Taking on The Nothic's Eye GLÅUGUST 2026, challenge #3 is from a list by Purple - "Futility of categorization."
I have been gathering the various '... but also!' cultures of play people have articulated since Retired Adventurer wrote their touchstone post. In addition to those original six, we can add 'Optimizer' culture from Flourite Guillotine, Jeu d'Atmosphere from Taskerland and 'Common Sense Culture' from Elmcat.
My personal framing for this - as in why are some of these not the same thing - is that the culture expresses itself as why do folk sit to table. Trying to be very succinct about this we get:
Classic - play to get deeper into the dungeon / take on greater challenges
Trad (short for "traditional") - play to hear the DMs grand story
Nordic Larp - play to live the character
Story Games - play to collectively tell the story
The OSR ("Old School Renaissance / Revival") - play for the interesting decisions
OC / Neo-trad - play to actualise your characters story
Optimizer - play to "work the rules hard"
Games of Atmosphere - play to immerse in the world
Common Sense Culture - play to get the adventure done
And here is where we return to our topic of "Futility of categorization" in that there is almost certainly finer grades of distinction within Nordic LARP and Storygames - I am sure if I played more of either of those I would be able to offer thoughts on how they should be broken down.
This culture of play intersects with the preferences of the players at your table - take Matt Colvilles 9 Types of Players for just one example. Thow in the GNS model or whatever you like to try and articulate the type of fun your are having and things start to get really complicated.
Much like the exercise of trying to say how many communities are within the OSR is near-futile but expressing that there *are* multiple communities within it is useful; trying to nail down a definitive all encompassing categorisation is going to be very hard and of dubious use, but it is still useful to recognise that different groups sit to table with very different objectives in mind.
17 August 2026
Shiny TTRPG links #290
A mixed set of links from my trying to catch up after more travels - for still more, check out the chonky set from last week found here or the weekly r/OSR blogroll or check the RPG Blog Carnival. Bloggie-nominated. Originally inspired by weaver.skepti.ch, delinked by request.
Afraid of Encounters gives us Indonesian TTRPG Blogwagon
Crow’s Corner posts Viennese Games in the 2026 One Page RPG Jam
Patchwork Paladin shares Reading in the Dark
Throne of Salt writes 4 Roads to R'lyeh
Save vs TPK gives us Some Thoughts on My Awards
Level Zero Commoner posts level zero character creation for old school & 5e style ttrpgs
Trick's Tales posts Marja: The City of Roots
Sage's Sanctum writes The Empress' New Spellbook
Save vs Tentacles shares Simple Multi-Phase Boss Fights in Mythic Bastionland
Afraid of Encounters gives us Indonesian TTRPG Blogwagon
Crow’s Corner posts Viennese Games in the 2026 One Page RPG Jam
Patchwork Paladin shares Reading in the Dark
Throne of Salt writes 4 Roads to R'lyeh
Save vs TPK gives us Some Thoughts on My Awards
Level Zero Commoner posts level zero character creation for old school & 5e style ttrpgs
Trick's Tales posts Marja: The City of Roots
Sage's Sanctum writes The Empress' New Spellbook
Save vs Tentacles shares Simple Multi-Phase Boss Fights in Mythic Bastionland
15 August 2026
d12 books of the ruin-infested swamplands (GLÅUGUST 2026 #2)
Taking on The Nothic's Eye GLÅUGUST 2026, challenge #2 is from a list by Prime - "Books as treasure. No spellbooks."
A list of books that were scattered throughout the Hexcrawl25 campaign:
1. Ruins of the Wild Woods - tree art, frontispiece changes, haunted by a druid
2. Torments of the Blade Dungeon - traps and devices catalog
3. A Guide to Toad Licking - swamp-alchemy and herbalism guide
4. Unamed folio of beasts - bound in hellhound hide, smoulders
5. Ohlinbella Esoterica - magical theory primer from regional capital, wizard-focussed for human lifetimes
6. Primer of college of Cyuendreil - magical theory of leylines and planar boundaries, written with elven lifetimes in mind
7. Great Tales of Lhirogref - collected stories of the goblin realm of Lhirogref, the 'first people'
8. Marda's Grimoire - travelogue of the region written by a roving curiousity seeker
9. Eternal Compendium - bronze coffer filled with scrolls, encyclopedia from centuries ago
10. Zigli's Parchments - Yew-bound book, written in Abyssal, personal memoir of a time-travelling wizard
11. Fey Pages of Certa - book bound in light-spotted dark fuzzy hide, opens only by starlight, practical Spellcraft guidance
12. Great Red Book - cartographic survey from the time of the elven invasion, mostly sought because the maps are marked with now-lost dwarven sites from the time
Of these, the Great Red Book and the Pages of Certa drove adventure - the Red Book by pointing to sites for treasure and the Scrolls of Certa being used to line up boosts to spells.
Zigli turned up a bit in the background but their parchments were never actually found.
A list of books that were scattered throughout the Hexcrawl25 campaign:
1. Ruins of the Wild Woods - tree art, frontispiece changes, haunted by a druid
2. Torments of the Blade Dungeon - traps and devices catalog
3. A Guide to Toad Licking - swamp-alchemy and herbalism guide
4. Unamed folio of beasts - bound in hellhound hide, smoulders
5. Ohlinbella Esoterica - magical theory primer from regional capital, wizard-focussed for human lifetimes
6. Primer of college of Cyuendreil - magical theory of leylines and planar boundaries, written with elven lifetimes in mind
7. Great Tales of Lhirogref - collected stories of the goblin realm of Lhirogref, the 'first people'
8. Marda's Grimoire - travelogue of the region written by a roving curiousity seeker
9. Eternal Compendium - bronze coffer filled with scrolls, encyclopedia from centuries ago
10. Zigli's Parchments - Yew-bound book, written in Abyssal, personal memoir of a time-travelling wizard
11. Fey Pages of Certa - book bound in light-spotted dark fuzzy hide, opens only by starlight, practical Spellcraft guidance
12. Great Red Book - cartographic survey from the time of the elven invasion, mostly sought because the maps are marked with now-lost dwarven sites from the time
Of these, the Great Red Book and the Pages of Certa drove adventure - the Red Book by pointing to sites for treasure and the Scrolls of Certa being used to line up boosts to spells.
Zigli turned up a bit in the background but their parchments were never actually found.
12 August 2026
State of the Blog (post #950)
Dropping in this 'mid-range' state of the blog update mostly to mark having down-shifted since the end of June from Shiny Links plus two posts a week to Shiny Links plus one.
Empire of Crust sounded an appreciated warning - as per their post On the Cancer of Creation for Others - a mere hobby blog such as this, must retain its utility to me. I make not a cent from this, it would be futile indeed to get trapped in some sort of content mill mentality *for free*.
Even assuming 2/3 of all traffic is bot-nonsense, traffic surges. Cloudflares boss thinks its 57% for all the internet.
On Writing
I was going to take this as an opportunity to cover off the 'why I write' prompt and then while I was travelling, things got spicy with A Knight At The Opera getting torched.
There were a few who commented on the 'who do you write for' topic - Dungeon Fruit started it, Roll to Doubt and Mightier Than a Sword contributed and I spent a good long time pondering. Mostly, I post that others may have the benefits I had in coming to the OSR blogosphere when I did. I missed G+ by a hair, so my entire experience was the blogs that preserved the thing that was gone. There were lessons learned, tips and tricks that lit a fire under me and so I resolved to chunter along as best I could that I might do likewise.
I recognise I am no genius game designer, nor have I the time to polish ideas up to A-grade on a regular basis. I can document table-fixes and ideas I come up with for my own campaign - the work-log of a journeyman DM - that it might help others avoid some pitfalls or - better yet - be inspired to do something they would never have otherwise come up with.
As part of this I try to fish out and preserve some of the torrent of ideas and discussion that sluice past in the digital abyss of discord - that they might be preserved against its ruin and better found and referenced today.
I had written *exactly this far* when I put down my pen, and between that and picking it up again, one of the great sites of the OSR was deleted (fair enough) and excised from the wayback machine (boo!).
I was very upset but I talked it through with an old friend, a musician, on the topic of a creatives control of their archive. By their views, since noone had paid a penny for any blog posts, none had any claim to them - freely distributed, freely taken back. Too bad for those posts of mine that now lead to dead pages, more fool me for not saving down copies of everything. I have no right to any of those writings, I paid no money for them. It still feels like someone painted over a mural that enriched a community because they did not like the people taking selfies in front of it, or locked up a park because 'the wrong sort' were using it.
That blog succeeded in creating a vibrant patch on the internet, one worth visiting and revisiting. Whatever about declaring you were done and hanging a sign refuting those interpretting your works in a way you disapprove, blocking access to all with no warning is not cool, tearing all trace from the archives spites everyone who ever appreciated the place, not just the bad apples who so infuriated the creator. However the creators was/is well within their rights and I will swallow this bitter taste eventually.
One of the masters of our community of practice has been driven off. Now those who come after us will find less. Gems of gaming are still found on blogs ten years defunct or more. What we do not work to preserve, for the wonder and enlightenment of those who come after, will vanish.
I do not know why this has hit me so damn hard, I don't know Dwiz, he has no idea who I am. There is probably something in watching someone run a blog like I might aspire to in my wildest dreams - expansive, interesting, with useful things in there, throwing off ideas that spark inspiration in others - and to find it brought him *no joy*. Grim.
Empire of Crust sounded an appreciated warning - as per their post On the Cancer of Creation for Others - a mere hobby blog such as this, must retain its utility to me. I make not a cent from this, it would be futile indeed to get trapped in some sort of content mill mentality *for free*.
Even assuming 2/3 of all traffic is bot-nonsense, traffic surges. Cloudflares boss thinks its 57% for all the internet.
On Writing
I was going to take this as an opportunity to cover off the 'why I write' prompt and then while I was travelling, things got spicy with A Knight At The Opera getting torched.
There were a few who commented on the 'who do you write for' topic - Dungeon Fruit started it, Roll to Doubt and Mightier Than a Sword contributed and I spent a good long time pondering. Mostly, I post that others may have the benefits I had in coming to the OSR blogosphere when I did. I missed G+ by a hair, so my entire experience was the blogs that preserved the thing that was gone. There were lessons learned, tips and tricks that lit a fire under me and so I resolved to chunter along as best I could that I might do likewise.
I recognise I am no genius game designer, nor have I the time to polish ideas up to A-grade on a regular basis. I can document table-fixes and ideas I come up with for my own campaign - the work-log of a journeyman DM - that it might help others avoid some pitfalls or - better yet - be inspired to do something they would never have otherwise come up with.
As part of this I try to fish out and preserve some of the torrent of ideas and discussion that sluice past in the digital abyss of discord - that they might be preserved against its ruin and better found and referenced today.
I had written *exactly this far* when I put down my pen, and between that and picking it up again, one of the great sites of the OSR was deleted (fair enough) and excised from the wayback machine (boo!).
I was very upset but I talked it through with an old friend, a musician, on the topic of a creatives control of their archive. By their views, since noone had paid a penny for any blog posts, none had any claim to them - freely distributed, freely taken back. Too bad for those posts of mine that now lead to dead pages, more fool me for not saving down copies of everything. I have no right to any of those writings, I paid no money for them. It still feels like someone painted over a mural that enriched a community because they did not like the people taking selfies in front of it, or locked up a park because 'the wrong sort' were using it.
That blog succeeded in creating a vibrant patch on the internet, one worth visiting and revisiting. Whatever about declaring you were done and hanging a sign refuting those interpretting your works in a way you disapprove, blocking access to all with no warning is not cool, tearing all trace from the archives spites everyone who ever appreciated the place, not just the bad apples who so infuriated the creator. However the creators was/is well within their rights and I will swallow this bitter taste eventually.
One of the masters of our community of practice has been driven off. Now those who come after us will find less. Gems of gaming are still found on blogs ten years defunct or more. What we do not work to preserve, for the wonder and enlightenment of those who come after, will vanish.
I do not know why this has hit me so damn hard, I don't know Dwiz, he has no idea who I am. There is probably something in watching someone run a blog like I might aspire to in my wildest dreams - expansive, interesting, with useful things in there, throwing off ideas that spark inspiration in others - and to find it brought him *no joy*. Grim.
10 August 2026
Shiny TTRPG links #289
A macro set of links from returning online - for still more, check out the deep time delve from last week found here or the weekly r/OSR blogroll or check the RPG Blog Carnival. Bloggie-nominated. Originally inspired by weaver.skepti.ch, delinked by request.
Save vs TPK gives us Ramanan Sivaranjan Awards for Excellence in Gaming 2026
Familiar Waves writes Thoughts on Ultraviolet Grasslands
Whose Measure God Could Not Take gives us (Do Not Distribute) RPG discourse terms 2027-2032
False Machine posts The Common Store of Monsters
Traverse Fantasy writes Cinco: DM Inspiration
The Rpg Gazette shares Landmarks, Rumors, and Discovery: Keeping Exploration Fresh
From the Sorcerer's Skull posts Elven Sects
Grumpy Wizard writes There’s No Death Save? An OSR Zine For 5E Players
400 independent bathrooms gives us Design Notebook: Dress-Up Dolls
This Vorpal Coil shares Noosphere Emergence
CROSS PLANES posts Invincible RPG: I want to succeed more often and not break the Stunt rules
Tabletop Battles posts The Narrative Forge: Campaigns, Part 7 - Map Campaigns
Ms. Quixotic Talks About Games shares Battle For Phaedra Grand Retrospective - Introduction
Garamondia gives us Mask 35: Beholder Mask
The Foot of Blue Mountain writes Online Gaming Best Practices
Sage's Sanctum writes Mysteries: It's ok if the Players Get Stuck
Crow’s Corner gives us Table-Tested Review of “Alice is Missing”
AWESOME LIES shares HIRING AND FIRING
GROGNARDIA shares Reconsiderations: Death and Resurrection
All Dead Generations writes Jaquays Your Dungeon - Another OSR Maxim
Save vs TPK gives us Ramanan Sivaranjan Awards for Excellence in Gaming 2026
Familiar Waves writes Thoughts on Ultraviolet Grasslands
Whose Measure God Could Not Take gives us (Do Not Distribute) RPG discourse terms 2027-2032
False Machine posts The Common Store of Monsters
Traverse Fantasy writes Cinco: DM Inspiration
The Rpg Gazette shares Landmarks, Rumors, and Discovery: Keeping Exploration Fresh
From the Sorcerer's Skull posts Elven Sects
Grumpy Wizard writes There’s No Death Save? An OSR Zine For 5E Players
400 independent bathrooms gives us Design Notebook: Dress-Up Dolls
This Vorpal Coil shares Noosphere Emergence
CROSS PLANES posts Invincible RPG: I want to succeed more often and not break the Stunt rules
Tabletop Battles posts The Narrative Forge: Campaigns, Part 7 - Map Campaigns
Ms. Quixotic Talks About Games shares Battle For Phaedra Grand Retrospective - Introduction
Garamondia gives us Mask 35: Beholder Mask
The Foot of Blue Mountain writes Online Gaming Best Practices
Sage's Sanctum writes Mysteries: It's ok if the Players Get Stuck
Crow’s Corner gives us Table-Tested Review of “Alice is Missing”
AWESOME LIES shares HIRING AND FIRING
GROGNARDIA shares Reconsiderations: Death and Resurrection
All Dead Generations writes Jaquays Your Dungeon - Another OSR Maxim
08 August 2026
Small Gods, Saints and minor divinity! - RPG Blog Carnival Wrap Up
And so we conclude the July 2026 RPG Blog Carnival - our topic was "Small Gods, Saints and minor divinity!" - on my mind was the fun I have had with small gods in my recent campaigns; divinities on a personal scale. This was a double-header hosting with Sea of Stars.
Sea of Stars has done their round up - if you have read that already then Advantage on Arcana 'more little Gods' and Taichara's contributions are the only extras.
We got responses from:
Sea of Stars own response the Fate of the Small Gods in the Sea of Stars nicely talks about where apex monsters like dragons start to overlap with small gods.
52 Monsters on Saints, Oracles, and Their Demons - I really like the superstitions and potential for sainthood.
Vulcan Stev on Berrin & Velquor – Small gods, Saints and minor divinity! gives us a pair of encounterable demigods and lots on how they might turn up at your table.
Advantage on Arcana on Six More Little Gods of Planegea - with the first six for Sea of Stars. As with all things Plangean, these are minor divinities at the start of their journeys which is interesting.
Dungeons & Possums on Small Gods about water incarnate, a species of spirit/hyperlocal nature gods called thinals.
Taichara gives us two - Shrines of the Backways and Unseen Paws - this last with the gods of catkind is great.
A pretty good showing, lots of ideas to incorporate - the great thing about Small Gods is you can usually slot them into your own campaign since they are not so narratively load-bearing as major pantheon deities.
The carnival continues with Of Dice and Dragons themselves hosting! The topic is Time, both in world and above the table, an apt one given scheduling is the slayer of many campaigns.
Sea of Stars has done their round up - if you have read that already then Advantage on Arcana 'more little Gods' and Taichara's contributions are the only extras.
We got responses from:
Sea of Stars own response the Fate of the Small Gods in the Sea of Stars nicely talks about where apex monsters like dragons start to overlap with small gods.
52 Monsters on Saints, Oracles, and Their Demons - I really like the superstitions and potential for sainthood.
Vulcan Stev on Berrin & Velquor – Small gods, Saints and minor divinity! gives us a pair of encounterable demigods and lots on how they might turn up at your table.
Advantage on Arcana on Six More Little Gods of Planegea - with the first six for Sea of Stars. As with all things Plangean, these are minor divinities at the start of their journeys which is interesting.
Dungeons & Possums on Small Gods about water incarnate, a species of spirit/hyperlocal nature gods called thinals.
Taichara gives us two - Shrines of the Backways and Unseen Paws - this last with the gods of catkind is great.
A pretty good showing, lots of ideas to incorporate - the great thing about Small Gods is you can usually slot them into your own campaign since they are not so narratively load-bearing as major pantheon deities.
The carnival continues with Of Dice and Dragons themselves hosting! The topic is Time, both in world and above the table, an apt one given scheduling is the slayer of many campaigns.
03 August 2026
Shiny TTRPG links #288
Another deep time collection as everything melts around us - links posted on various discords as recommendations when the topic came up. Taking this 'stands the test of time' aspect as a quality filter, here they are.
For more, see last weeks collection found here or on the weekly r/OSR blogroll or check the RPG Blog Carnival.
Billhook Blog posted The OSR is Dead (again, and again)
u/ahhthebrilliantsun wrote Discussing Neo-Trad/OC - Some Musings On The Play Culture Everyone Gripes About
Aron Christensen on Medium gave us Narrating your RPG
Delta's D&D Hotspot wrote Magic Number Seven
Fluorite Guillotine shared quantum ogre reborn
Lithyscaphe posted Quintessential BX
Ru's Roleplay Rants gave us The Game Master and the game as servant
Vaults of Nagoh shared Small But Vicious Dog Steals Hearts, Humps Leg
Ray Winninger posted "Dungeoncraft" Essays
Kismet's Fantasy Gaming shared Women as Gamers & Game-Makers
Failure Tolerated wrote A Small Rant About Investigation in RPGs
Captain Awkward shared #784: The Geek Social Fallacy Host – Missing Stair Guest Relationship
Roll to Doubt posted Principled Freeform and FKR
Lithyscaphe wrote Principia Apocrypha: A New Expression of Old School RPG Playstyle Principles
Le Chaudron Chromatique gave us Some advice to represent trans characters in game
Kismet's Fantasy Gaming posted Kismet's Guide Sex & Romance in Fantasy Gaming
Cirsova wrote Lodoss, the Accursed Pink Slime
J. Hanju Kim gave us RPG SYSTEM DESIGN
J. Hanju Kim shared RPG THEORY
Picture wrote Between Appendix N and Pink Slime
anyway gaves us A quick IIEE primer, by request
RogueBasin shared The Role of Hunger
Magnolia Keep posted Prepping Plots, Part Two: The Rough Outline
Sir Poley wrote On the Four Table Legs of Traveller, Leg 1: Mortgages
Papers and Pencils posted Questgivers are Evil
Dice Goblin gave us Triangles, Relationships & Archetypes: Adapting the Nemesis System to TTRPGs
Archon's Court shared GLOG Class / Monster - Antipaladin
Magnolia Keep gave us On Objectivity in Game Design
For more, see last weeks collection found here or on the weekly r/OSR blogroll or check the RPG Blog Carnival.
Billhook Blog posted The OSR is Dead (again, and again)
u/ahhthebrilliantsun wrote Discussing Neo-Trad/OC - Some Musings On The Play Culture Everyone Gripes About
Aron Christensen on Medium gave us Narrating your RPG
Delta's D&D Hotspot wrote Magic Number Seven
Fluorite Guillotine shared quantum ogre reborn
Lithyscaphe posted Quintessential BX
Ru's Roleplay Rants gave us The Game Master and the game as servant
Vaults of Nagoh shared Small But Vicious Dog Steals Hearts, Humps Leg
Ray Winninger posted "Dungeoncraft" Essays
Kismet's Fantasy Gaming shared Women as Gamers & Game-Makers
Failure Tolerated wrote A Small Rant About Investigation in RPGs
modified with the approval of creator Evlyn Moreau
Captain Awkward shared #784: The Geek Social Fallacy Host – Missing Stair Guest Relationship
Roll to Doubt posted Principled Freeform and FKR
Lithyscaphe wrote Principia Apocrypha: A New Expression of Old School RPG Playstyle Principles
Le Chaudron Chromatique gave us Some advice to represent trans characters in game
Kismet's Fantasy Gaming posted Kismet's Guide Sex & Romance in Fantasy Gaming
Cirsova wrote Lodoss, the Accursed Pink Slime
J. Hanju Kim gave us RPG SYSTEM DESIGN
J. Hanju Kim shared RPG THEORY
Picture wrote Between Appendix N and Pink Slime
anyway gaves us A quick IIEE primer, by request
RogueBasin shared The Role of Hunger
Magnolia Keep posted Prepping Plots, Part Two: The Rough Outline
Sir Poley wrote On the Four Table Legs of Traveller, Leg 1: Mortgages
Papers and Pencils posted Questgivers are Evil
Dice Goblin gave us Triangles, Relationships & Archetypes: Adapting the Nemesis System to TTRPGs
Archon's Court shared GLOG Class / Monster - Antipaladin
Magnolia Keep gave us On Objectivity in Game Design
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