Caltrops for Breakfast

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Gustav Dore's "Sleeping Beauty".

Character Stables: Hiatuses

Encourage stables by allowing inactive characters to pause some types of upkeep.

You Should Probably Be Using Obsidian

You Should Probably Be Using Obsidian

Write and connect your campaign notes in Markdown files, with version control. Glorious.

A battle with orcs, from the first page of the Holmes edition of D&D.

Order of Battle: Retrospective

I prepared an order of battle for a recent scenario. Here's what I'll do differently next time.

Jack Black in High Fidelity (2000).

Top 5 Songs About Death, a Laura's Dad Tribute List

On the sixth month of our AD&D campaign, here's what I'm glad I did, and what I wish I did earlier.

Awesome Yoon-Suin title art shared on the Kickstarter.

Yoon-Suin Looks Awesome

I rarely back Kickstarters, but Yoon-Suin looks like weirdness with substance.

Panel from Rich Burlew's "Order of the Stick": 3rd edition paladin tries to detect evil is foiled by a sheet of lead.

Detect Evil Is Not Detect Alignment

Detect evil or good does not detect an alignment, it detects a strong force.

Art by Terry Dykstra of three adventurers fleeing through a portcullis while one of them holds it open.

Running (in) the Campaign

Fleeing, fighting, and consequences in a campaign game.

Drawing of two parties conversing in a wood, from DMG 48.

Reaction Rolls Aren’t All About You

Whether you call it luck, life, or "the intricacies of the universe," reaction rolls aren't all about the checking character.

The covert art from Robert E. Howard's "The Valley of the Worm."

The DM Is Also a Player

I don't want to be a god, I want to find out what the gods do.

Up-close photo of the DMG's random mercenaries table in the Expert Hirelings section. And some dice.

Be the Game You Want to See

Our AD&D campaign is the D&D I've always wanted.

A cropping of the Pixie art from the Monster Manual. A visible pixie attacks a humanoid leg.

Early Campaign Statistics

An early look at our campaign, by the numbers.

A photograph of a dungeon door, partially open to outdoors. A portrait is in the darkness to its left. By Lois Romer.

Dead Simple Door Spikes

A clean, gamist system for spiking doors in AD&D.

The art from AD&D PHB 109, depicting three adventurers emerging victoriously from a dungeon.

A New Era With AD&D

As past campaigns come to a close, an AD&D by-the-book campaign begins.

The knight/paladin from the episode warmly lays his hand on the shoulder of his magician companion.

D & DD

It's the 25th anniversary of the Dexter's Lab episode that introduced me to D&D.

The art of a bearded guy inspecting a gemstone, from DMG p. 25.

Aids Horses in All Ways

A look at turquoises in AD&D's glorious "Reputed Magical Properties of Gems" table.

A photo of the top of the "Successful Adventures" section from the AD&D PHB.

The Whole Table Owns the Game

Both players and referees are responsible for adding goodness to the campaign.

Wikipedia's photograph of two (real) orca whales leaping above the water's surface.

Orca Whale Trigonometry

Sometimes it's best to let players run with it.

A picture of the art on DMG 16. Characters prepare for an expedition.

3rd Edition: Thoughts and 3.5 House Rules

3rd edition is a good game, and the popular homebrew focuses on the wrong things. Three and a half house rules for 3.5 can improve your campaign.

The OSE ref's book, the 3rd edition DMG, and the AD&D DMG stacked up.

Ideal Rulebook Dimensions

Thinking about rulebook size and use of page space, especially in AD&D, 3rd edition, and OSE.

A cover shot of my copy of Unearthed Arcana.

Annotating AD&D, and Thoughts on Retroclones

Some thoughts while reading and annotating the AD&D rules.

A shot of the Elf race page from my copy of OSEA, including most of the elf art and a cheeky inclusion of the related rules.

Elves Are Not Humans

An argument against calling demihumans "humans in funny masks."

The 2022 OSR June Jam banner art.

OSR June Jam 2022

My plans for the 2022 OSR June Jam: reading through the AD&D books.

A photo of the Neverland setting book and the OSE Advanced Fantasy tomes on my table, with some dice.

Neverland Old-School Essentials Advanced Fantasy

How I kicked off an Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy campaign in Andrew Kolb's "Neverland."

Four pairs of sneakers by my childhood front door.

What to Say

There is no better way to have fun, no better way to forge friendships, no better way to spend free time than playing RPGs.