The Dungeoneering Dad 
My Dungeon Master Tool Kit - My Dungeon Master Binder: Part 2 - COMBAT
Continuing my posts about my Dungeon Master binder, I'll start with the first section: "Combat." The section could just as easily be labeled "Rules," but, for me, it's the combat stuff I need to have at the ready.Let's take a tour of my Combat section...Page 1: Badass Conan art by Travis Charest Page 2: One of my favorite D&D art pics - Thor by Jim Rosolof from the 1e AD&D Deities & Demigods.Next, I have my critical hit and miss tables, namely “Great Hits & Terrible Misses” from Crusader Journal #7 by Jeffrey P. Talanian (who now has his own excellent RPG, Hyperborea). While made for C&C, they would work fine with any D&D-style system.Then I have my cheat sheets. This includes homemade sheets that I made using Marq (Canva would also work well). Obviously, good ol' Word or Google Docs would probably be fine, but Marq made it easier to rearrange tables, etc. I also have the official Castles & Crusades table sheets that came with the Reforged Kickstarter.Then, to cap it off, I have pages from the Castles & Crusades Castle Keeper Screen. Most systems have printable versions of their GM screens on DriveThruRPG, so those are a great source of pages like this. Next post, I'll go over my NPC section. Stay tuned!
It's been a while. Time to come back out of the shadows for a it. Let's chat about a quintessential part of the DM's toolbox - the Dungeon Master binder. For other DM kit stuff, see my other posts about my Dungeon Tool Kit. I said that Part 6 was the final... but I lied.If you don't get this reference, we can't be friends.Now, if you're one of my eight fans out there, you might be saying, "Wait, Double D, didn't you already write about a DM notebook (Rocketbook)?" And I would say, "Nay, my dear plebeian. That notebook serves a different function: namely prep notes and in-game notes." A DM binder is a storehouse of useful materials meant for use at the table.I can't believe I found an image that explains that there are different types of tables.After a lot of trial and error, I've whittled my binder's contents down to four key sections.Combat: Handy rule reference sheets, mainly for combat.NPCs: NPC resources, such as summaries of frequently encountered NPCs and tables for working up NPCs on the fly.Encounters: Random encounter tables, short encounter write-ups, and ready to go monster stats.Treasure - Treasure tables for cool loot and such. These are things you don't find in your Game Master guide of choice.I will detail what I have in each of these sections in upcoming posts. To start, I'm going to focus on the actual physical binder that I use.So let's get into it.My current binder of choice is this expandable binder. I'm assuming that a lot of my fellow gamers are office supply nerds like me (and if I'm wrong, don't shatter my dreams). As such, you'll appreciate this.Here is the pre-nerdified Amazon photo.Here is the post nerdified version in action.Quick note: I found the cool "Hack n' Slash" graphic from Reddit and it was made by CastleGrief. This dude needs to start making shirts and stickers.Okay. So why this binder? Well, because it's expandable. I apparently have a thing for things that grow in size. It isn't overly bulky like a traditional hardback binder, but isn't limp like a soft binder (insert joke about DD liking it hard here).Other things that I find useful:Clear sheet protectors.Print out all the good stuff you have from DriveThruRPG and put it in your binder.Tabs/Page MarkersGet to your good stuff fast. Also handy for your hardcopy RPG books.Binder Hole ReinforcersSounds like something dirty.Not a big fan of plastic? Use these for your printouts.Cheap 3-Hole PuncherPunch them holes, bitch.More to come!
Crom! Happy Father's Day
Frost Giant Friday - "Frost Giant Centaur Battle" by Akerion
Frost Giant Friday - "Frost Giant Centaur Battle" by Akerion
Frost Giant Friday - "The Beast" by CaelGibran
"The Beast" by CaelGibran
Frost Giant Friday - "The Lost King of the Frost Giants" by Joseph Wraith
"The Lost King of the Frost Giants" by Joseph Wraith
Free Old School D&D Virtual Tabletop (VTT) Tokens
I've recently come across a few great VTT resources to share. Note - I did not make ANY of these. I'm just sharing the wealth.The You See This Blog has excellent stuff. I grabbed all of these today: TokensHe also has a Patreon: Patreon.com/youseethis Related note, check out his Instagram account for some great OSR-style art. I really like his "revamps" on the original AD&D art. I also found these great ones from Reddit. These are based on AD&D 1e, AD&D 2e, and BECMI art. I uploaded here for your gaming pleasure.Dungeoneering Dad VTT Resources
Frost Giant Friday - "Primeval Thule Concept" by Klaus Pillon
"Primeval Thule Concept" by Klaus Pillon
Frost Giant Friday - "Frost Giant" by David C. Sutherland III
"Frost Giant" by David C. Sutherland III
Frost Giant Friday - "Against the Giants" cover by Bill Willingham
"Against the Giants" cover by Bill Willingham
Frost Giant Friday - "Frost Giants" by DiosRevoredo
"Frost Giants" by DiosRevoredo
Frost Giant Friday - "Ice Giants" by Sefan Poag
"Ice Giants" by Sefan Poag
Frost Giant Friday - "Fight in the Snow" by Joel Lagerwall
"Fight in the Snow" by Joel Lagerwall
Frost Giant Friday - "Jacklus the Cold" by demongirl99
"Jacklus the Cold" by demongirl99
Resources for Converting D&D to Castles & Crusades (Repost)
Convert or else!UPDATED on March 2, 2025 to fix the links! (Updated from the 4/12/2012 post)I've noticed that people come across my blog a lot while searching for help for converting Dungeons & Dragons to Castles & Crusades. Here are a few great resources for converting D&D to C&C (whether it's Basic, 1e, 2e, 3e, 3.53, and not sure about 4e).Troll Lord Games, the makers of C&C, have an official guide for converting from 5e: Slaying the Dragon: A Conversion GuideThe Other Side blog has a few posts about it:Converting D&D 5 to Castles & Crusades: Character ConversionDuke Omote's Advanced Castles & Crusades Page - This page has all kind of rules expansions that incorporate rules from various D&D editions into C&C. For example, Omote has rules for Skills and Talents (a.k.a. Feats) that might make converting PCs easier. If you are looking to convert older D&D to C&C, he has rules for Racial Classes and more.The Crusader's Companion - Peter J. Schroeder compiled a ton of great gamer-created C&C rules into this impressive tome and it is just awesome. It includes a lot of d20 SRD monsters, items, spells, etc. that aren't in the C&C core rules. Also, the Castle Keepering chapter has a Conversion section that provides tables and charts to help you convert D&D materials from other editions into C&C (as well as Pathfinder).The Castle Keepers Guide - While it doesn't deal with conversion specifically, it does include rules for Skills and Advantages (aka Feats) that might make converting 3.0 or 3.5 D&D to C&C easier.