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...

Blogpost: The case for why your dungeon entrances should be pitcher plants rather than mere doors or simple holes (Part of the @prismaticwasteland.com blogomatic universe 'holes' day) #osr pointlessmonument.blot.im/tumbling-dow...

"Here's a secret, young adventurer. No cave you delve into, no volcano that erupts, no monsters that lashes at you from the bowels of the stone is "natural". It's the dwarves, it's always been the dwarves." behindthehelm.bearblog.dev/dwarf-ecology/

It's bandwagon time again, and today we're posting hole! personabler.blogspot.com/2025/07/on-t...

It's a blog bandwagon day in the TTRPG blogosphere. Today's theme is HOLES! My offering is a drop-in adventure location for your elfgame of choice... a "Hole in the Wall" tavern with actual magic holes on the wall. Stick your arm in and see what comes out! www.thenovelgamemaster.com/2025/07/the-...

Feeling the love from the Green Ronin community as we navigate the Diamond bankruptcy. At the time of this posting, we are at 82% percent of our goal. If you aren't in a position to support the legal fund, sharing this with your network is a huge help: gofund.me/970ea49a

New blog roundup, this time about a clutch of posts all about dragons and also a handful about being inspired by Tolkien, Scavenger’s Reign, Samurai Jack, MacBeth and more! #osr #ttrpg

MAC Attack just went live! www.backerkit.com/c/projects/b...

AT THE SHRINES OF THE LOWER OSSUARY is a new dungeon for HIS MAJESTY THE WORM, released as PWYW until July 20th as a thanks for your support! Can you: * Cleanse the four shrines? * Defeat the terrible clown queen? * Trade with the strange merchants? riseupcomus.itch.io/shrines-of-t...

Brilliant! As fun to read as it would be to run.

Now with an improved graphic! prismaticweekly.substack.com/p/ennies-goo...

Less than three weeks until Vaults of Vaarn Second Edition launches! www.backerkit.com/call_to_acti...

The post-OSR blogosphere (and the wider rpg blog ecosystem) has been buzzing about two very different games that one might initially associate with OSR-heads. I’m not sure either has detailed rules about torches at all. I roundup the recent posts about Seven-Part Pact and Daggerheart #osr #ttrpg

I wrote about the implied lifecycle of dragons in AD&D! I describe each stage of the lifecycle & suggest how the DM might use this information to color encounters with dragons of a given age category: orphaned dragons, angsty dragons, loner dragons, & of course, gangs of teenaged dragons!

Since I'm taking a little bit of a break, I want to talk about the work I've done over the last three months at Rascal. I've done interviews, criticism, reportage, and stuff that's hard to classify. I'm incredibly proud of all of it and want to take some time and lay it out in one thread: 1/

After months of reading, playing, and debating RPGs the 2025 ENNIES nominees are here. ennie-awards.com/2025-nominees/ Congrats to this year’s nominees and the countless others who didn’t get nominated but were just as deserving. As always, there were more winners than seats this year.

So many awesome creations in here!

This game remains high on my list to play

Know what I can always use more of in my gaming life? Big, stompy 'mechs! Here's a play review of my experiences running Mechwarrior: Destiny, a rules-lite narrative TTRPG set in the BattleTech universe. #battletech #mechwarrior #ttrpg #blog www.thenovelgamemaster.com/2025/07/play...

My blog on Storytelling through Violence in Mothership got a callout in Ben Milton's @questingbeast.substack.com.web.brid.gy newsletter! If you're not already subscribed, do yourself a favor and check it out. www.thenovelgamemaster.com/2025/05/stor...

Awesome video about the history of TTRPGs in Japan! As an American who played a lot of JRPGs growing up, was fascinated by the Lodoss War anime, and have been enchanted by Delicious in Dungeon, it's fascinating to see how the tropes that influenced Japan are in turn influencing western audiences.

applying for jobs again

Reading Jack Vance's "Cugil's Saga," and came across this gem: Nisbet took Cugel outside and pointed to a bluff overlooking the plan. "See where the trees hang past the cliff? At that place a great magician named Makke the Maugifer built a manse and ruled the land with his mauging magic... (1/2)

Can't wait to check out the next chapter of Designing Dungeons, out now! This course has been a huge help in my current novel-in-progress, a dungeon-lit adventure.

Sharky, my latest module featuring sea witches and underwater zombies, has been fulfilled to backers (check your emails)! To celebrate, it's now available for half price on the itch.io store for the next 14 days! Check out Sharky while it's hot! idlecartulary.itch.io/sharky #osr

CALLING ALL BLOGGERS TO A BLOGGING CONCLAVE (also I rounded up some blog posts) #osr #ttrpg

I wrote a little thing about running #mothership and how maybe it's a little bit like a story game after all, at least when stuff is trying to kill you. www.thenovelgamemaster.com/2025/05/stor...

The Explorateur is a newsletter crammed, like Beetle from Breath of the Wild's backpack, full of links and tools for rpg designers. Reviews, mechanics, theory, and more. I'm slowly getting over that 1000-subscriber hump without Substack, Twitter, or Facebook. www.explorersdesign.com/the-explorat...

For Indie Bookstore Day, I wanna shout out the places I go to get my #TTRPG & #OSR books 🎲 Exalted Funeral: @exaltedfuneral.bsky.social Ratti Incantati: @ratti.bsky.social Spear Witch: @spearwitch.bsky.social & Indie Press Revolution: @ipr.bsky.social Show them (& your local) some ♥️ today!

I just rounded up a whole bunch of recent blog posts for you and put them in nice little categories for your easy consumption #osr #trrpg prismaticweekly.substack.com/p/blog-round...

I had some thoughts about encounter balance in 5e, and why a game designed around balanced encounters undermines tension and excitement within the game. Please forgive the clickbait title. www.thenovelgamemaster.com/2025/04/can-...

@bakenshake.bsky.social took a tip I wrote about on my blog and expanded it into a much more well-fleshed out system for running mysteries and investigations. Love the idea of expanding the tool to track location based clues as well as "bargain tables" to associate information with skill checks.

Truly excited and grateful to be part of this year's #Narratess indie book sale. Check out my collection Assistant to a Judge of Hell & Other Stories for a buck, or one of the many other titles available at indiebook.sale! www.amazon.com/Assistant-Ju...

This week in the bathtub, a megadungeon in a tiny package — resounding success, or failed compromise? Check out the Ruins of Castles Gygar #osr

I started a new campaign last week called Deeps of the Gyre. It's an old-school narrative sandbox in a dying earth setting. I talk about what I prioritized and some decisions I made during the planning stage. www.thenovelgamemaster.com/2025/03/deep...

Kinda tempted to give these out to my players as treasure and watch the ensuing bloodbath as every wizard in a thousand mile radius comes to rain meteor swarms down on the PCs.

I designed a board game that (1) is designed to faciliate worldbuilding before your fantasy TTRPG campaign, and (2) you already have all the necessary components to play as long as you have some combination of Risk and Monopoly. Cones of Dunshire, eat your heart out #osr #ttrpg #boardgames

I wrote about a simple tool I use when running mystery scenarios that helps me keep track of information and helps me to improve NPCs. #blog #ttrpg #gmadvice #mothership www.thenovelgamemaster.com/2025/03/info...

Really excited to see this - so many talented, awesome creators involved!