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!

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!

My Dungeon Master Tool Kit - My Dungeon Master Binder: Part 1

It's been a while. Time to come back out of the shadows for a it. 

Let's chat about a quintessential part of the DM's toolbox - the Dungeon Master binder. For other DM kit stuff, see my other posts about my Dungeon Tool Kit. I said that Part 6 was the final... but I lied.

If you don't get this reference, we can't be friends.

Now, if you're one of my eight fans out there, you might be saying, "Wait, Double D, didn't you already write about a DM notebook (Rocketbook)?"  And I would say, "Nay, my dear plebeian. That notebook serves a different function: namely prep notes and in-game notes." A DM binder is a storehouse of useful materials meant for use at the table.

I can't believe I found an image that explains that there are different types of tables.

After a lot of trial and error, I've whittled my binder's contents down to four key sections.

1. Combat:  Handy rule reference sheets, mainly for combat.
2. NPCs:  NPC resources, such as summaries of frequently encountered NPCs and tables for working up NPCs on the fly.
3. Encounters:  Random encounter tables, short encounter write-ups, and ready to go monster stats.
4. Treasure - Treasure tables for cool loot and such. These are things you don't find in your Game Master guide of choice.

I will detail what I have in each of these sections in upcoming posts. To start, I'm going to focus on the actual physical binder that I use.

So let's get into it.

My current binder of choice is this expandable binder. I'm assuming that a lot of my fellow gamers are office supply nerds like me (and if I'm wrong, don't shatter my dreams). As such, you'll appreciate this.

Here is the pre-nerdified Amazon photo.

Here is the post nerdified version in action.

Quick note: I found the cool "Hack n' Slash" graphic from Reddit and it was made by CastleGrief. This dude needs to start making shirts and stickers.

Okay. So why this binder? Well, because it's expandable. I apparently have a thing for things that grow in size. It isn't overly bulky like a traditional hardback binder, but isn't limp like a soft binder (insert joke about DD liking it hard here).

Other things that I find useful:

Clear sheet protectors.

• Print out all the good stuff you have from DriveThruRPG and put it in your binder.

Tabs/Page Markers

• Get to your good stuff fast.  Also handy for your hardcopy RPG books.

Binder Hole Reinforcers

• Sounds like something dirty.
• Not a big fan of plastic? Use these for your printouts.

Cheap 3-Hole Puncher

• Punch them holes, bitch.

More to come!

My Dungeon Master Tool Kit Part 6 - Portable RPG Storage Carrier!

Well, here we are - the final post in my Dungeon Master Kit series! (Other posts: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, and part 5.)  This will one will focus on how I cart around my materials. Obviously, there is the good ol' backpack, but, again, I'm a Grade A Nerd and need MORE.  

There are lot of cool deluxe bags these days, but they're are pricey. "Cases"  in point (get it?): example 1, example 2, example 3, and example 4.

Since I couldn't find a bag my speed and in my price range, I went with something else: the Quik Cart.  Sure, it's a "seen on Shark Tank" product, but it is handy. Plenty of room for my loot.

Here it is in action. As you can see, I can fit a good big of materials. 

I bought both the Regular and the Sport model, and kept the Sport one. The other one was too big. Here's a comparison, with a voiceover by my lovely wife.

My Dungeon Master Tool Kit Part 5 - Map Case

All righty, a quick and dirty post (just how your mom likes it) for my Dungeon Master Kit series (part 1, part 2, part 3, and part 4).  Warning: copious phallic jokes within.

I'm running a Castles & Crusades sandbox game in the Haunted Highlands.  I love having a big physical map for the players and me to gaze at.  There is something frickin' cool about a good fantasy map. 

It's a Haunted Highlands hex map made by Darlene, who did the original Greyhawk map.  I bought the PDF from the Troll Lords site and had it printed at Staples.  (It doesn't seem they have it available at their updated storefront.) Since I can reprint it, I have no problem with us writing on it and making it our own.

What I present.

What my players see.

Well, it's kind of a pain to cart around without getting mangled, so being the top-grade nerd that I am, I bought a map case for it from Amazon. It was cheap and has been indeed handy. It's expandable too, which is nice.

Ribbed for your pleasure.

It's a grower, not a shower.

Impressive length.

My Dungeon Master Tool Kit Part 4 - Affordable-ish Tablet for RPG PDFs

Finally, the Dungeoneering Dad has come back to his Dungeon Master Kit series (part 1, part 2, and part 3). 

Why PDFs?

As much as I love the usefulness, lack of eye strain, and, dare I say it, the beauty of hard copy books, I've found myself using PDF copies of RPGs more and more. They take up less space (duh), support smaller publishers, and are typically cheaper.  As of now, I have an online library of 693 items at DriveThruRPG (...not gonna lie, that's a bit embarrassing). 

An actual gamer using a tablet in sheer ecstasy. 

Why a Tablet?

• less to cart around
• access to a large library of PDFs
• can search books electronically
• feel like you're from the future

Why a Fire Tablet?

Rich Corinthian leather case.

Look, straight up, if you can afford an iPad, the Fire tablet can't compete. However, if you're budget-minded, I recommend the Fire. (It was known as the "Kindle Fire," but they seem to have dropped the "Kindle" part.) As I've mentioned a few times in ages past (linky link and linky link), I use a Fire for my RPG PDFs. 

Nice things about the Fire:

• Cheap-ish. Amazon puts them on sale multiple times a year (holidays, Prime Day, etc.).
• Expandable storage with an SD Card.
• From my understanding, you need an adapter to use an SD Card with an iPad.
• With a Fire (and other Android tablets), you just pop the card in.
• Spiffy cases: link 

How to Add PDFs "Officially."

PDF readers aplenty.

Since a Fire isn't a normal tablet, there are a few easy ways to add files for use with the official Kindle app.

1. Use the "Send to Kindle" website to upload them: link

• You'll need to use this particularly if the PDF files are large.

2. Email the PDF. 

• Each Amazon account has a "send-to-Kindle" email address (e.g., "Best_DM_Ever@kindle.com").
• Simply email the PDF as an attachment to that address and it will show up in your Kindle app library before too long.

3. Connect your Fire to your PC and transfer them that way.

4. Get an SD Card, put that into your PC, load up the card, and then pop that into your Fire.

If you want more detailed info on these methods, this site is pretty useful: WikiHow: How to Add a PDF to a Kindle.

How to Make Your Fire More Useful and Super-Duper Cool!

My DriveThruRPG library... behold and tremble.

Since a Fire isn't a typical Android tablet, you can't typically use it like a normal tablet. However, you can pretty easily side-load the Google Play Store and then, bingo, you can install a lot more apps including, the DriveThruRPG Library app, a variety of PDF readers, etc.

• Here is a great "How to Geek" article detailing how to get the Google Play Store: link
• Here is a kind of spiffy PDF reader: EBookDroid

Once you do that, you can use a variety of nice apps to organize your library, although I'm starting to use the DriveThruRPG Library app itself more and more. If you used the SD Card method above, you can access the PDFs via a variety of PDF readers.

There you go. Bingo bango.