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| Ba Chim seal of approval! (Art by Dreadbeasts) |
- Not quite RPG related, but Hydra heads Trey, Jason, and Robert have launched the Bronze Age Book Club podcast, for jawing about comics. Check it out here.
- David Schirduan ran a series of interviews with
some of the folks in the SWORD DREAM / *DREAM space (including me),
discussing our perspectives and how we want to see this space grow.
- Relatedly, Dream Jam (a Sword Dream game jam ) just wrapped up - you can see the entries here. I think this is the first large set of material releasing in the *DREAM space, and it's exciting to see! Many of the submissions skew a bit more to the indie side than I generally roll with, but I'm also excited to see new design influences entering our space and hopefully having some fruitful dialog.
- Cavegirl (the Evil High Priestess of the OSR) starts laying out a system for creating magic items based on supernatural resonances.
I'd like to see more detail on the creation process and system details,
but the writeup of affinities and their effects is excellent. She's also got the Wounded Daughter advancement, which is raw and from the heart and the first time I've seen a "this PC
does not die" mechanic in an OSR game that has felt really compelling to
me.
- Throne of Salt has a great post on the Book of the Night, discussing the universe as envisioned by Abd al-Hazra. Certainly not going to pass up an Arabic grimoire post, even if this one might be a bit more Lovecrafty than historical.
- Lizardman Diaries has a compilation of all of their Infinigrad posts,
in advance of launching a Patreon. Lots of handy city-related
generators, guilds, shopping, random tables... I particularly like the
automated augmentation generator (though I sigh a bit at the name
"Fantasypunk") and the guild generators, because factions are great.
Very good for "strange fantasy city" work.
- Gundobad Games continues the "Settings with Strata"
discussion, this time discussing how leaving voids in a setting's
backstory can allow for fruitful development and increased depth as
different factions tell their own histories. Worth synthesizing with
this Hill Cantons discussion of information-as-treasure.
- Evlyn M rewrites an earlier campaign framework of a witches' coven, with a town-centric sandbox and table-generated setting. Pushes back against transphobic components of prior inspiration. (Warning: some NSFW art - stylized nudity, non-sexualized.)
- Against the Wicked City has this pairing of English literary authors and the Warhammer armies they'd play, which is goofy/amazing enough that it absolutely has to be included here.
- While we're on the subject of Warhammer influence, Uncaring Cosmos has a writeup on the British OSR. I think that there's a lot more overlap between the A-OSR and B-OSR than they suggest - WFRP and GW creations seem to exert a great deal of weight in the OSR's aesthetics of ruin - but it's still worth a read.
- Tarsos Theorem has a handy-dandy Mothership PC generator. Be prepared to shout "let's rock" and/or discuss the bonus situation.
- Goatman's Goblet created a Knave's Guide to Eberron,
adapting the 3e setting to Ben Milton's Knave RPG. Despite the deep
love many folks have for the setting, I've always struggled to get into
Eberron; this looks like a short, sweet, and easy way to dig in.
- The Alexandrian argues that the bowdlerization of Palace of the Silver Princess marked the ending of the "old school spirit" in TSR design. Strong concur that Jean Wells was frickin' robbed,
and that we lost a lot of potential by TSR pulling her work in favor of
the Moldvay rewrite. See also Grognardia's interview with Jean Wells, Part 1 and Part 2.
- This last one is from 2017, but I just discovered it and really like it, so in it goes! Trilemma's post on Awesome vs Tangible Resolution just helped me describe better what I like about my preferred playstyle.
- POCGamer's got a good read on decolonization and integration within D+D. While POCGamer's post focuses on WotC's treatment of D+D, his comments are still handy and useful for considering how we construct other, hopefully more compelling, settings.
- Papers and Pencils just posted a public-facing version of On A Red World Alone, a super-light treatment of post-apocalyptic Mars. Worth checking out, and reminiscent of Rogues and Reavers's Savage World of Krul setting from back in the day (currently hibernating and unavailable).
- Shoe Skogen has been running video interviews with folks on Hey! My Friend Made A Thing! They've uploaded interviews with David Schirduan (who just released his Bone Marshes module) and with me, and there are more to come from folks at Gen Con.