I forget to hand out consumable magic items. When I do, my players forget to use them. These 5e Potion Decks make both easier.

Unique art for each of the 42 potions in the DMG. Mechanics for each potion are detailed on the face of the card, along with a DMG page number.

Contains 42 potions from the DMG in six decks:

• All Potions

• Strength

• Resistance

• Healing

• Uncommon

• Rare

• Plus Bonus Deck! Protection Scroll cards
  
  Check out the Roll20 Addon 5e Potion Card Decks at the Cryptocartographer store on Roll20.

More Cryptocartograpy on Roll20 and DriveThruRPG.

See more Cryptocartographer VTT content on DriveThruRPG and Roll20.

If you’re wondering whether they will work for your needs, you can download some sample images below to see what you’ll receive. And if they prove useful, the full sets are available at CryptoCartographer on Roll20.

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Retail is grueling. Margins are low, foot traffic can be unpredictable, and every College of Whispers bard is just waiting to snark up your place of business with a 2-star review.

Give the people what they want with this collection of brand-defining quirks for your herbalists, potioners, blacksmiths, coopers, wainwrights, apothecaries, fletchers, and cordwainers.

100 bits of color for fantasy shops, in the following categories:

1-30 Décor
31-50 Shopkeeper
51-60 Signage
61-70 Demeanor
71-80 Activity
81-88 Creatures
89-92 Security
93-97 Magic & Oddities
98-100 Sales

*** Plus ***

20 Emergency Names for Shopkeepers

Get it here: Local Flavor for Fantasy Shops on DriveThruRPG

I’ve created a set of 299 token frames that can be used to with your VTT tokens. They’re up for sale on DriveThruRPG and Roll20.

These token frames are custom-made for virtual table tops. Use them to add distinction and flair to your tokens.

You'll need image editing software with support for transparency to scale your character art and superimpose these PNGs onto them. Examples include Photoshop, GIMP, Pixelmator, or RPTools TokenTool.

Here's what you get:

• A ZIP file containing 299 PNG files

• All original artwork

• Many of the designs offer multiple color and material variants

• Designed to be distinctive at small sizes and beautiful when zoomed in

• 420 x 420 pixel images for smooth scaling on virtual tabletops like Roll20

• PNG files with transparency allow you to insert your own characters, NPCs, and monsters

• Distinctive shapes and colors make your token stand out on the battlefield

Categories include:

• Simple Shapes: Circle, Hex, Chevron, Squircle

• Elemental Effects: Water, Fire, Earth, Air, Electricity, Ice

• Cards: A Fantasy Character Class Tarot

• Gems

• Precious Minerals

• Rings

• Shields

• Metal: Silver, Gold, Rusted and Riveted

• Many others

They’re on sale this week, so go get them now!

I forget to grant inspiration (PHB 7) at my table when I DM 5e. My players forget to use inspiration. I had the idea to buy gold metal d20s to hand out, but metal dice aren’t cheap, and I have as many as seven players at my table. Also, dice won’t store in the folders we use to collect player materials between sessions.

This set of cards is intended to help solve all those problems.

Eight cards (2.5” x 3.5” each) sized for letter or A4 printing.

For the first time, I’ve printed and cut a complete set of my 5e cards at once. It’s a lot!

• Ten resistance potions

• Six Giant Strength potions

• 28 potions from the DMG

• Healing potions: four potencies

• Blank potion cards

• Protection scrolls from the DMG

• Blank scroll cards

All these cards are available here on my blog, or you can get them on Drive Thru RPG where they are Pay What You Want.

These printable scroll cards give DMs an easy way to distribute Spell Scrolls and Scrolls of Protection. They help ensure that these items won’t get lost in your players’ inventories.

The two-page PDF includes the eight types of Scrolls of Protection from the DMG, seven blank Spell Scroll cards, and a mini reference card describing the mechanics of using scrolls in game.

This item is also available on DriveThruRPG if you’d like to add it to your DTRPG library.

Following the popularity of the Healing Potions cards, I made handouts for all the potions listed in the 5e DMG. Here are 40 potion bottles with brief descriptions and references to pertinent DMG and PHB pages. I hope they will speed up play at your table.

This item is also available on DriveThruRPG if you’d like to add it to your DTRPG library.

Print out these handy cards to track potions at your Pathfinder table.

Also available: D&D 5e healing potions cards and customizable potion cards.

This item is also available on DriveThruRPG if you’d like to add it to your DTRPG library.

Here’s a complimentary card set to my Healing Potions Cards. These potions cards are customizable: you can print them out and write in the details at the table, or fill in the PDF and have them ready for your next session.

Eight cards per sheet:

• 4 Healing

• 2 Greater Healing

• 1 Superior Healing

• 1 Supreme Healing

Cards are 2.5” x 3.5”.

This item is also available on DriveThruRPG if you’d like to add it to your DTRPG library.

Most players don't want to track the arrows they use in combat. And most DMs don't want to be nags about inventory. But realistically, ammunition is eventually going to run out.

Tactically, it is important that characters don’t have Matrix-style unlimited ammo. Narratively, it can be an exciting moment when the PC has to decide when to use that last arrow.

A couple of notes about my table that led to the development of this rule:

• The mechanic is very simple: after each combat where the character fires arrows, the player rolls a d6.

• My players have demonstrated time and time again that they lack the discipline to track consumables accurately. Counters, spindown dice, tally sheets — nothing works for long. Rather than fight it, I developed this system.

• I like the visual “dwindling” this system provides without requiring the counting of individual shots. Players change up tactics when ammo is low.

Let’s Do Shots

The basic math is straightforward:

• An average combat takes 5 rounds

• A quiver holds 20 arrows.

Looks like we should expect our freshly-quivered archer to get a minimum of (20÷5) = 4 combat encounters from a quiver. So, let's count combats instead of individual arrows.

The object is not to cheat the player out of arrows, but to force them to eventually address scarcity. Rules also allow (PHB p. 146) that a 1-minute search after combat allows recovery of half the spent ammo, so we should include a recovery mechanism. Mathematically this sequence — subtracting 5 arrows each combat and adding 2.5 — would give us eight 5-round combats before the quiver runs dry.

|Combats completed |  0 |    1 |  2 |    3 |  4 |   5 | 6 |   7 | 8 |
|Arrows remaining  | 20 | 17.5 | 15 | 12.5 | 10 | 7.5 | 5 | 2.5 | 0 |

We don't want fewer than 4 encounters of ammo, and we'd like scarcity to start becoming an issue on average around 6-8 encounters.

Also, after a combat in which the adversary is also firing arrows, we can expect that recoverable ammunition will be more plentiful. Let's abstract that into our model.

Use Four d6

Four d6 will be our counters. With a full quiver, we'll have four sixes showing.

⚅ ⚅ ⚅ ⚅

After each combat, roll the leftmost "6":

Result 4—6: You recover arrows. Leave the die on "6".

⚅ ⚅ ⚅ ⚅

Result 1—3: You don't recover arrows. Set the leftmost die to "1".

⚀ ⚅ ⚅ ⚅

Roll again after each combat.

When you see four dice with one pip each, you have one arrow remaining.

⚀ ⚀ ⚀ ⚀

If the type of combat is such that the arrows would likely be lost or destroyed (e.g. firing at a flaming monster, a stone golem, or aerial targets) then you don’t roll: just you turn the next “6” to “1.”

Additional Rules

One Shot: There is no roll required after a single arrow is shot in or out of combat. Even if that arrow would logically be lost, we don’t want to impose a (statistical) penalty of 2.5 arrows for a single shot. Of course, if that was your Last Arrow, then you’re empty.

Hasty Exit: If your party doesn't have time to search the battlefield after a combat, you don't roll the die. You simply flip it from a "6" to a "1".

Enemy Salvage: A player argued that arrows would be more plentiful on the field if the enemy were also archers. That made sense to me. After a combat with an enemy who is also carrying arrows — if you have time to search the battlefield — you don’t have to roll or turn a die.

This straightforward system makes tracking simple, shows the dwindling supply on the dice, and allows the PC to make the dramatic decision: when do I use that last arrow?

Do you have systems for easily tracking consumables at your table? Let me know in the comments.

When keys are important to progression through a dungeon, or when the party finds that mysterious key that might not have an immediate use, It’s helpful if the players have a physical reminder of the object.

Here are some of the keys that I have created for use in my sessions. Perhaps you’ll find use for them as well.

You can also find these keys as cards on Go Deck Yourself.

The Glass Cannon Podcast

[Pathfinder, Mature, Actual Play]

They're rules nerds (Pathfinder, amirite?), but these guys do a great job of making the mechanics into narrative. Good roleplay, good production quality.

The Adventure Zone

[DnD, PbtA, Actual Play]

Famous for good reason. The three McElroy brothers and their father engage in as much storytelling as RPG, and the result is funny and entertaining. Years-long plot arcs include "Balance" (5e) and "Amnesty" (PbtA). My kid loves it as much as I do. Start at the beginning with this one.

Creature Club Podcast

[DnD, Gameplay Topics]

They are working their way alphabetically through the Monster Manual. Great analysis of each monster, its stat block, and place in both the ecology and economy. Recommended for DMs.

Bonus Experience

[RPG, Mature, Gameplay Topics]

These two hosts cover the theory of RPGs, issues in writing and running games, table dynamics and more. They’re irreverent and funny, and their practical advice will help you run your game better..

Game Master's Journey

[DnD, Gameplay Topics]

I recommend the Dungeon Master's Guide episodes from this podcast. It's the next best thing to sitting down and rereading the DMG, but in the car.

Vox Arcana

[DnD, Gameplay Topics]

These three hosts cover various topics from rules and mechanics to player group dynamics. The three DMs each have different experiences to bring to the mic.

Total Party Thrill

[DnD, Gameplay Topics]

The two appealing hosts have a polished, conversational style as they cover classes, alignments, play styles and more. Each episode in the Character Forge they build a character to emulate some figure from popular culture.

GM Word of the Week

[General]

This isn't technically about gaming, but it's a deep dive into fantasy- and RPG-related topics in both the real world and mythology. The host dissects one trope each episode and looks into etymology, history, and relationships between fact and fiction.

Total Party Kill

[DnD, Actual Play]

This probably comes closest to an actual game at your actual table. The setting and players change over time.

If you’ve got some good RPG-themed podcasts in your queue, tell me about them in the comments.

▷ Part Two: Basics of Graphic Styles

▷ Part Three: Creating a Freehand Profile

▶ Part Four: Scatter Brushes

We’re going to make some Scatter brushes. Scatter is a brush style that takes a shape and “stamps” copies of it along a path. We can create variations of that shape by rotating it, scaling it, and shifting it in and out relative to the path.

Scatter doesn’t distort the shape to fit the path in the way that a Pattern or Artistic brush does, which can be either a helpful or problematic feature of the style. We’ll create a couple of map line styles that take advantage of the particular features of the Scatter brush.

Scatter Brushes

Pros

• Easy to introduce variation and randomness.

• The brush can be readily tweaked for density and scale.

Cons

• Doesn’t turn sharp corners well under some circumstances..

• Can introduce a lot of geometry into a drawing.

Here’s what we’ll make — two styles of brush, stippled and hatched:

These brushes emulate pen-and-ink shading from old-school RPG maps. For modern versions of similar maps, check out Dyson’s Dodecahedron and Niklas Wistedt

We’ll start with the stipple.

Setup

In order to make following along easier, you may wish to apply these Adobe Illustrator settings.

Don’t turn on Snap to Grid, as we will be working at a smaller scale than the grid.

Create the Stipple Brush

1. Make an ellipse 1 pt by 1 pt. You can do this by selecting the Ellipse shape tool, clicking in the drawing, and entering the values in the dialog. This ellipse will be one of our stipple dots. It should have a black fill and no stroke.

2. Option-drag several copies of the circle.

3. Create a rough circle filled with dots. It should be densest at its center, more sparse at its circumference. Drag the dots around until you have an approximation of the arrangement shown above.

4. Randomize the dots with Transform Each. We’ll make the dots look more natural by squishing and stretching them a bit. This will emulate the imperfections of hand drawn-dots. Select all the dots and choose Object > Transform > Transform Each… 

   Transform Each applies transformations to each object individually, rather than treating the selection as a group. You can scale, move, rotate, and mirror the selected objects. Importantly for our purposes, you can randomize the transformations so each object gets a different set of tweaks. This is a real time saver when you’re trying to create hand-drawn effects.

Here are the settings I used:

Scale: Horizontal: 85% Vertical: 85%

With the Random box checked, this means that each item will be scaled randomly between 85% and 100% in each direction. The two axes are not linked, so our circles will become slightly elliptical. This will introduce the slight imperfections in size and shape that help our dots to look hand-drawn.

Move: Horizontal: 0 Vertical: 0

Random moves can be very useful for creating rough grids or scattered objects. But we have already scattered our dots where we want them, so there’s no need to shift them for this project.

Rotate: 180°

This will rotate the objects randomly from 0° to 180°, introducing a bit more variation.

Transform Objects

This box should be checked. This ensures that the paths themselves are scaled and rotated.

Random

This should be checked. It applies different degrees of adjustment to each item, up to the specified values.

The Transform origin point determines which corner (or center) of the selected objects should be the origin of the transformation. Leave this set to the center for now.

Tip: To easily experiment with the Transform Each dialog, draw several squares so the transformations will be easy to see. Select the squares and choose Object > Transform > Transform Each…

Make sure Preview is checked, and try adjusting the values and the origin point. Transform Each is a powerful tool for introducing irregularity into Illustrator’s precise geometry.

Create the Scatter “Stamp”

We have created the paths that will be the basis of our Scatter brush. You can begin to see how this will create the stipple effect we want. So let’s make the brush.

1. Make sure the Brushes panel is visible: Window > Brushes.

2. Select your circle of dots and drag it to the Brushes panel.

3. From the New Brush dialog, select Scatter Brush. Click OK.

4. You will see a dialog with a number of sliders for setting attributes. For now, name the brush “Stipple 01” and click OK. We’ll need to adjust these sliders, but first let’s see what our new brush looks like.

5. Draw a shape on the Artboard and apply the new brush to it by clicking on Stipple 01 in the Brush panel. You should have something like this:

We are getting there. But the scatter is too regular, and it spills over into the interior of our shape.

Let’s fix the second part first.

1. Select the path.

2. Show the Appearance panel (Window > Appearance)

3. Drag the fill to the top of the stack and make it white if it’s not already. This will create a white fill that obscures the interior portion of our scatter brush.

4. Add a new black stroke above the fill. You can use a basic stroke, or a freehand style profile like the one we created in Part 3 of this tutorial series.

5. Give the stroke rounded Caps and rounded Corners in the Stroke panel, just to make it more pen-like.

With your Scatter brush, a white fill, and a stroke on top, you should have something like this:

Adjust the Scatter Brush

We want our stippled outline to be more dense and more irregular. We’ll accomplish this by adjusting the Spacing, Scatter, and Rotation of the brush.

In the Appearance panel, select the Scatter brush you’ve named “Stipple 01”. Double click in the highlighted area to the right of the name. This will bring up a dialog that will allow us to edit this instance of the brush.

You may have to experiment with the settings to get just the look you want. Here are the settings I ended up with:

Stipple 01 Settings

Size: Random, 90% — 100%

You can change Size from Fixed to Random, but we don’t want too much variation for this brush. The idea is that the dots were all made with the same pen, so they should be similar in size.

Spacing: Random, 45% — 65%

This will decrease the spacing between the Scatter stamp instances thereby increasing the density of the dots.

Scatter: Fixed

Scatter determines how far outside (or inside, for negative values) the centers of the scatter stamps should go. If you want a thin stipple, set these to smaller or even negative values. For thicker, increase the values.

We designed much of the randomness into the shape of our brush, so we don’t need to add variation here.

Rotation: Random, 0° — 360°

We want to randomly rotate the stamps through the full 360° for this brush. This will prevent a repeating pattern from appearing in the scatter stamps and make our stipple look really handmade.

Rotation relative to: Path

For our irregular brush, this doesn’t matter much, but for many Scatter brushes it does. So let’s set this to Path.

Colorization Method:

If you wish, you can set this to Tints if you want to be able to change the color of the stipple by changing the color assigned to the stroke. Since we’re working in black and white, it’s not necessary.

You should now have something that looks like this:

Tip: If you want the maximum colorization flexibility for your brushes, construct them from 50% gray elements (R=127, G=127, B=127) and set the Colorization method to Tints & Shades. You’ll be able to set the stroke color to anything you like, and the brush will inherit that color.

Save as a Graphic Style

If necessary, tweak the Scatter brush settings until you’re satisfied with the look of it, and then select the path and drag it to the Graphic Styles panel. Give it a name like “Stipple”. This will save the scatter brush, white fill, and black stroke together so that it can easily be applied to other paths.

Making a Hatch Outline Brush

Now that we have covered the basics of Scatter brushes, we can use that a similar process to make a Hatch brush.

You can probably begin to see how we’re going to construct this brush. There’s a secret to this one, though: we’ll be overlaying one brushed stroke on top of another.

We’ll be working in both black and white for this one, so I’ll turn on a blue background so that you can see the white.

If you want to do the same:

1. Create a layer in the Layers panel (Window > Layers) below the working layer.

2. Draw a large rectangle that fills the Artboard on that layer and give it a light blue fill.

3. Lock the new layer by activating the icon to the left of the layer name.

4. Click on the original layer to begin drawing in that layer.

   You can toggle the visibility of this background layer by clicking on the eye icon.

Making the Hatch Stamp

1. Draw four parallel(ish) black lines.

2. Make them slightly irregular, with a bit of a curve. Use the Curvature tool (Shift-’) to add a bend. My lines are 0.3 points thick with rounded end caps to mimic a 0.1 mm pen. Remember: we want these to look hand-drawn.

3. Draw a white masking shape and move it behind the lines with Send to Back (Object > Arrange > Send to Back). A characteristic of this hatch style is that the lines do not cross each other — they butt into other lines. We’ll recreate this look by drawing white shape that obscures any lines behind our hatch.

4. Select the four lines and the white fill and drag to the Brushes panel to create a new Scatter brush. Name it “Hatch 01” and give it the following settings:

Hatch 01 Settings

Size: Random, 100% — 130%

We can introduce a bit of variation in the size of these hatches by letting them scale up a little.

Spacing: Random, 75% — 90%

Our hatch stamps should just overlap to prevent blank spaces on our line.

Scatter: Random, 10% — 40%

Our stamps will move in and out a little to mimic the variation of hand-drawn lines.

Rotation: Random, 70° — 110°

We want these lines to run roughly parallel to our path. 90° of rotation would accomplish this. We’ll let these rotate between 70° and 110° so they’re nicely irregular.

Rotation relative to: Path

The lines should orient themselves along the path.

Hatch 02 Brush

We now need to put another brush on top of this one, to create the oblique angle intersections that characterize this hatch style. We could just use the same brush again with different settings, but if we create a new brush we can introduce a little more variation and make it look more like a freehand drawing. So, repeat the process of making the hatch brush with four lines and a white fill and drag those to the Brushes panel. Name this Scatter brush “Hatch 02” and give it these settings:

Hatch 02 Settings

Size: Random, 100% — 130%

Same as Hatch 01.

Spacing: Random, 100% — 120%

The spacing on this brush will be wider, allowing our first brush to show through.

Scatter: Random, 20% — 40%

Again, our stamps will move in and out a little to mimic the variation of hand-drawn lines.

Rotation: Random, -40° — 40°

We want this brush to run very roughly perpendicular to our path. A rotation of 0° would make this happen, so we’ll let these rotate between -40° and 40° so they’re nicely irregular.

Rotation relative to: Path

The lines should change orientation with the path.

In the Appearance panel, add a new stroke to the path and apply the Hatch 02 brush to it.

Again in the Appearance panel, add a white fill and a black stroke as you did with the stipple brush. Your final style should look like this:

Drag this path to the Graphic Styles panel and name it something like “Hatch Walls.” Now you can quickly apply this look to any path.

That’s it! You’ve created two styles for quickly drawing dungeon maps. Don’t forget to save your file.

Reversed Paths

Every path in Illustrator has a start point and an end point — even closed paths. As paths are created and edited, it is possible for their direction to become reversed. This is often not an issue with simple stroke styles, but with complex appearances like our stipple and hatch brushes it can cause paths to display in a way we don’t intend.

Fortunately, it is a simple problem to fix. If the stroke appears to be reversed across the stroke, select Object > Path > Reverse Path Direction. The interior portion of the stroke will flip to the exterior, and all will be well.

Don’t forget to follow @cryptocarto for more content and tutorials.

This stately tower is home to the prominent Wykaree family. Originally constructed some 300 years ago as a fortified storehouse and residence by a paranoid merchant, the project eventually bankrupted him, and the tower was purchased by Vimalin Wykaree, a wealthy importer of grain.

As the Wykarees grew in wealth and station, the fortification was converted into a comfortable dwelling by the addition of a wing with formal entrance, a new chamber on the top of the original tower, and amenities such as chimneys, glazed windows, and water privies.

There have been rumors of additional, unseen construction over the intervening years, though the interior of the house is hardly a mystery. The latest generation of Wykarees are famous for their parties, hosting several extravagant events each year which culminate with their Grand Masque during the Feast of Ganider.

Versatile Venue

Wykaree tower contains maps of each of 5 floors, the roof, a basement and family crypt. I’ve run it as a residence, a scene for a masquerade ball, and an abandoned, haunted house. There is an annotated version and a player-facing version without callouts.

Ah, the classic look of old-school graph-paper dungeons. It was different in those days, kids. None of your fancy graphical user interfaces and laser printers. We would hatch until our little hands were sore and our number 2s were sharpened down to the eraser.

In remembrance of those maps of yore, I present you with three Adobe Illustrator style set designed for subterranean cartography. The Classic (bold outlines with hatched fill, The Lazy (quick crosshatching around the borders), and The Obsessive (bold outlines with stones and stippling.)

▷ Part Two: Basics of Graphic Styles

▶ Part Three: Creating a Freehand Profile

▷ Part Four: Scatter Brushes

Update Your Profile

If we want a wavy, freehand line in Illustrator, we could just draw it. But one advantage of this software is that it allows us to create profiles for our strokes. Profiles describe a variation in the thickness of a line and its offset from the path. They are primarily used to make lines similar to an artist’s brush: varying from thick to thin along their length. But we can create a profile that will maintain a consistent thickness — like a technical pen — but introduce some wiggle — like a line drawn freehand.

Here are some examples of profiles, all applied to the same paths:

Profiles have a few limitations to consider as you experiment with them:

• Profiles do not respect stroke weights. A very bumpy profile will appear thinner at the same weight. To maintain a consistent visual weight for your strokes, you’ll have to adjust its weight. Once you’ve done this, you can save it as a graphic style for reuse.

• Profiles get stretched (or compressed) along their length. This means that with the same profile applied, a very short path may be too wavy and a very long path will be quite smooth. A remedy for this is to create variants with fewer or more hills and valleys.

• Profiles become more pronounced as the stroke size increases. This means that a profile that looks great on a 1 point stroke may look too extreme on a 4 point stroke. Again, the remedy is to create variant profiles for different purposes.

Do the Wave

We’ll start by making a wavy profile that we can apply to our path. Start by making a path about 2” long — the length doesn’t really matter, but it’s convenient at the scale we’re using. By default it will probably be 1pt thick and black stroke with a white fill. Change the fill to “None” — we won’t need it for this.

In this instance, we want to end up with a stroke that fills a .25” grid space for convenient grid layouts on our maps. So move the line .125” inch up so that it is centered in a grid square. This will allow you to use the grid lines as a visual indicator for the next step.

Width Tool

Turn off Snap to Grid for this part. Hit SHIFT-W or select the Width tool from the toolbar. This tool will allow you to change the thickness of the path. experiment with the tool for a bit to see how it works on the path. Note that you can also grab the width handles where they cross the path and drag them back and forth.

If you hold down the OPTION key while you use the width tool, you can adjust just one side of the path at a time, and that’s what we’re going to do. We want to make a wavy line that undulates back and forth while remaining close to .25” wide along its length.

Now undo until you’ve reset the line back to its constant width of 1 point, or draw a new line to start fresh.

First, stretch the ends of the path out to .25 width. Then, using the Width tool with the OPTION key, adjust the sides to create a wavy profile.

TIP: You can double-click a width adjustment point to bring up a dialog showing the total width at that point and the width on each side of the path, if you want fine-tuned control.

Match the Ends

We need to match the ends, so that if the path is on a closed loop there won’t be a discontinuity where the line meets itself. To do this, we will make a copy of the line and place it at the end of the original.

Now lock the copy by selecting it and hitting COMMAND-2. This will keep you from editing the wrong path. Zoom in close to the matching ends.

Use the Width tool with OPTION to adjust the original profile until it matches the end of the copy. You may also need to adjust the next point in to ensure that the curve where they meet is smooth.

Now you can delete the copy.

If you find that your profile is too wavy

Save the Profile

You save the profile by selecting the path and clicking on Profile: in the Stroke panel. At the bottom of the pop-up is a small icon of a hard drive. Click on that to save the profile for later use.

When you save a profile, the width is not preserved, only the contour. You can scale the profile up and down by applying it to a stroke and then changing the weight of that stroke. You’ll be able to use this profile for lines that require the imperfection of a freehand line.

TIP: If you find that you don’t quite like how your profile turned out, you can always apply it to another path, set the weight to .25 inches for editing, adjust the contours, and save it again. Delete an unwanted profile by applying it to a path and then clicking the trash can icon in the Profile: pop-out.

In the next part of this tutorial, we’ll use the profile we created to make the outlines of our wall style.

TIP: There are several ways to create an undulating, freehand line in Illustrator. A similar result can be accomplished with Art brushes or Pattern brushes, or even a carefully-designed Scatter brush. One advantage of using Profiles for this purpose is that they will not introduce a large number of Bézier points, and so will not tax your processor while in a complicated drawing. Some other techniques we’ll be using will definitely add lots of points, so we are always looking for ways to reduce geometry when we can.

So, what is this for? We’ll use it to create a wall with some thickness to it.

1. Draw a shape with the Pen Tool (P)

2. in the Stroke panel, give the path a stroke weight of .25 inches (input “.25 in”)

3. In the Stroke panel (make sure to Show Options) apply your new profile to the path.

4. Look in the Appearance panel. You should see the fill and stroke of the selected path.

5. Duplicate the stroke (it has the profile applied to it) by dragging the path down to the little “Duplicate Selected Item” icon on the bottom of the panel.

6. Set the color of the new stroke to white. Set its weight to .20 in.

You should have something like the following image:

It’s pretty good, except for one thing: our walls won’t have open ends. We’ll fix that with arrowheads.

1. With your path selected, look in the Appearance panel and make sure that the thicker black stroke is selected. We want to cap the ends of the black stroke only with an arrowhead.

2. In the Stroke panel, apply Arrowhead 27 to both ends of the stroke. It looks like the crossbar of a T. It will look huge, because the black line is so thick.

3. Make sure the arrowhead is Aligned to be outside the path’s end, not inside.

4. Scale the arrowhead down so the ends meet the lines of the black stroke. 14.5% worked for me — fine tune the fit.

Save Your Profile

Now you can save this style. Select the path and drag it to the Graphic Styles panel. It will be given a name something line “Graphic Style 1.” For clarity, you might want to double click on the name and give it something more descriptive. I called mine “Wavy Wall.”

Now draw some paths and apply your new style to them by selecting the paths and clicking on “Wavy Wall” in the Graphic Styles panel. You should see something like the image below:

TIP: You can change the thickness of the line by adjusting the weight of the black and white strokes. This adds a lot of versatility to the line we’ve made. Once you’ve created a variant you like, be sure to save it in the Graphic Styles panel under a new name so you can use it later.

Next Up

In the next tutorial, we’ll add a stippled outline to our wall to create an effect of relief and shadow.

Extra Credit

I’m going to show you another method of accomplishing the same effect of a wall with thickness. For this, we’ll use the profile we just created (that was the hard part) and an Effect called Offset. You will find that this method has advantages and disadvantages; I commonly use both techniques depending on the circumstance.

1. Draw a path with a black stroke and no fill and a weight of 1.5 pt.

2. Select the black stroke in the Appearance panel and apply the wavy profile to it.

3. In the Appearance panel, click on the fx icon at the bottom to apply an Effect.

4. Select Path > Offset Path… and enter 9 pt • Miter • 4 in the fields. Why? 9 points equals half of .25 inch, so by offsetting 9 points on each side we’ll get a total of the .25 inch width we’re looking for. Miter gives us square corners. The default 4 keeps acute corners from getting crazy sharp and breaking geometry.

Voilà! You’ve got a line with thickness.

However, it is “hollow.” The interior of the stroke does not obscure objects behind it. You won’t see this unless you’ve got some color or pattern behind your path, like the blue background above. Generally, we are going to want our walls to obscure their background.

To fix the hollow path, we’ll apply another white stroke behind the black one.

1. Select the stroke.

2. In the Appearance panel add another stroke by clicking on either the Duplicate Selected Item icon or the New Stroke icon. It will look just like the wavy black stroke, offset and all, so we’ll have to modify it.

3. In the Appearance panel click on the little expand arrow beside the stroke to see the effects applied to the stroke. Delete the Offset Path effect.

4. In the Stroke panel, set the profile of the line to Uniform (at the top of the list.)

5. Set the weight of the stroke to 18pt (.25 in) and the color to white.

6. If the white stroke is not behind the black stroke, drag it down the Appearance panel list until it is.

You will notice that your profile “waviness” gets flattened out because we are using a thinner line weight. You may wish to create an “extra wavy” profile to achieve the desired freehand look.

Save your new style: drag your path to the Graphic Styles panel and name it something descriptive.

Offset is a very useful tool. Now you know two ways to achieve this look.

▶ Part Two: Basics of Graphic Styles

▷ Part Three: Creating a Freehand Profile

▷ Part Four: Scatter Brushes

First, a little background on how the appearance of paths is defined in Illustrator.

Stroke & Fill

In Illustrator, every line — straight or curved, open or closed — is referred to as a path. Paths are defined by mathematics ranging in complexity from “draw a line segment from point A to point B” to the intricate loops and whorls that can be defined by sequences of Bézier curves. The paths themselves have no intrinsic appearance, which is where we come in. We’re going to give these curves some style.

The appearance of every path in Illustrator is defined by several elements:

• Stroke: The visible “line” that is the boundary of the path.

• Fill: The color or pattern filling the interior of the path.

• Effects: Various adjustments or additions that can be applied to the path or to its stroke or fill. E.g. a drop shadow, blur effect, or transformation.

• Path direction: Each path remembers which point is its beginning and which is its end. This will become important under certain circumstances.

• Transparency: The opacity and blending mode of an object.

Importantly for our purposes, each path can have multiple strokes, fills and effects applied to it. This means we can create quite complex styles by combining several simple elements. We can also apply different effects to each of these strokes and fills.

Stroke Styles

Strokes can have several attributes which are accessible from the Stroke panel. Click on ≡ and Show Options to reveal these:

• Weight: The thickness of the line.

• Color: Any color in the RGB gamut. Typically black or white for our purposes.

• Swatch: Paths can have color or pattern swatches applied.

• Dashes: You can define a broken-line pattern for a stroke.

• End caps: Can be rounded, square or boxed.

• Corners: Miter, round or bevelled.

• Alignment: Paths can be centered on a path, inside it, or outside it.

• Arrowheads: Have other uses besides pointing.

• Profile: A path can have a thick-to-thin progression along its run.

For this tutorial, we’ll be using a patterned stroke, a custom profile, and arrowheads.

Brushes

Brushes are decorative styles that we can apply to our strokes. Illustrator has six types of brushes:

• Calligraphic: Simulates a pen nib, thin in one direction, thick in another.

• Scatter: Takes an element and “sprinkles” it along a path.

• Art: Takes a shape and stretches it along a path.

• Bristle: Made up of multiple elements to simulate traditional media.

• Pattern: Repeating segments are fit along the path.

All of them have their uses. In this tutorial, we’re going to make a custom Scatter brush as part of our Graphic Style.

Appearance

The Appearance panel shows all the strokes, lines, and effects you have applied to the selected path.

Graphic Styles

A Graphic Style saves all the strokes, fills and effects we have applied to a path and makes it simple to apply to any other path. These are available from the Graphic Styles panel.

Workspace

Before we begin, under the Window menu item make sure that the following panels are visible:

• Appearance

• Brushes

• Graphic Styles

• Stroke

• Swatches

TIP: In Illustrator, you can turn on Show Grids (⌘-’) and Snap to Grid (⌘-⇧-’). This will make it easier to align things and keep scales correct.

Okay. We’ll begin creating our style in Part 3.

▶ Part One: Why Use Illustrator?

▷ Part Two: Basics of Graphic Styles

▷ Part Three: Creating a Freehand Profile

▷ Part Four: Scatter Brushes

The Case for Adobe Illustrator for RPG Maps

Here’s what we’ll be making:

This Graphic Style can be applied to a path and transform it from a simple path to a fully rendered dungeon wall: a double line, filled with a hatch, and with a stippled border. We can draw any shape and apply this style to it. Once we’ve done the initial work, we can deploy this style again and again. In a raster-based map each stroke, each hatch line, each stipple would need to be applied by hand. Hatching and stippling are laborious!

Better yet, we can edit the path. If we decide our 20’ x 20’ room should be 20’ x 30, we just select the path and stretch it over. All the lines and hatching are expanded without distortion as Illustrator redraws it all for us.

The Story of the Drawing

Illustrator defaults to crisp, perfect lines. The default settings will give you straight lines, perfect corners, circular circles. Draftsmen of the past would have given their right angles for this powerful, precise tool. But we want to make our maps look hand-drawn. This means we’re going to have to introduce some chaos, and in Illustrator that means we’re going to have to do some work.

It helps to think about the story of how an ink drawing is made. There are things you can and things you cannot do with black ink on white paper, and those limitations inform every drawing. We want to consider those limitations while we create our styles.

Pen Weights

Illustrator allows us to create lines of any thickness — referred to as weight. Technical pens come in several different weights, but using too many line weights on a technical drawing creates visual confusion. We want each line weight we use to have a job: defining edges, filling areas, or drawing fine details. Usually 3–5 weights are sufficient to describe the kind of drawing we are trying to emulate.

Illustrator works comfortably in points (1/72”) which are a legacy unit from typography. Technical pens come in weights measured in millimeters, which is the unit nearly everyone in the world uses. I’m an old American, so I use points.

Scale

Closely related to line weight is scale. I draw my maps using a 1/4” grid. This simulates the graph paper of my youth, and the conventions of D&D. Since Illustrator allows us to scale, we’ll be able to freely change the size of our drawing once it’s drawn, but we do want our line weights to relate to our scale. It’s useful to work with Illustrator’s grid turned on so that you can make sure your scale and line weights make sense together.

Rounded Ends and Corners

Pens have round tips, which means that our lines should have rounded ends and our corners should meet with a small radius. Lines shouldn’t taper to razor points that our hypothetical markers couldn’t achieve. Stipple dots should be roughly consistent in size, as if they are all dots from the same pen.

Introduce Imperfection

A skilled drafter with technical pens and straight edges can produce nearly perfect lines — and Illustrator certainly can. But that is not the look we’re going for. We want to simulate a meticulous freehand map, and we need to think about the imperfections that will create this effect. In general, we don’t want perfectly straight lines, and we don’t want our corners to be too crisp. We will cover several line types and techniques we can use to introduce these imperfections.

Black on White, Not White on Black

Illustrator makes it easy to put any color anywhere. We could easily place tiny white dots on a black background, or cross a black field with a narrow white line. However, ink pens cannot easily accomplish this, so we’ll make sure our styles simulate this limitation.

Setup

There are a few things you’ll want to do in Illustrator to set up your workspace for this kind of drawing.

• RGB Black Illustrator defaults to CMYK color space, which renders black as a dark gray.
  We want to change the default black swatch to R=0 G=0 B=0 (RGB black). This prints nicely on laser printers and gives a rich black for saved images.

• Grids Set up your grids as you prefer. For this tutorial, I’m using 1 inch grids with 4 subdivisions.

Menu > Preferences > Guides & Grids > Gridline every: 1 inch

   Subdivisons: 4

   Grids in back [uncheck box]

If you’d like to make these changes to your default Illustrator settings permanent, see here.

Next Step

We’ll cover the basics of how Illustrator defines the appearance of paths in Part 2.

Finish a Long Rest

Good morning! You woke up refreshed, and so did all your spell slots. Now where did you leave that prepared spell list? If you're happy with your selections from the day before, go have a nice omelette of Dire Hen eggs. But if you’d like to cast any different spells today, choose from the ones in your spellbook and study them. It will take at least 1 minute per spell, so hopefully you weren’t woken up by an angry Dire Hen.

Check Your Material Components

If any of your spells require components with a cost, or components which are consumed by a particular spell, make sure you possess the necessary items. That way you can actually cast those fearsome magicks when the time comes. No-cost, unconsumable items may already be in your component pouch, or made unnecessary by your spellcasting focus. Good thing you picked up that Arcane Fedora.

Now — you’re ready to start your day.

After a Short Rest

Nice battle! You really saved the ranger's bacon. You spent some spell slots, though. If you’re running low, you may want to use Arcane Recovery to get some back. You can use this ability one time between long rests, following a short rest. Come to think of it, you rest a lot. Your mother and I are concerned.

Oh, you looted those bodies and found a sweet spell scroll? Nice! If you’d like to save that spell in your spellbook, take 2 hours to transcribe it per level of the spell. And watch it vanish from the scroll when you’re done. And fork over 50 gp for “expenses.” Take your time; we’ll wait. The half-orc barbarian loves watching you work. And sharpening that scimitar with a stone. Always with the sharpening.

18th Level or Higher?

While you're busy being all fancy and high-level, don’t forget to use your two no-slot-required Spell Mastery spells — you get them after every long rest, remember. If you don’t like the two you currently have prepared, ask the party to take an 8-hour break while you study long enough to replace these 1st- and 2nd-level spells. I’m sure they won’t mind the random encounters.

If You’re a 20th-Level Wizard

Well, you’re essentially a demigod. Light on the “demi.” But you picked out these two no-prep, no-slot, 3rd-level Signature Spells, so, “use it or lose it." Maybe you chose Glyph of Warding, in case a troupeau of Tarasques tries to sneak up on you while you sleep. Or maybe Major Image, because Netflix hasn’t been invented yet. I hope you chose wisely, because your Signature Spells can’t be exchanged. No store credit for abjurations, as the sign says. But no matter. You’re a 20th. Level. Wizard. You've got this.

Now it’s off to bed, to dream of tomorrow’s newly-restored spell slots.

I make RPG maps using Adobe Illustrator, and I’ve developed a set of assets that make it relatively easy to create good-looking maps. They don’t have all the flexibility of hand-drawn maps, but they are quick to produce and contain a lot of texture and detail for a minimal effort.

I call this style Graph and Hatch, because it has the look of maps inked on non-reproduction graph paper, with the solid spaces between rooms often indicated with a meticulous hatch fill or stipple. When executed with analog materials the hatching takes time and practice to master, changes and corrections are laborious, and elements cannot be easily re-used.

Photoshop or other raster applications are commonly used to make maps, and they’re great tools. But the Graph and Hatch style lends itself to vector programs like Illustrator. Instead of drawing each paver and door and detail, we can create styles that give us most of the complexity automatically. Another advantage is that vector art is resolution-independent, so these maps can be scaled up without loss of quality. I work at 1/4” = 5', but my maps can scale up and be printed for tabletop use.

It’s also easy to experiment with styles in Illustrator. Once you’ve drawn the plan of the dungeon using simple lines, you can change the appearance of the map quickly just by choosing from different graphic styles.

A few tips:

Setup

I set up my drawings on a 1/4” grid. In Illustrator, set the following:

• Preferences > Units… > General > Inches

• Preferences > Guides & Grid > Gridline every: 1 in

• Preferences > Guides & Grid > Subdivisions: 4

To make the grids easier to see you might wish to uncheck:

• Grids in Back.

Hotkeys

There are a few hotkeys that will make your life easier as you draw on a grid in Illustrator:

⌘-’ (command-apostrophe) toggles the visibility of the grid.

⌘-⇧-’ (command-shift-apostrophe) toggles the snap to grid feature when drawing.

⌘-Y (command-y) Use this to toggle between preview mode (where all of the applied styles are visible) and outline mode (which only shows the underlying geometry.)

Arrow Keys move a selection a whole grid square if snap to grid is turned on. This is an easy way to move a path a few units while making sure the items stay aligned to the grid.

I like to set the keyboard increment to 0.0125 inch when working with 1/4 inch grids. With this setting, you can hold down SHIFT and hit an arrow key to move 0.125 inch, or exactly half a grid unit. Some items (like stairs) are best aligned in the middle of a grid square.

Graphic Styles

Combinations of line and fill styles can be saved as Graphic Styles. Each style can be applied to a path by selecting the path and then clicking on the style in the Graphic Style window. Access the window from the menu:

• Window > Graphic Styles

Reverse Path Direction

Sometimes a path will not look as expected. Editing a path or applying a Pathfinder operation can make a stroke disappear or appear to be “tucked inside” the stroke. Often what has happened it that the direction of the path has been reversed. To remedy this, select the item and invoke: Object > Path > Reverse Path Direction.

Next Steps

In an upcoming tutorial, I will walk through the process of creating a complex Graphic Style suitable for use on an RPG map. Until then, you can download a file containing several Graph and Hatch styles you can experiment with. Viewing their strokes and fills in the Appearance window will give you a good idea of how they are constructed.

These styles are free to use. If you make something cool with them, I’d love to see a link in the comments.

Here’s a version for older releases of Illustrator. Some styles may not work as designed in older software.

Groups of NPCs and humanoid monsters aren’t just sitting around the barren wastes waiting to be slaughtered by your party. They have duties and responsibilities, hopes and aspirations. Here are rollable tables of things your mob of goblins might be up to on what turns out to be the last day of their lives.

It's easy to forget the relative sizes of races, but it can be important for roleplaying. This chart will help remind your players that a halfling pretty much fits in a goliath's boot. Downloadable PDF.

5th Edition Player Reference

A two-sided, letter-size player reference sheet — the perfect pages for perplexed players to peruse while they await the critical hit that will send them screaming to oblivion. The front is focused on dice rolls and combat, while the back has a glossary for noobs and lots more info for novice dungeon delvers. In the digital version, there are web links to more information on most topics, and PHB page numbers are provided for deeper dives into those devious details.

What do you get when you download this fact-packed stack of stats, attacks, and FAQs?

• d20 rolls and modifiers

• Combat rounds and turns

• Anatomy of an Attack

• Damage & Recovery

• Actions in Combat

• Glossary of terms and abbreviations

• Conditions

• Movement

• Currency

• More!

Version history

1.1 Clarified Dash description

1.2 Fixed a text flow glitch in the "Damage Types" section

1.3 Minor language and layout tweaks, attackier art

1.4 Housekeeping

1.5 Updated per feedback from r/dnd:

• Advantage and Disadvantage icons (to save a little much-needed space)

• Clarified 5 ft rule for Ranged Attacks

• Clarified Hit Dice Recovery

• Added “melee” to Knockout

• Clarified that Grapple and Shove require Attack action

1.6 Specified that Paralyzed creatures cannot move or speak.

1.7 Added Advantage/Disadvantage rule for invisible attackers/defenders. Changed Standing High Jump language (thanks to @t_ookami).

1.8 Clarified that two-weapon bonus applies to attack, but not to damage (thanks Matt A).

1.9 Detailed Athletics or Acrobatics rolls for Disarm, Shove, Grapple. Clarified that Bonus Actions can occur in any order with other turn actions. Thanks to Joël.

1.10 Updated Advantage and Disadvantage colors to improve legibility for colorblind users. Thanks to Liam for the suggestion.

For updates on this and other content, follow @cryptocarto on Twitter.

A Horse for My Kingdom!

Don’t settle for walking. These foldable furlongers are perfect for every RPG need: mounted combat, rapid transit, or just lording it over the common folk.

Their “saddles” are 1 inch square, so your miniatures can ride in style. Just print, cut out, and fold. The result is nicely sturdy when printed on heavy paper. Plus, they go flat for travel and storage — what GM doesn’t love that?

And there is a whole herd of champion champers to choose from:

• 8 horses

• 4 ponies

• 2 battle-ready destriers: “Carrots,” the noble steed; and “Styx,” the jerk.

• A unicorn. A freaking unicorn.

• A wolf and a mastiff.

• A boar. A bear.

• For DIY-ers, a blank template. Or a Thestral. That may actually be a Thestral.

Plus, they’re free. Compare that to Seattle Dancer, who sold in 1984 for $13 million.

This item is also available on DriveThruRPG if you’d like to add it to your DTRPG library.

The textures can also be imported into Photoshop or other image editing software for use in making custom maps.