Is GM Craft Tavern free?

Mostly. The guides are free to read, the Tavern Token Maker is free with no sign-up, and the background remover handles 10 images a day without an account, 30 with a free account. Forge generations have quotas, and the Marketplace mixes free and paid packs.

What language is the site in?

The site and its guides are in English. Tavern Live lets you filter actual plays by language, and the tools are easy to use without reading long texts.

Do the resources work on a virtual tabletop?

Yes. Tokens export as PNG, WebP or animated files, maps can be gridded for virtual tabletops, and several Marketplace adventures are ready to run online. For in-person games, the Battlemap Printer and the Paper Mini Maker prepare printable versions.

Who is behind GM Craft Tavern?

Fox, a game master. It is an independent fan project, not affiliated with the publishers of the games it covers.

Why is this article on Zlobby?

GM Craft Tavern and Zlobby are partners, and each site presents the other. On Zlobby, you can find players for your tabletop RPG table, then prepare your sessions with the Tavern.

GM Craft Tavern: Find Players and Prepare Your Online Table

A tavern built by and for game masters

GM Craft Tavern is an independent project created by Fox, a game master who built the Tavern to take the repetitive work out of session prep. The site gathers practical guides for playing online, free tools, an AI-assisted creation Forge and a Marketplace of resources.

The site is in English, and every tool can be picked up in a few clicks.

500+token bordersRound, square and portrait frames in the Token Maker.
800+Marketplace packsFree and paid maps, tokens, minis and adventures.
400free village mapsTowns and villages ready for your virtual tabletop.
A free Token MakerNo account needed to create and export your tokens.

Finding players online, the Tavern's guide

Many campaigns don't stop because of the story, but because the table falls apart. The Tavern dedicates a complete guide to the subject, How to find players for your virtual tabletop RPG sessions: where to look, how to write your post, how to welcome newcomers, how to handle time zones and how to keep a healthy table.

GM Craft Tavern's guide “How to find players for your virtual tabletop RPG sessions”, illustrated with a black and white warrior.

A post that makes people want to apply

For the Tavern, a good post comes down to five pieces of information: the system, the tone, the pace (frequency, length, time zone), the commitment you expect and the players you are looking for.

The guide recommends adding a note about safety tools, such as the X-Card or lines and veils, and offers ready-to-use templates for the main places where players look for a table.

An example post built on the guide

System: D&D 5e, a campaign from level 1 to 10.
Tone: Epic, lots of exploration, a touch of humour.
Pace: Every other Thursday, from 8:30 to 11:30 PM, Paris time.
Commitment: 4 players, who let the group know 48 hours before an absence.
Players: Beginners welcome, microphone required.
Safety: X-Card, lines and veils.

Character art of an archer in a ruined forest, the kind of image that illustrates a recruitment post. — Art: GM Craft Tavern.

Looking for a table rather than players?

The Tavern also thinks of players. Its guide How to find a DnD group online explains where to look for a group, how to spot red flags before joining a table, how to choose a virtual tabletop and what happens during a session zero.

Before you apply, watch a game: Tavern Live gathers actual plays, games streamed live or on replay, with filters by language and game system. And to meet other roleplayers, the Tavern's community is where game masters and players complete their tables.

The Tavern Live directory: search by show, channel or system, with filters for language and game system.

Welcoming your players and keeping your table

Recruiting is only half the job. The Tavern has several guides for what comes next, from the first meeting to campaigns that last.

Tokens and maps ready for the first game

The Tavern Token Maker is the Tavern's flagship tool. Import a portrait, choose a round, square or portrait frame among more than 500 borders, and export it as PNG or WebP, or as an animated WebM or GIF for your virtual tabletop.

It is free and needs no account: perfect for giving every character a token from session zero.

A round token of a warrior next to two token frames, one square and one portrait.

The Forge adds AI-assisted creation: character portraits, battlemaps from a description and top-down tokens, with the quota of each tool shown on its page. And for the small chores:

The Marketplace and the free maps

No time to create everything yourself? The Marketplace offers more than 800 packs, free and paid, from fantasy to cyberpunk: battlemaps, tokens, printable maps and minis, and complete adventures ready to run online.

To start without spending anything, the Tavern gives away free fantasy maps (forests, ruins, encounter locations) and 400 town and village maps ready for your virtual tabletop. Enough to set up the group's headquarters from the first session.

Four Marketplace collections: printable monster cards, 1,235 western battlemaps, top-down cyberpunk tokens and mapmaking brushes.

Gathering your table with the Tavern, in five steps

Pick your channelsRead the recruitment guide and aim for two or three places that suit your system.
Write your postSystem, tone, pace, commitment and players: start from one of the Tavern's templates.
Illustrate itA portrait from the Forge or a map from the Marketplace makes it stand out.
Complete your tablePost in the Tavern's community too, and answer applicants within 24 hours.
Run session zeroFollow the checklist, then give every character a token with the Token Maker.

GM Craft Tavern: find your players and prepare your table online