Free GM Resource: AD&D Character Generator

This week's Free GM Resource is a bit of a work in progress, but probably 95% there (as far as I can tell). It's a pretty cool AD&D Character Generator. I checked it out & rolled up a quick (kind of crappy) 1st level Thief. I only ran into two issues, and the 1st was my fault because somehow I started at step 2 instead of step 1....not quite sure how I managed to do that. The other was that the page wouldn't let me enter in my character's name or my name.

The results came up with basically a 7 page booklet, but the 1st page was just a name page.

As far as a quick & easy generator goes, works well enough. Some things look like they don't work, but they actually do, like exceptional STR. Instead of rolling that with attribute rolls, you roll it later....which actually makes sense since not every class can make use of exceptional STR, so why roll it in Step 2?

I did find it...interesting, how easy it was to roll a character with all 18's and a 18/97 for STR.......well, when I rolled a second character.

"Free" GM Resource: Engrudo (Potential hobby paste)

OK, first off, technically not free....but odds are you have the ingredients on-hand, so no extra cost.

This is a basic glue/paste that you can use as a cheap fixative in hobby builds. Once made you can add a bit of a tweak to make it last a couple of weeks, but since it is cheap, feel free to toss & remake as needed.

I was needing some glue for a project and had run out of the fancy stuff, and while I did have some school glue, I hate using that stuff for...well pretty much anything it's designed for. Usually it's a cheap binder/ingredient in other things.

Basic Engrudo Recipe

Ingredients

• (2) parts cold water
• (1) part all-purpose flour (e.g., 2 cups of water and 1 cup of flour)

Instructions

1. Mix the Flour: In a bowl, whisk the flour into half of the cold water until it has a smooth, milky consistency and is completely free of lumps.
2. Boil the Water: Pour the remaining water into a pot and bring it to a boil on the stove.
3. Combine: Turn the heat off or low, and slowly pour the flour-water mixture into the boiling water while whisking continuously.
4. Thicken: Return to medium heat and stir constantly for 5–10 minutes until the mixture thickens to a gravy-like consistency and clears slightly.
5. Cool: Remove from heat and let it cool completely before using. It will thicken more as it cools.

Tips & Storage

• Prevent Lumps: Always use cold water to dissolve the flour initially. Using warm water will cause it to clump instantly.
• Preservation: Add a teaspoon of salt or vinegar to act as a natural preservative.
• Storage: Store leftover engrudo in an airtight container in the refrigerator. It will last for about 1 to 2 weeks.

As a bit of a twofer, here's a good Papier-Mâché tutorial....it doesn't use the engrudo, but you could use that to glue things made with it together.

"Free" GM Resource: Level 6/7 BX Adventure

OK, I know that I usually post a Free GM Resource and technically this is not free, but Pay-What-You-Want.

Hear me out though.....

How often do you come across a higher-level BX Adventure? Like...never, or at least that is my experience.

The God Towers of the Elophant is available as a PWYW adventure over at DTRPG. The links will take you there and should be associated with the author's affiliate link, not mine.....changing that would be a bit of a d**k move, IMNSHO.

Now if you want, you can head on over to the author's discourse website, The Cauldron. I'm not used to this type of site, and it felt weird to me trying to poke about, so I didn't too much.

**********

I did download and look at this adventure, and it's not an adventure in the traditional sense, but a large underground location inhabited by two disparate groups that mostly co-exist, but there will inevitably be some big conflict that the party should be present for. To me it felt like a much longer version of my "Tweak & Toss" Adventure Seeds.

I like it, but I can see  lot of GMs being disappointed if they had different expectations. I think I'll use it sometime, if that's saying anything....

Free GM Resource: 1shotadventures

 

I came across this blog consisting of adventures written by J.C. Connors. 

The adventures are for a variety of systems, and he has some some VTT assets and character sheets (for GURPS) available as well. Mr. Connors also has a YouTube channel, but that's a separate thing....

As of the time of this post there's more than 40 (!) adventures, and if you want to include the fact that some are written for multiple systems, then that number is closer to 100 (sorry, but I'm not counting all of them).

I suggest bookmarking and checking it out.

Free GM Resource: Mark Gosbell's itch.io Page

I was looking for some map icons the other day and I found some on itch.io. While I was going through them I realized a lot of what I was looking at was being made, and shared, by one guy: Mark Gosbell.

Instead of just sharing the free "thing" I was looking for I wanted to just share his whole page, which has 15 different freebie resources.....a Quindecuplefer? 

Instead of linking to individual freebies, here's a link (one of several) to the whole page.

The offerings:

1. Simple Tarot Deck Simulator
2. 75+ Free RPG Item Icons
3. Science Fiction TTRPG Tokens Free - HARD LIGHT ARGONAUTS
4. HARD LIGHT ARGONAUTS (FREE Tabletop RPG)
5. Classic Science Fiction Symbols
6. The Cold Red - A Shadowdark Supplement
7. Old School Blue Cave Map Symbols
8. Classic Cave Map Symbols
9. Old School Blue Dungeon Map Symbols
10. Classic Dungeon Map Symbols
11. Free Medieval Font - MoRk DuNgEoN
12. 70+ Free Flat Greyscale Dungeon Assets
13. Free Flat Greyscale Dungeon Assets 2
14. 50 Free Nature Assets Flat Greyscale
15. 50+ Hand Drawn Isometric Dungeon Assets

Some good stuff to be had here!

Free GM Resource: Some 3d Printing Files from MojiBake

I was look at/thinking of some 3d printed coins for a future project and ended up on a Kickstarter that is ending in less than a day from when I post this. I wasn't familiar with the company running said Kickstarter, Mojibake, but I did go to their website anyway.

I did discover that there were two sets of freebie downloads you could get for registering for emails, which I generally loathe, but if i was a smart man I'd have an email setup just for that kind of thing.....

...but anyway, this page had a link for some Dwarven Coin .stl files and this page (the homepage) had a couple figures, along with some printable labels and a card mat case. I do not know how long those coins will be available since that is a tie-in to the Kickstarter.

Most of their offerings are not my kind of thing, but the treasure chests that are the focus of the Kickstarter seem pretty cool to me.

Free GM Resource: Flail Ruleset (old-school fantasy brawler)

This week I'd like to introduce you to a small RPG publisher and their new game coming out:

Games Omniverous: Flail

Described as "A chaotic, frontstabbing OSR fantasy brawler where everything goes wrong - on purpose. Trip, swing, and fumble through a world that hits back."

Games Omniverous is giving the game's ruleset away for "free". Technically it isn't free because you have to follow them on Backerkit, but you don't have to pay a dime, so it is also technically free. This is literally a limited-time offer, so here's a bit of a twofer in case you come across this too late: Game Omniverous Free Flail Online Tools.

I've skimmed through the rules and it seems to be a quicker-play type game with relatively simple mechanics where the players will be burning through gear and probably PC sheets. More of live fast, die young while rolling a handful of dice.  It has some promise.....

Free GM Resource: Freesound.org

 

This week's Free GM Resource is a simple one: Freesound.org, a collection of freebie sound effects. If you're putting together a soundboard for your game, then you might need/want some good sound effects.

I think for the average fantasy TTRPG there might not be a lot of sounds you'll feel like downloading, but if you're doing a modern/futuristic game, then you'll likely find a lot more.

Like anything though, it'll depend on the level of effort you put in to it...