In a similar vein to Coffeebreak Cartography, here’s a series of Hurried Handouts. Examples of what can be done by a busy DM in the few minutes available during breaks at work.

Today a handout that is specifically designed to drive a fair chunk of plot in one PCs story.

I recall the joyful moment when the player in question asked, "What does exsanguinate mean?"

The top time saving tool here has to the library of blood spatter brushes I used. Both libraries I regularly use are here:

http://vexingart.deviantart.com/art/Blood-Splatter-Brushes-11819573

http://peterpson.deviantart.com/art/50-Blood-or-Splatter-Brushes-35281558

Comments: 2 comments

Tags: Fantasy, Handout, Ideas

Sometimes as a busy GM, I need a map in next to no time at all. I also require that they look nice, especially if they are going to be handed to my players. Anything that increases my players sense of verisimilitude is a bonus.

To that end I’m practicing knocking out maps and handouts quickly in what’s become the Coffeebreak Cartography Challenge!

Here’s another coffee break map. Finished in just under 15 minutes.

The interesting photoshop technique here is the buildings. To quickly draw simple buildings like those above, use the line tool set to a decent thickness. Then simply drag out the rectangles in the direction you need. Very quick for filling out a whole swathe of buildings.

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Tags: Cartography, Fantasy, Map

Hi my name is Iain and I’m a mapaholic. Or should that be cartographaholic?

I like drawing maps, both with paper and pen, and digital tools. To that end I’ve decided to publish a series of maps, all done in a coffee break.

I can’t promise one a day, that would be foolish, but I’ll try for one from time to time.

Here’s one for today, as a quick test I’ve been attempting to replicate a hand-drawn style in Photoshop.

It’s rather reminiscent of the style of maps I would draw in class at school, 25 years ago. There’s a definite Tolkein influence at work.

There’s really no digital shortcuts involved, to replicate this hand drawn style I’ve  hand-draw it with a stylus. Once it’s done certain elements could be reused, a mountain here, a hill there. Certainly if I was to include forest elements then they could be repeated with a pattern.

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Tags: Cartography, Fantasy, Hand-drawn, Map

Today I found a great post by Alric of The RPG Athenaeum, a list of one hundred street scenes that are the perfect thing for a fantasy DM to keep tucked away in the ideas file.

http://rpgathenaeum.wordpress.com

Not only are they great ways to add flavour to your towns and cities when players ask what they can see, but also if your players bite they can also serve as plot hooks.

One of my favourites:

A cart selling “roasted rat on a stick” is on the corner. The proprietor looks surprised as someone dressed in noble attire strolls up and orders one with honey sauce.

Thank you Mr.Dibbler.

The list is available as a nicely formatted PDF in the downloads section, where you’ll also find one hundred topics for tavern chatter!

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Tags: DMing, Fantasy, Ideas, Resource