Most are fairly obvious because I want to create a comprehensive list, some are my more obscure favs. I'll try to order them based catagory, and how often I use them.
- None of the following resources include generative AI (please @ me if this changes)
Will be edited to include more resources as I find them.
Free (18) / Freemium or Free and Paid elements (13) / Paid (2)
Running and Participating in Games
Dungeon Master's Vault (free) - It's an alternative to D&D Beyond (freemium) that lets you make character sheets, and helps you run games. Has all the SRD content automatically, lets you add your own stuff to it. It's not everyone's cup of tea, but it's been a godsend for me. Also has some funky (non-AI) generators for names, towns, cities etc. But that's not it's core appeal.
AlchemyRPG (freemium) - This was helpful for virtual games during lockdown. You can create immersive scenes with ambient sounds, and encounter music. It also has a battlemap mode with tokens on it to represent the PCs and Monsters. You can also create NPCs and Monsters on it, but it's a bit tedious. I've been able to run it on my laptop with minimal issues, but if you have something like a Chromebook it might cause lag.
Kastark (free), Donjon Encounter Size Calculator (free), and KoboldPlus (free) - All calculate encounter difficulty ratings so you, as a GM, don't completely TPK your DnD party. Kobold does this best imo, but it's down to preference. Kastark also has an initiative tracker here.
5etools (free) - Fairly obvious, it has a bunch of stuff, and is also great for looking up information about player options.
Verdant Atlas (free) - It's browser-based. I haven't had time to check out all the features of this one yet, but it seems like an underrated worldbuilding tool. If you have a lot of battlemaps for your campaigns, then this one shines at being able to organise them. Here's a more detailed explanation.
Maps / Battlemaps
2minutetabletop (freemium) - Has nice maps, map assets, and tokens, really great stuff.
r/DnDMaps (free) - If you use the search function, it's straight foward to find a map for your location. Also, they have a rule against AI, which is a huge plus. There's also r/Battlemaps.
Forgotten Adventures (freemium) has a mix of free and paid assets for map making. They're really great. I tend to pair them with Inkarnate.
On that note, Inkarnate (freemium) has a lot of maps made by individuals hosted on there. If you plan to make your own with it, you'll probably need their subscription service (it's been a while since I've seen it's free model though)
Azgaar's Fantasy Map Generator (free) is good at creating continent scaled maps.
Homebrew
GMBinder (free) - Has great homebrew finds for Players and GMs. It's what I use to format my homebrew pages. If it doesn't suit you, Homebrewery (free) is a well known alternative.
5esrd (free) - While it contains SRD content, you can use it for Homebrew finds, as it has a list that credits some homebrew source books that can be checked out on DMsGuild (freemium).
Links to several subreddits that also host homebrew (to my knowledge they all currently ban generative AI): r/UnearthedArcana, r/DnDHomebrew, r/Homebrewery.
Patreon (freemium) isn't a bad option for battlemaps or homebrew, it's not uncommon for people to have free stuff on their pages. I also know of people using Ko-Fi (freemium) if you have issues with Patreon.
D&D Beyond also has homebrew hosted on their site.
Music
Tabletopaudio (free) - Great for finding ambient music for D&D
Sound Cloud (freemium) - It sounds out of pocket, but out of the 'mainstream' music platforms, It's the easiest one to find ambient music on.
Other GM Worldbuilding Tools
Obsidian (freemium) - It serves as an alternative notetaking tool to things like word or your notes app. It's core appeal is the ability to add links between notes, so information can be easily referenced.
The core program is free, most of the paid elements are sync/publishing features, it also has a lot of free plugins if the base program is missing something for you. It stores notes on your device.
Aeon Timeline (paid) - This is honestly the best timeline maker I could find for GMs who want to plan out their homebrew worlds. Paying once gives you a license to use it forever plus 12 months of updates.
You can pay them again for more updates, but it's optional. It's got a lot of very intricate features that I don't have the time to explain here, and can handle a lot of events on one timeline (my largest timeline has 2,000+ recorded events on it).
Family Echo (free) - Family tree builder, has all the features you'd reasonably need .
GenoPro (paid) - A very comprehensive family tree builder. If you have games with sprawling/complicated character relationships, it's a good option.
Other
Arcana Wiki (free) - This is pretty funky, it has real world historical and cultural information, as well as a handful of conspiracies, fun to browse and find inspiration.
In a Seperate Catagory
*These are resources I haven't used long enough to describe/vouch for, but are on this list to cover all bases.
Owlbear Rodeo (freemium)
Lost Atlas (freemium)
VVD (freemium)
