It's been a couple years since Reach of the Roach God was published, and I'm still thinking about how it pulled off stat blocks without stats. It's a load-bearing piece of tech that's criminally underused. www.explorersdesign.com/designing-lo...

In an effort to bribe you into voting for me, I have once again broken my record for longest post. Enjoy my review of Daggerheart. It's full of statements that are approximately true. valerialoves.com/daggerheart-...

Monday’s #Shadowdark Shadowfeats Feat for #ZiMo: 78- Special Rites [Priest]: Take 1 turn to bless a corpse, it cannot return as evil undead. You may also make a WIS check (DC 12) to beseech a humanoid corpse for aid, raising it as a friendly zombie in six hours. Zombies last for one day.

Oh, you thought The Bloggies were over? The Bloggies haven't ended. They might never end. Vote in the Bonus categories this week! Ballot: forms.gle/d6YbnUqiuypv... www.explorersdesign.com/bloggies-2026/

Some Dungeon procedures for a theater of the mind point crawl for #daggerheart . The other day @thisisvictor.bsky.social had a great idea of using wandering monsters as the tension mechanism (in lieu of a more traditional "dungeon turn"). So stole that idea outright and made this!

#Jennell #Jacquays, trailblazing #trans woman, #TTRPG designer & artist, is a legend. This article provides a deep analysis of her first big adventure module, Caverns of Thracia, proving that she is the first truly great adventure designer, and arguably the GOAT. pathikablog.com/2025/05/05/h...

Inspired by wasitlikely.blogspot.com/2025/02/make... I give you, Curses-as-swords: dreamshrike.blogspot.com/2026/02/curs...

Sick of bloggies talk? (You shouldn't be, it's gonna be a nail biter.) Read some fresh blogmeat instead. #ttrpg #osr #blog

This week I talk about getting players to care about failure in RPGs, and solve the major problems with all traditional and OSR role playing games. And cure cancer. dreamshrike.blogspot.com/2026/02/land...

Saturday’s #Shadowdark Quirk for #ZiMo is a twofer! 3- Firebug: You love fire a bit too much. Set things alight even when it’s stupid. 20- Werewolf: On a full moon, pass a WIS check (DC 15) or lose control. May attack friends. And yes, you can have more than one Quirk. Pyromaniac werewolves!

It's done. The Bloggies Tournament, and the first half of The Bloggies, are officially complete. It was a tight race, but the winners are... 🧵👇 (Thread attached) www.explorersdesign.com/bloggies-bre...

Friday’s #Shadowdark Feat for #ZiMo is: 123- Play to the Crowd: Perform for 1d2 hours and pass a CHA check (DC 12) to busk for gold (village: 1d4, town: 1d6, city: 1d10 gp). A nat 1 causes the crowd to throw vegetables (with luck). The DC for pickpocket checks on the crowd is one step lower (-3).

We're in the final round of The Bloggies gladiatorial arena. You can find the results (with pie charts!) and round 4 voting form in the link below. There was a significant uptick of votes this round. Neat.

Friday’s #Shadowdark Quirk for #ZiMo is: 13- Persecuted: Your family is being hounded by the powerful. They pull strings: you can be jailed, fined, or attacked by their agents, with no recourse. Why do they chase you? www.reddit.com/r/shadowdark...

Instructional Design should be more involved in the TTRPG space, and The Rulebook missed out on tapping into it. #blog #ttrpg #instructionaldesign theplayreports.com/posts/instru...

And you can vote for all of the current contenders for round 3 in this form! forms.gle/bgzyuLaCQAYF...

Today’s #Shadowdark Feat for #ZiMo is: 85- Dark Bargain: Select one spell you do not know, at a tier you can cast. You may cast this spell once per day. When you do, roll on the magical mishap table. www.reddit.com/r/shadowdark...

Yesterday’s #Shadowdark Quirk for #ZiMo was: 17- Self-Absorbed: Disadvantage on WIS checks to notice others’ needs or read intentions. If you aren’t praised at least once per rest (by yourself or others), disadvantage on CHA checks for the next 24 hours. www.reddit.com/r/shadowdark...

Thoughts on using dragons (or other powerful critters) as terrain-that-talks seedofworlds.blogspot.com/2026/02/usin... #rpgblogcarnival #ttrpg #diyrpg #dnd #osr

Been noodling away at this for a while, now I'm ready to release the ashcan of my vampire game: Ripped Stockings, Leather Jackets, and Bloody Lips personable.itch.io/ripped-stock...

The long-awaited second part to my revolutionary and highly acclaimed weather system #Weather-Calendar/Calendar-Weather has finally arrived! Find within those weird weathers you fantasyheads and #OSR #fiends have been ravenously clamouring for: foreignplanets.blogspot.com/2026/02/d30-...

You have less than 24 hours to vote in round 2. The good news: There are half as many posts in round 2, and if you voted in the first round, you've likely read most of them. The official webpage for this year can be found here: www.explorersdesign.com/bloggies-2026/

Today’s #Shadowdark Feat for #ZiMo is: 95- Polyglot*: Learn one extra language. For wizards: as you were studying, you practiced the language of inanimate objects. You may ask and receive an honest answer from an object 1/day. Retake: +1 language, +1 question/day. www.reddit.com/r/shadowdark...

Bloggies voting is live!! Now would be the perfect time to catch up on the nominees. (Over 70 posts now available) #ttrpg #blog #podcast

Voting is live! www.explorersdesign.com/bloggies-2026/

Today’s #Shadowdark Quirk for #ZiMo is: 11- Jealous: If an ally gains praise or treasure, you must roll WIS (DC 12) or act spitefully toward them. For one hour/torch, you gain disadvantage on all spells and attacks meant to aid that ally. www.reddit.com/r/shadowdark...

Today’s #Shadowdark Feat for #ZiMo is: 38- Houdini: Escape manacles or prison cells in 1d4 minutes (no roll). If you are recaptured and steps are taken to stop you, your next escape takes 1d4 hours, then 1d4 days, months, years, etc. www.reddit.com/r/shadowdark...

Sharing my friend Habeeb's blogpost that triggered that end of the year colonialism and dungeon 💿🐎! Read by @velocitree2.bsky.social! podcast.bloggies.org/@WeReadTheBl...

Wrote about why I think writing in networks deserves all the love it’s been getting lately. dungeonmerl.in/3meqjfytmkc2f

Today’s Shadowdark Feat is… 100- Wizard’s Tongue [Wizard]*: Each day, you can tell one lie that is believed (without question) by anyone less than half your level/HD (round up). Taking this again means you can tell an additional lie each day. www.reddit.com/r/shadowdark...

I wonder if there are gonna be transcripts for the We Read the Bloggies podcast.

turns out, my journal and Darwin's are eerily similar.

Can you represent characters as the relationships they have with others? I expanded on Bonds from His Majesty the Worm to find out. tbr.bearblog.dev/a-miserable-...

Today’s Shadowdark quirk is… 1- All My Exes: In any town or city, there’s a 1-in-6 chance an ex shows up with drama, debt, or danger. www.reddit.com/r/shadowdark...

My takeaway here is that we’re not, by and large, and industry. We’re a hobby, and we should act like hobbyists sharing something they love, not capitalists trying to out-grow each other.

Great post from @hilandergames.bsky.social "A City is a Forest" hilanderrpgs.bearblog.dev/a-city-is-a-...

Today’s Shadowdark Feat is… 54- Stuck In [Thief]: After you backstab, you may leave your weapon in the wound. It takes an action or move to remove. If the target does not remove it, they take automatic weapon damage at the end of their turn. To Reddit upvote it: www.reddit.com/r/shadowdark...

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 No ICE in Minnesota Charity Bundle has officially LAUNCHED! There are 1,439 games to discover for a $10+ donation to Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota! Purchase the bundle here: itch.io/b/3484/no-ic...

My new pulpy zine is LIVE on Kickstarter! 🔥 #Shadowdark 🔥 4 new classes 🔥 16 new monsters 🔥 30 new magic items 🔥 new hex setting, gear, hazards, 🔥 & The Coal Catacombs Dungeon Check it out here: www.kickstarter.com/projects/bob... *Back in the next 48 hrs for a free cover art sticker!

My first RPG pub is for sale now! just in time for #ZineMonth 130 even-level Feats. 135 Quirks. Grounded options for Shadowdark that give characters texture and teeth. May your PCs be unique before they die. www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/5...

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

With the blessing of @chrispwolf.bsky.social I've started a reboot of his classic session report series Thursdays in Thracia! Stay tuned as we work our way through the module and I share my prep and thoughts on the classic dungeon and running a megadungeon in Shadowdark.

New post on what I'm calling Pack A Knapsack (PAK) for GMs to use at any table. Running a campaign is about more than tools and tables. theplayreports.com/posts/pack-a... #blog #ttrpg

Makes me want to run a game where you sign up as mercs to clear a wilderness area for a holding!

Encounter Table as Ecology - very cool blogpost on a brand-new blog. It's awesome to see an actual ecologist extending the ideas from my Write Encounters as Networks blogpost! #osr #ttrpg monstrouscompany.bearblog.dev/trophic-enco...

Elizabeth Zuna Caisaguano, 11 years old. In dreadful ICE detention for nearly a month.

There are folk who see new tech, settings or procedures and say, “No thanks, too silly. I’m pretending to be an elf here - this is serious business.” To them I say, “Pah!” In this blogpost, I present House of Cards Encounter Tracking. bommyknocker.bearblog.dev/a-gimmick/ #blog #ttrpg #osr