Gathering design goals for a Spelljammer update

tl:dr; double down on the things that make Spelljammer unique

Maybe I started with the cart before the horse in focusing on what are the sharp edges that people knock against in Spelljammer. Perhaps first we ought to start with 'why bother at all'? In other words what is a Spelljamming campaign supposed to be like?

(photo of own copies of Spelljammer core books, Polyhedron #151 magazine)

Print-on-demand for players in Europe

Looking at the news that Brexit is going to cause delays and cost increases for getting UK printed books from DriveThruRPG, I wondered how likely it is that the companies will be motivated to fix this. Maybe if there are more gamers in the EU than in the UK they might?

As we know from almost all surveys, the majority of TTRPG gamers are in North America, with the next largest chunk in Europe.

Fewer surveys and sites give enough granularity to see what specific countries players are from but there are some and they all seem to say mostly the same thing.

On updating Spelljammer - how to live your best space swashbuckling life

tl:dr; a sweep up of Spelljammer feedback and thoughts on how to avoid the possible pitfalls.

Inspired to kick out this long-simmering post based on this thread by DM Sarah on updating Spelljammer. As she says "It's weird, zany, D&D in space. It's an encapsulation of that sci-fi fantasy blend written by, among others, C.S. Lewis and Madeline L'Engle."

I have been thinking about the difference between Spelljammer and Planescape and to me Spelljammer is about having a mobile base for your road adventures while in Planescape you have a static one or none at all such as being a caravan. This is also noted in the thread so the real question is what is going to make a Spelljammer campaign more fun than just doing a standard nautical one?

d24 Living doors - built with gygaxian democracy, neural networks

This was another 'rapid encounter table generation' exercise. Original prompt was a post the r/DnDAcademy prompt for 'Living Locks'. This time I tried bulking it out through gygaxian democracy on the OSR discord then fed that to the Bellard tool to bulk it out.

Review: Stygian Library

tl:dr; so good I bought the pdf, then backed the kickstarter to get the gorgeous hard back version.

I backed the Kickstarter for the remastered version which had the objective of a slight edit clean up and lots of new art. This was due in October and turned up on the last day of December which is pretty kick-ass given the hell-scape of a year it has been. You can get the pdf version of this fantastic "creepily genteel dungeon set in an infinite extradimensional library" by Cavegirl on Drivethrurpg.

Newly arrived hardcover of Stygian Library

So what is this? The Stygian Library is a generative dungeon that expresses the shifting and labyrinthine nature of the place through a depth-crawl mechanic making it a journey of discovery for both players and game master every time you venture within.

Review: Barrow Keep - Den of Spies

tl:dr; a romantic-fantasy setting and intrigue tool-box for easily creating a web of relationships within a living setting.

Barrow Keep: Den of Spies is a system-neutral Young Adult-themed "old-school RPG zine of intrigue & romance". The back cover puts it as "when you were young, you thought Barrow Keep’s great walls would keep you safe. But now, coming of age, you realize how many troubles were inside these walls all along: duplicitous courtiers, treacherous kin, puritanical heresy-hunters, glamoured spies from the woods beyond the walls, and hungry, ancient spirits of the forgotten past. How will you protect yourself? How will you protect your friends?"

screengrab of front cover, art by Minerva Fox

This 72 page zine is approaching completion following a successful kickstarter campaign by R. Rook Studio, "specialists in the documentation of weird settings and strange locales." This is to be the first in a series of romantic fantasy settings for "adventure fantasy games with an old-school spirit".

Actual Play: Kobolds Art Exhibition part III - The Rescue

Following up on the previous posts about playing through the Kobolds Art Exhibition zine. Part II found here.

Impression of 'Ward Against Self', inspired by Marguerite Frieda Harris

Once again our party - children of the rulers of the realm - return to the depths of the palace to visit the Kobolds. This time they seek to rescue a palace servant from the cursed painting "Ward Against Self" by a Pit Fiend that they have named 'the murderpainting'.

Content warning - minor body squick, ~PG-13.