DM'd my first game of Free League's The One Ring last night using their new starter set. Really interesting, the various systems for Shadow, Hope and Fatigue etc taking a bit of getting used to, but it really evokes the feel of Middle Earth.

Todays desk display. #tolkien #ttrpg #freeleague #onering

I've relaunched my newsletter - a monthly round up of notes on books I've read, games I'm playing (and Games Mastering) and books I'm writing. Please check it out and if you like what you see, subscribe for free. johnguycollick.substack.com #amwriting, #reading, #ttrpgs

The Folio edition of Lord Dunsany's The King of Elfland’s Daughter. I must say they’ve outdone themselves this time. #foliosociety #fantasy #dolmenwood

Anyone who is interested in playing ridiculously detailed games on obscure or obtuse topics should check out this very helpful video by BATTLEMODE on YouTube. www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Or-... #strategygaming #shadowempire #conquestofelysium #grognard

An absolutely wonderful production. Both leads were fantastic as King Oedipus and Jocasta. #oldvic #theatre #sophocles

“There is no action, no villainy or petty deception committed by him that is not reflected at once, on the lips of those around him, in the form of a great deed.” Tolstoy - War and Peace

Treated myself to a new pair of limbs - now the fun task of retuning the bow begins! #archery #recurve

What’s everyone’s take on must read SF/Fantasy magazines these days, apart from F&SF and Clarkesworld? #fantasy #sciencefiction #horror

So far so good, working longhand in a Rhodia A5 notebook has helped me break the impasse I'd hit with the current novel. Being able to focus on the words on the page, and being forced to work slowly, has helped me churn out 1000 words a day so far, which is a huge improvement. #amwriting

Here's a question for #SF #Fantasy and #Horror #writers out there. How many of you compose your first drafts in longhand, rather than on a word-processor? I'd be very interested to hear your reasons why. #amwriting

Today’s desk display. Conan Returns in 1974 in full psychedelic splendour! #fantasy #swordsandsorcery

Just finished listening to Rosamund Pike reading The Eye of the World, No. 1 in the Wheel of Time. Absolutely gobsmacking and definitely the best audiobook I've ever heard. I'll be hoovering up the rest, and here's hoping she'll do the whole series (she's completed 1-4 so far). #wheeloftime #fantasy

So stoked to see Sigourney Weaver in The Tempest this coming Saturday!. #thetempest #shakespeare #sigournyweaver

Rereading War and Peace after 40 years. Wonderful stuff - I think it's definitely up there on the favourite books of all time shelf.

Something tells me that listening to Rosamund Pike’s utterly wonderful narration of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time books will help carry me through the next four years. youtu.be/koQYEP5qKO8?... #wheeloftime #fantasy #audible

Currently obsessed with Caves of Qud - possibly the strangest and most compelling game I've plaid. Far future mutant weirdness in a world that owes much to Jack Vance, Moebius and others. www.pcgamer.com/games/roguel... #cavesofqud #sciencefantasy #crpg

Have any UK subscribers to F&SF got their Summer 2024 issue through the post yet? #F&SF #Fantasy #ScienceFiction

A new T-shirt paying homage to the late artist Bob Haberfield and his wonderful covers for Michael Moorcock’s Science Fantasy classics #sf #fantasy

The Harper Collins illustrated editions of Tolkien are, to my mind, by far the nicest to read. I even prefer them to the latest Folio ones (the standard versions, not the mega expensive deluxe sets) #lordoftherings

Succumbed to the sales again and this time treated myself to the unlimited license for Fantasy Grounds and The Lost City module. Now I just need to teach myself how to DM online. #OSR #fantasygrounds

Todays desk display and next on the reread list. “Be pure, be vigilant, behave!” #2000AD

Snapped and bought The Halls of Arden Vul Complete in the Drivethrurpg Black Friday sale. Now I need to figure out a way to incorporate it into #Dolmenwood

Nethergate: Resurrection looks & feels like a 90s game, but is one of the most enjoyable CRPGs I've played. You can be Roman soldiers, or Celtic warriors, exploring a huge magical valley, fighting giants, witches, ghosts etc. On Steam for £1.28!! store.steampowered.com/app/218020/N... #CRPG #RPG

I think I might simplify the wilderness movement rules in #Dolmenwood by saying 1 hex = 1 day of travel, 2 hexes if a long a road, and leave it at that. Searching a hex takes an additional day. Otherwise it can get fiddly tracking movement points etc.

I’ve decided to take a temporary break from #BaldursGate3 because I’m drowning in all that detail and lore, and return to #Avernum3 as a palate cleanser before plunging back into BG. #rpg

Late afternoon shoot. #archery

Today’s desk display. #sciencefiction #pulps

#Arcane Season 2 was brilliant. I hadn't a clue what was going on by the end when it went all Sailor Moon ("Ha ha - the Crystal Void Nexus Singularity is no match for my Gentle Rose Cosmic Love Beam!") but boy was it a feast for the eyes! Great art and animation. Hope there's a third series.

I've got a 5pp character PDF I gave to my players in #Dolmenwood who began as investigators in 1820s Hampshire, UK. Basically it's character classes mapped onto Georgian types with background for each (e.g. poet etc.). I can't post PDFs here but anyone wanting a copy is welcome. Screenshot attached.

On a grotty rainy day like today I think I’ll park myself on the sofa and watch the rest of Arcane.

8/8 Challenges. #Dolmenwood is packed with stuff. Keeping track is a challenge. Lots of notes and prep. It's also too crowded IMHO. Slow everyone down or up the scale (eg 1 hex = 1 or 2 days travel). Players can end up bombarded with 6 to 8 adventures/encounters just walking down a main road.

7/8 Using discrete dungeon crawls helped get everyone used to the #Dolemenwood play style. Each dungeon has links to wider conspiracies that build up over time and are expanded on in social encounters. A Festival of St Clewyd point crawl set in Prigwort introduced major factions to the players.

6/8 Lots of OSE adventures. *The Jewellers Sanctum* set in Prigwort and linked to *Winters Daughter*. Sir Chyde’s tomb set in *Barrowmaze*, access via the Drune. The garden in *Hideous Daylight* on Lady Haeroth’s estate. *Temple of Maggot God* under the sanctum leading to *Incandescent Grottoes*.

5/8 House rules and changes - Pluritine Church changed to the Catholic Church. It just makes things easier. No player nonhumans (to preserve the air if otherworldly mystery). Lady Brackenwold origin changed (she stumbled into #Dolmenwood as a child from 14thC England). That’s it really.

4/8 For backup characters for when characters died so I had their rivals from Stockbridge following them. They piled into *The Hole in the Oak*. They emerged in hex 1311 in #Dolmenwood with no way of returning to our world. They made their way north to Prigwort which became their base.

3/8 Starting character classes were limited to Hunter (we had 2 poachers & a gamekeeper 🤣), Cleric (a Swedenborgian) and a Thief disguised as a French nun. Josiah the local Cunning Man NPC told the society of a great oak in the New Forest beneath which was buried ancient treasure. #Dolmenwood

2/8 The players are members of the Romsey Antiquarian Society at the time of Jane Austen. We live in Romsey which is an ancient market town next to the New Forest (we have King Johns Hunting Lodge) and 40 mins from Stonehenge, so everyone was familiar with the starting locale and period. #Dolmenwood

1/8 Someone asked about my current #Dolmenwood. I hadn’t DMed for about 30yrs so I wanted to find a way of easing everyone into the OSE. Dolmenwood is incredibly dense with lore, information, background etc etc. I wanted an approach that would allow them and me to uncover the realm bit by bit.

Just treated myself to a couple of books from the British Library weird tales series, including Willam Hope Hodgson’s The Night Land - one of my favourites! #horror #fantasy #weird https://amzn.eu/d/6NKohQZ

Today’s desk display

Just received some very exciting news on the writing front 😁😀👍. Early days but here is a suitably mysterious piece of Symbolist Art by Jan Toorop to celebrate!!

On the left is my first novel (2013). On the right is my seventh, (aiming for early 2025). Thumb was Science Fantasy, playing around with end-of-the-universe ideas that'd bugged me for decades. The Blocko Tower is a lot closer to home - weird horror set in Leeds. All great fun to write. #sf #horror

Today’s desk display.

A misty morning down on the range.

I’m writing my latest novel in Ulysses instead of Scrivener, out of curiosity to see what’s easier and what’s clunkier. Cross platform syncing works a lot, lot smoother, so I can easily tinker with the text whenever and wherever. Draft tracking and getting a decent overview is not as intuitive.

I repurposed the place I used to play as a child into a nightmare for the Dolmenwood TTRPG I'm currently DMing. The original is a Victorian smelting tower at the old lead mines near Pateley Bridge in Nidderdale. #dolmenwood #horror

Down at the range on a crisp Friday morning

If anyone ever wonders why I turned out the way I did, this is where I used to play as a child #yorkshire