u/TwoDollarDM

Just got the latest Humble Bundle for Frog God Games. I love their stuff but I have another 40 something Frog God items from their last bundle. I am constantly tweaking my folders, currently its:

• Adventures
  • Tiers
• Settings/Locations
• Groups/NPCs
• DM Tools
• Other Systems

Does any have a magic system that makes sure you actually end up with a Library of Useful Material rather than a 'pile of PDF files'

Ok, I love maps.

BUT

I can't draw maps and am far too harassed and handsome to spend time learning to use Dungeondraft, Inkarnate or even the hand-holding Dungeon Alchemist.

I DO use Azgaar, or did.. now I am only using Watabou. 30 seconds to Mars. Or at least 30 seconds to a fully formed campaign world.

Crank out island maps, city maps, street maps, village maps, (basic dungeon) battle maps. Steal the sense of empowerment, of being creative, Be inspired. Be Magnificent, my People!

So looking back over your weeks/months/years of DMing games, aside from the PHB, MM and DMG of course. What one or two resources do you find yourself returning back to use over and over again? For me it is two third party items:

Ultimate Toolbox of Random Tables-the more I use this one, the more I see how it can be used

Book of Ebon Tide-for some reason, this one keeps popping up as a resource, even though its very specialized.

I'm putting together a list of key resources, and every time I search I stumble onto more generators and tables. These are the five I keep coming back to. I'd love to hear what others rely on when prepping or running a game.

1. Kassoon (https://www.kassoon.com/dnd/npc-generator/): Probably my #1. The NPC generator stays open in a tab during every session. I also lean on:
   • The Combat Generator
   • The Hexcrawl generator, not for the map itself, but for weather and encounter ideas while the party travels
   • Towns, mostly for inns and shops
2. Fantasy City Generator (https://praxxian.github.io/RPG-City-Generator/): I technically don't NEED this one very often but can't resist creating 25,000 individual NPCs in one go.
3. Watabou on itch.io (https://watabou.itch.io/): Great for city and village maps, area maps, and small dungeons.
4. DnDSpeak (https://www.dndspeak.com/worldbuilding/): Dozens of quirky little details and additions. The most recent one I used was the Hag Generator for a three-hag coven. Very inspiring.
5. Chaotic Shiny (https://www.chaoticshiny.com/histeventgen.php): Another excellent batch of offbeat generators. I use the event generator to decide what happens while the party is away on an adventure, so they have news to hear when they return to town.

I use each of these for specific jobs, but any of them work just as well for stirring fresh ideas/inspiration.

What would make your top five? Some of these or new ones or?

What do people think about the idea of having one of the AIs serve as 'advisor to your BBEG'? Not that the AI run the villain but that you enter into AI what the villain's goals and plans are, the steps they have taken so far and suggest new steps. Then as the campaign goes on feed it what the villain may have learned about the characters and have it suggest the villain's next steps, spying on the characters, influencing NPCs quietly, etc

Good idea? Bad idea? Too much work? Too LITTLE work?

I was prepping and realized my house rules list is getting longer and longer... is that a result of wisdom and experience or am I just getting grumpier?? Heh.

BUT, what other house rules should I be adding? Something that smooths something over or adds to gameplay. My newest fav is using Kobold Press' ToV 'Luck' rules instead of inspiration.

I have ordered a few DnD Kickstarters and Humble Bundles over the last few years and am often surprised at the SIZE of the material created. Handling so many 200+mb PDFs -let alone the Art and Map folder- seems like it is going over board. My 500gb laptop is getting maxed. Is this just a 'me' problem?

Somewhere buried in some archive on Reddit I am so sure there was a great long post from someone that created a series of tables for generating an interesting back story for players based on class etc. Does anyone know what I am referring to and have that link?

I know all the regulars know this but I have had a recent conversation with a couple of newish DMs and they ended up being amazed at what they could do offline with FG, for FREE. Here are the key things that seemed the most mind blowing:

• the Combat Tracker
• seriously, the Combat Tracker
• reskinning NPCs
• saving those reskinned NPCs as recurring characters
• editing adventures
• keeping notes

Is there any other amazing feature for offline game play that I am forgetting?