Rating Every Room in White Plume Mountain
I review every single room (and some non-rooms) in the original funhouse dungeon and describe what makes them work or not work and what is worth stealing for your dungeons and what you should avoid, all based on over a decade of running this adventure for multiple groups.
Review: Honey in the Rafters
A short and sweet review of a starter adventure for Mausritter.
Pedantic Wasteland - Outlaws of the Iron Route
Reviewing one of the earliest adventures for 5th Edition D&D: how I would improve player agency and how my proposed fixes grind up against the play culture of 5e.
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.
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.
Pedantic Wasteland: Lighthouse at Shipbreaker Shoals
A review of Lighthouse at Shipbreaker Shouls, a DCC Adventure by Anne Hunter (aka DIY & Dragons).
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!
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.
So Many Free Taverns for Your Games: Barkeep Jam Retrospective
Going through the 32 entries for the Barkeep Jam and summarizing the contents so you know which ones to pick up for your pubcrawl adventuring needs, with some commentary on adventure design sprinkled throughout.
Is GenCon Worth It?
I discuss whether GenCon is worth it to RPG designers, ordinary gamers, and how to make it even more worthwhile.
Pedantic Wasteland - Vampire Cruise
A review of Vampire Cruise, a system-neutral comedy-horror adventure (originally published on Bones of Contention).
In Defense of Ability Scores
Ability scores have become vestigial in modern corporate D&D and Pathfinder, but there is a different D&D lineage where they are evolving into an elegant mechanic.
Pedantic Wasteland - A Rasp of Sand
A review of A Rasp of Sand, a rogue-like TTRPG adventure for Knave (originally published on Bones of Contention).
Posters, Posers and POSR(s)
A brief history of the OSR as an artistic movement and some thoughts on what comes after it.
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.
Conspiracy in the Borderlands
An evaluation of the true villains of the classic adventure: the Cult of Evil Chaos, including what they might be up to two hundred years later.
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.
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.
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.
Review: Mausritter Boxed Set
A review of Mausritter, a sword-and-whiskers TTRPG based on Into the Odd. Also musings on the Mausritter campaign I want to run.