Free and Pay-What-You-Want 5e DMs Guild Highlights: Three Weeks Ending 1.4.20

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.

Happy New Year! I am glad to be back sharing some cool stuff from the DMs Guild. This installment includes picks released over the last few weeks. 



Mike's Free Maps Collection #8 from Michael LaBossiere

LaBossiere again blesses DMs with a free map pack. This one includes ruined towers, bridges, interiors, and more. The pdf also helpfully contains individual links to Michael's considerable catalog of free material here on the Guild.


Hex Dice Vaults from Tabletop Unglued

The latest papercraft creation from Tabletop Unglued allows you to create cool little hex-shaped boxes for your dice. I love these.


Roguish Archetype: The Minstrel from Griffin Porche

This is a perfect example of why I do this series. With the weekly avalanche of products being uploaded to the Guild, it is hard to imagine that many folks noticed this cool rogue archetype, but I think it is great. If you don't want to play a magical bard, but want to add some bardish panache and flavor to your rogue, check this out.


The Murkwater Maniac from Nico Scarpi

Excellent little adventure in which the PCs must track down a psychopathic killer during a city festival. Great layout and maps. 


Hagspawn: A Half-Hag Race from Ted Chieffe

Now this would be fun to roleplay! Fight against your nature (or not) as a misunderstood teenage hagspawn. Chieffe is making a name for themselves with a run of creative supplements on the Guild.


Simple Mass Combat from Christopher Heatherington

While I would never classify this as "simple", this is still a very inventive and original take on mass combat. If you don't want to go the traditional wargame route with your large scale battles, check this one out.


A Feast for the Forest from Eric Milton

This is a nice low-level sidequest sort of adventure to sprinkle into your campaign if the PCs are travelling thought a forest. Highlighted by its very helpful layout.

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 12.14.19

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.

THIS IS THE FINAL POST OF THE YEAR! This series will return January 4th! I hope you and your families have a safe and happy holiday season.


The Wrench's Useless Magic Items from Cita A F

I loved this one. These magic items are all worthless on the surface, but dig deeper and you find that they have some interesting uses. For example, there is a monocle that causes blurred vision...so why wear it? Turns out you get a bonus to charisma checks, because people just look cool wearing monocles. As a bonus, these are done as cards. Very funny and cool. 


A Darkness From The Stars from Sadie Lowry

This Eberron adventure is set at an observatory in the Starpeak Mountains. A great mix of roleplay, investigation, and combat. 


Three Pillars DM Screen from Ernad Osmic

This far into the life of 5e, odds are you already have DM screen you like, but just in case you don't, you could do a lot worse than this one. All of the charts and tables you really need, helpfully broken down by "pillar". 


5e Encounter-Rudolph's Revenge from Stephen Bull

Were-Reindeer. Need I say more?

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 12.7.19

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.


An Alphabet of Legendary Magic Items from George Collie

Collie's excellent "Alphabet" magic item series concludes here with this collection. I have thoroughly enjoyed the creativity and artwork that went into these. Don't miss the Very Rare, Rare, Common, and Uncommon companions to this final installment.


Politics of the Eldeen Reaches from Joseph Meehan

Speaking of excellent series, no Eberron DM should be without Meehan's regional gazetteers. Be sure and also check out their Zilargo, Thrane, Aundair, Karrnath, and Breland supplements.


D&D Party Sheet from Ernad Osmic

I consider party tracking sheets a must, and not just for beginners. I can glance at passive skills, armor class, and more without having to ask for it, and if some of your group's player names get as weird as mine, it can take a few sessions to learn them. "Ok Zzhorlakiatharka, you're up."


MZS1 Monsters of Maztica from Jon Hild

Hild has carved out a niche on the Guild doing Maztica-themed supplements and conversions. This is a pretty substantial collection of creatures that are perfect for jungle or "lost world" settings.


Essentials Kit Companion from Andrew Sneath

This is a helpful collection of tools for running the recent Essentials Kit. One of the two pdfs is used as an encounter tracker, while the other includes tips, key locations, tokens, and more. Also check out their companion for the original starter set.

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 11.30.19

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.


Slash, Stab, Hack, Repeat! from Duncan Rhodes

This is a collection of additional properties for the core weapons in the PHB. For example, the Parry property allows you to use a reaction to add a +1 to your AC vs a single attack. How much you like this will really depend on your appetite for complexity, but I thought it was reasonably balanced and pretty cool. 


Character Biggies XGE and Character Passports XGE from Tabletop Unglued

I featured the PHB versions of these cool character sheet variants a couple of weeks back (HERE and HERE), and thought I would mention that there are now options for Xanathar's Guide to Everything.


Mike's Free Encounters #11-20 from Michael LaBossiere

This is the second collection from LaBossiere; download the first one HERE. These are perfect to sprinkle into sessions or use as random encounters.


Trinket Busters from Star Shine

This one gets points for originality. Basically you can use trinkets to temporarily power some weapons by placing them into a special cavity in the grip. The magical effects fade within days. I know it sounds weird, but I like temporary magical effects, so here you go.


Advent of Destruction from Alex Niswonger

I thought this was a pretty ambitious and epic adventure. The dwarven city of Markheldiim is under attack, and of course the PCs are caught up in the mess. New creatures and items, with a helpful layout for DMs. Part 1 of the "Legacy of the Song Blades" series. 

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 11.23.19

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.


Noblecrumpet's City Generator from Christopher Culbertson

I make no secret of my love for random tables and generators, and this collection of tables for city creation is simply fantastic. Use it with any edition. Includes a helpful "character sheet" for your city as well. Download immediately. 



Decorative D20s from Tabletop Unglued

Awesome little supplement with templates to create your own papercraft d20s! I'm thinking of making some for ornaments this year.



My First D&D Characters from Adam Hancock

I have been playing in a game with a bunch of new players, and it is easy sometimes to forget how overwhelming a character sheet can be. This free supplement provides pregens for 1st level characters that are formatted into simple stat blocks. A really helpful "training wheels" supplement for young kids or people that have never played D&D before. 



Complete Sailing Sheet 5e from Caelan Levine

This is the creme de la creme of ship sheets. Great for Saltmarsh or anything else. Form fillable. 



Lantern Hag from Green Bird RPGs

Speaking of the very best, the wonderfully talented Green Bird team is back with a new product. This short supplement introduces a new nasty, the titular hag, along with a sample lair/mini-adventure. As always, the artwork and flavor are choice.

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 11.16.19

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.



Character Biggies PHB from Tabletop Unglued

These unique "character screens" will definitely have others at your table asking you where you found them.



Character Passports PHB from Tabletop Unglued

Another killer character sheet variant from Tabletop Unglued, sort of like a pocketmod zine kind of thing.



To Account for Taverns from Andrew Clark

This is a handy little supplement with tables for tavern names, NPCs, menu specialties, random events, and more. 



[DCM] Psionics and the Mystic Expanded from Dakota Cash

This is a massive 86-page expansion of the Unearthed Arcana Mystic class. DOZENS of feats, items, new abilities, prestige-like class options, and more. A ton of work went into this one. 



Barbegazi: An Arctic Themed Race for Players and NPCs from Ted Chieffe

Flavorful supplement detailing the reclusive and diminutive Barbegazi, complete with feats, items, and even a sample frozen lair. Admit it, you want to ride a polar bear. I know I do.

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 11.9.19

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.


Politics of Zilargo from Joseph Meehan

Certain creators are really the heroes of the DMs Guild, and Meehan is one of them. Check out the fifth installment in their "Politics of Eberron" series, as well as their excellent Thrane, Aundair, Karrnath, and Breland supplements.

An Alphabet of Very Rare Magic Items from George Collie

Speaking of heroes of the Guild, George Collie's "Alphabet" magic item collections are all can't-miss. Be sure and check out the Rare, Common, and Uncommon companions to this new installment if you haven't already. 

5e Spell Compendium from Cruxiuz

This is an ambitious attempt to collect all of the 5e spells into one document. There is some question as to the legality of this one mentioned in the comments, although technically Wizards owns anything you upload to the Guild anyway. To be honest, I don't see the problem, as the whole point of publishing on the Guild is to use WotC IP, and this is mostly useless without the core books. That said, it might not be up forever.

D&D5e Il cacciatore di goblin Roll20 (Mappe e Token) from Paolo Pinna

While I don't speak Italian, and therefore can't use this with the actual adventure as intended, this is still a killer set of maps and tokens. 

The Witch Doctor from Johnathan Platt

Oooh, this is really, really good. My fave of the three archetypes for this excellent new caster class has a sort of Voodoo doll mechanic that would be tons of fun to roleplay. Beg your DM to let you try one.

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 11.2.19

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.


5e Puzzle: The Rotating Rings 

5e Puzzle: The Cubic Conundrum

5e Puzzle: The Looping Labyrinth

Anybody else terrible at coming up with puzzles and riddles? I don't even really try anymore. These three highly creative offerings from the talented Stephen Bull are just what the doctor ordered. 


MZA1 Creature Features in the Jungle from Jon Hild

This was a really cool idea. Three mini-adventures based on movies (The Ruins, The Relic, and Alien vs Predator) re-flavored and ported into the jungles of Maztica. 


Eberron Battlemaps: Sharn Pack 1 from Thomas Pedersen

Gearing up for the new Eberron release? This is a pretty solid collection of battlemaps to use in your adventures. Includes gridded and gridless versions.


Lithin's Medicine Cabinet from Christian Olesen

Handy little supplement that includes random tables for ingredients and dozens of new concoctions both helpful and harmful. I liked the vibe of the cartoonish artwork as well. 

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