Your Taverns Need a Procedure
W. F. Smith W. F. Smith

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.

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Luka Rejec Joins the Pubcrawl
W. F. Smith W. F. Smith

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).

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It’s Alive! My Kickstarter
W. F. Smith W. F. Smith

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.

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The Secret to Realism in Games
W. F. Smith W. F. Smith

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.

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Dicember: Parting Thoughts
W. F. Smith W. F. Smith

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.

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Dicember Blogstew
W. F. Smith W. F. Smith

Dicember Blogstew

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

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The Basic Procedure of the OSR
W. F. Smith W. F. Smith

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.

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Do the Monster Mashup
W. F. Smith W. F. Smith

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.

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Rating the Deck of Many Things
W. F. Smith W. F. Smith

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.

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When to Hold ‘em, When to Roll ‘em
W. F. Smith W. F. Smith

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.

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Overloading the Damage Die
W. F. Smith W. F. Smith

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.

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