New publishers: I began posting tabletop RPG marketing lessons on Twitter & how to grow your audience
So I made a switch recently on my Twitter feed to help impart my experiences growing the Grim & Perilous Studios brand between Zweihander RPG, Main Gauche and the other 15 products in my line to newer publishers. This has been a long time in the making, but it's what helped me drive over 90,000+...
www.rpgpub.com
Worst. Modules. Ever. | Tabletop Roleplaying Open
Speaking of disgusting, I'll nominate With a Long Spoon from Over the Edge. It's worse.
forum.rpg.net
Witchburner
By Luka Rejec Hydra Cooperative OSR … It’s an intimate, tragic adventure of witch hunting in a town huddled between rivers and mountains and forests one wet and cold October. Warning: This ad…
tenfootpole.org
What Ho, Frog Demons!
By Chris Kutalik, Luka Rejec Hydra Cooperative Labyrinth Lord Levels 2-4 Weighing in at 112 pages of pure Slavic/Vancian/Moorcockian acid fantasy, What Ho, Frog Demons is the fourth stand-alone, mi…
tenfootpole.org
Keeping Your NPCs Alive
Inspired by my last game session, where we summoned a wizard from a summoning portal we found, and our rogue and barbarian had readied actio...
selfportraitasagiant.blogspot.com
Improving Descriptions Using the Gricean Maxims
A blog about roleplaying games and theory focused on Mythras, Dungeons and Dragons, and OSR games.
retiredadventurer.blogspot.com
On Gygax Design IV
My thesis here is that something was misunderstood. The question I'm left with is how did that happen? Let's take a look. Cave Introd...
hackslashmaster.blogspot.com
Sewer Adventures
I fucking hate sewer adventures, but as I can't quite put my finger on why, I thought I'd write this blog post to try and find out. This is ...
worldoferadu.blogspot.com
So, you want to become an indie publisher
So, you want to become a indie publisher, and you wrote me for advice. Err. Yes. You won’t like my advice. It’s not much, so not to waste too much of your time. I’m terrible at pu…
tsojcanth.wordpress.com
How I Want to Build a Module
Still working on the module. I have a few basic layout assumptions that differ from how a module is typically done, so I wanted to talk about them and see if anyone has input. One Page Dungeon Form…
1d30.wordpress.com
A Short History of Monster Stat Blocks - Merric's Musings
Including monster statistics – stat blocks – in adventures is a challenge. The earliest adventures – the Giant adventures by Gary Gygax – listed the name of the monster and its hit points and nothing else. It’s a little hard to tell if this was an aesthetic choice or one born from the fact that...
merricb.com
Improving Descriptions Using the Gricean Maxims
A blog about roleplaying games and theory focused on Mythras, Dungeons and Dragons, and OSR games.
retiredadventurer.blogspot.com
RPG books as fiction
It seems to me that the majority of RPG books are in denial about their true function. Most setting books maintain the pretense that someo...
udan-adan.blogspot.com
How To Write 10,000 Pages of Gibberish
Zak S / Zak Smith /Zak Sabbath playing diy D&D (dungeons and dragons, dungeons & dragons) notes on playing RPGs w/fellow porn performers
dndwithpornstars.blogspot.com
Mapping idea: dungeon quarters
I just had an interesting idea for how to manage the map & key for an evolving dungeon. The assumption is that each time a bunch of adventur...
the-city-of-iron.blogspot.com
Save vs. Total Party Kill - Dwimmermount's Room Descriptions
save.vs.totalpartykill.ca
Interesting Room Trappings?
How do you make dungeon rooms more interesting through various trappings & details? First (inferior) answer: If the room is likely to be...
unvisiblecitadel.blogspot.com
On Binding the Design Demon
Yesterday I wrote a post on design , and how what I do is different then what I have experienced in most games. This post explains the m...
hackslashmaster.blogspot.com
fine tuning your monsters
Most DMs I know like more monsters better than fewer monsters. Monsters are lots of fun. Writing new monsters can be a easy way to pretend...
jrients.blogspot.com
Dungeon Design and Stocking - with examples!
Recently there was some discussion on Google+ about dungeon design, and if it's possible to teach better dungeon design. I frankly don't kn...
dungeonofsigns.blogspot.com
Ordinary vs. Extraordinary Descriptions
Related to the boring menaces in an interesting labyrinth post , there's been a forum thread that was originally about something else, but t...
9and30kingdoms.blogspot.com
Old School Methods 5: Diplomacy and Disable Device
Series continues. Word from our sponsor is to check out the Northlands Saga Kickstarter at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/froggod...
swordsandwizardry.blogspot.com
Why Caverns of Thracia Is The Best Published Dungeon And Shouldn't Be
Zak S / Zak Smith /Zak Sabbath playing diy D&D (dungeons and dragons, dungeons & dragons) notes on playing RPGs w/fellow porn performers
dndwithpornstars.blogspot.com
Adventure Formats and the OSR
Some of the obvious accouterments of the old school renaissance have included intentional graphical and layout throwbacks to the previous er...
closetbarbarian.blogspot.com
Tales from the Table - Building Tension, part II
This time I want to discuss building tension long before you meet the monster. From a campaign I played in in the early '80's: The ...
harbingergames.blogspot.com
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Polyhedral NPC Matrix (Part 2)
On Tuesday, I posted about using a Scattergories d20 to make an NPC matrix. Go here to read it. I decided I wanted to flesh out my matrix...
carjackedseraphim.blogspot.com
[Generic GM Tool] Campaign Relationship Generator (new thread) | Tabletop Roleplaying Open
I am starting a new thread dedicated to the Random Campaign Relationship Generator for basically one simple reason: Since I cannot edit posts older than a couple of minutes, and since most people didn't read the whole old thread or my signature and instead clicked the first link they came...
forum.rpg.net
Creatures, critters, monsters, and meta-game knowledge: Keeping things fresh and mysterious over the long haul.
As has been mentioned here and there , one of the problems widespread among long term gamers and long term campaigns,...
themetalearth.blogspot.com
The Dreaded Boxed Text
I’m enjoying the new wave of old school adventures, but the reality is that we’ve learned a lot about adventure design and what makes old school good over the intervening years since I …
dysonlogos.blog
Map Development
As promised, I wanted to post a bit about my process for map development. I love drawing maps, and as referee, a good looking map makes me e...
shamsgrog.blogspot.com
Dungeon Module Design
Because I was working on the dungeon module for that map I posted Monday, I revisited a lot of other posts I’ve written on the subject of mo...
9and30kingdoms.blogspot.com
The Alexandrian - Archive
The Alexandrian, reviews, politics, theater, writing
www.thealexandrian.net
Publishing #1: Introduction and Order of Tasks
Producing modules and rulebooks requires a diverse skill set. The process begins with creative writing, then quickly moves into revising, e...
On the Virtual Matrix of the Demon of Design
I am doing something different then you are when I run a game. In fact, the way I approach tabletop play is so fundamentally different t...
hackslashmaster.blogspot.com
Pleasures of the OSR: Emergent Story and Open Worlds
This is the second post in a series where I explore the OSR play style by considering the different pleasures it makes available....
maziriansgarden.blogspot.com
D&D & IP - David Lizerbram & Associates
What do Dungeons & Dragons players and content creators need to know about trademarks and copyrights?
lizerbramlaw.com
The Least Information (Maps, Keys)
an infrequent blog on pulp lit speculative fiction weird art and role playing games, especially dungeons and dragons, especially ODandD
gameswithothers.blogspot.com
The Monster is Three Things
For the sake of example, this monster is old, sad and hungry. Behind your screen or in your book, note these and nothing else. Beyond this, ...
graverobbersguide.blogspot.com
On Failing High Level Play
The biggest sin in high level adventure design is designing low-level adventures and calling them high level adventures. It's almost as ba...
hackslashmaster.blogspot.com
Blogger
Free weblog publishing tool from Google, for sharing text, photos and video.
axesnorcs.blogspot.com
“Gotcha!” D&D and Telegraphing Encounters
I’ve often talked about telegraphing encounters, and in one blog post I’ve written about how Gary Gygax ’s Tomb of Horrors is an esse...
ravencrowking.blogspot.com
RPG books as fiction
It seems to me that the majority of RPG books are in denial about their true function. Most setting books maintain the pretense that someo...
udan-adan.blogspot.com
How to never describe a dungeon!
Artwork by Luigi Castellani I've heard it a thousand times. You probably heard it too. Some people , I don't know why, say that dungeons...
oldskulling.blogspot.com
Landmark, Hidden, Secret
There are three ways I think about information in roleplaying games. Information can be landmark , or hidden , or it can be secret . This...
diyanddragons.blogspot.com
OSR: Sharpening the Axe - How I Plan and Write RPG Books
This post is full of loosely organized advice. All opinions are personal. Your mileage may vary. I'm not sure I'm successful enough to offer...
coinsandscrolls.blogspot.com
The Art of the Key
Location-based adventures are a staple of the GM’s art and form a kind of bedrock for scenario design. Even if a scenario isn’t primarily about ‘crawling a specific location, you’ll still find
thealexandrian.net
Quantum Combats and Holy Horticulture
Well, for the second session of "Hoard of the Dragon Queen", I actually tried to figure out who the other members of the party were, so her...
billygoes.blogspot.com
A Doodle Is Worth A Thousand Hallway Descriptions – Papers & Pencils
www.paperspencils.com
298 Filler Words That Rob Your Writing of Its Power
Flabby, filler words can rob even the best writers of their power.
smartblogger.com
Back in the 1980s, White Dwarf magazine ran a three part article on dungeon design.
Best Practices to Improve Text Readability for Optimal User Experience
Understanding how people read is vital for creating an optimal reading experience. Here are 12 best UX practices for improving your online reading experience.
www.intechnic.com
Empty Rooms and Improvised Contents
Delta’s D&D Hotspot has a second post about empty rooms , worth reading for commentary about Gary Gygax’s habits when keying dungeons. Basic...
9and30kingdoms.blogspot.com
On Empty Rooms
Gygax's earliest D&D dungeons were mostly a bunch of empty rooms (really!)
deltasdnd.blogspot.com
On Brevity - Dungeons & Possums
As a long-winded nerd, there exists the desire to make a blog post titled "On Brevity" into a long, and very in-depth, examination of word counts and page counts versus enjoyment. Honestly, as a sarcastic nerd, the urge is even stronger, because that sort of irony is amusing. But I will resist...
dungeonsandpossums.com
Bridging the Minimalist-Maximalist Divide
Comments on yesterday's post led me to Geoffrey McKinney's 'Mike's Dungeons' . From the blurb: WHAT THE DEVIL? I took my DeLorean time m...
monstersandmanuals.blogspot.com
The Problem with Random Encounters; or, Waxwings versus Giant Slugs
The wilderness is all random encounters. Very occasionally, in my part of the world, one will encounter a flock of waxwings . Only during t...
monstersandmanuals.blogspot.com
D&D Doesn't Understand What Monsters Are
This post is thanks in large part to episode 279 of the Futility Closet podcast, which provided me with the story I used to get this damna...
throneofsalt.blogspot.com
So You Wrote A Good Book And Don't Want To Starve To Death?
I am an independent publisher. I have no secondary income, I have no one supporting me, I have no investors, I had no "seed money", I have n...
whatwouldconando.blogspot.com
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