Referee's Resources

## **The Critical Tools**

Everybody has a Player's Handbook available and you've got the Dungeon Master's Guide, right? *Great!* What? You didn't have a spare kidney for sale? So you got D&D Starter Set instead, right? *Great!* Don't have any of those? *Great!* Lean on the d20 "SRD" rules, available online [link in 5e flavor].

With the *Standard Reference Document*, you should be golden for the framework to run the campaign with the stats as provided. Heck, you can even roll the dice online!

It wouldn't hurt to browse the "Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide" for some sense of campaign context – or any of the vast library of works done on the Forgotten Realms.

* *Complication:* unless you've been steeped in it for the last 30 years, there's no way to know all the canon stories, much less how the rule evolutions affect the playing environment.
* *Suggestion:* lean on the Forgotten Realms wiki. These fans are meticulous and an awesome resource.
* Oh, and one other thing: ***Primal Magic changes everything*...**

If you're going to run this, here's a course charted to help you sail through:

* You probably read "**Welcome to Stonehearth**" already, but you should check out the ***scholar's version*** to get a sense of current events. Old Pros know the *Forgotten Realms*, much less the famous *Sword Coast*, but enough has changed in this diverged timeline that folks should recalibrate their notions and preconceptions.
* Browse "**The Hall of Records**." Two centuries of history, rewritten. When building your own scenarios based on the premise, this helps maintain continuity. This will help well-prepared players, too. Even if a character may not know some historical nugget, this helps shape gameplay expectations. Also, there's no specific scenario spoilers in there.

Beyond those preparatory challenges, here are a few DM-specific campaign resources.

* **Primal Evolution** lists modifications and additions to the 5e/d20 way. This includes magic and magic items unique to the campaign, buying and selling high-value artifacts, item creation and so on.
* **Mounts and Travel****:** the house-rules guide for speeds, rates and average costs.
* **Target Resources**: Identify common combatants and non-combatants. At the moment, these are generic low-level opponents.

## **Community Resources**

It looks like the PCs are headed *over there...* and there's no maps of that village anywhere! Or it's a city you just made up! And the players are headed there *now!* Here are a few RPG helpers for DMs who don't already have their favorites bookmarked.

* **The Domesday Book:** this site bills itself as Medieval Demographics made easy, and given the Forgotten Realms are largely frozen in 12th century Europe, this is perfect for a realistic-ish base as characters trek across Faerûn.
* **Medieval Fantasy City Generator****:** Watabou's excellent site will help create nearly any sized settlement following parameters *you* put in.
* **Town Generator**, by Kassoon: this will help fill in some of the blanks of the city. You'll want to edit it, but it's a good starting point.
* **d20 Random Dungeon Generator, by Donjon:** it has the look and feel of classic, map-filler dungeons of Ye Olde D&D modules. On average, they look better than the Wizards' of the Coast own attempt at this (that page is several centuries old). If you're outta time, this is a life-saver.
* **D&D 5e Statblock Generator**, for when stock **MM** nasties just aren't good enough.