Abulafia Random Generators includes tons of random names, descriptions, prophecies, etc.

Random City Map Generator creates a reasonable top-down map of a medieval-style city, complete with roads, rivers, a possible port, etc. The drawing is simple, but the towns always look realistic.

Seventh Sanctum also has a number of generators.

What's behind this door? Help's generate rooms on the fly.

John Kim's Free RPG's on the Web lists over 500 free RPGs.

Onomastikon is a huge list of names from around the world, grouped by civilization.

101 Fantasy City, Town, and Village Maps is exactly what it claims to be.

Parasite Designs Offers oodles of Creative Commons released black & white dungeon maps.

• Dungeon Painter Online at Pyromancers gives you a way to create your own dungeon tiles or other maps and export them in image or PDF formats.

• The Javascript D&D 4E Character Generator is kept up-to-date with all the latest books. It's a bit tough to navigate, but if you don't want to pay for D&D Insider, this is the next best online tool.
• Tools Review: Dungeons & Dragons Virtual Table Beta by Game Knight Reviews lets us follow as they get elbow-deep in the VT.

• The Gamma World Monster Index at Roving Band of Misfits gathers all the Gamma World monsters into a single spreadsheet listing Origin, Type, Level, and Role for your organizational delight.
• The Complete D&D 2e Monstrous Manual is now online. And yes, it has the Flumph.

• Being Your GM's Best Player at The Dragon Fisters gives some good tips on how to be a great player. Common sense, but worth rereading.
• The Rules of Chaos at Game Knight Reviews has some thoughts on playing chaotic characters.
• How To Tame Your Dragon Mount by Brian Liberge gives several options for D&D 4e character builds who can eventually earn the ability to ride a dragon.
• Swing From the Chandelier by Brent Newhall encourages us to find our PC's inner hero and switch biases from diplomacy to action.

• The Adventure Funnel is a classic post revealing a simple way to structure a session towards a goal.
• The Three Clue Rule offers a way of approaching mysteries, and the clues within them.
• There are only 3 Types of Loot.
• Useful Charts: Treasure by Party Level and Sly Flourish's DM Cheat Sheet by Chris Dundon provides a Google Docs version of the handy random treasure table from the 4e Essentials DM's Book and a link to Sly Flourish's monster stats cheat sheet.
• The Inevitable Apocalypse suggests a plot hook: an upcoming apocalypse that the PCs can't prevent, but can affect.
• How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Improv - Advice on incorporating improv into games
• Ray Winninger's Dungeoncraft articles about worldbuilding in D&D.
• One Stat Block, Five Systems - A simple, HTML-based stat block that encompasses five RPG systems (D&D, Gamma World, Savage Worlds, FATE, and Apocalypse World).
• "Why" And How It Can Improve Your Game by WolfSamurai at RPG Musings talks about how asking “why” can improve games.
• Top 5 Ways to Speed Up Tabletop RPG Combat from Troll in the Corner features five solid, simple ways to keep combat moving, particularly in a D&D3.x/4E/Pathfinder game.
• Fears for Tiers (Come On, I'm Talking to You) from Jared von Hindman takes a look at how the various D&D tiers impact character development and introduces the idea of XP as narrative energy. Your PCs can't go home again, but they'll have a heck of story when they're done.
• Newbie DM opened a discussion on the changing role of the DM. Take a look at the great discussion in the comments.
• Also in the Role of the GM vein, The Id DM published some thoughts on how a GM's role is to entertain the players in I Am The Entertainer, And I Know Just Where I Stand.
• The Mandragora gives us a few techniques and some basic ideas for improvisational GMing in The Art of "Winging it".
• Player vs. Player by Chris Perkins at Wizards of the Coast sings the praises of setting up character vs. character situations. He admits that player vs. player is “a deliberate misnomer”, but the idea of intra-party conflict for the sake of story has worked for me in the past.
• Alternate Tech Trees by T.W.Wombat at Wombat's Gaming Den of Iniquity asks which societal issues you'd like to change the answers to when worldbuilding and how those changes cascade into daily life thousands of years later.
• Death Is Only The Beginning by WolfSamurai at RPG Musings thinks about moving past the threat of character death to open up more awesome stories.
• The Inevitable Apocalypse by Brent Newhall suggests a plot hook: an upcoming apocalypse that the PCs can't prevent, but can affect.
• Swords to Ploughshares, Part III by Chris Jackson continues his series on avoiding bloodshed in 4e, this time involving an abolethic cult and a crazed, evil cleric.
• Getting the Party Started by WolfSamurai gives us tavern fare for thought.
• One Stat Block, Five Systems by Brent Newhall gives us a map of the stat blocks we'll be using for 3GATE and exposes some of the challenges in dealing with stats across different games.
• Got Loot Blogfest has lots of ideas about handling loot
• The Art Of Boss Design: Tips From A Combat Designer at AltDevBlogADay thinks about designing boss monsters from a video game perspective, but these same ideas can work in a tabletop RPG as well.
• Goons: One Line Monsters at Daily Encounter inserts a level of complexity between D&D 4e's Minion and Monster descriptions by describing a monster in a single line of text.
• The Big Open Questions Method for Tightening Up Plot by Brent P. Newhall at http://trollitc.com/Troll In The Corner provides a method for doing exactly what it advertises.
• On Keeping Time by T.W.Wombat muses about timekeeping methods without clocks. Bonus pics of the proposed Trainhenge project at Stockton-on-Tees.
• Background Questions For Players is exactly what it sounds like.
• Use cards and dice to run a chase scene in real time using Howling Tower's Chase Scenes

• Finding Success as a Freelancer gives some great tips for anyone freelancing in the RPG industry.

• Somewhere Between Living and Dying discusses an alternative way to handle the Dying condition in 4th Edition, allowing for some player action below 0 hit points.
• Gnoll Racial Powers by Brian Liberge at http://stuffershack.com/StufferShack presents new options for gnoll PCs.
• Love and Hate of Epic Tier by Brian Liberge gives a perspective of what Wizards nailed and missed in 4e's Epic Tier.
• 4e as Lame Duck by T.W.Wombat at Wombat's Gaming Den of Iniquity urges people to keep on creating all the way through this between-editions gaming lull.
• Modern Assembly: A 4e Hack by Brian Liberge announces Gamer Assembly's ruleset for modern roleplaying based on D&D 4E.
  • Wealth: Cash and Assets in Modern Assembly by Brian Liberge covers abstract wealth and purchasing power in the modern port of the D&D 4e rules.
  • A Warlock With a Gun: Re-skinning Basic D&D Classes for Modern Games by Brian Liberge tweaks character classes for use in a modern port of the D&D 4e rules.
  • Modern Assembly: Faceman Theme by Brian Liberge shows us the benefits of Charisma as your character's prime attribute. I especially enjoy the Nothing To See Here utility power.
• A New Kind of Ship for D&D 4E by Brent Newhall offers a combat system for ships in space over at Troll In The Corner. These rules have been excerpted from his Voidjumpers of Space setting, and they can be used for normal seafaring ship combat. Also see this review of Voidjumpers.

• Weeping Angels - Steal This Monster by Brian A. Liberge, the Weeping Angels from Doctor Who are re-imagined as Far Realm monstrosities for your D&D 4E game.
• In Places Deep has an ongoing Monster Monday series including this week's twisted Treant variant, The Groan. It's written for AD&D, but it's another great series to mine for ideas to use in any system.

• Chris Jackson at A Susurrus in Carcosa writes about the Gambler's Dice, a fate-altering magic item for 4e or Pathfinder.
• Got Loot: Wichtrift by Chris Jackson, a mid-heroic special item which causes full damage to insubstantial enemies, but passes through corporeal enemies as if they were not there. An entry for the Got Loot Blogfest.

• The RPG Design Sub-Index contains dozens of articles on tabletop RPG design.
• Dice Mechanics: Fate by Jeff at House Rule is an excellent analysis of the mechanics of FATE, and why they provide more intuitive randomization effects than, say, d20.
• How RPG Rules Work provides a simple framework for seeing how rules affect the players, the world, etc.
• Fred Hicks posts about Accidentally Designing Marvel's Action Order System. Great preview for those who haven't read the system, plus insight on strategic uses of the “you next” initiative system.
• Classic RPG Realms has been doing some D&D analysis and navelgazing lately. Check out the insights and ideas in If D&D Ain't d20, Then What Is It? and Spreadsheet Comparisons of D&D Systems, followed by a jaunt into GURPS with The Second Most Popular RPG of All Time.
• Narrative Is Not a Game Mechanic, Except in Roleplaying Games from Deeper In The Game concludes that despite accusations of a more videogamey feel to recent RPGs, they've actually moved away from the videogame's prefab stories which provide a single limited experience and toward stronger improvisational narrative tools which provide an infinite variety of experiences.

Orc and Pie, D&D 3.5/Pathfinder. Also see the web enhancement and the D&D 4E skill challenge version

• 3 Generations After The End, a system-neutral post-apocalyptic setting
  • 3GATE: Sanctuary, the Domain of Shedra the Witch by Brent Newhall shows us a country led by a beautiful necromancer who demands total obedience to her and her priestesses.
  • 3GATE: The Forests by Chris Jackson allows us to glimpse some of the dangers and denizens of the magic-laden forests where technology breaks down.
  • 3GATE: Technology Is Magic by Brian Liberge explores ways to work with the D&D rules to model a culture that worships technology instead of any sort of divine god.
  • 3GATE: Enemies by Brent Newhall presents writeups for more intelligent and crafty bad guys to grapple with across the wastelands and behind fortified city walls.
  • 3GATE: Entry Gate Pamphlet by T.W.Wombat lets us read the marketing blurb for Greybar City that's handed out to every visitor passing through the gate under the watchful eyes of the robotic guards.
  • 3GATE: View from the Bottom of Greybar City by T.W.Wombat gives us the real story of what's happening inside Greybar City as found in the journal of an aging subversive.
  • The End Of The Beginning Of The End by T.W.Wombat touches on mashing conflicting ideas together to make a more compelling game.
• Secaelia, designed for use with Swords and Wizardry, Labyrinth Lord, or OD&D.
  • Start with An Introduction to a Swords and Wizardry homebrew world.
  • * Secaelia: Introduction to Player Options by Chris Jackson introduces week two of his old school campaign world, Secaelia, this time discussing player options.
• Secaelia: Player Classes and Options by Chris Jackson explains what classes should be available within the world of Secaelia, based on classes available in the Swords and Wizardry manual, plus details about how the different classes are perceived in-world.
  • The State of the Nations by Chris Jackson presents part three of his Swords and Wizardry campaign world, Secaelia, this time discussing the conditions of everyday life within the two nations.
  • The Demi-Human Races by Chris Jackson presents part four of his Swords and Wizardry campaign world, Secaelia, describing the demi-human races and humanity's opinions of them.
  • Wizards by Chris Jackson presents part five of his Swords and Wizardry campaign world, Secaelia, this time outlining the worst everyday threat to the residents of the two empires: Wizards.
  • Threats to Stability and Peace by Chris Jackson presents the final descriptive section of his Swords and Wizardry campaign world, Secaelia, which is an overview of monstrous encounters within the realms.

• Dread. The Perfect Light RPG? by Brent Newhall reviews the use of Jenga as a resolution mechanic, or rather as a character death machine. Tension and horror work their magic in this rules-light RPG.
• Everyone Is John, a rules-light story-driven game where each player is a voice inside the head of a totally insane man named John from Minneapolis, reviewed by Brent Newhall
• Fiasco, reviewed by Brent Newhall at the RPG Doctor
• Fudged Mouse Guard, a game of Mouse Guard using a free system based on Fudge, reviewed by Brent Newhall
• InSpectres, a Ghostbusters RPG, reviewed by Brent Newhall at the RPG Doctor
• Marvel Heroic Roleplaying at DiceMonkey.
• Old School Hack, an old-school fantasy dungeon crawl-type system, at Ramblings From Beyond the Pale

• Dungeon World Video recording by Brent Newhall
• Leverage: More Guys With Swords gives us an actual play report and more Leverage hacking ideas from Rob Donoghue at his blog Some Space to Think.
• Marvel Heroic Roleplaying
  • Let's Play an Interesting RPG, Episode 7 by Brent Newhall shows us an actual play example of the new Marvel game. The video continues in Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.
  • Thoughtcrime Games, a new venture from Ryven Cedrylle, Quinn Murphy, and David Welsh (@doubleplusfun on Twitter), provides an actual play description of how Marvel Heroic Roleplaying's system handles social, mechanical, and combat situations with equal ease.

• A Game Divided Against Itself by Jeff Grubb provides some perspective on the D&D edition wars with a history of the controversies surrounding each new edition of D&D.
• A Response to an Open Letter to D&D Next's Art Department by digitaldraco argues for more inclusion in D&D's art tempered with a side of romance and flirty sexuality.
• Dungeon Bastard: Edition Wars (YouTube) sums up gamer tolerance by asking two questions: “Does this game have Dungeons? Does this game have Dragons? Great, then I want to play this game!” Also, a d6000 weighs 2.8 tons and looks like a Volkswagen with acne. Best 150 seconds I've spent this week.
• Striking a Pose and Follow-up to the Fantasy Poses from Jim C. Hines shows us how rich chiropractors would be if everyone defaulted to sexy cover-art poses. Warning: contains images of a balding white guy topless.
• FLASHBACK! Speculation on D&D Third Edition pre-GenCon and post-GenCon in 1999.

• The article that kicked everything off was The State of Dungeons & Dragons: Present, followed by The State of Dungeons & Dragons: Future, both of which appeared over at The Escapist.
• John Wick disagreed with the grim outlook for the RPG industry over on Facebook.
• The Model Railroading Analogy has been tossed around quite a bit, as reported over at Greyhawk Grognard.
• Since he was quoted in the original article, Ryan Dancey clarified his position with a post on ENworld.
• Ryan Dancey also gave us the insider story about what was happening with Wizards and Hasbro on the business side in this ENWorld post. This one has some interesting behind-the-scenes insights.
• Skyland Games chimes in with some observations from the table.
• ArcaneSpringboard writes a positive rebuttal called The Real State of Dungeons & Dragons over at Critical Hits.

• Adventuring in D&D Next at DreadGazebo suggests that adventures form the foundation of D&D, not mechanics.
• DDXP 2012 Report: The First Glimpses at the New Edition of D&D at Geek's Dream Girl reports on the seminars on and playtesting of D&D Next at DDXP, including having Monte Cook as GM.
• Code Phrases for D&D Next, now including a code phrase randomizer at the top of the page.
• On RPG Circus - Dungeons and Dragons 5ed Wishes, Brian Liberge and the Circus crew discuss what they'd like to see in D&D Next! A topic by request.
• Why D&D Next Is Important To All Of Us at Stargazer's World.
• Save Or Die at Mist Imp's Musings makes a case for adding resurrection and save or die mechanics back into D&D Next.

• Game Knight Reviews comes out with News From Around the Net articles on Fridays.
• Roving Band of Misfits publishes their Weekly Roundup column every Sunday.
• Critical Hits aggregates their Twitter feed and publishes it on Sundays under Critical Bits.

• Brian Ballsun-Stanton has two PhD-level papers about RPGs: Clerics, Magic Users, Fighters and Thieves : Theoretical Approaches to Rules Questions on the Role-Playing Games Stack Exchange and Constrained Optimization in Dungeons and Dragons : A Theory of Requirements Generation for Effective Character Creation
• How to play D&D by a 7 year old by MetaDM at Meta Gamemastery shows us how one member of the next generation of gamers is learning D&D.
• Playing the Pathfinder Boxed Set with a 3-year-old on YouTube shows how playing with young kids can be awesome.
• State of the Hat 2012 by Fred Hicks lets us peek at next year's upcoming projects from Evil Hat Productions, including Fate Core, a Spirit of the Century novel, a couple of Gumshoe games, and the Zeppelin Armada card game.
• Daniel Solis muses on Louis CK's success with the Direct-to-Fan Window and proves that he makes a mean Venn Diagram. Really interesting insight into Daniel's success with Happy Birthday, Robot! and Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple.
• Fantasy Armor and Lady Bits gives us an armorer's perspective on balancing utility and femininity to avoid the fantasy trap of pointless armor for women. Cheesecake Armor Bonus, beware; your days are numbered.
• Brent Newhall insists that Castles Were Decoration, explaining the historical realities of castles, and what that means for role-playing campaigns (hint: they're much more interesting).
• Brent also posted Adventures Are Stories, where he points out that published adventures are fundamentally narratives, which requires a certain amount of linear plotting.
• gameshelped.org is a new initiative to collect stories of how games helped improve your life. It's good to focus on the positive aspects of games. Please take a look and contribute if you can.
• Seth Godin doesn't identify as a gamer, but his blog post outlining the TED Imperatives gives anyone in the RPG community some guidelines for defusing edition war-like-arguments before they escalate to Holy War status. Many of us skip the first 2 steps: Be Interested and Be Generous.
• Brent Newhall at The RPG Doctor has One Little Tweak for the free OD&D system Searchers of the Unknown to balance different weapon types.
• On Gaming Daughters and Life-Knitting by T.W.Wombat at Wombat's Gaming Den of Iniquity explores the essence of what gaming means to me.
• On Stack Exchange and Scholarly RPG Papers exposes a couple of treatises on RPGs. One dissects character creation, and the other uses the four basic D&D classes as archetypical approaches to interpreting RPG rules.
• Here's an HTML version of the Technoir rules designed for your mobile phone.
• Ryan Macklin called for articles describing ways to hack Don't Rest Your Head in a post on his blog entitled Don't Hack This Game! Get your hacker hats on and submit an article.
• I keep thinking about running a Lexicon game, so this week I looked up some variations on the standard letter-a-day format.
• Secret Santicore 2011 over at Giblet Blizzard offers 104 pages of OSR gaming goodness for the holidays. Download a PDF chock full of adventures, random tables, encounters, items, and much more all for the insanely low price of absolutely free.
• A Better Adventure: Scenarios by Brent Newhall describes an alternative to the traditional adventure.
• Wizards is reprinting premium editions of AD&D core books. 'Nuff said.
• Ashoka The Great over at Troll In The Corner gets the creative juices flowing with an example from history of a great leader who converted to a new religion. Ashoka is the first post in the “Reality Makes the Best Fantasy” series, a series of which I hope to see much more.
• The Geography of Games by Will Hindmarch at http://gameplaywright.net argues that different RPGs can be seen as different cities. Is Chicago really better than Seattle?
• Survey of Methods of Advancement at Take on Rules surveys methods for advancing characters in different RPG systems.
• Personaly as Attributes? by Tony Hoffart at Nevermet Press analyzes the use of five personality traits instead of the traditional attributes.
• New Year New Game (NYNG) comes from the folks over at Gnome Stew. It's an annual challenge for GMs to run a new game in the new year. Join the blog carnival and enter their contest for a chance to win a pile of prizes.
• Gamer Resolutions by Tracy Hurley covers a smattering of what gamers are working toward in the new year with some suggested sites to help keep those resolutions.
• For you loyal 'mech jockeys out there, go download this free BattleTech 16 month calendar PDF. Remember: heat sinks are for the weak.
• Nukemap will show you just how far the fireball from a 350 kiloton nuclear warhead will extend from ground zero. Ideal for modern doomsday games or Twilight: 2000.
• Do Something Original by Brent Newhall challenges us to come up with something new for our games that hasn't been done to death.
• Modern Complications Table by Brian Liberge gives 50 ideas for random happenings in your modern game. Use it in good health, even while fending off your food coma as your cell phone blares “It's Raining Men” and you're caught in the middle of a flashmob.