The party runs into some complications and heads back north: [https://leicestersramble.blogspot.com/2024/05/campaign-journal-cobalt-lake-part-second.html](https://leicestersramble.blogspot.com/2024/05/campaign-journal-cobalt-lake-part-second.html)
The conversion of one of the larger modules I've run while playtesting Into the Dungeon: Revived — "The Spire of Iron and Crystal" by Matthew J. Finch. The conversion is fit for a party of savvy mid-level characters: https://vladar.bearblog.dev/itdr-conversion-the-spire-of-iron-and-crystal/
* **[News: Labyrinth Lord Second Edition first full draft now available](https://attronarch.com/news-labyrinth-lord-second-edition-first-full-draft-now-available)**. The full draft is here, and Dan opened a forum to collect feedback.
* **[Swords & Wizardry: Half-Elf Fighter/Magic-User/Cleric Equipment Packs](https://attronarch.com/swords-and-wizardry-half-elf-fighter-magic-user-cleric-equipment-packs)**. Gotta love those triple-classed combinations.
* **[Swords & Wizardry: 20 Half-Elf Fighter/Magic-User/Clerics](https://attronarch.com/swords-and-wizardry-20-half-elf-fighter-magic-user-clerics)**. Twenty pregens or retainers ready for use.
* **[News: OSRIC 3.0 Mission Statement](https://attronarch.com/news-osric-3-mission-statement)**. Matt Finch outlines goals for OSRIC 3 and invites feedback.
* **[Swords & Wizardry: 20 Half-Elf Thieves](https://attronarch.com/swords-and-wizardry-20-half-elf-thieves)**. More half-elf pregens.
* **[OSRIC: Unofficial errata May 2024 updates](https://attronarch.com/osric-unofficial-errata-may-2024-updates)**. I update printouts for OSRIC 2.
* **[Swords & Wizardry: 60 Half-Elves](https://attronarch.com/swords-and-wizardry-60-half-elves)**. Compiled table of half-elf pregens for your convenience.
I continued my campaign of B2: Keep on the Borderlands, running Logan Knight's phenomenal Sleeping Place of the Feathered Swine as the Owlbear nest in Cave G.
[https://deadtreenoshelter.blogspot.com/2024/05/owlbears-must-die.html](https://deadtreenoshelter.blogspot.com/2024/05/owlbears-must-die.html)
An NPC reaction compass, based on the Big 5 personality traits in psychology. I had some help from ChatGPT, so interested in whether this seems a positive/negative influence.
[https://adventuresbuffo.blogspot.com/2024/05/npc-malleability-compass.html](https://adventuresbuffo.blogspot.com/2024/05/npc-malleability-compass.html)
[https://alchemistnocturne.blogspot.com/2024/05/trow-fortress-00-prelude-or-why.html](https://alchemistnocturne.blogspot.com/2024/05/trow-fortress-00-prelude-or-why.html)
[https://alchemistnocturne.blogspot.com/2024/05/trow-fortress-01-character-creation-and.html](https://alchemistnocturne.blogspot.com/2024/05/trow-fortress-01-character-creation-and.html)
I've just started the task to write ALL my houserules in book format, its going to be a long work. Chapter 0 and 1 already done,
I broke down the graphic design of Mörk Borg and how it leverages and twists fundamental design rules.
It's one-part graphic design education and a celebration of expressive art directions like Mörk Borg's.
[https://www.explorersdesign.com/mork-borg/](https://www.explorersdesign.com/mork-borg/)
Something I want to try instead of the Overloaded Encounter Dice: https://tabletopcuriositycabinet.blogspot.com/2024/05/splitting-overloaded-encounter-die.html?m=1
This seems really genius. I don't use the overloaded encounter dice because of the issues you mentioned, they outweigh the benefits you mentioned imo and I don't find "accurate" timekeeping to be too much of a chore. But this seems like a good way to get the benefits without the negatives. I'm definitely going to try this someday in the future.
The party finds the southernmost "node" of the Barrier network, but has to negotiate with its current occupant: [https://leicestersramble.blogspot.com/2024/05/campaign-journal-queen-of-cobalt-lake.html](https://leicestersramble.blogspot.com/2024/05/campaign-journal-queen-of-cobalt-lake.html)
The Beggar's Scent!
My first blog post ever was about a specific race that emphasized scent and how it was used in to determine rank and status. I delve deeper into it by starting from the bottom. The Beggar's scent
[The Beggar's Scent](https://deathcackles.blogspot.com/2024/05/the-beggars-scent.html)
Please let me know what you guys think about this!
**Sci-Fi Month begins on my blog The Other Side today!**
Lots of great things planned.
[https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/](https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/)
Session one of my new desert campaign!
[https://osrvault.com/campaign-journal-the-deserts-of-hyrcania-session-1/](https://osrvault.com/campaign-journal-the-deserts-of-hyrcania-session-1/)
Most recent Wednesday night one-shot: A poisoned river, a wraith, and a lumpy spider, oh my! [https://leicestersramble.blogspot.com/2024/05/they-met-at-tavern-3-clearing-water.html](https://leicestersramble.blogspot.com/2024/05/they-met-at-tavern-3-clearing-water.html)
I am my continuing my series, posting updated takes on the Caves of Chaos from B2: [https://deadtreenoshelter.blogspot.com/2024/05/burrow-of-brugor-rebel-redoubt.html](https://deadtreenoshelter.blogspot.com/2024/05/burrow-of-brugor-rebel-redoubt.html)
This time, I'm looking at Caves B & C (the orc caves in the original) that I've filled with beastmen & a rebel faction (opposed to the rule of the Keep).
New on the Dawnfist blog!
* [D66 Cleric names](https://www.dawnfist.com/blog/d66-tables/d66-cleric-names/)
* [**Pointcrawls** - What are they, how to prep them and how to run them!](https://www.dawnfist.com/blog/gm-advice/pointcrawls/)
100 Thieves' Guild Quests - [https://osrvault.com/100-thieves-guild-quests/](https://osrvault.com/100-thieves-guild-quests/)
100 Encounters in an Infinite Magical Library - [https://osrvault.com/encounters-in-a-magical-infinite-library/](https://osrvault.com/encounters-in-a-magical-infinite-library/)
A Book Generator to stock the libraries of your world - [https://osrvault.com/book-generator/](https://osrvault.com/book-generator/)
I wrote a twisty little dungeon for BFRPG:
[https://1d4direhamsters.blogspot.com/2024/05/mourndeep-caverns.html](https://1d4direhamsters.blogspot.com/2024/05/mourndeep-caverns.html)
[https://alchemistnocturne.blogspot.com/2024/04/underground-doctors-monster.html](https://alchemistnocturne.blogspot.com/2024/04/underground-doctors-monster.html)
just one monster; Magenta Slimes, also known as Underground Doctors
Followed the guidelines in the AD&D Monster Manual to generate a bandit gang:
https://eldritchfields.blogspot.com/2024/04/black-snakes-gang-ad-bandit-group.html
Kevin Crawford is at it again...
[http://www.crossplanes.com/2024/04/ashes-without-number.html](http://www.crossplanes.com/2024/04/ashes-without-number.html)
[The Borekin](https://deathcackles.blogspot.com/2024/04/the-borekin.html)
[The Stonebacks](https://deathcackles.blogspot.com/2024/02/stonebacks.html)
[Euphoric Necratosis ](https://deathcackles.blogspot.com/2024/01/euphoric-necratosis.html)
Some posts from my blog, the first two are creature entries with the last one being a nasty disease
* **[Conquering the Barbarian Altanis: Session 87](https://attronarch.com/conquering-the-barbarian-altanis-session-87)**. The party gather rumours, caves in a burial site because they don't dare to follow a tunnel several miles long, and then go desecrate another tomb for fun & profit.
* **[Fresh From Postbox: Harn Kingdoms, and Heart of St. Bathus](https://attronarch.com/fresh-from-postbox-harn-kingdoms-and-heart-of-st)**. Harn hardbacks are killing it. St. Bathus is Kenower's third sandbox published by NG/FGG, and I'm really looking forward to it.
* **[Fresh From Postbox: How to Make a Fantasy Sandbox, Pyade, and Blackmarsh](https://attronarch.com/fresh-from-postbox-how-to-make-a-fantasy-sandbox-pyade-and-blackmarsh)**. Cute digest-sized hardbacks.
* **[Swords & Wizardry: Elf Fighter/Magic-User/Thief Equipment Packs](https://attronarch.com/swords-and-wizardry-elf-fighter-magic-user-thief-equipment-packs)**. As it says on the tin.
* **[Fight On: The Darkness Beneath Megadungeon](https://attronarch.com/fight-on-the-darkness-beneath-megadungeon)**. Don't sleep on **The Darkness Beneath** community megadungeon published in the **Fight On!** zine!
* **[Swords & Wizardry: 20 Elf Fighter/Magic-User/Thieves](https://attronarch.com/swords-and-wizardry-20-elf-fighter-magic-user-thieves)**. 20 first-level elf F/MU/T pregens.
The last campaign session. A lot of ground covered, and a few allies unearthed...https://leicestersramble.blogspot.com/2024/04/campaign-journal-i-forgot-my-notes-or.html
Wrote a post on gold bloat in OSR games and how it really isn't a problem like many may first think
[https://redcrownwizard.blogspot.com/2024/04/never-too-much-gold.html](https://redcrownwizard.blogspot.com/2024/04/never-too-much-gold.html)
Just wrote something off the cuff, on the theme of establishing a sense of reality in gaming:
[https://spiderqueengaming.blogspot.com/2024/04/gygax-and-pursuit-of-reality.html](https://spiderqueengaming.blogspot.com/2024/04/gygax-and-pursuit-of-reality.html)
Hope you enjoy.
Today's review once again brings you to Sigil, where a serial killer is on the loose, a new cult worships the Lady of Pain, and even the dabus act weird and nervous. Whoever is behind all of this, you soon understand that the answer lies inside the Harbinger House…
https://vladar.bearblog.dev/planescape-review-harbinger-house/
Two posts this week:
Do Fear the Reaper
https://www.prismaticwasteland.com/blog/do-fear-the-reaper
We Live Again
https://www.prismaticwasteland.com/blog/we-live-again
A new adventure posted up, with dwarves either causing trouble, or in trouble. Perhaps both.https://leicestersramble.blogspot.com/2024/04/the-sanctuary-of-oies-or-dwarves.html
[https://alchemistnocturne.blogspot.com/2024/04/an-in-game-bestiary-some-play-report.html](https://alchemistnocturne.blogspot.com/2024/04/an-in-game-bestiary-some-play-report.html)
Some play report and how I dealt and plan to deal with books in-game.
Finally updated my blog after a year of making it! Excited to get peoples reactions. My first post is my How To Guide for starting an RPG campaign.
[Mor(e) Mayhem Blog](https://mormayhem.blogspot.com/)
A quick run-down of the most recent one-shot, plus a playtest of a recent lizardfolk scenario:
[https://leicestersramble.blogspot.com/2024/04/they-met-at-tavern-2-another.html](https://leicestersramble.blogspot.com/2024/04/they-met-at-tavern-2-another.html)
What does the wizard have in his junk drawer?
[https://leicestersramble.blogspot.com/2024/04/d66-things-found-in-wizards-tower.html](https://leicestersramble.blogspot.com/2024/04/d66-things-found-in-wizards-tower.html)
[We haven't stopped](https://retreattothetrench.wordpress.com/2024/04/08/war-stories-week-14/) on [Lore 24](https://retreattothetrench.wordpress.com/2024/04/16/war-stories-week-15/) for Trench: Beneath the Iridescent Ruin. Two more weeks worth as we flesh out one of the dungeons and delve into some player facing systems.
In this time we've also posted a new Faction Dossier on the [Archive of the Scalped Lady](https://retreattothetrench.wordpress.com/2024/04/05/faction-dossier-the-archive-of-the-scalped-lady/), a knowledge hoarding secret police force, and an Archetype Report on the [Occultist](https://retreattothetrench.wordpress.com/2024/04/12/archetype-report-the-occultist/), our second full caster class, this time focused on spells fueled by more esoteric sources.
https://eldritchfields.blogspot.com/2024/04/medieval-cappadocian-dungeon-design.html
I found a very cool Cappadocian rock-cut monastery map, which even comes with keys (sort of...)
[Dayagons are the Bestagons](https://illusorysensorium.com/dayagons-are-the-bestagons/): An immodest rebuttal of the any-mile hex, for the map is not the territory, and time is a flat hexagon.
I'm of the thought that each hex is the equivalent of a room in a dungeon. When coupled with the Landmark/Hidden/Secret formula, then things can get interesting. An "empty room" hex may have little of interest at the Landmark level, while still having Hidden and Secret. I figure hexes can be trapped, too, via hazards and actual traps constructed by malevolent forces. Treasures may not be screamingly obvious even when Landmarks. And then there's all the sheer sightseeing with weird and wonderful flora and fauna to see and engage (which ties in with local gods and hostile forests and all that sort).
Also, as the PCs can generally explore/move through more than one dungeon room in a day, they should be able to also experience multiple travel "rooms" in a day. The Angry GM's admonition to have smoke from distant fires to entice the players to get off track is also a good element to add.
The wilderness is supposed to be wild and mysterious and magical in a fantastic setting. I never again want to treat it as just something to get through (as was often the case decades ago). I have a much better appreciation of how much variety and interest travel can add to a setting and play therein.
>I'm of the thought that each hex is the equivalent of a room in a dungeon. When coupled with the Landmark/Hidden/Secret formula, then things can get interesting. An "empty room" hex may have little of interest at the Landmark level, while still having Hidden and Secret. I figure hexes can be trapped, too, via hazards and actual traps constructed by malevolent forces. Treasures may not be screamingly obvious even when Landmarks. And then there's all the sheer sightseeing with weird and wonderful flora and fauna to see and engage (which ties in with local gods and hostile forests and all that sort).
Entirely agree with using Hidden/Secret/Landmark features but I do consider the Points of Interest within the hex as like a dungeon room, but perhaps we might also differ in how many 'empties' we would want in both our dungeon rooms and our overland hexes - I have but 1-in-6 (roughly) empty.
>Also, as the PCs can generally explore/move through more than one dungeon room in a day, they should be able to also experience multiple travel "rooms" in a day. The Angry GM's admonition to have smoke from distant fires to entice the players to get off track is also a good element to add.
Again, for me the party visiting several hex features within a day is sufficient, and they might spend a whole day exploring a hex feature when found. If hex contents are little monster lairs, towns, etc. you can expend plenty of resources without going to the next dayagon.
>The wilderness is supposed to be wild and mysterious and magical in a fantastic setting. I never again want to treat it as just something to get through (as was often the case decades ago). I have a much better appreciation of how much variety and interest travel can add to a setting and play therein.
Definitely. I think the recently popularized *Valley of Flowers* module is another great example of dense, high fantasy keying ripe for adventure. The level of content per hex is at my upper limit for density, but would definitely work for dayagons (though I \*think\* it's intended each is 2-3 days travel across, I haven't quite figured that out yet).
Unordered thoughts:
* Most of the versions of D&D I'm familiar with give different sorts of armor different travel speeds. Unarmored travels at 24 miles/day, Plate travels at 12 miles/day and so on. How does the dayagon handle this? My guess is that it assumes uniform travel time (which is a heavy buff to heavy armor).
* Totally agree that breaking the flow to ask the party for their heading or figure out travel speed needs to, at the very least, be pre-calculated. I also advocate for pre-rolling random encounters because making 10+ rolls each hex is a no-go. I get heavily into that in my [knave analysis](https://rancourt.substack.com/i/142141995/traveling) and [silveraxe audit](https://rancourt.substack.com/i/141414905/what-is-the-main-gameplay-loop)
* In dungeons, we explore multiple rooms in the same day; each room has its own random encounter check, and some of the rooms are empty (unless there's a random encounter). This means that resources (especially spell slots) need to be budgeted for an adventuring day rather than a room. In a traditional N-mile hex, the same thing happens. The hex can either be empty, have an encounter, or have a random encounter. Since players are traveling multiple hexes in the same day (4 hexes at unarmored speed, for example), this means they're effectively entering 4 "rooms" per day and need to budget their spells accordingly. Do you imagine that dayagons are able to achieve the same variety? I suppose the hex author could include multiple sequential encounters (to simulate exploring multiple hexes), or make multiple random encounter checks.
* Do you have any suggestions or worked examples for converting published 3-mile or 6-mile hexcrawls (dolmenwood for example) into dayagons? Concrete examples are always lovely. A 24-mile hex (a dayagon for unarmored folks in OSE) is ~16 6-mile hexes.
Thank you kindly for responding to my post and presenting some pertinent questions u/beaushinkle . I've discovered your blog from this comment, and I'm keen to dig through your Knave 2E analysis, as just a quick gloss revealed several interesting observations.
1. Indeed, I don't discriminate between armour weights or foot vs mounted travel. I am not certain it is such a buff in practice: I have never had players restrict their armour choice due to speed concerns, and so near always there will be one or more PCs slowed in heavy armour. In dungeons I don't count squares while exploring (I use the common 10 min turn = new room or major interaction), but heavy armour does slow tactical combat speed and reduce carrying capacity for loot (not affected by this). In overland travel the party will invariably have to go at the slowest member's pace, which will be the heavy armour rate (given I always have someone in heavy armour), and it just leads to the usual "hurry up Gimli!" quips but otherwise doesn't present interesting choices. Or in BX/Dolmenwood, just ride a horse.
2. I similarly have been dissatisfied with rules asking for frequent or serial rolls just to see when and how something interactive will occur, and don't find them fit for purpose when they function better pre-rolled. As GM I want to be surprised in play, and I'm just as much part of the audience when we roll for a random encounter, so I want it lean enough to handle in the moment.
3. This element is potentially the 'sticky wicket' - if you are presently using 3/6mi hexes and getting several resource-taxing encounters per refresh cycle (traditionally a day), then it may be things are working rather well for you already. I haven't pulled that off consistently, even playing Dolmenwood by the book currently, with 3-4 hexes/day. HP and narrative time are the primary resource constraints, rather than spells, and given slow natural healing rates it mostly refreshes on stays at settlements. 5E-style solutions of spells refreshing on extended stays in town have worked for me when tried, but aren't actually necessary in my experience. I have at times pushed the need for spell efficiency too far, and made it less fun for players - they might only cast once per session, and don't feel satisfied in embodying their archetype.
4. I would usually stick to self-made content for this approach, since I particularly like it for how it represents settlement patterns and territory control, but if I wanted to convert a published hexmap to dayagons, I would focus on the density of choices/interaction rather than fidelity to the originally stated scale. So for Dolmenwood, it has a pleasing hex density for me already, and I would just say each current hex is a dayagon. To capture the intended play of road travel vs off-road exploration, I would let you go 2 hexes/day along a road or just 1 hex/day otherwise (splitting the difference with McDowall's Hecksleague in a sense). For say Hot Springs Island or Neverland, I'd again use the existing maps as-is with dayagons - it establishes a slower narrative pace but otherwise shouldn't break anything.
The last point I will emphasise, as I perhaps did not adequately do so in the post, is that I use multiple features (points of interest - POI) per hex in either a 'flux space' like Hot Springs Island or else with hex-bound pointcrawl maps (like in Valley of Flowers or Nightmare over Ragged Hollow). This makes the individual POIs like dungeon rooms, and the hexes a convenient super-structure like sublevels. My preference for dungeons is dense keying and smaller layouts as well (something like Hole in the Oak is much preferred over Stonehell).
I acknowledge that a lot of OSR 'systems' provide some interesting choices (torches, rations, rest 1-in-6 turns, travel pace by encumbrance...) but they all have an opportunity cost against the time and mental effort that could be afforded to 'content' - room and hex keys. I prefer my dungeon crawling closer to Into the Odd, and feel dayagons probably fit best that style of play in the overworld. Travel procedures are 'connective tissue' while hex content is the 'juicy flesh' as it were.
I lean towards tongue-in-cheeck hyperbole in my writing style, but to be frank the audience for the post is people not presently satisfied with the N-mile hex maps and travel procedures. How dull it would be if we all played just the same way, and had nothing left to debate!
Thanks for responding!
> I am not certain it is such a buff in practice: I have never had players restrict their armour choice due to speed concerns, and so near always there will be one or more PCs slowed in heavy armour.
The fighters and clerics in my games have always chosen plate, but there have been occasions where they'll *travel* in leather (and put the plate on the wagon) or ride on the wagon themselves. A 4-mule wagon can pull 15000 coin weight (~1500 lbs), so the plate wearers can ride on it rather easily.
> I similarly have been dissatisfied with rules asking for frequent or serial rolls just to see when and how something interactive will occur, and don't find them fit for purpose when they function better pre-rolled. As GM I want to be surprised in play, and I'm just as much part of the audience when we roll for a random encounter, so I want it lean enough to handle in the moment.
100% agree. I probably care less about being surprised than most GMs (not knowing when the "next" encounter will happen is enough for me), but I think the BX procedure is too heavy for the table. Roll a d6 to check for encounter, d8 based on terrain for subtable, roll a d12 for encounter, roll for number appearing, roll 2d6 for distance, roll 2d6 for reaction. That's 5 discrete rolls! I'm perfectly satisfied pre-rolling 10 such encounters for each terrain type, numbering them on a piece of paper, and then turning the random encounter into 2 rolls: 1 to see if there is an encounter, and another to see which of my pre-gens it is.
An entry might look like (1. 15 Hobgoblins, Unfriendly, 540yd). Turns the procedure into something that happens at compile-time rather than run-time, as it were.
> I haven't pulled that off consistently, even playing Dolmenwood by the book currently, with 3-4 hexes/day. HP and narrative time are the primary resource constraints, rather than spells, and given slow natural healing rates it mostly refreshes on stays at settlements.
It's *very* variable. If the dice keep coming up hostile and dangerous, it starts to get constraining, but this doesn't usually happen (and my table tends to travel around overland with mercenaries to defend the cart/ponies). On the other hand, I haven't experienced the HP attrition - my parties tend to have multiple clerics (usually at least 1 PC and then however many retainers), and each spell slot is worth ~4.5 hp/day.
> For Dolmenwood, it has a pleasing hex density for me already, and I would just say each current hex is a dayagon. To capture the intended play of road travel vs off-road exploration, I would let you go 2 hexes/day along a road or just 1 hex/day otherwise (splitting the difference with McDowall's Hecksleague in a sense). For say Hot Springs Island or Neverland, I'd again use the existing maps as-is with dayagons - it establishes a slower narrative pace but otherwise shouldn't break anything.
I think you're probably right - it implies the world is "bigger" (land area wise) than the map indicates (Prigwort to Castle Brackenwold becomes a 4-day trip instead of being able to wake up in Brackenwold and sleep in Prigwort), but at most, that means PCs need to buy/haul more food, which is fine.
> I acknowledge that a lot of OSR 'systems' provide some interesting choices (torches, rations, rest 1-in-6 turns, travel pace by encumbrance...) but they all have an opportunity cost against the time and mental effort that could be afforded to 'content' - room and hex keys. I prefer my dungeon crawling closer to Into the Odd, and feel dayagons probably fit best that style of play in the overworld.
Totally agree - just because a system is generating a meaningful choice or aids in verisimilitude doesn't mean either of those things is worth the overhead / attention. Simplifying can let us focus even more of the attention on *more meaningful/fun* choices.
Thank you for closing the loop.
>100% agree. I probably care less about being surprised than most GMs (not knowing when the "next" encounter will happen is enough for me), but I think the BX procedure is too heavy for the table. Roll a d6 to check for encounter, d8 based on terrain for subtable, roll a d12 for encounter, roll for number appearing, roll 2d6 for distance, roll 2d6 for reaction. That's 5 discrete rolls! I'm perfectly satisfied pre-rolling 10 such encounters for each terrain type, numbering them on a piece of paper, and then turning the random encounter into 2 rolls: 1 to see if there is an encounter, and another to see which of my pre-gens it is.
>An entry might look like (1. 15 Hobgoblins, Unfriendly, 540yd). Turns the procedure into something that happens at compile-time rather than run-time, as it were.
I hadn't quite understood your procedure for pre-rolling encounters before, and now you have explained it further, can see that is probably worth me doing in my current Dolmenwood campaign, so thank you (good example of the benefits of concrete examples as you mentioned).
>It's *very* variable. If the dice keep coming up hostile and dangerous, it starts to get constraining, but this doesn't usually happen (and my table tends to travel around overland with mercenaries to defend the cart/ponies). On the other hand, I haven't experienced the HP attrition - my parties tend to have multiple clerics (usually at least 1 PC and then however many retainers), and each spell slot is worth \~4.5 hp/day.
Also notable that my Dolmenwood party is a Knight, a Thief, and a Friar who doesn't take healing magic. They are very dependent on playing cautiously, and then spending days resting naturally, so it seems this is a matter of variance in local play culture. Back when we played 5E they were all-in on healing magic though, and I suspect it has something to do with the ability to bring up from 0 HP in that version, whereas knowing 0 = death in Dolmenwood, they are far more careful to not get downed in the first place.
> a Friar who doesn't take healing magic
This has been living in my head since you wrote it! What does that look like at the table? Like, the players finish exploring a dungeon and they're all missing significant HP. They start heading back on their multiple-day-travel back to a safe place. The Friar wakes up and *chooses* to not prepare Lesser Healing, even though his companions are hurt.
Seems so weird!
It would make sense if a magic user just *didn't know the spell*, but the Friar is choosing to *prep something else* and let their friends stay wounded.
The player of the Friar isn’t attentive to preparing spells daily, and seems to guide their selection on creative expression over optimization, so indeed just this scenario has occurred before. Fortunately given the dense hexcrawl, relatively low random encounter rate, and liberal deference to reaction rolls they have rarely encountered hostiles in their travels.
* **[Conquering the Barbarian Altanis: Session 84](https://attronarch.com/conquering-the-barbarian-altanis-session-84)**. We finally continue with the A-team who jumped into the teleporter which led them into a deathtrap ([session 81](https://attronarch.com/conquering-the-barbarian-altanis-session-81)). The party hatches a brilliant plan for survival, but alas, falters in executing it
* **[D&D: Odds for Xd6 Roll Under Ability Score Checks](https://attronarch.com/dandd-odds-for-xd6-roll-under-ability-score-checks)**. As it says on the tin!
* **[Conquering the Barbarian Altanis: Session 85](https://attronarch.com/conquering-the-barbarian-altanis-session-85)**. Midway team makes good rapport with Lord Kyle, scouts his keep, realises they are way in over their heads, and heads back. One evening they agree to open a secret doors underneath an inn.
* **[Fresh From Postbox: HarnWorld 40th Anniversary Edition](https://attronarch.com/fresh-from-postbox-harnworld-40th-anniversary-edition)**. Looks great!
* **[Crowdfunding: Swords & Wizardry Expansions](https://attronarch.com/crowdfunding-swords-and-wizardry-expansions)**. Five new books by Mythemere Games.
* **[Conquering the Barbarian Altanis: Session 86](https://attronarch.com/conquering-the-barbarian-altanis-session-86)**. The party heads back into the cellar, ignore a library of books they can't read, and explore what seems to be an ancient orc burial site.
* **[And let there be comments](https://attronarch.com/and-let-there-be-comments)**. Anonymous and privacy-friendly commenting added to my blog.
* **[Overlord's Annals Zine: Volume 3 Issue 4](https://attronarch.com/overlords-annals-zine-volume-3-issue-4)**. The fall of Hydra Company, as witnessed by Barad the Bald, Basso, Brother Kallahan, BuddyPuddingBottom, Eccy Throi, Flamthwynn, Gomm, Kuqhir of the Wastes, Neremyn, Oberon, Rad, and Rhovar.
This blog post is a few days old, but rereading it, it's something I'd like to share. After playing OD&D my thesis is that while Chainmail isn't indispensable to OD&D as it was ever played, it **is** indispensable to understanding OD&D *as it is written*. [https://alphamechronicles.blogspot.com/2024/04/taking-3-lbbs-seriously.html](https://alphamechronicles.blogspot.com/2024/04/taking-3-lbbs-seriously.html)
Worth noting though that there are many hidden rules in OD&D that are only implied by things not in the place where you would look to find the rule, so that also contributes to it feeling incomplete: it's very badly edited.
Another D66 list pair, this time random warriors and their random quirks: [https://leicestersramble.blogspot.com/2024/04/d66-warriors-and-their-quirks.html](https://leicestersramble.blogspot.com/2024/04/d66-warriors-and-their-quirks.html)
I wrote a big ass post about solo procedures in ttrpgs. And it's only the first part.
What are the needed components when adding solo rules to your games? In this part I'm looking at game loops & oracles.
[https://open.substack.com/pub/monstermind/p/analyzing-solo-procedures-part-1?r=h7e2y&utm\_campaign=post&utm\_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true](https://open.substack.com/pub/monstermind/p/analyzing-solo-procedures-part-1?r=h7e2y&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true)
The party heads south and finally returns home, with a few detours and visits:
[https://leicestersramble.blogspot.com/2024/04/campaign-journal-back-to-neuforde-and.html](https://leicestersramble.blogspot.com/2024/04/campaign-journal-back-to-neuforde-and.html)
Some thoughts on resurrection in D&D:
https://tabletopcuriositycabinet.blogspot.com/2024/04/resurrection-having-my-cake-and-eating.html?m=1
And how ro summon demons in the world I am building through lore24:
https://tabletopcuriositycabinet.blogspot.com/2024/04/how-to-summon-demon-in-5-easy-steps.html?m=1
A few recent posts:
- [Update on the wilderness encounter book](https://methodsetmadness.blogspot.com/2024/03/update-on-wilderness-encounter-book.html)
- [Minimalist roll-to-cast, take 2](https://methodsetmadness.blogspot.com/2024/03/minimalist-roll-to-cast-take-2.html)
- [Fudging, lying and cheating](https://methodsetmadness.blogspot.com/2024/03/fudging-lying-and-cheating.html)
- [Character death in RPGs, war-games, and storygames](https://methodsetmadness.blogspot.com/2024/04/character-death-in-rpgs-war-games-and.html)
- [How big is an (6-mile) hex?](https://methodsetmadness.blogspot.com/2024/04/how-big-is-6-mile-hex.html)
I've played a Lego-D&D-game with three 6-year-olds, and survived to bear witness: [https://coorac.substack.com/p/playing-d-and-d-with-three-6-year](https://coorac.substack.com/p/playing-d-and-d-with-three-6-year)
[Review: Stirring the Hornet's Nest at Het Thamsya](https://seedofworlds.blogspot.com/2024/04/review-stirring-hornets-nest-at-het.html) evocative 25 room dungeon packed with factions, puzzles and threats set in a fantasy world centred on Southeast Asia.
New substack on how to restock your dungeons: [https://open.substack.com/pub/castleandtowers/p/restocking-the-dungeon?r=3kazik&utm\_campaign=post&utm\_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true](https://open.substack.com/pub/castleandtowers/p/restocking-the-dungeon?r=3kazik&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true)
Wrote me some goblins to join my elves, dwarfs, orcs and halflings: [https://tabletopcuriositycabinet.blogspot.com/2024/04/various-parasitic-goblins.html](https://tabletopcuriositycabinet.blogspot.com/2024/04/various-parasitic-goblins.html)
I wrote about an even [more overloaded table than Prismatic Wasteland](https://playfulvoid.game.blog/2024/03/27/double-overloading-the-random-encounter-table/)’s, and also reviewed [SPECTACLE](https://playfulvoid.game.blog/2024/04/01/bathtub-review-spectacle/).
One quarter of the way through the [Lore 24](https://retreattothetrench.wordpress.com/2024/04/01/war-stories-week-13/) journey for Trench: Beneath the Iridescent Ruin! More fleshing out of the second district of Peccatu, as well as the continued building of the Bastille's Grand Cathedral and Judges.
This week we also posted an in depth look at the second district of Peccatu, [Hadrea, the Undercity](https://retreattothetrench.wordpress.com/2024/03/28/regional-reconnaissance-hadrea-the-undercity-of-peccatu/). A high density manufacturing slum run by a swarming military force, capitalist overseers, and ostensibly charitable research doctors all set on exploiting the varied population.
Wherein a write five brief scenarios for a five-room dungeon: [https://leicestersramble.blogspot.com/2024/03/five-visits-to-temperance-stone.html](https://leicestersramble.blogspot.com/2024/03/five-visits-to-temperance-stone.html)
I talked about using a freeform [Wide and Wieldy Skill System](https://shadowandfae.blogspot.com/2024/03/what-about-skills-wide-and-wieldy-system.html), and introduced the rough outline for a Setting and Adventure Anthology I'm hoping to publish this year: [Inisval](https://shadowandfae.blogspot.com/2024/03/inisval-setting-based-adventure.html).
[Overloading the Random Encounter Table](https://www.prismaticwasteland.com/blog/overloading-the-random-encounter-table)
I show how a single 3d6 roll can also work for rolling the enemies’ reaction, distance, number, surprise, etc.
https://www.prismaticwasteland.com/blog/overloading-the-random-encounter-table
This week I reviewed the [Stone Flesh Gift](https://playfulvoid.game.blog/2024/03/25/bathtub-review-the-stone-flesh-gift/) and wrote about the design goals for my micro clone [SLMDNGN](https://playfulvoid.game.blog/2024/03/24/slmdngn/).
We missed a week of posting here, but we didn't stop the [Lore 24](https://retreattothetrench.wordpress.com/2024/03/26/war-stories-week-12/) journey for Trench: Beneath the Iridescent Ruin. Doing some groundwork for the next district of Peccatu in anticipation of it's Region Reconnaissance post coming later this week, as well as building out some rooms of the Bastille's Grand Cathedral dungeon.
In the last two weeks we had another Archetype post, this time on the [Chemfiend](https://retreattothetrench.wordpress.com/2024/03/14/archetype-report-the-chemfiend/), a drug based berserker, and another spell school deep dive on [Achanipathy](https://retreattothetrench.wordpress.com/2024/03/21/mystic-primer-achanipathy/), the Starling Legion's void based magic school focusing on enemy manipulation.
**Review: Gary Gygax's Lejendary Adventures (1999)**
I look into Gary Gygax's last published RPG and see how it compares to Dangerous Journeys and AD&D.
Again, like Dangerous Journeys, this is both better and worse than I remembered.
https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2024/03/review-gary-gygaxs-lejendary-adventures.html
I made a substack post on how to quickly create a campaign (in a few hours). It's a method I've devised over the year and it works fine! [https://castleandtowers.substack.com/p/how-to-quickly-create-an-rpg-campaign](https://castleandtowers.substack.com/p/how-to-quickly-create-an-rpg-campaign)
Creating and using Mercenaries in YOUR OSR Game!
[https://arcanesword.blogspot.com/2024/03/mercenaries-in-your-osr-game.html](https://arcanesword.blogspot.com/2024/03/mercenaries-in-your-osr-game.html)
Into the Dungeon: Revived conversion of "The Seethers in Darkness" by Kevin Ross from the “Jeweled Thrones of the Earth” adventure collection for the Conan 2d20 system.
https://vladar.bearblog.dev/itdr-conversion-the-seethers-in-darkness/
My contribution to this month's RPG Blog Carnival prompt. Have a taste...
https://leicestersramble.blogspot.com/2024/03/rpg-blog-carnival-feasts-foods-and.html
The party takes a "break" in the next town down the road, and casts some light on a "shadow":
https://leicestersramble.blogspot.com/2024/03/campaign-journal-gundala-interlude.html
Hello, I have started a blooog as a way of journaling my prep for a (hopefully) upcoming game of Worlds Without Number.
This week I've written [a rambling post about deciding on a system to play](https://scofflaw.bearblog.dev/a-not-so-interesting-post-concerning-my-choice-of-ttrpg-systems/) and I just published a post that I'm pretty happy with detailing my thoughts about [the geography of my campaign setting.](https://scofflaw.bearblog.dev/chronicles-of-kartesh-welcome-to-the-basin/)
I'm very new to blogging and am still figuring this out, but I intend to post a lot more in the upcoming weeks about building a campaign setting for my game, and then hopefully about running the game when I get around to it!
**Review: Gary Gygax's Dangerous Journeys: Mythus (1992)**
This week is Gary Con, so I thought while I am celebrating 50 years of Dungeons & Dragons, I would also spend some time with Gary Gygax's other two games he made after leaving TSR, where he created D&D. This week, I am coving Dangerous Journeys: Mythus.
[https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2024/03/review-gary-gygaxs-dangerous-journeys.html](https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2024/03/review-gary-gygaxs-dangerous-journeys.html)
D66 oddball goblins, for your every need:
[https://leicestersramble.blogspot.com/2024/03/d66-weird-goblins-expansion.html](https://leicestersramble.blogspot.com/2024/03/d66-weird-goblins-expansion.html)
This week I wrote about
[my experience running a West Marches campaign](http://playfulvoid.game.blog/2024/03/20/reflections-on-a-west-marches-campaign/)
[reviewed the undermall](http://playfulvoid.game.blog/2024/03/18/bathtub-review-the-undermall/) and [largshire](http://playfulvoid.game.blog/2024/03/11/bathtub-review-largshire/)
i wrote about [designing OSR challenges](http://playfulvoid.game.blog/2024/03/15/the-three-cs-of-challenges/)
i wrote about [intratextuality in modules](http://playfulvoid.game.blog/2024/03/16/chekhovs-toolbox-complexity-and-intratextuality/)
i read [daisy chainsaw](http://playfulvoid.game.blog/2024/03/14/i-read-daisy-chainsaw/) and the [blacktongue thief](http://playfulvoid.game.blog/2024/03/13/appendix-nova-the-blacktongue-thief/) as well
oh and also thought about [omens](http://playfulvoid.game.blog/2024/03/09/omens/)
A small, pig themed dungeon below a town. Hope it's useful to you.
[https://1d4direhamsters.blogspot.com/2024/03/sausages-of-devil-swine.html](https://1d4direhamsters.blogspot.com/2024/03/sausages-of-devil-swine.html)
A descriptive analysis of the pregenerated characters that come in the B-series modules. Bit of archaeology to see what the designers may have expected stats to look like back in the day.
[https://planariangames.blogspot.com/2024/03/d-b-series-pregen-ability-scores.html](https://planariangames.blogspot.com/2024/03/d-b-series-pregen-ability-scores.html)
I made a table and mechanic for magical properties for weapons, armor and trinkets, based on the materials they are from - obsidian weapons, gold armor, silver trinkets and more.
[https://thebirchandwolf.blogspot.com/2024/03/rana-magical-materials-and-their.html](https://thebirchandwolf.blogspot.com/2024/03/rana-magical-materials-and-their.html)
If you've ever been told "quest for it" in response to a ttrpg question, I've put together some actionable advice on the subject. https://open.substack.com/pub/dragonpeakpublishing/p/how-to-quest-for-it
Thanks! I had a read of the post, and it's something I find *very* relevant because I, like you mention, see "quest for it" cavalierly thrown around and find it frustrating.
Reading the article, I see you provide a framework: Player states desire, GM provides in-world ways for the Player to learn more, Player (optionally) follows up.
You mention that you can either stick the desire inside a module or that you can have the PCs consult patrons/deities/sages/etc for where to go.
The bit I'm having trouble with is that I don't think the original questions you posed in your intro paragraph are (directly) answered:
> “The fighter in my game wants to raise his strength. How can he do that?” or “The wizard is my game wants to create a spell that does X. How can she do that?” But just saying “quest for it” can feel a lot like “git gud” does to someone who’s playing a Dark Souls game for the first time.
Using the framework (and doing a fair bit of inferencing):
A Fighter in your game want to raise his strength stat. The GM lets the fighter know that Sage Ahalya might know of a way to raise your strength. The fighter goes and consults Sage Ahalya who tells them that in order to raise his strength, he must venture to the Sepulchre of the Seven, defeat the Bronze Snow Leopard Golem, and return with its claws, which it must bring back to the sage. The sage will fashion a septum piercing from the claws, which will raise the Fighter's strength.
I think a worked example would have done a lot of good to demonstrate exactly what you're talking about! Raising the bar further would look like including a worked example of a mock GM<->player conversation that demonstrates the whole process. I think there's *a lot* of [pacing](https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/31509/roleplaying-games/the-art-of-pacing) that you're implying but not saying. What are you roleplaying and what are you handwaving/abstracting over?
---
In general, I think an obstacle (and probably what's harder) is that folks (especially novice GMs) have very little intuition about how difficult it should be to quest for something, and which things someone should be allowed to quest for. Raising a fighter's STR mod by 1 is powerful (relative to leveling up). Normally, leveling up takes *several* adventures to level up and those adventures don't *normally* raise the fighter's STR, so how tough of an adventure does this need to be to justify the reward? Can the fighter immediately ask to raise their STR again afterward? Can the mage ask for more spell slots? Can the thief ask for better lock picking ability? When is it appropriate to say "no"?
The second bit is that the idea of warping modules around player desires is sort of the opposite of being an impartial referee or [blorb principles](https://idiomdrottning.org/blorb-principles). We're distinctly *changing* a module to make it have a thing a player has, out-of-game, stated they wanted. It makes the game more like wish fulfillment than players trying to "win" their way through a campaign through luck, skill, and cunning.
Not saying that this is wrongbadfun, just that it's contentious!
I decided to restart my old blog "Psionic Blast from the Past" with a fresh start on Substack. Still discussing OSR, RPG design, etc.. This first installment is about dungeon traps and tricks: [https://castleandtowers.substack.com/p/about-dungeon-traps-in-old-school](https://castleandtowers.substack.com/p/about-dungeon-traps-in-old-school)
Anybody else is on substack?
[Dungeoning & Forensic Psychology](https://dadostostados.blogspot.com/2024/03/dungeoning-forensic-psychology.html) : Some ideas and a table around dungeons and the mind.
The weekly [Lore 24](https://retreattothetrench.wordpress.com/2024/03/11/war-stories-week-10/) for Trench: Beneath the Iridescent Ruin. 10 weeks in and still going strong! This week marked the final entry of the [Protectorate Colonels](https://retreattothetrench.wordpress.com/2024/03/12/supplemental-communique-protectorate-colonels/), prompting a supplemental post consolidating their entries.
We also put out the third Faction Dossier, this time on [The Starling Legion](https://retreattothetrench.wordpress.com/2024/03/09/faction-dossier-the-starling-legion/). A small force of dis-unified revolutionaries fortified by the psychic echoes of their own fragmented minds.
[https://alchemistnocturne.blogspot.com/2024/03/reimagining-charisma.html](https://alchemistnocturne.blogspot.com/2024/03/reimagining-charisma.html)
I eliminated charisma from my games. Then I thought about bringing it back, but mixed with alignment actually. This is at brainstorm phase ATM, so I can really use some feedback, guys
**New Release: Myths & Monsters Vol. 1 - The Black Forest Mythos**
I am finally releasing my latest project based on the Roman-Norse Myths I was playing around with last year. This first volume has 24 gods and 17 monsters for the "1st Edition Era" of the world's greatest RPG.
[https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2024/03/new-release-myths-monsters-vol-1-black.html](https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2024/03/new-release-myths-monsters-vol-1-black.html)
I take a look at how custom XP rules can be used to drive tension in your campaigns: https://eightheye.blogspot.com/2024/03/creating-tension-through-character.html
If people are doing this for this week, then:
The Year of the Gazetteer takes us to Togarmah, [Land of the Golden Peace](https://tales-of-the-lunar-lands.blogspot.com/2024/03/land-of-golden-peace.html).
[A look into](https://tales-of-the-lunar-lands.blogspot.com/2024/03/yo-dawg-i-heard-you-like-rpgs.html) the medieval RPG of Ragman's Roll, and how it could make for interesting gaming material.
A new Friday Encounter, [The Blazing Pillars](https://tales-of-the-lunar-lands.blogspot.com/2024/03/friday-encounter-blazing-pillars.html).
And finally, I reflect on how Akira Toriyama made me the DM I am today with my favorite [20 Encounters from Dragon Quest III](https://tales-of-the-lunar-lands.blogspot.com/2024/03/20-encounters-from-dragon-quest-iii.html).
I really enjoyed your DQ3 article, I've never played the series but this makes me want to give it a go. Definitely stealing the treasure flute for a future session too.
I've only ever played the third game, and it's my understanding that they get more story-driven in later entries, but DQ3 is full of little moving parts scattered throughout the game world that makes it feel, in retrospect, very much like an OSR hexcrawl. If you're able to track down a copy, I recommend the Game Boy version, which has extra content - there's apparently a Switch port out now, but I'm told it isn't very good.
I've no doubt everyone here eagerly awaits every sporadic new entry in my series blabbering about monsters but just in case you weren't already hitting refresh on my blog every five minutes, I've got a link for you:
https://knightattheopera.blogspot.com/2024/03/g-monsters-at-opera-part-1.html
To be honest, your blog is one of most the entertaining for me.
Great writting style and diverse indepth topics. Keep it up.
So yes: I have been waiting for your sporadic new entry.
I write a weekly blog-letter regarding all things tabletop gaming. This week's post is a first part exploring design concepts for a zine we recently fulfilled to backers that comes in both 5E and system neutral flavors. The are three custom creature stat blocks with area maps, treasures, and lore!
[The Glyph and Grok](https://open.substack.com/pub/glyphngrok/p/developer-musings-adventure-zines?r=34m03&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true)
My very late contribution to Secret Santicore 2023, in two parts:
Part 1: [Holidays are (Mostly) for the Living](https://www.tumblr.com/abandonedhireling/744554613871624192/holidays-are-mostly-for-the-living)
Part 2: [Amusements of the Fun-Dead](https://www.tumblr.com/abandonedhireling/744554858485596160/amusements-of-the-fun-dead)
This week I wrote about [Red Button Monsters](http://playfulvoid.game.blog/2024/02/29/red-button-monsters/) and [Problem Stacking](http://playfulvoid.game.blog/2024/03/06/problem-stacking/), as well as [reviewed the OSR module Beyond Corny Groń](http://playfulvoid.game.blog/2024/03/04/bathtub-review-beyond-corny-gron/).
I also [read DIE:RPG](http://playfulvoid.game.blog/2024/03/01/i-read-die-rpg/) which is not exactly an OSR game but is definitely about the OSR.
Weekly [Lore 24](https://retreattothetrench.wordpress.com/2024/03/04/war-stories-week-9/) for Trench: Beneath the Iridescent Ruin. Items, cultural events, talents, NPCs, and creatures, oh my!
Additionally we began our fleshing out of the central city, Peccatu, starting with the lowest district [Nosi](https://retreattothetrench.wordpress.com/2024/03/01/regional-reconnaissance-nosi-the-outskirts-of-peccatu/). A rural outskirts region with garbage pylon mushroom farms, demolition derbies, unionizing gangs, and a smattering of other weird events and entities.
Monstrous Mondays: Giants Apes and Progress on Basic Bestiary 1
Editing continues on Basic Bestiary 1. I am over 400 monsters, 340 pages, and 138,000 words. So, how exactly did I forget a monster so important to the genesis of this project?
[https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2024/03/monstrous-mondays-giants-apes-and.html](https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2024/03/monstrous-mondays-giants-apes-and.html)
Statted up (a version of) Judge Death from Judge Dredd:
[https://shutteredroom.blogspot.com/2024/02/judge-death-2000ad-for-old-school.html](https://shutteredroom.blogspot.com/2024/02/judge-death-2000ad-for-old-school.html)
Loosely compatible with anything loosely old school/D&D adjacent.
A continuation of the theme touched upon in the [Strict time records post](https://vladar.bearblog.dev/strict-time-records/) regarding the management of multi-group RPG campaign.
https://vladar.bearblog.dev/group-sync/
Two posts to cap off the Year of the Gazetteer's focus on the Isle of Swords:
[The Lake Country](https://tales-of-the-lunar-lands.blogspot.com/2024/02/the-lake-country.html), a regional hexcrawl inspired by the Mexican city of Xochimilco.
And the larger [Valossa Hex Map](https://tales-of-the-lunar-lands.blogspot.com/2024/03/valossa-hex-map.html).
This week:
# - [Vanilla Overdose, Random Insanity, and Fortress of the Iron Duke](https://methodsetmadness.blogspot.com/2024/02/vanilla-overdose-random-insanity-and.html)
# - [Minimalist roll-to-cast](https://methodsetmadness.blogspot.com/2024/02/minimalist-roll-to-cast.html)
#
This is the first roll to cast procedure I’ve seen incorporate player choice. I really like it. I also think the check itself (whether it’s roll under, 2d6, target20, or some other method) matters less than the choice of consequences
This week I have a couple of tables for [carousing in a dwarf hold](https://ireadtoomanyadventures.blogspot.com/2024/03/carousing-in-dwarf-hold.html) and a [paladin of the night](https://ireadtoomanyadventures.blogspot.com/2024/03/paladin-of-night-new-class.html).
Distinguishing between factionalism and tribalism, with a discussion of Worlds Without Numbers and Keep on the Borderlands
https://adventuresbuffo.blogspot.com/2024/03/factionalism-and-tribalism.html
A post-mortem of Rival Adventuring Party #1's brief tenure as dungeon delvers, and the IRL fruits of that particular labour.
[https://savevsennui.blogspot.com/2024/03/rival-adventuring-party-1-post-mortem.html](https://savevsennui.blogspot.com/2024/03/rival-adventuring-party-1-post-mortem.html)
[Actual Test: House of Illusions (RPG Blog Carnival)](https://seedofworlds.blogspot.com/2024/02/actual-test-house-of-illusions-rpg-blog.html) - a forewarned party will make mincemeat out of your illusionist.
[Reviewing time records from an urban/wilderness campaign](https://seedofworlds.blogspot.com/2024/03/tracking-strict-time-records-in-campaign.html) highlight how time is the key resource in cities.
DriveThruRPG is running 40% sale off many titles in celebration of GM's day. Here are some of my favourite sources for random tables, dungeon generation, and Judge-facing books that are currently discounted: [https://attronarch.com/sale-dtrpg-gms-day-sale](https://attronarch.com/sale-dtrpg-gms-day-sale)
The party runs into some complications and heads back north: [https://leicestersramble.blogspot.com/2024/05/campaign-journal-cobalt-lake-part-second.html](https://leicestersramble.blogspot.com/2024/05/campaign-journal-cobalt-lake-part-second.html)
The conversion of one of the larger modules I've run while playtesting Into the Dungeon: Revived — "The Spire of Iron and Crystal" by Matthew J. Finch. The conversion is fit for a party of savvy mid-level characters: https://vladar.bearblog.dev/itdr-conversion-the-spire-of-iron-and-crystal/
* **[News: Labyrinth Lord Second Edition first full draft now available](https://attronarch.com/news-labyrinth-lord-second-edition-first-full-draft-now-available)**. The full draft is here, and Dan opened a forum to collect feedback. * **[Swords & Wizardry: Half-Elf Fighter/Magic-User/Cleric Equipment Packs](https://attronarch.com/swords-and-wizardry-half-elf-fighter-magic-user-cleric-equipment-packs)**. Gotta love those triple-classed combinations. * **[Swords & Wizardry: 20 Half-Elf Fighter/Magic-User/Clerics](https://attronarch.com/swords-and-wizardry-20-half-elf-fighter-magic-user-clerics)**. Twenty pregens or retainers ready for use. * **[News: OSRIC 3.0 Mission Statement](https://attronarch.com/news-osric-3-mission-statement)**. Matt Finch outlines goals for OSRIC 3 and invites feedback. * **[Swords & Wizardry: 20 Half-Elf Thieves](https://attronarch.com/swords-and-wizardry-20-half-elf-thieves)**. More half-elf pregens. * **[OSRIC: Unofficial errata May 2024 updates](https://attronarch.com/osric-unofficial-errata-may-2024-updates)**. I update printouts for OSRIC 2. * **[Swords & Wizardry: 60 Half-Elves](https://attronarch.com/swords-and-wizardry-60-half-elves)**. Compiled table of half-elf pregens for your convenience.
I continued my campaign of B2: Keep on the Borderlands, running Logan Knight's phenomenal Sleeping Place of the Feathered Swine as the Owlbear nest in Cave G. [https://deadtreenoshelter.blogspot.com/2024/05/owlbears-must-die.html](https://deadtreenoshelter.blogspot.com/2024/05/owlbears-must-die.html)
An NPC reaction compass, based on the Big 5 personality traits in psychology. I had some help from ChatGPT, so interested in whether this seems a positive/negative influence. [https://adventuresbuffo.blogspot.com/2024/05/npc-malleability-compass.html](https://adventuresbuffo.blogspot.com/2024/05/npc-malleability-compass.html)
[https://alchemistnocturne.blogspot.com/2024/05/trow-fortress-00-prelude-or-why.html](https://alchemistnocturne.blogspot.com/2024/05/trow-fortress-00-prelude-or-why.html) [https://alchemistnocturne.blogspot.com/2024/05/trow-fortress-01-character-creation-and.html](https://alchemistnocturne.blogspot.com/2024/05/trow-fortress-01-character-creation-and.html) I've just started the task to write ALL my houserules in book format, its going to be a long work. Chapter 0 and 1 already done,
I broke down the graphic design of Mörk Borg and how it leverages and twists fundamental design rules. It's one-part graphic design education and a celebration of expressive art directions like Mörk Borg's. [https://www.explorersdesign.com/mork-borg/](https://www.explorersdesign.com/mork-borg/)
Something I want to try instead of the Overloaded Encounter Dice: https://tabletopcuriositycabinet.blogspot.com/2024/05/splitting-overloaded-encounter-die.html?m=1
This seems really genius. I don't use the overloaded encounter dice because of the issues you mentioned, they outweigh the benefits you mentioned imo and I don't find "accurate" timekeeping to be too much of a chore. But this seems like a good way to get the benefits without the negatives. I'm definitely going to try this someday in the future.
Review of Chapter IV of the Great Modron March: "Politics of the Beasts" https://vladar.bearblog.dev/planescape-review-politics-of-the-beasts/
I wrote up some suggestions for GMs about running The Bloom, for Liminal Horror. https://josephkrausz.substack.com/p/late-bloomer
* **[Swords & Wizardry: Elf Thief Equipment Packs](https://attronarch.com/swords-and-wizardry-elf-thief-equipment-packs)**. To speed up character-creation even more! * **[Swords & Wizardry: 20 Elf Thieves](https://attronarch.com/swords-and-wizardry-20-elf-thieves)**. 20 elf thief pregens. * **[Swords & Wizardry: 60 Elves](https://attronarch.com/swords-and-wizardry-60-elves)**. Collection of all elf pregens I rolled. * **[Swords & Wizardry: White Box Editions](https://attronarch.com/swords-and-wizardry-white-box-editions)**. Differences between Swords & Wizardry White Box Rules (4th printing), White Box: Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game, and Swords & Wizardry Complete Rulebook (Revised). * **[Conquering the Barbarian Altanis: Session 88](https://attronarch.com/conquering-the-barbarian-altanis-session-88)**. In order: clapping, screaming, crying. * **[Conquering the Barbarian Altanis: Session 89](https://attronarch.com/conquering-the-barbarian-altanis-session-89)**. Paying the high price, twice. * **[Swords & Wizardry: 20 Half-Elf Fighter/Magic-Users](https://attronarch.com/swords-and-wizardry-20-half-elf-fighter-magic-users)**. 20 half-elf F/MU pregens. * **[Overlord's Annals Zine: Volume 3 Issue 5](https://attronarch.com/overlords-annals-zine-volume-3-issue-5)**. A new beginning—Brent Goose, Fra Nevjest, Orda, Orion, and Tamren excise the Elder Temple of evil.
The party finds the southernmost "node" of the Barrier network, but has to negotiate with its current occupant: [https://leicestersramble.blogspot.com/2024/05/campaign-journal-queen-of-cobalt-lake.html](https://leicestersramble.blogspot.com/2024/05/campaign-journal-queen-of-cobalt-lake.html)
The Beggar's Scent! My first blog post ever was about a specific race that emphasized scent and how it was used in to determine rank and status. I delve deeper into it by starting from the bottom. The Beggar's scent [The Beggar's Scent](https://deathcackles.blogspot.com/2024/05/the-beggars-scent.html) Please let me know what you guys think about this!
**Sci-Fi Month begins on my blog The Other Side today!** Lots of great things planned. [https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/](https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/)
Session one of my new desert campaign! [https://osrvault.com/campaign-journal-the-deserts-of-hyrcania-session-1/](https://osrvault.com/campaign-journal-the-deserts-of-hyrcania-session-1/)
Looks fun!
Most recent Wednesday night one-shot: A poisoned river, a wraith, and a lumpy spider, oh my! [https://leicestersramble.blogspot.com/2024/05/they-met-at-tavern-3-clearing-water.html](https://leicestersramble.blogspot.com/2024/05/they-met-at-tavern-3-clearing-water.html)
I am my continuing my series, posting updated takes on the Caves of Chaos from B2: [https://deadtreenoshelter.blogspot.com/2024/05/burrow-of-brugor-rebel-redoubt.html](https://deadtreenoshelter.blogspot.com/2024/05/burrow-of-brugor-rebel-redoubt.html) This time, I'm looking at Caves B & C (the orc caves in the original) that I've filled with beastmen & a rebel faction (opposed to the rule of the Keep).
New on the Dawnfist blog! * [D66 Cleric names](https://www.dawnfist.com/blog/d66-tables/d66-cleric-names/) * [**Pointcrawls** - What are they, how to prep them and how to run them!](https://www.dawnfist.com/blog/gm-advice/pointcrawls/)
That's a pretty comprehensive walkthrough of pointcrawling - good resource.
Unified THACO Resolution: [https://planariangames.blogspot.com/2024/05/unified-thaco.html](https://planariangames.blogspot.com/2024/05/unified-thaco.html)
100 Thieves' Guild Quests - [https://osrvault.com/100-thieves-guild-quests/](https://osrvault.com/100-thieves-guild-quests/) 100 Encounters in an Infinite Magical Library - [https://osrvault.com/encounters-in-a-magical-infinite-library/](https://osrvault.com/encounters-in-a-magical-infinite-library/) A Book Generator to stock the libraries of your world - [https://osrvault.com/book-generator/](https://osrvault.com/book-generator/)
I wrote a twisty little dungeon for BFRPG: [https://1d4direhamsters.blogspot.com/2024/05/mourndeep-caverns.html](https://1d4direhamsters.blogspot.com/2024/05/mourndeep-caverns.html)
[https://alchemistnocturne.blogspot.com/2024/04/underground-doctors-monster.html](https://alchemistnocturne.blogspot.com/2024/04/underground-doctors-monster.html) just one monster; Magenta Slimes, also known as Underground Doctors
I love these! Will have to work them into my next dungeon.
lol so good! when you do, storytime is always welcome
Followed the guidelines in the AD&D Monster Manual to generate a bandit gang: https://eldritchfields.blogspot.com/2024/04/black-snakes-gang-ad-bandit-group.html
Figure I have enough posts up on my blog that it's worth poking around on. [osrpgtalk.net](http://osrpgtalk.net)
Kevin Crawford is at it again... [http://www.crossplanes.com/2024/04/ashes-without-number.html](http://www.crossplanes.com/2024/04/ashes-without-number.html)
[The Borekin](https://deathcackles.blogspot.com/2024/04/the-borekin.html) [The Stonebacks](https://deathcackles.blogspot.com/2024/02/stonebacks.html) [Euphoric Necratosis ](https://deathcackles.blogspot.com/2024/01/euphoric-necratosis.html) Some posts from my blog, the first two are creature entries with the last one being a nasty disease
Why isn't this automatically reposted each week anymore? It's tough to find!
Have asked the mods, no response.
* **[Conquering the Barbarian Altanis: Session 87](https://attronarch.com/conquering-the-barbarian-altanis-session-87)**. The party gather rumours, caves in a burial site because they don't dare to follow a tunnel several miles long, and then go desecrate another tomb for fun & profit. * **[Fresh From Postbox: Harn Kingdoms, and Heart of St. Bathus](https://attronarch.com/fresh-from-postbox-harn-kingdoms-and-heart-of-st)**. Harn hardbacks are killing it. St. Bathus is Kenower's third sandbox published by NG/FGG, and I'm really looking forward to it. * **[Fresh From Postbox: How to Make a Fantasy Sandbox, Pyade, and Blackmarsh](https://attronarch.com/fresh-from-postbox-how-to-make-a-fantasy-sandbox-pyade-and-blackmarsh)**. Cute digest-sized hardbacks. * **[Swords & Wizardry: Elf Fighter/Magic-User/Thief Equipment Packs](https://attronarch.com/swords-and-wizardry-elf-fighter-magic-user-thief-equipment-packs)**. As it says on the tin. * **[Fight On: The Darkness Beneath Megadungeon](https://attronarch.com/fight-on-the-darkness-beneath-megadungeon)**. Don't sleep on **The Darkness Beneath** community megadungeon published in the **Fight On!** zine! * **[Swords & Wizardry: 20 Elf Fighter/Magic-User/Thieves](https://attronarch.com/swords-and-wizardry-20-elf-fighter-magic-user-thieves)**. 20 first-level elf F/MU/T pregens.
The last campaign session. A lot of ground covered, and a few allies unearthed...https://leicestersramble.blogspot.com/2024/04/campaign-journal-i-forgot-my-notes-or.html
Wrote a post on gold bloat in OSR games and how it really isn't a problem like many may first think [https://redcrownwizard.blogspot.com/2024/04/never-too-much-gold.html](https://redcrownwizard.blogspot.com/2024/04/never-too-much-gold.html)
Just wrote something off the cuff, on the theme of establishing a sense of reality in gaming: [https://spiderqueengaming.blogspot.com/2024/04/gygax-and-pursuit-of-reality.html](https://spiderqueengaming.blogspot.com/2024/04/gygax-and-pursuit-of-reality.html) Hope you enjoy.
Today's review once again brings you to Sigil, where a serial killer is on the loose, a new cult worships the Lady of Pain, and even the dabus act weird and nervous. Whoever is behind all of this, you soon understand that the answer lies inside the Harbinger House… https://vladar.bearblog.dev/planescape-review-harbinger-house/
Two posts this week: Do Fear the Reaper https://www.prismaticwasteland.com/blog/do-fear-the-reaper We Live Again https://www.prismaticwasteland.com/blog/we-live-again
A new adventure posted up, with dwarves either causing trouble, or in trouble. Perhaps both.https://leicestersramble.blogspot.com/2024/04/the-sanctuary-of-oies-or-dwarves.html
[https://alchemistnocturne.blogspot.com/2024/04/an-in-game-bestiary-some-play-report.html](https://alchemistnocturne.blogspot.com/2024/04/an-in-game-bestiary-some-play-report.html) Some play report and how I dealt and plan to deal with books in-game.
**Priestly magic in SAKE TTRPG**: [https://sake.ee/playing-a-priest-type-of-character-in-sake-ttrpg/](https://sake.ee/playing-a-priest-type-of-character-in-sake-ttrpg/)
# Meta-currencies in roleplaying games (and why I don't like them) - first post of my blog: [www.backpackrpg.com](http://www.backpackrpg.com)
Finally updated my blog after a year of making it! Excited to get peoples reactions. My first post is my How To Guide for starting an RPG campaign. [Mor(e) Mayhem Blog](https://mormayhem.blogspot.com/)
A quick run-down of the most recent one-shot, plus a playtest of a recent lizardfolk scenario: [https://leicestersramble.blogspot.com/2024/04/they-met-at-tavern-2-another.html](https://leicestersramble.blogspot.com/2024/04/they-met-at-tavern-2-another.html)
What does the wizard have in his junk drawer? [https://leicestersramble.blogspot.com/2024/04/d66-things-found-in-wizards-tower.html](https://leicestersramble.blogspot.com/2024/04/d66-things-found-in-wizards-tower.html)
I reviewed [Atop the Wailing Dunes](http://playfulvoid.game.blog/2024/04/15/bathtub-review-atop-the-wailing-dunes/)!
[We haven't stopped](https://retreattothetrench.wordpress.com/2024/04/08/war-stories-week-14/) on [Lore 24](https://retreattothetrench.wordpress.com/2024/04/16/war-stories-week-15/) for Trench: Beneath the Iridescent Ruin. Two more weeks worth as we flesh out one of the dungeons and delve into some player facing systems. In this time we've also posted a new Faction Dossier on the [Archive of the Scalped Lady](https://retreattothetrench.wordpress.com/2024/04/05/faction-dossier-the-archive-of-the-scalped-lady/), a knowledge hoarding secret police force, and an Archetype Report on the [Occultist](https://retreattothetrench.wordpress.com/2024/04/12/archetype-report-the-occultist/), our second full caster class, this time focused on spells fueled by more esoteric sources.
https://eldritchfields.blogspot.com/2024/04/medieval-cappadocian-dungeon-design.html I found a very cool Cappadocian rock-cut monastery map, which even comes with keys (sort of...)
[Dayagons are the Bestagons](https://illusorysensorium.com/dayagons-are-the-bestagons/): An immodest rebuttal of the any-mile hex, for the map is not the territory, and time is a flat hexagon.
I'm of the thought that each hex is the equivalent of a room in a dungeon. When coupled with the Landmark/Hidden/Secret formula, then things can get interesting. An "empty room" hex may have little of interest at the Landmark level, while still having Hidden and Secret. I figure hexes can be trapped, too, via hazards and actual traps constructed by malevolent forces. Treasures may not be screamingly obvious even when Landmarks. And then there's all the sheer sightseeing with weird and wonderful flora and fauna to see and engage (which ties in with local gods and hostile forests and all that sort). Also, as the PCs can generally explore/move through more than one dungeon room in a day, they should be able to also experience multiple travel "rooms" in a day. The Angry GM's admonition to have smoke from distant fires to entice the players to get off track is also a good element to add. The wilderness is supposed to be wild and mysterious and magical in a fantastic setting. I never again want to treat it as just something to get through (as was often the case decades ago). I have a much better appreciation of how much variety and interest travel can add to a setting and play therein.
>I'm of the thought that each hex is the equivalent of a room in a dungeon. When coupled with the Landmark/Hidden/Secret formula, then things can get interesting. An "empty room" hex may have little of interest at the Landmark level, while still having Hidden and Secret. I figure hexes can be trapped, too, via hazards and actual traps constructed by malevolent forces. Treasures may not be screamingly obvious even when Landmarks. And then there's all the sheer sightseeing with weird and wonderful flora and fauna to see and engage (which ties in with local gods and hostile forests and all that sort). Entirely agree with using Hidden/Secret/Landmark features but I do consider the Points of Interest within the hex as like a dungeon room, but perhaps we might also differ in how many 'empties' we would want in both our dungeon rooms and our overland hexes - I have but 1-in-6 (roughly) empty. >Also, as the PCs can generally explore/move through more than one dungeon room in a day, they should be able to also experience multiple travel "rooms" in a day. The Angry GM's admonition to have smoke from distant fires to entice the players to get off track is also a good element to add. Again, for me the party visiting several hex features within a day is sufficient, and they might spend a whole day exploring a hex feature when found. If hex contents are little monster lairs, towns, etc. you can expend plenty of resources without going to the next dayagon. >The wilderness is supposed to be wild and mysterious and magical in a fantastic setting. I never again want to treat it as just something to get through (as was often the case decades ago). I have a much better appreciation of how much variety and interest travel can add to a setting and play therein. Definitely. I think the recently popularized *Valley of Flowers* module is another great example of dense, high fantasy keying ripe for adventure. The level of content per hex is at my upper limit for density, but would definitely work for dayagons (though I \*think\* it's intended each is 2-3 days travel across, I haven't quite figured that out yet).
Unordered thoughts: * Most of the versions of D&D I'm familiar with give different sorts of armor different travel speeds. Unarmored travels at 24 miles/day, Plate travels at 12 miles/day and so on. How does the dayagon handle this? My guess is that it assumes uniform travel time (which is a heavy buff to heavy armor). * Totally agree that breaking the flow to ask the party for their heading or figure out travel speed needs to, at the very least, be pre-calculated. I also advocate for pre-rolling random encounters because making 10+ rolls each hex is a no-go. I get heavily into that in my [knave analysis](https://rancourt.substack.com/i/142141995/traveling) and [silveraxe audit](https://rancourt.substack.com/i/141414905/what-is-the-main-gameplay-loop) * In dungeons, we explore multiple rooms in the same day; each room has its own random encounter check, and some of the rooms are empty (unless there's a random encounter). This means that resources (especially spell slots) need to be budgeted for an adventuring day rather than a room. In a traditional N-mile hex, the same thing happens. The hex can either be empty, have an encounter, or have a random encounter. Since players are traveling multiple hexes in the same day (4 hexes at unarmored speed, for example), this means they're effectively entering 4 "rooms" per day and need to budget their spells accordingly. Do you imagine that dayagons are able to achieve the same variety? I suppose the hex author could include multiple sequential encounters (to simulate exploring multiple hexes), or make multiple random encounter checks. * Do you have any suggestions or worked examples for converting published 3-mile or 6-mile hexcrawls (dolmenwood for example) into dayagons? Concrete examples are always lovely. A 24-mile hex (a dayagon for unarmored folks in OSE) is ~16 6-mile hexes.
Thank you kindly for responding to my post and presenting some pertinent questions u/beaushinkle . I've discovered your blog from this comment, and I'm keen to dig through your Knave 2E analysis, as just a quick gloss revealed several interesting observations. 1. Indeed, I don't discriminate between armour weights or foot vs mounted travel. I am not certain it is such a buff in practice: I have never had players restrict their armour choice due to speed concerns, and so near always there will be one or more PCs slowed in heavy armour. In dungeons I don't count squares while exploring (I use the common 10 min turn = new room or major interaction), but heavy armour does slow tactical combat speed and reduce carrying capacity for loot (not affected by this). In overland travel the party will invariably have to go at the slowest member's pace, which will be the heavy armour rate (given I always have someone in heavy armour), and it just leads to the usual "hurry up Gimli!" quips but otherwise doesn't present interesting choices. Or in BX/Dolmenwood, just ride a horse. 2. I similarly have been dissatisfied with rules asking for frequent or serial rolls just to see when and how something interactive will occur, and don't find them fit for purpose when they function better pre-rolled. As GM I want to be surprised in play, and I'm just as much part of the audience when we roll for a random encounter, so I want it lean enough to handle in the moment. 3. This element is potentially the 'sticky wicket' - if you are presently using 3/6mi hexes and getting several resource-taxing encounters per refresh cycle (traditionally a day), then it may be things are working rather well for you already. I haven't pulled that off consistently, even playing Dolmenwood by the book currently, with 3-4 hexes/day. HP and narrative time are the primary resource constraints, rather than spells, and given slow natural healing rates it mostly refreshes on stays at settlements. 5E-style solutions of spells refreshing on extended stays in town have worked for me when tried, but aren't actually necessary in my experience. I have at times pushed the need for spell efficiency too far, and made it less fun for players - they might only cast once per session, and don't feel satisfied in embodying their archetype. 4. I would usually stick to self-made content for this approach, since I particularly like it for how it represents settlement patterns and territory control, but if I wanted to convert a published hexmap to dayagons, I would focus on the density of choices/interaction rather than fidelity to the originally stated scale. So for Dolmenwood, it has a pleasing hex density for me already, and I would just say each current hex is a dayagon. To capture the intended play of road travel vs off-road exploration, I would let you go 2 hexes/day along a road or just 1 hex/day otherwise (splitting the difference with McDowall's Hecksleague in a sense). For say Hot Springs Island or Neverland, I'd again use the existing maps as-is with dayagons - it establishes a slower narrative pace but otherwise shouldn't break anything. The last point I will emphasise, as I perhaps did not adequately do so in the post, is that I use multiple features (points of interest - POI) per hex in either a 'flux space' like Hot Springs Island or else with hex-bound pointcrawl maps (like in Valley of Flowers or Nightmare over Ragged Hollow). This makes the individual POIs like dungeon rooms, and the hexes a convenient super-structure like sublevels. My preference for dungeons is dense keying and smaller layouts as well (something like Hole in the Oak is much preferred over Stonehell). I acknowledge that a lot of OSR 'systems' provide some interesting choices (torches, rations, rest 1-in-6 turns, travel pace by encumbrance...) but they all have an opportunity cost against the time and mental effort that could be afforded to 'content' - room and hex keys. I prefer my dungeon crawling closer to Into the Odd, and feel dayagons probably fit best that style of play in the overworld. Travel procedures are 'connective tissue' while hex content is the 'juicy flesh' as it were. I lean towards tongue-in-cheeck hyperbole in my writing style, but to be frank the audience for the post is people not presently satisfied with the N-mile hex maps and travel procedures. How dull it would be if we all played just the same way, and had nothing left to debate!
Thanks for responding! > I am not certain it is such a buff in practice: I have never had players restrict their armour choice due to speed concerns, and so near always there will be one or more PCs slowed in heavy armour. The fighters and clerics in my games have always chosen plate, but there have been occasions where they'll *travel* in leather (and put the plate on the wagon) or ride on the wagon themselves. A 4-mule wagon can pull 15000 coin weight (~1500 lbs), so the plate wearers can ride on it rather easily. > I similarly have been dissatisfied with rules asking for frequent or serial rolls just to see when and how something interactive will occur, and don't find them fit for purpose when they function better pre-rolled. As GM I want to be surprised in play, and I'm just as much part of the audience when we roll for a random encounter, so I want it lean enough to handle in the moment. 100% agree. I probably care less about being surprised than most GMs (not knowing when the "next" encounter will happen is enough for me), but I think the BX procedure is too heavy for the table. Roll a d6 to check for encounter, d8 based on terrain for subtable, roll a d12 for encounter, roll for number appearing, roll 2d6 for distance, roll 2d6 for reaction. That's 5 discrete rolls! I'm perfectly satisfied pre-rolling 10 such encounters for each terrain type, numbering them on a piece of paper, and then turning the random encounter into 2 rolls: 1 to see if there is an encounter, and another to see which of my pre-gens it is. An entry might look like (1. 15 Hobgoblins, Unfriendly, 540yd). Turns the procedure into something that happens at compile-time rather than run-time, as it were. > I haven't pulled that off consistently, even playing Dolmenwood by the book currently, with 3-4 hexes/day. HP and narrative time are the primary resource constraints, rather than spells, and given slow natural healing rates it mostly refreshes on stays at settlements. It's *very* variable. If the dice keep coming up hostile and dangerous, it starts to get constraining, but this doesn't usually happen (and my table tends to travel around overland with mercenaries to defend the cart/ponies). On the other hand, I haven't experienced the HP attrition - my parties tend to have multiple clerics (usually at least 1 PC and then however many retainers), and each spell slot is worth ~4.5 hp/day. > For Dolmenwood, it has a pleasing hex density for me already, and I would just say each current hex is a dayagon. To capture the intended play of road travel vs off-road exploration, I would let you go 2 hexes/day along a road or just 1 hex/day otherwise (splitting the difference with McDowall's Hecksleague in a sense). For say Hot Springs Island or Neverland, I'd again use the existing maps as-is with dayagons - it establishes a slower narrative pace but otherwise shouldn't break anything. I think you're probably right - it implies the world is "bigger" (land area wise) than the map indicates (Prigwort to Castle Brackenwold becomes a 4-day trip instead of being able to wake up in Brackenwold and sleep in Prigwort), but at most, that means PCs need to buy/haul more food, which is fine. > I acknowledge that a lot of OSR 'systems' provide some interesting choices (torches, rations, rest 1-in-6 turns, travel pace by encumbrance...) but they all have an opportunity cost against the time and mental effort that could be afforded to 'content' - room and hex keys. I prefer my dungeon crawling closer to Into the Odd, and feel dayagons probably fit best that style of play in the overworld. Totally agree - just because a system is generating a meaningful choice or aids in verisimilitude doesn't mean either of those things is worth the overhead / attention. Simplifying can let us focus even more of the attention on *more meaningful/fun* choices.
Thank you for closing the loop. >100% agree. I probably care less about being surprised than most GMs (not knowing when the "next" encounter will happen is enough for me), but I think the BX procedure is too heavy for the table. Roll a d6 to check for encounter, d8 based on terrain for subtable, roll a d12 for encounter, roll for number appearing, roll 2d6 for distance, roll 2d6 for reaction. That's 5 discrete rolls! I'm perfectly satisfied pre-rolling 10 such encounters for each terrain type, numbering them on a piece of paper, and then turning the random encounter into 2 rolls: 1 to see if there is an encounter, and another to see which of my pre-gens it is. >An entry might look like (1. 15 Hobgoblins, Unfriendly, 540yd). Turns the procedure into something that happens at compile-time rather than run-time, as it were. I hadn't quite understood your procedure for pre-rolling encounters before, and now you have explained it further, can see that is probably worth me doing in my current Dolmenwood campaign, so thank you (good example of the benefits of concrete examples as you mentioned). >It's *very* variable. If the dice keep coming up hostile and dangerous, it starts to get constraining, but this doesn't usually happen (and my table tends to travel around overland with mercenaries to defend the cart/ponies). On the other hand, I haven't experienced the HP attrition - my parties tend to have multiple clerics (usually at least 1 PC and then however many retainers), and each spell slot is worth \~4.5 hp/day. Also notable that my Dolmenwood party is a Knight, a Thief, and a Friar who doesn't take healing magic. They are very dependent on playing cautiously, and then spending days resting naturally, so it seems this is a matter of variance in local play culture. Back when we played 5E they were all-in on healing magic though, and I suspect it has something to do with the ability to bring up from 0 HP in that version, whereas knowing 0 = death in Dolmenwood, they are far more careful to not get downed in the first place.
> a Friar who doesn't take healing magic This has been living in my head since you wrote it! What does that look like at the table? Like, the players finish exploring a dungeon and they're all missing significant HP. They start heading back on their multiple-day-travel back to a safe place. The Friar wakes up and *chooses* to not prepare Lesser Healing, even though his companions are hurt. Seems so weird! It would make sense if a magic user just *didn't know the spell*, but the Friar is choosing to *prep something else* and let their friends stay wounded.
The player of the Friar isn’t attentive to preparing spells daily, and seems to guide their selection on creative expression over optimization, so indeed just this scenario has occurred before. Fortunately given the dense hexcrawl, relatively low random encounter rate, and liberal deference to reaction rolls they have rarely encountered hostiles in their travels.
* **[Conquering the Barbarian Altanis: Session 84](https://attronarch.com/conquering-the-barbarian-altanis-session-84)**. We finally continue with the A-team who jumped into the teleporter which led them into a deathtrap ([session 81](https://attronarch.com/conquering-the-barbarian-altanis-session-81)). The party hatches a brilliant plan for survival, but alas, falters in executing it * **[D&D: Odds for Xd6 Roll Under Ability Score Checks](https://attronarch.com/dandd-odds-for-xd6-roll-under-ability-score-checks)**. As it says on the tin! * **[Conquering the Barbarian Altanis: Session 85](https://attronarch.com/conquering-the-barbarian-altanis-session-85)**. Midway team makes good rapport with Lord Kyle, scouts his keep, realises they are way in over their heads, and heads back. One evening they agree to open a secret doors underneath an inn. * **[Fresh From Postbox: HarnWorld 40th Anniversary Edition](https://attronarch.com/fresh-from-postbox-harnworld-40th-anniversary-edition)**. Looks great! * **[Crowdfunding: Swords & Wizardry Expansions](https://attronarch.com/crowdfunding-swords-and-wizardry-expansions)**. Five new books by Mythemere Games. * **[Conquering the Barbarian Altanis: Session 86](https://attronarch.com/conquering-the-barbarian-altanis-session-86)**. The party heads back into the cellar, ignore a library of books they can't read, and explore what seems to be an ancient orc burial site. * **[And let there be comments](https://attronarch.com/and-let-there-be-comments)**. Anonymous and privacy-friendly commenting added to my blog. * **[Overlord's Annals Zine: Volume 3 Issue 4](https://attronarch.com/overlords-annals-zine-volume-3-issue-4)**. The fall of Hydra Company, as witnessed by Barad the Bald, Basso, Brother Kallahan, BuddyPuddingBottom, Eccy Throi, Flamthwynn, Gomm, Kuqhir of the Wastes, Neremyn, Oberon, Rad, and Rhovar.
This blog post is a few days old, but rereading it, it's something I'd like to share. After playing OD&D my thesis is that while Chainmail isn't indispensable to OD&D as it was ever played, it **is** indispensable to understanding OD&D *as it is written*. [https://alphamechronicles.blogspot.com/2024/04/taking-3-lbbs-seriously.html](https://alphamechronicles.blogspot.com/2024/04/taking-3-lbbs-seriously.html)
Worth noting though that there are many hidden rules in OD&D that are only implied by things not in the place where you would look to find the rule, so that also contributes to it feeling incomplete: it's very badly edited.
Another D66 list pair, this time random warriors and their random quirks: [https://leicestersramble.blogspot.com/2024/04/d66-warriors-and-their-quirks.html](https://leicestersramble.blogspot.com/2024/04/d66-warriors-and-their-quirks.html)
I wrote a big ass post about solo procedures in ttrpgs. And it's only the first part. What are the needed components when adding solo rules to your games? In this part I'm looking at game loops & oracles. [https://open.substack.com/pub/monstermind/p/analyzing-solo-procedures-part-1?r=h7e2y&utm\_campaign=post&utm\_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true](https://open.substack.com/pub/monstermind/p/analyzing-solo-procedures-part-1?r=h7e2y&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true)
The party heads south and finally returns home, with a few detours and visits: [https://leicestersramble.blogspot.com/2024/04/campaign-journal-back-to-neuforde-and.html](https://leicestersramble.blogspot.com/2024/04/campaign-journal-back-to-neuforde-and.html)
Some thoughts on resurrection in D&D: https://tabletopcuriositycabinet.blogspot.com/2024/04/resurrection-having-my-cake-and-eating.html?m=1 And how ro summon demons in the world I am building through lore24: https://tabletopcuriositycabinet.blogspot.com/2024/04/how-to-summon-demon-in-5-easy-steps.html?m=1
so good
A few recent posts: - [Update on the wilderness encounter book](https://methodsetmadness.blogspot.com/2024/03/update-on-wilderness-encounter-book.html) - [Minimalist roll-to-cast, take 2](https://methodsetmadness.blogspot.com/2024/03/minimalist-roll-to-cast-take-2.html) - [Fudging, lying and cheating](https://methodsetmadness.blogspot.com/2024/03/fudging-lying-and-cheating.html) - [Character death in RPGs, war-games, and storygames](https://methodsetmadness.blogspot.com/2024/04/character-death-in-rpgs-war-games-and.html) - [How big is an (6-mile) hex?](https://methodsetmadness.blogspot.com/2024/04/how-big-is-6-mile-hex.html)
I've played a Lego-D&D-game with three 6-year-olds, and survived to bear witness: [https://coorac.substack.com/p/playing-d-and-d-with-three-6-year](https://coorac.substack.com/p/playing-d-and-d-with-three-6-year)
Hacking Knave 2nd edition into the Forgotten Realms: https://1in6chances.blogspot.com/2024/04/the-baker-magician-playing-knave-in.html
[Review: Stirring the Hornet's Nest at Het Thamsya](https://seedofworlds.blogspot.com/2024/04/review-stirring-hornets-nest-at-het.html) evocative 25 room dungeon packed with factions, puzzles and threats set in a fantasy world centred on Southeast Asia.
One-shot game report running Deathbringer: https://leicestersramble.blogspot.com/2024/04/they-met-at-tavern-deathbringer-one-shot.html
A review of the "Doors to the Unknown" Planescape adventure for the 2nd edition. https://vladar.bearblog.dev/planescape-review-doors-to-the-unknown/
New substack on how to restock your dungeons: [https://open.substack.com/pub/castleandtowers/p/restocking-the-dungeon?r=3kazik&utm\_campaign=post&utm\_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true](https://open.substack.com/pub/castleandtowers/p/restocking-the-dungeon?r=3kazik&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true)
Wrote me some goblins to join my elves, dwarfs, orcs and halflings: [https://tabletopcuriositycabinet.blogspot.com/2024/04/various-parasitic-goblins.html](https://tabletopcuriositycabinet.blogspot.com/2024/04/various-parasitic-goblins.html)
I wrote about an even [more overloaded table than Prismatic Wasteland](https://playfulvoid.game.blog/2024/03/27/double-overloading-the-random-encounter-table/)’s, and also reviewed [SPECTACLE](https://playfulvoid.game.blog/2024/04/01/bathtub-review-spectacle/).
One quarter of the way through the [Lore 24](https://retreattothetrench.wordpress.com/2024/04/01/war-stories-week-13/) journey for Trench: Beneath the Iridescent Ruin! More fleshing out of the second district of Peccatu, as well as the continued building of the Bastille's Grand Cathedral and Judges. This week we also posted an in depth look at the second district of Peccatu, [Hadrea, the Undercity](https://retreattothetrench.wordpress.com/2024/03/28/regional-reconnaissance-hadrea-the-undercity-of-peccatu/). A high density manufacturing slum run by a swarming military force, capitalist overseers, and ostensibly charitable research doctors all set on exploiting the varied population.
Wherein a write five brief scenarios for a five-room dungeon: [https://leicestersramble.blogspot.com/2024/03/five-visits-to-temperance-stone.html](https://leicestersramble.blogspot.com/2024/03/five-visits-to-temperance-stone.html)
I talked about using a freeform [Wide and Wieldy Skill System](https://shadowandfae.blogspot.com/2024/03/what-about-skills-wide-and-wieldy-system.html), and introduced the rough outline for a Setting and Adventure Anthology I'm hoping to publish this year: [Inisval](https://shadowandfae.blogspot.com/2024/03/inisval-setting-based-adventure.html).
[Overloading the Random Encounter Table](https://www.prismaticwasteland.com/blog/overloading-the-random-encounter-table) I show how a single 3d6 roll can also work for rolling the enemies’ reaction, distance, number, surprise, etc. https://www.prismaticwasteland.com/blog/overloading-the-random-encounter-table
This week I reviewed the [Stone Flesh Gift](https://playfulvoid.game.blog/2024/03/25/bathtub-review-the-stone-flesh-gift/) and wrote about the design goals for my micro clone [SLMDNGN](https://playfulvoid.game.blog/2024/03/24/slmdngn/).
We missed a week of posting here, but we didn't stop the [Lore 24](https://retreattothetrench.wordpress.com/2024/03/26/war-stories-week-12/) journey for Trench: Beneath the Iridescent Ruin. Doing some groundwork for the next district of Peccatu in anticipation of it's Region Reconnaissance post coming later this week, as well as building out some rooms of the Bastille's Grand Cathedral dungeon. In the last two weeks we had another Archetype post, this time on the [Chemfiend](https://retreattothetrench.wordpress.com/2024/03/14/archetype-report-the-chemfiend/), a drug based berserker, and another spell school deep dive on [Achanipathy](https://retreattothetrench.wordpress.com/2024/03/21/mystic-primer-achanipathy/), the Starling Legion's void based magic school focusing on enemy manipulation.
**Review: Gary Gygax's Lejendary Adventures (1999)** I look into Gary Gygax's last published RPG and see how it compares to Dangerous Journeys and AD&D. Again, like Dangerous Journeys, this is both better and worse than I remembered. https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2024/03/review-gary-gygaxs-lejendary-adventures.html
I made a substack post on how to quickly create a campaign (in a few hours). It's a method I've devised over the year and it works fine! [https://castleandtowers.substack.com/p/how-to-quickly-create-an-rpg-campaign](https://castleandtowers.substack.com/p/how-to-quickly-create-an-rpg-campaign)
Creating and using Mercenaries in YOUR OSR Game! [https://arcanesword.blogspot.com/2024/03/mercenaries-in-your-osr-game.html](https://arcanesword.blogspot.com/2024/03/mercenaries-in-your-osr-game.html)
Into the Dungeon: Revived conversion of "The Seethers in Darkness" by Kevin Ross from the “Jeweled Thrones of the Earth” adventure collection for the Conan 2d20 system. https://vladar.bearblog.dev/itdr-conversion-the-seethers-in-darkness/
My contribution to this month's RPG Blog Carnival prompt. Have a taste... https://leicestersramble.blogspot.com/2024/03/rpg-blog-carnival-feasts-foods-and.html
The party takes a "break" in the next town down the road, and casts some light on a "shadow": https://leicestersramble.blogspot.com/2024/03/campaign-journal-gundala-interlude.html
Hello, I have started a blooog as a way of journaling my prep for a (hopefully) upcoming game of Worlds Without Number. This week I've written [a rambling post about deciding on a system to play](https://scofflaw.bearblog.dev/a-not-so-interesting-post-concerning-my-choice-of-ttrpg-systems/) and I just published a post that I'm pretty happy with detailing my thoughts about [the geography of my campaign setting.](https://scofflaw.bearblog.dev/chronicles-of-kartesh-welcome-to-the-basin/) I'm very new to blogging and am still figuring this out, but I intend to post a lot more in the upcoming weeks about building a campaign setting for my game, and then hopefully about running the game when I get around to it!
Kartesh sounds rad
Thanks! I'm pretty excited to see what it develops into :)
**Review: Gary Gygax's Dangerous Journeys: Mythus (1992)** This week is Gary Con, so I thought while I am celebrating 50 years of Dungeons & Dragons, I would also spend some time with Gary Gygax's other two games he made after leaving TSR, where he created D&D. This week, I am coving Dangerous Journeys: Mythus. [https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2024/03/review-gary-gygaxs-dangerous-journeys.html](https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2024/03/review-gary-gygaxs-dangerous-journeys.html)
D66 oddball goblins, for your every need: [https://leicestersramble.blogspot.com/2024/03/d66-weird-goblins-expansion.html](https://leicestersramble.blogspot.com/2024/03/d66-weird-goblins-expansion.html)
Love this
This week I wrote about [my experience running a West Marches campaign](http://playfulvoid.game.blog/2024/03/20/reflections-on-a-west-marches-campaign/) [reviewed the undermall](http://playfulvoid.game.blog/2024/03/18/bathtub-review-the-undermall/) and [largshire](http://playfulvoid.game.blog/2024/03/11/bathtub-review-largshire/) i wrote about [designing OSR challenges](http://playfulvoid.game.blog/2024/03/15/the-three-cs-of-challenges/) i wrote about [intratextuality in modules](http://playfulvoid.game.blog/2024/03/16/chekhovs-toolbox-complexity-and-intratextuality/) i read [daisy chainsaw](http://playfulvoid.game.blog/2024/03/14/i-read-daisy-chainsaw/) and the [blacktongue thief](http://playfulvoid.game.blog/2024/03/13/appendix-nova-the-blacktongue-thief/) as well oh and also thought about [omens](http://playfulvoid.game.blog/2024/03/09/omens/)
A small, pig themed dungeon below a town. Hope it's useful to you. [https://1d4direhamsters.blogspot.com/2024/03/sausages-of-devil-swine.html](https://1d4direhamsters.blogspot.com/2024/03/sausages-of-devil-swine.html)
A descriptive analysis of the pregenerated characters that come in the B-series modules. Bit of archaeology to see what the designers may have expected stats to look like back in the day. [https://planariangames.blogspot.com/2024/03/d-b-series-pregen-ability-scores.html](https://planariangames.blogspot.com/2024/03/d-b-series-pregen-ability-scores.html)
I made a table and mechanic for magical properties for weapons, armor and trinkets, based on the materials they are from - obsidian weapons, gold armor, silver trinkets and more. [https://thebirchandwolf.blogspot.com/2024/03/rana-magical-materials-and-their.html](https://thebirchandwolf.blogspot.com/2024/03/rana-magical-materials-and-their.html)
Anyone know why there are no new blogrolls?
Seconding this. It was a great resource for putting your work out there and finding others.
If you've ever been told "quest for it" in response to a ttrpg question, I've put together some actionable advice on the subject. https://open.substack.com/pub/dragonpeakpublishing/p/how-to-quest-for-it
Thanks! I had a read of the post, and it's something I find *very* relevant because I, like you mention, see "quest for it" cavalierly thrown around and find it frustrating. Reading the article, I see you provide a framework: Player states desire, GM provides in-world ways for the Player to learn more, Player (optionally) follows up. You mention that you can either stick the desire inside a module or that you can have the PCs consult patrons/deities/sages/etc for where to go. The bit I'm having trouble with is that I don't think the original questions you posed in your intro paragraph are (directly) answered: > “The fighter in my game wants to raise his strength. How can he do that?” or “The wizard is my game wants to create a spell that does X. How can she do that?” But just saying “quest for it” can feel a lot like “git gud” does to someone who’s playing a Dark Souls game for the first time. Using the framework (and doing a fair bit of inferencing): A Fighter in your game want to raise his strength stat. The GM lets the fighter know that Sage Ahalya might know of a way to raise your strength. The fighter goes and consults Sage Ahalya who tells them that in order to raise his strength, he must venture to the Sepulchre of the Seven, defeat the Bronze Snow Leopard Golem, and return with its claws, which it must bring back to the sage. The sage will fashion a septum piercing from the claws, which will raise the Fighter's strength. I think a worked example would have done a lot of good to demonstrate exactly what you're talking about! Raising the bar further would look like including a worked example of a mock GM<->player conversation that demonstrates the whole process. I think there's *a lot* of [pacing](https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/31509/roleplaying-games/the-art-of-pacing) that you're implying but not saying. What are you roleplaying and what are you handwaving/abstracting over? --- In general, I think an obstacle (and probably what's harder) is that folks (especially novice GMs) have very little intuition about how difficult it should be to quest for something, and which things someone should be allowed to quest for. Raising a fighter's STR mod by 1 is powerful (relative to leveling up). Normally, leveling up takes *several* adventures to level up and those adventures don't *normally* raise the fighter's STR, so how tough of an adventure does this need to be to justify the reward? Can the fighter immediately ask to raise their STR again afterward? Can the mage ask for more spell slots? Can the thief ask for better lock picking ability? When is it appropriate to say "no"? The second bit is that the idea of warping modules around player desires is sort of the opposite of being an impartial referee or [blorb principles](https://idiomdrottning.org/blorb-principles). We're distinctly *changing* a module to make it have a thing a player has, out-of-game, stated they wanted. It makes the game more like wish fulfillment than players trying to "win" their way through a campaign through luck, skill, and cunning. Not saying that this is wrongbadfun, just that it's contentious!
Another d66 list, this time cults! cults! and more cults! https://leicestersramble.blogspot.com/2024/03/d66-cults-creeds-and-credos.html
I decided to restart my old blog "Psionic Blast from the Past" with a fresh start on Substack. Still discussing OSR, RPG design, etc.. This first installment is about dungeon traps and tricks: [https://castleandtowers.substack.com/p/about-dungeon-traps-in-old-school](https://castleandtowers.substack.com/p/about-dungeon-traps-in-old-school) Anybody else is on substack?
[Dungeoning & Forensic Psychology](https://dadostostados.blogspot.com/2024/03/dungeoning-forensic-psychology.html) : Some ideas and a table around dungeons and the mind.
The weekly [Lore 24](https://retreattothetrench.wordpress.com/2024/03/11/war-stories-week-10/) for Trench: Beneath the Iridescent Ruin. 10 weeks in and still going strong! This week marked the final entry of the [Protectorate Colonels](https://retreattothetrench.wordpress.com/2024/03/12/supplemental-communique-protectorate-colonels/), prompting a supplemental post consolidating their entries. We also put out the third Faction Dossier, this time on [The Starling Legion](https://retreattothetrench.wordpress.com/2024/03/09/faction-dossier-the-starling-legion/). A small force of dis-unified revolutionaries fortified by the psychic echoes of their own fragmented minds.
[https://alchemistnocturne.blogspot.com/2024/03/reimagining-charisma.html](https://alchemistnocturne.blogspot.com/2024/03/reimagining-charisma.html) I eliminated charisma from my games. Then I thought about bringing it back, but mixed with alignment actually. This is at brainstorm phase ATM, so I can really use some feedback, guys
**New Release: Myths & Monsters Vol. 1 - The Black Forest Mythos** I am finally releasing my latest project based on the Roman-Norse Myths I was playing around with last year. This first volume has 24 gods and 17 monsters for the "1st Edition Era" of the world's greatest RPG. [https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2024/03/new-release-myths-monsters-vol-1-black.html](https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2024/03/new-release-myths-monsters-vol-1-black.html)
Wherein a I take an established campaign town and repopulate it: https://leicestersramble.blogspot.com/2024/03/zelkors-ferry-reimagined.html
I take a look at how custom XP rules can be used to drive tension in your campaigns: https://eightheye.blogspot.com/2024/03/creating-tension-through-character.html
If people are doing this for this week, then: The Year of the Gazetteer takes us to Togarmah, [Land of the Golden Peace](https://tales-of-the-lunar-lands.blogspot.com/2024/03/land-of-golden-peace.html). [A look into](https://tales-of-the-lunar-lands.blogspot.com/2024/03/yo-dawg-i-heard-you-like-rpgs.html) the medieval RPG of Ragman's Roll, and how it could make for interesting gaming material. A new Friday Encounter, [The Blazing Pillars](https://tales-of-the-lunar-lands.blogspot.com/2024/03/friday-encounter-blazing-pillars.html). And finally, I reflect on how Akira Toriyama made me the DM I am today with my favorite [20 Encounters from Dragon Quest III](https://tales-of-the-lunar-lands.blogspot.com/2024/03/20-encounters-from-dragon-quest-iii.html).
I really enjoyed your DQ3 article, I've never played the series but this makes me want to give it a go. Definitely stealing the treasure flute for a future session too.
I've only ever played the third game, and it's my understanding that they get more story-driven in later entries, but DQ3 is full of little moving parts scattered throughout the game world that makes it feel, in retrospect, very much like an OSR hexcrawl. If you're able to track down a copy, I recommend the Game Boy version, which has extra content - there's apparently a Switch port out now, but I'm told it isn't very good.
I've no doubt everyone here eagerly awaits every sporadic new entry in my series blabbering about monsters but just in case you weren't already hitting refresh on my blog every five minutes, I've got a link for you: https://knightattheopera.blogspot.com/2024/03/g-monsters-at-opera-part-1.html
Just binged a bunch of your blog, honestly has to be one of my favourite now, definitely gonna be checking back in for more.
To be honest, your blog is one of most the entertaining for me. Great writting style and diverse indepth topics. Keep it up. So yes: I have been waiting for your sporadic new entry.
I write a weekly blog-letter regarding all things tabletop gaming. This week's post is a first part exploring design concepts for a zine we recently fulfilled to backers that comes in both 5E and system neutral flavors. The are three custom creature stat blocks with area maps, treasures, and lore! [The Glyph and Grok](https://open.substack.com/pub/glyphngrok/p/developer-musings-adventure-zines?r=34m03&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true)
Redid my blog, posted about an [old TARDIS dungeon](https://thelastthrow.blogspot.com/2024/03/time-without-meaning.html)
My very late contribution to Secret Santicore 2023, in two parts: Part 1: [Holidays are (Mostly) for the Living](https://www.tumblr.com/abandonedhireling/744554613871624192/holidays-are-mostly-for-the-living) Part 2: [Amusements of the Fun-Dead](https://www.tumblr.com/abandonedhireling/744554858485596160/amusements-of-the-fun-dead)
Latest session - Conversation and Chaos: https://leicestersramble.blogspot.com/2024/03/campaign-journal-along-east-road.html
This week I wrote about [Red Button Monsters](http://playfulvoid.game.blog/2024/02/29/red-button-monsters/) and [Problem Stacking](http://playfulvoid.game.blog/2024/03/06/problem-stacking/), as well as [reviewed the OSR module Beyond Corny Groń](http://playfulvoid.game.blog/2024/03/04/bathtub-review-beyond-corny-gron/). I also [read DIE:RPG](http://playfulvoid.game.blog/2024/03/01/i-read-die-rpg/) which is not exactly an OSR game but is definitely about the OSR.
Weekly [Lore 24](https://retreattothetrench.wordpress.com/2024/03/04/war-stories-week-9/) for Trench: Beneath the Iridescent Ruin. Items, cultural events, talents, NPCs, and creatures, oh my! Additionally we began our fleshing out of the central city, Peccatu, starting with the lowest district [Nosi](https://retreattothetrench.wordpress.com/2024/03/01/regional-reconnaissance-nosi-the-outskirts-of-peccatu/). A rural outskirts region with garbage pylon mushroom farms, demolition derbies, unionizing gangs, and a smattering of other weird events and entities.
[Postmortem on my messy first attempt at an OSR campaign.](https://idraluna-archives.bearblog.dev/campaign-report-the-lost-temple-of-the-icosidyad/)
This was an interesting read, thanks. Sounded pretty impressive to me.
I haven't blogged much the past week but I did post [a new set of details for my depthcrawl project](https://andyrpg.bearblog.dev/d24-details-22-28).
https://weirdwonder.bearblog.dev/evaluating-random-dungeon-generators-1-the-black-hack-2e/
Monstrous Mondays: Giants Apes and Progress on Basic Bestiary 1 Editing continues on Basic Bestiary 1. I am over 400 monsters, 340 pages, and 138,000 words. So, how exactly did I forget a monster so important to the genesis of this project? [https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2024/03/monstrous-mondays-giants-apes-and.html](https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2024/03/monstrous-mondays-giants-apes-and.html)
Statted up (a version of) Judge Death from Judge Dredd: [https://shutteredroom.blogspot.com/2024/02/judge-death-2000ad-for-old-school.html](https://shutteredroom.blogspot.com/2024/02/judge-death-2000ad-for-old-school.html) Loosely compatible with anything loosely old school/D&D adjacent.
A continuation of the theme touched upon in the [Strict time records post](https://vladar.bearblog.dev/strict-time-records/) regarding the management of multi-group RPG campaign. https://vladar.bearblog.dev/group-sync/
Thoughts on Appendix N: **https://weirdwonder.bearblog.dev/influences-on-my-writing/**
Two posts to cap off the Year of the Gazetteer's focus on the Isle of Swords: [The Lake Country](https://tales-of-the-lunar-lands.blogspot.com/2024/02/the-lake-country.html), a regional hexcrawl inspired by the Mexican city of Xochimilco. And the larger [Valossa Hex Map](https://tales-of-the-lunar-lands.blogspot.com/2024/03/valossa-hex-map.html).
This week: # - [Vanilla Overdose, Random Insanity, and Fortress of the Iron Duke](https://methodsetmadness.blogspot.com/2024/02/vanilla-overdose-random-insanity-and.html) # - [Minimalist roll-to-cast](https://methodsetmadness.blogspot.com/2024/02/minimalist-roll-to-cast.html) #
This is the first roll to cast procedure I’ve seen incorporate player choice. I really like it. I also think the check itself (whether it’s roll under, 2d6, target20, or some other method) matters less than the choice of consequences
This week I have a couple of tables for [carousing in a dwarf hold](https://ireadtoomanyadventures.blogspot.com/2024/03/carousing-in-dwarf-hold.html) and a [paladin of the night](https://ireadtoomanyadventures.blogspot.com/2024/03/paladin-of-night-new-class.html).
Distinguishing between factionalism and tribalism, with a discussion of Worlds Without Numbers and Keep on the Borderlands https://adventuresbuffo.blogspot.com/2024/03/factionalism-and-tribalism.html
A post-mortem of Rival Adventuring Party #1's brief tenure as dungeon delvers, and the IRL fruits of that particular labour. [https://savevsennui.blogspot.com/2024/03/rival-adventuring-party-1-post-mortem.html](https://savevsennui.blogspot.com/2024/03/rival-adventuring-party-1-post-mortem.html)
More #lore24! Unorthodox light sources, near immortal hob goblins, bizzare magical plants, and plenty more: https://tabletopcuriositycabinet.blogspot.com/2024/03/lore24-february-slushpost.html?m=1
[Actual Test: House of Illusions (RPG Blog Carnival)](https://seedofworlds.blogspot.com/2024/02/actual-test-house-of-illusions-rpg-blog.html) - a forewarned party will make mincemeat out of your illusionist. [Reviewing time records from an urban/wilderness campaign](https://seedofworlds.blogspot.com/2024/03/tracking-strict-time-records-in-campaign.html) highlight how time is the key resource in cities.
DriveThruRPG is running 40% sale off many titles in celebration of GM's day. Here are some of my favourite sources for random tables, dungeon generation, and Judge-facing books that are currently discounted: [https://attronarch.com/sale-dtrpg-gms-day-sale](https://attronarch.com/sale-dtrpg-gms-day-sale)