Free and Pay-What-You-Want 5e DMs Guild Highlights: Week Ending 1.31.21

Every week, talented creators upload Dungeons and Dragons products to the DMs Guild, pricing them as free or pay-what-you-want in order to reach customers. Dozens of new free and PWYW products are added each week alone. It is a lot to sort through. My hope is that highlighting a few of each week's best supplements will help the designers get the attention they deserve.

You can find previous posts in this series HERE.

The Sanctum of Pain from The Bugbear Brothers

HOLY SMOKES. What...who....who are The Bugbear Brothers? This is incredible. I looked for other products from them immediately, but this is it. I am ready to buy anything they do. Absolutely fantastic artwork, cartography, layout, and content. This is 5th edition done right. Download immediately. Free.

100 Trinkets from Official DNDSpeak

Funny how something so simple, with no obvious mechanical benefit, can end up being one of my favorite things about 5e, but that's trinkets. I really think 4 or 5 unique trinkets per PC is the way to go, and for that you'll want lists like this. 

Exciting Tales of Adventure #2 from Todd Kleinpaste

This is a simple low-level campsite encounter that you can easily drop into a campaign or use as a starting point to help new players get used to the game. I really like the classic comic look of the cover, and it has a nice map. This is turning into a cool little series. Grab the first one HERE.

Eoth Khalstan's Revised Encyclopedia of Great Animals and Draconic Beings from Daniel Kay

A really fine collection of new animals, monsters, items, and subclasses, all charmingly illustrated and designed by promising first-time Guild creator Kay. Half of the proceeds go to animal-related causes. 

Roll Table Encyclopedia: Issue 1: Aaracockra from Chris White

The first in what will ideally be a long-running series. This initial installment focuses on the Aaracockra, with numerous random tables, magic items, adventure hooks, statistics, and more. Hopefully they keep this going; a compilation of these covering all playable races would be really great.

If you enjoy my free zine, podcast, and/or blog, please consider supporting my work for as little as $1 per month.

Thought Eater Podcast: Five Minute Friday: Interesting Data on the Age of New D&D Players

Happy Friday! On today's Five Minute Friday, let's take a look at an interesting analysis into some gaming surveys over at Seed of Worlds. 

You can join the show by calling in at anchor.fm/thoughteater or via the Anchor app!

CLICK HERE for listening options or use the player below.

If you enjoy my free zine, podcast, and/or blog, please consider supporting my work for only $1 per month.

Humpday RPG Show 1.27.21

Aside from the actual PLAYING of games, my favorite things about this wonderful hobby are those two bastions of DIY creativity, zines and blogs. Join me each week on the Thought Eater podcast as I share the blogs, zines, and RPG bric-a-brac that caught my eye.

Have you started a new blog recently? Are you working on a zine? Are you a content creator that would like to be considered for an interview on the show? Want to send me review copies of what you're working on? I want to hear from you! Email me at frothsof at gmail or use the contact form on my blog (visible in desktop mode in the right-hand column).

You can join the show by calling in at anchor.fm/thoughteater or via the Anchor app!

CLICK HERE for listening options or use the player below.

INTRO

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/planarcompass/planar-compass-issue-2

https://clericswearringmail.blogspot.com/2020/08/armor-as-dr-versus-weapon-type.html

MAPS OF THE WEEK

https://probabletrain.itch.io/dungeon-scrawl

https://fantasyfuncouncil.itch.io/map-pieces

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kylelatino/old-roads

https://www.reddit.com/r/mythology/comments/kkgqj8/mythical_beasts_of_the_british_and_irish_isles/

https://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?p=422235&s=03#post422235

https://www.cartographersguild.com/forumdisplay.php?f=92

ZINE CLUB

https://boneboxchant.wordpress.com/2021/01/21/zinequest-2021/

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/garblag/dodeca-rpg-zinequest3

https://uncannyspheres.blogspot.com/2021/01/kickstarter-campaign-blueprint.html

https://uncannyspheres.blogspot.com/2021/01/kickstarter-updates-blueprint.html

https://caput-caprae.blogspot.com/2021/01/not-horrifically-failing-at-kickstarter.html

https://maziriansgarden.blogspot.com/2021/01/cartography.html

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/through-ultans-door/through-ultans-door

https://necroticgnome.com/blogs/news/old-school-essentials-at-zinequest

https://daimon-games.blogspot.com/2021/01/fear-dark-heroquest-fanzine-issue.html

https://www.reddit.com/r/osr/comments/l1py0i/my_pulp_scifi_zq1_projects_available_for_free_dl/

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1EVfkSFU6iKbhKAIAGKeslm_KEiXwfDQR

RANDOM TABLES

https://seedofworlds.blogspot.com/2021/01/spelljammer-encounter-tables.html

https://rememberdismove.blogspot.com/2021/01/people-youll-meet-in-cairo.html

HUMPDAY BLOG-O-RAMA

https://rollingboxcars.com/2021/01/20/whos-alice-and-why-is-she-missing-a-review-of-alice-is-missing/

https://monsterbrains.blogspot.com/2021/01/fifteen-years-of-monster-brains.html

https://takeonrules.com/2021/01/23/strategies-for-cold-opens-of-impromptu-games/

https://ttrpg.substack.com/p/25-reviews-and-re-views-

FREE STUFF

https://www.dungeoncontest.com/

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1NipQ5T-wefKSVT2QqJ7YlgRw5dc02zpN?usp=sharing

https://dungeoneering.blogspot.com/2021/01/dungeons-dragons-adventure-game-free-on.html

https://lapidaryossuary.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-cherry-crypts-big-ol-dungeon.html

https://tearlessretina.blogspot.com/2021/01/desert-v14-pdf.html

https://whosemeasure.blogspot.com/2021/01/a-desolate-dustcrawl-sunken-tomb-of.html

https://hodagrpg.itch.io/

Thimble Theatre

THE FINAL TOPIC: SETTING QUESTIONS

https://monstermanualsewnfrompants.blogspot.com/2014/11/this-is-not-that-list-of-questions-for.html

https://madqueenscourt.blogspot.com/2021/01/ten-setting-questions-sort-of-like.html

OUTRO

https://www.polygon.com/2021/1/22/22244402/bernie-sanders-mittens-dungeons-dragons-magic-item

https://doomslakers.blogspot.com/2021/01/meme-me-merry-myrmidon-8.html

If you enjoy my free zine, podcast, and/or blog, please consider supporting my work for only $1 per month.

Free and Pay-What-You-Want 5e DMs Guild Highlights: Week Ending 1.24.21

 Every week, talented creators upload Dungeons and Dragons products to the DMs Guild, pricing them as free or pay-what-you-want in order to reach customers. Dozens of new free and PWYW products are added each week alone. It is a lot to sort through. My hope is that highlighting a few of each week's best supplements will help the designers get the attention they deserve.

You can find previous posts in this series HERE.

50 Encounters for Dungeons and the Underdark from Green Bird RPGs

I will keep proclaiming the greatness of the Green Bird team from every mountaintop, hill, and dale until the world listens. Great table to add flavor and unpredictability to your underground adventures.

Camp Deep Lake from Samantha Conklin

This is perfect one-shot material. The PCs are camp counselors attempting to solve the murder of the camp director. Good adventures start with good hooks, and as a huge fan of 80s horror, this immediately appealed to me. Has a really good twist. I would actually really love to run this.

Fantasy Battlemaps from Adela Quiles

MORE MAPS! MORRRRE MAPS!!!! I don't have a problem. I can stop any time I want. 

Hypothermia: An Icewind Dale Adventure from Kamil Bynoe

Aside from being a nice little sidequest for Rime of the Frostmaiden, this is a tour de force in great layout. There is an astonishing amount of content jammed into fifteen pages, with no filler. Even has a helpful flowchart. Bynoe knows what they are doing.

Mike's Free Encounter Collection #7 from Michael LaBossiere

One of the most prolific designers on the Guild, LaBossiere has been pumping out free encounters for years now. In this, the seventh collection, you get more handy encounters to sprinkle into your sessions, along with a zip file of maps for VTT play. 

If you enjoy my free zine, podcast, and/or blog, please consider supporting my work for as little as $1 per month.

Thought Eater Podcast: Five Minute Friday: A Cool Way to Run Mystery Games

Happy Friday! On this week's Humpday RPG Show, I touched on a great blog post from Prismatic Wasteland. I don't feel like I spent enough time talking about their awesome idea for running mystery games, so here we are. Give it a listen and let me know what you think!

You can join the show by calling in at anchor.fm/thoughteater or via the Anchor app!

CLICK HERE for listening options or use the player below.

If you enjoy my free zine, podcast, and/or blog, please consider supporting my work for as little as $1 per month.

Humpday RPG Show 1.20.21 with Special Guest Logan Dean of The Company RPG

Aside from the actual PLAYING of games, my favorite things about this wonderful hobby are those two bastions of DIY creativity, zines and blogs. Join me each week on the Thought Eater podcast as I share the blogs, zines, and RPG bric-a-brac that caught my eye.

Have you started a new blog recently? Are you working on a zine? Are you a content creator that would like to be considered for an interview on the show? Want to send me review copies of what you're working on? I want to hear from you! Email me at frothsof at gmail or use the contact form on my blog (visible in desktop mode in the right-hand column).

You can join the show by calling in at anchor.fm/thoughteater or via the Anchor app!

CLICK HERE for listening options or use the player below.

MAPS

https://dungeoneering.blogspot.com/2021/01/apom-adventure-design-diary-21-mapping.html

http://polaroidsandpolarbears.co.uk/dungeons-dragons/wotc-releases-free-dragonlance-maps/

https://www.reddit.com/r/tabletopcreations/comments/kz82gc/dwarf_fortress_entrance_41x47

https://www.patreon.com/novaworlds

ZINE CLUB (SPECIAL GUEST: LOGAN DEAN)

https://mega-corp.itch.io/the-company

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/logandean/the-company-conflict-resolution-guidelines

https://maziriansgarden.blogspot.com/2021/01/through-ultans-door-does-zinequest-3.html

http://seedofworlds.blogspot.com/2021/01/review-through-ultans-door-1-2.html

https://www.geeknative.com/112408/mcdms-arcadia-could-wear-the-dd-magazine-crown

RANDOM TABLES

https://worldoferadu.blogspot.com/2021/01/shady-thicket.html

https://randomtableoftheweek.wordpress.com/2021/01/13/climbing-encounters-mishaps-and-hazards/

https://dmdavid.com/tag/10-best-collections-of-inspirational-tables-and-lists-to-help-dms-create-and-improvise/

HUMPDAY BLOG-O-RAMA

http://heropresstwo.blogspot.com/2021/01/fourteen-years-of-heropress.html

https://www.blackgate.com/marvels-newest-tv-offering-wandavision/

https://brinehouse.blogspot.com/2021/01/dungeons-dragons-tv-show.html

https://landofnod.blog/2021/01/17/dungeons-and-dragons-in-3-d/

https://www.prismaticwasteland.com/blog/how-to-run-a-mystery-in-ttrpgs

https://www.dicebreaker.com/events/virtual-horror-con/news/virtual-horror-con-2021-rpg-online

https://www.geeknative.com/113508/rpg-and-tabletop-convention-news-for-2021/

FREE STUFF

https://thac0tuesday.wordpress.com/2021/01/15/introducing-the-juggler/

https://clericswearringmail.blogspot.com/2021/01/turn-table-bridge.html

https://monkeyblooddesign.co.uk/2020/12/21/free-killpunk-v0-2/

https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/comments/kxxg0z/cyberpunk_red_one_shot_homecoming_free_download/

https://writerscthulhu.com/index.php/category/handouts-us/cthulhu-us/orient-express-us/

https://imgur.com/a/6LJSF5D

THE FINAL TOPIC: RULE ZERO

http://playingattheworld.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-origins-of-rule-zero.html

OUTRO

If you enjoy my free zine, podcast, and/or blog, please consider supporting my work for only $1 per month.