The Sixth GM Inspiration: 0one Games

 

The Sixth GM Inspiration: 0one Games

This is yet another inspiration I use a lot, but in talking about it it ends up being a free plug for a great product. Specifically, I have been leaning on the incredibly wealth of interesting old school styled maps from Mario Barbati's 0one Games on Drivethrurpg.com (link above), over the many many years I've been gaming. These maps are, similar to Dyson's, filled with stylistic old school sentiment, but that doesn't make them any less useful to a modern gamer. In fact while Dyson's maps are great for short scenarios or 2-3 night sessions, if you want some serious dungeon delving and don't want to do your own cartography then 0one Games can provide some serious weight to your needs. 

All of the maps they produce are either in a white-on-blue or white-on-black format that is a familiar look to gamers from the 80's, and TSR modules in particular. Most include areas to take notes, and maybe some brief titles to engender the imagination, but just as many are more like well-executed maps with nothing more than evocative or suggestive title to go by. The net result is that you can take the Palace of the Vampire Queen, the Megacity Underdungeons, Mysterious Island, Pirate's Galleon or pretty much any of their hundreds of available maps and make them your own. Although they are all available for purchase and therefore are not a free resource, you can get some pretty decent maps for as low as $2 and the larger packages are often quite worth it. I have purchased a lot of 0one's maps over the years and gotten mileage out of them through three editions of D&D and two editions of Pathfinder now. 

It's a bit old (dating back to 2016) but the Blue Book is a free download showcasing a lot of the maps here, so it may help you decide if a few purchases are worth your time. Check it out!

It does look like 0one Games is still going strong, too. New products are out that I realize I haven't seen before, including Rooms with Flavor which I will now be checking out. Anyway, definitely take a look....for the lazy or time-strapped GM 0one Games is a valuable resource.