One of the great things about Hal Foster’s seminal Prince Valiant is that from very early on, Foster demonstrates how medieval combat was inextricably entwined with wrestling. The sequence below is one of the earliest examples, Val is losing versus the quarterstaff and resorts to grappling. It’s an early example, but the strip is full […]| Fluid — Druid
AD&D is pretty famous for having a fairly extensive weapons list, including in particular quite a lot of different types of pole arm. However, a couple of recent videos (here and here) by the esteemable Matt Easton of the YouTube channel Scholagladiatoria recently made some points that reminded me of things I’ve noticed are missing […]| Fluid — Druid
…I don’t think that every class should get a raft of soldiers. The cleric should get less soldiers and more zealots and believers, but probably this was a bit creepy for the 1979 company [that published Dungeons & Dragons]…. I can cheerfully allow an “evil” cleric player character to gain eighty or so deranged, murderous […]| Dojo Darelir, the School of Xenograg the Sorcerer
Welcome back readers. Two more weeks for the Queer Games Bundle. This is one case of line-goes-up I’m always happy to see. Check out our Patreon if you like what we do and want to help us continue to do it in...| Critical Distance
Welcome back readers. The Queer Games Bundle just crossed another fundraising goal! You’ve got three more weeks to see how many more goals it can smash. Ultra-compact Patreon plug! On with the show. This Week in Videogame Blogging is a roundup highlighting...| Critical Distance
A Bethesda developer teased that its enhancing space travel in an upcoming Starfield update.| Inverse
'The Outer Worlds 2' already feels like a bigger, better version of the first game, providing ample new opportunities to roleplay as a moron.| Inverse
One of the most promising action RPGs in early access is free to play this weekend, just as its next major patch arrives.| Inverse
Triangle Strategy is a rich and complex strategy RPG, and one of the best uses of the HD-2D style we've seen to date. And now PlayStation owners can join in.| Inverse
'Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles' is making a number of additions, and that includes a long-lost feature the English versions never had.| Inverse
Dragon Quest games have always been long, but 'Dragon Quest 7' takes the cake, and proves that a slow-burn RPG can be a beautiful thing.| Inverse
Twentieth Session – The long awaited festival of Temptation’s Embrace gets underway but our attempt to be helpful and enable two hot lesbians to make out runs afoul of the gods, as it sometimes does. But first we’re called down … Continue reading →| Geek Related
Seventeenth Session – This session is way more civilized. There’s brunch! Tales of local drug use and a Frisky Beaver Festival! We eventually ruin it by going to a haunted house. I totally cheated by missing last game to tour … Continue reading →| Geek Related
Sixteenth Session – The party pierces the heart of the dungeon… Then drags through its entrails… Then the horrors of wandering the wilderness… Fun? I was in Japan and missed this session. Which seems like it was for the best, … Continue reading →| Geek Related
Fifteenth Session – The Wizard of Oz sends us to a dungeon full of barfing cats. Film at 11! After we extract from the Yoda hole where we slew the Hound of Hirot, Morgan is better! Well, mostly, she’s not … Continue reading →| Geek Related
Welcome back readers. Two more weeks for the Queer Games Bundle. This is one case of line-goes-up I’m always happy to see. Check out our Patreon if you like what we do and want to help us continue to do it in...| Critical Distance
Welcome back readers. The Queer Games Bundle just crossed another fundraising goal! You’ve got three more weeks to see how many more goals it can smash. Ultra-compact Patreon plug! On with the show. This Week in Videogame Blogging is a roundup highlighting...| Critical Distance
I have contributed to an APA. Not a thing I expected to do at my time of life…| RogerBW's Blog: Latest posts
A long-awaited RPG sequel finally got a release date at this year's Gamescom, but that was immediately overshadowed by the reveal of a pricey DLC.| Inverse
'Onimusha: Way of the Sword' brings the series back in grand fashion, putting the focus on tense dueling system that really shines in one unforgettable boss battle.| Inverse
As of this date, I haven’t really done any product reviews. I don’t reckon I’ll be doing many. Unless, discussion of old games is considered a product review. But, nonetheless, I …| Fluid -- Druid
I have never been a fan of the chromatic and metallic dragons of Dungeons & Dragons, even when ignoring the Alignment aspect. Great variety but otherwise lacking both depth and need, in my opinion. Red dragons are the closest to traditional European mythology: flying fire breathers. That seems sufficient—with one exception. Regarding Alignment, something recently […]| Dojo Darelir, the School of Xenograg the Sorcerer
Have you been to Moria yet? That’s right, the OG megadungeon, the greatest of the dwarven halls, Khazad-dûm, where Gandalf stood alone, upon Durin’s Bridge, to block the passage of […]| Dragon's Lair Comics & Fantasy
Thirteenth Session – The dungeon we’ve broken into goes from bunnies to more horrible creatures quickly. But we discover that, as usual, the most dangerous animal is man. Giant unfortunate bunnies for Easter give way to a ghoul with a … Continue reading →| Geek Related
Twelfth Session – The aftermath of the rat manor in Wymoor, and we figure out how to go free Weebrook from the clutches of the great black dog of the moors. Plus, zombie bunnies! I am late to the session … Continue reading →| Geek Related
Eleventh Session – An abandoned manor house has turned into a rat pus factory that’s infecting nearby waterways, so we go kill a large number of rat-themed opponents. Our first opponent is a big mean rat-fiend that sprays quite damaging … Continue reading →| Geek Related
Tenth Session – As we make our way back to civilization, the island hopping and town hopping yields both short and long term plot hooks! First, Hemp talks to a sentient oak tree on an island that takes a magic … Continue reading →| Geek Related
Ninth Session – We brave the Tower of the Black Pearl to get its… Pearl! A little on the nose but we do get to murder pirates aplenty so there’s that. This is apparently from a DCC adventure called Tower … Continue reading →| Geek Related
Eighth Session – The Wizard of Oz and his minions, and a priest of the Deathbringer and his minions, compete with us to loot some tombs to find the Blazefire Bow! Hemp the Weaver, now more the archer, really wants … Continue reading →| Geek Related
Seventh Session – It’s death or glory in the tentacle pit as we face off against the lead cultist and his pet tentacles. The body count is significant. The woman we rescued is a hunter.…| Geek Related
Using a Chainmail battle to start a AD&D 1e campaign| Grim Schneider
Hierarchy of Ladies for AD&D 1e| Grim Schneider
Troop Promotions for AD&D 1e| Grim Schneider
Troop cost calculator for AD&D 1e| Grim Schneider
Morality Feedback Loop in RPGs| Grim Schneider
Morals in modern RPGs| Grim Schneider
The last couple of years, there has been a lot of talk about Braunsteins. Braunstein is of course the historical and ongoing game by David Wesley that deals with Prussian politics in the town of Braunstein. But, I use a Braunstein in the historical use of the term, meaning similar games in settings different from […]| Fluid — Druid
In my previous posts on Boot Hill I discussed animals and random encounters. This is about professions or classes. Boot Hill is a little unusual as role playing games go in that it contains little discussion about characters classes. Class used here is in the sense it’s used in Dungeons and Dragons. Perhaps, a better […]| Fluid — Druid
In an earlier post, I discussed the spear versus the dagger efficacy versus the armors available in AD&D. I also present, more generally, the entire list of weapons and how they’d fare ve…| Fluid -- Druid
Excerpts from books, films, television, and other websites to inspire your role-playing. Also original fiction, game design ideas, and commentary.| Dojo Darelir, the School of Xenograg the Sorcerer
First Comic Previous Comic Next Comic Today’s Comic Latest Updates| Something*Positive
When a game has a lot of rules, very detailed character creation, and a generous helping of math, it is usually referred to as being “crunchy”. If that is true, then the horror RPG Dread is an adventure trope quicksand pit disguised as a bowl of pudding. When I arrived at RPG-A-THON on Saturday afternoon, I stopped at the Extra Life table. I had just missed their morning block of play-anything drop-in sessions, but I was intrigued by what they were setting up. The table had “character s...| therathole.ca
Sixth Session – We murder and/or rescue people from the tentacle cultists’ lair, and Mordecai learns the “control tentacle” spell. Then we descend through the tentacle hole. Hey man, I didn’t write this adventure!!! There’s a lot of 3D clambering … Continue reading →| Geek Related
NB: This piece is part of a series of reviews based upon the shortlist for the 2025 Ennies Award for Best Adventure – Short Form. For the rest of the series, please look here. Sweet Revenge is a sh…| Taskerland
NB: This piece is part of a series of reviews based upon the shortlist for the 2025 Ennies Award for Best Adventure – Short Form. For the rest of the series, please look here. Tides of Rot is an ad…| Taskerland
There has been a fair amount of confusion about how surprise is conducted in AD&D 1e. I don’t know why because right there on page 61 of the DMG it says: Surprise is basically self-explanatory. Well then no more need be said. For something so self-explanatory, there is a lot of confusion. I’ll say a […]| Fluid — Druid
This post is inspired by this X post discussing random wilderness encounters. He’s not wrong. But, he’s not right, either. I’ll explain. Plus he’s got this blog post. What h…| Fluid -- Druid
First Comic Previous Comic Next Comic Today’s Comic Latest Updates| Something*Positive
My game has been on a bit of a hiatus due to one of the players experiencing an extended bout of Covid and I have been using the spare time to put some thought into my next campaign. Despite having…| Taskerland
This post is inspired by this video. Though this one pretty much sums up my conclusions pretty well. In summary, Shad’s argument goes like this, when held up next to one another a dagger and …| Fluid -- Druid
The other day, Warren D at I Cast Light put up a really good and thought-provoking post about running Lovecraftian investigation games. The post covers a lot of ground that I won’t rehash but the b…| Taskerland
Welcome back readers. If you’ve been out of the loop on games writing for a month or two, Kaile’s got you covered with a hefty recap for April and May over on our Patreon! For as little…| Critical Distance
Welcome back readers. If you’ve been out of the loop on games writing for a month or two, Kaile’s got you covered with a hefty recap for April and May over on our Patreon! For as little…| Critical Distance
Here’s a short one with no real conclusion. This really is just a place to memorialize where I am in thinking about this subject. And, to inspire anyone who also might be interested in the to…| Fluid -- Druid
Let’s face it, does AD&D 1e really need another pole arm? Not really. Gary Gygax already provided a pretty detailed list. Plus, given the variation in historical pole axes, the already pr…| Fluid -- Druid
In a prior post, I looked at AD&D movement rates in relation to missile fire. In that piece I used the DMG overland movement rates and terrain classification to explicate short-term movement ra…| Fluid -- Druid
Not so long ago, in discussion with the bros, it came up how in AD&D 1e swords predominate over other magic weapons. Indeed, magic long swords predominate over other types of magic swords. And,…| Fluid -- Druid
At the end of the recent Arbiter of Worlds stream, with Alexander Macris and Harmony Ginger, the issue of game rulings and precedent came up. I commented in the chat my view that rulings should not…| Fluid -- Druid
In AD&D, a typical movement rate is 12″ per round. Cursory review of the missile weapon ranges shows that for most weapons an infantry unit moving to engage in melee with a unit of missil…| Fluid -- Druid
Way back in 1980, someone named Glenn Blacow submitted an article to Different Worlds magazine. The piece was entitled “Aspects of Adventure Gaming” and it was an attempt to address creative tensio…| Taskerland
In my previous column here, I suggested that cavalry may be the best unit type to use against trolls in AD&D. Not just because the damage advantage of the lance at the charge, but because the c…| Fluid -- Druid
This is a scenario I’ve run for Mr. Wargaming of the Joy of Wargaming. He’s done me some favors in the past, now is time to help him out. Mr. Wargaming generated an AD&D 1e encounte…| Fluid -- Druid
Zine Corner is an occasional series in which I talk about individual issues of zines I have come across on my travels. Some of these will be about RPGs, some of them will be about horror, some of t…| Taskerland
Lately I've found myself struggling to stay motivated on some of the nitty-gritty bits of running an ongoing campaign. I need a system for t...| vilecultofshapes.blogspot.com
I am not the first person to say this about RPGs, but mediums have strengths and weaknesses. Every creative medium has some sort of limits or boundaries that are usually informed by their physical medium of conveyance. Paintings are typically on a flat canvas, film must pass into a camera lens, theatre must fit on […]| Fae Errant
AD&D 1e gets a fair amount of flack for being awkward and clunky. This is mostly from people who haven’t played it for any length of time. Gygax’s rather florid style which challenges their com…| Fluid -- Druid
Way back in 2022, the Prismatic Wasteland blog hosted an award called the Bloggies. The award was designed to showcase the best blog-posts to appear on an RPG blog during the course of that year. H…| Taskerland
Origins is a series of posts in which I reflect upon my relationship with RPGs as well as the events that have shaped my tastes and understanding of games. The rest of the series can be found here.…| Taskerland
Welcome back readers. As promised, after a week to take stock, we’re back at it. To close the gap, this week’s issue is correspondingly embiggened, but even this must be considered an a…| Critical Distance
This is a follow-up on my piece about firearms for AD&D. Presented are my approach to Renaissance artillery for AD&D 1e. The rules here use the War Machine rules on page 108 & 109 of th…| Fluid -- Druid
The most common use of firearms in the wild west was not showdowns in town, or cowboys and Indians plinking at each other. It was hunting and encounters with wildlife. TSR’s Boot Hill role pl…| Fluid -- Druid
The discussion that follows is best understood with a copy of both the first edition DMG and a copy of the Boot Hill rules. Gary Gygax was against functioning gunpowder in AD&D. For him, gunpow…| Fluid -- Druid
Welcome back readers. Kaile beat me to the punch this afternoon with our monthly Patreon-exclusive newsletter. If you like what we do and can spare a fiver, you should subscribe! This Week in Video…| Critical Distance
Welcome back readers. No big updates around the site this week, other than the ongoing fact that you, the readers, are the ones that pay our bills and allow us to keep our finger on the pulse of ga…| Critical Distance
Welcome back readers. Around the site, Kaile’s been cooking, serving up both fresh TMIVGV and our monthly Patreon-exclusive update. back-to-back. Check em out, and if you want to materially h…| Critical Distance
Just a few magic items I created for our Dungeon World game last night that I thought others might find useful. Ring of Invisibility 0 weigh When you put this on, you are invisible until you touch another living being. Roll +CHA. On a 7-9, also choose 1; on a miss, both: your invisibility ends if you […]| Mental Propinquity
Most people think of Dread as a one-shot-only game, but when we wrote it we intended to create a campaign-worthy game that created particularly intense individual sessions in that campaign. The secret, as in so much of Dread, is in the questionnaires.| Mental Propinquity
Lost: Ω Power: Not Entirely of this World: she stands apart from this world Weakness: Magic of other realms can always reach her Quirk: can always interact with intangible items—and them with her Known: d6 Gifted student of math and engineering: she would be a master engineer, if she weren’t 13 and unapprenticed Dynamic: d6 […]| Mental Propinquity
Lost: Ω Power: “fighting with all the energy with which he so mightily endows me.”: Can absorb and store all types of energy. Weakness: …but not energies from beyond the mortal sphere. Quirk: his eyes glow when he is charged Passion: d6 Power Stunt: “like a hammer that breaketh the rock”: can release stored energy […]| Mental Propinquity
Many years ago, one of the games I created was a space opera re-imagining of Everway. Yes, that Everway, the game with all the gorgeous art cards, 3 completely separate action resolution systems, a…| Mental Propinquity
I recently wrapped up a seven-year-long D&D campaign, and wanted to share some thoughts and favorite moments.| Space Ninja
“Can I buy a magic sword?” This is a question that seems straightforward, but is actually fraught with follow-on implications that are not obvious. It is also one that’s asked at some point in any D&D campaign. You might be thinking, as GM, that you’re making a choice about the setting of your campaign (is this a high-magic or low-magic world, a desert island, a major trade city, etc). While you are making this decision, you’re also deciding (perhaps without knowing) what money is i...| Sir Poley
In my review of Regency Cthulhu, I mentioned that I was reaching the point where I cease considering Chaosium’s output to be worthy of my time and money. In fairness to the people who worked on Reg…| Taskerland
Junior Hybrid Battle Cryptids is a game about anthropomorphic animals protecting the innocent, investigating strangeness, and crushing it at dance-offs. Download it on Itch.io as part of the entire…| Pretendo Games
Today I want to tell you about one simple house rule which really improves my games. My Call of Cthulhu campaign is mostly classic, with squishy investigators who are easily torn apart by monsters …| Thing of Things
