elmcat
@elmc.at
š¤ 815
š„ 429
š 983
Blogging about TTRPGs among other things.
pinned post!
Spent the last month mapping the blogosphere by its links. The graph is finally ready Communities clump into a big hex and the whole thing looks like a star map What are blogs anyway but stars in the sky?
elmc.at/mapping-the-...
To check out the graph directly follow this link:
graph.elmc.at
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Mapping the Blogosphere
An interactive graph of TTRPG blogs, showing who links to whom, how communities change over time, plus stats and how it all works.
https://elmc.at/mapping-the-blogosphere/
about 1 month ago
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Darling Demon Eclipse
about 3 hours ago
Hey! Submit your favorite blogs to The Bloggies, and if you feel strongly about it, submit Faggot Games for best blog series. Below are a few blogs I deeply enjoyed this year:
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Alright, I've seen other people doing it so I want to highlight some of my favorite posts from bloggers this year! In no particular order:
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about 2 hours ago
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Valeria Loves
about 4 hours ago
I think I have a shot at winning Best Debut Blog, which scares me in a wonderfully prickly way. Starting this blog was the highlight of my year. I deeply appreciate the warm reception y'all have given me. To pay it forward, I'm listing underrated Bloggie submissions in theš§µ.
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Rose Skye
about 3 hours ago
I certainly would not be displeased if anyone voted for This Vorpal Coil as Best Debut Blog... I started it last April and it's been great to finally ascend to part of the 'sphere.
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Hell yea LET'S GO
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about 5 hours ago
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Idle Cartulary
about 10 hours ago
Two silly big posts today, the first being the Idle Digest for December of 2025, featuring a recap of Critique Navidad for those who couldnāt follow it closely:
open.substack.com/pub/idlecart...
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The Idle Digest #14
Idle Cartulary's Digest for December 2025
https://open.substack.com/pub/idlecartulary/p/the-idle-digest-14?r=11843d&utm_medium=ios&shareImageVariant=overlay
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elmcat
Kati, A Certified Yapper
1 day ago
I couldn't help myself and added 1 more hex to the
#hexmas
map - Hexmas Train, a minigame of sorts to traverse this complete 60-hex map created by the blogging community. Final map inside!
#blog
#ttrpg
#blogwagon
theplayreports.com/posts/hexmas...
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The Play Reports
Hexmas 2025 - Hexmas Train Depot
https://theplayreports.com/posts/hexmas-train/
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elmcat
sam āfully armoredā sorensen
about 21 hours ago
hello gamers, I'm here with my final blogpost of the year. this one's just a big list of every new word I learned this year, with short definitions for each. peruse at your leisure:
samsorensen.blot.im/new-words-fr...
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Zedeck Siew
1 day ago
RINGS OF REMINDER Here's practice I started in 2024, to balance out my severe insecurities: every time I finish a personal project and it is fully out in the world, I get a ring to wear. Here are all the projects I've finished, in the last two years: 1/
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Juniper
1 day ago
ITS DONE. COMPLETE. A full fucking player facing playtest rulebook ready to go! All formated nice with all the rules and everything. Pierre Menards First Edition realised at last. Finally I can start the real OSR: writing a cool as hell adventure module for it.
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Zedeck Siew
1 day ago
Folks seeing this: is the link below visible to you? It's about the stuff I've made in the last (two) years, with a photo of my hand. Tumblr hit me with a "Potentially mature content: This post may contain content not suitable for all audiences" warning! WTF?
slowlorispress.com/post/8044233...
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Rings Of Reminder
It wasn't an existential threat like it was for many---but 2025 was for me still quite a wrestle. The past two years have been. I am still not over stuff that happened in 2023. Maintaining friendships...
https://slowlorispress.com/post/804423339241275392/rings-of-reminder
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elmcat
Scrambled to get a 2025 review post out. Instead of talking about me, I dug into my blog dataset and made a bunch of graphs.
elmc.at/2025-in-blog...
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2025 in Blog Data
Blogging isn't dead: a 2025 year-in-review of the blogosphere map datasetāposts per month, survival rates, and publishing patterns.
https://elmc.at/2025-in-blog-data/
2 days ago
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Kati, A Certified Yapper
2 days ago
While I'll never be able to capture everything that happened in
#over/under
, here is my deep dive into the game from both a design view and my own personal denizen one.
#blog
#ttrpg
#playbypost
theplayreports.com/posts/over-u...
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The Play Reports
Doing OT in OU - A Deep Dive into Over/Under
https://theplayreports.com/posts/over-under-deep-dive/
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Scrambled to get a 2025 review post out. Instead of talking about me, I dug into my blog dataset and made a bunch of graphs.
elmc.at/2025-in-blog...
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2025 in Blog Data
Blogging isn't dead: a 2025 year-in-review of the blogosphere map datasetāposts per month, survival rates, and publishing patterns.
https://elmc.at/2025-in-blog-data/
2 days ago
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Working on a yearly wrap up but rather than focusing on me I look at overall Blog stats.
2 days ago
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Wizards of the Coast should take a cue from Daggerheart and put character abilities on cards. Expand it: each player buys their own cards and only official ones are allowed. They come in booster packs + rare foils/reflective/gold-ink variants This would save D&D and finally make it profitable again
2 days ago
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sam āfully armoredā sorensen
4 days ago
what's up gamers, I'm back with another blogpost about editing. this one's about development editing rather than line and copy editing, though, so the tips are all a little more vague and philosophical. hope you enjoy anyways:
samsorensen.blot.im/ten-intangib...
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elmcat
Afraid of Encounters
4 days ago
Introduced my friend Apoleen to Mothership at the end of last year. And now it's his favorite Tabletop RPG this year, which made him write this blogpost. The Indonesian Tabletop RPG blogging scene is growing!
distractedatthetable.substack.com/p/the-most-h...
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The Most Human Part of Space Horror? Redundancies.
Real horrors of space start long before the monster arrives. Redundant systems, manual overrides, and ugly industrial design reveal a deeper truth: before we feared aliens, we feared the vacuum.
https://distractedatthetable.substack.com/p/the-most-human-part-of-space-horror
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Lyme
5 days ago
Here, have a blog post where I give surprisingly serious answers to the eternally unanswerable questions of RPGs, like "What's the OSR?" and "how do I get my group to meet on time?"
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Answering the Perpetual Questions of RPGs
For much of the early 2000s and 2010s, whenever a TV show wanted to signify that a character was supposed to be a geeky type, they would have them express a ...
https://brackish-draught.bearblog.dev/answering-the-perpetual-questions-of-rpgs/
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Gizmo Widget
about 2 months ago
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Zedeck Siew
9 days ago
šØWORTHY ESSAY ALERTšØ "but iām more interested in a different question. what happens when a spell becomes cheaper than a worker." The traditional magic=tech worldbuilding question has always bored me. Add class analysis to the mix? I'm in.
beeboobubie.substack.com/p/the-infras...
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the infrastructure of magical convenience
notes on roleplaying magic, class, and control
https://beeboobubie.substack.com/p/the-infrastructure-of-magical-convenience
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ரமணனąÆ
6 days ago
This was a long time coming: Advice for Running a Hexcrawl, a Decade Too Late.
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Save vs. Total Party Kill - Advice for Running a Hexcrawl, A Decade Too Late
Masters of Carcosa is the longest campaign I have run. My friends and I played 23 sessions, starting at the end of 2014, ending near the start of 2016. The game began after Brendan took a break from r...
https://save.vs.totalpartykill.ca/blog/advice-for-running-a-hexcrawl/
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Amanda P.
6 days ago
I too am participating in Hexmas! I give you 0202: Conifer Mountain, an adaptation of a portion of a play-by-post game I ran last year
weirdwonder.net/hexmas-0202-...
#osr
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Hexmas 0202: Conifer Mountain
\ \ \ North: \ Northeast: \ Southeast: \ South: \ Southwest: \ Northwest: Unknown\ For stats, please visit Home of . A cozy cab...
https://weirdwonder.net/hexmas-0202-conifer-mountain/
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elmcat
Yochai Gal
6 days ago
I wrote about my plans for 2026, both under the
@cairnrpg.com
umbrella and Between Two Cairns.
newschoolrevolution.com/cairn-in-2026/
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Cairn in 2026
Every year I try and write a little post about what folks should expect from me in the coming year. I suppose a small part of me feels that once I've announc...
https://newschoolrevolution.com/cairn-in-2026/
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Valeria Loves
6 days ago
Delightful garbage for your holiday-addled sensory organs. šš āļø Including my Theoryslop Post of the Yearā¢
www.valerialoves.com/joybringers-...
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Joybringers of 2025
Yeah you sickos love lists donāt you.
https://www.valerialoves.com/joybringers-2025/
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š.šÆ.
7 days ago
My 2025 Secret Santicornšš¦, which is too good not to share. Thank you Anon! Here are some fantastic titles for 4ļøā£-level PCs and how to get them:
icastlight.blogspot.com/2025/12/2025...
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2025 SECRET SANTICORN: Fourth Level Titles & How To Get Them
Merry Christmas an d Happy Holidays! In my last post , I blogged about what IĀ gaveĀ for the 2025 Secret Santicorn. On this day of gift-g...
https://icastlight.blogspot.com/2025/12/2025-secret-santicorn-fourth-level.html
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Riley V
7 days ago
Happy Holidays everyone! I managed to polish off my
#Hexmas
blog post last night and I humbly submit it now to join the rest in Yuletide cheer! And letās raise a glass of eggnog to
@prismaticwasteland.com
for coming up with this jolly concept!
#blogwagon
#osr
#ttrpg
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Operation #HeXmas
ā² Recently, Prismatic Wasteland got the blog bandwagon (snow)ball rolling for #Hexmas with this post. The TL;DR of it is participating bloggers design the content of a single TTRPG hex themed arounā¦
https://theanarchistspellbook.wordpress.com/2025/12/25/operation-hexmas/
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Juniper
8 days ago
YOU CAN DO IT TOO: IT IS TRIVALLY EASY. COME PLAY IN THE SPACE HOGS.
itch.io/jam/old-scan...
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Woefully Encysted Creature
8 days ago
For my contribution to the Merry Hexmas blog bandwagon, I made a mini sandbox: the Jinglebell Barrens, a land which lives in the shadow of a lost city which forgot the meaning of Hexmas. Will the adventurers restore warmth & cheer to its streets, or simply plunder everything not nailed down?
#osr
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'Tis the Season (for a Sandbox): Into the Jinglebell Barrens
This post is a part ofĀ Prismatic Wasteland's Hexmas Blog Bandwagon . The intention was for participants to make a single holiday-themed hex...
https://forlornencystment.blogspot.com/2025/12/tis-season-for-sandbox-into-jinglebell.html
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alice
9 days ago
blog post: x-in-6, 2d6, 1d20: alice muses about the three types of dice checks which are core to od&d!
dungeondoll.blogspot.com/2025/12/dice...
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Dice Tools in od&d
unified resolution systems are a big thing in modern rpg design. generally, the question i see a lot comes down to this: "why have multiple ...
https://dungeondoll.blogspot.com/2025/12/dice-tools-in-od.html
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Juniper
8 days ago
A gift, for the festive season, my first ever an OSR. You can tell its an OSR because its made entirely out of offcuts from B2 The Keep on the Borderlands. Its compatible with many games and also incompatible with at least 3, probably.
juniperc.itch.io/bn-2-the-kee...
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BN-2 The Keep on the Borderlands by Juniper-C
A Lyrical OSR Dungeon
https://juniperc.itch.io/bn-2-the-keep-on-the-borderlands
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Brad Kerr
8 days ago
THE CAIRNIES
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Afraid of Encounters
9 days ago
New blogpost from my friend Habeeb, this one talking about magic in Tabletop RPG, infrastructure, convenience, and... generative AI? I'm just going to keep hyping him up here until he posts on Bluesky š
beeboobubie.substack.com/p/the-infras...
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the infrastructure of magical convenience
notes on roleplaying convenience, class, and control
https://beeboobubie.substack.com/p/the-infrastructure-of-magical-convenience
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elmcat
Tangent Joy
10 days ago
I struggled for a really long time to decide what the first Solar Cataphracts game blog post was gonna be. I needed something in depth enough that it couldn't just be a discord message. How about a four thousand word breakdown of
#Over/Under
's economics?
open.substack.com/pub/tangentj...
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Solar Dev Log 1:
Learning some valuable lessons from the Economics of Over/Under, and how I plan to apply them to my next Live Text Roleplaying Game.
https://open.substack.com/pub/tangentjoy/p/solar-dev-log-1
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Kati, A Certified Yapper
17 days ago
Finally added my hex, Hearth, to the Hexmas Map for the Blogwagon started by
@prismaticwasteland.com
!
#blog
#hexmas
#community
#ttrpg
#hexcrawl
theplayreports.com/posts/hexmas...
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The Play Reports
Hexmas 2025 - Hearth
https://theplayreports.com/posts/hexmas-hearth/
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Magnolia Keep
11 days ago
From the brilliant mind of Magnolia Keep comes the first annual Lizzies! The best and brightest of the blogosphere comes forward, as decided by your second-favorite blogger with a furry pfp!
magnoliakeep.blogspot.com/2025/12/the-...
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The Lizzies 2025
Welcome one and all to the first annual Lizzies , a celebration of all things Liz (that's me)! 2025 has been...a fucking year to be trans in...
https://magnoliakeep.blogspot.com/2025/12/the-lizzies-2025.html
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Dusk Witch
13 days ago
Now that the 1.0 version is out and the start date is set, it's finally time to post about VANGUARD, my adaptation of Sam Sorenson's CATAPHRACT.
lairoftheduskwitch.bearblog.dev/vanguard/
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Binary
13 days ago
Throwing one more post on the pile before the end of the year. Enjoy
binarystar.games/posts/origin...
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Conflict as Motivation and Resolution
Or: Everyone always says what combat is doing, but nobody ever asks how combat is doing. The TTRPG community (well, the blogging part of it) sure does love to define combat as one specific pithy thing...
https://binarystar.games/posts/original-1764883946-conflict-as-motivation-resolution/
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This is absolutely amazing. I loved the Blogging Cleric class and always looked forward to see more from
@bakenshake.bsky.social
's Blog Setting. Never have I suspected my persona would be a part of it so this fills me with joy. Check it out and start bloggin!
add a skeleton here at some point
13 days ago
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Kati, A Certified Yapper
13 days ago
As a first year blogger, I've keep notes on jokes and trends. Its all culminated in this post! Thanks to
@elmc.at
's graph work and
@linkskywalker.bsky.social
's Flux Space, I got the motivation I needed to create the Blogosphere Flux.
#blog
#fluxspace
#community
theplayreports.com/posts/blogos...
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The Play Reports
Welcome to the Blogosphere
https://theplayreports.com/posts/blogosphere-part-1/
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Prismatic Wasteland
14 days ago
New Dungeon (in blog form): Castle Claus, or The Keep on the North Pole A Rankin Bass Christmas-themed dungeon for the Merry Hexmas Blog Bandwagon. Possibly one of my more high effort blog posts to date
#osr
#ttrpg
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Castle Claus: The Keep on the North Pole ā Prismatic Wasteland
A Merry Hexmas location: dungeoncrawl through Santa Clausā castle. Whether you lead an elf and reindeer uprising is up to you!
https://www.prismaticwasteland.com/blog/castle-claus-the-keep-on-the-north-pole
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Blog map update! - Added many more blogs - Pulled in more historical post data (Substack, Ghost + others) - Reworked the side-panel stats to be clearer The new data also reshaped the communities. We're at eight now.
graph.elmc.at
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Blogosphere Map
An interactive map of TTRPG related blogs, linked by who cites whom.
https://graph.elmc.at/
15 days ago
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Blog map update! - Added many more blogs - Pulled in more historical post data (Substack, Ghost + others) - Reworked the side-panel stats to be clearer The new data also reshaped the communities. We're at eight now.
graph.elmc.at
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Blogosphere Map
An interactive map of TTRPG related blogs, linked by who cites whom.
https://graph.elmc.at/
15 days ago
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elmcat
š.šÆ.
15 days ago
Quick post about some cool and very convenient public domain heraldic shields I found. Perfect for kingdom making using some very iconic imagery that is easy for players to remember, yet similar enough to draw connections.
icastlight.blogspot.com/2025/12/d20-...
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D20 HERALDIC SHIELDS: Easy Options for Your Campaign Kingdom
Depiction of 20 heraldic shields I find it easier to be creative when I have a prompt or some starting point rather than a blank slate. Its ...
https://icastlight.blogspot.com/2025/12/d20-heraldic-shields-easy-options-for.html
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Fedmar
15 days ago
Continuing the series, here's some illness and poisoning rules.
behindthehelm.bearblog.dev/illness-pois...
#osr
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Illness, Poisons, and Medication
In situations of prolonged/grievous exposure to environmental pressures, you have a chance of . Roll a d12, and compare the result to the Illness Chance for ...
https://behindthehelm.bearblog.dev/illness-poisons-and-medication/
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Fedmar
16 days ago
Compact weather rules. For your enjoyment.
behindthehelm.bearblog.dev/weather/
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Weather
Weather is tracked on three axes, each on a 1-to-6 scale: Clouds, Wind, and Heat. At the beginning of the game (or every time the players enter a new regi...
https://behindthehelm.bearblog.dev/weather/
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Andy | Pandion Games
17 days ago
OK. Started a personal blog today for all my thoughts and ramblings that don't fit official Pandion stuff. Pandi Ponderings:
pandiponderings.pika.page
Just posted a nice rambling reflection on what I've done this year. (shout out to A Couple of Drakes, who always calls me Pandi)
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If you do tag me so I can add you to the blogmap
add a skeleton here at some point
16 days ago
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RP
17 days ago
you should start a blog
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Magnolia Keep
18 days ago
From the brilliant mind of Magnolia Keep comes the long-awaited sequel to Combat as my Balls! The term "Player skill" has always rankled me, so I decided to delve a little deeper into that and discuss different kinds of player skill games can encourage.
magnoliakeep.blogspot.com/2025/12/skil...
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Skill as My Balls
I have a distaste for a lot of terms bandied about in the OSR sphere. Gameable Content is one. Another, apparently is "Player Skill." During...
https://magnoliakeep.blogspot.com/2025/12/skill-as-my-balls.html
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