Things I have found as I tramp about the internet. More can be found on the previous list found here. The original inspiration for all of this - weaver.skepti.ch End of Week links. You can find even more links on the weekly blogroll on r/OSR or a roundup of non-blog news on Third Kingdom Games roundup.
Tabletop Curiosity Cabinet writes Worldbuilding without canon - part of a discussion I find so strange because I cannot understand who would insist that a world *you* would build must adhere to some outside canon. It is your world, your blank canvas, you are beholden to noone when you create it - the only canon is what is created at the table, afterwards.
Dungeonfruit - they of the awesome tagline "Harvesting neat ideas" returns with Making Good Rumors (And Later, Dungeons)
Quotes for hirelings and porters on alexschroeder.ch.
The Cosmic Orrery writes Swords, Sails, & Sorcery with 3 x d10 strange folk, places and treasures
Generators for your elf games - "With this much stuff you can improvise a whole campaign on the spot" on Perchance.org
09 May 2022
07 May 2022
Review: Fateforge Encylopedia
tl:dr; a new take on familiar races, a rich history and lots of interesting sites to explore and civilizations to encounter, delivered with 'naturalists sketchbook' art that makes it feel real.
I backed the Studio Agate Encyclopedia kickstarter - having backed just the pdf during the Creatures campaign, I used the opportunity to get a hard-copy of Creatures and the Encylopedia... and some other stuff. Creatures I reviewed before and liked its new angle on classic fantasy and the 'sketches of real fantastic places' art style.
This time around we take a look at the Encyclopedia - the world book which describes four civilizations found in the world through history, locations and items. First impression is that this is very good looking - as before lots of art and a great deal of graphic design work to make the text look like an in-world scrapbook. The art throughout is really nice, there is a distinctive house style that I like quite a lot - very naturalists notebook with pencil sketches, cutaway diagrams, and maps mixed with classic fantasy art spreads. It looks great and conveys a lot of the sense of the world.
We get lots of lore - this is a world delivered in character which is an interesting choice. Most books give us perhaps an chapter opener or some snippets of in-world character text but the proportion is much higher here - say approx 1/4 of every 2-page spread is an in-world note or quote. These vary from text from books to tales told by campfire.
In the loops and repetition you see a realistic construct of things that have importance, compared to the things that are practically lost to time, only known as legends. This gives nice flexibility to tune the world as you need since all these facts were just heard as tales.
I backed the Studio Agate Encyclopedia kickstarter - having backed just the pdf during the Creatures campaign, I used the opportunity to get a hard-copy of Creatures and the Encylopedia... and some other stuff. Creatures I reviewed before and liked its new angle on classic fantasy and the 'sketches of real fantastic places' art style.
The treasure trove that turned up.
This time around we take a look at the Encyclopedia - the world book which describes four civilizations found in the world through history, locations and items. First impression is that this is very good looking - as before lots of art and a great deal of graphic design work to make the text look like an in-world scrapbook. The art throughout is really nice, there is a distinctive house style that I like quite a lot - very naturalists notebook with pencil sketches, cutaway diagrams, and maps mixed with classic fantasy art spreads. It looks great and conveys a lot of the sense of the world.
We get lots of lore - this is a world delivered in character which is an interesting choice. Most books give us perhaps an chapter opener or some snippets of in-world character text but the proportion is much higher here - say approx 1/4 of every 2-page spread is an in-world note or quote. These vary from text from books to tales told by campfire.
In the loops and repetition you see a realistic construct of things that have importance, compared to the things that are practically lost to time, only known as legends. This gives nice flexibility to tune the world as you need since all these facts were just heard as tales.
04 May 2022
d24 woodworm dungeons
Photos of woodworm tracks, for when you need some naturalistic inspiration for your dungeons. Taken during a stay at a castle that has been around at least 300 years, these give a great sense of what you get when you have burrowing monsters. Crank up the scale and call it suitable for Ankhegs, Giant Sloths, Purple Worms, whatever you like. Whether or not they are still in residence, these delightfully twisty tunnels will give you something realistically confusing to subject your players to.
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02 May 2022
Shiny TTRPG links #66
Bealtaine has passed, hopefully some of us are enjoying our Mayday holiday - so have more links! More can be found on the previous list found here. The original inspiration for all of this - weaver.skepti.ch End of Week links. You can find even more links on the weekly blogroll on r/OSR or a roundup of non-blog news on Third Kingdom Games roundup.
Coins and Scrolls writes OSR: Pantheopolis and the Divine Exodus - a great potential setting.
They Do Not Know How To Do Right (GLOG Classes: Rogue 5e Conversions) on Numbers Aren't Real - also a great place to get your head around GLOG if you are coming from 5e. A rosetta stone.
Bastionland gives us 'Defence' - discussing Hitpoints, Strength and Armour as three dials to twiddle.
How I run: complete adventures in under 90 minutes by Tabletop Curiosity Cabinet including a very useful Five rules to speed up games
Eldritch Fields caused a minor internet scandal with "You are on time! 4 x 1d6 rewards for reliable players"
Coins and Scrolls writes OSR: Pantheopolis and the Divine Exodus - a great potential setting.
They Do Not Know How To Do Right (GLOG Classes: Rogue 5e Conversions) on Numbers Aren't Real - also a great place to get your head around GLOG if you are coming from 5e. A rosetta stone.
Bastionland gives us 'Defence' - discussing Hitpoints, Strength and Armour as three dials to twiddle.
How I run: complete adventures in under 90 minutes by Tabletop Curiosity Cabinet including a very useful Five rules to speed up games
Eldritch Fields caused a minor internet scandal with "You are on time! 4 x 1d6 rewards for reliable players"
30 April 2022
Resources to run Spelljammer today
tl;dr: since it looks like we are keeping the same aesthetic, re-use our old Spelljammer stuff, what was old is new again!
If you want something to whet your appetite while waiting for August here are resources to get your space-swashbuckling campaign off the ground today. The quick hack for Spelljammer is 'do a ship-based campaign, but in space' - we can break this down into 'what are my tricks for doing ship based campaigns well' and 'how do I generate interesting 'space' themed stuff'
The simplest version is hand-wave the travel, describe how the party arrive at their destinations in Wildspace and then get straight to the space-themed encounter table.
If you want to do this, I compiled links to online encounter tables from original Spelljammer.
More advanced, to make it feel really different to, say, a planar campaign or space-travel with a teleporting mage needs us to to two things:
1. Get the ship right
2. Wrap the campaign around it
If you want something to whet your appetite while waiting for August here are resources to get your space-swashbuckling campaign off the ground today. The quick hack for Spelljammer is 'do a ship-based campaign, but in space' - we can break this down into 'what are my tricks for doing ship based campaigns well' and 'how do I generate interesting 'space' themed stuff'
All logos from Wizards, used to illustrate relation
The simplest version is hand-wave the travel, describe how the party arrive at their destinations in Wildspace and then get straight to the space-themed encounter table.
If you want to do this, I compiled links to online encounter tables from original Spelljammer.
More advanced, to make it feel really different to, say, a planar campaign or space-travel with a teleporting mage needs us to to two things:
1. Get the ship right
2. Wrap the campaign around it
27 April 2022
Review: Burgs & Baliffs by Paolo Greco
tl:dr; a content-packed zine, lots of useful things in here with a nice urban theme.
Recommended on most lists of 'what to get for gaming off Lulu' Burgs & Bailiffs by Paolo Greco is a 'zine full of articles on the European Middle Ages written specifically for roleplaying game use. With articles on justice, tournament, warfare, cities, illness and medicine Burgs & Bailiffs will bring a more historical feeling to your game.
First impression - at €4 the zine is a steal - shipping will kill you if you order them on their own but next time you go anywhere near Lulu, throw this in on top, you will not be disappointed.
Recommended on most lists of 'what to get for gaming off Lulu' Burgs & Bailiffs by Paolo Greco is a 'zine full of articles on the European Middle Ages written specifically for roleplaying game use. With articles on justice, tournament, warfare, cities, illness and medicine Burgs & Bailiffs will bring a more historical feeling to your game.
Burgs & Baliffs, POD from Lulu
First impression - at €4 the zine is a steal - shipping will kill you if you order them on their own but next time you go anywhere near Lulu, throw this in on top, you will not be disappointed.
25 April 2022
Shiny TTRPG links #65
Another great week of links from around the internet. More can be found on the previous list found here. The original inspiration for all of this - weaver.skepti.ch End of Week links. You can find even more links on the weekly blogroll on r/OSR or a roundup of non-blog news on Third Kingdom Games roundup.
A Culinary Journey from Ten-Towns to Calimport!
Knock Three Times on Weaver.skepti.ch
Combined Encounter Checks & Tables Using d% on Marcia’s Blog On a spacey theme given this weeks announcement of new Spelljammer:
130 Weird Treasures From Across The Spheres on The Cosmic Orrery
Baroque Science Fantasy God Generator (Part 1: Appearance) on Lizardman Diaries
d100 Events on a 5 Year Exploration Mission on Elfmaids & Octopi
Solar System Recap (So Far) on From the Sorcerer's Skull
Which could combine with "Space Angel" on Land of Nod
Ulflandia Campaign: Introduction and Overview by The Man With A Hammer - great to see NOD hex-crawls hit the table!
Harbinger Games returns with Common Elements of Epic Adventures
A Culinary Journey from Ten-Towns to Calimport!
Knock Three Times on Weaver.skepti.ch
Combined Encounter Checks & Tables Using d% on Marcia’s Blog On a spacey theme given this weeks announcement of new Spelljammer:
130 Weird Treasures From Across The Spheres on The Cosmic Orrery
Baroque Science Fantasy God Generator (Part 1: Appearance) on Lizardman Diaries
d100 Events on a 5 Year Exploration Mission on Elfmaids & Octopi
Solar System Recap (So Far) on From the Sorcerer's Skull
Which could combine with "Space Angel" on Land of Nod
Ulflandia Campaign: Introduction and Overview by The Man With A Hammer - great to see NOD hex-crawls hit the table!
Harbinger Games returns with Common Elements of Epic Adventures
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