Apparently there's some kind of Story Games/OSR argument on here somewhere? Two funny things about this: 1) The OSR has been dead since at least 2020. 2) Story Games and the OSR are basically the same thing. They need to hug it out and make up. Deal with the real enemy ... Collectible Card games.

I'd argue that Zedeck is being to generous here - the "Heist" as a modern narrative concept is rooted in lionizing risk taking and cleverness as a means of acquiring unearned wealth outside of the structures of law or community. It is derived from the Western's narrative of heroic individualism.

A thought on RPG location design ... I am so so tired of tombs and ruined castles. The real world in infinitely more inventive. Consider instead the first "modern" observatory in Europe - Uraniborg - a pre-telescope astronomy island, including the "underground observatory" Stjerneborg ...

Still illustrating Bones of Bronze - it needs more skeletons.

Welcome to the barrow... Additional Bones of Bronze art - part of why it's taken so long is because it's just a lot of skeletons...

Another piece of interior art for Bones of Bronze - my upcoming five level dungeon set in the Crystal Frontier's Barrow Fields.

Leo's a chill creator ... makes good stuff. Don't steal it to sell, but if you must ... credit him. This is not a big ask.

So the plagiarists and grifters are still involved in the Post-OSR space... Not shocking - it's the same shifty, yelling crew as always. Silver lining ... they seem to be recruiting very slowly and their work is still bad ... the mirror of the "TrvOSR" chud boys. Solution? Make good things.

This was a great campaign - very freeform sprawling, but one where so many detail and player initiated goals arose from play. I wish we'd been able to go on a bit longer - as it was ripe to turn into a domain game with dinosaur riding armies clashing in the wastes.

I have no idea what any of this means - maybe "RPG blogging isn't dead"? It sure is cool though.

Added a community detection algorithm to the data and it found five clusters. The layout now forms a pentagram unintentionally fitting for this little satanic panic hobby. Here's a fun scroll through the years

If you ever thought, "Damn I love Fallout", then here is one woman you can thank for that legacy.

Serwer is obviously someone with a good understanding of D&D. I also agree with his thesis on Musk and co ... but I'd suggest that fantasy rpgs are less reactionary/conservative coded when they allow player ethical decision making - including the choice to be horrible.

I blogged yesterday - it's been months. This is just a little thing but I think it could be helpful for folks designing dungeons. It's the result of chatting with @icastlight.bsky.social who was so kind as to post a link yesterday.

I love award shows. It's no secret. It's why I've spent months writing, refining, and trying to distill my Ennies judging experience. It's a 4-part series (I know, I know). One article a day. Today's lays out my goals and puts the focus on awards in general. www.explorersdesign.com/ennies-1/

Some more Bones of Bronze Art - a Mellified Royal - one of the Palace Queens of old Sildvar laid to rest in a sealed coffin of magically puissant honey and revived by the corrupting sorcery of the Iron Barrow.

This is good. I wish I had more to say on it, but it's just good sense.

Deep in the red rock beneath the Iron Barrow, the bronze bulls still haunt the catacombs - automations maintained by deathless smiths at a forge of cold fire.

Still drawing away slowly on the art for Bones of Bronze, which is now through its final edits.

I've said elsewhere that while I am fond of Jay and Jay's thought is good, I don't entirely degree with this manifesto. That also means I largely agree with it. An RPG is best when player desire is in conflict with some of the rules, and when the game questions itself. You can find this playing B2.

I haven't played miniature based games since the mid 90's, but I still follow Casey's work. He's chill and amusing but also thinks hard about his rulesets and is never weighed done by that fussy gravitas that seems endemic in the wargames space (sorry mini's peeps - you have a few tedious people).

I have three dark fantasy print bundles left here: mana-meltdown.backerkit.com/hosted_preor... Last chance to grab one before next print run

Hey that's my game. Using your D&D dice for wargames is objectively 46% better than just using six siders.

WD put this together to be small but allow exploration - a hard task and while space constraints are always limiting I think he succeeded and has included some weird wizardly touches that don't feel "gonzo" but manage to feel very Appendix N fantasy.

part 2! regardless of whether or not we know which author contributed which passages, can we poke major tendencies and axes of difference across od&d? and do the poles of such axes correlate? traversefantasy.blogspot.com/2025/08/od-h...

I helped a friend out a drew Amanda a mediocre map - she made it look pretty good.

It always makes me happy when people run my stuff! Let me know how it goes.

Bissette's D&D art was always some of my favorite, and as a kid it was very inspiring in that it suggested D&D monsters had material culture and complexity through visual storytelling. Never knew who had drawn it though. Perhaps someone should make figs based on the art for real?

Drew a quick Isometric villa for a friend to key up. I think I'm getting this map style down a bit better.

Jay makes very thoughtful games ... not my style of games, but very good and well thought out games. Yazeba's, Mythic Bastionland, and His Majesty the Worm were my favorites this Ennies. All are worth you time - if they happen to be your thing.

AT THE SHRINES OF THE LOWER OSSUARY is a new dungeon for HIS MAJESTY THE WORM, released as PWYW until July 20th as a thanks for your support! Can you: * Cleanse the four shrines? * Defeat the terrible clown queen? * Trade with the strange merchants? riseupcomus.itch.io/shrines-of-t...

It's a good one - an experimental piece that still holds up.

also published one last update to FMC to correct outstanding mistakes and reupload the B&W version of the PDF thank y’all for your continued interest in this project! :) traversefantasy.itch.io/fmc

7 Maxims of the OSR, from All Dead Generations by Gus L.: blogsontape.paperspencils.com/2025/07/04/e...

Continuing on the theme of wilderness travel, @benlaurence.bsky.social‬'s landmark orienteering approach is really compelling! I've never run a proper exploration game, but this makes me want to. blogsontape.paperspencils.com/2025/06/27/e...

I've followed this game for a bit, but I've only played it briefly. A nice look back at older CRPGs with a sort of "dark fragglerock"/"fey-realm clayamation" aesthetic and clear table top inspiration. Nostalgic enough to take me back to playing on an Amiga in 1990, but with modern mechanics.

Designing Dungeons: Or How to Kill in a Party in 30 Rooms is complete! Its a great series of collected wisdom from the old-school brain trust on dungeon design with the goal of 𝓹𝓵𝓪𝔂𝓲𝓷𝓰! Fantastic collab with @riseupcomus.bsky.social !!

My friend Flo's dad was involved in the fanzine culture of D&D in the 70s, and made some contributions to early gaming magazines. She recently shared some of his handwritten notes about the spell systems he and his friends used. I think these are FASCINATING

The best thing about deciding the OSR scene died in 2019 is that I don't have to care very much about what people keep saying about it these days.

Lawd are we discoursing again?

Related to the prep below, while six 6-mile hexes (including village & megadungeon) might not seem like a lot of adventure, when zoomed in to 2 miles/hex, you easily see how there is plenty of space for activities. World building doesn't have to span a continent when a county will do. Art: HexKit

So, you're looking for fonts that'll stand out. There are hundreds of open-source/free ones, but you want something more obscure, something that supports a type designer. Here are 10 type foundries, collectives, and designers perfect for indie rpgs... www.explorersdesign.com/10-budget-fo...

I wrote a thing about Manticores (or Mantichora) and how they fit into the Crystal Frontier. They're an excellent psychedelic Western monster perfect monster out of the box, man-beasts of the wastes. Post includes a Build-a-Mantichora table. alldeadgenerations.blogspot.com/2025/04/natu...

Highlighting a gem in Knock! 5 How do you handle large, sprawling spaces like, say, Moria? Too big to actually map out. But abstraction feels like it cheapens exploration. Nick's answer? Flux space. A hybrid approach. Sometimes narrative beats, sometimes room by room exploration.

Do you want to easily consume the Collective Esoterica of the Best OSR Blogs? No, I'm not talking about Knock! (for once this month) I'm talking about the new season of Nick L.S. Whelan's podcast Blogs on Tape! New episodes coming out now! blogsontape.paperspencils.com

BLOGS ON TAPE SEASON 6 HAS BEGUN! To kick things off, lets talk about how the OSR is dead, perpetually dead, who says it, who disagrees with it, and what being dead means. "The OSR Should Die," written by @traversefantasy.itch.io

When I was a kid we didn't have Harry Potter. If you wanted British boarding school wizard fantasy you read Diana Wynne Jones. The books are better in every way ... writing, imagery, ideas, and politics. She also wrote a lot more children's fantasy. Some good enough for Miyazaki.

Bullet points and brochure style layouts with top notch information design are cool, but have you heard of this amazing new tech? It's called PROSE. It allows you to both convey information AND induce aesthetic reactions with no additional visual elements. I think it's going to be big