Useful stuff for TTRPGs

[Clown]

With how TTRPGs are, there's plenty of stuff out there that's both very useful and absolute trash, though often its hard to distinguish between them if you're looking for advice, info, or are generally new to a game and don't want to pay an extortionate amount to play it; thought it might be useful to make this thread to compile useful tools, websites, YouTube channels etc. that can act as a great bridge or support into playing a TTRPG of your choice.

Going to start off with 2 of mine, 5etools and the Cyberpunk RED Companion

5e.tools
Got to be the foremost useful website for D&D 5th Edition content, without having to pay a penny. 100% free access to every book released, including Unearthed Arcana content, with the option to save the content for offline use. Also includes the D&D Heroes' Feast recipes, which are fairly alright.

Cyberpunk RED Companion
A nice character creator for anyone playing Cyberpunk RED. If you're running it, or want access to a wiki, you can pay a small premium fee and you get plenty of content. Unfortunately you can only get the premium if you download it as an app; you're able to access the companion via the website, however the app is where most of the utility it lies.

If any more interesting ones come up I'll add them here with a summary so people can easily access them on glance

 

[Acrid Alchemist]

A few that I use

D&D 4th Edition Compendium
Like 5etools but for 4e. Its missing some Dragon magazine content but those can be found here.

Savage Worlds Character Builder
You only get core and a handful of other books for free but even that's all you really need to get someone started.

Pokemon Tabletop Adventures 2 Encounter Generator
If you are a weirdo like me running a game that's been abandoned for years this is an invaluable tool.

Da Archive
The only thing /tg/ is good for any more is maintaining Da Archive. It doesn't have everything the Trove did (RIP in peace) but it still has an insane amount of stuff and is always worth a perusal if you are looking for either older or popular stuff.

 

[TheDarknessGrows]

I like to buy strange and old books as supplements for my aD&D campaigns. Gamescience has a huge library of material which is off the beaten path; but they changed ownership about a year ago and a lot of their stock of paper goods have been sold off. Pretty sad, actually. They were one of the last places that had a large inventory of old stuff.

Grab those dumb one-off books though. Most have one or two neat ideas in them.

You can get lots of good dice and felt trays from casino surplus. Great for bulk decks of playing cards as well. Not exactly secret knowledge, I picked that up from my grandma! Think logically here though; a lot of "gamer" shit is boutique junk. Casinos use a lot of the same tools and they have large suppliers with wholesale discounts.

Actually this is my best advice. My real job requires me to use a lot of hand tools and equipment. My experience tells me that most gamer nerds do not work physical jobs like I do. This makes gamers easy marks for price gouging for "hobby tools", which are always a scam.

When I buy wrenches or cutters or supplies, I can tell you sure as shit that Citadel (the 40K people) aren't on any of my shelves. So I ask you, why spend 40 bucks on a pair of snips from Citadel (trusted toolmaker lol) when Klein Tools makes a 15 dollar pair of snips designed for electrical work by a company with 150 years of experience. Ain't no Citadel in my work tool box.

Here's another: you want one of those fancy airbrush compressors. The special ones for hobbyists. Can you plug a pneumatic drill into that fucker? Good fucking luck. Will it fill your car tires in Winter? LOL

See my point? So many " gaming" tools are overpriced junk. Go to a actual hardware store and buy reputable brands. Get real tools made by tool manufacturers that will last much longer and come with no questions asked warranties. Don't let these companies fleece you.

 

[Fag Albert]

Actually this is my best advice. My real job requires me to use a lot of hand tools and equipment. My experience tells me that most gamer nerds do not work physical jobs like I do. This makes gamers easy marks for price gouging for "hobby tools", which are always a scam.

I worked in a GW store and I usually had two spiels for people; One was shilling the stuff, the other was "Oh geeze if you're ever looking for a tool we don't have or it's a far drive to here check out office supply stores for x, hardware store for y, etc." Cause for me half of my hobby tools are either from my regular around the house toolbox or weird shit like old dental picks i sharpened.

Those fucking things basically existed to tax the divorced dads who sit in the store all day but forgot a tool.

 

[Judge Dredd]

Actually this is my best advice. My real job requires me to use a lot of hand tools and equipment. My experience tells me that most gamer nerds do not work physical jobs like I do. This makes gamers easy marks for price gouging for "hobby tools", which are always a scam.

I bought tools (and paints) from GW knowing they were a rip off. There is an unwritten rule that you should try to buy something from a shop you frequent, especially if you use their free services.

An easier to understand example might be if you play Magic at your friendly local game store, then it makes sense to buy a pack of cards each time you go there to play. You can get them cheaper buying in bulk from the internet, but you get value from playing the game there, and they've got to pay the bills somehow.



I was going to link to a few imgur albums of fantasy art and character portraits which I used to use for VTT, but all the links are dead, and archives only save the first 10 or so of 1000+ image collections. Edit: I used to also check the modding scene for Legend of Grimrock and Wasteland 2, because some mods were just big collections of custom portraits to use for your characters.

If it's any consolation, here's the original Destiny concept art in 1080p wallpaper format. Good for sci-fi and post apocalypse games.

https://imgur.com/a/1OCdJ

For those that don't know, Destiny was originally planned as a sci-fi fantasy game. A lot of stuff never made it into the game, and the original story was ripped out at the last minute. So if you want post apocalypse cityscapes, goblins riding giant frogs, some cool space ship art, or even just some inspiration for your next campaign, the collection has you covered.

 

[TheDarknessGrows]

There is an unwritten rule that you should try to buy something from a shop you frequent, especially if you use their free services.

This is super important as well. While I won't buy their tools, I make sure that I am moving money through my local store and to a lesser degree regional stores.

But yeah you have to take care of your home base. Usually nice discounts.

 

[Flatline]

Useful stuff for TTRPGs

The most important thing, and, often, the hardest to find for any TTRPG, are good players.

 

[Abella]

The most important thing, and, often, the hardest to find for any TTRPG, are good players.

This 100% is a very important part of having a good TTRPG session. I have a list of criteria that has to be met before I even consider inviting someone to my table. So far it’s kept me from having to deal with the most annoying people.

 

[Flatline]

I have a list of criteria that has to be met before I even consider inviting someone to my table.

What's the list?

 

[TheDarknessGrows]

What's the list?

I'm assuming "they wash their hands" is near the top. Dirty fuckers are not allowed to touch my stuff.

 

[Abella]

What's the list?

this one here’s a big one

I'm assuming "they wash their hands" is near the top. Dirty fuckers are not allowed to touch my stuff.

But I also don’t like people that try to bring in idpol shit or politics in general to the table and will get easily offended by things.

Basically:
• no idpol
• no politics
• no being offended
• no unwashed neckbeards
• no fetish shit
• be willing to play older editions but not act like a grognard.

 

[TheDarknessGrows]

• be willing to play older editions but not act like a grognard.

Thankfully they never made more D&D after AD&D so that is easy enough.

 

[Flatline]

this one here’s a big one

But I also don’t like people that try to bring in idpol shit or politics in general to the table and will get easily offended by things.

Basically:
• no idpol
• no politics
• no being offended
• no unwashed neckbeards
• no fetish shit
• be willing to play older editions but not act like a grognard.

These are admirable rules, but finding a group of IRL people who don't break them must take a long time.

 

[John Titor]

I like to buy strange and old books as supplements for my aD&D campaigns. Gamescience has a huge library of material which is off the beaten path; but they changed ownership about a year ago and a lot of their stock of paper goods have been sold off. Pretty sad, actually. They were one of the last places that had a large inventory of old stuff.

Grab those dumb one-off books though. Most have one or two neat ideas in them.

You can get lots of good dice and felt trays from casino surplus. Great for bulk decks of playing cards as well. Not exactly secret knowledge, I picked that up from my grandma! Think logically here though; a lot of "gamer" shit is boutique junk. Casinos use a lot of the same tools and they have large suppliers with wholesale discounts.

Actually this is my best advice. My real job requires me to use a lot of hand tools and equipment. My experience tells me that most gamer nerds do not work physical jobs like I do. This makes gamers easy marks for price gouging for "hobby tools", which are always a scam.

When I buy wrenches or cutters or supplies, I can tell you sure as shit that Citadel (the 40K people) aren't on any of my shelves. So I ask you, why spend 40 bucks on a pair of snips from Citadel (trusted toolmaker lol) when Klein Tools makes a 15 dollar pair of snips designed for electrical work by a company with 150 years of experience. Ain't no Citadel in my work tool box.

Here's another: you want one of those fancy airbrush compressors. The special ones for hobbyists. Can you plug a pneumatic drill into that fucker? Good fucking luck. Will it fill your car tires in Winter? LOL

See my point? So many " gaming" tools are overpriced junk. Go to a actual hardware store and buy reputable brands. Get real tools made by tool manufacturers that will last much longer and come with no questions asked warranties. Don't let these companies fleece you.

I'm amazed by the people who think Citadel stuff is special and will swear by it. There are boomers who recommend hardware store primers because it's the same goddamn shit and they will snap back saying "I'm not painting a wall".

 

[Judge Dredd]

Necro with content.

I've recently fell down the rabbit hole of One Page Rules. Long story short, some nerds got sick of Games Workshop's bullshit so made their own 40k, with blackjack, and hookers, and an affordable price tag.

Part of that is free paper models and terrain you print out. I've not downloaded them myself, but if there's enough here to run a tabletop war game, a RPG should be doable as well.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/publisher/16079/onepagerules