W. F. Smith 1/14/26 W. F. Smith 1/14/26

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.

W. F. Smith 12/2/25 W. F. Smith 12/2/25

PAX Unplugged: How to Cram A Month’s Worth of Gaming Into One Weekend

I played Seven Party Pact, Paranoia, Planet of the Apes RPG, Monty Python RPG, Break!!, Barkeep on the Borderlands, and Escape from Atlantis and am reporting those experiences to you from a wholly neutral and accurate perspective.

W. F. Smith 8/5/25 W. F. Smith 8/5/25

AI and Empty Art

On the perils of artificial intelligence when it comes to the tabletop gaming medium.

W. F. Smith 7/11/25 W. F. Smith 7/11/25

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.

W. F. Smith 11/14/24 W. F. Smith 11/14/24

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.

W. F. Smith 7/2/24 W. F. Smith 7/2/24

A LEGO Jam Retrospective: Trouble in Paradisa

In which I talk about how to write an adventure in a weekend and a method for connecting NPCs in a web of relationships.

W. F. Smith 5/14/24 W. F. Smith 5/14/24

Between Two Jams

In which I implore your participation in two game jams this summer: the Lego RPG Setting Jam and the Barkeep Jam. I extol their virtues and cajole all creators to join in the fun.

W. F. Smith 8/8/23 W. F. Smith 8/8/23

Barkeep on the Borderlands Wins an Ennie

Barkeep brings home gold, and I have some people to thank.

W. F. Smith 8/4/22 W. F. Smith 8/4/22

Hey, You Got Commercialization In My Hobby (also ZineQuest 4)

Why commercialization doesn’t mean you aren’t a hobbyist, plus a look at this year’s Zine Quest offerings.

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 7/27/21 W. F. Smith 7/27/21

Design Commentary: Big Rock Candy Hexcrawl

I walk through the process for making my first adventure, what it did well, and what it could have done better.

W. F. Smith 4/27/21 W. F. Smith 4/27/21

A Preview of Coming Attractions

I discuss the TTRPG projects I am working on: Big Rock Candy Hexcrawl, Barkeep on the Borderlands, Unaccredited Magic User Boarding School, and Prismatic Wasteland.