05 December 2024
The following is a list of cleaned-up responses from YouTube, Bluesky, EN World, and ttrpg.network in response to the question:
"What RPG books, supplements, or accessories do you find yourself using year after year? Which RPG products provide the biggest regular impact at your table?"
Here are the responses:
I only things I have used multiple years are mainly for DnD 5e 2014:
Monstrous Races - a supplement that turns everything from official Monster Manuals into playable races with a lovely commentary about how these were balanced.
Conflux Creatures - just better creatures, this is the first thing I do is to replace monsters of premade adventures with the Conflux ones. They are just much better experience compared to sacks of HP that most 5e monsters are. There is no need to read "Monsters know what they are doing" when the stat block pretty much does it for you.
Creature Loot by Medieval Melodies: https://medievalmelodies.blogspot.com/2017/06/creature-loot-intro.html - lootsies + crafting for all of the creatures.
The Alexandrian: thealexandrian.net for reviews, advice and remixes of official campaigns
Official WotC products besides the campaigns: Fizban's Treasury of Dragons for all of the Dragon Lore
Lately, Discord seems the unifying tool among all my tables. I'm currently playing 2300AD, Firefly RPG, and Storycaster. So not really conventional games.
I have Archives of Nethys permanently open.
Monster tokens are probably one of my "unsung heroes" of gaming when it comes to travel; I know people (myself included) probably always go to with minis, but if i'm going to a convention, traveling for the holidays, etc. tossing a whole pile of tokens into a bag make for great addition. No particular brand, just whatever i've picked up over the years.
Having scrap paper and pencils on hand is my go to. Even running online it's nice to have and I find, if I don't have it, I end up needing it.
A wet erase map probably. Though I don't know if that's an 'accessory' since it'd be like saying dice, or notebooks are accessories they are so central to the whole thing.
I think one thing I really like since about last year is 'origami' miniatures i.e. miniatures folded out of paper, there's just something that speaks to me when I put down a bunch of paper frogs or a paper dragon as a miniature. They are 'abstract' but honestly it's not like it needs to be super detailed. Plus I don't have to worry about it getting damaged or lost, plus I can give it to people, which if you are running a game for kids, you'll want to bring more than just one paper dragon miniature.
As for supplements I quite like the Book of Challenges from 3.5e and WallyDM's Journal of Puzzle Encounters both help me with just coming up with challenges and puzzles since I can page through it a bit then make a new puzzle/challenge.
A wet erase map probably
Second this. probably the most used accessory i have. Others come and go, but that vinyl map i've had kicking around for 20+ years is still used almost every game.
I keep going back to the Fate core and supplement books. They just have such good GM advice.
Shawn Tomkin's Ironsworn series. Delve I regularly use for setting up point crawls. Ironsworn/Starforged/Sundered Isles have great collections of random tables, I use the book thematically most fitting for the situation at hand. The core tables of Action, Theme, Descriptor and Focus all get heavy use.
Kevin Crawford's [SOMETHING] Without Number series have awesome tables as well. These however get more use when I need more detail. Prep stuff. Again most thematic book is picked first but I do have used Cites (cyberpunk) for fantasy cities.
When I want to create background for "medieval fantasy" characters I pick up Burning Wheel and burn something up. Through that I get a good selection of relevant skills to sue (for flavor)
Anything related to cosmos and mythology I say HELLO! to my growing collection of Glorantha material. From cult books to magic tomes and Atlases.
I don't put much stock into generic gaming aids.
I think for digital gamin,g it has to be foundry. If there is a module for your game of choice, then it's just better then Roll20. The Fabula Ultima module is pretty great.
Roll 20 is a honorable mention because the bar of entry to it is so damn low. It is a pile of jank though.
My graphics tablet is also a great too, I sometimes just sketch things for my group in real time. The same thing can be done with a whiteboard in your gaming room for physical games.
Also a giant battle mat is really useful.
i'm tempted to say physical dice, but in truth i have many sets and switch them out for each campaign, so my most-used accessory is probably my nice padded rolling tray, followed closely by my staedler stick eraser
my most-used books, despite my meticulously-curated physical and PDF libraries, have turned out to be the player's handbook and dungeon master's guide on DnDbeyond; i always keep them open on an ipad stand during gameplay because it's really tough to beat indexed hypertext for ready-reference during gameplay…my players use the heck out of my shared campaign subscription, but it's becoming tougher now that DnDbeyond defaults to 2024 rules, so that use pattern may well change as the platform evolves…
even as a player, though, i feel like a good DM's screen might be quicker!..the problem of course is tabletop real estate, but it seems like there's an untapped market for player's reference screens during remote sessions, where most folks have more tabletop real estate to play with physical accessories
i'm considering crafting a player's reference screen with panels focused on core rules, house rules, and class rules which can be readily swapped-out…
I have done online only since the pandemic so GIMP, Inkarnate, Roll20, and ZIM Desktop Wiki are pretty essential for organizing as well as digital table-top for play.
I own and frequently use the (Stars/Worlds/Cities) without numbers books often depending on the genre for procedural world-building but I was recently gifted Microscope and im sorry did you say street magic so I'm looking forward to making the shift towards collaborative world building with the players.
Also from the SWN book are the faction rules which are broadly applicable.
Finally I usually reread the Mothership Wardens Operations Manual before I do my October horror one-shots
While I haven't yet purchased Justin Alexander's So you want to be a game master, I have extensively read his blog, and often reread it when creating for a new campaign.
I'm primarily playing Pathfinder 2 these days, so I make a lot of use out of digital resources like Pathbuilder and pf2easy.com. I also lean pretty heavily on Trilium for session prep and notes, but I'm a chronic over-preparer and struggle with improvising the world on the spot.
I use a lot of roll tables during prep. I have several of the Gamemaster's Guide to ____ books on my shelf that I pull out whenever I'm wireframing a dungeon, and I have a lot of the Raging Swan pre-built settlements that I leaf through and drop into my world when the players need a town to come across.
I also find myself turning to GM advice books every few months, just to skim over things. Right now, So You Want to be a Game Master, Robin's Laws of Good Game Mastering, and Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master (Eh? Ehhhhh?) seem to be the ones that end up on my desk. I can safely assure you, one of the advice sinks in, but I usually have my best streaks of sessions after reviewing things like these.
I also find myself returning to modules from 3.x. They were the ones I first played, and they're (mostly) pretty easy to convert to PF2. We're currently just wrapping up Forge of Fury - or we will, once I finish converting the Allip.
I find myself pulling in things from all over the place. Worlds Beyond Number has great generator tables to build adventures from, and Dangerous Destinations etc are great for scaffolding locations on the fly. I also use the interlinking utility of OneNote for my GM notes, which helps a lot in my sandbox games to remember who did what, where, why, etc.
Historically it would be either my 2nd edition Werewolf the Apocalypse book, Paladium Fantasy Core book, or WEG's Star Wars d6 core book.
Knave 2nd Edition and Errant for old-school procedures, processes, and generators.
Role 4 Initiative's dungeon tiles.
Forged Dice Co Arena dice rolling tray.
Savage Worlds Customizable GM Screen, though once mine falls apart, I'll probably go for the DriveThruRPG landscape GM screen because it's 4 panels rather than the SW's 3 panels.
Pathfinder/Starfinder/ArcKnight pawns.
AEG Ultimate Toolbox.
Science Fiction Codex of Lists and Science Fiction Codex of Lists 2.
The random encounter terrain travel tables from Barbarian Prince have been with me since 1981. Each result comes with a descriptive entry in the adventure booklet. I've used it often as a basis for many random encounters.
When I play in person, I use TacTiles as my primary grid system and they are awesome. You can pry them from my cold… etc etc
I also make use of poker chips in almost every game: luck tokens, bennies, inspiration, force points, whatever.
Loke map books of various kinds. If you want to keep the investment low go for one of their books of varied maps, or if you are happy to spend a little more buy some of the mix-and-match double book sets.
Chessex 6ft dry erase battle mat for in person games. I take baby wipes with me.
Poker chips.
MS OneNote
A good pdf reader
We play with these tiles a lot of the time
.png
These minis from 3e days have been around for years at our table.
.png
I would say though, the most used thing at the table is the Kings Road- the most dangerous stretch of land in the kingdom.
.png
The Game Master's Fantasy Toolkit from Roll & Play, which is sort of a DM's safety net.
A dice tray that lays flat when not in use (I have mine tucked between my core books) and has magnets on the corner to form a tray when needed.
This site: The Hypertext d20 SRD (v3.5, 5e & Pathfinder d20 System Reference Document) :: d20srd.org
For years, this was my first stop resource for 3.Xe rules questions. Simple, elegant, quick, easy to navigate.
For 5e, I also use this one a lot: 5th Edition SRD
Skyrim Official Game Guide by Prima Games, and of course, donjon.bin.sh
I would love to see a list of all these books have to offer at some point. I've heard that Errant is stuffed full of procedures, but not what that entails.
There's a free no-art edition of Errant on Drivethru.
Demon Cults and Secret Societies is my favorite 5E book both official and 3PP. It was also an amazing value on Kickstarter at the time.
Worlds Without Number. Free PDF. Hands down the best fantasy worldbuilding book. Check out the free version to get a taste.
Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master. One of the best referee resources for actually running games.
Game Master's Handbook of Proactive Roleplaying. Running games this way makes the referee's life so much easier.
Chessex Dry Erase Battle Mat.
Blades in the Dark. The section on clocks is worth its weight in gold. Useful for any game.
Monster of the Week. The section on making monsters and running mysteries is worth its weight in gold. Useful for any game.
Battle Maps
Flipmats from Paizo. Many good ones like the crypt and the dragon lair and the wilderness terrain ones.
Various from WotC, I got a great map collection booklet with like 20 that are great. My brother had laminated a couple of the module ones and gave me two to use (spider queen temple and some underdark one) and they are fantastic to unroll and layout then roll up afterwards.
Mongoose d20 Starship Troopers terrain maps are pretty fantastic. Got a set super cheap from a Paizo sale years ago.
Everything else is cycled depending on what my current game of choice is and what Adventure Path/modules I am running.
I also was a big fan of the 4e Monster Vault for the counters.
They covered the fantasy basics, were super cheap compared to minis, looked great, and were easy to store in ziplocks with labels for types.
I used them in my pathfinder games all the time until my friends got into Reaper Bones collections and we used their minis from then on.
Recently: Monster Overhaul by Skerples, Midgard/Southlands Campaign Setting by Kobold, Mothership's Warden Operation Manuel, Goodman Games' The Dungeon Alphabet by Michael Curtis.
All these resources are excellent and I highly recommend them to you.
It is my dice. Specifically my Zocchi 20's and 6's. I can't remember the last game I played or ran that I did not use at least one of them in. It's been at least 35 years. I am so glad I bought the $1 per die dice and not the cheap $0.35 per die Chessex dice.
Veins of the Earth and Into the Wyrd and Wild. BUT a really unsung hero is "for the queen" which i have players run before campaigns to see if they are really attached to their "queen" or patron, ruler etc. It also helps for world building
Veins of the Earth and Into the Wyrd and Wild. BUT a really unsung hero is "for the queen" which i have players run before campaigns to see if they are really attached to their "queen" or patron, ruler etc. It also helps for world building
That would be a really fun worldbuilding tool. There's also a new simple RPG that I think is being crowdfunded currently about the creation of orcs which I also think would be a great prelude to a lot of games. (As would Microscope, although I understand that to be about more fundamental worldbuilding elements.)
Before 2020, I would say the Paizo flip mats. I had so many of those and used them often.
The ones I keep going back to? WFRP 1E. Pendragon 4th (despite having 5th). FFG Star Wars (my most run game). L5R 5th (which is 3rd most run, after AD&D 2e, but I'll never go back to 2e). (4th goes to WEG Star Wars.)
My most used tools?
Staedler grey-barreled markers - they're water soluble for months after use, and available in X-Fine. And refillable. And available in sets from 4 to 18 colors…
refill pots are only reasonable price for the core four.
Staedler black barrel are alcohol soluble, but don't use the red or green on vinyl - they stain it. I've erased them from page protectors at ages varying from hours to years after application using isopropyl. They have their own refill pots, too.
As a set: A double set of Mini-meeples (get two samplers). A set of 8mm wood gaming cubes (get the 50-pack of 5 colors). A triple set of 15mm disks (10 each in 3 colors). I use these instead of minis. I also got a set of 10 white mini-meeples… and my players decorated their meeples to suit. Which is how I wound up with a white mini-meeple in a green bikini - the female player of a female druid had me draw it for her. Vicki - I think of you every time there's an argument over who gets the bikini meeple.
a good set of plastic playing cards (used for those games needing them - Savage Worlds, Twilight 2000/Dark Conspiracy, Castle Falkenstein, Arabian Sea Tales.)
KEM, COPAG, ACE, certain Hoyle and Bycycle decks, even the Nintendo Legend of Zelda cards
good quality poker chips. (not the $5 interlocking nastiness Bycycle sells as their low end. Those are noisy. The 11.5g at walmart/fred meyers/etc at least don't make the same level of noise.)
Regarding poker chips. I had some custom ones printed at Chip Lab. They are casino quality clay chips and the price wasn't bad at all.
All good answers so far.
For me this year I have told my wife general office stuff (I don't play online at this point):
) Notebooks and composition books
) Nice Pens and Pencils (I like blackwing pencils)
) Pencil Sharpner
and as I am a low rent type of terrian builder: Jenga Blocks/Dominoes.
I do campaign write-ups more than actually play and love having a dedicated composition book for each campaign.
The random encounter terrain travel tables from Barbarian Prince have been with me since 1981. Each result comes with a descriptive entry in the adventure booklet. I've used it often as a basis for many random encounters.
That's a great idea. Also available for free:
Barbarian Prince - Download The Classic Heritage Dwarfstar Boardgames For Free
Pathfinder 1E Gamemastery Guide. Beyond the work building NPCs, towns and rewards, it gave a really good idea of what to expect from players, how to GM and what you may or may not need at the table when you play. Definitely evergreen.
For GMing… Robins Laws of Good Game Mastering, your awesome Lazy DM's books… and perhaps surprisingly the original 1E Unearthed Arcane book. UA gets me in a good DM mindset to really think about crunch bits and gets me to try and think "Outside-the-Box." Love your prep videos! Keep them coming! 💪
The only content I have not created myself have been Patreon maps and monster stat blocks. I homebrew everything else. A very recent development has been Dolmenwood for me. Those books are so incredibly well formatted that I now use them as a template for large scale homebrewing.
The Numenera Discovery Corebook and Sir Arthour's Guide to the Numenera. Even when running 5e fantasy games I find myself returning to these two books regularly for magic item inspiration and ideas to connect PCs to each other. The Cypher foci represent aspects of the D&D classes quite well, so I took a look at them for ideas how to relate the PCs to each other. Encourages teamwork and roleplay!
most recently the Monster Overhaul. Sandbox Generator, Book of Challenges for dungeons, and Ptolus and Absolom for cities
Lazy DM books. Tome of Adventure Design. The ToV and A5e books (I love those… I'm looking at Trials and Treasures right now). Forge of Foes.
Adventure Modules and Monster Books. Adventures serve as inspiration for design elements of my games. And plenty of monster books keep the combat fresh.
Post-It notes and index cards. Anytime I need to write something down for the players, it's Post-It notes on the GM screen. Anytime I want to hand something to a specific player, it's index cards.
Lazy DM Companion, Lazy DM Workbook. Saved my butt last minute more times than I can count.
"Five Leagues from the Border" offered a neatly structured way to manage an encounter and a campaign, with loads of random tables for inspiring or generating the various creative elements that you will need. The scifi version "Five Parsecs from Home" was similar. I rarely play the actual games formally, but i happily apply the content and structure quite often in other games.
Kevin Crawford's whole line-up - Worlds, Cities and Stars Without Number are all amazing and I reference them constantly even across genres
Obviously Knave 2e is worth its weight in platinum with just the sheer volume of useful tables
I've also been finding a lot of value in Marcus Pascall's Quartershots series, basically zero-prep plug and play mini-adventures. Grab one of those, swap a few races/NPCs out to match my setting and boom
And maybe this is just me because my game is set in Dominaria, but I have a few Magic: The Gathering art/lore books and they are just a treasure trove of fantastic and evocative art, character and arc ideas, etc
I read up a lot on setting information through books or Wikis. I use Name Generators for random NPCs (like the one in Xanathars). I also use my DM Screen for quick reference information even while playing online. Other good books are random encounters or very short adventure compilations like the Encounters series on DMsGuild.
Monster Books and anything I can rip right out of the book and drop in my game. I love the Remarkable Guild/Cult/Inns/Shops books from Loresmyth. I enjoy reading setting books as well for inspiration on how to deepen my own homebrew world
For my D&D 5E in-person games, these are my go-to resources for session prep and gameplay: Loke Battle Mats books with plastic clings, A5E Monstrous Menagerie, Forge of Foes, Knave 2E, Notion, Sly Flourish Patreon tools, Lazy DM's Companion, D&D Dicelings to use as Inspiration tokens and random tiny toys to use as minis.
I listen to the audiobook "Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master" about once a year.
I also have the physical book, which i mostly use for reference once in a while.
Sly Flourish - The Lazy Dungeon Master
·
Lazy DM Companion and Workbook are a given. I am currently using Dread Thingonomicon, bought on sale thanks to Mike Shea's recommendation, and I think it'll be used for some time to come. Great book.
Accessory is the Dragon Shield Game Master Companion. The GM screen has worked well since I run a bunch of different games and I like the dry/wet erase cards that come with it to track initiative.
Monster books and setting books. Sometimes just flipping through them will spark inspiration. Both are nice because I can just lift a monster, or a town/stronghold/region, reskin it and boom! A fresh idea for an adventure/campaign
I might be the odd one here, as I've only run published adventures. In which case I always have the respective book at hand, and the only extra resource that I came back to frequently is the PHB. On occasion, when I had to build my own encounters, I used Flee Mortals for some monsters.
I still use my Advanced D&D Fiend Folio quite regularly, even though most of my games now are run in 5E. I also use "The Deck of Many Quests" for ideas and brainstorming.
My real answer for "year after year" …just dice! My most-used books seem to change completely with every campaign! But this campaign it's been my own supplement Skrym for loot, locations, and monsters; DCC core and my trimmed version of DCC for reference; and Shadowdark for monsters.
I find myself using Mythic GME quite often
Forge of foes, fm! and monstrous menagerie
Index card rpg, and maze rats /knave books are indispensable in my GM kit, regardless of what game I'm running. They have great tables, advice, content and ideas in general
Monster Books (like Flee Mortals, Grimm hollow Monster Grimoire and Mordenkainen's, Tome of beasts etc.)
Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft and Arcana of the Ancients by Monte Cook are books I return very often to.
The DMG 2014 has a bad reputation but I used so many optional rules from it in so many different 5e games.
But the most used by far are just lists with random names that work in the current setting. No matter if I play a 5e variant, Cypher, Frostzone, Deadlands, Exalted, Vampire or whatever else, I always use a list of names to spontaneously name an NPC. (And dice, most RPGs use dice)
"year after year" is hard to claim with this one right now, but I almost always check Flee Mortals for ideas about how to spice up monsters.
Monster books, and the DMG.
My Pathfinder Pawn boxes. Best 40 bucks I ever spent and still hold up 2 years later. RPG wise Symbaroum and anything Cubicle 7 makes. Especially fond of Soulbound. GM Screens.
Knave 2e. I use the names, monster creation, some of the basic rules, and city generation for my 5e games.
Grabbed Forge of Foes this year and it's been a huge help! As as Flee Mortals, which I also regularly use and take cues from.
Map packs from DMsguild (DriveThruRPG moreso these days) have also been extremely useful for me lol.
The Burning Wheel Codex. No matter what game I run, that book always has a lesson that helps me.
Thr tables in Shadowdark are so valuable for most any fantasy based TTRPG, not just Shadowdark. They are such great nuggets of inspiration in them. They've helped my 5e games have more character.
Also the Lazy DM Companion, for similar reasons!
You want to be a Dungeonmaster was very helpfull. Also Return of the lazy Dungeonmaster ;)
Return of the Lazy DM, Lazy DM's Workbook, Kevin Crawford's "Without Number" books for all of the wonderful tables, Ironsworn book also for the oracle tables and other random tables.
Paizo Flip Mats, Loke Battlemap books, Shadowdark encounter tables, A5E Trials and Treasures& MCDM Flee Mortals.
DungeonFog digital map-making tool-set. I think I am an exception here, but my ideas and creativity get a good kick-start when I dig in and work through a self-made map. It has also helped me decipher published adventures, because when I start really working through a published map (by converting it into this tool-set) is when I really begin to understand what they intended and how it could play out at the table.
Organized Play material like Adventurers League campaigns. I run a large organized play club, and these are great products for community building.
Core rulebooks gather dust mostly, digital tools are used for monster stats and rules lookup. Setting books and campaign books gather dust unless being perused for inspiration a few times a year. While organized play modules are effectively cash money in my local TTRPG community/club.
Flee Mortals and Forge of Foes are the big ones for me.
A5E Monstrous Menagerie and Trials & Treasures, Lazy DM's Companion, Xanathar's, Worlds Without Number
I would say monster books are the most useful. Can never have enough of them
Lazy DM and So You Wanna be a GM to remind me of important advice. Setting books, big monster books and books of tables are the most useful for me in long term. The specific ones that I like:
- Setting: Eberron and Tal'Dorei
- Tables: Tome of Adventure Design, Knave 2e and Worlds Without Number
- Monsters: Flee Mortals, Tome of Beasts, Monstrous Menagerie.
Ironsworn Oracles, followed by monster books (Into the Wyrd and Wild, Folklore Bestiary, Monster Overhaul…), followed by magic items lists-especially for items with more quirk or weirdness than power
I refer to the relationship question tables from Kids on Bikes for almost every game I run
Lazy DM's Companion and Workbook. The World Builder's Handbook from AD&D days! Monster Manuals, including 3rd and 2nd edition, for lore. The 3rd edition DMG. The Alexandrian (and, by extension, So You Want to Be a Gamemaster).
Lazy GM, monster managerey., shadow dark tables. Researching for a new book? Sign me up…..
lol. Mostly things you've written or recommended. Lazy DM stuff, level up 5e monsters, Dyson logos, chessex wet erase grid, dice, couple of rolling trays, led book light behind the screen. Less conventional a stream deck for audio and image display, bunch of online tools. Stream deck for home play is probably the most used but niche item in my regular repertoire.
I make a point to reread the gm-ing chapter in Apocalypse World once a year, even though I'm not running it.
Archive of Nethys
hour ago
Monster manuals, setting guides, and anything that is meant to be a tool of quick random generation (so campaign/adventure generators, random tables, quick faction tools) personally!
raging swan miscellany, chessex flip map, condition rings, Flee Mortals!, the lazy dm suite of books, and LA5e trials and treasures
The random tables from maze rats and now Knave 2e have seen use in almost every single session I've run for years and I don't even play in OSR style. I use it mostly for NPC and magic item generation
Return of the lazy dungeon master, whichever adventure module I'm running, and any monster book.
Chessex mats, generic 3D printed terrain and enemy tokens, dice box and a dice bag. Spotify playlists that are sorted into folders ie combat, road, town etc.
Dungeon masters guide, setting books & Monster Manual are what i use most frequently. Probably in that order.
I'm always putting the principals in Return of the Lazy DM, The Game Master's Handbook of Proactive Roleplaying, and the 5 Room Dungeon into practice every session. I've also been running a lot more Cypher System as of late.
Flee mortals! And Angry GM's workflow
Return of the Lazy DM, Lazy DM Companion, Lazy DM Workbook, Xanathar's, Monsters know what they're doing.
Spectacular Settlements by Nord Games. I use this as a base for building out my cities.
Return of the Lazy DM, first edition DMG, Scenic Dunsmouth, and my ugly but easy-to-read dice.
A tablet. Saves space and pdfs are cheaper.
Forge of Foes, Dread Thingonomicon, The Monsters Know What They're Doing, Worlds Without Number, Spelunking, Uncharted Journeys
I'm a brand newish DM and most commonly I find myself pasting screenshots into my Obsidian vault of the really basic rules it seems like we rarely use but forget (item prices, vehicle proficencies, the eight schools of magic, bonus action casting,)
When creating an encounter I refer back to your article on Hitpoints per level average Alot to ground myself for monsters damage output
A simple d6 yes-no oracle die, Perilous wilds, maze rats, one page solo engine (not for solo play, but for the genius abstract prompt generation), flat minis from dragonbane, electric bastionland for gm advice
As a digital DM, I'd say Photopea (online free photoshop) and TokenStamp are my most frequently used sites to let me whip up assets very quickly.
Flee Mortals!
For published stuff, it's always geopolitical content like maps, historical timelines, and faction descriptions that I go back to a lot, especially when I'm new-ish to a setting (where new-ish can last for a long time until I completely internalize a setting.)
Rules summaries/cheatsheets can be useful too, but it's hit-and-miss as to whether they're laid out in a clear and logical way without errors, with all of the necessary information and without too much extraneous clutter. So, often I'll just make my own cheatsheets.
What's often missing from published material is random tables such as npc names. Lots of books give lists of names, but don't assign numbers to them, so even if you know that there are 23 names in the list, you then need to roll a d23 (lol) and count the names off one by one. And you can't just use generic lists like in The Tome of Adventure Design, because the options in such a book don't capture the atmosphere and setting details very well unless the world itself is extremely generic. So for each game, I end up needing to make such generators myself. Seriously, every game should come with so many more random tables than has been the custom.
Forge of Foes, Old School Adventures Basic, Open5E
Campaign setting books and monster books by far, regardless of system.
Condition rings really do make gridded combat easier.
gridded wet erase mats and flip maps, aleast for me show when position is important. I could never go back to theater of the mind. takes to straighten out position each move. IMO
I do not use books regilarly. I regularly use my notes, tables, etc that are based on books and other sources
I probably use Forge of Foes more than any other single book.
Maze rats/knave 2e for fantasy.
Starforged reference guide for scifi.
Mythic gm emulator.
This is all I need
Forge of Foes for the monster building table so I can remember approximately how strong things should be and to get ideas for interesting traits. Flee! mortals for monsters and minion rules, Deep Magic by kobold press for spells and enchanting rules. Return of the lazy DM to remember how to quickly describe places.
Anything with dense and easily found information that saves time looking for references.
Kent david kellys books. Theyre disorganized, but the procedures and sheer bulk of tables are excellent to scrounge through for ideas
Lazy DMs Workbook, Shadowdark, Cursed Scrolls #1-3, Book of Random Tables 2, Knave2e, So You Want to be a Gamemaster, Dungeon Master's Guide (2014/2024)
Erasable battle map, customable GM screen, bag of dice (many dice), pecil, tokens…beside those, I play tens of diferent games every year, so I hardly bound myself to a particular game…well, maybe Rifts is an exception, then my Rifts NA Atlas, the Rifts Core Book and WB30 D-Bees od NA are a must!
for online games, i use Foundry VTT, and i like to have a print and a PDF copy of the rulebook and adventure to hand, and a physical screen on my desk for any reference tables i need. the dungeon draw extension is great for mapping on the fly when i don't have time to grid and wall out dungeon maps. for in person games, i use the same physical screen and books, with the PDFs loaded on my phone for full text searchability, regular graph paper, pencils, and my dice. sometimes i like index cards for passing info/notes to players privately, but that's really it. most of the systems i play are A5 sized books, so the whole kit fits in an accordion file for easy transport.
Dungeondraft (mapping software), Campaign Cartographer for a 5e style map or creating a large city street map for a chase, The Waterdeep City Encounters book from DMsGuild, The Chapel on the Cliffs (5e) adventure for how to do a village encounter right, Nights Dark Terror Adventure for how to pack in a lot of adventure with little text, Heroic Maps, Chessex 34mm D20s for older eyes, Storms Kings Thunder Adventure (the best 5e offical adventure for a DMs DM so much flexibility and so much to borrow locations, lore, encounters). Fantasy Grounds and specifcally the treasure generator tables and the Encounter Builder, 3rd edition Forgotten Realms Manual, Syrinscape (with Fantasy Grounds Integration),1st edition AD&D DM Guide for random tables, Big Pockets Silicon Battlemat, Web DM Youtube Back catalogue so much inspiration by class or theme, the Chris Perkins interview he did with Critical role they have removed (shame - but I have a copy of). Finally my reviewed adventure pitch - manuscript to Dungeon Magazine that Chris Perkins wrote on and sent back to me by post (I had to pay the return mail) some 25+ years ago that told me that my submitted adventure sucked and included advice on what I needed to do to improve (including learning American spelling I'm from Australia).
MCDM products. I have had great success with'Flee Mortals!' and 'Where Evil Lives'. The varieties of monster abilities always do something cool. I also find their encounter builder easier to use than the DMG.
Dry erase tiles, dice tray, plus a stash of containers from Daiso to organize counters and dice. For tools, a variety of spreadsheets I use to calculate monster stats.
Dungeon Tiles, Warlock Tiles, trusty old Chessex one sided huge wet erase battlemat. Miniatures, the old Alea Tools magnetic condition markers I got during 4e. Home made magic item/quest cards. Inspiration tokens. Spell cards and the like. Home made initiative tents. Various battle maps. Bling
Keith Ammann @themonstersknow.com
Your Return of the Lazy DM. Xanathar's. Gary Gygax's Extraordinary Book of Names (not by Gary Gygax). The website Behind the Name. Google Translate and Wiktionary. My DM screen, for the Encounter Distance table. My dice tower. Poker chips, miniature and full-size. Hero Forge.
Keith Ammann @themonstersknow.com
Also, for online games, Owlbear Rodeo, which I think you called to my attention.
The Story Games Names Project: a book full of names, divided by cultures of origin. Need an NPC name right now? You got it!
archive.org/details/stor…
The Story Games Names Project : Jason Morningstar : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
From the foreword: Jason Morningstar, a man who clearly understands the value of an evocative name, got the idea of harnessing the awesome might of…
archive.org
I mean any Grim Hollow product, probably goes without saying. 😅 But before/aside from that, any 'Monster Manual' style book. Adventure ideas evolve from monsters I'm excited to run.
Similarly, miniatures. I design villains/encounters/adventures to match specific minis I want to see on the table.
Unsurprisingly Dwarven Forge and miniatures.
Brewer's Bible
3.5 DMG II (I like to convert tools to 5e.)
Manual of the Planes
There isn't a game I pay, regardless of genre, that I don't have
2e and it's excellent roll tables handy for.
Surprisingly, I keep using DM tools from Tasha's
DCC Reference Booklet
Easily most used when running, playing, editing, or creating for DCC.
Cover of the Dungeon Crawl Classics Reference Booklet.
ALT
Yep…can't imagine playing without it. That's why I was glad
and
included a reference booklet with the XCC Kickstarter.
I've been very pleasantly surprised by my dice tower! I thought it wouldn't be that big of a difference but it's very satisfying to use, and the sound definitely gets my players attention. That and a few theatrical tone setter props like candles burning and so on.
Having my big foam D20 for people to role for big things is also fun during convention. Keeps folks engaged.
I reference history books quite a bit as well.
It's always a bit of a pickle, isn't it, when we come across amazing events that exemplify "truth is stranger than fiction"
Return of the Lazy DM - not kissing up, I frequently look at that book to refresh my low prep brain.
SlyFlourish.com @slyflourish.com
Thank you!
Dyson Logos maps by far
I love that Eberron has never moved on since 2004, so every sourcebook is current.
I'll echo the other responses tat your Lazy GM books have been very helpful, but I'll also toss a vote in for The Monster Overhaul. Skerples did a lot of heavy lifting with that one.
This book is the greatest thing ever invented and I'm like barely kidding.
The cover of "Gary Gygax's Extraordinary Book of Names" by Malcolm Bowers.
ALT
Lazy DM books, Kobold Press and MCDM monster books, Notion campaign templates and I built a wiki for homebrew setting in nothing too. Also Pathfinder flip maps and tiles. I think the Notion and monster books have the biggest impact at the table, but the lazy dm books are the most impact before game
Mechanical Pencil, Graph Paper, coffee and a couple books.
Random tables while prepping for the next session, especially from The Monster Overhaul, Knave 2, and Cairn 2.
And a laminator for making durable handouts for multi-table use.
The Table Fables books by Madeline Hale
The Pathfinder Pawns are great! Easy to store and organize and create your own
The Without Number books (plus his other books really)
"Table Fabels II: the world-builder's handbook" by Madeline Hale
Such a handy resource full of great tables for when the adventure jumps off the rails.
I hear many many good things about this book. The first book has been incredibly helpful, as well, but I don't have the second yet.
Return of the Lazy DM - You know.
Augmented Reality - So many random tables for Cyberpunk
Masks - Book of NPC
Eureka - Book of Plots
Regardless of the game or system, I always have Gary Gygax's Extraordinary Book of Names within reach.
Dungeon Church @dungeon.church
Am I allowed to say 5etools? I create all my homebrew in its format and use the digital DM Screen
Honestly? My 2014 PHB. I only just acquired a personal copy of the DMG + MM from my FLGS even though I've been DMing for years bc with the new ones coming out I figured it was time.
Lazy DMs companion and Forge of Foes have quickly become staples in my games but I've only had them for a yearish😅
MCG's the Weird
This is Your Life section of Xanathar's Guide
Return, forge of foes, Trials and treasure, Monstrous menagerie. Menagerie is everything you could want in a monster book from loot to pre-made battles and monster lore. Forge of foes let's me tweak and create unique monsters after that. Can't wait for Menagerie 2
Accessories: Chessex flipmat, Wet erase markers + rag, A5 6-ring binder journal, gridded notebook, back scratcher (for moving far away minis)
Books: Trials and Treasures, Monstrous Menagerie, Dungeon Delver's Guide, Worlds Without Number, GM's Miscellany: Dungeon Dressing, D30 Companion books
Camille H @camillehdl.dev
Miniatures and terrain. My players always react positively to a good battlemap
Owlbear Rodeo for encounters.
Dndbeyond and Discord for players.
Monsters from Flee Mortals by
.
Videos and advice from
, , Master the Dungeon, and Quinn's Quest.
I GM online but:
1) A music/ambiance/sound system. The tone is so much easier to set and draw players in with just pressing "play".
2) Fully digitally prepped adventures with maps w/ walls, line of sight, items, monsters, scenes, etc
3) 3D VTT system or adventures
4) If IRL, LED screens
Besides core rulebooks? Monster books, magic item books, setting books. Over and over again 😎 Specific books:
@koboldpress.com
Tome of Beasts 1-3 & Creature Codex
Books 1&2, & Whatever setting we're in - currently Kobold Press's Midgard. For inspiration, your (1/2)
… Lazy DM books and
So You Want to be a Game Master. There are others I've got from Kickstarter & Elsewhere too. (2/2)
Boaz 🌻 @boaz.dftba.social
I'm a huge fan of curated lists of random tables. Your Lazy DM books (genuinely), Knave 2E, Dungeon Dozen, Tome of Adventure Design, Dread Thingonomicon, Universal NPC Emulator.
I'd like to find more books like this, though I should probably focus on making better use of the ones I have 😅
RPGs that aren't what I'm playing. Recently read GM guidance in Daggerheart and it immediately unlocked so many ideas on how to fix issues I'd encountered when running d&d and pathfinder. For less philosophical answers: A good bluetooth speaker! Button fridge magnets for abstract minis! Post-its!
Mythic GME 2nd edition. Cut down prep, discover as you play. Even as a GM running a group, Mythic is a game changer.
1e DMG. It literally has everything.
Discord.
For all the asynchronous chat and scheduling between games. Helpful for both my online and IRL tables.
I already answered this on YouTube, but I probably look at Forge of Foes more than anything else. I have only been using it for a few months, but since I started using it, I pretty much consult it when creating any encounter.
Forge of fors
Mike Pondsmith's Beat Charts. Really grounds you in "what the fuck do you want your players to get out of this scene".
They're in the Cyberpunk 2020 and RED corebooks, but they're also just theatre/scripting tools too.
Monster Manual Expanded: very useful when a type of monster makes story sense, but the regular version is too low CR to engage my players. Quicker than adding character levels to a bugbear, for example. We've used Chessex 2-sided mats for ages.
Reddit for maps.
AI for making way more images that I can show my players.
Core Books (most of the time D&D, Savage Worlds or a Gumshoe game), gm screen, return of the lazy dm, eurika and masks
The internet, evolving websites that help me organize and inspire me to try. The community that allows me to ask and answers with encouragement.
Hard to say. I bounce between several systems b/c of their creation content. Wh40k Only war for army creation, rogue trader stars of inequity for making systems and planets, RT: Koronus Beastiary for making life on them, Imperium Maledictum for patron creation.
Outside of those generators i like to use experience running Blades in the dark for its narrative approach to deacribing results of tests and combat. Witcher and cyberpunk is cool for their PC life path creator. Sadly cant just port all that to just any system.
And Wrath and Glory narrative decloration mechanic. It allows players to spend a resource to make a change or addition to the scene if GM approves.
Lastly i orefer to run my games digitally in foundy vtt bþc is ease the burden of having to know all the rules right away. Also better for the environment to not have to print out a bunch of handouts.
I make maps in wonderdraft/dungeondraft.
Gm notes and prep in word docs.
Brian (BARGE games) @bargegames.com
I could not imagine doing a campaign of anything without opening up one of James D'Amato's books.
Especially his character backstory creation book. I adapt it to my needs every campaign for my players and it has immensely improved my player's engagement with their characters and the world.
Wonderdraft and Dingeondraft. Bardify on YT for music. Xanathar's and Volo's for extra 5e stuff. The 5e monster, spell, and item cards, which we keep in baseball card pocket sheets. Wooden spell slot & ability tokens that I custom made. All the dice, minis, and custom terrain-making supplies.
We have LOTS of supplemental books and we play other systems occasionally (VTM 5e, DCC, Savage Worlds) but these are what we use the most. Campaign books are less important than modular content that can fit homebrew settings and stories. Roll20 back when we played online.
*Dungeondraft 😅 Hero Forge for custom minis when needed. Into the Wilds map books from Tom Cartos. Have used Tabletop Audio extensively but I don't like that it lacks good combat track options.
For Online Play:
- Notebooklm as a quick lookup tool
- Obsidian for keeping info organized
- Kenku.fm for music
- Good ol' graph paper for notes & dungeon creation
- Fantasy Name Generator
- thealexandrian.net and of course SlyFlourish.com :)
- watabou.github.io
Dndbeyond. Discord. Large maps from the DnD miniatures game. I'll use those forever. Dice. Minis.
In 4e we used the monster builder all the time. I'd love another tool that good. Love.
I love lists. Gygax's Book of Names (not by Gygax) and various books of tables have been godsends for me
I'd say the Actual Plays that taught me the game are what I revisit the most. I don't go and rewatch the videos, but I find myself either stealing side quests, mannerisms, monsters, or NPCs that I learned about on Actual Plays. I've come to consider myself kind of a poor man's Perkins.
I HATE to say it… but D&D Beyond. I have 2 regular groups and there is 0 chance they would play without the character creator. I need DemiPlane to get their 5e Nexus up soooon cause Beyond is getting impossible to manage player option access in. After that probably Minis, and a dry erase mat.
My modular GM screen. I run a lot of different systems at conventions.
I keep going back to the 4e Nentir Vale setting. I use 5e rules but I love the Vale.
In recent years, a laptop with an internet connection, and ObsidianMD.
In terms of physical products outside of computers, snacks. Especially blueberries.