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Thursday, February 11, 2016

Resources For Every DM: The Internet Part 1

I have slowly, but surely, been building up a list of things usable by any DM.  Some of them have been books that have general ideas, guidelines, and help for creating that transcend the mechanics of the game they were published for.  Others have been inspirational and/or thematic help.  I have also included story and video game inspirations or ideas to the list.  This thing is much less a virtual "to-get" list for your book shelf now.  Today I want to do something I have not done yet and provide you with more true resources, this time from the internet.

Of course there are still plenty of books to cover and I have included internet-based inspirations, but the internet has a vast community of table top gamers.  They have congregated in many areas, and there are those individuals or groups who provide the community at large with a variety of help.  So today, I have nine new resources for you.  Three of these resources you may already know about, but maybe you don't.  These first three transcend the games we play in usefulness.  I then have three resources from reddit that are distinctly 5E mechanically, but fertile grounds for general inspiration.  Finally there are three more extra resources, because three sets of three, of course.

Resources For All

donjon:  This is a resource I have used, forgotten about, and rediscovered dozens of times over the years.  Always has it been helpful for me.  There is a lot here for D&D players of almost any edition with various encounter calculators and monster lists.  The site also has generators galore, enabling you to make NPCs, maps, and even calanders.  Some of the generators are also randomized, and Michael Harrison has some of the best.  Honestly, where else can you randomly generate a star system??

Seventh Sanctum:  The one stop shop for generators.  There are tons of them, and while they don't have everything, they have so much you may never have thought you would need.  Generators are included for organizations, people, places, and skills.  One of the more notable reasons to go here would be for their name generators.  Included among them are themed generators like those for western characters, angels, or ships.  Sprinkled in there, though, are also kaiju, lovecraftian, and wrestler name generators.  You know, just in case.

EN World:  This has always been one of the best RPG websites around and it has only improved over the years.  EN World is a great website for just about everything for every game.  There is a community and there are forums, as well as ways to find a game to play in.  Other resources include databases, a history of D&D, pronunciation guides, and character sheets.  While full of these kinds of things for you to use and learn about, one of EN World's greatest strengths is the simple stream of news they provide.  If you want to keep up with much of what is happening in the RPG world, EN World should definitely be on your bookmark bar.

5th Edition Reddit

Monster a Day:  Sadly it seems that this thread is on a bit of slow down, but that is all the hopes of improving what is already there.  This page, alone, will add more than 100 enemies to your portfolio.  There are tons of different monsters, from all different challenge levels and a bunch of sources.  Some are stats for creatures from the Magic the Gathering Game, and others are monsters that have been made in a variety of other resources over the previous editions.  Perhaps one of the best things about the monsters available is the added variety to standard monsters that have been created.  More versions of kobolds, goblins, and orcs among others.

DnD Homebrew:  This is a resource for people to share their homebrew creations and find what others are working on.  The purpose of the thread is to include all editions of D&D and all types of homebrew.  Unfinished work is acceptable as well, to get feedback and help in developing it.  Even though there is an inundation of in-the-works 5th Edition stuff, others still show up and I even see a 3.5 post as I look at it now.

Unearthed Arcana:  Another great homebrew resource.  This thread is a relative of the other that seeks to hold all of the 5th Edition material.  I should say, completed 5th Edition material.  Pre-5E stuff is redirected to the DnD Homebrew reddit.  So, if you are specifically looking for cleaned up and realized material from the community, this is the place.  There are worlds, races, monsters, and more.  Do keep in mind, however, that the material has not necessarily been tested and balanced out yet.

Bonus Resources!

D&D Official Site:  This is probably an obvious choice, and by probably I mean definitely.  The reason I include this site is for two reasons.  The first is that if you are playing D&D, especially 5th Edition, you should keep up with the tidbits that the WotC employees throw out there.  Their Unearthed Arcana feature is especially great as it presents materials they are currently playing around with, giving us both insight to what is happening and letting us continue to have input on 5E as it develops.  The second reason is for their podcast.  Semi-regularly they release podcast interviews with a variety of people.  More often then not these conversations, while centered on D&D, are about how the guest got into D&D and role-playing or the past time that is table top games.  A good deal of these are good listens for fans of any game.

DnD 5e Homebrew:  I know, I am biased towards 5th Edition today, but it is what I have been working on and looking for resources on recently.  This is another great resource if you want to get a steady feed of finished products that people have made.  The great thing about this tumblr page is the fact that it is easy to get a quick look, because it is all images.  Included, of course, are the sources for these which may lead to more works by the creator or a place where you can provide some feedback.  Following this will also allow you to follow the Unearthed Arcana article of WotC since it is added when it pops up.

d20 PFSRD:  I had to take at least one aside for Pathfinder.  The work done on this site is amazing.  Because of the quirks of what Pathfinder is, the rules from all the books can be added onto this database.  You could play Pathfinder for multiple lifetimes with this site.  It is the best resource for finding whatever it is you need to find for the game.  If you need monsters of a certain type, rogue archetypes, or magical foot-slot items it is all here.  Additionally, it is great to look at the kind of mechanical stuff you find in new Paizo releases to see if it covers the things you want and decide if it is worth buying and adding to your collection.  And, if you forget anything, this is the place to look it up quick!

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