'Basic Roleplaying' Character Generation
An example of character generation in Basic Roleplaying
Home on Frank Mitchell's Blog
Recent content in Home on Frank Mitchell's Blog
Latest posts
Doing Something In D100
Nebulous plans for something D100
Valley of Death (_Clash of Steel_)
A short adventure for Paul Elliot’s Clash of Steel
Nomads in the Perilous Void
Blending “The Perilous Void” with “Faster Than Light - Nomad”
Ships in the Void
Pondering rules for ships in the Void Between Worlds
NOMAD: Alternate Zombies
Yet more rules for zombies in Nomad.
NOMAD: Zombies in Space
Rules for zombies in ‘Faster Than Light - Nomad’
The Gygax 75 Challenge Part 2.8: Religious Hierarchy in Eordh
Religious Hierarchies in Eordh, the world for my Gygax 75 Challenge.
Nomad Specialized Ships
::: license 
 This work includes material taken from the XD6 System Reference Document by
Stellagama Publishing. This Reference is published under the Creative Commons
Attribution License v4.0. You can read more about this license here:
 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ 
 ::: 
 Hyperspace Mappers 
 To transit between stars, Nomad ships simply punch in some…
The 'Playing God' RPG
A play-through of Playing God, an RPG about being a deity.
A Non-review of Tunnels & Trolls: A New Age
Curmudgeonly grousing about the Quickstart for the new edition of Tunnels & Trolls
A Non-review of 'The Perilous Void'
A non-review of a system-independent supplement for any science fiction tabletop role-playing game.
A Note On The Front Page (2026-02-09)
Explanation for dozens of modified files.
NOMAD Space Stations
Space stations in “Faster Than Light - Nomad”.
NOMAD Supercarriers
Super Carrier space ships in “Faster Than Light - Nomad”
Elf Warden Class for Shadowdark
Elf Warden “race-class” for Shadowdark
OpenQuest: Alternative Religions
Rules and suggestions for non-standard religions in OpenQuest
OpenQuest Quick NPCs
Shorter notation for NPCs in OpenQuest
On *Lords of Gossamer & Shadow*
In praise of the RPG ‘Lords of Gossamer and Shadow’, based on the Amber Diceless Role-playing system.
NOMAD Aliens: Ylem Wraith
Description and NOMAD stats for the bizarre extradimensional Ylem Wraiths.
NOMAD Aliens: Tlaqotl
Description and NOMAD stat blocks for the mysterious insectoid Tlaqotl.
NOMAD Aliens: Tlakeli
Description and NOMAD stat blocks for the insectoid hive mind Tlakeli.
NOMAD Aliens: Verduran Mission
Description and NOMAD stat blocks for a Verduran Mission sent to other planets as ambassadors.
NOMAD Aliens: Onyx Titan
Description and NOMAD stat blocks for the towering, inorganic Onyx Titans
NOMAD Aliens: Sarn
Description and NOMAD stat blocks for the bat-winged, star-traveling Sarn
NOMAD Aliens: Xarol
Description and NOMAD stat block for the singular synthoid Xarol
NOMAD Aliens: Verduran
Description and NOMAD stat blocks for the diverse, plant-like Verdurans
NOMAD Aliens: Tlachatl
Description and NOMAD stat blocks for the parasitic insectoid Tlachatl.
NOMAD Aliens: Tlapaku
Description and NOMAD stat blocks for the technically inclined insectoid Tlapaku.
NOMAD Aliens: Tlatoku
Description and NOMAD stat blocks for the violent insectoid Tlatoku
NOMAD Aliens: Tlaka
Description and NOMAD stat blocks for the caste-based insectoid Tlaka.
Re: Modified Articles (2025-10-25)
On the articles recently “modified”.
Solo Journal 1: The Isle of Dread
First part of a Quantum Dungeons exploration of the Isle of Dread
The Gygax 75 Challenge Part 3: Dungeon
In the last installment I sketched out a region which
I’ve decided to call Bergarus Vale after the Bergarus Mountains that
loom in the northeast. 
 In this installment I will detail a dungeon in that region, the entrance
of which is called called “The Radovol Door” or “The Door In The Pit”. 
 (Yes, it took me two years to finally finish this thing.…
The Island of Unmade Games
A list of planned RPG settings/systems, most of which I’ve blogged about, and which remain unfinished.
OpenQuest: Tutors and Trainers
OpenQuest rules for learning skills from tutors
Mages per Capita
An exploration of how many mages exist in a setting affects world building.
Gridless Rules
This article contains my default rules for running tabletop role-playing game
combats without a combat map. This should work in all TTRPG systems with
only a few minor adaptations. 
 (For a full discussion of alternatives, see
 Gridless Movement .) 
 Time 
 In the following discussion, a combat scene is divided into rounds 
during which all characters involved in combat…
Toward a Psionic System
Initial notes and thoughts about possibly multi-system psionics rules.
Injury System for 2d6
An alternate damage system for 2d6-based games.
Solo Journal 0: Introduction
An introduction to the Solo Journal series.
OpenQuest Character Generation
A walkthrough of character generation in OpenQuest v3.
Shadowdark Character Generation
My first Shadowdark character, generated by hand.
Quantum Dungeons Preview 5
In past posts I gave an overview of the draft Quantum Dungeons rules ,
created some characters, and ran them through three adventures
 (1) , (2) , (3a) , (3b) .
I then did the same with higher level characters (4a) , (4b) . 
 In this last post in the series for now, I’ll add some conversion notes I
wasn’t able to test, then give my final verdict on the game. 
…
Quantum Dungeons Preview 4B
In the last installment , a group of six
8th level Quantum Dungeons characters have begun exploring the ship in
 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks . 
 See
 the previous post 
for an introduction to the six characters, and
 this part 
to explain why only six characters have braved this strange dungeon. 
 The Expedition Continues 
 At a Crossroads 
 The party…
Quantum Dungeons Preview 4A
Well, I was planning to wrap up the series, but then two new drafts appeared
in rapid succession, so I guess I’m doing a little more playtesting. 
 Notes on the New Draft 
 Changes that I noticed include: 
 
 
 Human 1st level characters may choose only a single Talent.
Non-humans may choose no talents. 
 
 
 QD AC is renamed “DV” (Defense…
Quantum Dungeons Preview 0: Rules Summary
Omer Golan-Joel of Stellagama Publishing sent me a draft of his new project,
 Quantum Dungeons , which uses the Quantum Engine for dungeon crawling.
 Quantum Dungeons uses only six-sided dice but aims to remain compatible
with OSR and Classic D&D dungeons. 
 The rules have changed quite a bit in the past few weeks, so I’m going to
update this summary as the rules change…
Quantum Dungeons Languages
House rules for languages in Quantum Dungeons .
Quantum Dungeons Preview 3B
This is part B of the Shadowdark adventure begun in
 part A . 
 Recap 
 Concerned rangers sent Ragnar and his Crew to a creepy old house around which
people were disappearing and berserkers and beastmen seemed to be working
together. There they found a heap of bodies, beastmen and berserkers acting
oddly, giant rats, a giant spider, a bear, skittering eye creatures, and…
Quantum Dungeons Preview 3A
Last time I ran characters from Stellagama
Publishing’s upcoming Quantum Dungeons through an Old School Essentials 
adventure. This time I’ve chosen a longer adventure for Shadowdark . 
 Ragnar’s Crew 
 As a reminder, these are our six sample characters. I’m applying the “nerf”
referred to in an alternate universe 
but not the wounds…