FRPG GM Tip: Sometimes it’s fun to let the players and characters go off on a tangent where they suspect a benevolent NPC is up to no good. But sometimes you need to say, “I’m going to go meta to tell you this person is on your side.” Don’t let suspicion derail character interactions for no reason.

It’s wild how TV told us that conspiracies were shadowy and hyper-competent and in reality the only conspiracy was that the NYT editorial board really wanted Trump to be president so they just… ignored all the e-mails the notorious sex trafficker kept sending them about his pedophile friend.

FRPG Player Tip: When a narrative scene is focusing on another player’s character, you can still look for opportunities to play a part. Asking the GM if there’s anything your character can do to assist the spotlight character is a great starting point.

I’m in favor of Canada joining the Eurovision song thing only if Devin Townsend automatically gets to represent us, no vote, no contest, no nothing.

Scott offers wonderful advice here! And timely for me too as I'm putting the final touches on my chapter for how to design Dangers and Encounters in Adirondark's Superintendents' Guidebook. And in a wilderness survival horror game... it may be wise to avoid combat. #Adirondark #FlamingBrainGames

No, using AI generated stuff as a "placeholder" on your crowdfunding campaign is not OK either. If the visuals are THAT important to getting your project funded, then you need to pay a person up front for those key visuals and deliver a consistent end product to your backers.

Every time Designers & Dragons: Origins hits a stretch, backers pick a new chapter to add to The Adventurers' Hoard. This exclusive PDF is now over twice the size of the 57-page free public preview! We just launched a new poll. Back today and cast your vote! www.backerkit.com/c/projects/e...

It's the ABCs of ADHD today, in a new DORK TOWER MONDAY (Tuesday Edition). Up now at the Mothership: www.dorktower.com/2025/11/10/a... Repost/Reblog/Repeat, please and thank you!

Your favorite RPG freelancers and many indie devs are, in America at last, allowed to have this job because of the ACA. Your games will get worse if it's killed. The brain drain will be immense.

“I wish I could relax I just can’t stop my mind I wish I could collapse But my body’s not that kind…” Radio Free Isheridar.

My Go-To Technique for RPG Character Intros! www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYZm... The character montage is my favorite character introduction technique for #DnD or any other #ttrpg . See examples, how to explain it to players, and even how to use it for travel, to resolve a scene, and much more!

Hey, if you’ve checked out Critical Lit and like what we do, we have bonus episodes on Pateon where currently we watch and discuss movies. This month is The Princess Bride!

FRPG GM and Player Tip: Especially if you’re playing a game that tries to define the things characters can do by focusing first and foremost on the mechanics of action types, feel free to ignore that. Let characters and foes choose what they want to do, then figure out what action covers that.

FRPG GM Tip: Conflict is what drives story much of the time, but conflict in a fantasy game doesn’t always have to mean combat. Conducting a strategy session in which the players and characters come up with a plan to avoid an encounter can be just as much fun as fighting.

FRPG GM and Player Tip: Even if you’re not playing in theater-of-the-mind style, feel free to ignore fixed distances on tactical maps in favor of deciding, “Yeah, that looks about right.” As long as the characters and their enemies are playing by the same distance and area rules, it’s all good.

Public playtest of the Beastheart for Draw Steel is now available: www.patreon.com/posts/143079...

Well now, would you look at that? A massive study of NEARLY 300,000 people in the United States found that receiving an updated 2024-2025 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine REDUCED people’s risk of severe disease AND death in ALL age groups, REGARDLESS of immunity from prior infection or vaccination.

FRPG Player Tip: From useful terrain features to the potential for other creatures to shake up roleplaying, the GM probably hasn’t thought about lots of potential benefits that might play out in an encounter. But most GMs are quick to grant benefits to players who ask about them, so always ask.

From our silent auction: Bid on a retreat to Tuscany in 2026! pulpliterature.com/retreat-to-t...

Wondering why no one likes your posts anymore, even among your friends? It's because @jay.bsky.team and team have decided to hide a huge amount of content from all of our feeds by default. Here's how to turn it off. First go to the hamburger menu in the upper left corner

“One never notices what has been done; one can only see what remains to be done.” — Marie Curie, writing about my creative life, wow that’s weird.

I fully believe in the corporate death penalty and believe we would be a better world if OpenAI lost its corporate charter and was forcibly dissolved. www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...

It's a VERY NORMAL Dork Tower Wednesday (Thursday Edition)! No pretending - new strip up now, over at the Mothership: www.dorktower.com/2025/11/05/1... Repost/Reblog/Repeat (please and thank you!)

FRPG GM Tip: When choosing foes to build an encounter, make sure to not accidentally end up with everyone imposing similar conditions or effects. When a couple of creatures can limit the heroes’ movement, it’s a threat. When all the creatures can, it’s a slog.

From our silent auction: Get a one hour consultation with author Finnian Burnett! app.galabid.com/kpr2025/item...

The truly maddening thing is that, unlike when I was a young man in science and the materials and engineering just weren’t there yet, the future is *right there.* The problem is *solved*. What’s holding us back is not just greed, but this bizarre nostalgia, an obsession with petro- masculinity.

I was thrilled to talk with Teos and Shawn at @masteringdnd.bsky.social this week. We talked about Designers & Dragons: Origins, of course, but dug into some nice history too: Greyhawk's dungeons, Jack Fred, Palace of the Silver Princess! (The show is nicely indexed, so you can hear what you want!)

Terrific in-depth discussion here with @shannonappelcline.bsky.social on @masteringdnd.bsky.social. Not just about Designers & Dragons: Origins but also covering Shannon's early career in gaming and how he got started documenting the history of TTRPGs. www.youtube.com/watch?v=5f6v...

FRPG Player Tip: Give your character a theme song — or a whole suite of theme songs. You don’t have to play it for anyone else, or even share that information. But just like with backstory details, that level of personal interaction with a character can help bring them to life in a profound way.

If you’re still in line, STAY IN LINE

I gotta give it up to the writers tho. If NYC elects a Muslim mayor on the day Dick Cheney died, that is one hell of a slow played story arc. Every time you want to fire 2025's writers room they give you a little narrative resolution as a treat.

Weird how candidates who actually took a stand for minority rights keep getting elected, despite what the smartest Democratic strategists keep screeching.

Elected Democrats spending more time today praising Dick Cheney than Zohran Mamdani is a great case study in abject fucking moral failure.

* chef kiss *

FRPG GM Tip: The best part about a big site-based adventure is watching its complex layout unfold. The worst part is having to constantly backtrack through that layout. Set up convenient portals or safe routes so characters can retrace their steps narratively or leave a location without a fight.

The beta version of the Drakkenheim for Daggerheart campaign frame is free, so you can check it out, and if you like what you see, you can back the campaign. And definitely watch the stream to check out Mike's amazing work here. www.kickstarter.com/projects/dun...

When a war criminal dies, celebration honestly seems like the only appropriate response. This doesn’t feel that complicated to me.

You know how fun it is to grab a random stick and throw it in a river and just watch where it floats? Let's crowdfund a project to radio tag 10 logs, drop in them in Lake Superior, and build a website so we can track them all. We'll pick log teams and see who goes over Niagara Falls first.

The #CORE20RPG is a new approach to d20 fantasy, built on a foundation of freeform characters with no classes and no levels. It turns the aging “pass/fail” core d20 mechanic into fuel for shared storytelling — and you can play for free right now! core20rpg.blogspot.com/p/the-core20... 1/

The Dungeons of Drakkenheim for Daggerheart Kickstarter launches in 24 hours. If you like free minis or STL files, you still have time to follow the KS before launch. Very excited for this project! www.kickstarter.com/projects/dun...

FRPG Player Tip: When you start out, you’ll need reminders of how certain rules in your game work, and players who’ve been at it for a while will help you. When you’ve been at it for a while, new players will need reminders and you’ll help them. RPGs are so often about paying things forward.

Hey! This happened!

If your newspaper is giving Donald Trump softer headlines and gauzier coverage than People Magazine, that should be a bit of a wake up call.

FRPG GM Tip: Ask players to give you as much of a heads-up as possible when they need to miss a session. With advance notice, it’s often possible to tune the narrative and make sure a missing character has the least possible impact — or can even be sidelined for in-game reasons.

It appears my post yesterday wasn’t groundless. I would STRONGLY encourage everyone to contact Epic Games and ask them to deny this rumor and express your opinion about Harry Potter. The only contact information I can find for now is: [email protected] If anyone can find better…

I've been getting back into the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series after many years, and the most relatable part is how everyday objects like doors and elevators have been imbued with artificial intelligence and it just makes them obnoxious and frustrating to use and everyone hates it.

Hey my favourite bard is getting her other bionic hip this week! Please drop her some dosh via ko-fi or PayPal to help with meals, etc while she's in recovery? She also has a wishlist on @throne.com throne.com/theoperageek

FRPG GM and Player Tip: Roll damage for an area effect as soon as you announce it, even if that’s before you’ve decided on location and targets. That way, you can total the damage up while saving throws are being made to keep things moving.

Happy Ween! Here's a huge thread of all the drawings I showed off for #Drawtober!