A Short Rest is a free downloadable set of role-playing maps and cards that you can use for story and world-building during tabletop game sessions. Created by Shing Yin Khor, this is a digital collection of pastoral fantasy illustrations that you can print.

Similar to Through a Glass Darkly, A Short Rest is only a printable file and doesn’t contain an actual program or game you can run on your PC. However, these artworks are high-resolution images and so they’re still great props whether the game you’re playing is a physical version or a digital one. 

Take a little break

Tabletop games are games normally played on a table or other flat surfaces. This genre includes board games, card games, dice games, and miniature wargames, among others. Thus, you’ll need physical items in order to play. This setup is common enough for the earlier versions of games like Warhammer 40k and other Dungeons and Dragons-like games. You can even get printable versions, like with Necro-Cavaliers of the Astral Galaxy.

However, with A Short Rest, you only get beautiful illustrations and not a game of any kind. This set of maps and cards contains watercolor and ink illustrations of pastoral scenes, quaint creatures, and lovely food. They’re meant to be used as props for your games and aren’t tied to any specific game in mind, so you can use them wherever they’re appropriate. 

This collection includes seven 12”x9” maps and 50 cards of varying subjects centered on the fantasy meadow theme—all in high-resolution JPEG form. A printing guide and license is also included in the ZIP file. You can either print them on your own or have them processed by printing shops. Take note, however, that this is all there is to the set’s function. 

Versatile for any physical game

Overall, A Short Rest is a great addition to any tabletop gaming session but it’s quite limited in its scope and functionality. Not only is it just illustrations you can print, but it doesn’t come with any executable file. This at least means that it’s flexible in any game campaign, though, so if you’re looking to set up characters, items, and locations that look lovely, this is a good option.