W. F. Smith 8/14/23 W. F. Smith 8/14/23

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.

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 7/20/23 W. F. Smith 7/20/23

D&D Initiative & The McDonald’s Problem

New initiative rules plus some theory about a counterintuitive way for speeding up your combat.

W. F. Smith 7/18/23 W. F. Smith 7/18/23

Shopping in D&D is Garbage, And How to Fix It

Don’t let shopping for gear be a chore. Make it part of the game with this Yahtzee inspired shopping minigame.

W. F. Smith 7/14/23 W. F. Smith 7/14/23

Humpty Dumpty Should Die: Fixing Falling Damage

The original rules for falling got changed (for the better) by an editing mistake, but I propose some rules that keep the simplicity while adding some of the realism that Gygax aimed for.

W. F. Smith 6/20/23 W. F. Smith 6/20/23

Posters, Posers and POSR(s)

A brief history of the OSR as an artistic movement and some thoughts on what comes after it.

W. F. Smith 6/8/23 W. F. Smith 6/8/23

Family Feuds

Some quick rules for stoking deadly family feuds in your games.

W. F. Smith 5/25/23 W. F. Smith 5/25/23

How Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Proves Me Right

What can the latest entry in the Zelda games teach us about how to run tabletop RPGs?

W. F. Smith 4/1/23 W. F. Smith 4/1/23

Of Mysteries, Monsters and Mosquitillos

I reveal a new monster from the origins of the hobby. This monster languished while its siblings, like the Owlbear and Rust Monster, are being featured in major motion pictures. Life is unfair sometimes.

W. F. Smith 2/9/23 W. F. Smith 2/9/23

Barkeep on the Borderlands: Pub Previews

Previews of four pubs from Barkeep on the Borderlands!

W. F. Smith 2/7/23 W. F. Smith 2/7/23

Names on the Borderlands

A d100 list of fantasy names for humans, dwarves, elves, halflings, goblins, lizardfolk, orcs and more!

W. F. Smith 1/31/23 W. F. Smith 1/31/23

Lore! What Is It Good For?

RPGs shouldn’t blather about their lore. Hide your lore in something gameable like you’re hiding your pet’s medicine in a piece of cheese.

W. F. Smith 1/10/23 W. F. Smith 1/10/23

The Winners of the 2022 Bloggies

Announcing the winners of the first annual Bloggies, with some acceptance “speeches” from the top bloggers of 2022.

W. F. Smith 1/3/23 W. F. Smith 1/3/23

Bloggies 2022: Voting Begins

The inaugural Bloggie Awards, recognizing some of the great blog posts of 2022.

W. F. Smith 12/28/22 W. F. Smith 12/28/22

Here Be No Product Identity Monsters

File off the serial numbers, take what you want. Also, I talk about and rate some classic (some less so) monsters.

W. F. Smith 12/15/22 W. F. Smith 12/15/22

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.