Ducal House Year 6 - DM Challenges

We just kicked off the 6th year of our home campaign, Ducal House, and the players asked me how I was finding it, how it compared to previous campaigns I've done and so on. I needed to check and confirm that it is indeed the longest campaign by sessions, hours and years I have run - and later this year will be longer than the next two campaign I ran stacked together. Two questions came up at the end of the session:
1. What (if anything) am I seeing as an issue?
2. What would I change if I could?

Hexcrawl '25 Launch

For Hexcrawl25, taking the challenge on, I decided to make a couple of modifications out of the gate.

First off being that instead of it being a 24 mile hexes/6 mile sub-hexes, I'll be using a 40 mile-10 mile because my campaign world was already hexed to 10-mile hexes. Rather than subdivide I wuill just block up to a bigger 'regional' hex at 40 miles.

Next I want to use this to feed a West Marches type campaign fairly shortly so this is going to get put into service pretty quickly. I may be accelerating parts of this quite a bit.

Then what I am basically planning to do is cookie cutter a chunk out of an existing block of the world that exists from Azgaars Fantasy Map Generator and use that.

This is replacing the draw a map, hex it up, identify your like sub-hex elements approach. What I will do instead is use the biome, culture, nation, and religion filters on the existing campaign world to provide the seeds for the hex-elements. Hex-creation by interpolation, if you will.

Shiny TTRPG links #205

Thundering towards the end of the year, lots of shiny links to round out 2024! For more, see the previous list found here or you can check the RPG Blog Carnival or on Third Kingdom Games news roundup. Originally inspired by weaver.skepti.ch End of Week links.

Act today to get in on The BLOGGIES 2024: Call for Nominations! (Closes midnight 31/12/24)

Similarly last call to get in on Elemental Reductions RPG Blog Carnival: Beyond Vancian Magic

Enworld hosts It's Time To Vote For 2025's Most Anticipated TTRPGs!

Maatlock's Tavern TTRPG Resources proposes the Hexcrawl25 Challenge

Lithyscaphe returns to the fray by Embarking on a Foolish Endeavor

A Knight at the Opera gives us Ten Years (Part 3)

Idraluna Archives shares Quick & Dirty Megadungeon Stocking

Methods & Madness gives us Create a sandbox map in 7 easy steps (or 10)

Sundered Shields and Silver Shillings shared Blog challenge: Transformative Posts

Jubal on Exilian wrote Riddles and how to use them

DMDavid shares Fifth-Edition D&D’s Original Lead Designer Calls Out the Game’s “Secret Error” That Remains Today

Grumpy Wizard gives us Brain Rot Vs. Classic Adventure Gaming

Bommyknocker Press writes Cugel-flavoured deception mechanics

Year in Review 2024

2024 was a great year for gaming - down from last years banner year but I do not feel in any way short-changed.

On running games

Ducal House (3.5e) - got in another 22 sessions, tailing off toward the end of year. This fifth year began with nailing down the altered ducal succession that had nominally been the campaign goal since session zero, a considerable amount of politics after a lot of time saving the realm and then further venturing forth to thwart a foe/potential allies plot. A venture onto the astral finally levelled everyone up to 11. The bard became heir apparent to the realm, unsought. The sorcerer has become fascinated with the potential of lichdom and the cleric continues to restrain them, in person or as the voice of conscience.

State of the Blog (post #701)

Strange concidence has post 700 coming in right before the traditional 'last slot of the year' so this one will be blogging and stats, the next one will be the year in gaming.

On Traffic

The r/OSR blogroll last dead post was stripped down by the mods - after freezing the auto-update widget back in Jan 24, it finally got deleted in summer. I had stopped paying attention and missed when exactly it was finally deleted. Someone with more grit than me could go back to classic weekly reposting? It definitely drew in people that did not come in by other routes.

Shiny TTRPG links #204

Shiny links for this festive season. For more, see the previous list found here or you can check the RPG Blog Carnival or on Third Kingdom Games news roundup. Originally inspired by weaver.skepti.ch End of Week links.

In case you missed it The BLOGGIES 2024: Call for Nominations!

Attronarch's Athenaeum gives us Block of Old School Essentials being sold off

DIY & dragons shares Vestiges of the Past - Phantom Cogs and Forsaken Easter Eggs

I Cast Light! writes YOU CAN KEEP YOUR BORDERLANDS: Adventure Suggestions for Those New to the OSR

Taldus' Tavern launches with The Teetering Pile

Leicester's Ramble gives us d66 MORE Things to Put Things Into

d4 Caltrops shares Dungeon Stocking - Expanded

Trilemma Adventures gives us The Tarot of Pips

The Library of Attnam writes Legendary Resistance-less

Mythic Mountain Musings gives us My friend's played a wargame and it wrote my setting for me

d30 Things found in Psurlon Territories

Our shapeshifting wormlike friends the psurlons. Telepathic, carrion-eaters, worshippers of the cthonic gods of the far-realm. Friends of the mindflayers, since they want brains and the psurlons eat everything else. The below was considered as an astral/wildspace table since they are more often found there than groundside.

Delightful AD&D era image by Brian Despain, found in Planescape Monstrous Compendium III

d20 Encounters in psurlon-space