Holiday Gift Idea - "Grill Master by Day, Dungeon Master by Night" Grilling Apron

Folks,

I'm just putting this out there as a gift idea from my wife's Etsy account.  

The perfect apron for your favorite nerdy grill master.  

Designed by daughter, KamciazArt.

NPC - Portia Fairchild, Halfling Wizard

My daughter (KamciazArt) drew up a picture of the NPC halfling wizard in our Castles & Crusades game.  Stats below!

Product Review - Dungeons & Dragons Masterworks Dice Tower

(Updated October 1, 2025)

[Note - I bought this with my own cash. This is not a paid review. I did include affiliate links if you want to help a brother out.]

I really don't need a dice tower, but I couldn't resist getting one of these cool D&D Masterworks Dice Towers.  They're put out by FanRoll. (If you're interested, use my promo code for a 10% discount: DAD-10).

I went for the classic piece of Larry Elmore art from the 1983 Basic Edition (i.e., the Red Box).  I'm very pleased. It's simple but quite nice. 

It does not come with a dice tray, although there are matching ones you get get separately, I believe.

Things I Like:

• The exterior is faux leather and it feels and looks nice. I prefer that over a hunch of plastic.

• It folds down for easy transport. As I'm typically a "road DM," this works well. I have to admit, I felt a little dense trying to figure out how to set it up, but this video made it clear: link. It's not hard - I'm just not too swift.

Front

Back

Little stand thing that attaches to the back for stability.

• It's quiet. The interior is lined with felt the rolls are nice and quiet (apart from the clanking on the table, ha).

Dice Roll Test:

In the video below, you can see me testing metallic dice, acrylic dice, and 4d6. It worked fine. You have to pay attention when putting the tower together. As long as you do that, you're good to go. More on that below.

Tips on Use:

• You have to pay attention to how you set up the ramps.  If you do it wrong, dice will get stuck.  It's not hard to get right, but something to pay attention to.  Make sure the magnetic supports are folded below the ramps, not above it.

Other Info:

I was tempted by the other two, particularly the Erol Otus one, which is from the 1981 Basic Set, but the Red Box art was too iconic to pass up. 

I really like Jeff Easley's art, but I wasn't familiar with the source used for this dice tower.

Frost Giant Friday - "Frost Giant" by Antonio José Manzanedo

"Frost Giant" by Antonio José Manzanedo

Frost Giant Friday - "Enthroned" by Boxume

 

"Enthroned" by Boxume

Frost Giant Friday - "Gerti Orelsdottr - Frost Giant Jarl" by Buck Gunner

"Gerti Orelsdottr - Frost Giant Jarl" by Buck Gunner

Playing Cards for Dynamic Initiative

DD Note 9/6/2025: It was pointed out to me that Savage Worlds has been using playing cards for initiative for ages. 1.) I can't believe I forgot that... I have even played Savage Worlds before. 2.) the method detailed here is simpler. 

I've explained the differences below. 

DD Note 9/7/2025: I also just learned that Dragonbane, Year Zero, Twilight 2000 also use cards (I'm sure there are more).

I fully admit, I didn't reinvent the wheel here. This is just another spin on the concept.

I ran three games of Castles & Crusades at Gen Con 2025. (If anyone is curious, I ran each adventure in the Dwarven Glory series.)  It was a great time. One weird thing, though, is that I had occasional trouble with keeping track of initiative. 

Castles & Crusades uses dynamic initiative. Each round, the individual players and the Castle Keeper roll a d10 and people take turns from highest result to lowest.  

At home, I use tiles on the top of my GM screen to organize and display the order for each round. While displaying the order is handy, the process slows the game down. 

Since you're "on the clock" when running a game at a con, I decided not to do that and used the "traditional" method. That is, I verbally counted down from 10 to 1 and had the players chime in on their number to take their turn. 

Whether it was due to the fun of the game or fatigue of CKing three sessions back-to-back (as fun as it was), I had occasional trouble remembering where I was in the order of the round.

This got me revisiting an alternative idea I'd been mulling over - using playing cards to track initiative. I gave it a go last session with my local group and I think it worked pretty well.

Here's what I did:

• I set aside one full suit (ace to king) to be used to determine order. Naturally, I used Spades. 

• I set aside one full suit (ace to king) to be used to track order. I used a red suit (Hearts, I believe). 

• Each round, I shuffled the Spades and dolled them out to the players to determine who went first. The players kept their cards out in front of them, so it was pretty easy to see who was up.

• I stacked the Hearts from high to low and used them to keep track of where we were.

• After that, we repeated this each round.

While this was only one session, I think it worked well. It kept things moving quickly and made it easy to track turn order.  If you're looking for a way to speed up dynamic initiative, give it a try.  

How This is Different than Savage Worlds Initiative (and likely other games)

• Savage Worlds has a whole system based on using the deck of cards for initiative. I'm just replacing dice rolls.
• I don't use a whole deck of cards, only 13 from one suit.
• This eliminates ties (which can also slow down play, albeit not dramatically).

• I use a second set of 13 from one suit has a initiative tracker for myself.

Frost Giant Friday - "Frost Giant- Undead Berserker" by DMonkey Illustrations

"Frost Giant- Undead Berserker" by DMonkey Illustrations

 

My Dungeon Master Tool Kit - My Dungeon Master Binder: Part 4 - Encounters

Slowing continuing onward with my Dungeon Master binder, next up: Encounters!

The Encounters section is not for the "core" module/adventure, but rather sandbox resources. These are random tables and other tools to help me figure out what happens to the party when they're traveling on the road or wilderness.

As always, a cover page with some inspirational art.  For this one, it's "Flight" by Jeff Fairbourn (heads up - some of his stuff is NSFW/weird).

I'm running a Haunted Highlands campaign, so I have a printout of its own random encounters section.

I have a few things from James Mishler Games. He has shifted his focus to ShadowDark completely, so these Castles & Crusades ones are no longer available.  That's a shame, because they're useful.

100 Exciting Encounters - 1st Level Encounters

I also have a few official ones by Troll Lord Games, which are also unfortunately unavailable.  

Castles & Crusades - Encounters: Bands of Orcs

Castles & Crusades - Encounters: Unusual Roadside Encounters

Although it's not in my binder because it's not a random table, it's worth mentioning Castles & Crusades Classic Monsters Encounters. It's a nice collection of "side treks" and lairs.

And then last, but not least a few gems by Azukail Games. This fellow cranks out a ton of reasonably priced and useful random tables. They give a bit of detail to get your Dungeon Master mind following. He makes things for just about every system you can think of and, if that isn't enough, many are system agnostic.

100 Random Encounters for on the Road or in the Wilderness

100 Encounters for the Borderland Regions

100 Encounters in a Fey Forest

100 Things a Wandering Monster is Doing

Next up - Treasure!

Frost Giant Friday - "Ymir" by Ilse Gort

 

 "Ymir" by Ilse Gort

Frost Giant Friday - "The Frost Giant's Hold" by Chris Kuhlmann

 

"The Frost Giant's Hold" by Chris Kuhlmann

Frost Giant Friday - "Ymir - The Frost Giant" by Luca Cauchi

 

"Ymir - The Frost Giant" by Luca Cauchi

Consider Supporting The Factory

Since I've resurrected my blog about a year ago, I've tried to avoid posting Kickstarters, etc.  However, I think this BackerKit effort from Troll Lord Games is worth sharing.

Troll Lord Games - The Factory

This is a really cool effort. The folks at Troll Lord Games are creating a way for folks to make games in the USA.  Because they've done this themselves for years, they've skirted pandemic and tariff issues.  Worth supporting in my opinion.

See the video below and read their blog post from earlier this year.

My Dungeon Master Tool Kit - My Dungeon Master Binder: Part 3 - NPCs

Alrighty, getting back to it - here is the next part in my Dungeon Master binder. NPCs!

Counter intuitively, the one key thing I do not have in my NPC section is a list of ready-to-go names. Why? Because:

1. I have names from the C&C Castle Keeper Screen in the Combat Section, and
2. I use Knave 2e for a ton of random tables (Knave 2e is an excellent toolbox for any D&D-ish game).

Another useful NPC source: Castles & Crusades NPC Almanac Sketches. While I didn't print it out for my binder (it's freaking large), this is a great resource worth having. Like most C&C material, it's easily usable with any D&D-related game (particularly those in the OSR).

Okay, so what do I actually have in the binder?  

Well, a touch of art of course. This one is by the ever-reliable Vigil Finlay.

First off, I have some homemade sheets detailing key players from Dirty Bowbe's Roadhouse in my Haunted Highlands campaign.

I have a few key pages from the The Miscellaneum of Cinder by Jeff Reints of Jeff's Gameblog fame. (I posted a link to the Scribd site version because the free copy at that Jeff posted on Lulu is now a dead link.)

• Namely, the Six Sages and...

• ... People to Meet.

Then I have two items by the ever-great DM Samuel (aka Iron Neuron Enterprises):

• Cults, Cultists, and Priests to Populate the Temples in Your C&C Game, and

• Thugs, Bandits, and Town Guards: Common Low-Level Human Opponents for Your C&C Game. 

These could just as easily be placed in the Encounters section of my binder, but I have them in the NPCs section for the time being.

While DM Samuel is typically a C&C gamemaster, these could easily be used in most D&D-style games.

And then last, but not least a few gems by Azukail Games. This fellow cranks out a ton of reasonably priced and useful random tables. These aren't bare bones tables. They give a bit of detail to get your Dungeon Master mind following. He makes things for just about every system you can think of and, if that isn't enough, many are system agnostic.

In my binder, I have:

• 100 NPCs To Meet On The Road Or In The Wilderness 

Here is an example:

• 100 Helpful Hirelings

Here is an example:

• 100 NPCs You Might Meet At The Tavern

Here is an example:

In the next post, I'll have more Azukail Games resources (and others).

Next up - Encounters!

My Dungeon Master Tool Kit - My Dungeon Master Binder: Part 2 - COMBAT

Continuing my posts about my Dungeon Master binder, I'll start with the first section: "Combat." The section could just as easily be labeled "Rules," but, for me, it's the combat stuff I need to have at the ready.

Let's take a tour of my Combat section...

Page 1: Badass Conan art by Travis Charest 

Page 2: One of my favorite D&D art pics - Thor by Jim Rosolof from the 1e AD&D Deities & Demigods.

Next, I have my critical hit and miss tables, namely “Great Hits & Terrible Misses” from Crusader Journal #7 by Jeffrey P. Talanian (who now has his own excellent RPG, Hyperborea). While made for C&C, they would work fine with any D&D-style system.

Then I have my cheat sheets. This includes homemade sheets that I made using Marq (Canva would also work well). Obviously, good ol' Word or Google Docs would probably be fine, but Marq made it easier to rearrange tables, etc. 

I also have the official Castles & Crusades table sheets that came with the Reforged Kickstarter.

Then, to cap it off, I have pages from the Castles & Crusades Castle Keeper Screen. Most systems have printable versions of their GM screens on DriveThruRPG, so those are a great source of pages like this. 

Next post, I'll go over my NPC section.  Stay tuned!