Five Solutions to the Birthday Paradox in Tables
When you are using a random table more than once, you are likely going to run into repeated results. Here are five ways to deal with that problem, particularly for random encounter tables.
Playtest Early, Playtest Often
To design a game, you have to break a few eggs and discard some rules or completely rewrite them. But you won’t know what to discard and what to rewrite until you feed those eggs to your players.
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.
Sharing the Spotlight is Insufficient
A simple GM technique for sharing a small bit of narrative control with your players.
2025 Is the Year of the Beta
In 2025, we shall all release a playtest-ready beta version of that TTRPG we have been working on.
D20 Tabletop Roleplaying Game Gift Ideas that Aren’t Just More TTRPGs (or Dice)
When you are shopping for a tabletop roleplaying game obsessive, most of the recommendations are for more TTRPG books or more dice, when they probably already have plenty. Here are 20 gift ideas that aren’t just more TTRPG books or dice!
They’re Eating the Blogs
I am adding a new way for more people to read my posts, but they’ll take my blog over my dead body! I muse about the state of blogging and give some encouragement and advice for people looking to start their own.
You Got Democracy in My Medieval Fantasy!
Too many fantasy settings feature the political systems of the real world middle ages, but there isn’t a good reason for this prevalence. I make the case for using democracies in you setting from the perspective of increasing player agency and engagement in the factions in your campaign.
Horror Prologue Gameplay
Vecna Lives! has a famously poorly designed prologue but with the bold idea of showcasing the villain by killing off a bunch of high-level characters, as if it were the prologue to a horror film. I present a way to accomplish this in a way that doesn’t diminish player agency and which can be used for other monster-centric horror adventures.
Toybox Creativity: The Genius of Dragon Ball
What Akira Toriyama can teach you about creativity and worldbuilding.
Potion Clues
Advice for identifying the potions you find in dungeons, ideally before quaffing them.
The One-Shot Pubcrawl
Suggestions for running Barkeep on the Borderlands as a one-shot adventure, plus a new character background: Monarch’s Bastard.
Social Monsters
Monsters should be more than just a threat in the dungeon to your player characters’ physical health and wellbeing. Here is how to make a monster a threat to their reputation in town.
Hexcrawl Checklist: Part Two
The second part in a comprehensive guide for designing and running your own hexcrawl campaign, which focuses on random encounters, calendars, factions, history and rumors.
Hexcrawl Checklist: Part One
The first part in a comprehensive guide for designing and running your own hexcrawl campaign.
Doppelgänger Dos & Don’ts
Advice for bringing the fun of hidden role games to your doppelgänger encounters.
When to Hold ‘em, When to Roll ‘em
Dice are for divination, a tool that gives final say to fate. When you roll the dice, respect the result. But when you know what the result should be, don’t roll the dice.
How to NOT Run You Got a Job on the Garbage Barge
No adventure survives contact with the players. And that’s a good thing! I discuss You Got a Job on the Garbage Barge and Canal of Horrors.