Tile of the Week #109

Here is today's Tile of the Week entry. It's the last of four labyrinthian, quarter-sized tiles like those in the upcoming Labyrinths set for Dungeons in Blue.

Player version

GM version

All Tile of the Week images are free for private use. You can download the images above using right-click/save as. Each tile is a 100px per five-foot square image, sized for compatibility with Dungeons in Blue geomorphs. The entire Tile of the Week Collection is also available as a pay what you want bundle if you're feeling lazy.

PBE Games - A Quick Update

I've just released three expansion sets of Dungeons in Blue tiles, plus the usual discount Triple Pack.

• Expansion Set S - Nine full-sized tiles
• Expansion Set T - Six full-sized and six half-sized tiles
• Expansion Set U - Six full-sized and six half-sized tiles
• Expansion Triple Pack Seven - Sets S, T and U

Here is a pair of one-third scale preview images.

Expansion Set S

Expansion Set U

I've also published Scab Stone, a new Uncommon Ground texture pack. There's also a new Hexed Places called Crescent Lake available.

Over the next few weeks, I should have all the remaining Expansion Packs out the door, along with a complete A to Z bundle. I also have the Dungeons in Blue Labyrinths Set ready to roll, but it may not hit until 2017. Finally, Denshi Ferry, another Hexed Places should also be finished this year.

That's it for now. Thanks, as always for taking a peek, and I hope you'll check out the latest from PBE Games.

Tile of the Week #108

Here is today's Tile of the Week entry. It's the third of four labyrinthian, quarter-sized tiles like those in the upcoming Labyrinths set for Dungeons in Blue.

Player version

GM version

All Tile of the Week images are free for private use. You can download the images above using right-click/save as. Each tile is a 100px per five-foot square image, sized for compatibility with Dungeons in Blue geomorphs. The entire Tile of the Week Collection is also available as a pay what you want bundle if you're feeling lazy.

Tile of the Week #107

Here is today's Tile of the Week entry. It's the second of four labyrinthian, quarter-sized tiles like those in the upcoming Labyrinths set for Dungeons in Blue.

Player version

GM version

All Tile of the Week images are free for private use. You can download the images above using right-click/save as. Each tile is a 100px per five-foot square image, sized for compatibility with Dungeons in Blue geomorphs. The entire Tile of the Week Collection is also available as a pay what you want bundle if you're feeling lazy.

Tile of the Week #106

Here is today's Tile of the Week entry. It's the first of four labyrinthian, quarter-sized tiles like those in the upcoming Labyrinths set for Dungeons in Blue.

Player version

GM version

All Tile of the Week images are free for private use. You can download the images above using right-click/save as. Each tile is a 100px per five-foot square image, sized for compatibility with Dungeons in Blue geomorphs. The entire Tile of the Week Collection is also available as a pay what you want bundle if you're feeling lazy.

PBE Games - New Dungeons in Blue

I've just finished publishing three new Expansion Sets, plus a discount bundle Triple Pack, for Dungeons in Blue on DriveThruRPG/RPGNow. Here's a quick summary:

• Expansion Set P contains nine full-sized tiles and includes a mix of traditional dungeon rooms and corridors, caves and mine tunnels.
• Expansion Set Q has six half-sized and six full-sized geomorphs. They're evenly divided between caves and dungeons and include sewer lines and cross-tile water features.
• The nine full-sized tiles in Expansion Set R include a fortified entrance, a small tomb complex and an underground prison as well as the usual selection of tunnels, chambers and caves.
• Expansion Triple Pack Six includes all three sets at a discount price.

Here are a pair of one-third scale previews to whet your dungeon-building appetite.

Set P

Set R

I'm also happy to say that Expansion Sets S through Z are all in the can and ready for publication. I also have a small set of special tiles featuring labyrinthian corridors and passages ready to go. I plan on getting them all out the door before the new year.

Thanks, as always, for reading. I hope you'll take a look at all the PBE Games products available on DriveThruRPG or RPGNow.

Tile of the Week #105

Here is today's Tile of the Week entry, the fourth in a series of quarter-size tiles depicting intersections that include mixed corridor widths.

Tile 105 - Player Version

Tile 105 - GM Version

All Tile of the Week images are free for private use. You can download the images above using right-click/save as. Each tile is a 100px per five-foot square image, sized for compatibility with Dungeons in Blue geomorphs. The entire Tile of the Week Collection is also available as a pay what you want bundle if you're feeling lazy.

Tile of the Week #104

Here is today's Tile of the Week entry, a quarter-sized tile with a 20-foot wide corridor and two connecting 10-foot wide side passages.

Tile 104 - Player Version

Tile 104 - GM Version

All Tile of the Week images are free for private use. You can download the images above using right-click/save as. Each tile is a 100px per five-foot square image, sized for compatibility with Dungeons in Blue geomorphs. The entire Tile of the Week Collection is also available as a pay what you want bundle if you're feeling lazy.

PBE Games - New Hexed Places

I've just (OK, it was Sunday) released a new Hexed Places outdoor location. Surrounded by lowland forests and rounded hills, the waters of Crescent Lake are green and deep and still. The reclusive villagers of Chire scratch out a poor living farming the boggy lands around the lake, reminiscing about better days, when the now abandoned mine once brought wealth to the area. Travelers passing through the area keep careful watch after dark near the lake. Rumor suggests the villagers prey on passersby.

Hexed Places are outdoor locations and encounters based on the classic six-mile hex format and OSR sensibilities. Use these locales as a quick side adventure, to fill out your campaign sandbox, or expand upon them to create a multi-session campaign. Each includes an overview of the region, expanded one-mile per hex maps for players and GMs (PDF and VTT format), encounter and rumor tables, and descriptions of individual locations, encounters, and features within the hex.

• Crescent Lake
• All Hexed Places
• All PBE Games products

Tile of the Week #103

Here is today's Tile of the Week entry. This is another quarter-sized, four-way crossing that brings together several passages of different sizes.

Tile 104 - Player Version

Tile 103 - GM Version

All Tile of the Week images are free for private use. You can download the images above using right-click/save as. Each tile is a 100px per five-foot square image, sized for compatibility with Dungeons in Blue geomorphs. The entire Tile of the Week Collection is also available as a pay what you want bundle if you're feeling lazy.

Tile of the Week #102

I've been working on some new Dungeons in Blue Expansion Sets recently, and I decided to put together a few small transitional tiles and release them here. Today's Tile of the Week entry is a basic crossroad linking 10-foot corridors to a larger 20-foot hallway.

Tile 102 - Player Version

Tile 102 - GM Version

All Tile of the Week images are free for private use. You can download the images above using right-click/save as. Each tile is a 100px per five-foot square image, sized for compatibility with Dungeons in Blue geomorphs. The entire Tile of the Week Collection is also available as a pay what you want bundle if you're feeling lazy.

PBE Games - New Stuff

I'm breaking the long radio silence, but only briefly, to let you know about a few new PBE Games releases. Someday Soon (TM), things may calm down enough for more regular posting. Until then, this will have to do.

I'll start with three new Dungeons in Blue expansion sets and the discount bundle that includes them all. Collectively they contain 45 geomorphs with natural caves, traditional dungeon rooms and corridors, assorted sewers, water features, lava pools and more.

• Expansion Set M
• Expansion Set N
• Expansion Set O
• Expansion Triple Pack Five

I've also released a new Uncommon Ground texture pack, Alien Ground, which depicts an oddly colored stone surface.

Back to radio silence. Thanks for taking a peek.

Expansion Set M - One-third Scale Preview

Tile of the Week #101

I haven't done a Tile of the Week entry in eons, so I thought it was time to add to the collection. This tile is a standard geomorph with some symmetry. I think it looks like a grand entryway of some sort.

Player Version

GM Version

All Tile of the Week images are free for private use. You can download the images above using right-click/save as. Each tile is a 100px per five-foot square image, sized for compatibility with Dungeons in Blue geomorphs. The entire Tile of the Week Collection is also available as a pay what you want bundle if you're feeling lazy.

What's Going On?

One of my extremely loyal fans (a.k.a. my gaming buddy Mike), mentioned that it's been almost a month since my last post. I've mostly been tied up with real-life stuff like work, and my free time's been divided between a bunch of random stuff like...

PBE Games - Not So New Things

I'm so behind on all fronts, including PBE Games news. I haven't published much since the last update, The Sand Coast, but I have put out a couple new products since then. Here's a quick rundown on the latest Dungeons in Blue releases:

• Expansion Set J - Sixteen tiles in a variety of sizes
• Expansion Set K - Nine full-sized geomorphs
• Expansion Set L - An even dozen full and half tiles
• Expansion Triple Pack Four - A discount bundle containing sets J, K and L

All the geomorphs in these sets contain a mix of corridor styles and sizes, and several have cross tile features such as water, sewers and lava. I also tried to include a number of edge geomorphs in each of these sets, since even the best dungeon must end, eventually. Here are previews of each of these sets (one-third scale):

Set J

Set K

Set L

See what I mean about quick?

Minecraft - Rebuilt (ish)

It's taken a while, but my new base is (mostly) back up and running. Moving your entire network takes a bit of planning, because once you shut down your ME system, all your stuff is stored in memory modules that you can't access, and all your auto-crafting stuff is offline. You also have to deal with wiring and power (or the lack thereof) issues.

Assembling Geomorphs in Gimp

As you probably know, I produce a line of geomorph tiles for VTTs called Dungeons in Blue. I was chatting with a customer via email recently, and they asked how to assemble geomorphs into complete maps without using an image editing program. I didn't have a good solution for them and eventually discovered that they felt Gimp was a bit too complex for such as simple task.

Minecraft - A Short Break

I guess I should have posted something before I took a week away from the computer to do some house-sitting! This is a quick update about the stuff I was doing before the break.

Minecraft - Tech Overload

Looking around my shop today, I don't see many changes, but they're there, honest! Last post I set up the core of an Applied Energistics system, but it wasn't completely functional. I spent most of my gaming time this past week expanding and improving the AE system. it's now fully operational, and it has access to all my stored raw materials. Here's what things look like now.

AE Improvements

Minecraft Machines and Technology

This week, I think I actually accomplished some stuff in my Direwolf20 mod pack world. Last update, I dealt with some niggling stuff, but I didn't feel like I had much to show for my efforts. There's more to show this week, so without further ado...

Applied Energistics: Beginnings

Hexed Places: The Sand Coast

I've finally managed to dig my way out of other work and put together a new Hexed Places title, the sixth in the series. The Sand Coast is a barren stretch of coastline, complete with its own shipwreck and ruins.

Hexed Places are outdoor locations and encounters based on the classic six-mile hex format and OSR sensibilities. Use these locales as a quick side adventure, to fill out your campaign sandbox, or expand upon them to create a multi-session campaign. Each includes an overview of the region, expanded one-mile per hex maps for players and GMs (PDF and VTT format), encounter and rumor tables, and descriptions of individual locations, encounters, and features within the hex.

For a limited time (*), you can take a buck off the price of the Sand Coast by using this link to make your purchase.

I should also mention DTRPG's slightly confusing Complete Your Collection sale. As I understand it, if you own part of a bundle from any publisher, you can round out the complete product by purchasing the items you're missing at the bundle price. I offer bundle deals for most PBE Games products, so now's a great time to round out your One Page or Dungeons in Blue collection.

(*) Offer expires February 22, 2016

Minecraft - Housekeeping

Last week's post covered some of the changes/improvements I made to my base in my current game of Minecraft. Since then, I've been doing a bunch of random stuff, but I don't seem to have a lot to show for my efforts. Call it housekeeping. Much like my activity this past week, this post is probably going to be a bit disjoint.

A Dungeon Map

I was messing about with some black and white mapping in Gimp/Inkscape today, and this is the result. Nothing particularly fancy, just a traditional dungeon complex.

Player Version

GM Version

These maps are sized for standard letter-sized paper (8.5x11 inches). They're also scaled for VTTs, 75px per five-foot square, the same scale as the black and white maps I've published on DriveThruRPG.



This work by Mark A. Thomas is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Minecraft - Home Improvements

After my somewhat disastrous trip to the Nether last report, I spent last week working on base improvements. After upgrading base power to provide more efficient ore processing and a more energy for farming, I started working on a Botania setup. This proved interesting since there have been some changes to recipes since I last used this mod. Here's how things turned out.

Clawback Crawlers

Rolling plains and prairies may look like pleasant green seas, but the head-high grass hides deadly creatures such as Clawback Crawlers. These stealthy, serpentine creatures attack from hiding and can bring down large antelope and buffalo.

Minecraft - A Trip to a Dark Place

I had limited time for Minecraft this week, but I did get a few things done. In the last post, I mentioned doing some basic automation to keep myself supplied, organizing storage, and building a quarry. One out of three ain't bad, right?

Skeletal Rangers

Necromancers that have explored the darkest depths of their forbidden art can create Skeletal Rangers. These undead creatures are more durable than skeletons raised by Animate Dead, and they have special abilities that make them dangerous foes.

Minecraft - Relocation

I've been playing my modded Minecraft world a bit since my last post, making slow progress on my base, doing a bunch of mining, and creating a bunch of handy tools using my newly built Smeltery. As I mentioned last time, I wasn't quite sure if I was going to stay put or move my base. I've decided to move, but my new base is not too far away. Here's an update on everything that's happened since my last post.

RPG Animal Companions - Dogs and Horses

As promised in this post, here are the experience and quirk tables for dog and horse animal companions, suitable for use in any OSR-ish RPG. If you're looking for mules, check out the previous post.

RPG Animal Companions

Animal companions are pretty common in OSR play. Mules carry heavy loads on long trips, dogs add a little offense and serve as an early-warning system, and horses let lowly adventurers feel like they're someone important. Why not give these lowly companions a little love and advancement.

What follows is a simple leveling system for commonly used animal companions. Adding this system to your game won't turn mules, horses and dogs into powerful allies, but it will add a little color and fun to your game. Who doesn't want a 7th level guard dog as a companion?

Delving into Minecraft -- Again

In my recent recap of 2015, I mentioned my last Minecraft series, the City Builder Challenge, died a death of ennui. Rather than trying to do something in vanilla, which always seems to end with me getting bored, I'm going to play a modded game. How modded? Very.

A Few Bits of Magic

More magic items are always a good thing, right? Here are a few things the party in my Wilds game found during their adventures. I thought I'd already posted these, but I don't see them anywhere. I did write up some of the older items, the Sword of Bees, the Steadyhand Ring, and the Dwarf Kettle a while back. Without further ado, here are three new items that can be used in most any OSR-style game.

A (Late) 2015 Recap

Looking back over the blog's post history, I see there's been well over a month of silence here. Even though the end of 2015 was quiet, I think a (belated) year-end wrap won't be a bad thing. Three major blog topics all came to an end within a few weeks of each other in November:

• My Labyrinth Lord play-by-email game, the Wilds came to a bloody end when the party found themselves caught in a complex ambush in Blackpool Maze.
• I finished the 100th Dungeons in Blue geomorph in my Tile of the Week series and decided that was a good ending point, at least for the moment.
• My Minecraft city building project died a slow death, the victim of the ennui that I often feel after playing vanilla Minecraft for a couple of months.

Of course, there were a few side posts here and there in 2015 too. I did a first look at the PC video games Skyforge and GRAV and did a write up of the deadly Cold Shades that killed off several of party followers in the Wilds. I also wrote a short piece on using the Mythic GM Emulator for NPC decisions, and posted regular updates on new PBE Games products -- more on that in a minute.

One of the good things about having a couple big, focused series to write about is you always know what you're going to have on the slate. The bad thing is, when they end, it leaves a hole. In this case, it left three big holes. I don't think I'm done with the blog, but I find myself struggling to write. At the very least I should cull through some of the magic items that are now in the hands of the Necromancer in Blackpool and post them up here. Beyond that, we'll see. RPGs are in a holding pattern at the moment, and my list of current video games, Diablo III, Mechwarrior Online and Minecraft with the FTB/Direwolf20 mod pack are all fairly well-trod ground. I guess we'll see what the next month brings.

As for PBE Games, well, the end of the year was quite busy. I've published 17 new titles since the last update. I'm not going to do an item-by-item list, it'd be embarrassingly long, but here are the highlights:

• Five new Dungeons in Blue Mega Tiles, available as a discount five pack
• Three new Dungeons in Blue Expansion Sets and the associated triple pack
• Three new Small Dungeons maps, also available as a discount bundle
• Two new One Page tables, Dungeon Architecture and Fantasy Fungi, along with a discount five pack that contains these and three older products

As you can see, I wasn't a total slacker in December. I'm sure something new will come along, or I'll start a new game that will spark the desire to write about RPGs. Until then, not dead, just resting.