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Karen is the editor for Designers & Dragons: Origins, and I'm very grateful for her work finding all the intricate little details that I'd been inconsistent with over the course of four books, so definitely someone I endorse if you're looking for editorial or proofreading work!

Yeah, I've got my own crowdfunding, but I can't not mention Apocalypse World 3e. Apocalypse World is one of the most influential games to arise out of the innovative indie side of gaming. It's literally created a whole subsector of the industry: Powered by the Apocalypse. A 3e is huge news.

Just a few hours left to get in on this sales crashing event!

This has been out a week, but I just chanced across it today. It's a nice think piece by Timothy Linward on WotC's Sigil for D&D, putting it into perspective with other stuff we know and suggesting why it was doomed. (Warning: Wargamer is absolutely beset with ads!)

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!)

Designers & Dragons: Origins is @shannonappelcline.bsky.social's comprehensive effort to tell the history, design, and lore behind each and every product that TSR published for OD&D, Basic D&D, and AD&D 1E. Find out more and download the free 57-page preview here: www.backerkit.com/c/projects/e...

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...

Using an LLM to create an encyclopedia is about as big of a misunderstanding of the technology as is possible. (It's not an oracle, it's a statically driven autocomplete saying what's likely to come next.) So of course that's a mistake Musk made.

Pity to see someone in our industry like Gates of Krystalia who not only thinks that using art that's been stolen & turned into slop by AI is acceptable, but who will fight anyone who says otherwise.

Our 3rd poll for stretch-goal content for the backer preview of Designers & Dragons Origins had a nice cross-section of late BDD&D material, showing the highlights: Gazetteers, Creature Crucibles, Hollow World, Thunder Rift, AD&D Mystara, Red Steel. (That's Designers & Dragons Origins Book 4.)

Here's the full interview with @doublecritfail.bsky.social . It talks about the process that got me to Designers & Dragons Origins, but also expands some on the general challenges of writing historical chronicles for our industry (and it's well book-marked so you can jump to what interests you)!

You watch the full interview between @doublecritfail.bsky.social and @shannonappelcline.bsky.social here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Kfm...

There was a time we backed every #pbta #ttrpg project. Then folk's creative drive outpaced our capacity, as well as our shelf-space. It was a wicked cool moment. In 6 days, we're hoping you'll back #AW3rd, and keep the momentum rolling!

Terrific overview of Designers & Dragons: Origins here. Great background on the purpose of the project, plus @doublecritfail.bsky.social shares concise, clearly edited excerpts of his full interview with author @shannonappelcline.bsky.social Check it out here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5Vj...

This is a GREAT 'quick' summary of why @shannonappelcline.bsky.social does what he does and what Designers & Dragons: Origins really is. Sub 15 mins, and worth every second. www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5Vj...

"Plagiarism can help beat writer's block, says Bloomsbury chief" Yes, but ...

My conversation with @doublecritfail.bsky.social was terrific because it was nicely far-ranging. One tidbit that he highlights here: we don't know the artist of the Blackmoor cover. This lack of credits was common early at TSR (though many we've been able to more confidently identify).

Catch this full interview w/ @shannonappelcline.bsky.social about his current project, Designers & Dragons: Origins, which chronicles the product history of early TSR and D&D. Thank you Shannon and @evilhat.bsky.social! www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Kfm...

I've been interviewing some pretty awesome folks lately. :) Here's a piece where I talk with D&D historian @shannonappelcline.bsky.social about the history of the game, and its place within the modern TTRPG scene. www.wargamer.com/dnd/dungeons...

Another day, another podcast. This time, I talked with Jon and Seth at Modern Mythos. (And we had some good talks not just about Designers & Dragons Origins, but also the history of the game itself.) modernmythos.libsyn.com/modern-mytho...

It's been a year since the launch of Companions of Arthur, the community content program for the @chaosium.bsky.social Pendragon roleplaying game. I have loved being part of this, every day is a new adventure. There's a celebratory deal on the launch titles right now. Knights! Dames! To horse!

Thrilled to talk with @macreadymusings.bsky.social recently, about Designers & Dragons Origins, and more broadly roleplaying history.

As stretch goals, the Designers & Dragons Origins Backerkit is adding content to the free preview that we're giving to backers, so you can enjoy more content before we finalize our books. I'd thought there were just 4 possible answers to this BD&D poll, and indeed my guesses won 3 of the top 4.

Backers of Designers & Dragons: Origins get access to an exclusive preview that's twice the size the free PDF we share on the page. We call it the Adventurers' Hoard, because every time we hit a stretch goal, we add more entries to it. Get in on the loot: www.backerkit.com/c/projects/e...

Average McDonald’s is probably 10x the size by revenue and staff than the average TRPG publisher. During the 3e era at Wizards there were likely more people working at the local McD’s than working on writing, editing, illustrating, managing, sales and marketing D&D.

Anyone who says "Pour One Out for Gleemax" in response to WotC screwing up yet another electronic initiative wins my admiration.

These were some of the piles of books that I had for signing from the original Designers & Dragons kickstarter. (No signatures this time! We don't have the benefit of a game store as an intermediary and the logistics of getting things to Hawaii are horrifying.)

Fred is really wonderfully transparent in how Evil Hat runs. This is a great look at the costs for Designers & Dragons Origins and what it'll take for them to pay out their costs.

The stretch goals for Designers & Dragons: Origins will add content to the Adventurers Hoard, a preview that we're sharing with backers while the books are in process. I found the results of the polls interesting, and though I'd comment a bit on the top books. www.backerkit.com/c/projects/e...

I really adore the artistry of so much modern OSR-related material.

The first Adventurer's Hoard poll is completed, and readers have asked to add Lankhmar: City of Adventure to the preview PDF for Designers & Dragons: Origins, available to all backers of the project. www.backerkit.com/c/projects/e...

Thrilled to see that Designers & Dragons: Origins hit its third stretch goal while I slept, for $100,000. (That means more content for the backer-only preview, The Adventurer's Hoard.) Thanks for the interest & support. I do my RPG history work because people tell me they like it!

New post from "Designers & Dragons"! @shannonappelcline.bsky.social #ttrpg #blog

What changed between the @drivethrurpg.com product histories and the Designers & Dragons: Origins books? I wrote an article showing the changes for a fairly arbitrarily chosen supplement. www.designers-and-dragons.com/2025/10/21/d... (Click through to the article for a zoomable copy of the image.)

Sunday we had a great chat with the prodigious @shannonappelcline.bsky.social on his new D&D Origins 4-volume history of the earliest publications. Backerkit is now live, so you can grab a slot there! #dnd #adnd #origins www.youtube.com/live/l0YedvL...

Backers of Designers & Dragons: Origins can now vote on what'll be available next in the Adventurer's Hoard preview. (I know which I find the most interesting, but ... SPOILERS!)

I put all of the links to my free #RPG stuff in one blog post so it's easier to find. #5EDnD #CypherSystem #Numenera #Pathfinder #d20 seankreynolds.wordpress.com/2020/03/30/a...

Congratulations on getting funded on the first day @shannonappelcline.bsky.social! I look forward to seeing the finished work. Folks interested in the history of #DungeonsandDragons and #TTRPGs won’t want to miss this four-volume set. Back it here: www.backerkit.com/c/projects/e...

Not only did we hit our funding goal about 5.5 hours into the Designers & Dragons Origins crowdfunding, but we also hit our first stretch goal a few hours later, just past 420 backers. www.backerkit.com/c/projects/e...

Very much looking forward to this, the original Designers & Dragons is something I re-read and reference often.

And we're funded! In Designers & Dragons: Origins @shannonappelcline.bsky.social makes an epic march through the early TSR catalog. Learn the lore (and bumps) behind some of the most iconic products and adventures of our hobby's founding days. Find out more here: www.backerkit.com/c/projects/e...

We did it! I've been working on the Designers & Dragons: Origins content since 2013 and now four big beautiful books are going to be a reality. Thanks for your support! Your interest is what keeps me writing history!

@shannonappelcline.bsky.social First series of Designers & Dragons was so well researched and such an interesting read that it was a no-brainer to back this new series of his!

Yes! These are those original product histories revised, expanded, edited, and regularized. (Some are similar to the original DM's Guild listings, some have a lot more content!)

And this is why E.C. Tubb is the perfect inspiration for Traveller. He wrote SF, but it wasn't about space battles and huge empires. Almost every story was about the weird culture or landscapes of a specific planet. (At least one was set on a ship, but it was just a different sort of world.)

We've got our first 250 backers for Designers & Dragons Origins. Thanks folks! www.backerkit.com/c/projects/e... (And 253 in the time it took me to screenshot and write this.)

I have had a copy of This Free Trader Beowulf: A System History of Traveler by @shannonappelcline.bsky.social in pdf for a while and finally got around to reading it. It is very good. Traveler is a game I have only played a little of so getting a detailed history is a lot of new info for me.

Another point of comparison. Thew new Designers & Dragons Origins books are 100% different from my classic Designers & Dragons books. The classic 4-volume set, organized by decade, are COMPANY histories. The new 4-volume set are PRODUCT histories for TSR's D&D.

In 2013, I started writing product histories for @drivethrurpg.com and their new releases of D&D PDFs. It was a great opportunity and I got *lots* of comments on them. The most common: when are you going to collect these into a book? Those books are available now on Backerkit!