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

GM’s Monthly Miscellany: November 2014 is a free role playing game supplement published by Raging Swan Press. This is the last in a regular series of monthly supplements for 2014, with December’s being a compilation issue of the contents of the previous eleven issues that is also available as a print on demand softcover. The supplement is primarily aimed at the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and, as such, it is covered by the Open Game License and some of it is considered to be Open Game Content.

This is a sixteen page bookmarked PDF. Three pages consist of 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 is the Open Game License and one page is the Foreword.

GM Advice: 6 Lessons in Adventure Design from Bond Films is an article formerly published on the publisher’s own site and highlights six characteristics of Bond films that can be used to create adventures.

Starspun Hollow At a Glance is taken from Village Backdrop: Starspun Hollow and describes a halfling village whose primary source of revenue is an unusual spider silk. The settlement’s history, demographics, notable NPCs and locations, lore and rumours are covered, and there is a map of the village.

Plague Town: Sites and Sounds is from Urban Dressing: Plague Town and is a d100 table listing 100 different things to see and hear in a town affected by plague.

Deksport At a Glance is an extract from Town Backdrop: Deksport; Deksport being a pirate enclave. Again, this gives an overview of the town, local lore and rumours, notable NPCs and locations, demographics and a map of the town.

GM Advice: Reoccurring Allies is another article from the publisher’s site, this one being a counterpoint to the one on Reoccurring Villains in the June 2014 issue.

The PDF is unusually well bookmarked for a supplement of this size; unfortunately this is damaged by a number of errors in the bookmarks, with some leading to the wrong pages and other being out of order. Still, the supplement is short enough that this isn’t really a problem. The text maintains a two column format, with only one error being noticed. There are a number of black and white illustrations, which appear to be either stock or from other supplements.

Although this is the type of supplement usually intended to promote other products from a publisher, the articles have merit in themselves. Both Starspun Hollow and Deksport are covered in enough detail to be able to use the settlements, with more being available for Deksport. Whether this is due to it being a town is uncertain, but there are far more rumours and NPCs for the latter. The Plague Town table can also be used to add flavour to a suitable setting, although, as stated, results that don’t fit will need discarding if rolled.

This is another worthwhile entry in this series, and it also gives an idea as to what the paid supplements are like. GM’s Monthly Miscellany: November 2014 is free, so click here to get it.