RPGs, LLMs, Citational Ethics, and Lineage | Advantage on Arcana
At , Scot Newbury chose as the topic of August 2025's , immediately after announced the . I know it might not seem it, but this is a bit of a coincidence; ...| Advantage on Arcana
My intention is for two central tensions to animate the Lakelands setting. This post will lay out the first of these tensions, which I think of as...| Advantage on Arcana
At , Scot Newbury chose as the topic of August 2025's , immediately after announced the . I know it might not seem it, but this is a bit of a coincidence; ...| Advantage on Arcana
Welcome to my blog . Here I intend to think about tabletop roleplaying games and perhaps provide some resources for players and GMs. A fundamental principle ...| Advantage on Arcana
Much of the wildlife in the Lakelands has not changed since the Arrival: beavers still industriously dam rivers, ducks migrate seasonally, and bumblebees sleep in flowers. However, the substantial decrease in human development has had a number of effects. Feral populations of once-domestic animals have established themselves here and there: colonies of cats, packs of dogs, sounders of pigs, flocks of chickens and goats, gaggles of geese, and herds of cattle, horses, and llamas have all found ...| Advantage on Arcana
Prismatic Wasteland, perhaps on behalf of Marcia B. of Traverse Fantasy, has announced an Appendix N (or other letter) blog bandwagon. An Appendix N, I only recently learned, is a list of works that a TTRPG takes inspiration from, so named for the Appendix N in an early edition of Dungeons & Dragons. As it happens, I already have a list of non-fiction works that influence my playing and writing; it makes enough sense to make a list of fiction influences, too.| Advantage on Arcana
What is it, to be human? From a biological standpoi...| Advantage on Arcana
While working on my "" post, part of the "" RPG blog carnival at , I had an idea for a random table to generate magic trades that might be available in a cit...| Advantage on Arcana
Life tends to be local in the Lakelands, as few people travel farther than the next village or two. Those who do, however, often travel far, bringing news from places...| Advantage on Arcana
I. I want to take another run at what I was trying ...| Advantage on Arcana
What is the Weird? Theories abound: it is miracle, or witchcraft, or emergent phenomena as the physics of one world collides with the physics of another. In ...| Advantage on Arcana
At the start of the month I introduced the 2025 RPG Blog Carnival topic for June, Magic Shops and Their Alternatives. As a brief reminder, I asked participants to consider the ubiquitous but oft-maligned magic shop, as well as their various alternatives, like magic item brokers or crafting mechanics, or ripper docs and black market alien tech shops. I was hoping for responses that approached magic item shops as a problem in the hobby and that provided a variety of solutions.| Advantage on Arcana
Magical settings should have magical diseases. In a world with basilisks and ghouls, sicknesses with weird effects should be at least as common as those mons...| Advantage on Arcana
Magic shops, that staple of high fantasy campaigns, can be controversial in the hobby. On the one hand, in all but the most magi-tech of settings, magic shop...| Advantage on Arcana
