This week in the Bathtub, it’s the Rolling Coast! Does this amusement park setting for Mausritter a funhouse ride, or is it a tower of terror? find out! idlecartulary.com/2025/11/03/b...

Snow posted further down a list of links that she feels were great writing; they’re an education (especially if you ignore the article of mine that crept in there 😅) bsky.app/profile/snow...

This week in the Bathtub, it’s the Rolling Coast! Does this amusement park setting for Mausritter a funhouse ride, or is it a tower of terror? find out! idlecartulary.com/2025/11/03/b...

My hot take: there's a lot of great writing about tabletop roleplaying games, its just not taken seriously unless you're an academic or a video games journalist. we have a rich history and most of it is treated as drivel.

It’s that time of month again: Idle Digest time! This newsletter is for people who don’t follow blogs, but still want to keep up with my work and what I’m interested in! open.substack.com/pub/idlecart...

Suuuuuuper wanna play this soon to wrap up spooky season!

It’s that time of month again: Idle Digest time! This newsletter is for people who don’t follow blogs, but still want to keep up with my work and what I’m interested in! open.substack.com/pub/idlecart...

A friend woke me with “I’m salty you dropped a good review the same day Gillen started discourse.” But, looks to me that Gillen just said “the osr sucks” and OSR ppl said “we dont suck” and yall should simply read Spine, the most innovative game of the year so far. idlecartulary.com/2025/10/30/i...

A friend woke me with “I’m salty you dropped a good review the same day Gillen started discourse.” But, looks to me that Gillen just said “the osr sucks” and OSR ppl said “we dont suck” and yall should simply read Spine, the most innovative game of the year so far. idlecartulary.com/2025/10/30/i...

kind of unfair that Thomas Manuel is so fucking funny on top of being an incredible writer

It is not every day that your game is called "the best TTRPG I've read or played all year," much less by one of the best reviewers out there. I know I've asked a lot recently, but I'd be additionally grateful if you would help me share this review.

Spine is probably the best TTRPG I've read or played all year, and — unbelievably — it's a solo TTRPG. Find out how this remarkable piece of work changed me, even as I changed it! idlecartulary.com/2025/10/30/i...

Spine is probably the best TTRPG I've read or played all year, and — unbelievably — it's a solo TTRPG. Find out how this remarkable piece of work changed me, even as I changed it! idlecartulary.com/2025/10/30/i...

Sat down today to play Spine for an upcoming review. I destroyed a beautiful book, and now I’m sending that beautiful mess to my friend to review as well! I hope they survive! Look forward to another I Read game review of Spine come Halloween!

Sat down today to play Spine for an upcoming review. I destroyed a beautiful book, and now I’m sending that beautiful mess to my friend to review as well! I hope they survive! Look forward to another I Read game review of Spine come Halloween!

Serpent’s Sanctum has just been reviewed on Between Two Cairns – thanks @bradkerr.net @yochaigal.bsky.social ! Grab it on itch for $19 undelved.itch.io/serpents-san... Or get it when signing up for the $10 tier on my patreon, along with two other adventures: www.patreon.com/cw/Undelved

Reading Nova's blog, you start to see themes of what's improving and what's faltering in rpg adventure design. Emergence is a really cool funnel. Love the cover. Have similar thoughts to Idle Cartulary's.

Nederlandssprekende volgers (alle dertien)! Ik en @chriticalhit.itch.io hebben meer dan een uur over rollenspellen gepraat. In het bijzonder over DIY kerkers. Iedereen kan binnen een uurtje een "zungeon" op papier hebben—en met zo'n DIY mentaliteit kunnen we rpgs weer lokaal en eigenaardig maken📝✂️🖍️

Read her full review:

This week in the Bathtub, its Emergence! Does this funnel module concentrate all the fun into a tiny container, or does it leave you as lost and confused as a babe? Find out!! idlecartulary.com/2025/10/20/b...

This week in the Bathtub, its Emergence! Does this funnel module concentrate all the fun into a tiny container, or does it leave you as lost and confused as a babe? Find out!! idlecartulary.com/2025/10/20/b...

This week in the Bathtub, it’s a classic, What Ho! Frog Demons! Is this as devilishly good as the others in the Hill Cantons, or is it staid as a toad? Find out! idlecartulary.com/2025/10/13/b... #osr

This week in the Bathtub, it’s a classic, What Ho! Frog Demons! Is this as devilishly good as the others in the Hill Cantons, or is it staid as a toad? Find out! idlecartulary.com/2025/10/13/b... #osr

I’m in this one, covering the entire Cairn boxed set! Exclusive!

Sadly between Prosperos Dream and Wildenrem I cannot afford any more modules this month. If any #MothershipMonth modules are interested in getting a review, please send a message my way, because I *want* to play and review you! Here’s my policy idlecartulary.com/2025/04/03/a...

Today, I read Harvest, the game of creeping folk horror. Is this island a place you want to visit, or should you stay well away? Find out! idlecartulary.com/2025/10/09/i...

Part 3 is here. The deep dive into the Ennies. If you're someone who doesn't know much about the Ennie Awards, you should read parts 1 and 2. But if you like a bit of inside baseball and are interested in award shows in general—this is the article for you. www.explorersdesign.com/ennies-3/

Today, I read Harvest, the game of creeping folk horror. Is this island a place you want to visit, or should you stay well away? Find out! idlecartulary.com/2025/10/09/i...

This week in the bathtub it’s Manic in the Monastery! Is this module all highs or all lows? Find out! idlecartulary.com/2025/10/06/b... #osr

Stoked to have my second adventure get a review on Idle Cartulary. Thanks Nova!

This week in the bathtub it’s Manic in the Monastery! Is this module all highs or all lows? Find out! idlecartulary.com/2025/10/06/b... #osr

A thread of tips on that: 1) @josephrlewis.bsky.social has a good series of videos on adventure design on his Youtube youtube.com/@jrlewis1?si...

If you're an indie creator, I expect the price of your ttrpgs, zines and comics to be higher than what I'd pay a bigger publisher for something similar. This will never stop me buying your cool stuff. Charge proper prices for your hard work!

Science minded people: A room has one door and no windows. Where do I put the fan, so that convection will help circulate the air out the door to cool it down most efficiently?

Have the morning off. Plan: Fight Typhon, probably lose, then write more Silverlance while watching Nosferstu. Good plan?

It's that time of the month, girls: The Idle Digest! SO MUCH going on entering the last quarter, and I try to get on top of as much as possible here! The Idle Digest the newsletter to join if you want to keep a track of me and my thoughts, but don't use an RSS feed! open.substack.com/pub/idlecart...

It's that time of the month, girls: The Idle Digest! SO MUCH going on entering the last quarter, and I try to get on top of as much as possible here! The Idle Digest the newsletter to join if you want to keep a track of me and my thoughts, but don't use an RSS feed! open.substack.com/pub/idlecart...

I always look at whatever Sam Sorenson makes. It's almost never works with my (very narrow) playstyle, but like Nova in this review, its hard to argue with the ideas and craft on display. The work is often idiosyncratic and challenging to run, but it's never boring or ordinary. Good review.

This week in the Bathtub it’s Empire of Hatred, a sprawling hexcrawl in a doomed empire filled with ominous, cackling NPCs, plague saints and dead gods. Is it full of soul or the subject of hatred? Find out! idlecartulary.com/2025/09/29/b...

Hoping on in a couple of hours w/ @dankdungeons.bsky.social @jorphdan.bsky.social @idlecartulary.itch.io @diogooldskull.bsky.social & SKULLBOI aka Better Legends to (probably) announce the judges selections for the Appx. N Jam. #OSR #TTRPG Youtube.com/@jocularjunction

This week in the Bathtub it’s Empire of Hatred, a sprawling hexcrawl in a doomed empire filled with ominous, cackling NPCs, plague saints and dead gods. Is it full of soul or the subject of hatred? Find out! idlecartulary.com/2025/09/29/b...

I'm feeling a really down lately and struggling to get through creative work for a new game release so I'm reposting my OSR zungeon set in a weird junkyard! Would appreciate showing some love via reviews/shares/comments and supporting if you've got a few smackers to spare <3

A short but punchy piece.

Have you seen goblin errands by @sharkbombs.bsky.social ? sharkbombs.itch.io/goblin-errands it also takes that "kids are goblins" idea and runs with it.

A bit of meta-commentary from Nova on how she approaches writing reviews, and what she thinks makes them valuable and useful.

everyone should read this thread

I put down some thoughts in a blog post about this. I think goblins work best as a violent perversion of human society. They have their structures and logic, it just leads to justifications for eating humans. #TTRPG #OSR blog.catshavenolord.page/on-goblins/

Yochai and Brad made me wanna write a good goblin module. I’ve never tried to writer a goblin module. What’s a goblin? What makes it good?

Nova is one of the community's most valuable reviewers and I think this is a great look at what a review means.

I wrote a little about criticism today. idlecartulary.com/2025/09/25/w...