Savage Worlds Fan Site

At any one time, I probably have three to five personal projects (usually of the geek variety) happening at once. Some of these projects I find I’m not interested in anymore and they are scuttled to the bottom of the Sea of Dead Projects. Most of them are completed, but I keep to myself. The rest I deem worthy for public consumption and I release into the wild.

While it may seem counter-intuitive, I keep so many projects around to avoid burnout. I usually only have one primary project at any single moment in time, but it shares mind-space with several smaller distractions. These distractions allow me to stoke the creative fires when intense sessions with the primary project threaten to blowout the hearth.

Well, today, I present one of the distractions that avoided the Sea of Dead Projects and has been released into the wild:

SavagedTools

SavagedTools is a small, bare-bones application (semi-optimized for mobile devices) that combines card-based initiative, dice rolling (supporting aces & wild die, and hopefully any number of edges/hindrances), and a logger into one tool.

SavagedTools Login Page

It uses a simple sign-on that only requires display and campaign names. There is no registration. This means anyone can access your campaign’s log or impersonate you, but the damage is minimal (just create a unique campaign name and don’t share it).

SavagedTools Initiative

The sign-on allows your group to share initiative draws and dice rolls with each other in near real-time on the logger. Whenever the deck is shuffled or a player draws a card, the results are recorded in the log and the page is updated. Same thing with dice, and players can even assign a description to their roll.

SavagedTools Dice

What may be especially interesting is that all the important stuff happens server-side, so players cannot manipulate the results through JavaScript trickery. I’m also especially proud of the fact that random number generation is accomplished by using the API available from Random.org. Random.org uses atmospheric noise to produce true random numbers.

SavagedTools Logger

To keep my database size manageable, I’ve incorporated a routine that will destroy any data older than hour, so the logs are not permanent. Other than that, the tool is free to use and comes with no strings attached (for as long as I can cover the hosting).

I plan on re-using the dice library I wrote for my other online RPG tool, Venture Captain (a character generator for the Pathfinder RPG). So this distraction will also prove useful for my primary project.

Please check out SavagedTools and let me know if you encounter any issues.

Listening to: Testament – The Gathering – Eyes of Wrath

Venture Captain

I have finally opened up the online Pathfinder PRG character generator beta testing to the public. You can find the generator at VentureCaptain.com. I was surprised the domain name was available (considering all the “make money for nothing” schemes found on the web). I actually plan on expanding the site to host a suite of utilities for use with the Pathfinder RPG including a dice app I’ve been tinkering with that uses true random number generation, courtesy of Random.org. You can also follow Venture Captain on Facebook and on Twitter.

TECHNOLOGY

The character generator is a plain web app. It runs XHTML 1.0 Strict (every page but the contact page validates), CSS2.1, and JavaScript/jQuery. So it should display and render fine on most standards compliant-ish web browsers. The generator exports characters as a small PDF (~40k) file, so whatever platform you are using must support PDFs.

I’ve built the app according to how I plan on using it. I run Chrome on Windows 7 have no issues. Chrome renders JavaScript blazingly fast, but I’ve also tested it on Firefox 3.5/3.6 and it runs fine. On IE 7/8, the generator performs a bit on the sluggish side. I haven’t tested it on mobile devices, because quite frankly, there is just too much information to try to display effectively on such a small screen.

THIS IS BETA

I must stress that the generator is in BETA. There are obvious things missing, as well as ton of undiscovered bugs waiting to be squashed. I am working on tying up loose ends with the current implemented features before slaying the bigger dragons of Equipment and Spells. Oh yeah, and the only guy writing code for this app is me.

Some things I’m working on now is expanding the class feature information presented on the character sheet (displaying bloodline powers, school powers, etc.) as well as creating an interface for missing elements such as being able to choose what Mercy you get when you take the Extra Mercy feat.

This being said, if you find anything missing, improperly formatted, not compliant with the latest Pathfinder RPG rules, or have a general suggestion please do not hesitate to contact me via Twitter, Facebook, or using the VentureCaptain.com Contact page. I want this tool be the best it can be, so everyone’s feedback is important to me.

FEATURE ROADMAP

Below is how I think feature implementation will roll-out. I’m naming the builds after cities in Golarion, with the first build belonging to capital of the oldest empire.

v1.0 [Sothis] Feature Implementation (bold items are finished; italicized items are in development):

• Ability Scores (point buy, tier points, racial adjustments)
• Core Classes (alignment restrictions, favored class bonuses, selectable class features)
• Skills (class skill training bonus, skill focus bonus, racial bonuses, ability modifiers)
• Calculated Combat Stats (BAB, CMB, CMD, AC, Touch AC, Flat Footed AC, Saves, HPs, Speed, Initiative)
• Feats (Racial, class granted feats, full prerequisite validation)
• Equipment (calculate wealth, calculate encumbrance, attack/damage bonuses, highlight proficiency, equip to slots)
• Spells (select known spells, select memorized spells, calculate DCs, calculate dice/bonuses)
• Portraits by 60+ Terrible Portraits
• Save to PDF (complete with calculated values, racial & class features, custom landscape layout)

v2.0 [Oppara] Feature Roadmap:

• Prestige Classes
• Traits
• Language Selection
• Custom Magic Weapon & Armor
• Random Bio Generation (Name, Homeland, Age, Height, Weight, Hair, & Eyes) based on Race & Gender
• Aging Affects validation based on Age in Bio
• Rules Info (overlays with PRD definitions for class features, feats, etc.)
• Pathfinder Society legal character validation
• Save to HTML

v3.0 [Egorian] Feature Roadmap:

• Advanced Player’s Guide Update
• Non-core free entry for class, feats, traits, skills, equipment, & spells.
• Pre-calculated Combat Maneuver & Spell sheets
• Storage Solutions

IT’S FREE!

Did I mention this web app is free? Yeah, creating characters with Venture Captain costs you nothing (except whatever you pay to access the internet already). It will continue to be free for as long as I feel like covering the cost of hosting and development. There may be pay features in the future (storing characters in cloud?), but only for convenience services, never for content.

If you like it, please follow @Venture_Captain on Twitter and spread the word, like Venture Captain on Facebook, or even blog about it.

Venture Captain Online Pathfinder Character Generator

Because of their default structure, blogs are not very well suited for allowing users to find older or related content. WordPress tries to mitigate this fact with elements like categories and tags and there are quite a few plug-ins available that guess at what might be related material, but I think it benefits both the blog and its readers, especially new ones, to occasionally revisit the best posts.

Instead of reposting the original content, I will be creating a few synopsis posts that gather together a bunch of relevant topics that link to the original content. I will probably end up making a dedicated page(s) to collect these posts to make it easier for readers to find more of what they are looking for.

Online Resources

The Online Resource category is probably the most visited category of Mad Brew Labs. In the last year and half that the Labs has been operating, I have occasionally gathered together massive lists of resources of various themes to make it easier for readers to find the stuff they need for their games.

• General RPG Resources: a list of general RPG resources including networks & forums, game design, worldbuilding, and cartography.
• Virtual Tabletop Software: a list of software that facilitate playing RPGs between friends online.
• Terrain, Cardstock, & Tutorials: a list of resources to help outfit your tabletop with the best imagery and environment available.
• Non-Heroic Scale Minis DB: a database of manufacturers of non-heroic scale miniatures.
• Heroic Scale Minis DB: a database of manufacturers of heroic scale (25mm-28mm) miniatures.
• Level-up Your Mini Hobby Skills: a database of sites that offer tutorials to improve your miniature hobby skills.
• D&D Inspired Webcomics: a list of humorous (and not so humorous) web comic strips.
• Pathfinder RPG Resources: a list of custom content, documents, and software.
• D&D 4e Resources: a list of publishers, custom content, character generators, character sheets, power cards, and combat managers.

Look for me to begin converting all the resources that are not available in a database format (currently, any non miniature resource) into sortable databases.

Listening to: Rob Zombie – Hellbilly Deluxe 2 – Mars Needs Women

There are multitudes of scales for miniatures. There are micro scale (1:1200, 1:2400, etc.) that allow wargamers to play out large naval or space battles on the dining room table. 15mm is a common size for historical and fantasy battles of epic proportions. And sometimes you may not really care about scale you just want an impressively detailed 90mm resin model to paint and display.

In this installment of Miniatures & Terrain Series, I provide a simple database of manufacturers of miniatures of what I’m calling non-heroic scales (everything but the D&D 25mm-28mm standard). But don’t let the name deceive you, there are some very heroic minis available within these scales.

Non-Heroic Minis Database

Scroll right to see more.

Miniatures & Terrain Article Series

If you’re having trouble finding that [near] perfect mini (or terrain to put it on), visit a few of the manufacturers I have cataloged in Google Spreadsheets in one of these articles:

• Heroic Sized Minis Database (25mm-28mm)
• Terrain, Cardstock, & Tutorials (not Googlized yet, but soon)
• Level-Up Your Miniature Hobby Skills (painting and modeling resources)

Listening to: Testament – The Gathering – Eyes of Wrath

From Cool Mini or Not

So you purchased the perfect mini for your character, but it is currently just a heap of white metal in a plastic blister pack. Oh, and it uses a scimitar instead of that awesome two-handed falchion your character likes to use to split enemies in twain, but it is close enough to perfect… and you can literally picture what it will look like painted and finished in your head.

However, a day and a few paint pots later, your miniature figurine doesn’t even come close to what you wanted. This is probably a familiar scenario for many roleplayers who try their hand at trying to find and paint the perfect miniature. Well today, as part of my series of miniature resources, I am presenting a database of websites that offer tutorials to level up your miniature hobby skills.

The following collection of sites has been tagged with what types of help they offer. Typical examples include painting tips & tricks (like how to paint non-metallic metal), basing (make your mini look like it’s standing on terrain), photography (how to grab an awesome pic of your finished masterpiece), sculpting & conversion (make your own mini or modify an existing one), casting (mass produce a custom mini), and terrain (creature awesome environments to use your mini with).

Miniature Hobby Resources

Scroll right to see the URLs.

Miniatures & Terrain Article Series

If you’re having trouble finding that [near] perfect mini (or terrain to put it on), visit a few of the manufacturers I have cataloged in Google Spreadsheets in one of these articles:

• Heroic Sized Minis Database (25mm-28mm)
• Non-Heroic Scale Minis Database
• Terrain, Cardstock, & Tutorials (not Googlized yet, but soon)

Listening to: Soilwork – Figure Number Five – Rejection Role

Lich Lord Asphyxious by Privateer Press

Besides dice, miniatures are probably the next most recognizable roleplaying accouterments found at the gaming table. Minis, a vestige of RPGs wargaming roots, are often more than just a physical means for representing characters. For many, the collecting and painting of minis are a hobby within the hobby. For the past month, I have scoured the internet for as many miniature resources that I could, and this week I will be publishing the results of my hard work. I have cataloged and sorted miniature manufacturers by scale and genre. Today, I present what is most likely the scale most used for roleplaying games, the heroic 25mm scale (25mm-28mm). For those unfamiliar with miniature scale, when it is represented in millimeters (which truly isn’t a scale), it expresses what the “toe to eye” measurement of a miniature that represented a 6′ tall man. A 28mm mini uses a 1:60 scale. This is rather convenient for D&D influenced games that use 1″ grids to represent 5′. But there are a ton of scales in use, and one company’s 28mm might be another’s 32mm, sculpting is an art not (usually) an exact science. This means that you might be able to find minis of compatible size for you games from the 30mm-34mm range (which can be found in my next post). You’ll notice that I have included cardstock (or flats) minis. They are definitely worth a look as most of them are free. The website for each manufacturer can be seen if you scroll right.

Heroic Minis Database

If you know any manufacturers of “heroic” sized miniatures or flats that I have overlooked, do not hesitate to link to them in the comments.

Miniatures & Terrain Article Series

If you want minis in other scales, resources to improve your miniature hobby skills (like painting or basing), or looking for some interesting terrain to use your minis on, check out my other articles:

• Non-Heroic Scale Minis Database
• Level-up Your Miniature Hobby Skills
• Terrain, Cardstock, & Tutorials

Listening to: Velvet Revolver – Contraband – Slither

Pathfinder RPG

Well, Paizo’s Pathfinder RPG will have been out a month by the beginning of next week and I want to get a head start on compiling a PFRPG Resource. Of course, many people were waiting until the final rules were published before creating anything specifically for Pathfinder. That being said I think any Pathfinder aficionados will find the following resources useful

Official Paizo Resources

Pathfinder RPG Resource Page
Here you will find errata, policies & licensing, character sheets, the character traits PDF, the free Bestiary Preview PDF, a 3.5 Conversion Guide that shows where all the changes were made, and the Council of Thieves Player’s Guide.

Official Pathfinder Reference Document (PRD)
This is an online version of nearly everything released under the Open Game License. The PRD makes quick work of looking up rules and can serve as a supplementary resource at game tables (providing you have a computer with internet access).

Pathfinder Society Organized Play
Join the organized play arm of Pathfinder and be able to participate in official games run at conventions, hobby shops, and in homes across the globe. Of particularly worthwhile note is the link to the PFS Guide which includes faction traits for use with PFRPG.

Unofficial Resources

d20 PFSRD
This unofficial online Pathfinder System Reference Document includes some details the official PRD (mentioned above) does not have. These details include Character Traits and Bestiary monsters. It is also organized a little differently and you can quickly find such things as conditions, special abilities, and traps using their navigation menu. Oh, and they have an instance of Azhrei’s Digital Index Lookup which allows you to search a digital version of the PFRPG index. By the way, they also have download of the full site for offline use, how handy is that? Highly recommended!

Mad Brew Labs’ Mystic Market
I have my own collection of Pathfinder compatible material dealing with magical items. Check out the Mystic Market for new magical item for your Pathfinder game.

Pathfinder DB
I’ll let this excerpt from the About page describe the site:
The Pathfinder Database seeks to fill the role that countless of sources and message boards across the Internet have provided for fan-created gaming content. This site exists specifically for the purpose of providing a collection of fan-created content for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. The types of content available could change over time, and the menus above will change to reflect that.

Pathfinder Chronicler
The Chronicler is dedicated to fiction set in the Pathfinder universe. The site does reviews and reports Paizo news, but the main focus is to develop fiction. If you want to participate, you must first become and editor. While I haven’t applied for the process myself, due to my primary focus of Nevermet Press, it appears that the process is about helping each other write better, which gets two thumbs up from me.

Pathfinder Open Game Content
This site also houses an online SRD, but it looks like it is keeping the Beta stuff. However, it does have some PFS authorized Character Traits sourced from the Pathfinder Companion: Cheliax, Empire of Devils.

Pathfinder Wiki
This wiki serves as a repository for official Pathfinder and Golarion canon obtained from the various Pathfinder sourcebooks such as the Gazetteer, Campaign Setting, Adventure Paths, and the various Companion and Chronicles supplements. It has been instrumental in assisting my Co-GM and I develop a massive multi-GM campaign. Highly recommended!

The Book of Arcane Magic – Reborn Soul Sorcerer Bloodline
This is a free PDF from 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming that is a web enhancement for sorcerers. Can’t beat a free PDF of character options!

Pathfinder RPG Character Generators

Hero Lab
This commercial software developed by Lone Wolf Development works with many game systems and costs $29.95. The price includes the material for one system of your choice with the option of expanding the product with other systems at $20 a pop. I stopped at their booth during GenCon and was looking at all the nifty systems it worked with and I really want to try it. They have a demo version of it available for download and I think I might take it for a spin.

PCGen
PCGen has been around a loooooong time. I used it way back with D&D 3.0 I believe. It is a heavily developed and maintained software package that I believe is heading into version 6! I just noticed on their Yahoo Group that they are releasing a Pathfinder data set. Oh, did I mention it’s free?

RPG Engine
This site also has two free utilities for Pathfinder RPG. sCoreGen is a character generator based on the Pathfinder Beta rules, but an upgrade to the final released rule set is in the works. The other utility, adVance, is a spell list manager also based upon the Pathfinder Beta rules. Both utilities are based upon Excel spreadsheets and VB script macros.

Pathfinder RPG Character Sheets & Game Documents

LPJ Design’s Basic Character Sheet
The Basic Character Sheet for use with The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game is a 2 page PDF Character Sheet resource that players can use to record all the their characters information on. This basic version is free, but Louis Porter, Jr. also has an Expanded Character Sheet on sale for $0.79.

LPJ Design’s Initiative Cards
LPJ also has a free set of initiative cards to help ease the burden of GMing.

Neceros PFRPG Character & Extra Spells Sheets
Alternate character sheet and spell sheet available as PDFs.

Help Mad Brew Grow this List!

It’s nigh impossible for one man to keep abreast of all the new and existing resources available for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, so if you know of one I missed, feel free to leave me a comment with a link to the item. Shameless plugs welcome!

RPG Blog Carnival

This is my contribution to the April 2009 RPG Blog Carnival: Humor & Gaming hosted by A Butterfly Dreaming.  Roleplaying game humor has been around almost as long as roleplaying games have.  I think it is inevitable for themed humor to appear shortly (or immediately) after a popular activity is established or a public event happens.

Much of the early humor that I am aware of was published in the back of Dragon magazine with classic comic strips like Wormy, Phil Folgio’s What’s  New with Phil & Dixie, Fineous Fingers, Larry Elmore’s SnarfQuest, and Yamara.  Jolly R. Blackburn’s Knight’s of the Dinner Table was always a favorite of mine, and is still going strong.

Shortly before the demise of Dragon, there were four strips that carried on the Dungeons & Dragons humor torch: Nodwick, Order of the Stick, Dork Tower, and The Zogonia and Mt. Zogonia (whose website is unfortunately dead).

Since the demise of Dragon (in print) I have obtained a subscription to its spiritual successor, Kobold Quarterly.  The tradition of four color humor continues with KQ’s inclusion of Stan!’s Bolt & Quiver (which used to be published in Dungeon magazine along with Downer the Dark Elf).

Of course with the advent of the web, many artists bypassed the traditional print medium and began releasing their work to the masses on their own, thus the comic strip found new life as the webcomic.  I’ve been digging through the internet to find some of the better four color (or b&w) roleplaying game humor and present it as a list (in alphabetical order):

• 8-bit Theater – A Final Fantasy sprite based adventure comic
• Cat’s Grace – A photo webcomic that follows a liontaur adventurer
• Chatty’s Out of the Box – The Chatty DM’s defunct photo webcomic using D&D minis
• Critical Failure – A comic dealing with DM-player table antics created by RPGBN’s own Mark Meredith
• Critical Fumble – The adventures of unlikely heroes portrayed by the D&D arcade game characters
• Darken – This comic series begins with Gort having his heart ripped out by a demon
• Darths & Droids – A screenshot comic poking fun at the series as a roleplaying game
• The DM of the Rings – Viewing the Tolkien fantasy through the lens of D&D & LotR screenshots
• Dungeon Crawl, Inc. – Started out as sprite based, but it is now drawn
• Dungeon Damage – A story narrated by a vicious read dragon
• Dungeons & Denizens – Exposes the life of the creatures who call dungeons home
• Dungeons & Discourse – One of several comics by “Dresden Codak”
• Dungeons & Dorks – Follows the exploits of gamer geeks
• Familiar Ground – Adventuring through the eyes of a familiar
• Fight, Cast, or Evade – About a party of unlucky anthropomorphic adventurers
• Full Frontal Nerdity – A comic about general geeking out, including roleplaying
• Gaming Guardians – Comic about trying to save the world of D&D
• Girl Genius – A gaslamp fantasy drawn by Phil & Kaja Foglio
• Goblins – Chronicles the exploits of a band of goblin adventurers
• Fuzzy Knights – A photo comic hosted by Kenzer & Co (who also hosts KotDT)
• Irregular Comic – This comic explores a lot of topics, but roleplaying is for Fridays
• Legend of Bill – A comic about the wannabe barbarian Bill and his blue dragon pal
• Looking for Group – While at first glance it appears as a WoW parody, it is far from it
• Mind Flayed – This comic features the machinations of an illithid.
• Nahast: Lands of Strife – A chronicle of adventures in the land of Nahast
• Orcusville – Details the life of the demon lord Orcus
• Penny Arcade – Tyche and Gabe often explore the world of D&D
• Planescape Survival Guide – Well… a comic about what the title says
• RH Junior’s Comics – A site containing several comics including Tales of the Questor
• Webcomic List – You might also find some gems here in the fantasy genre

I have really only explored webcomics that were inspired by Dungeons & Dragons or had a general fantasy bent.  I tend to stay away from comics derived directly from MMOs since I refuse to pay a subscription, and therefore miss the much of the humor.  If you know of any other good table top RPG inspired webcomics, sound off in the comments!

Listening to: Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine - Kinda I Want To

gamingD&Dd20rpgroleplayingcomics

Since I am not currently running a game, I have been thinking about the next campaign that I will run.  While I am still at the beginning phase of planning (as in I am still deciding the genre: fantasy, sci-fi, superhero, horror, or pulp), I do know that I want to include some fantastic scenery and terrain.

Thus, I have reconnoitered the internet in pursuit of the finest terrain, scenery, structures, and tutorials that the web has to offer.  I thought I would share my list of resources (just like my previous lists) with the community.  Some of the best scenery is sourced from companies that cater to the wargaming crowd, while I find most of the cardstock is marketed to the roleplayers.  If any readers know of some cool places I missed, pipe up in the comments!

Kobblestone Miniatures

Cast Scenery & Terrain

I am not for sure there is a standard definition for these terms, but I distinguish terrain as the actual landforms carved or molded from/into the base material.  These would include the major and minor terrain features, from a military perspective.  Major features include: Hill, Ridge, Valley, Saddle, and Depression.  While minor features include:  Draw, Spur and Cliff.  Terrain also includes bodies of water.  Roads are also usually incorporated into the terrain.  I view scenery as any structures, debris, vegetation, or man-mad/free-standing objects.  This section covers retailers that sell cast or carved items.

Kobblestone Miniatures – I previously credited the above awesome diorama to another company, well I want to set the record straight.  The oriental village above was created by Kobblestone Miniatures from Canada. Their website is packed with stuff of the same caliber work; I urge everyone to check out their gallery!

Dwarven Forge – There is always a crowd around the Dwarven Forge booth at GenCon, at the awe is well deserved.  Dwarven Forge makes some of the best dungeon sets on the market.  They are all hand painted and very detailed.  I’d give some body parts for some of these sets (I don’t need them anymore anyways…).

Hirst Arts Fantasy Architecture – I drool over their cast-your-own molds at GenCon every year, and every year I kick myself in the ass for not purchasing a bunch of molds.  Probably the most cost efficient cast/carved scenery, since you can make as much as you want (and if you use plaster of paris, it is cheap).  Well, the molds do wear out after prolonged use… but still.

Red Dragon Terrain – Rob uses the high quality molds from Hirst Arts to create buildings for his custom scenic terrains. So if you like Hirst Arts but cringe at the idea of having to cast hundreds of bricks and pieces and then assemble them, then Red Dragon Terrain is for you.

Armorcast – These guys mass produce a lot of battlefield scenery, many terrain retailers re-sell their products.  Armorcast makes high quality scenery and terrain for various genres (fantasy, historical, and sci-fi).

Games Workshop - These guys make fantastic scenery to decorate the field for their Warhammer wargames.

Ziterdes – This German company has a line called Dunkelstadt (which I believe translates to Dark City) that just looks freakin’ superb.

Manorhouse – An Italian workshop that built the intense dual-layered scene pictured below.  I don’t know how practical it is, but it reeks of cool and detail work.

Manorhouse

Baueda Wargames – Bauda have some nice accessories for various genres, including some nice WWII stuff as well as an Ancients (Hoppidus) line.

The Miniature Building Authority – I am pretty sure this is another strong GenCon attendee.  They have several very nice lines including a fantasy and sci-fi line and one of my favorites, the EuroVillage.

Antenociti’s Workshop – Antenociti has a few really nice small stuff for scenery like barrels, treasure chests, gun placements, doors and windows.

Miniature World Maker – They have a nice selection of 25mm structures like towers and huts that could find a home in your world.

Fantascene – I really like their Dracula’s Crypt and their Gothic line, though it seems like I’ve seen it somewhere else…

TerraScenic – TS is a vendor for Pegasus Scenery, which has some nice looking cathedrals (but I am unsure as to the scale).  But the best stuff TS offers is really their range of modeling tools.

Scenic Express – These guy probably target the model railroad market, but they have some excellent supplies for scratch-building your own custom terrain.

Wargames-Scenery – It looks like these guys currently have a clearance sale.  Unfortunately, it is because are closing their doors.  I especially like their blacksmith foundry that could be part of any middle-ages/fantasy town.

TerrainScapes – These guys have a mixture of their own custom molds as well as using and modifying high-quality Hirst Arts stuff.

Zuzzy Miniatures – Zuzzy has a three original lines: The Despoiled Reaches, The Ruined Land, and Verdant Fields.  Each line is manufactured to build a specific atmosphere.  The Despoiled Reaches are truly frillin’ wicked!

War-Game-Terrain – WGT offers up custom built terrain and scenery.  I find their site difficult to navigate, but if he definitely has some skill.

Art of War – AoW has some nice look desert (Arabic) themed structures as well as several other products, but their claim to fame is the fantastic Helm’s Deep reproduction from the Lord of the Rings.

Ultimate Table Top Terrain – Markets the Griffon Miniatures Wargaming Terrain System based on pre-made hex tiles.

Cardstock Environments

Cardstock environments are usually created by purchasing, downloading, or creating images that can be printed out onto cardstock (heavy weight) paper and then folded and/or glued together to form buildings, dungeons, and other features.  Cardstock is a quick and cheap method of providing solid environments that can spectacular pieces in their own right, and you don’t have to be too worried about ruining them, cause its fairly cheap to print another!  This section covers retailers and sites that sell or provide free downloads.

RPGNow – I’ve linked to the 3D Terrain/Buildings tag on RPGNow’s site.  I’ll also link to RPGNow product page of any of the other companies’ products if there is one available.

World Works Games – Probably THE premiere cardstock terrain company.  These guys’ work pretty much sets the bar for me.  They have a lot of lines to choose from that cover the popular genres.  Definitely check out their site!

World Works Games: Cathedrae Noctis

Empty Room Studios - Another producer of very high quality cardstock terrain.  ERS also has a storefront at RPGNow.

Fat Dragon Games – The obese wyrm has an excellent selection of cardstock dungeons and terrain, not to mention a 3D spacecraft that looks like a cross between the Firefly class Serenity and the Defiant (Defiant class) from Star Trek.  Fat Dragon Games also has a storefront on RPGNow for the EZ-Dungeon & the EZ Terrain lines.

Microtactix – MTX has an impressive array of cardstock buildings for sci-fi, historical, and fantasy games.  They are famous for their “Dirt Cheap” and “Budget Battlefield” lines.  Microtactix has a storefront at RPGNow.

Stones Edges – Stones has a couple of very nice looking dungeons.  From what I have heard, the people behind Stones Edges actually joined World Works Games, which I think speaks a lot for the quality.  Stones Edges also has a storefront at RPGNow.

Joel L. Teply – Makes some decent cardstock dungeons and accessories like barrels.  JLTP also has a storefront on RPGNow.

Penguin Labs, LLC – Penguin offers the chunky looking Portable Dungeon cardstock.  Here is their storefront at RPGNow.

Hotz Stuff – Eric Hotz has created a bunch of cardstock scenery for Wild West and Roman settings.  I think I might buy the gallows accessory and place it in every town as a reminder to my players of what happens to the unruly!  Hotz has a storefront at RPGNow too.

Finger & Toe Models – F&TM have a lot to offer the sci-fi genre with a post-apocalyptic Slag Town and various futuristic military vehicles.  Finger & Toe has a storefront at RPGNow.

Dave’s Games – Dave has a ton of free cardstock structures made for Warhammer Fantasy, but I am sure they could be easily repurposed.

Unknown Forum Post – I don’t know who these belong too, or if they are breaking someone’s copyright, but they are free and available here.

Wizards of the Coast -  Hey, Wizards does do some things right.  A while back they released these fold-up paper models for free!

Archi Kit – Some very nice FREE medieval/Renaissance style buildings.

Free Paper Models – A ton of free paper models of real, historical, and fantasy buildings.

Cast/Carved Terrain Tutorials

The last time I did some research on building my own terrain (which was about 6 years ago when Privateer Press launched Warmachine), there seemed to be a lot more tutorials out there.  Maybe I’m have looked hard or long enough, but here are some of the better tutorials I found.

What really seems to be missing is technique.  Though I have provided links to books at the end of the section that should hopefully shed light on the subject.  I highly recommend the Osprey books.

Table Top Terrain – This guy has some excellent tutorials on making your own molds so you can mass produce your own (or others’, for personal use) creations.

Mini Wargaming – Has several posts on making your own scenery, uncluding stuff for Warhammer 40k.

Basement Battle Scenery – Has a nice pictorial on creating rocky terrain.

Ultimate Table Top Terrain – U3T has some tutorials on how to make your own hex tile terrain.

War-Game Terrain – This site has video tutorials on how to create your own terrain.

Fire & Smoke – Here is an excellent pictorial concerning fire and smoke.

Maff0 Models – Maffo has a tutorial on creating a bunker as well as a unique looking rock formation.

Ryan Skow – Ryan has a few tutorials to offer, including one on how to make a thatched roof.

Colonial Era Wargames – Has some cool scenery how-tos, such as what materials make good-looking water.

NetTerrain - While I didn’t come across any tutorials here, they do have a gallery of cool scenery to get you inspired.

TerraGenesis – This forum is dedicated to creating fantastic scenery and terrain on a budget for a long time (since 1997),.

How to Make Wargames Terrain – Published by Games Workshop, this book 128 of instruction on scenery and terrain.

Making Terrain & Buildings for Historical Wargames - This book covers groundwork, landscape features and buildings that are realistic and detailed.

Terrain Modelling – Published by Osprey, this book is an excellent guide to fabricating realistic terrain.

Advanced Terrain Modelling – The second part of Osprey’s terrain series offers some unique techniques to bring scenery to life.

Wargame Terrain Videos – Here is a link to a Google Video search on wargame terrain.

Cardstock Tutorials

A lot of planning actually goes into the process of making your own cardstock environments, especially when you get more complex than squares and rectangles.  You need to be able to visualize in three dimensions how something will come together, and spatial thinking is a difficult task for most people.

I didn’t want to get too much into making simple tiles, because there are tons of awesome photoshop tutorials out there that focus on textures (which is the primary ingredient in tiles, the other being grids).  Unfortunately, there is squat out there in web (that I found) in regards to cardstock terrain and scenery.

World Works Games – These guys have some fantastic videos regarding the assembly and finish of their cardstock models.  They also offer a free download.

Profantasy: Dioramas Pro – I haven’t tried it, but this software is supposed to make the creation of cardstock buildings easy.  You design it and it figures out the rest.

Miniatures & Terrain Article Series

If you need some miniatures to use on your kick-ass terrain or looking to improve your miniature hobby skills (like painting or basing), check out my other articles:

• Heroic Sized Minis Database (25mm-28mm)
• Non-Heroic Scale Minis Database
• Level-up Your Miniature Hobby Skills (painting & modeling resources)

Again, if you know of anything good that I have missed, please let me know in the comments.

Listening to: Gary Jules - Donnie Darko - Mad World

gamingD&Dcardstockrpgroleplayingsceneryterrain

Here is a list of general RPG resources including networks & forums, game design, worldbuilding, and cartography.  This list is by no means exhaustive, but I have tried to pick the best, limit genre and location specific resources and use updated material.  If you know of a useful online resource that should be included here, please make a comment.

Networks

RPG Bloggers – A wonderful network of bloggers I belong to
RPGsite – A very popular site for discussing RPGs without fear
RPGnet – Another very large forum and review site
RPG Consortium – A pretty popular forum for RPG discussion and play by post
EnWorld – A self proclaimed D&D forum, but still general enough
The Forge – Another heavily trafficked site for RPG discussions
Ladies of Hack – Forums focusing on women in gaming
Iris Gaming Network – A network dedicated to women in the industry
RPG Host Network (RPGLife, RPG Archive, RPG Sheets, RPG Objects) – A vast empire
Free RPG Community – A community dedicated to free RPG rules and content
Strolen’s Citadel – A resource for plots, items, creatures, NPCs, and settings
Roleplaying Tips – GM tips and role playing advice
Treasure Tables – From the creator of Gnome Stew – with 768 GM tips
Pen & Paper – A database of published RPGs, authors, artists, and publishers
RPG Resource – Another pretty good database of RPGs and publishers
RPG MP3 – This place has a ton of PodCasts of actual play sessions

Game Design

The Forge – Has some pretty good articles on RPG Design/Theory
Styles of Roleplaying – John Kim’s extensive site on RPG Theory
RPG Design Resources – A Squidoo page with many links

Worldbuilding

Campaign Builders Guild – A marvelous community of people creating original worlds
SpecFicWorld – A list of resources for writers and worldbuilding
Wikipedia’s List of Settings – A whole slew of settings to be tweaked and mashed
Rich Staats’ World Building Articles – A massive amount of commentary on worldbuilding
Worldbuilding Resources – A Squidoo page with tons of links

Cartography

Cartographer’s Guild -A community for map makers and techniques
Dundjinni – A very polished map creation application
Campaign Cartographer – The mainstay of RPG map apps, has plug ins for cities and more
Fractal Mapper – I’ve used this software for years, makes you maps look like D&D 2nd Ed
Irony Games – I think something has broke on their site, but use to generate random maps
Dungeons Unlimited – Maps & Minigrids
Fantasy Atlas - A decent collection of free maps
Fantasy Map Maker – Maps provided free for personal use
PlayWrite’s CrawlNotes - Drag, resize, pattern and colour rooms, and attach descriptions, monsters and items

Adventure Seeds

The Big List of RPG Plots – Self explanatory
Strolen’s Citadel Plots – Some pretty cool plot ideas
Wizard’s of the Coast Hook Generator – WotC’s adventures in a can
Forbidden Kingdom’s Seed Generator – You can get some pretty zaney stuff here

Atmosphere

Stargazer’s World – A fellow RPG Blogger with an excellent taste for RP music
Nox Arcana – Excellent music for a horror campaign
Midnight Syndicate – Another horror soundtrack producer, also made the official D&D OST

Organizational Tools

Freemind – A mind mapping software for brain storming and notes
NoteCase – A hierarchical (outline) note manager
MS OneNote – Microsoft’s tabbed digital notebook
CampaignWiki - A wiki for managing your campaign
Obsidian Portal – Allows you to create campaign websites

Let me know if you have a resource that should be listed on here!

Listening to: Coal Chamber – Coal Chamber – Loco

gamingD&Dd20rpgroleplayingdungeons and dragonsworld of darkness