Resources For Every GM: Reference Part 8

Good afternoon everyone! Last week the Resources article got passed over, but I could not let that happen twice in a row. Today I have three reference books for you from my personal library that wouldn't be bad editions to your shelf. In fact, you might find these to be amazing books for your shelf even if you aren't a GM. Two of them are sort of a pair, but concern enough differences that I didn't want to lump them as one reference. The other heads towards the science fiction end of the spectrum, but only in original setting.


Star Wars: The Essential Guide To Alien Species (Ann Margaret Lewis): This is a fantastic book for any Star Wars nerd, especially one interested in creatures and races. The one I have on my shelf is from 2001 and is the first edition of this book to be printed. Obviously, there have been some additions since the Phantom Menace. Nevertheless, this book is of great use. If you are playing a Star Wars game, this book is almost essential because of how much data there is to it. As good as FFG's rule books are they can just not compare to the detail in books like this one. There are others in the series such as characters, weapons, droid, and planets. Alien species is the most universally useful one, however. Not that you need this book to make a rancor for your D&D game, but every page has something new you may not be aware of. Take the Amanin, for example. You get one shot in, Jabba's Palace (?), and an action figure. This takes it further describing the hunter-gatherers and just enough info for you to make a race from. They are slow, unless swinging from trees or, of course, rolling up into a ball and rolling at you. What an odd people to find in a D&D jungle. Give shamans some spells and you got a crazy NPC race of neutral tribesman. Yes, if you seek fleshed out creatures and races to spice up your table, this is a perfect book for you!


Diablo III: Book of Cain (Flint Dille): This book, and the next, are recent additions to my shelf thanks to Christmas gift cards and I love them. To be fair I am in love with the Diablo world and the mythos that Blizzard has given it over the years. The battle between good and evil is amazing and takes interesting turns on the world of Sanctuary. The Book of Cain reads like part fantasy world reference book, part history book, and part journal. That's because it is a representation of the in game object of the same name. In it the last Horadrim, Deckard Cain, tells the tale of how his order has fought evil over the centuries. It tells of the Lords of Hell, the Angiris Council, the Hells, the High Heavens, and more. The history of human-kind and the world are detailed here, as are some details from before Diablo III. Add this to a set of D&D books and do some work on monster stats and you could play quite the adventure in the Diablo world, even without ever having played it.


Diablo III: Book of Tyrael (Matt Burns & Doug Alexander): Yes, another Diablo book. Surprise! Tyrael is one of my favorite characters in the series because of his purpose in the story. He represents a lot to that story: humanity, justice, learning a different point of view, change. If the Book of Cain is the must have to run a Sanctuary adventure, then this is the must have for a prolonged campaign. Much of what is in here you can learn about in the game if you play it and if you looks for and listen to all the journals. This book provides it in a manner usable at the game table, though. Not only that, but it gives so much more. There is a timeline and a section on the various regions, orders, and people that exist in the world. If you aren't looking for a way to play a Diablo campaign, this books is still a great source of inspiration. Steal NPCs or orders for your game, or take notes on how they interact with their world. And, when it comes down to it, you need these two books if you love the Diablo series.

Resources For Every GM: Settings Part 3

I guess Sunday is becoming the regular day for these articles as I accidentally find myself writing them at the end of the week, but that's ok! Today I want to share with you three more setting to inspire you. Their links will take you to the wikis, mostly because most of you geeks will be vaguely familiar with them already. My goal today isn't to reveal new settings to look at, but to tell you why I think they are some of the best to take inspiration from. The theme today? Sci-fi!

Star Wars: Star Wars has been a sci-fi inspiration for decades and there is good reason. These movies are science fantasy as much as anything. Psionics (the Force), knights, different races, swords. Star Wars has it all. Technology is so advanced, and yet things are incredibly mundane in so many ways. Regardless, Star Wars has grown and developed into something so much more than it originally was. There are so many eras, characters, creatures, stories, themes, etc, etc, etc. Just look at what Fantasy Flight Games is doing for it as an RPG right now. One rule set to tell the story of bounty hunters, explorers, rebels, or Jedi. If you want, all of them! The setting is so diverse, and yet easily recognizable and containing of a certain feel. No matter what type of game you are playing there is a Star Wars story out there for you to take clues and hints from.

Star Trek: Star Trek is far more science fiction than Star Wars. Technobabble at its finest, space exploration, technological oddities, and futuristic problems. Sure there are fantasy like elements, just take Q for example, but when you get that deep into sci-fi that is bound to happen. When it comes down to it these are just handled differently. Advanced alien life forms vs. gods and goddesses. The thing about Star Trek is that it is a wonderful amalgam of large scale problems and small scale missions and exploration. There are dozens of races who are friendly and work together, some who haven't been seen yet, some who are neutral, and some at war with the Federation. It is a wonderful tableau of a campaign setting. Star Wars is diverse but its a very good vs. evil story. Star Trek is where you dive into the grey areas, the questions, and the unique situations. A GM can learn a lot from an episode of Star Trek!

Doctor Who: How could I make this list without including Doctor Who? This show represents a whole other side of science fiction. It is at once incredibly complex, but very simple. Time travel, paradoxes, life and death situations, impossibilities. Doctor Who isn't about fighting the enemy, it isn't about good vs. evil, and it isn't about exploring in the strictest sense. Doctor Who is about right vs. wrong and the grey area exists quite heavily in the show. It is about confronting wrong and doing something about it and it is about growth. It is about overcoming odds, no matter how overwhelming. Tabletop roleplaying games are about the same thing, overcoming odds. Sure exploring a dungeon is fun. Sometimes it is literal evil you are fighting. But sometimes, it is about confronting a problem there is no good answer to and making a choice.*

*Despite my praise for Doctor Who in these regards I do recognize Star Trek does the same, often. Just hear Picard's line, "It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose."

Untamed Rant New Year's Special!

A couple days later than intended but the New Years special resource episode of the Untamed Rant is uploaded! Check it out here!


UPDATE-here are those links I forgot yesterday

-http://www.sfwa.org/
-http://arcadia.net/Cruinne/DnD/Articles/worldbuilding.html
-http://inkarnate.com/
-https://www.dmsguild.com/
-https://slack.com/
-http://www.dmsupportgroup.com/
-http://tvtropes.org/
-http://whothefuckismydndcharacter.com/
-http://www.eviloverlord.com/lists/overlord.html
-http://jamesclemens.com/
-http://www.kimharrison.net/
-http://www.peterclines.com/
-http://www.jameslovegrove.com/

Resources For Every GM: Rules & Supplements Part 7

Greetings everyone! Today we get back to some core resources for your bookshelf. While these resources will be much more directed towards the Pathfinder or Dungeons & Dragons GM, they are pretty great book in general. The topic of this trio is equipment, especially weapons, because who doesn't need more diverse (or insane!) equipment??


Arms & Equipment Guide (3rd Edition D&D): I love this book. It wasn't gigantic, and it wasn't in color, but it was full of great stuff. The great thing about books like this is that gold value is relatively maintained throughout the editions, so that you don't need to go into much editing or double-checking there. This one, in particular, makes great use of that with all the various mundane items that can be found in Chapter 2. Clothing, food, drink, and trade goods are just a few of the items you can find here. Trade goods could be especially useful in filling out a dragon's hoard. I know what you're thinking too, but this stuff is in the main manual I use. Yes you are right, but this gives a large variety of examples to flesh out your world and make different locations unique from one-another. Vehicle, hirelings, creatures, and mercenaries are also helpful from this book even if you only use price points. The mechanics of it may not be the most helpful to everyone's game, but if you need a compact list of resources and items then this should be added to your library.


Weapons of Legacy (3.5 D&D): This book almost didn't make it on here. It is very mechanic heavy and entrenched in the 3rd Edition feat rules. However, it provides an example of something that few other books did: provide scaling magical items. I have always loved this idea. If I player find or even creates an item and grant it a name (magical or otherwise) it deserves to have a legacy. Granting magical effects and increasing its power over time with that of the character makes it more meaningful. There are also some good examples of this happening recently. In Critical Role, the vestiges gain power as they are used and their potential unlocked. In World of Warcraft, there are now legendary weapons that scale with your level and can be imbued with more and more power. In Destiny items can be consumed to increase the light level of the one you wield. Personally, this book is a great how-to guide, an example of how you can go about doing the same in your game. The fact that there is a whole chapter of optional rules provides just that much more insight into the process and the things associated with using scalable items. If you want a whole book of prime examples, this is the best one I have seen.


Adventurer's Armory (Pathfinder): This is the Pathfinder version of the Arms & Equipment guide. While it doesn't have things like the gelatinous cube mount, it does have a ton of fantastic stuff (and full color artwork!). Included are a number of unique weapons, like the boomerang, with rules how to use those and some unique weapon properties (like the ability to choke someone). In addition there are more great ideas for mundane items and their price points. Also included are examples (in the form of feats and the like) of equipment tricks you can learn and how to use certain items as spell foci. Other awesome sections include alchemist's ingredients and how they might effect a concoction, as well as a brief example of how to utilize items within a social encounter. For those who continue to love variety for their games, this is another book for you!

Resources For Every GM: Internet Part 8 / Audio Part 1

This week's resources article is another internet trio, despite the fact that I wanted to get away form that group for a little while. Two problems with that though. First, I really wanted to finally get around to throwing up three audio resources. Background music has really helped games for me in the best, and I know it helps a lot of other tables enjoy their games. The second problem is the simple fact that I am not sure there are quite enough resources for audio out there. OK, I take it back. As I write this I am duo-ing Internet Part 8 and Audio Part 1. This introduction will remain as such for everyone to know why. Forever!


Syrinscape: This is not even a web resource, technically. It's a application which you can get from the internet and, honestly, I love it. I wish I used it more often and may start reintroducing background tunes to our not-recorded-games. So Syrinscape has a free version / sound set. You can use this without registering, and can also purchase as many of the wonderful variety of sets as you like. Some of them are themed and some of them are designed for specific adventures (Pathfinder Adventure Paths). They come with ambient tracks, ambient sounds, and sound effects that exist within a mixer. The greater your collection grows the more you can do. If you can afford regular payments, subscribe and have access to the whole library of sounds. This library, of course, is only getting bigger. And do not worry, if you purchase separate sets you don't need to have a current subscription to access those. Needless to say, but there are almost too many ways to use this tool and if you really want those kind of audio options it is definitely the one for you!


Tabletop Audio: This is another fantastic ambient noise tool, and this one is on the web. While not quite as prolific as Syrinscape, this site has continued to grow. The library of tracks is up to over 100 at the time of writing this. These include themed tracks that might be ambience, music, or a combination. The variety is pretty good here, despite the fairly low track count, including everything from riverside town to a nighttime forest and an alien cantina to a luchador fight. To add on to this, the website has a new(ish?) feature that I have only just learned about: sound pads. These are similar to what Syrinscape has going on with sound effects. Each has a themed set of ambient noises, sounds, and effects for you to use in the background. Add a tab with music going and you could have a great scene set for your players, complete with effects. Of course, I haven't explored it so when you make your own pad on the site, I wouldn't be surprised if you can add a music track (if they aren't already lurking on those pads). Definitely a beautiful resource!


Ambient Mixer: This is a website I have only just begun exploring as a recent introduction to my bookmarks. The fantastic thing about this site is it is a mixer site to create the kind of atmosphere you want or need for whatever you are doing. Some of the top mixes on the home page include common areas of various Hogwarts Houses, Lord of the Rings locations, and the TARDIS. Obviously, there is a lot of sound here that can be used to a general feel for whoever you are. Greatest of all is that this site is all the shared audio templates are under a Creative Commons License. Thanks to the amazing creators of those works the site uses there is the ability to use the work for more than personal reasons. Be aware, of course, of the rules associated as such and take responsibility for going about that the proper way!

Resources For Every GM: New Years 2016

Happy New Year all! If you are reading this you survived 2016, congratulations! Yesterday I looked back at last year's list and discovered I hadn't bought any of the games I meant to, but I did manage to play four out of the six I wanted to. Today I want to make a new list of games to try to play this year. Like the last one this will be a mix of games I have played before, haven't yet played, and still need to obtain!


Play Again

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness: This was an obvious pick to move from still haven't played to play again. It was a bunch of fun and the party was pretty fantastic. After playing a one-session adventure, we have a decent grasp on the rules and how rough a fight can be. Knowing that, it will definitely lend itself to a multi-session adventure. I will probably do some kind of retrospective-review-thing for TMNT when the session airs on Untamed Dice, but for now I can say that the game feels pretty good. The way the system works combat is fairly loose and seems like it could take a long time, but it passes by quicker than you'd expect. Chances are this game will make it back to the table before the year is even half over.

Monster of the Week: I really enjoyed this Powered by the Apocalypse game but I didn't get to play as much of it has I would have liked. Tackling it again would be awesome for Untamed Dice, or just to play in general. The system was interesting enough for me, that I want to look into the other PbtA games out there, but for now I think I can settle for some awesome supernatural mysteries. Of course, the game isn't restricted to the supernatural. You can do an X-Files style game if you wanted, the game just represents that genre of weekly TV show. Just making the characters gives you a good feel for that. Hopefully, this makes it back to the table soon.

Cypher System: A new discovery for me in 2016 was the Cypher System. I had heard of Numenera and The Strange but never looked into them. When I finally did I discovered Cypher System, though I did not have the time or money to delve into another universal system. Then I found their Kickstarter for worlds of Cypher System. It was all over then and right before I received Gods of the Fall I picked up the core book. We had a great time playing it (that game is the origin of ceiling buffalo we occasionally joke about) and all want to play it again. For me, I would like to start fresh (we only did one session many, many weeks ago) and dive into Predation when it arrives at my door. As soon as that happens you can expect to see an adventure coming to Untamed Dice!

Honorable Mentions: Cats, End of the World, Kobolds Ate My Baby, Star Wars, Shadowrun, Mouse Guard


Still Haven't Played

Our Last Best Hope: Purchased alongside Wield and Cats during PAX East last year, this game sits next to its companion book which I purchased later in the year. Sadly, neither has been used yet. The thing about this game is that it is GM-free. To me, this game feels like a hybrid between a board game and a TTRPG. It isn't the only one that could make this claim, but it was one of the only ones I have see that approaches this from the RPG side of things. For those who don't know this game, it represents a whole campaign in one sitting. What kind of campaign? The disaster movie. Giant monster, sudden ice age, killer asteroids, that kind of thing. I really hope we make the time for this game to hit our table, and it shouldn't be hard to pick just one night.

Kult: This one makes the list though I don't technically have it yet. I no fairly little about this game still, but I do know I love horror. When this Kickstarter popped up on my feed one day i had to check it out and the trailer immediately caught my attention. It's the kind of game where everything is dark a gritty and the world is nothing that you think it is. To me the game seems very Lovecraftian in many ways, but without going full cosmic horror and tentacles. Instead it is more of a dark, supernatural feel to it where the world is very different and way scarier than we ever thought. Recently the released the quick start guide to us backers and I am excited to dig into it and hopefully get a game in soon.

Star Trek Adventures: I had to include a second game that isn't technically out yet, because I am just so excited about it. The qualifier for this one is that beta testing is out and I haven't managed to run it for our group. We signed up, excited to take part in a play test where our adventures can influence the released product. Sadly the initial play testing documents came out about a month ago and, as you know, December was really busy. While we won't be sharing it on Untamed Dice, this game is one I am really excited to get onto the table and I really hope the game (and I) can share the awesomeness of the Star Trek universe with my uninitiated friends.

Honorable Mentions: Torchbearer, Wield, CthlhuTech, Call of Cthulhu, All Outta Bubblegum, Dread, Open Legend


Games To Buy

Ryuutama: I NEED this game. OK so, again, I know little details about the game or the system. Once again, however, I also know what I like and I love the idea of this game. Explained to me as a cross between Oregon Trail and a Miyazaki movie, I instantly picked the game up. Flipping through the book I was also greeted with art that gave me a nice relaxing but incredibly fun feeling as I recalled similar art in old Harvest Moon games. I was so drawn to the game that I almost bought it instead of the three games I did buy at PAX East. I also specifically didn't read too much of that book otherwise I may have done just that. Not that it would have been a bad decision, per se, but three games trumped one. If I see the hardcover at PAX this year, I will be picking it up.

Masks: Last year a different superhero game took a spot on this list. I never ended up getting it and, though I still want it, this one has replaced it in my list of priorities. Every time I heard about this game I heard Young Justice mentioned. The more I heard this the more I wanted to play Masks. Now, I haven't yet played it at all, but I've been looking for a good supers RPG for a while now. If this system makes for a good Young Justice or Teen Titans adventure, then I have to have it. Such a game style would be perfect to get the group into a supers RPG.

N.E.W.: This is just half of a new RPG pair, the other being O.L.D. The headline for the system is What's Old Is New and I like that idea. N.E.W. is the sci-fi half of this system and O.L.D. is the fantasy half. The idea is different from most games that come out these days, as far as I can tell. Instead of being rules light and narrative, it is very crunchy. Lots to dig your teeth into, but a toolbox to let you do virtually anything you want. The concept intrigues me and I am interested to look into playing something with more old school crunch.

Honorable Mentions: Tales of Arcana, Icons, Dungeon World, Paranoia, Titansgrave

Resources For Every GM: Christmas 2016

For this years holiday special I wanted to list some inspiration for winter adventures. While the holidays are beginning to draw to a close, it doesn't mean you have gotten to them in your game. Many of you are on hiatus for the holiday, but you can bring the holiday back to the table with these Yule-time horrors.


Jolakotturinn, the Christmas Cat: I only recently learned about this guy, and i want to know who has been keeping him a secret. While we all know Santa encourages you to be nice throughout the year or else you get coal instead of toys, the Christmas Cat is a lot more dangerous and wants you to make sure you work hard. It is a tradition, Icelandic I have read, that you get new clothes for Christmas, but only if you finished your work on time. Those who are lazy are punished by becoming a sacrifice to the Yule Cat and, well, eaten. The needy might not have jobs, so children are also encourage to do enough to gift clothes to the needy so they do not become sacrificed unnecessarily. Imagine the one-shot you could do with this terror!


Gryla and the Yule Lads: These are another Icelandic monster come to threaten you if you have been bad. Gryla, who has in more recent times become the mother of the Lads, is an ogress whom will kidnap, cook, and eat children who are bad. There are 13 (maybe more) Lads and all of them are terrible in their own ways, but they have habits of stealing things from you. Ketrokur, for example, uses a hook to steal meat from you. Sounds like the perfect group for an extended Yule adventure! Oh, and if that's not enough for you, rumor has it the Yule Cat lives with old Gryla.


Frau Perchta: Another witch to terrorize you for the holiday. In Germany and Austria, you better be good if you want gifts. Hells, you better be good if you don't want a horrible torture. Those who are sinful are punished by Pertcha and will probably wish they were actually dead. You see, the Frau rips out your intestines and replaces it with trash. That's right, who needs internal organs when you have trash? Honestly, I like this one because there is a mystery layer that could be added to an adventure. A little magic could allow the afflicted to survive a bit and then when discovered, you get a who dunnit. And witches? A classic that is underused these days if you ask me.

Resources For Every GM: Cartography Part 4

For today's Resources article I have three more map-related links for you to check out!


Map to Globe: This incredible tool was shared on the DM Support Group recently, and I couldn't help but push it up on the resources to share here. This tool allows you to take an image and upload to be turned into a globe. Not only can this be rotated but there are plenty of options from which to edit the globe or look at it differently. The direction and intensity of the sun can be adjusted, a pole line can be created, and the background can be manipulated. Screenshots are available to be downloaded, as well as GIFs of the globe rotating! There are also sketch views and a number of map projects that can be applied to the image. Frankly, the ability to take an image and turn it into a globe (even if its virtual) is an awesome tool, plain and simple. To take that and play with it in so many different ways is just fantastic and definitely worth checking out for your home brew worlds.


How Fast Could You Travel?: The great thing about Twitter is the sheer number of random things you can encounter. This was one of those things. The article discusses the change and development of travel in the United States over the course of it's early history. There are maps through out it showing you how far you could have expected in how long. How long would it take to get to Florida from New York City in 1800, for example. The answer? At least 2 weeks. In between all the maps is the article explaining why these things changed as paths and roads were developed and later trains. This is an invaluable resource for getting a good idea of how travel would work in a fantasy setting. Pair it with some quick Google searches for maps with terrain and a distance key and you begin to understand some things a bit better than before. This article is worth the read for anyone who wants a bit more realism / accuracy when they tell players how far things are (something I have a tendancy to just pull out of my ass).


Custom Cloth Maps: There is little more to say about this one. Geekify, Inc has developed a very cool service for us Game Masters. Among the other things you can get from them, they also provide you with an opportunity to take an image of your home brew world's map and get it printed on cloth! Of course, this comes in many sizes and doesn't have to be a map. Perhaps it is a scroll or some other prop for you to use in games. While a bit expensive, it provides an option for you to take your map and prop game to the next level. I know it would certainly surprise my players!

Resources For Every GM: Settings Part 2

Ok, so for this week's resource article I really wanted to share some of the settings that have been inspiring me to work on some of my worlds recently. They are unique worlds that have a lot to offer in both general inspiration or as entire settings from which to run a game.


Mutant New York (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles): Honestly how could you not love the idea of this kind of game. It crosses the lines of so many different genres / subgenres that it isn't even funny. The TMNT could, in various adventures, qualify for any number of games. You have intrigue, you have super-heroics, science fiction, martial arts, and all around action movie action. TMNT is incredibly diverse but everyone knows it when they see it. Ninja turtles. The only other place you get that is in something trying to emulate the Ninja Turtles. If you see the Foot Clan or Utroms or mousers, you know what you are in for. In fact, I would bet anthropomorphic triceratops would lead a lot of people back to TMNT. I mean who doesn't love some space triceratops people!? Not only do you get all this from the TMNT, but there are a number of eras from which you can play or take influence from. The original comics, the IDW reboot, the 90s cartoon, the 2000s cartoon, the most recent cartoon, or either of the movie series. There is so much flexibility without loosing what makes this setting unique: mutants and martial arts. Personally I cannot wait to play the TMNT one shot next weekend, and hope to play it again in the future.


Robot Future (Mega Man Universe): I love Mega Man. I cannot actually describe how infatuated I am with the Mega Man franchise. Now, to be fair I don't own all the games, nor do I own the comics. However, I watched the cartoon growing up and I played days worth of hours worth of Mega Man X. I have also dabbled in wikis. It is just the entire concept of the basic Mega Man universe and all the concepts that build out of it. Its an indeterminate future with lots of advancements, and yet not quite so many. It is almost entirely robotics based. We have a robot for everything. And that, of course, means robots for evil, or turned evil, or corrupted in some way. But the idea that there are sentient robots and some of them are "alive" and some of them don't seem to be and there are a handful which can borrow the abilities of others? It is so cool. I forget what forum I read it on, but the person argued it very well and I agree, Mega Man is within the super hero genre and it exists there in a very specific unique way. That's one of the reasons I love it. It's not just a fun platformer franchise, it is also a marvelously developed world. If you want even more reason to love it look up The Megas, specifically their Get Equipped album. Beautiful. Anyways, this setting has inspired an entire setting of my own. If there was a Mega Man RPG I would play it, but I am almost as excited to share the world inspired by it.


Slumberland (Little Nemo Universe): This universe will either be completely familiar to you, hugely nostalgia inspiring, or something you have never heard of. My first introduction to it was in the NES game Little Nemo: The Dream Master. I remember two things about this game. First it is an incredibly interesting idea that includes a crazy world and the ability to feed certain animals candy and, in return, you ride them and gain special abilities. It was rather difficult and I admit to utilizing a Game Genie to surpass a tree climbing portion which involved, I believe, a difficult to make jump and an angry buzzard. Later I was introduced to Little Nemo: Adventures In Slumber Land, many years later. This was a terrific anime movie that informs you much more about the world and how interesting it is. Both of these things are based on a comic strip from 1905. Yeah going to the way back machine here, but that is because of the unique style of this setting. Sure dream-based worlds have existed in the decades before the adaptations, but not like this. As such it made a good game, a great movie, and wonderful setting. I am using it to influence the Fae realm of Luxarrah and it alone would make for some terrific adventures.

Resources For Every GM: Internet Part 7

Hey everyone, today I wanted to expand your bookmarks once again!


Campaign Crawler: This website is new to me, and pretty new to the internet. Campaign Crawler is a database of table top role playing game campaigns. As various campaigns become ever-more numerous, it helps to have a place where you can search or browse them. Now, this is a new site so there is a limited number of campaigns. Hundreds are there, mind you, but most of the database features 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons material including Wizards, other publishers' products, and a lot of DMs Guild material. Browsing it I have also found some Call of Cthulhu and AGE entries in the database, so there is a lot of potential for this database to become something huge. It will require interest and visitors though! If you need a little more pushing to go to the site, the entries already there are well done. They include varying amount of summary but have rule-sets, authors, page numbers, settings, and more associated with them. Additionally the page will lead you to similar products and link you to where you can purchase the product.


Kobold Fight Club: A web tool to make any Dungeon Master's life a whole hell of a lot easier comes in the form of Kobold Fight Club. This tool allows you to enter your party size and level in order to determine the difficulty of various creatures based on Challenge Rating. In addition the entries include size, type, alignment and source of the entry. The entries can be filtered be these, by level range, environment, and search. If this wasn't helpful enough, you can build and save encounters to use in your game and figure out how difficult those encounters will be. These encounters can be saved and accessed later to create a place to keep and run them from with ease. As of right now, there are over a dozen sources that can be included in any searches or encounters, but it will be up to the DM to have access to the stats of those creatures.


Matthew Colville's YouTube Channel: I can't say enough about this channel. While the channel isn't new, Matt Colville has begun adding a significant number of TTRPG videos. To be fair, most of these are D&D directed, but there is so much information presented in these that is great for players (or potential players) of any game. The Running The Game series, is perhaps the one I would suggest most as Matt shares much of his experience and hints on how to go about things at the table. Random encounters, making characters, why we play, and dead ends are all topics that can be found. He addresses the topics carefully and well-spoken. Do yourself a favor and take advantage of an experienced DM's advice!

Resources For Every GM: References Part 7

Today I have a variety of books for you to expand your ideas for mythologies and creatures. Two of them are pretty comprehensive books with tons of information for you to draw from. The third is an interesting book I got for Christmas last year that is a fictional science book about mythological creatures.


The Element Encyclopedia of Native Americans (Adele Nozedar): As always Barnes & Nobel provides random deals on random informative books, and this one was no exception. Like many books this is not the end-all resource for the topic but it has so much good information in it. The book is one in a series of similar books that relay lots of information about specific topics. In this case we are given over to the Native American tribes, specifically of the United States. The symbols, ideas, and tribes of U.S. Native Americans are presented here in great number. The reason I like this book is because it is different from most of the other mythology books you can find. Aside that it is not about a "classical" mythology, and perhaps for that reason, it also includes a greater amount of entries concerning things such as animals and cultural occurrences. There are entries for horses, bears, dances, and hunting. Most other books concern the gods, horrible creatures, and their stories. In this book you will find much more to do with nature and its balance, a wonderfully refreshing belief system compared to "standard" mythologies. If you want to help make a diverse fantasy world for your players, this is an indispensable resource and will give you enough insight to create a culture unlike those often presented.


The Element Encyclopedia of Fairies (Lucy Cooper): Another entry into the Element Encyclopedia series, this book is an incredible resource. The title should make evident what it is about, but this might include so much more than many people expect. While D&D has provided us with nice breakdowns and categorizations of different creatures over the years, there is a great deal of variety and vagueness to the myths they are based off. This book includes what you would expect from brownies and gnomes to redcaps and pixies, but goes deeper. In it are included entries of Celtic mythology, as well as creatures from Russian, Greek, Norse mythologies and more. You will find the origins for kobolds and trolls and even entries for undead like banshees. Many such creatures overlap in cultural placement and, though we now separate them at the table, they are virtually the same creatures. If you are curious about fey creatures, supernatural tales of old, or some of the cultural overlap that might exist in different parts of the world (real or fantasy) then this book is your best bet!


The Resurrectionist ( E.B. Hudspeth): I love this book and would probably have bought it for the diagrams alone if not given to me as a gift. The book is presented as the lost work of a Doctor Spencer Black and the first part of it is a bit of a biography of who he was. It describes his interests as a scientist and his breaking into the world of natural oddities. The second portion of the book is much less text and a lot more pictures. Here is presented a codex of little-known animals from around the world. The section contains creatures like harpies, centaurs, and mermaids and gives each of them a classification, species name, and description. In addition there are various images of their skeletons, musculature, and other things such as wingspan. Muscles and bones are even individually labeled like would be appropriate in such a text. Honestly, if you have any interest in biology, at all, and play D&D or some other RPG this is a fantastic book to have.

Resources For Every GM: References Part 6

*I realize all the links I put out probably say resources part 6, didn't see it until last one, oops*

Good afternoon all. I have been having some trouble with these Resource articles on time (well on time to my desired schedule) because I almost always look at what I have and go, "this is totally great for *insert theme here*!" So my prepared list of resources is like 8 weeks long, but none of them have 3. this is a bit of a problem, or it was at least. I have decided to try to lighten up on that a bit and I have also come up with a few sets I can use as well. Yes these are, in fact, themed. Sue me. Today I have some books not intended for GMs at all, but for writers. We all know that GMs are, or at least become, writers of a sort.


Bird By Bird (Anne Lamott): This is a book that was assigned in my creative writing class this semester, and it definitely a resource worth looking into. It isn't my favorite book on writing but it is a good one. As the title suggests Lamott writes about life as much, if not more than about writing, but for an author like her writing is life. As a result you can a great amount of insight into the general workings of your average writer, you average creative type. The reason I suggest this specific book is that, very quickly, you get the realization that you aren't the only one who get distracted when trying to write. This happens to me whether I am writing or working on campaign material, and I imagine it happens to you as well. The way she writes is even similar to this sticking on and repeating a distracting thought as she describes a day meant for writing spent doing like 15 other things. If nothing else it is good to know your bad habits are not only yours and may even reinvigorate your self-confidence when such days hit you.


Fierce On The Page (Sage Cohen): Another work I read for my creative writing class, this one I liked better than Bird By Bird. The book is separated into 75 short chapters, or essays really because each one can easily be read without ever having read over any of the others. Each essay talks about a different aspect of not just writing, but also life. She uses her life experiences and how those related to her writing to help reveal how directly everything in your life is connected to the creative process. Cohen gives suggestions on how to de-clutter and become comfortable with your own process and troubles so that you can get back to the important things like writing, and for you guys Game Mastering!


Writing Fantasy & Science Fiction (Orson Scott Card, Phillip Athens, more): This may be the most useful book for GMs, especially aspiring writers who GM. I do need to mention the one problem I have found in the first section of the book, though. There is a tendency for the subject matter to be related towards and with respect with science fiction. While not ignoring fantasy, there does seem to be a lacking in specifics related to it. Nevertheless, this is an amazing resource for what you could get out of it. Aspiring authors will find the entire thing helpful, but GMs will find the ten chapter of part four of great use. There is basic information on a number of cultures, religions, vocabulary, weapons, commerce, castles, and more. Much of this can be learned through various other sources and the internet, but to have one collection of similar base material is of incredible use.

Resources For Every GM: Creatures Part 2

Today I am back to extend the Halloween season and continue on last week's Resources article. Once again I have three creatures with the potential to haunt one's dreams. The entities in question today are all frightening because there is so much unknown about them. That unknown factor is often more frightening than the most fearsome creatures you know well.


The Thing: The Thing is an alien creature that hold it's origins within film. Specifically we are talking about the creature from the Carpenter remake and its prequel/reboot. There is virtually nothing we know about the creature other than it can survive being encased in ice for untold lengths of time and harbors itself within the blood of living creatures (or at least mammals). It does this with frightening subtlety and you can never know who has been "replaced" with the alien. Even if you do manage to discover a test, like the blood test in the movie, there is an inherent paranoia to the entire endeavor. Everyone must be tested, but can you be sure you are not infected, as it were? Probably not, and infection means death to destroy the creature. Of course resisting the test creates the allusion that you are on of them. It becomes a paranoia-driven problem with no good solution. And if that isn't enough, there is the little fact that the creature is amorphous and transmutable, growing and manipulating a variety of appendages seemingly at will, while still maintaining the basic caricature of the host. If you are looking to throw paranoia, in-fighting, and desperation into a group this is certainly a great way.


The Silence (Doctor Who): The Silence have intrigued me as a race of aliens since they first appeared in Doctor Who and they have great potential for long-term campaign villains. By their very nature these beings are forgotten by those who have looked upon them. How does one piece together knowledge about something they can have no memory of? Only indirectly, through notes or other reminders. Of course then you have to believe whatever those notes say, despite lacking any memory of such. This fact makes them perfect villains and evil organization runners. Why kill someone if they cannot remember you? Instead you can work from the shadows and manipulate things and plant seeds of thought. Perhaps the notes you left yourself are not exactly what you wanted to write but what they did. Like The Thing, this creature instils a bit of paranoia into a game but a slow, deep-seated paranoia. One based on questions that may already be answered, but whose answers are lost. Rather than trying discover who is actually a creature, you wait to discover what you should already know and who may, or may not, be influenced by the creatures that sit in the blank spaces of your memory.


Slender Man: The idea of Slender Man is a fascinating one to me because it represents so much potential through the purposeful lack of information on him. Created as a creepy pasta, this entity has gained a lot of traction sparking games, videos, stories, and movies. His motives are a mystery and various stories allude to different motives. What is known about Slender Man is that you cannot see him with the naked eye, but only through electronic devices. Whether it is pictures, movies, or live video feeds. There also is a tendency that his interest grows in you once you have discovered him and become interested in who or what he is. To me, Slender Man is a modern fairy tale. He is not urban legend, some fiendish creature developed from once true stories. No, he is a creature that only seems to become more real or possible with each telling. Something that is blamed for accidents, but which cannot be real. Something that may have started as a simple story or photo but has developed a life of its own. Who's to say that there are not some pictures out there featuring Slender Man that were never meant to?

Resources For Every GM: Creatures Part 1

This was going to come out yesterday, but was delayed for two reasons. You know the first if you follow me on Twitter. Our refrigerator is broken and I had to spend a good amount of time working on that. And, of course, the evaporator fan need to be replaced despite best efforts. The second reason is because I haven't done anything Halloween themed or related at all! Shame on me! So today (and next week too) will be some Halloween inspirations for your games. Specifically, these three are horrific beings that are rather terrifying and/or create terrifying scenarios.


The Flood (Halo Universe): I couldn't do a Halloween Resources article without committing a portion of my time to the Flood from Halo. Now they aren't the MOST horrifying thing out there. For those who have simply played the game (especially if the deeper lore is of little interest to you), the flood are just horrible fungus zombies that really annoying, really quick. But over the course of the games we learn that, yes they are fungal zombies. Kind of. There is an intelligence to the Flood, perhaps there is or was multiple intelligences to them. We know them as graveminds and they control the flood like a queen ant controls a nest. Only worse. And more gross. And WAY smarter. That's not the most horrifying bit though, they want to devour everything until there is nothing left. Like zombies their is only hunger. But they remember, they wait. Take what is horrible about hive minds, zombies, possession, and add some nasty fungus and you have the hive. The Forerunners build the halo rings to destroy all life in the universe to starve the damn things before life began anew. To go to such lengths!? Yes, I would say the Flood are a great, simple enemy to add to a game with plenty of room for greater complexity and doomsday scenarios.


The Hive (Destiny Universe): Speaking of hunger, leave it to Bungie to go all out on the idea for their next franchise. The Hive are obviously a much more wild, Lovecraftian, what-if brain child of those who either created the flood or really loved what they represented. The Hive were born of ancient warfare and escape, though. They dug too deep, as the saying goes, and what they found was otherworldly. A philosophy so powerful, perverse, and not necessarily false that it was utilized like magic empowering a family and creating a race. The essence of the Hive is the sword logic, that the whole point of the universe comes down to, essentially eat or be eaten. The story of this development is fantastic and disturbing (Book of Sorrows go read it), but it comes down to being more successful, killing more, consuming more essence of others. All to become more powerful. Things get pretty crazy as the Hive wreck havoc through the universe (and dimensions). What is real, not real, magic, philosophy, and laws of nature all become questioned when dealing with the Hive. Add the Taken into that mix? Things get crazy, and scary. Lovecraftian at their core, Bungie has seeded the story with those who learned more about the Hive than you should (looking at you Eris Morn). Those alone are worth looking into for NPC development.


Weeping Angels (Doctor Who Universe): Again, a creature I could not write this article without mentioning. "Blink" is still one of my all-time favorite episodes of Doctor Who and the angels are one of the most frightening. And they don't even kill you. These are a very narrative monster, but make a fantastic one for such game styles. Although they could do a real switch-up for a regular game with lots of combat. All because they are virtually indestructible while being looked at. Some would say they are just made of stone, but the term the Doctor uses is quantum-locked (if I remember). Now there are many ways to interpret that, but if you ask me, the biggest changes something can ever go through a quantum and exist as probabilities and (if that's true) than you cannot affect something that is quantum locked. Sure, sure site some examples or whatever theories. Regardless, they're terrifying. Near indestructible while you look at them, quicker than a pixie on crack when not. Never kill you, but send you back in time, somewhen. For an adventuring party? That is less recoverable than death!

Resources For Every GM: Reference Books Part 5

Hello everyone and sorry for the delay (again). Today's reference books follow the theme of the mysterious thanks to a bargain bin at Barnes & Noble! Of course, in some cases we are looking to explore and explain the mysterious and in others we can only guess, probe, and wonder. Regardless of what kind of help or inspiration you need, one of these may be of help to you.


The Secret Language of Star Signs (Jane Struthers): First we have a book about astrology, a topic that tries to reveal information about how the universe works in all its mysterious ways. This is a book all about the Zodiac, specifically the classical zodiac of the Greeks. It contains all the information you could ever want to include the Zodiac and its varietal meanings in your campaign world, or as a jump point to create your own. There are sections for each of the different astrological signs and in these are described the personality traits of men, women, and children born to them. Additionally there are sections on things like health, work, relationships, and food which provide you with information on specifics for a sign. What are the spending habits of an Aries? Well, this book has the answers!


The Secret Language of Fortune Telling (Sarah Bartlett): Next is a book about trying to decipher the hidden meanings of the world and predict the greatest mystery of all: the future. I love this book because it provides you with a source of methodologies from around the world. No need to rely on making up or glossing over details in game or avoiding the presence of fortune tellers in game. With this book you can have fortune tellers of all kinds from around the world in your city willing to take some coin and reveal the future of the PCs. In fact, the book is detailed enough that, for example, you could do a fairly well informed palm reading of the player's hand as if they were their character. Or prep one of their PC making assumptions about the spacing of the lines of their palms, giving an air of legitimacy whether you want the fortune teller to be the real deal or not. Examples of techniques in the book include intuition, tarot, runes, numerology, and tea leaf reading.


Unsolved Mysteries (Joel Levy): Now this book is actually all about mysteries, if you couldn't guess that yourself. In it is a collection of actual things that still plague our minds today. It is broken down into four major sections which cover places, events, artifacts, and sightings. Fantasy worlds are full of extraplanar creatures, magic, and gods. Sci-fi worlds are full of strange technology, aliens species, and galactic oddities. Use some real-life mysteries as the basis of weird events in your world and pieces of history and discussion. This book will give you plenty to work with from big foot to UFOs and El Dorado to lost Roanoke. Let the real world inspire you!

Resources For Every GM: Cartography Part 3

Hello everyone! Sorry for this week's delay but I have been working out some things for Untamed Dice, the next Untamed Rant, and such. Today I have three more cartographer's resources for you, each covering different aspects of what you may need in your mapping needs. Whether it is tiles for battle maps, area maps, or region mapping these links should cover you.


Inkarnate: I love this tool. It is an incredible tool for those who have less time than they would like to practice and work out a hand-drawn continent or region map. The maps it can produce are fantastic looking, and appear drawn out. There a plenty of options for terrain colors and a good amount of options for icons to include on the map. Recently a feature was added that allowed you to upload your own images for use too. Once you are done with the map, which can be saved to your account to work on later, you can download it as a .jpeg to print out or share with your players. Best of all it is all browser based and no need to download any programs to use or access the tool. With some care and a little trial and error great maps can be produced for your campaign. The only problem, and it is a fairly minor one, is that once you use this tool you will easily be able to recognize other maps as having been made with it.


Heroic Maps: This website is one I found recently while trying to prep for my Roll20 D&D game. While the free resources that can be found using the in-app searches work fine, it can be time-consuming to figure out what works well and looks right together. There are plenty of people who make or have made tiles for things like Roll20, but I have found I like this one the best. There are a number of great locations and themes from which to choose from, the only problem you may find is in the necessity to purchase most of them. They do come in themed packs and/or layouts, however, and you can get them right at DriveThruRPG. A word of caution when using them for Roll20. They are BIG files, at least as far as uploading into your library is concerned. There are many you will have to open up and save as .jpegs to make them smaller files. Once this is done, though, you can upload them and resize them to match your grid (and they come with grided & gridless images!). This process what easy for my with photshop, but I imagine it should be just as easy with a free program like Gimp as well.


MSJ Maps: I have had this on my radar since the time I joined Twitter. There are some great area maps and even some tiles for you to take a look at, and the art style is fantastic! It is unique and distinctive with some awesome ideas for battle locations that can inspire your games on their own. I would definitely suggest following MSJ on Twitter and bookmarking his site. If you can also become a patron and reap the rewards of some truly amazing maps! I bet with a little work these too could be used on Roll20 or similar apps as well.

Resources For Every GM: Alternate Games Part 3

To start off the return of Resources for Every GM I have some games for you guys to try out. All three of these are a bit different from your average tabletop fantasy (re: D&D). They are, however, great games in their own right.

Cypher System: I have talked about this system a few times now, but it is a system I fell in love with quite quickly. It isn't hard for me to enjoy a game, to be fair, though there is always a reason. The Cypher system is not one that I became attached to because of the various worlds created for it, as is often the case. I did discovered it by looking into those worlds and, when I backed the Kickstarter recently, it was the perfect excuse to check it out. The thing about Cypher is that you define your character in description, a single sentence and that determines the pool of powers you have to choose from. That factor, along with the focus on exploration and discovery, make this a fantastic narrative game, rewarding risk taking and expecting you to use items in order to get more. The fact that this is a universal system allows for you to do anything with it.

Monster of the Week: This game, based on the Apocalypse system, is so much fun because it tackles something I love: monster of the weeks. Whether we are talking Scooby-Doo or X-Files, Supernatural or Doctor Who, monster of the weeks are something I have always enjoyed. There is a certain flair to them, they are drama at times, sitcom at others, but both of these are created, not by a scenario mimicking life but by introducing a, well, monster. The fact that such a formula can be applied to so many styles makes it that much more enjoyable, and Monster of the Week takes this formula and applies it to the game table. Character choices are vague enough to mix into a variety of settings, but specific enough to see the influences and style. The formula for making those shows plays itself out in the rules equally well, and playing the game creates the feel of being in one of those shows. There is little more to say about the game except that you should check it out if any of these shows appeal to you.

4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons: I saved this one for last for two reasons. First of all, it is D&D, thats not much of an alternate from your average game. Especially if that game isn't already something like Savage Worlds, Cypher, or Shadowrun. The second reason is because there is a lot of dislike for this game and I didn't want its appearance to chase you from the article before the other two games were mentioned. 4th Edition is included in this list today because it has been on my mind of late. We looked into it when doing our resurrection episode for the Untamed Rant and I began to recall all the reasons I loved the game, something I have mentioned before. This version of D&D is so different from the others, it stands alone. It is designed for high fantasy. You can get away with low magic, gritty games in other editions but in 4th Edition there is only high powered heroic fantasy and that makes it great. The game is built around it and thrives on it. Now, that's not to say you cannot do the same in other editions, on the contrary, but you should absolutely give 4th Edition some of your attention if you want to get a high powered game designed to make the characters gods in their own right.

Autumn Approaches...Finally!

Before I get into what has been going on, I just wanted to thank everyone who has continued watching the blog for updates, all our listeners of Untamed Dice, and everyone who helps keep the creative juices flowing on Twitter. You are the best.

Things have been pretty crazy for the past month or so. Those of you who have followed my updates here know a bit of why and those of you who follow me on Twitter have a good idea. August, very quickly, got away from me. In fact, I am having trouble recognizing the fact that we are already halfway through September. While Summer is always pretty busy for me, the end of it really got crazy this year.

First off, I work IT at a high school and there is a lot of upgrades being done to the system. So, in addition to the prep for the start of the year, there was also a significant amount of extra work. The result was much shorter breaks for lunch and less time after the workday to get things done. Secondly, I work at an ice cream shop during the summer and this year we lost some employees, we had some less than awesome hires, and just generally were busier than last year. The main result of this was just longer, harder nights each weekend. Both of these jobs, with the school year approaching and the season nearing its end, only got crazier as September approached. Very suddenly it was September and even more suddenly we have reached today.

I made a decision in the beginning of the month though, and I have, obviously, been taking a break from making sure stuff get on here. Getting things outside of the blog to make myself more able and comfortable to get things done was a big part of this. Resting, cleaning, organizing. And a lot of thinking. Untamed Scribe and I have also talked about what's been going on and what will be going on here. To best relate to you our plans I am going to break things up a bit.

Notes of the Wandering Alchemist

In August I did attempt to expand on my Monday notes throwing up some of the items I had noticed or run into over the week. Announcements, new Kickstarters, releases, and other related things were all included. I want to continue this and will continue doing the news posts this way, with a couple tweaks. First off all I may do this twice a week depending on how much stuff I manage to come across. Secondly, I will be creating a separate post for updates to the Blog. In fact, I mean to be less strict on myself for posts like that in timing and more lenient on when they come out. I will not be sharing every single post to various sources, though links to each and every post will likely still journey through Twitter and Facebook.

Additionally I will continue to release Resources for Every GM again, once a week, though I may change the day. Tuesday and Thursday are still the two best days to get big posts out there, however, and it is likely to stay on Thursday. A minor change will be in increasing reviews. A big part of this is the large number of DMs Guild titles I have at this point. I want to begin getting reviews out for those and not use them as Resources replacements. Instead I will throw those up around once a week when I start getting to it. Probably on weekends.

What all this means is that I will be more focused on getting Resources articles out regularly, getting more reviews out, and sharing links to awesome stuff more. As this all becomes routine, I will continue to seek to improve it, but there are other projects to work on as well.

Untamed Dice

We haven't had a new episode in a number of weeks now, sadly. At first this was a simple lack of time to edit properly. Now it is a deliberate decision. We still have audio to get you and I am sorry for the delay to our Edge of the Empire game, but I think it'll be worth the wait. One of my players works with audio for a living and he is going to help get me some better software to work with and some tutorials on some basic editing techniques. This increased knowledge should allow Untamed Dice to become that much better.

Another reason we haven't been releasing anything is so that we have a plan in place for new stuff. That plan has begun to form and will hopefully take shape sooner than later. First it involves the very simple fact that a new episode of Brave New World will not be recorded (very likely) until almost November. It's a work schedule thing and unavoidable. Secondly, it involves that all those time issues that caused the lack of material coming out also caused us to play very few games. In fact, we have not played Strahd in almost 2 months, we have not managed to get Monster of the Week finished, we have not had time to try something else, and we have played maybe 2 games in general.

This means we have nothing aside the end of the Star Wars adventure. Well, almost. One of the nights we played was a small Luxarrahn game. Luxarrah has been on my mind quite a bit since prepping the last game of BNW. I have come up with a lot of stuff while putting computers together and stocking ice cream. The result is this new game and I am very excited to keep exploring Luxarrah through 5th Edition D&D. That game is also one we recorded. It is one we will continue to record. It is the easiest game group to get together and should become a very regular game. The only thing that will take as much precedent will be BNW. One shot games of other systems are pretty much on hold till things get brought under control again, but more on that down the road.

DMs Guild & Beyond

This is something I have really enjoyed doing and want to do more of. It is something I have been putting some work into whenever I can. Part of my time will continue to be more regulated towards those projects. I have a few things coming down the line and a hopeful schedule for these. Included among them are the (finally) 3rd Volume of Spells of Old, as well as a 4th. I am also working on some more patrons for Paths to Power Volume 2 to finally come out. Finally there is also the trinket supplement I have been working on.

In addition to DMs Guild products there are a couple of things being worked on, but these are more long-term. Soonest you should see a class a friend and I are working on. A test version at least. Then later on we will get that up as a full class. The other world I am working on with another friend is slow in taking shape, but as winter proceeds I hope to take some larger steps there. Finally in terms of getting some of my homebrew out there, I think Luxarrah will be foremost among my development. In what way this will show up, big supplements or small or both, I do not know yet. Nevertheless these are the things I am dedicating some of my time for.

Patreon

This has probably changed least over its existence, but changes fairly significantly each time. Untamed Scribe and I have decided we need to make some changes here and those are going to be fleshed out overt the coming weeks. Included will be changing goals from things we plan on doing anyway to milestones for which we can reward you folk, such as giveaways and more stuff like wristbands and stickers. We will also be changing the Patron rewards quite a bit. First of all we want to share the Untamed Rant with everyone. This will get more people the Rant and will make things easier on us. All of the Patrons will get it 2 weeks earlier than everyone else though, just like the Cracks in the Rift story.  Other things we are talking about are giveaways for Patrons, newsletters, a mailbag addition to each Rant, and similar things. I will be sure to keep everyone apprised of what is up as we figure it out.

What This All Means

We are coming back. Effort as been focused on making work less daunting and more doable. Ideas and talks are to change things up so that what we do is better and easier on us, even if that means there is less for a while. We will not be overextending ourselves by trying to start this whole plan Monday. October is when we begin to make a big shift. By then a new routine will be in place. Lists for Resources, schedules for Untamed Dice, a reworked Patreon, and more will all be in place. The rest of September is to take all the information above and everything we have been talking about and building a foundation for future things. Extra time will be spent in prep work for this stuff and more fully recovering from August. To keep up with what I am thinking and working on be sure to follow me on Twitter. Do not be dismayed by a lack of posts for September. We look forward to making a good re-impression in October!

Resources For Every GM: Internet Part 6

Hey everyone! I hadn't planned on doing another set of internet resources, but when I was perusing the internet the other day I managed to find a couple of things that I needed to share. So, without much preamble, are three more cool resources I found just this week!


The Same Page Tool (Deeper In The Game): This is a tool which good help out a lot of groups and concerns a topic that comes up pretty regularly within the community. The problem many groups run into is the type of game they are playing versus what they want to play and who is ok with what. What it comes down to, is everyone on the same page.  To a point things are flexible, especially long term groups, but even those can get mired down in unfulfilled expectations. The tool is much more of a guideline questionnaire. It is not something that everyone should fill out, nor is it something that the GM should decide upon himself. The tool seems best use as a group and addressing what a campaign is going to be like. Or, more appropriately, what the game / system is going to expect from you, as some of them are made for certain styles of play. All in all, this tool directly addresses questions about what will be happening that don't usually get asked so explicitly. Given the article itself, I will be absolutely sure to check out more of the site!


Learn Tabletop RPGs: I have only started diving into what is available on this site, but I already love it. From what I have seen, I think I can share enough to get you to check it out yourselves. First off is a page similar to the article from Deeper in the Game called Level Up. Where the goal of the former was to address the expectations of the game system or campaign style, this page focused on making a great game by balancing the desires of everyone at the table. In many ways, this is the opposite of what the last article about, but it is just the other side of the coin. In fact, they link you to the tool to get started and make sure everyone knows what the game is before players get involved. It goes further to discuss player agendas, rules complexities, and provide a great number of useful links. If that isn't enough to get you to visit, they also have a list that currently sits at 54 table top RPGs. Each one includes a brief overview, some reasons it stands out, and links to communities and places to buy them. The site is fantastic for exploring new games, if nothing else!


Who The Fuck Is My Character: Someone linked this on Twitter recently and I instantly fell in love. A simple random generator, that provides you with an idea for making a character. Load the page and you get a random character with race, class, and history. It is obvious this is designed for D&D, but the potential inspiration is endless. Here is just an example of what you may see: I'm going to roll the stats for a fucking...frank half-orc fighter from a sheltered upbringing who just wants their money back.  Go on, give it a try!

Resources For Every GM: Reference Books Part 4

Good morning everyone!  I am a couple days late due to a great D&D session with someone we haven't gotten a chance to play with in a couple years, but here I am nevertheless. Today, I have some more reference books for you to add to your collection, but this time they aren't our general reference books. This time the books that I am including are references to world made up by other creative minds. They are companions to some of our favorite places to visit!

Tobin's Spirit Guide (Erik Burnham):  Recently, a new official Ghostbuster's version of this book came out. Written by Burnham (with the help of Stantz and Spengler of course!) this edition features some of our favorite spirits from the Ghostbuster's franchise.  It also includes a variety of other common mythological creatures like household spirits or poltergeists. Each entry features a Ghostbuster's rating of spirit class level and what the spirit may be comprised of or where it is located / anchored. Additionally the entries feature some great bits of real-world mythology. Building upon that the way in which they can be angered or appeased and how dangerous they are. The book is written almost has a field guide, and (barring the lack of stats) is the best bestiary or monster manual you could ask for to run a Ghostbusters campaign. All you would need is a book on the Ghostbuster's gear. Even if that isn't your goal, the ideas you could pull from this book are numerous and inspiration on how to had even more incorporeal danger to your world, immense!

The (Complete) Tolkien Companion (J.E.A. Taylor):  My version of this resource is a bit outdated. I don't have the "Complete" in my title. Given that much of the source material still exists as part of Tolkien's work, itself, I don't see a need to get the revision too quickly. Though it is on my list. This book is an encyclopedia, there really is no other way to describe it. My copy is over 500 pages long and there is barely any pictures included at all. Maybe I do need an updated version. Anyway, this is your go-to resource for any questions you have about Middle Earth. Beyond the Lord of the Rings, beyond The Hobbit, and beyond even the Silmarillion, there is a vast fount of knowledge and lore these stories are built upon. Tolkien was a world builder and language developer, and the tales run deep in the land of wizards and hobbits. I know there are other resources you can find out there, but this is probably the most dense there is. If you really want a comprehensive reference to one of the foundation stones to modern fantasy adventure, this is it.

The Hyrule Historia (Eiji Aonuma, Akira Himekawa):  Honestly, this is probably my favorite of these three resources. It is as large and dense as the Tolkien Companion, but includes the fun (and more) that you can get from Tobin's Spirit Guide. There are four major sections to this book, divided up amongst specific topics unlike the other two. The first of these is a large section discussing the Skyward Sword, its lore, ideas, and concept art. While amazing, I am disappointed by how much space this single game takes up, but the rest of the book helps make up for it. The second section is my favorite. The Legend of Zelda series has been tackled game by game, with little to no connection between any of them aside from general themes and feeling. Even these deviate for each game making playing the game feel both familiar and unique. For those who have even played a few of the games and completed even less (sadly me), you still come to understand every one of them is connected somehow. This section is a timeline. It orders the eras of the world, describes what happens and when, from the creation all the way through the voyage upon the ocean in Windwaker and a New Hyrule in Spirit Tracks. For the first time there is a timeline of events, and yet still some connecting pieces and lore to be discovered. The third section of the book goes through 25 years of concept artwork. It is fantastic to see how things have changed and how different artists perceived the world.  This section provides a ton of inspiration for GMs. Following up on that is a catalogue of the games, what generation they are, and the story they tell. And finally, the last part is a comic for you to enjoy telling a part of the Skyward Sword story.