Free Role Playing Game Supplement Review: GM’s Monthly Miscellany: May 2014

GM’s Monthly Miscellany: May 2014 is a free role playing game supplement published by Raging Swan Press and is primarily intended to be used with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. As such, the supplement is covered by the Open Game License and some of it is therefore considered to be Open Game Content. This is one in a regular monthly series published eleven times a year, with the twelfth being a compilation that is also available as a print on demand softcover.

This is a sixteen page bookmarked PDF. Three pages are Raging Swan’s standard plain front and rear covers, as well as a third similar page. One page is the Contents and front matter, one page the Open Game License and one page is the Foreword. The supplement is also available in two versions, one of which is optimised for print and the other for screen.

Gaming Advice: What Has Gaming Done for Me? is an article published on the Raging Swan site. This is a short article by the publisher on what he has gained over the years through gaming, such as better understandings of reading and maths, teamwork, friends and, finally, a job doing something he does for fun.

Severed Umbra At a Glance is an extract from Subterranean Enclaves: Severed Umbra, the first in a new line of products detailing underground areas. This covers a former slum that was swallowed by a sinkhole, and has details on the settlement’s demographics, notable locations and NPCs, rumours and lore, as well as a map of it.

Dungeon Entrances: Dressings and Features is a d100 table from Dungeon Dressing: Dungeon Entrances that has around 50 results in it. These are detailed features that could be found at the entrances to dungeons.

Tribes Most Foul: Goblins of the Black Fur is an extract from Tribes Most Foul: Goblins covering a goblin tribe led by a greater barghest, giving details on several major NPCs, including the leader, the tribe’s other constituents, their society, organisation, lair, strategy and tactics.

From My Campaign: House Rules is a collection of some of the publisher’s house rules.

GM Advice: Four Reasons to Have a Barroom Brawl is another article from the Raging Swan site and, does, as it suggests, have four reasons for these.

The PDF is unusually well bookmarked for one of this length. The supplement has a two column layout throughout, and no errors were noticed. There are a few black and white illustrations, most of them probably stock although one of them is taken from an upcoming supplement.

Supplements of this type are usually intended to promote others from the publisher, and this does by the extracts. However, it also has use in and of itself. Severed Umbra could be run as-is as an underground settlement and the goblin tribe could be dropped into suitable places in many campaigns. These two are both Pathfinder in nature, but the Dungeon Entrances table is system-agnostic. GM’s Monthly Miscellany: May 2014 is not merely an advertising product, it is also a collection of useful articles, and it’s free, so click here to get it.