The XP Bowl and XP Bubbles
I present a new way to award XP that doesn’t disrupt your game or require bookkeeping.
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.
Do the Monster Mashup
I mashup several classic Halloween monsters to create ten new spooky monsters, and discuss how I would use them in games.
The Keep on the Borderlands is Full of Lies
The Keep on the Borderlands is not what it seems. This reinterpretation of a classic module presents a more vibrant world, ripe for player choice.
Apolitical RPGs Do Not Exist
An brief exploration of why games are political by their very nature.
Rating the Deck of Many Things
I rate all the cards in the original Deck of Many Things, as presented in the Greyhawk supplement. All ratings are final and irrefutable.
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.
Hostile Negotiations: A Framework for Social Combat
Rules for negotiations that don’t impede roleplay.
Overloading the Damage Die
Into the Odd revolutionized combat by jettisoning the “to hit” roll. This post offers a combat system that maintains single-roll attacks, but imbues that roll with a greater variety of outcomes.
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.
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.
A Better Approach to Deadly Games
Don’t let character death slow down your games. If you want to run a deadly game, you do not need to make it easier to die. To run a deadly game, make it easier to live.
Spell Lists Are Not Magical
Why do magic-users pick spells like they are ordering from a menu? An evaluation for alternate systems of picking spells to evoke the awe and wonder befitting magic.
Ashcan Rule: XP for Coal
An unused rule that got cut from my Big Rock Candy Hexcrawl, with some suggestions for a Minecraft TTRPG.
Failure, Diegesis & Ability Score Increases
A diegetic method for increasing ability scores, stolen gleefully from another system.
Spelling Errors: A Magic Miscast Alternative
When a magic-user flubs a spell, they mix up a few letters but the magic remains. Thus does a Charm Person spell become a Harm Person spell. Oops.
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.
The Motorcyclops! Lone Biker of the Apocalypse
A new monster for use in post-apocalyptic settings: the motorcyclops!
Hacking Lockpicking to Unlock Hacking
I take Errant’s excellent rules for lockpicking and hack them to make rules for hacking into computer terminals in modern or sci-fi games.