I have been thinking a lot about pacing in sandbox games and how much leverage the GM should apply. I brought the topic up in the Prismatic Wasteland discord to hear other GMs' opinions and got some really fascinating insights! www.thenovelgamemaster.com/2026/01/paci...

Wanted to throw my hat into the ring with a functional analysis of treasure in #osr and adjacent games tbr.bearblog.dev/on-the-natur...

I wrote a comparison of both versions of Dungeon Module B3: Palace of the Silver Princess - Jean Wells's original orange cover version & Tom Moldvay's revised green cover version. I give some reasons why you might run one over the other, then explain which version I prefer & why.

Tomorrow

A tale of playtesting and how you don’t really know what mechanics work until you bring ones that don’t work to your table, maybe more than once

This is real cool and has me interested in finally running the keep

I'm participating in #City26, detailing the town of Myth's Landing, setting for my recent dungeon-lit fantasy novel THE COMPANY and upcoming sequel. Thanks to @garblag.bsky.social for kicking this project off and giving me an excuse! www.thenovelgamemaster.com/2026/01/myth...

Anyone up for #City26 in January. Getting a fresh notebook for this one and fleshing out a science fantasy @mothership.bsky.social setting. #ttrpg #worldbuilding

My 2025 Wrap-Up newsletter is now live! Includes recommendations for my three favorite brain-melting books I read in 2025. mailchi.mp/3b30173e3c4f...

I'm getting hyped for The Bloggies! One of my favorite posts this year was @dodo-decahedron.bsky.social's post on The OSR Onion, which sparked some great discussion on Discord and in my in-person group. I'll be voting for it come Feb 1! dododecahedron.blog/2025/11/22/t...

The blog says "4-minute read." That's a lie. Here's every finalist from the past three years of The Bloggies. www.explorersdesign.com/the-bloggies...

RELEASE: The complete #hexmas map is now available for you to peruse! Download the pdf version to see all the bloggers who contributed to this awesome blogwagon by @prismaticwasteland.com. #blog #ttrpg #bloggers #blogosphere bakenshake09.itch.io/hexmas-map-2...

Got my end of year review of games played in 2025! I played a bunch of new systems and ran 30+ one-shots last year. What are the numbers saying, and what am I gonna do differently this year? #blog #ttrpg theplayreports.com/posts/2025-r...

The 2025 Indie Groundbreaker Awards are here! Have you published a LARP, table top RPG, card, board, or other analog game in 2025? We want to see it! Submit yours today: forms.gle/Jgnu7Ev5BnkU... Visit www.igdnonline.com/groundbreakers for more details. Submissions close on January 31st.

In addition to blogging about TTRPGs, I'm also a sci-fi and fantasy author. If you're interested in my books or blogs, please consider signing up for my author newsletter at shannonrampe.com. Click the link at the bottom of the page to sign up and I'll send you a free book! #indieauthor #ttrpg

The Bloggies 2026 submissions are now open! Submit your favorite posts, series, and debut blogs via the official Bloggies page between now and Jan 31st! Please share this around. I'll be making regular Bloggies-themed announcements throughout the month. www.explorersdesign.com/bloggies-2026/

Two silly big posts today, the first being the Idle Digest for December of 2025, featuring a recap of Critique Navidad for those who couldn’t follow it closely: open.substack.com/pub/idlecart...

Scored myself a copy of HODAG MAG and it is the best thing to hit my inbox in a long time! Laugh out loud funny and awesome content! Eat like a goblin? Hell yes - I know what my January diet is going to be...

We all need some more HODAGery in our lives, don't we?

brilliant seraphina strikes hot with an iron, challenging the paradigm of how people talk about rpgs and what people mean when they criticize d&d for "not supporting xyz" seraphim-seraphina.itch.io/my-blog/devl...

@ktrey.bsky.social out here still doing the lord's work for the TTRPG community.

Today, for Critique Navidad, it is the odd and wonderful Field Agent Handbook! What if you turned your entire life into a Hilda-meets-SCP larp? idlecartulary.com/2025/12/24/c...

As we do every year, it's time to vote for the most anticipated tabletop roleplaying game of the coming year!

10 TTRPGS I want to play/run in 2026 (in no particular order, and including things I've run before): - Mythic Bastionland - Draw Steel - Daggerheart - BECMI D&D - Shadowdark - Delta Green - 13th Age - Mothership RPG - Microscope - Heroes of Cerulea

Finally added my hex, Hearth, to the Hexmas Map for the Blogwagon started by @prismaticwasteland.com! #blog #hexmas #community #ttrpg #hexcrawl theplayreports.com/posts/hexmas...

You still have plenty of time to write a hex (or two) for Hexmas 2025! The map of current entries so far is below and here is a link with all you need to know about the prompt #osr #ttrpg www.prismaticwasteland.com/blog/blogwag...

Sure, you know about Vancian Magic, but what about Jackian Magic? (Someone please finish this design.) www.explorersdesign.com/jackian-magic/

New Dungeon (in blog form): Castle Claus, or The Keep on the North Pole A Rankin Bass Christmas-themed dungeon for the Merry Hexmas Blog Bandwagon. Possibly one of my more high effort blog posts to date #osr #ttrpg

Rather than doing an ordinary end-of-year best of post, I put together 9 things I've learned running 9 different RPG systems in the past year(ish). What have you learned? www.thenovelgamemaster.com/2025/12/9-th... #osr #dnd #mothership #shadowdark #gmtips

Our group recently finished a run of Act 1 of Impossible Landscapes, and I couldn't have been more surprised at the poignancy of the unexpected way it ended. FYI - minor spoilers. www.thenovelgamemaster.com/2025/12/play...

Anyone designing an OSR game by starting with Borges is doing something right in my book!

I fear you'll all be sick of me this month, but I just published November's Idle Digest! Subscribe to this if you want to keep up with my work and don't use an RSS reader! Or just if you want some recommendations for what to read and what to check out! open.substack.com/pub/idlecart...

The bloggies are coming, the bloggies are coming!

This looks so fun and cool. I love the aesthetic. I kind of want to hack this into a game of Cyberpunk where the party's netrunner is just playing his own solo game

I had fun at PAX Unplugged! I played over 20 hours worth of games and went out to the local taverns every night. How did I do it all? That’s proprietary, but you can instead read all about the games I played #osr #ttrpg

I just published my first Mothership module: Twinkle Twinkle little star The module will have your crew investigating a solar research ship orbiting a dying star, can you figure out what happened, and will you complete their mission? Available now on itch! personable.itch.io/twinkle-twin...

It's been a minute since I updated the blog, but that's because I was busy writing an OSR-inspired novel! www.thenovelgamemaster.com/2025/12/writ...

This is an amazing piece of work and really fun to explore!

A beautifully succinct take on the soulless void that is generative AI. Aligns with my thinking that content generated by AI is content without meaning behind it, and is hence absent of substance or value. It's philosophically bankrupt.

August is here, that calls for a party! A new month means a new Carouse, Carouse! and thats something worth celebrating! www.carouse.blog/august-2025-...

First I played: AD&D (1e) First I ran: BECMI Red Box (DM'd before I played) Played the most: AD&D 2e in ages past Run the most: D&D 3e/3.5e in prior epochs Fave: Call of Cthulhu (or Mothership... or Shadowdark... or OSE...) Most recently played: Shadowdark Most recently run: Delta Green

The Worm HUNGERS for the ENNIE. Voting for it is the only thing that will satiate it, and deter it from rising through the Underworld and devouring the mortal lands. Save yourself. Vote for the Worm.  vote.ennie-awards.com/vote/2025/

Joined the Blog Bandwagon last minute with the theme of "holes" for something holey must have possessed me to write this debauchery. I give you DEATH. DROP. DELVE. #blog #holes #bandwagon theplayreports.com/posts/death-...

I wonder if this old Table of mine counts for the new Hole Theme 😅 blog.d4caltrops.com/2022/09/d100...

Today we're posting hole on main, and I've written about the humble pit trap, a classic for a reason. billhook.bearblog.dev/in_praise_of...

For my entry to the “Post Hole” blog bandwagon, I also hereby simultaneously submit to @diyanddragons.bsky.social’s 2nd Annual Lego Jam: Lego Rock Raiders as Space Horror (with a focus on the rock monster) #osr #ttrpg

Blogpost time! My contribution to today's Blog Bandwagon goes in a bit of an odd direction, but I promise it goes somewhere! I'm Hole-Posting about Digimon World 3 (PSX, 2002) Static Site: farmergadda.neocities.org/posts/holesp... Blogger: farmergadda.blogspot.com/2025/07/hole...

Jumping on the band wagon by complaining about something no one has cared about in twenty years: The weirdness of a hole left in your humanity by cybernetics and what I take to instead wayspell.blogspot.com/2025/07/sws-...

Forlorn Encystment also created a "Hole-in-the-Wall" tavern!

Sallying out of Magnolia Keep, it's Holes Day on the blogosphere! I decided to take the time to write about how some of my favorite books, comics, and roleplaying game thinkers have dealt with the terror of dying in enclosed spaces underground. magnoliakeep.blogspot.com/2025/07/fear...