Comparison

Calamus vs Game Master's Toolkit 5e

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Calamus

Create expansive battlemaps with hand-drawn tiles for tabletop RPGs. Design custom character tokens and host real-time games where players can move their own pieces. Engage in robust chat, sending messages as yourself or any in-game token.

Highlights
  • Create large battlemaps
  • Dozens of hand-drawn tiles
  • Custom PC, NPC, FOE tokens
  • Host real-time games
  • Player character movement
  • Robust in-game chat
  • Send messages as tokens
Features
Read full description

The Calamus is a companion for tabletop roleplaying games, such as Dungeons & Dragons or Pathfinder, that allows you to create huge battlemaps utilizing dozens of hand-drawn tiles, create custom PC, NPC, and FOE tokens, and host games in which players can add and move their own characters in real-time. It also features a robust chat, in which you can send messages as yourself or any token you have in play, publicly or privately. You can find our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy here: http://trapstreetstudios.com/theCalamus/tos/

About

Game Master's Toolkit 5e

This app generates random content for tabletop roleplaying games, including monsters, NPCs, quests, and magic items. It offers tools for combat preparation, puzzles, and a dice simulator. An optional premium upgrade unlocks advanced customization and export features.

Highlights
  • Generate random monsters, NPCs, and cities
  • Create quests, treasure, and villains
  • Design dungeons and traps
  • Generate magic items
  • Quick generator for names and rumors
  • Party cheat sheet and initiative tracker
  • Dice simulator and rule reference
Features
Read full description

Game Master’s Toolkit 5e allows GMs to generate random content for their tabletop roleplaying games! Designed for the world's most popular roleplaying game, but highly compatible with other fantasy TTRPG systems. Using this app, you can: – Browse over 2,000 monsters and filter by CR, terrain, creature type, and source book. – Create NPCs and cities to bring your world to life. – Generate random events, quests, treasure, and villains to add danger and adventure to your game. – Challenge your players with fully fleshed-out dungeons, and traps. – Generate random magic items, such as weapons, armor, potions, and scrolls. – Use the Quick Generator to create names, taverns, shops, rumors, and more! – Save all your favorite randomly generated content for later use. All with the click of a button! Game Master’s Toolkit 5e also includes a number of other tools to help you run your game. – Use the Party Cheat Sheet to track your players’ damage and other important stats. Add monsters to your initiative tracker for easy combat prep. – Incorporate puzzles and mini games to challenge and entertain your players. – Includes a simple dice simulator for easy rolling. – Browse through common 5e rules such as conditions and concentration. Upgrade to the premium version for even more control over the items you generate! With the full version, you can: – Sort saved items into different campaigns – Edit and add notes to your saved items. – Edit and add notes to items as you generate them. – Add, remove, edit, and rearrange city elements to make it truly your own. – Add your own homebrew puzzles and mini games for later reference. – Export items to Google Drive, Dropbox, email, notes, iMessage, Discord, social media, and any other apps you have on your phone. This app also includes a built–in library of over 100 sounds and songs for you to incorporate into your game. Browse different song categories including Combat, In a Dungeon, In the City, and more! The music plays in the background, allowing you to use other apps or lock your screen without interrupting the song. Create a list of your favorite songs for easy reference. All completely offline! No ads, no signups, no hassle. Simple and easy to use.

Screenshots

Calamus4 screens
Game Master's Toolkit 5e4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Game Master's Toolkit 5e at 99% against Calamus's 33%. Game Master's Toolkit 5e also leads on rating (4.8 vs 3.3). Calamus's advantage is iOS requirement (11.0 vs 17.0). On price, ratings volume, update cadence and ads there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Calamus sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month and Game Master's Toolkit 5e sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Game Master's Toolkit 5e holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 83 and 206 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 33% of Calamus's written reviews are positive against 99% of Game Master's Toolkit 5e's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Calamus ships an update monthly, Game Master's Toolkit 5e every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Calamus versus Game Master's Toolkit 5e: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCalamusGame Master's Toolkit 5e
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.3 (83 ratings)4.8 (206 ratings) — better
Positive reviews32.5% of reviews98.5% of reviews — better
Number of ratings83206 — better
Update frequencyMonthly — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS11.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size46 MB240 MB
Age rating4+9+
DeveloperTrapStreet StudiosMichael Wu

Customer experience

Calamus

All ratings83 ratings
Positive51.8%
Neutral16.9%
Negative31.3%
Written reviews40 reviews
Positive32.5%
Neutral17.5%
Negative50.0%

Game Master's Toolkit 5e

All ratings205 ratings
Positive97.1%
Neutral1.0%
Negative2.0%
Written reviews134 reviews
Positive98.5%
Neutral0.7%
Negative0.7%

User reviews

Calamus

From 83 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🎨 Pretty interface and icons
  • 👍 Easy to start making maps
  • 💡 Great for D&D campaigns
  • 👍 Good art style
  • 🚀 Fast to fix bugs

Room to improve

  • ❌ Difficult to correct mistakes
  • ❌ No undo option
  • ❌ Clunky with Apple Pencil
  • ❌ Missing assets even with subscription
  • ❌ Walls erase when removing objects

Game Master's Toolkit 5e

From 206 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Great app
  • 🚀 Useful tools and generators
  • 🎨 Helpful for DMs and GMs
  • 💰 Reasonable premium price
  • 🎶 Useful sound effects and music

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional crashes or bugs
  • 🔒 Limited customization options
  • 🔍 Difficulty finding saved items

Bugs and requests

Calamus

Reported bugs

40 issues
  • No undo option
  • Walls erase when removing objects
  • Rune password login issues
  • Water turns light blue when saving/cropping
  • App repeatedly asks for password
Show 35 more
  • Pop-ups are disruptive
  • Download issues
  • Support issues
  • Map saving issues
  • App crashes
  • Broken text formatting
  • Tabs do not work
  • Program freezes while placing tiles
  • Login issues after canceling subscription
  • Pinch and pull zoom doesn't work
  • Erase button in wrong menu
  • Forced password system
  • Locked out if away from app for too long
  • Not designed for mobile user experience
  • Maps don't save properly
  • App never loads
  • Never got to do much of anything
  • Non-functional, never makes it past loading screen
  • Monetization model kills it
  • Forced subscription after idle period
  • Limited variety of items
  • Cannot download saved maps
  • App asks for subscription after payment
  • Free app with subscription service
  • Too complicated login process
  • Freezes when adding players
  • Rune password is confusing
  • Subscription is a big problem
  • Keeps locking, requires frequent passcode entry
  • Slowdown on larger maps
  • Text is incredibly small
  • Menu screen swipe function doesn't work
  • Cannot figure out rune password
  • Slow learning curve
  • No simple tutorial

Requested features

18 requests
  • Add undo option
  • Improve Apple Pencil support
  • Add more assets like columns
  • Add desert themed items
  • Add steering wheel and crows nest
Show 13 more
  • Add fungi for underdark maps
  • Allow watching ads instead of subscription
  • Fix water color issue when saving/cropping
  • Improve login process
  • Add more variety of items
  • Allow downloading saved maps to device
  • Implement a one-time purchase option
  • Add more content
  • Change rune password system to typed password or tap option
  • Add more VTT features
  • Provide a simple tutorial
  • Allow maps to be exported as PDFs
  • Allow maps to be printed

Game Master's Toolkit 5e

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • App crashes when trying to save
  • Dice roller feature not working properly

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add initiative tracking
  • Allow editing of generated content
  • Implement cloud sync for saved data
  • Expand race and NPC options
  • Add more puzzle and mini-game options

In-app purchases

10 purchases

Calamus

Subscriptions5
  • Calamus Player Only$0.991 Month
  • Full Version - Monthly$2.991 Month
  • Calamus Monthly Subscription$3.491 Month
Show 2 more
  • Full Version - Yearly$29.991 Year
  • Calamus Yearly Subscription$39.991 Year
One-time5
  • All Epic Token Icons$0.99
  • More Tokens Slots (6)$0.99
  • Full Roommaker$1.99
Show 2 more
  • All Epic Token Rings$2.99
  • Player Enhanced Version$2.99
1 purchases

Game Master's Toolkit 5e

One-time1
  • Premium Version$0.99

Questions

Is Calamus free?
Calamus is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Game Master's Toolkit 5e free?
Game Master's Toolkit 5e is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Calamus or Game Master's Toolkit 5e?
Game Master's Toolkit 5e is rated higher. Calamus averages 3.3 out of 5 from 83 ratings, while Game Master's Toolkit 5e averages 4.8 from 206 ratings.
Do Calamus or Game Master's Toolkit 5e have ads?
Neither Calamus nor Game Master's Toolkit 5e shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Calamus or Game Master's Toolkit 5e?
Calamus ships an update monthly, and Game Master's Toolkit 5e every 2 months. Most recently, Calamus was updated on November 2, 2026 and Game Master's Toolkit 5e on November 3, 2026.

Other comparisons