Can't believe I never noticed that V5's Touchstones seem to be heavily inspired by IWTV. Louis spends his early years in the book obsessing over his favourite mortals (first his family, then the Frenieres), and Lestat watches over his elderly, ailing father. VtM is never beating the allegations.

Moved to a new place with PROPER working internet and was able to finally upload all my character portrait packs! GET THEM ALL PAYING US DOLLARS INSTEAD OF EUROS for a limited time: 25 Euros? NO! 25 US Dollars! Literally HUNDREDS of character of all kind to choose from! #TTRPG

Dismal Keep design thread 🧵

Love Brennans stories and dude does a great job but man I really wish he'd get out of dnd For all the anti capitalism messages he has it is conflicting to see him stick with them after their continued and repeated bad behaviors be it ogl, gen ai, negative personel behaviors etc plus the games that

Here's a weird pet peeve of mine: the PT-BR version of V5 didn't bother translating Anarch/Anarchs, and it was a stupidly easy term to adapt. The sect was previously called Anarquistas here (bit of a mouthful), but they could've translated it as Anarques for V5. Ball's in your court, Sixth Edition!

I'm not saying r/OSR is perfect, but it's astoundingly better when it comes to Indie games and blog posts. I've actually discovered a fair number of cool games and blogs over there that I otherwise wouldn't have known about!

I need more karaoke versions of The Vampire Lestat songs ASAP. I got to sing a few yesterday and had a blast! It's such a pity that some of my favourites aren't available yet.

This is an excellent thread, and this part perfectly encapsulates one of the most insidious challenges in game design. So many games suffer from not picking a lane. By trying to be generic enough to support all kinds of playstyles, they often end up bereft of a well-supported core gameplay loop.

Wow, what an Emmy-worthy performance by Delainey Hayles on The Vampire Lestat's sixth episode. Such a harrowing, soul crushing tour de force. Ms. Hayles deserves ALL the awards.

I've been playing FIFA 17 for decompressing, and I swear that Career Mode has much more in common with what gamers expect and want from RPGs than most people give it credit for. Your choices matter, your stats are important, you can customise your character, and there's even emergent narratives!

Explorers Design has been nominated for Best Online Content in The Ennies 2026! Not sure who to vote for? Let me win you over. Today's post is a special edition of The Explorateur. It features my favorite nominees and a long list of non-rpg design links. 🍻🎉 www.explorersdesign.com/explorateur-...

when either my partner or i use the phrase "for the time being" the other will pause and say "for the Time Being!" as if it's an entity that shares our home with us. we use our gay wizard voices when we say it too of course .

YouTube just recommended me a ZachTheBold video where he rants about "the OSR" and it's probably one of the most misguided takes on it I've ever watched. I mean, holy shit. Yikes. Dude has a surface level, exaggerated vision of OSR games and is spreading it like absolute truths. Big oof.

this thread is a particularly valuable observation about tiers of play! the original tiers of play were not the same as the modern tiers of play; notably, the modern tiers of play are mostly about where you are and not what you are doing, while the original tiers of play were the opposite

Excellent thread, but I do have a tiny addition: the power fantasy most players seem to want isn't about great, world-shaping powers, but the mere ability to influence what direction their characters' lives will take, as that's something they sadly lack IRL.

Bootleg Brancrug

Ryan Kattner, Daniel Hart and Sam Reid are doing such wonderful work on The Vampire Lestat. Stained Glass Eyes left me a sobbing mess. Diegetic music doesn't get much better than this.

Room temperature take: Game Pass (and Xbox itself by extension) didn't need to expand, add dozens of first-party titles to its roster or acquire a bunch of new studios. Back in 2020 or so, they had a good thing going as a costumer friendly, affordable alternative to Sony, and they threw it all away.

great thread of adventure writing resources

As a Man City fan, can't say I'm surprised by my country's defeat. Norway deserved the win, and Haaland did what he does best. All hail the Nordic cyborg.

!! BLOG POST TIME !! Combat can be a central part of a lot of games! Some people prefer the precise and balanced "Combat as Sport" where others yearn for the tactical infinity of "Combat as War." For me though? I seek out "Combat as Art"... www.failforward.moe/2026/06/comb...

Itch summer sale! Footfall ttrpg bundle! Get stealth action (core system) and train mystery (adventure) goodness for only $7.50! itch.io/s/191426/sum...

Getting back into Pokémon was definitely a mistake, lmao. This isn't an affordable special interest *at all*. Plus, my brain keeps bugging me to check out one of those Pokémon-inspired TTRPGs, but I know that if I do, there'll be no turning back.

The issue with loose adaptations like House of the Dragon is that they don't exist in a vacuum. HotD isn't a bad show at all, and some of the stuff the writers come up with is fairly interesting, but a faithful adaptation would be a vast improvement over what they're madlibbing.

Rooting for Switzerland because their coach is a hottie. *shrugs*

I love Fright Night (2011) by Craig Gillespie. It's one of my most watched vampire films, even. Naturally, I was pretty excited for Supergirl once I heard Gillespie would be directing it. As good as a director as he is, though, the subpar script he's working with here dragged everything down. /1

The headline is already painful enough, but the subheading just twists the knife. "VtM-style vampire in D&D" is one of the most cursed sentences I've ever read.

You can still get Footfall it is here valid character options include Corvo Attano Chell Portal and Monkey D Luffy you can do 1800s shadowrun in the manner of John Thiefman from the hit game Thief there is a published adventure that is a mystery on a train rotten-shotgun-games.itch.io/footfall

The whole "post a vampire" RT chain makes me want to commission some The Lesser Dead and Coffin Moon fanart, lmao. I wanted to post Joey Peacock or John Varley, but I didn't find *any* art of either. Bummer.

It just occurred to me that in spite of all my playtime on Ghost Recon: Wildlands, I've never actually done a full-squad playthrough. Alas, it's not an easy game to find squadmates for, but it does sound fun, particularly with some milsim roleplaying for added flavour.

I've written about my inspirations for my 100+ room, Metroidvania dungeon, The Castle Automatic

Zomg!!! hodagrpg.itch.io/darkfantasy

My elderly mum fell while on a walk and fractured her femur, and it's looking like she'll need a hip replacement. I am a bundle of nerves and not remotely equipped to deal with this. 2026 has been *rough*, holy shit. As if having to be rushed to surgery a few months ago wasn't enough, now this.

I wrote this back in January when I read some grousing against random results in TTRPGs. Then I did what should be standard practice when engaging with online discourse: I waited 5 months (now) to post my very short response. A defense of surprise eggs! #ttrpg #osr

This gave me 3 levels of Aggravated Willpower Damage, and I had to pass a Difficulty 5 frenzy check. I guess it makes financial sense or whatever, but still. How the mighty have fallen.

I was initially reluctant to read Coffin Moon because the basic premise reminded me too much of The Suicide Motor Club (which I love), but I'm SO glad I pulled the trigger. John Varley is a glorious bastard who deserves a place in the vampire hall of fame. A feast for vampire and horror fans!

This, so much this. V5's books look nice, don't get me wrong, but they didn't need to be so premium, and the cost is pretty prohibitive when you could just buy another whole-ass game for the price of *one* supplement. It's a bad deal.

As much as I like to say my work is entirely for myself, it isn't, and positive attention makes a huge difference to artists, big and small, when it comes to finding motivation. We're social creatures and it's easier when motivation is both from within and without. So do this!

blog post: a dubiously historical 2d6 combat maneuver system for #od&d, inspired by the "man-to-man" combat tables from Chainmail, and the Turn Undead ability! "What does my helmet do?" it stops you from getting smacked in the head. dungeondoll.blogspot.com/2026/06/od-c...

I feel like this goes both ways. If the GM only ever introduces problems with obvious, uncomplicated solutions, you can’t expect players not to take the easy route just for story reasons. But if you’re using scenarios with no easy solution, you’re going to get interesting answers no matter what.

felt like compiling some of the fantasy people with a certain theme I've drawn for my homebrew D&D setting

If you're seeing this, you missed it! But, the good news is that this package will always be available for 75usd! Request it by name: The Zine Dream Bundle!!!

Every once in a while, I start thinking about moots that aren't active on any platform anymore. Wherever they are, I hope they're doing great and achieving all of their goals. This may sound too parasocial, but eh. I think all human connections are important, even online ones.

This is probably my favorite layout I've ever done... This collage vibe is definitely something that'll be unique to this project but has been delightful to work with

Abuse and exploitation is built into the roots of the TTRPG industry. It doesn't have to be like this. I don't really know the path out of it because I keep coming back to "audiences need to do better" which is pretty difficult to make actionable.

GOT A SMALL ZINE COMING UP? NEED BESPOKE ART? DO I HAVE A DEAL FOR YOU! -15 Spot illos based around your zines theme/genre -2 Hero Illos highlighting a central theme or design element of your game OR central hero/villain If you have questions or would like to discuss larger projects, ping me here!

I really should update my Letterboxd with all the stuff I've watched this year. 2026 has been *packed* with films, and I've been in a pretty big horror binge, so there's a lot to add there. Well, I'm sure I'll get to it *eventually*.

Finally think I've settled on the 12 Exorcist Backgrounds (cut a few that'll become part of the 12 Exorcist Masteries)

Wait, wait, RPG Trader has revenue split for collaborations??? Holy shit. Total game changer, right there. I'm always open for collabs, but this makes me even MORE interested in working on that sort of project. Hit me up, moots!