Personally, I think we should go outside and see what the hell is making these shadows.

In addition to being fun playable material, it's also a great little case study for how different systems describe and lay out their locations!

This is a fun post by Patchwork Paladin! It turns lore blocks into a mix-and-match monster generator where you piece together heads, arms, and legs. There's a book like this called The Düngeonmeister Random Monster Generator, but I like this execution more. patchworkpaladin.com/2026/03/19/e...

Looking for a logo for your game/publishing imprint or layout for your next book/zine/board game? Reach out! I want to hear about what you're working on. Contact and Portfolio at: lonearchivist.com

This is a really cool project that adds a kind of “digital walkability” to the community of blogs.

Realis—the moon-hopping TTRPG by @austinwalker.bsky.social—lands on Kickstarter April 2026! Featuring 55 classes, 150+ NPCs, 100+ illustrations, expanded GM & homebrew guidance, and much more, bookmark the campaign today at: www.kickstarter.com/projects/cru... | teaser art: @decassette.bsky.social

Nearly everywhere, editorial design is disappearing. Magazines, newspapers, and publishing houses are shrinking. There are fewer and fewer typesetters every year. And yet, over in Elf Games Land, we have a hundred new people learning and fussing over baseline grids every year.

Seven-Part Pact, my fantastical and ornate TTRPG about the seven most powerful wizards in a fantasy world, is coming this summer to kickstarter!! www.kickstarter.com/projects/sjg...

This is a great bundle for anyone interested in the craft (and even art) of visual design. It features essays, reference books, manuals, and two design influencer portfolios. I haven't read those, but I'm sure they're fun to read. 20 books for $18. 12 days left to get it.

A new link-collecting newsletter has dropped. It's really good. I like that it includes @elmc.at's projects, I'm especially interested in their more robust webring idea. elmc.at/catmail-2/

This month's Blog Carnival topic is right up my alley. I added the event to The Explorateur as well. Give the world your small hero/big world ideas, mechanics, play reports, and more. Think: Mausritter, Pico, Household, and more. The community blogathon ends March 31st.

A short and very busy month on the road means this month's Explorateur is light. I mean, it's still a mace to face with design links, but it's not the usual two-hander. I'm doing this new thing with the intro where I share three design/creative/craft ideas. www.explorersdesign.com/explorateur-...

Billionaires are rogue nukes let loose on society. They would sooner kill everyone and everything than be disarmed. We have more in common with the dead and dying than these monsters desperate to control us.

Excited for Elmcat to take the reins, especially since he has coding know-how I lack. All of my Bloggies ambitions ran up against my lack of computer skills.

Very please Designing Dungeons which I co-wrote with @riseupcomus.bsky.social won best blog series! And was enhanced by being turned into a podcast by @3d6downtheline.com so now it’s in an even more potable form! Link 👇

I WON LET’S GOOOOO!! 🎉

The Bloggies have concluded for 2026! Congratulations to this year's winners. You can find the results (and a whole slew of awesome blog posts) here: www.explorersdesign.com/bloggies-2026/

Please vote Birdmilk for president. I guess you could also vote Birdmilk for best debut blog, but if you have to choose, president.

Today's the last day to vote in this year's Bloggies! Voting closes Friday at 7:00 AM EST. Ballot: forms.gle/oWyc19sKXkod... Want more Bloggies? Elmcat's got a whole archive for you. 👇

What's better than a small game about being mice? A long thread about a small game about being mice, transposed onto a blog.* *It's not actally better but you should read my long read of Mausritter anyway: https://loottheroom.uk/the-long-read-mausritter

A reminder that today is the last day for this. Which also means that today is the last day to vote for the "Books in TTRPGs" series by... (checks note) moi!

Double the Ryans on today's Weekly Scroll livestream. Shoutout to Perils & Princesses! www.twitch.tv/theweeklyscr...

The second half of The Bloggies is happening. Check out this year's nominations for Best Debut Blog, Best Series, and Best Overall Post, then vote on your favorites! forms.gle/VNA674tbsW4m...

If you like these, I have a few books full of them! idlecartulary.itch.io/ludicrous-co...

🚨NATURAL LANGUAGE, RIGID SCHEMA🚨 Seeing @explorersdesign.bsky.social (and others) run with the statblock-without-stats thing is so very gratifying. I'm still really proud of this bit of design! 1/

Few things make me smile like Destiny Howell and Ryan Lynch collaborations. Perils & Princesses is just puffed with charm. I love how it presents its fairy tale themes so simply and earnestly—I mean this adventure has gnomes with little red hats, cmon!

It's been a couple years since Reach of the Roach God was published, and I'm still thinking about how it pulled off stat blocks without stats. It's a load-bearing piece of tech that's criminally underused. www.explorersdesign.com/designing-lo...

OK NOW IS THE TIME, FRIENDOS. Vote for me and my besties but mainly me. I will pay you in good vibes.

The Best Debut Blog category is brutal 💀 What do you mean I have to pick up to three between myself and many of my blogging friends 😱

Voting for the Bloggies’ bonus categories is now open! My AD&D Series is nominated & I would love your support! The competition is crazy! & don’t forget to vote for Best Debut Blog.

It’s up! Vote 1 Critique Navidad!

The final countdown! My personal vote for 🥇top post of 2025 is @elmc.at Mapping the Blogosphere Knowing the link to/from over time of various blogs is an incredible project not only from a hobby perspective but an academic & preservationist one as well! A true 💎

THE BLOGGIES!!! Please vote for the DESIGNING DUNGEONS COURSE for Best Blog Series! This totally free series provides a step-by-step course to follow along with to create a 30 room dungeon from scratch. Vote here 👉 forms.gle/d6YbnUqiuypv... Why I think you should vote for me 👇

My essays for "Books in TTRPGs" have been nominated for best series. Give it a vote! Other favorite series are Critique Navidad by @idlecartulary.itch.io and the Middle Earth Hexcrawl Project by @riseupcomus.bsky.social And I'm voting Valeria Loves by @valerialoves.bsky.social for Debut Blog ❤️

Treat your ears! We have a growing collection of Bonus Category posts on the We Read the Bloggies podcast feed. Some real bangers in here folks, in both the Series and Debut post departments. #trrpg #blog #podcast

Oh, you thought The Bloggies were over? The Bloggies haven't ended. They might never end. Vote in the Bonus categories this week! Ballot: forms.gle/d6YbnUqiuypv... www.explorersdesign.com/bloggies-2026/

THE GREATEST ADVICE OF ALL TIME. IGNORE YOUR THERAPIST DOCTOR LAWYER AND WRITE ROOMS IN PAIRS.

Sweet Jesus those margins were TIGHT. When literally every nominee is a banger though, nobody really loses. What a wonderful bracket from this year's bloggies I can't wait for the final winner reveals!!!

Great brackets this year! Overall very happy with these results.

Hey dice sickos, you know that new table you were looking for?

It's done. The Bloggies Tournament, and the first half of The Bloggies, are officially complete. It was a tight race, but the winners are... 🧵👇 (Thread attached) www.explorersdesign.com/bloggies-bre...

Throw your blogger a chainsaw, a polearm, or just a vote. Either way....

Last few rounds! Go!

The Bloggies. The Bloggies never changes. 154 votes. Let's get it to 200. Voting form here: forms.gle/sGnGSLvHe7Mx...

THE TIME HAS COME. WRITING ROOMS IN PAIRS IS ASCENDANT. JOIN ME AND VOTE FOR THE GREATEST BLOG POST OF ALL TIME.

The final round is already here!! Go vote!

I could not be more proud than to have been eliminated by @isaacisafraid.bsky.social's phenomenal 'Anti-colonial Dungeon' - a stellar blog post that I really hope goes on to win it all!

We're in the final round of The Bloggies gladiatorial arena. You can find the results (with pie charts!) and round 4 voting form in the link below. There was a significant uptick of votes this round. Neat.

Hey, me and my Bloggies voting form saw you from across the bar. We really liked your vibe. (You have less than 10 hours to vote in round 3.)

Bloggies round 3. Another day, another vote! I am sad that "[An OSR Pattern] One, Two, or Three Exits" is out. We could have had an apocalyptic battle of PATTERN vs PATTERN… www.explorersdesign.com/bloggies-2026/