Help me find DnD resources.

[Zustiur]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggg!

I GIVE UP!
I just realized I've spent about 6 hours today scouring the net for various resources, and I've gotten nowhere!

Can somebody PLEASE help me with the following:

1) A source of free, printable, overland maps that I can flick through in the hope that I won't have to make one up myself.
2) A source of cardboard counters like those you sometimes get with Dugeon/Dragon Mag.
3) A cheap source of 'regular' monster miniatures. Something like Hero quest, where everything is plastic and the box doesn't cost a lot. What are the others like this? I only remember hero quest.
4) An expansive art gallery of characters and monsters. I'm going to be playing with a couple of new players, and I want them to have a reasonable understanding of what goblins etc look like.
5) A reliable way of making the maps from 1 look old and worn. Is soaking them in tea really a good way? Doesn't it smell?
6) Free ambient music and sound effects. The more subtle the better.
7) Any other good, cheap/free resources that you can recommend for a gamer on a very tight budget.

Oh, and I'm in Australia, so listing stuff that's only available in the US or UK won't help me.

Zustiur.

 

[Turanil]

7) Any other good, cheap/free resources that you can recommend for a gamer on a very tight budget.

See the links below. At least it is free...

 

[ViciousPenguin]

Let's see what I can do . . .

1) A source of free, printable, overland maps that I can flick through in the hope that I won't have to make one up myself.
look here: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mwa/archive2006
View previous years archives by changing the '2006' to, say, 2005, et. al.

2) A source of cardboard counters like those you sometimes get with Dugeon/Dragon Mag.
good luck

3) A cheap source of 'regular' monster miniatures. Something like Hero quest, where everything is plastic and the box doesn't cost a lot. What are the others like this? I only remember hero quest.
D&D minis aren't to expensive if you can buy them by the case. Check on www.maxminis.com and ask if there is a seller down under. Otherwise check on ebay. Some of the stores offer good deals on the more common minis and are located in several countries other than the U.S.

4) An expansive art gallery of characters and monsters. I'm going to be playing with a couple of new players, and I want them to have a reasonable understanding of what goblins etc look like.
Just google it. Google immage search will turn up tones of art for you and lead you to sites with more of same.

5) A reliable way of making the maps from 1 look old and worn. Is soaking them in tea really a good way? Doesn't it smell?
If the ink in your printer is waterproof I think you could just get them wet a few times. Week tea may do the trick also. Try it with a blank piece of paper first and see if it stinks or not.

6) Free ambient music and sound effects. The more subtle the better.
Again, google is your friend. Search for 'wav' or 'sound files' or similar and google will lead you to sites that specialise in these things.

7) Any other good, cheap/free resources that you can recommend for a gamer on a very tight budget.
I said it twice above and I'll say it again - google is your friend. It will find something appropriate for you if you tell it the right way. For example, let's say you want to search a web site (maybe enworld) for a message board post about 'goblins'. Just "site:www.enworld.com goblins" and away you go, clicking like a madman. There's other tricks too.

 

[Zustiur]

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mwa/archive2006
View previous years archives by changing the '2006' to, say, 2005, et. al.

Lots of dungeons... but very few overland maps. Thanks for the link.
This is the sort of style I'm after http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/mapofweek/Overland_4_72_dpi_nv390.jpg Does anyone else have a source like this?

Just google it. Google immage search will turn up tones of art for you and lead you to sites with more of same.

Ack! I forgot all about image search. Thanks for reminding me.

Again, google is your friend. Search for 'wav' or 'sound files' or similar and google will lead you to sites that specialise in these things.
I said it twice above and I'll say it again - google is your friend.

See my original comment about wasting 6 hours. That was google.

I found pleanty of stuff, very little of which fit my criteria above. If anyone here has links to any of the above already, I'd like to check them out, but for the moment I'm googled to death.

Zustiur.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

For #4, check Wizards of the Coast's own site:

For art and maps from WotC's books (very handy):

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/arch/ag

Map-a-Week:

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/arch/mw

PC Portraits:

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/arch/pc

 

[cybertalus]

5) A reliable way of making the maps from 1 look old and worn. Is soaking them in tea really a good way? Doesn't it smell?

Put them in the oven. It's been years since I've done this, but I wanna think it works best at about 350F on a flat pan (like a cookie sheet) that's big enough for an entire sheet of paper. The paper will get brown and somewhat brittle.

Another trick I've used is to draw the map by hand on thicker brown paper, like the kind used for paper grocery bags or the kind that is used for wrapping a package. The advantage to this kind of paper is that it can be wadded, crinkled, and even burnt a little without it totally destroying the image.

Just be careful when applying heat to any kind of paper, as it may burn at a lower temperature than expected.

 

[BryonD]

a fair number of decent maps:

http://www.mapsandmore.com/maps/index.html#juhl

 

[Voadam]

Art

Go to http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/arch/ag and look in the art gallery in the top left. Want a picture of a goblin? go to MM3.5 the look for the goblin, they are alphabetical.

In fact here you go http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ag/20030712a

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/MM35_gallery/MM35_PG133.jpg

For counters try fiery dragon for a full collection of printable counters for all srd monsters plus other sourcebook ones.

for the srd minus the summoned ones http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/catal...th=50_683&products_id=1446&affiliate_id=17596 for $9

For the summoned ones http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/catal...th=50_683&products_id=1370&affiliate_id=17596 for another $9

or their big collection including these plus a lot of others http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/catal...h=50_683&products_id=12265&affiliate_id=17596 for $27

I got FD's Counter Collection digital and have used a bunch of their stuff for image handouts in games.

Alternatively for actual cardboard counters Steve Jackson Games' cardboard heroes are very good though you have to cut them out yourself. The fantasy ones are oop but this page has links to australian dealers who might have some.

http://www.sjgames.com/heroes/index.html

Their dungeon and cavern floorplans are awesome for setting up cool looking areas for miniatures at the game table.

Another good one is Interactive Design Adventure's fantasy print out image counters, $12 http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=2198&

When I printed these they are fold and tape and stand up really well next to other miniatures, much better than I expected from paper printed minis.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Let's see what I can do . . .

......[snip]

3) A cheap source of 'regular' monster miniatures. Something like Hero quest, where everything is plastic and the box doesn't cost a lot. What are the others like this? I only remember hero quest.
D&D minis aren't to expensive if you can buy them by the case. Check on www.maxminis.com and ask if there is a seller down under. Otherwise check on ebay. Some of the stores offer good deals on the more common minis and are located in several countries other than the U.S.

......[snip]

I think that expensive is all a matter of opinion. A case of War Drums minis would cost you about AUD$165 before shipping in Australia. That is from an Australian retailer. You could probably get it cheaper from the US but then the shipping costs would probably outweigh the savings that you made.

Personally, I think that $165 is a fairly large amount of money. To give some relativity to the price, the PHB retails for around AUD$50 and an adult movie ticket is roughly $15. I know that you are only trying to help but considering that the OP is looking for cheap options, I would think that suggesting an option that costs more than the 3 core books combined is not really all that helpful.

Personally Zustiur, I would go with either Counter Collection Digital from Fiery Dragon as a cheapish way of getting counters. I use them instead of minis and it has worked for my group so far. My other suggestion (as someone has already suggested) would be to go to the WotC site and download some of their images.

Hope this helps.

Olaf the Stout

 

[barrowwight]

for free backgroud music check out this thread.
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=150697