A Quick Look at a Big Book: Troika!
A reading informed review of Troika!
Personable Thoughts
A blog about RPGs, mostly.
Latest posts
A Quick Look at a Big Book: Eco Mofos!!
A reading informed review of Eco Mofos!!
A Wargame without War: The Role of Unused Rules
On not using the wargaming mechanics in Baseline Drift.
Oracular Randomness in Live Text RP
On using tarot cards in Baseline Drift.
Designing a Game is Easy as Shit
The role of game rulesets in having a good time.
The Map Speaks: Communicating Via Maps
The map as a communication tool between designers, GMs, and players.
A Quick Look at a Big Book: Orbital Blues
A reading informed review of Orbital Blues.
Game Mechanics are an Artform
On the role of mechanics in describing games as art.
Prepping PbP Diary 0: Knowing when to stop is knowing when to start
Preparing for a Wolves Upon the Coast play-by-post game.
Defending Diegetic Tags
On the role of tags and descriptions.
Translating Wolves Upon the Coast
On reading and interpreting Luke Gearing's big hexcrawl.
Human Centric Game Design: A Manifesto
Exploring how we make games designed for humans to play with humans.
Zine Zone: Kingdoms
A reading informed review of Kingdoms.
Crowdfunding and The Death of the Media
Reflecting on how the lack of a games press affects how games are funded.
A year has passed, a year begins: 2026
Looking back on 2025, looking forward to 2026.
New Blog, same nonsense
An inaugural post for my new domain.
Ten Nasty Drinks for Mothership or other RPGs
A selection of foul concoctions.
Appendix P: A very Personable Appendix N, for games both written and not
A presentation of many of my media influences.
Award Shows are Good Actually
Thoughts on why I actually like award shows.
The Game is Made of Holes
Musings on the ommissions in rulesets and the fruitful void.
On Treasure in Holes
Musings on treasure in dungeons.
A Quick Look at a Big Book: Mythic Bastionland
A reading informed review of Mythic Bastionland.
A Songbirds Campaign Retrospective: Part 1
Looking back on my Songbirds campaign.
A Quick Look at a Big Book: Cairn 2e
A reading informed review of Cairn second edition.
A Link in the Great Chain: Clerics in the Religious Hierarchy
A discussion of the cleric as a social class, and the benefits of being part of the hierarchy.
Touched by the Fay: 20 Advancements for Cairn and other Fantasy Games
A selection of diegetic advancements for Cairn or other fantasty games, as well as a discussion of character abilities in OSR/NSR games.
What is the Game, and What Makes a Good System?
Thoughts on what is required to be a full game, and how systems support games being "good".
Fight, Loot, Die, Repeat: Bringing Roguelikes to the Tabletop
Thoughts on how to replicate roguelike gameplay in tabletop RPGs.
The Price of Words: Valuing a PDF
A discussion on pricing game PDFs.
Game (beta) launch: Mistwalker
A launch post for the beta version of my game, Mistwalker.
A Quick Look at a Big Book: The Hidden Isle
A reading informed review of The Hidden Isle.
A quick look at a big book: Swyvers
A reading informed review of Swyvers.
Trimming the Fat: Goodbye Classes, Hello Skills and Feats
Looking at skills and feats as an alternative to character classes.
Elements of Alchemy: A Blackjack solution
A blackjack based alchemy system.
The Snubbies: An award for Bloggie losers
Some of my favourite blog posts of 2024 that did not win a Bloggie.
Against value propositions
Mulling over the value proposition of buying a game.
A quick look at a big book: Infærnum
A reading informed review of Infærnum.
The Book is the Game is an Object
Reflecting on the game book as a physical object.
Matters of Luck and Skill - Reframing the Skill Check
Reflecting on the role of the skill check.
Zine Zone: Swineheart Motel
A reading informed review of Swineheart Motel.
Reality Check: Songbirds 3e
A play informed review of Songbirds 3e.
Blog Friday: Abstract away your wealth!
A system of abstracted money.
Brief thoughts on implied settings
Thoughts on hyperdiegesis and implied settings.
Toppling the pillars of the OSR: against lethality
A reflection on lethality versus consequence in OSR games.
A Quick Look at a Big Book: Fabula Ultima
A reading informed review of Fabula Ultima.
Zine zone: Cloud Empres
A reading based review of Cloud Empress.
Bardic Inspiration: The music that inspires me
A selection of music that inspires me
Kickstarter FOMO and the Content Firehose
Reflecting on the role of crowdfunding and rate of releases.
A few tables of vampiric inspiration
Tables for inspiration when playing with vampires.
A method for condensed worldbuilding
A a collaborative way to build a fantasy world before starting play.