THOUGHT EATER: February 2021

Sunday, February 28, 2021

Free and Pay-What-You-Want 5e DMs Guild Highlights: Week Ending 2.28.21

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 and establish their brand. 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.

Mimic Miniatures: Chests and Barrels from Becci Sewell

Mimic Box for Dice and Miniatures from Becci Sewell

Papercraft minis are fun to make and are affordable options for GMs. A mimic dice box is a great idea, and I am thinking about doing one for my work desk for paperclips and rubberbands.

Magic Items for New Players from Xhango Games

Fun selection of magic items. This document is especially geared towards new GMs; it features brief design notes that can help GMs understand how the items might affect their games and suggestions for scenarios in which they might make for good rewards.

Henchmen 5e from Seth Kenlon

Interesting and easy-to-use set of henchmen rules. Your possible number of henchmen keys off of your charisma modifier, and you are able to deflect some of the damage you might take onto them. They require upkeep costs. Creative blend of old and new. I was surprised by how much I liked this.

Goldenfields Vacation Cancelled from Patrick McKay

Solo adventures are awesome, especially given the current pandemic. I love having solo gamebooks and other convenient ways to play games without having to navigate online forums, fill out long applications, and/or beg in order to find a game.

Trade Guilds of Waterdeep from Firblog Factory

This is a really well-developed set of downtime activities based around different guild memberships. You can actually "level up" within guilds, starting off as an apprentice and slowly working your way up to being a master. Probably the best homebrew downtime rules that I have seen on the Guild. Free.

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

Friday, February 26, 2021

Thought Eater Podcast: Five Minute Friday: Funny PC Deaths

This post over at The Distant Chime blog (poor Clovis!) got me thinking about funny PC deaths from my games. Do you have a funny PC death you want to share for the show? Leave a message at anchor.com/thoughteater.

The Thought Eater podcast is available on all major platforms, or you can use the player below.

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

Wednesday, February 24, 2021

Humpday RPG Show 2.24.21 with Special Guest Sean McCoy of the Mothership RPG

Image by Evlyn Moreau

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 Wednesday on the Thought Eater podcast as I share the blogposts, zines, and RPG bric-a-brac that caught my eye over the week.

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, hit me up on Twitter, 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! The Thought Eater podcast is available on all major platforms, or you can use the player below to scroll along with each topic.

INTRO

https://followmeanddie.com/2021/02/20/getting-started-with-science-fiction-rpgs

https://methodsetmadness.blogspot.com/2021/02/van-richtens-guide-to-ravenloft-for-5e.html

https://www.alandbeyondbeyond.co.uk/

MAPS

https://goodman-games.com/blog/2021/02/19/map-of-the-dealers-hall-at-spawn-of-cyclops-con/

https://osrgrimoire.blogspot.com/2021/02/geomorphs-of-mad-archmage.html

https://osrgrimoire.blogspot.com/2021/02/forgotten-geomorphs.html

ZINE CLUB with Special Guest Sean McCoy of the Mothership RPG

https://shop.tuesdayknightgames.com/

https://twitter.com/MothershipRPG

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

https://boneboxchant.wordpress.com/2021/02/17/zinequest-guest-post-3/

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/derekkinsman/in-the-light-of-a-faded-world

https://boneboxchant.wordpress.com/2021/02/21/zinequest-guest-post-4/

https://www.cbr.com/zine-quest-3-old-school-dungeons-dragons/

https://philippericard.itch.io/

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1jTVjELKXAoIceeZmS4ccp2UD8SOlCcebaqHK2C657nI/edit?fbclid=IwAR2SYQnr-qTfDMFZ-4uBkMMEPKSj8WQbgueD3Yvm9nNY-gK9H6fiJKNjL3o#gid=0

https://archons-court.blogspot.com/2021/02/zine-quest-interview-4-ava.html

https://www.appendixnentertainment.com/2021/02/our-latest-kickstarter-child-thieves.html

https://osarmory.com/2021/02/16/zine-quest-hype-not-a-place-of-honor-by-david-lombardo/

https://rollingboxcars.com/2021/02/17/monty-haul-the-big-deal-issue-0-1-2/

RANDOM TABLES

https://archonsmarchon.blogspot.com/2021/02/d12-obvious-traps-with-unexpected-twist.html

HUMPDAY BLOG-O-RAMA

https://boggswood.blogspot.com/2021/02/fifty-years-of-fantasy-role-play-table.html

https://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2021/02/holmes-day-2021.html

https://grubbstreet.blogspot.com/2021/02/old-tsr-boardgames-war-of-wizards.html

https://sacnoths.blogspot.com/

https://deathtrap-games.blogspot.com/2021/02/game-review-blades-in-dark.html

https://sheepandsorcery.blogspot.com/2021/02/i-did-youtube-dungeon-preacher-is-born.html

https://haughtyfantasy.blogspot.com/2021/02/the-best-d-adventure-designer-ever-part.html

https://haughtyfantasy.blogspot.com/2021/02/best-d-adventure-designer-ever-part-3.html

FREE STUFF

https://hodagrpg.itch.io/dagmail

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xkvH41UKMPcK7XiOgErS4mKY-zU7oBus/view?usp=sharing

https://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com/2021/02/free-pdf-zine-castle-crab-patreon.html

https://leicestersramble.blogspot.com/2021/02/neuforde-needs-bridge.html

https://leicestersramble.blogspot.com/2021/02/stoneash-next-town-down-road.html

https://dumpstatadventures.com/the-gm-is-always-right/the-environment-surviving-the-wilds

THE FINAL TOPIC: SOMETIMES DEAD IS BETTER

https://gnomestew.com/debilitating-conditions-at-the-table/

OUTRO

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

Sunday, February 21, 2021

Free and Pay-What-You-Want 5e DMs Guild Highlights: Week Ending 2.21.21

You can find previous posts in this series HERE.

9 Battle Maps from William the Scribe

Extraordinary map set. A lot of these are keyed so you can sort of fill in the blanks and use without much prep. Includes a compiled pdf and separate image files.

Boomstud's Curio Cabinet from Boomstud

Creative set of items, including magical wool slippers that build up static electricity and allow you to cast shocking grasp, and a goodberry bonsai bush.

The Flesh Sculptor from Zachary Tounzen

There are thousands of class archetypes on the Guild at this point, and the only ones that really catch my eye anymore are ones that provide for unusual and fun roleplay. This Frankenstein-inspired Bard variant creates its own "Abomination" companion from corpses. Lots of potential here for creepy humor.

Greenbird's Cursed Inventory II from Greenbird RPGs

Some GMs can be a bit timid and apprehensive when it comes to introducing cursed items into the game. It helps when the items have a sense of humor to them, like the Cloak of the Flumph, which...well...turns you into a flumph when you put it on. I am a huge fan of the Greenbird team, and this is yet another entry in their long line of winning supplements for 5e.

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

Friday, February 19, 2021

Thought Eater Podcast: Five Minute Friday: Nobody is Playing Sci-Fi Games

Yes that title is pure clickbait. People are playing in sci-fi games. There just aren't a lot of them in comparison to fantasy and horror, according to data shared over at the Trilemma Adventures blog. Let's discuss!

You can join the show by calling in at anchor.fm/thoughteater or via the Anchor app! The Thought Eater podcast is available on all major platforms, or you can use the player below.