Utilities/software useful for a DM

[xnrdcorex]

Hi there I'm looking for any and all software that is useful for creating adventures, maps, and other such DMing type stuff.
I'm a terrible artist and don't have much time to write. I saw a thread earlier discussing laptops at the table, and I plan to use mine.

If anyone could supply links or just names of useful programs for creating adventures/maps/campaigns I'd greatly appreciate it.
Thanks!

 

[Mark]

The Unlimited Titles Generator V from Creative Mountain Games is my personal favorite.

If you're going to be a laptop DM, you'll also want to check out the demo version of the SRD 3.5 Revised Bundle. Three clicks to any rule you'll need. Bookmarked beyond belief.

 

[Archade]

DM Genie for NPC/Monster generation (www.dmgenie.com)
Dundjinni for map map making (www.dundjinni.com)
Online SRD (www.d20srd.org)

 

[Ellie_the_Elf]

MS Office One Note is great for keeping adventure notes - you can even sketch maps in it (although they don't look great, unless you're a lot better at drawing with a mouse than I am!)

 

[xnrdcorex]

those are some awsome ideas, thanks everyone! I saw some in another thread mention action outline as well, that looked pretty usefull for not keeping too!

 

[caudor]

MS Office One Note is great for keeping adventure notes - you can even sketch maps in it (although they don't look great, unless you're a lot better at drawing with a mouse than I am!)

Good suggestion. If you happen to be a Mac user, there is SOHO Notes (used to be called StickyBrain).

Another tool, which is free, is PCGen...great for character creation.

 

[Thurbane]

Another tool, which is free, is PCGen...great for character creation.

Seconded - PCGen has saved me literally days, if not weeks, in preparing and cataloging PCs and NPCs.

 

[mhensley]

Tools on my site-

D&D Treasure Generator
http://www.hackslash.net/?page_id=41

Dice Roller
http://www.hackslash.net/?page_id=43

Point Buy Calculator
http://www.hackslash.net/?p=73

Random Fantasy Business Names
http://www.hackslash.net/?page_id=53

Random Dungeon Generator
http://www.hackslash.net/?page_id=39

Random Name Generator
http://www.hackslash.net/?p=18

 

[DMFTodd]

If you've got a laptop at the game table, the most bang for the buck is getting a Combat Management program. There's DM's Familiar (mine), DMGenie, Roleplaying Master, and the GMGen portion of PCGen.

Second thing is some way to look up rules at the game table. A good program will let you do that much faster than books and will save you from carrying all your books around. The above programs do all of that as well. Or, if you're not interested in combat management, consider the HTML SRD versions floating around out there.

Note taking at the table is a big help - both in adventure prep, campaign notes, world notes etc. Again, the combat managers generally include this. Otherwise look into OneNote, MyInfo, TreePad, etc.

If you write your own adventures and make your own monsters, then a Character Generator program that can put a template or advance a monster for you, is a big help. There's PCGen, E:Tools, RPGExplorer, RedBlade, DM Genie, assorted Excel spreadsheets and others.

Tablesmith is a great tool for rolling random anythings. Easy to customize, add things for your game.

 

[xnrdcorex]

Though the combat managers would simplify and take less time, my characters are mostly new and the few older consider dice rolling a "fun" part of the game.

Everything else though is top-notch advice, I really appreciate it