@ConorMahood

The PDF copy of #CastlesAndCrusades player's handbook is available for free from the Troll Lord Games website here https://trolllord.com/product/castles-crusades-players-handbook/.

TV Tropes is great for teasing out story ideas. I've found that once I understand basic story structure, it's a lot easier to make small changes to keep players involved in a familiar plot but with enough twist to keep them interested.

When running a published module, I've been lucky enough to find digital copies of maps available with a quick search. Drop it into a chat service (our group uses Element, another free resource!) to show players the lay of the land without having to draw out details. Use a browser with a screen capture and you can drop specific snippets and cut out spoilers.

The above mentioned Element is great for keeping individual channels for game chat, sharing spells or pictures of characters and monsters ad well as maps, and can host calls for online games.

Youtube can be great for finding playlists or specific pieces of music or clips for background atmosphere or show off what your scene would look like.

@raphaelkaitz Appreciate the thought, but I tend to prefer theater of he mind over maps. It becomes a different game for me and I did not care for 5e at all.

I have a few systems lined up. #LightFantasy, #13thAge, and #CastlesAndCrusades.

@critfail_press #CastlesAndCrusades and #ADnD2e for sure. I love C&C for the simplicity of the SIEGE engine mechanic from what little I've gotten to run with it. AD&D 2e was the first game I played and I love it despite/because of the weird sub-systems for rolling. I'm going to run an Al-Qadim based backup game for my Pathfinder group.

I've even started running my Pathfinder game more OSR-style. My players are incredibly creative and I find that I need to make a quick, fair ruling on the spot if I don't want to drag things down looking for specific rules. A couple of my players do usually have tablets or computers up to help me find some rules on the fly though, so that helps.

I find that there's an incredible amount of trust required for OSR games. You have to feel like the GM is going to be fair and balance resolutions for the story and for the characters. I think it's a little more intimate of an experience, which I love. I feel honored that my players trust me to bring a satisfying gaming experience at my table and I don't want to betray that. It makes me be a better GM, I think.