4 hours ago
Sunday, December 29, 2019
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Gary Gygax
Father of "the game" you'll be missed.
Smokey, my friend, you are entering a world of pain.
My Blog List
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OSR Adventure Commentary Adapting the classic module UK1: Beyond the Crystal Cave with Bloody Arduin & ACKS II Rpg - Adapting the classic module UK1: Beyond the Crystal Cave to Adventurer Conqueror King System II (ACKS II) creates a unique gameplay experience. Because UK...
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[Q&A] Richard Kelly (Stone Shall Bleed) - [7:35 PM]Richard#0052: Hi all! I’m Richard / SprintingOwl. I’m a TTRPG designer who’s done work across a wide variety of genres. Previous games I’ve worked...6 hours ago
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October Horror Challenge - Silent Night, Deadly Night (2025) - SynopsisTraumatized after seeing his parents murdered by a man in a Santa suit, Billy grows up to be a Santa-clad slasher.ReviewI love the original Silent ...
9 hours ago -
Hesperat’s Gardens - Not trusted by the master or the Yuan-Ti, but protected by their own taboos and reverence for the lost empire … Continue reading →14 hours ago
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BIG ANNOUNCEMENT: Diversions #25 Is NOW ON SALE in Print AND Digital! - As all of you Groove-ophiles know, Ol' Groove has been publishing his own comics under his Blue Moon Comic banner for the past six-ish years. During tha...1 day ago
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The Horror on Goat Hill - By Tyler McIntoshTable Rock Independent PressOSRLevels 4-6 AN ANCIENT EVIL FALLS FROM THE HEAVENS ONTO GOAT HILL AND ALL THAT STANDS IN ITS WAY IS A RAGTAG...1 day ago
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Wednesday Comics: DC, January 1986 (week 3) - I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to the end of *Crisis*! This week, I read the comics on sale on October 17, 1985. *Green Lant...
1 day ago -
Whisperwing - The below is a critter I submitted at the last minute to a monster-creation contest last year. It didn't win (hastily-composed things rarely do) but I thi...1 day ago
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Dark Horse Ravenloft Comic #1 - The first issue of Dark Horse's new Ravenloft comic is out. Is it any good? Well. It's fine, but it has some problems. The premise is semi-interesting: ...
2 days ago -
Power Word Kill is a first-level spell - The human body is resilient, but not nearly as resilient as anyone would hope. Consider all the myriad ways it may be broken beyond repair by accident ...2 days ago
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5e-splaining the OSR - I recently watched an interesting YouTube video in which Ben Milton and somebody I have not heard of before called Daði discuss, among other things, OSR ...
2 days ago -
I wasn’t around in the 90’s so could you explain how Rob Liefeld was so popular? - There was a great video game in the 1990s called Comix Zone for Sega Genesis where you play as a character that was clearly Rob Liefeld. Sure, sure, the...3 days ago
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Simple Transit Tables & Rates - Just some tables for land and sea trips *Coach Rates* -cross a city ward 1cp 10-30 minutes -cross a city ward in a posh ...
4 days ago -
Rivers of London - Campaign Design - Rivers is set within Ben Aaronovitch's magical London, where wizards working with the Police venture forth from the Folly to keep the King's peace. The b...
4 days ago -
STAR-CROSSED BLADES OF THE GREEN PEONY SESSION XVIII - This is the eighteenth session of our Star-Crossed Blades of the Green Peony campaign for Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate (session I can be found HERE, ses...6 days ago
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The Spellbooks of Mydwandr... - Spellcasters in the *Mydwandr* RPG (and its eponymous setting) exploit a natural talent known to few beyond the mysterious elves, shaping the materials o...
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1 week ago -
Money in Mutants & Wizards - Money and wealth is always an issue in Post-apoc gaming. Mutants & Wizards uses precious metals with the expectation of bartering occurring where that's ...
1 week ago -
Crypts and Things: Deal of the Day at DriveThruRPG - I thought that I would mention that my favourite OSR ("Old School Renaissance") RPG -- *Crypts and Things* -- is currently on sale (60% off the PDF!) at ...
1 week ago -
Why is the Ogre there? - Joe's post on the Quantum Ogre raises an old question about sandbox play: when does moving an encounter around interfere with players' freedom to decide...
3 weeks ago -
One Year before the Comms Array - I just realized that it's been almost a month since the one-year anniversary of running Operation Lamplighter. I think this is the longest I've been runnin...
1 month ago -
Shadowrun 2E: Why Every Runner Needs Contacts - In this video, I talk about why contacts are important in different situations and what makes them valuable. I explain how players can use these rela...
2 months ago -
DÜRER DEMON - DÜRER DEMON "Riding steadfastly through a dark Nordic gorge, Dürer's knight rides past Death on a Pale Horse, who holds out an hourglass as a reminder of ...
2 months ago -
The Common Store of Monsters - I am slowly grinding my way through the re-writes for Veins of the Earth. As part of the re-write I have re-organised the ‘Pariahs of the Earth’ monsters ...2 months ago
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Back to the Basic (and Expert)? - I have recently been dabbling in D&D once more. I picked up Old School Essentials and also began rummaging through my D&D 5E (not 5.5E) rules to run a smal...3 months ago
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The Old School (Hyperborean) Renaissance - Are these poorly-masked adventure hooks? Yes, yes they are. For the last century a peculiar fever has gripped the learned societies of Marlinko, Kezmaro...
4 months ago -
I am Dr Rotwang! - I am NOT the fella who goes by "Doktor Rotwang" on Substack. I've never met him. I'm not a Navy veteran. We are not the same guy, no matter what Google AI ...4 months ago
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Micro-Adventure - #114 RATS! - Dungeon tropes are a thing to embrace, not to dismiss. It's simple to handwave the storm the orc infested tower to save the princess, evil wizard in a t...
4 months ago -
Setting a new course: 7th Sea Third Edition - There aren’t a lot of good opportunities to come out of cold storage these days. Honestly, finding time for work, family, gaming, and game prep doesn’t lea...6 months ago
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Why Open Tables Work So Well for Old-School Campaigns - *It was suggested that I turn my YouTube transcripts into blog posts. Consider this an experiment for now - Tenkar* If your campaign lives and dies by...
7 months ago -
Divine Patronage: A Separate System for Party Advancement - In the past, I've written about why parties should have their own character sheet. The party sheet can track reputation, how noisy they are in the dungeon...
7 months ago -
ignore all previous instructions - [image: UNDER THE SKIN] *We long to return, and we can, because the cosmos is within us.* *Hᴇᴀᴠᴇɴ* *was furious. So loud and discordant were these youths ...
8 months ago -
Underkeep: a new game reminiscent of Dungeon master - *Underkeep* is a game which is currently in development, it is reminiscent of the old "Dungeon Master" which many of us used to play on Amiga 500 back i...8 months ago
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On a Happy New Year - We are about to experience the most social upheaval since industrialization. What will that look like in sixty years? Sinless is starting it's third yea...
9 months ago -
Review: Cthulhu by Gaslight, Keeper’s Guide - Review: Cthulhu by Gaslight, Keeper’s Guide As anyone who spends ten minutes in my presence knows- I love CoC and I am fascinated with 19th century Lon...9 months ago
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Fiendish Monsters: The Horror Art of Bruce Timm cover revealed! Available December 2nd on Flesk… - Fiendish Monsters: The Horror Art of Bruce Timm cover revealed! Available December 2nd on Flesk...10 months ago
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Experience with Python - Well, it amused me to make it. (Inspired by my Facebook ads.) But it did get me thinking about how Conan the Barbarian set the bar so high for 1980s f...
1 year ago -
The Earwight - The sinister little insects known as earwights are thought to have once been earwigs who fed on the decaying flesh of revenants or other matter suffused wi...1 year ago
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B5 Horror on the Hill - Finished! - After what feels like an inordinate amount of time, we finally finished Adventure *B5: Horror on the Hill.* We started this one back in the fall of 2024....
1 year ago -
Trollish Delver moving - In an effort to get away from the shadow of Google this blog can now be found at www.trollish-delver.writeas.com.1 year ago
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And Now For Something Completely Different - I'm participating in another blogging challenge this month, the 31 Day Character Creation Challenge - I opted to make a classic *Traveller* character each ...1 year ago
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The Tarot of Pips - Somewhere in your dice collection is a die like this one, the humblest of dice. Although you don't know it, this small white die carries with it a secr...1 year ago
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Inspectres in Grifton - On November 8, we played a one-off Inspectres game set with the Starkweather monster hunter tradition, based in Grifton. My Setup I quickly pulled out and ...1 year ago
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FWS Ships of the Line: Explorer and Science Ships - Often one of the set pieces for high space adventure and tragedy is those spacecraft that go where no one has gone before and may never go again if the ou...
2 years ago -
Profitez des offres de bonus exclusives: Découverte de l’offre de 200 tours gratuits et 75 € - Êtes-vous un amateur de jeux en ligne et à la recherche de nouvelles opportunités excitantes? Alors, préparez-vous à découvrir une offre qui va changer v...3 years ago
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Angels, Demons and Subtle Bodies - It’s delightful when D&D-isms sometimes converge with ancient wisdom, even accidentally. I was watching a video from Jonathan Pageau earlier today concerni...3 years ago
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There Were Dice - I started my Spelljammer game last weekend. It was my first time DMing since December 2021. I wasn't as rusty as I thought I was going to be, but I *was ...3 years ago
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Notes on a semi-successful skill system - When I finished my Team Tsathogga campaign back in 2019, one of the things that I noted afterwards was the extent to which fighters had struggled to keep...4 years ago
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Trying Something New - Based on what I said last time, I’m going to try out something new. Check out my posts at Medium – one test you can ignore, one discussion of why I chose t...4 years ago
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Strange, Dangerous, and Inhuman: The Fey and Fairie - When I was a boy I loved fairy tales. Jack and the Beanstalk, Puss in Boots, Rumpelstiltskin - I devoured all of it. My fascination that there was a strang...6 years ago
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balu8: Crime Convention by Jeph Loeb and Darwyn Cooke - balu8: Crime Convention by Jeph Loeb and Darwyn Cooke6 years ago
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Discontinued - Friends, I'll make it official. I will stop this blog. A lot has happened last year. And my interests have moved in a different direction. Thank you for...7 years ago
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Ravensburg Reboot: Streamlined City Map - I mentioned in my last post how I was tweaking and reworking parts of my Ravensburg setting. Today I streamlined the city map. The old map had lots of redu...
7 years ago -
Please, I don't do paid advertisements - don't ask. - A little note since people have asked me about this. My video channel's *not* an advertising platform, so I'm not available for hire if you want to promote...7 years ago
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How can We Destroy this Campaign World? - d12 1. You must trick a bard into strumming the *Chords of Fate* on the *Lute of Annihilation* 2. Legends tell of thermonuclear weapons beneath megadunge...
8 years ago -
omercifulheaves: Red SonjaArt by Bruce Timm - omercifulheaves: Red Sonja Art by Bruce Timm8 years ago
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Goodbye and Good Luck - Well some of you may have noticed this blog has been down, restricting access for some time. For various reasons I've decided to step away from the OSR...
8 years ago -
Eurafrika Attacks! [Campaign Idea] - Around about 1929, a German architect by the name of Herman Sörgel came with an idea he called Atlantropa. The idea was simple (no, not really) - he was go...
9 years ago -
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Additional Things - Doing Away with Hitpoints - So there s a couple of things you need to adress, if you want to get rid of Hitpoints. These are not fully formed rules, this, like much of the stuff i pos...9 years ago
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The Cosmic Gobsmack: Me and Mr. C - My gut started bothering me a week or so before the last GenCon. I had a previously set appointment for Aug. 21st and told my Family Dr., who recommended a...9 years ago
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Bob and Thor track and find three deer in one day - Thor von Moosbach-Zuzelek, a brother to our Tuesday and Darren Doran's Theo, has had a great tracking season so far. He helped hunters to recover their de...
9 years ago -
Thrantrix the Ineffable Contest - Thrantrix the Ineffable, that lovable whirling-ball-of-snakes Chaos Godling, has demanded that her worship grow. So we’re running a contest! We want to see...9 years ago
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Why I No Longer Buy Under Armour Products - This post is an opinion piece, done to express my disappointment in Under Armour as a company and make clear my intention to stop purchasing any of their...10 years ago
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Cardinal Spider--Montporte Dungeon Campaign Critter - *CARDINAL SPIDER* Cardinal spiders travel in small roving bands made up of 2-8 males and 2-4 females. The males are the smaller of two (about 60 pounds in...
10 years ago -
Godbound: Freedom of Strife - • The plan was for the group to Liberation, sneak into the prison, and then get out with Strife. Turns out the complication was Hope and Bones. Bones ha...10 years ago
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A short review of every post-apocalyptic novel I've ever read. - The other day I was thinking about post-apocalyptic novels, and how many of them I'd read. So I sat down and created a list of as many of them that I've re...10 years ago
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Adventures on the 7th sea – Campaign specifics Part I - In any rpg campaign there will be "home rules" reflecting The flavor and tone of the campaign, the specific rule changes and, (of course) a Dungeon Master...
11 years ago -
Illyrians of Note: The Demimonde - Just above the ranks of the criminal underworld but falling just short of respectability, there exists a shadowy, ill-defined "half-world" populated by a ...
11 years ago -
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Mark it zero!
Get Carter
About Me
- Uncle Sam
- I am thought to be exiled gentry, a vagabond, a scandalous rogue, a troubadour, armchair tactician, amateur grifter, self taught mechanic, would be author, adventurer, rogue scholar, traveler of strange lands, and an all round near do well.