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2024 RPG Gift Guide

by Mike on 9 December 2024

Tis the season to give the gamers in your life something special. Below are a handful of my favorite tabletop roleplaying game products. Instead of a "best of 2024", these items are products I find myself going back to again and again when prepping and running my own games. I'm literally surrounded by hundreds of awesome RPG products but the list below includes the products I use most often at my table.

Pathfinder Flip Mat Basic

I think the Pathfinder Flip Mat Basic is the best deal in tabletop RPGs. It folds up small, is extremely lightweight, works with either wet erase or dry erase markers, and lets you draw anything you need for your game. I find it works best with Staedtler Lumocolor medium black (model 315-9) wet-erase markers which are hard to find but draw out big dark lines in a pen that doesn't dry up during the game. Many GMs also love the venerable Chessex vinyl mat and I plan to give that one another go myself.

Midgard World Book

I've used the Midgard World Book for three campaigns now and it's just awesome. It's a huge 466 pages with tons of depth, gods, and regions – any one of which can serve as a whole campaign area. In the past couple of years Kobold Press printed a second printing on higher quality paper than the original paper. It's a lot of material in a single book and the loose connections to real-world places and gods might not be for everyone but it stands as one of my favorite campaign sourcebooks ever.

Demon Cults and Secret Societies

Though it connects well with the Midgard World Book, Demon Cults and Secret Societies also work well on its own. I'm a huge fan of mysterious cults and this book includes detailed descriptions of thirteen such cults with leaders, motivations, stat blocks, and more. Like the Midgard World Book, Demon Cults and Secret Societies is a book I keep coming back to over and over again in several campaigns. Unfortunately it looks like it's only available in PDF. I'm lucky enough to have the hardcover.

Level Up Advanced 5e's Trials and Treasure and Monstrous Menagerie

I've talked at length about A5e's Monstrous Menagerie before. It was my favorite product of 2023 and I still find myself using it. It has some strong competition now with Kobold Press's Monster Vault and the upcoming D&D 2025 Monster Manual but, for now, it remains my favorite monster book because of all the extra table-usable material it has for monsters. It also works hand-in-hand with Trials and Treasure – the sort-of GM's guide for A5e. Trials and Treasure has tons of fantastic random encounter tables and, when you roll a monster, you then go to the Monstrous Menagerie to come up with a more detailed encounter for that particular monster based on that monster's encounter tables.

Trials and Treasure also includes fantastic random treasure tables for 5e and the best exploration system and tools I've found for 5e.

The two books share a powerful connection. I find myself using them together all the time for 5e games. Whether your players are playing D&D 2014, D&D 2024, Tales of the Valiant, or A5e; these books have a lot to offer.

The Lazy DM's Companion

Ok, I know. It's my own book. But damn, I use it all the time. I've even cut it up and put my favorite tables in my own GM binder. The Lazy DM's Companion is built on dozens of tables – all focused on the most important aspects to prep and run great games. Check out the free sample to see if it's for you.

Shadowdark Quickstart Rules

I think the Shadowdark Quickstart Rules are the best introduction to D&D. It's easy to learn, connects well with players who either play 5e or plan to play 5e, and captures the pure feeling of D&D without the complications. This inexpensive quick start kit reminds me of the original white box (even though I never had a white box) with enough material to run games for a long time. It's also lightweight and easy to pack for convention play. The Shadowdark RPG core book was my favorite product of 2023 and, after playing an entire 1st to 10th level Shadowdark campaign over a year, along with dozens of one-shot Shadowdark games, it's clear I love this system. The Shadowdark Quickstart pack is a wonderful gift for the GM in your life.

More Sly Flourish Stuff

Last week I posted the YouTube video Kukkutarma – Dragon Empire Prep Session 4.

Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics

Each week I record an episode of the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things in tabletop RPGs. Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video.

Talk Show Links

Here are links to the sites I referenced during the talk show.

Patreon Questions and Answers

Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers.

RPG Tips

Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as RPG tips. Here are this week's tips:

Include one or two social encounters in your list of potential dungeon encounters.
Run multiple bosses.
Avoid NPC betrayal. Make NPC motivations clear.
Customize every magic weapon or suit of armor. Add stories, themes, and single-use spell effects.
Include and reveal secret passages.
When running a session focused on a single character, highlight others as well.
Break character and talk to your players about potential game-changing secret character decisions.

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