W. F. Smith 3/24/22 W. F. Smith 3/24/22

I Get Knocked Down, But I Get Up Again

A few options for making healing from 0 hp feel more realistic and offer more tactical depth.

W. F. Smith 3/15/22 W. F. Smith 3/15/22

Level Up Everyone and Everything

In most games, the player doesn’t have a choice about what to do with their XP. But what if they could invest it into their character, their followers, their equipment or anything else?

W. F. Smith 2/25/22 W. F. Smith 2/25/22

Calendars, Not Just Maps

Maps are important for running location-based adventures, but having a useful calendar or timeline is equally essential.

W. F. Smith 2/22/22 W. F. Smith 2/22/22

Conspiracy in the Borderlands

An evaluation of the true villains of the classic adventure: the Cult of Evil Chaos, including what they might be up to two hundred years later.

W. F. Smith 2/18/22 W. F. Smith 2/18/22

Your Taverns Need a Procedure

I propose a procedure for running TTRPG taverns less like a beginner’s improv class and more like the Mos Eisley Cantina. I also briefly describe the trend of “proceduralism” in the OSR and Post-OSR.

W. F. Smith 2/15/22 W. F. Smith 2/15/22

Luka Rejec Joins the Pubcrawl

A second project update for Barkeep on the Borderlands where I detail newly revealed stretch goals, including a phenomenal guest writer being added to our team (cf. the title).

W. F. Smith 2/10/22 W. F. Smith 2/10/22

Barkeep on the Borderlands is Funded (And Then Some!)

An update of my Kickstarter Campaign, which has just unlocked it’s seventh stretch goal! Also some thoughts from our star-studded team of guest writers.

W. F. Smith 2/8/22 W. F. Smith 2/8/22

It’s Alive! My Kickstarter

Announcing my new adventure coming to Kickstarter and doing my best carnival barker impression as I exhort the reader to go back it.

W. F. Smith 1/25/22 W. F. Smith 1/25/22

Barkeep on the Borderlands Preview: The Birdcage

How to make an adventure also serve as a modular toolkit for referees, plus a preview from Barkeep on the Borderlands.

W. F. Smith 1/18/22 W. F. Smith 1/18/22

Drinking Problems: The Trouble with Booze Rules in Games

I present my own rules for prolonged drinking after first discussing what makes rules for alcohol worthwhile in the first place.

W. F. Smith 1/11/22 W. F. Smith 1/11/22

The Secret to Realism in Games

People often ask for realism in their games but have difficulty articulating what it is they really want. If realism is understood as a world that reacts to player-character actions in a logical and consistent way, it enhances the verisimilitude of the fiction and the player agency in the game.

W. F. Smith 12/31/21 W. F. Smith 12/31/21

Dicember: Parting Thoughts

For Dyson Logos’ Dicember Challenge, I address the final prompts for the month, but up the challenge by pairing the prompts together.

W. F. Smith 12/21/21 W. F. Smith 12/21/21

Dicember Blogstew

For Dyson Logos’ Dicember Challenge, I address the first 21 prompts in a single blogpost.

W. F. Smith 12/7/21 W. F. Smith 12/7/21

New Kid on the Blogck: My Path to the OSR

I commemorate the first anniversary of my blog by detailing my path to the OSR (and list my top 10 posts thus far).

W. F. Smith 11/18/21 W. F. Smith 11/18/21

The XP Bowl and XP Bubbles

I present a new way to award XP that doesn’t disrupt your game or require bookkeeping.

W. F. Smith 11/1/21 W. F. Smith 11/1/21

The Basic Procedure of the OSR

Most OSR and Post-OSR games run on a core, often unspoken procedure of questions and answers. This post interrogates ways this is similar (and dissimilar) from story games and synthesizes the approach.