Continuing my series on developing your D&D sandbox. This week: the Town. I talk racial demographics, numbers of character-type NPCs, henchmen, stronghold-ruling, faction-controlling high level NPCs, inter-faction intrigue, districts, & random encounter tables. #D&D #AD&D #OSR

In the 5th session of our AD&D 2e B1 campaign, we had our first player character death, & the players returned to town & confronted the grim reality of taxes in AD&D. #D&D #AD&D #OSR

The first in a series describing how I developed my B1 sandbox (& how you might develop sandboxes more generally) for play, beyond the initial minimalist sketches of locations. First, I describe how you might determine the order of operations by which you'll detail each location in the area of play.

In session 4 of our B1 campaign, the party gets lost in the dungeon, finds Quasqueton's library, & stumbles back to the dungeon entrance. They decide to return to town with their treasure, but have to negotiate with the goblin leader to get it out. #D&D #AD&D #OSR

The play report from our third session of Dungeon Module B1: In Search of the Unknown. The players do battle with giant rats, explore a labyrinth, & have a close call with a 4 HD giant tick.

There needs to be like, a tutorial for using the AD&D Appendix A. I've tried it so many times & as someone who has made it their job to parse Gygax's writing, I cannot for the life of me figure out how to navigate the maze of tables.

Continuing my read of Dungeon Module B4: The Lost City 👇

I have a one-shot to run on Friday & I've decided to take a crack at Dungeon Module B4: The Lost City. I've had this one in the queue for some time, so now I'll finally start reading through it to prepare myself.

A play report on the second session of my AD&D 2e B1 campaign. The party shares the "finest ale in Quasqueton" with a goblin boss, then goes off in search of a sentimental ring. #D&D #AD&D #OSR

It's the middle of March, which means it's time for another newsletter! Within you'll find a selection of the best RPG blog posts of the last month along with my roundup of what I'm reading and playing. table46.bearblog.dev/the-46er-mar... #rpg #nsr #osr #posr

We played the first session of my B1 sandbox game in AD&D 2e! Town stuff! The logistics of securing passage downriver! Hobgoblins, dancing lights, secret doors (?), magic mouths, goblin stew, & more! #D&D #AD&D #OSR

Just finished up a blog post about how I prepared for, and continue prepping for my Shadowdark/ Caverns of Thracia campaign. If you're like me and prefer improvisation and light work to Blorb and legwork, give it a read. Hell, give it a read anyway! billhook.bearblog.dev/building-out...

I rate every room in White Plume Mountain (X out of 5 Stars) and explain why each room does, or does not, work and how you can take these lessons into designing your own dungeons, be they of the funhouse variety or not #osr #ttrpg

Hopefully the first in a new series of play reports detailing a campaign taking place in my custom sandbox for dungeon Module B1: In Search of the Unknown. #TTRPG #D&D #AD&D #OSR

If you ask someone how Into the Odd has streamlined their games, they will probably mention removing the "to hit" roll and just rolling damage. I blasphemously ask the question: can we re-incorporate accuracy and missed attacks with Into the Odd without turning it into a major slog? #osr #ttrpg

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/

Pokémon Is OSR. Yes, seriously #osr #ttrpg #pokemon

The accomplishment of "We Read the Bloggies" is incredible. In just a few weeks they produces nearly the same number of episodes as Blogs on Tape has in almost 9 years. Bravo to everyone involved, that's incredible.

Catch ‘Em All while you can! In commemoration of the 30th anniversary, I’m heistfunding a Poképocalyptic game based on Into the Odd. I call it INTO THE ODDISH! You can pre-order it now (until ???) #ttrpg #pokemon #osr

New blog post! In it, I talk about a settlement first way of building a sandbox, with the intention of visiting the same communities over and over. Check it out! www.mindstormpress.com/settlement-o...

I know, I know, I keep talking about the Bloggies. But I built an archive of all the past Bloggies Awards. If that's your kind of thing, take a look! You can also grab yearly OPML files of all nominees for your RSS reader. bloggies.org

See also @forlornencystment.bsky.social post about minimalist location sketches. This should be taught in public schools forlornencystment.blogspot.com/2025/05/the-...

I wrote about treasure maps as adventure hooks in AD&D. How likely are they to be found in dungeons? What monsters have them? To where & what do they lead? What does it take to claim the treasure they reveal, who else is after it, & to what lengths will they go to obtain it? #D&D #AD&D #OSR #blog

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...

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.

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

i was super inspired by @knightattheopera.bsky.social and @forlornencystment.bsky.social’s posts about mapping to incorporate similar dynamics into my pirate game and i felt the best way in my context was to make maps and mapping into a resource 🗺️ traversefantasy.blogspot.com/2026/02/stat...

It’s the final round of the blogger brackets (after this is best overall post, then bonus categories). These are all great matchups! Vote!

I wrote about player mapping in dungeons in AD&D, specifically about how the dungeon map enables expedited travel along mapped routes, allowing not only a quick escape from the dungeon to rest, but also a quick route back into the dungeon to continue exploration on subsequent delves. #D&D #AD&D #OSR

Vote for my analysis of Dungeon Module B1's room descriptions in the Critique category! & also vote for other posts in that category & the remaining categories. But especially vote for mine!

My condensed sandbox for Dungeon Module B3: Palace of the Silver Princess is featured in this newsletter as part of a fantastic selection of blog posts!

Reading and LISTENING to the bloggies! Favs so far: The 10 types of special rooms @traipsehex.bsky.social Writing rooms in pairs @sean.tuesdayknightgames.com WHY MEGADUNGEONS? @icastlight.bsky.social Dealing With NPCs Should Be Expensive and Irritating @forlornencystment.bsky.social

I wrote about underwater adventures in D&D. Aquatic environments have everything you need in a D&D game - dungeons & dragons (in turtle form). Why don't we go there more, & how might we change that? Did you know about The Deluge in the ancient past of AD&D's implied setting? I didn't! #AD&D #OSR

I recorded two of my posts for the WE READ THE BLOGGIES podcast. If you need to catch up on your blog posts before voting starts next week, this is a great way to do it!

The awesome @bommyknocker.bsky.social, @elmc.at, Grace of Choir of Fire @seraphimseraphina.bsky.social and many community members have organized a group recording effort of every Bloggies post as podcast episodes inspired by Blogs on Tape!https://podcast.bloggies.org/

The nominees for 2026's Bloggies have been announced! Voting begins in one week, so get caught up on any posts you may have missed ASAP! This humble blogger has two nominations - one in the Critique category & another in the Best Series Category. Links to both are below!

a response to the @rascal.news article on yazeba's bed & breakfast, clarifying some misunderstandings and (hopefully) providing a clearer explanation of what happened possumcreek.medium.com/a-response-t...

Hijacking this strat today knightattheopera.blogspot.com/2026/02/navi...

All bloggers are hereby cordially invited to participate in a new blog bandwagon on the topic of MAPS, featuring art (which you can use, remix, distort as you see fit) from @amandalee.bsky.social (Garbage Barge, Vampire Cruise, et al) You have 80 days starting now! #osr #tttpg #blog

I tried to wrap my head around the #AD&D domain game. How does it work? Is it worth using? What ideas can you steal for your next D&D-like game, & which should you leave in 1979? Plus, what does a character's inhabited domain eventually look like, & how big are those peasant uprisings exactly? #OSR

Hey, my updated sandbox for Keep on the Borderlands appears here as well! Lots of great links to chew on in this (new!) newsletter.

My revised sandbox for Dungeon Module B2: The Keep on the Borderlands is featured here! Check it out if you haven't already, along with the other featured blogs.

A fun excerpt from the AD&D (2e!) PHB (one of those relatively rare little & easy to miss changes from 1e to 2e): Adventurers are sometimes summoned by the "monster summoning" spells. If you want to shake things up, have your player characters summoned to do battle on behalf of a wizard!

The Bloggies 2026 submissions are officially closed. Get ready for the nominations next Monday. You can get the full schedule and submissions breakdown here: www.explorersdesign.com/bloggies-sub...

New Blogpost: Speedily write encounter tables by making a simple food chain network. bommyknocker.bearblog.dev/write-encoun... #osr #ttrpg #blog

In my latest blog post, I give thee A Tactile Technique for Tracking Time in TTRPGs! Do with it as you will ⏰ (It can also track other stuff; I talk about it in the post) #osr #ttrpg

The Bloggies 2026 submissions are closing this Saturday night! Please submit your favorite blog posts, blog series, and newcomers on this year's official web page: www.explorersdesign.com/bloggies-2026/ (And please, share this far and wide 🙏)

The resistance against Gulluvian tyranny, monsters terrorizing the barony, deadly mountains & forest, & the hunt for My Lady's Heart & the werebear Aleigha take center stage in my biggest sandbox yet - a "condensed" version of the regional map from Dungeon Module B3: Palace of the Silver Princess.

What if I change Landmark, Hidden, Secret to use for character knowledge? idk! elmc.at/common-recal...

What do you do with vampires in your D&D-like games? I'm not a big fan of the tragic figure vampire like Strahd (though I love Coppola's version of Dracula oddly enough). I'm thinking more like, a random vampire found in a dungeon or in a wilderness lair, not a campaign baddie - what's their deal?