting videos, but this particular miniature painter also does some terrain painting, which I totally dig watching. Any tips & tricks I can pick up there I'll probably use.

Don't get me wrong.....I do allegedly paint minis, but if you saw my overwhelmingly large (percentage-wise) unpainted mini collection, you'd probably see why I'm a bit "meh" about mini painting videos....but I will say I think the channel shows off some great work there as well.

Free GM Resource: Ambient Mixer

 

I'm a big fan of audio at the game table, even though I rarely pull it off myself. I've been toying with digital soundboards and there is one I kind of like, but I've been also thinking about creating a physical push-button soundboard as a hobby project.

Of course that is only distantly related to today's Free GM Resource. I was at a Half Priced Books today and picked up a project book for Raspberry Pi and a soundboard was one of the projects.....which is why this was on my mind today.

Ambient Mixer is a cool website that just has some awesome ambient soundscapes you can run from your web browser. Now there is a Android app that draws from the the website, but a lot of the recent reviews report huge crash issues. Not sure if that's a new thing...like a bad update, or if it's an underlying issue that never got resolved. I'd just stick with the website for now.

This is pretty cool!

Free GM Resource: Epic Games

 

I know this half-a-week early, but I want to put this "out there" as a Free GM Resource: Epic Games.

Why share a video game company as a free resource? Well, 1st of all Epic Games is giving away a free game every day between now and the News Year Day. 2nd......playing games is fun and one sure-fire way to reduce the chance of straight-up burn-out is having fun playing other games.

Seriously though, sometimes an easy way to recoup, refresh as a GM to switch sides and play. Sometimes being able to sit-down at another RPG table is just not feasible, so switch things up and play some computer games instead.

Free GM Resource: Osher Map Library

 

I think it's been a while since I posted any online map collections.....and I lurve me some oldy-time maps for inspiration, and sometimes to actually use as a base for my own mapwork.

The Osher Map Library is a collection from the University of Southern Maine that had a mix of old and new maps. You can download the maps, but they are a "low" resolution. Actually the maps are like 400dpi, just on the small size, so if you need it on a screen you can resize it to a something "physically" larger.

At first glance, the Osher Map Library doesn't seem to be a decent online resource, especially if you select the obvious...and prominent "BROWSE MAPS" feature. What I found so much more useful was to do the almost-as-obvious "Search our Collection" feature. Once you have a selection of maps brought up by your search you have a bunch of options on the left side of the screen to dial-in your desired results.

Free GM Resource: Google Books

 

Today's Free GM Resource is one of those things you may know about, but probably overlook even if you did because it's "there", but not heavily advertised.

Google Books is a great online resource for research and sometimes even for graphics if you're the type to comb through old public-domain works. Google has been working on digitizing old books for some time now and their results can show up in just about any old "regular" search, but most likely get glossed over.

I find it fascinating the kind of things you can uncover if you dig just a little bit. Today, for example, I found an old history book covering the formation of the county I went to High School in (and my folks still live). You'd think there is little to be learned from early 1800's that translate well to my OSR fantasy game.....but one of the things listed in the assorted townships of that county are the number of fraternal organizations and even partial rosters. Since I also have population data I can guesstimate what is an "appropriate" number of organizations, officers, and even members based on population size.

This actually answers a few questions I haven't even come up with yet for an upcoming project..........but it is just an off-the-cuff-example.

One thing you can do is limit your search to a particular date series or just a century. If it is public domain you can probably download a pretty good PDF of the book to comb through offline. Since I usually look at really old books that's where my experience lies....I would suggest that after your initial search you use some refinements to narrow down your results.

Free GM Resource: Crooked Staff Terrain 2.5D Tiles

 

Ugh.....I know, not another YouTube channel!

I get it......how many different ways can you see people making 3d terrain? Well, evidently at least one more. 

Until I stumbled upon Crooked Staff Terrain, I don't think I really thought about printing off the main decorations for the terrain and gluing it down. I already own a good selection, ok pretty much the entire catalog, of Fat Dragon Game's 2d terrain stuff (BTW, it's all on Cyber Monday sale today....), but I always thought of it as a stand-alone product, not something I could combine with a 3d terrain build. They're calling it the 2.5d terrain.

Now granted the folks at Crooked Staff Terrain aren't using FDG files, but they do offer some of their own decorations available as PWYW downloads....just check out the links in the YouTube notes.

Free GM Resource: RPG Themed Cookbook

Today is the Monday before Thanksgiving, 2020.....too early to freak out about the holiday cooking, but not too early that there isn't a lot to think about, prepare, and hopefully get your menu together so you can get what you need before the appointed cooking freakout time.

Today's Free GM Resource was inspired by the new WotC D&D cookbook that has just come out. Of course that cookbook isn't free and this offering is technically PWYW, and a year old already, but the place I found it was promoting is as "a FREE product for every fellow Ravenloft enthusiast!", so take it at their word or toss them a buck or two, your choice.

The fine folks at Mistfactor Press advertise Antonia Lúpri's Ravenloft Cookbook as containing:

          - Antonia Lúpri's Ravenloft Cookbook with art made by us.

          - The great NPC, Antonia Lúpri with her Statblock and lore background

          - 5 quest ideas that Antonia can give to your players

          - 18 food recipes that can be prepared for your players to enjoy an actual Ravenloft dinner while you play

          - 5 Dark Cocktail recipes to taste the dread!

          - A menu handout for your players to order what they desire and feel like they are in an actual restaurant!

          - 2 fully illustrated maps of the Cornucopia Tavern (DM's and player's version)

          - 20 Magical side effects accompanying each dish and drink. 

I liked this product and found it cool that the cookbook was separate from the handouts/GM aides, although the cookbook is only pages 10-24 of the main book, so you could just as easily print off the pages you need for the kitchen.

Like usual, click on the link/graphic above, or feel free to use this link.