Free Role Playing Game Supplement Review: GM’s Monthly Miscellany: October 2016

GM’s Monthly Miscellany: October 2016 is a free role playing game supplement from Raging Swan Press. The supplement is primarily aimed at the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and, as such, is covered by the Open Game License with some of it being considered to be Open Game Content. This is one in a monthly series of supplements which consists of eleven regular issues and a twelfth compilation issue that is also available as a print on demand softcover.

The supplement is a thirteen page bookmarked PDF. Two pages are Raging Swan’s standard plain front and rear covers, two pages are ads for their Patreon campaign and website, one page is the Contents and front matter, one page is the Open Game License and one page is the Foreword.

10 Things to See in a Burned Out House and 10 Things to See in a Plague-Infested House were originally published on the publisher’s site and are taken from 20 Things #7: Haunted House. These are lists of ten things to see and were also published in the June 2016 issue.

Y’taris At a Glance is from Village Backdrop: Y’taris. This small village makes money from mages and necromancers who visit a nearby stone circle, offering a range of services or simply fleecing them. The village’s demographics, marketplace, notable NPCs and locations, lore and whispers & rumours are listed, along with a map of the settlement.

The Midnight Market At a Glance is an extract from Places of Power: The Midnight Market. This is a fortification that is built above and below a bridge across a chasm in the Ebon Realm (the Underdark). It is a trading place which is not the easiest to be granted admission to. The location’s demographics, marketplace – most stuff under 25,000 gp can be found – lore, notable NPCs and locations, events and whispers & rumours are listed, as well as a side view and plan of the fortification.

Gloamhold: The Ghost Tower describes an external area of the Gloamhold megadungeon.

The PDF is well bookmarked for its length but, as usual, there are errors in them decreasing their utility. The Contents are slightly less thorough. Navigation is, as a result, not as good as it should be. The text maintains a two column format and a couple of minor errors were noticed. Bar the maps and the picture of Gloamhold, there are a few stock illustrations.

As always, this supplement is intended to showcase other products from Raging Swan. As always, it still has utility. Y’taris could be used as-is, but the GM will likely need to flesh out the stone circle that attracts mages to use it properly. The Midnight Market can also be used, should an underground element be part of a campaign. The two lists from 20 Things #7 are fine, but they are a reprint of a few months prior, so are less useful. This is a decent collection of articles, although due to lack of flexibility and needing to flesh stuff out, as well as duplicated material, it is not the most useful in the series. GM’s Monthly Miscellany: October 2016 can be found for free by clicking here.