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Thursday, 31 January 2019

Excellence from the Blogosphere (Nov-Dec)

As I did in one of my earlier post, here are a handful of blog posts (chiefly published in November and December) that I found particularly noteworthy.

  • Wizzzargh shared their experiences running four different OSR campaigns using different approaches to worldbuilding.
  • Zzarchov has also been talking about iterative design with regards to his own game, Neoclassical Geek Revival, showing his way of thinking through actual examples. This is the sort of thing I like to read from game designers. (Also, did you know there's a subreddit for NGR?)
  • James Smith (most known for his OSR news blog series) has recently shared a gajillion of resources for Conan and Hyboria. James has a Patreon now as well, so if you like what you see, consider supporting him.
  • Luke Gearing posted a d100 table of locations for a haunted castle (the assumption is that d20 + [number of rooms visited] is rolled each time, so you get weirder and weirder results as you keep exploring). Simple but inspiring.
  • Lawful Neutral has made an index for their blog, so you can find all the cool stuff looking at only one page.
  • Michael Raston has automated his fantasypunk augmentation generator (with links to the original posts as well).
  • Arnold K. has talked about a way to mechanise social challenges by emulating the stakes and innate complexity of combat.
  • D. G. Chapman in the meanwhile shared some ideas about implementing JRPG-style NPCs in your tabletop campaign. Furthermore, he collected all the adventures so far shared on the blog in one place.
  • Joe Fatula has recently talked about his setting with the thesis "Signs of the Wilderness is to Colonial America as Lord of the Rings is to Medieval England". Seriously, though, that blog is just amazing (my personal favourites are wilderness dungeons, difficult terrain, and an example of using the various random tables shared so far).
  • Josh has shared an impressive article about collecting herbs and using them as components for spells. While you're at it, check out this post about campfire discussions. He also shared some thoughts about a way to describe fantasy cultures by presenting one cogent detail for each sense.
  • I don't normally talk about sci-fi stuff here, but this huge pile of starship geomorphs is too damn good not to share here as well (it's made for Traveller but usable in most other sci-fi games)
  • I generally dislike podcasts (they are way too dry and drawn out in general), but Carl Bussler's The Megadungeon is something different. I'm definitely biased as I love megadungeons.

Thursday, 17 January 2019

Review: Tar Pits of the Bone Toilers

"A new trade route is being sought through the Dalgarian Canyonlands, pass the friendly Kharazan, Village of Plenty. But the last two expeditions have never returned and the merchants are getting anxious for the new route, causing bags of gold to exchange hands.

Meanwhile, the ancient portal, the Maw of Ghormaug, has opened once more and invaders, ‘bone men’, are beginning to take over territory. No one is safe. Left unchecked, these lands are destined for horror and ruin, unless a brave party steps up to the challenge.

An adventure for Levels 5-8 for Labyrinth Lord and other OSR rulesets."

Disclaimer: I was sent a PDF coupon on OBS to review this product. The link below is also an affiliate link to help me buy stuff to review. Some spoilers ahead!