Blogwagon Announcement: Merry Hexmas
A new blog bandwagon where everyone writes a hex for a winter wonderland hexcrawl and posts it on their blog, linking to blogs that have adjacent hexes. This announcement has all the information you need to know to participate!
Bare Bones Survey of Skeletons
Embracing the silly origins of skeletons and why it makes them one of the more refreshing undead horrors to use in your games.
Moonlight Glitters upon Weregild
Lycanthropy is played out. Instead of using another werewolf in your game, try some weregilt.
Pedantic Wasteland - Outlaws of the Iron Route
Reviewing one of the earliest adventures for 5th Edition D&D: how I would improve player agency and how my proposed fixes grind up against the play culture of 5e.
Pick Two Inspirations and Combine Them
I present a cheat code for breaking through writer’s block and coming up with a gameable idea from all the cultural detritus that has built up inside your brain.
Dumpster Deep Dive: You Got a Job on the Garbage Barge Prep Example
An example for our I prepared to run a (great) published adventure.
AI and Empty Art
On the perils of artificial intelligence when it comes to the tabletop gaming medium.
Lego Rock Raiders as Space Horror
You are stranded on a hostile planet, but fortunately its subterranean tunnels are rich with the fuel you need to get back home. Less fortunately the tunnels are also home to hulking monsters that can break into your ship and drink its fuel.
Killable Peoples
It says something about your game’s setting if orcs can be killed on sight by “good” characters just as it says something entirely different if you can wantonly slay bandits without remorse. I detail lots of different potential targets for violence and what they might say about a given campaign setting.
Ennies Good?? Also, by Total Coincidence, I Am Nominated for Some
Look, I’m just as surprised and delighted as I’m sure you are.
Advantage by Default
Instead of punishing being over-encumbered, would players be more willing to track their inventory if we rewarded being under-encumbered?
What Is a Roleplaying Game: The Roleplaying Game
A roleplaying game about explaining what a roleplaying game is.
The Languages of D&D Imply a Specific Setting
If you start from the premise that languages in D&D make sense you can extrapolate a bit about its implied setting.
Remember Books? They’re Back, in Blog Form
If the best TTRPG writing has, for at least a decade, proliferated online (which it has), shouldn’t we start putting that writing where it belongs on our bookshelves?
Divine Magic Works in Mysterious Ways
I’ve spilt so much digital ink about making a wizard’s magic feel more arcane, but now it is time to think about how to make a cleric’s magic feel more divine.
Babies in Dungeons
Why the hell would you bring a baby into the dungeon? Here are some rules to adjudicate your foolhardy endeavor if your character is saddled with a bundle of joy and can’t afford a babysitter.
Slush Magic
Ten Thousand Random Spells and How to Cast Them (in roleplaying games, of course).
Playing Card Initiative
Instead of rolling for initiative, here is a method for playing cards instead to determine who acts and when.
A Game to Generate the World History for Your Campaign
Could a depressed person make this?! A DIY board game using Risk and Monopoly components that you can use to generate the history of your fantasy setting before embarking on a D&D campaign.
Steal This Idea: Cardinal Sins
I want to play as a scheming priest amidst other scheming priests.