All Dead Generations

Be Cautious of Maxims As I've written before, the "OSR" loved its maxims, short phrases that try to describe shared principles and act as a way of mutual recognition among OSR folks.

The Ruins of Fantasy Every fantasy RPG world I know, or more certainly every one I want to run a dungeon crawl game in is filled with huge ruins.

A FISTFUL OF CRYSTALS SUPPLEMENTARY CLASS NEW CLASS - IMPERIAL NOBLE Note: Imperial Nobles are a sort of “advanced class”, a substitute form the traditional “elf” and reference to OD&D’s confusing fighter or Magic-User method of leveling elves.

Reskinning the Beholder This is an attempt to reskin Dungeons & Dragons classic weird and terrifying monster the Beholder in a way that works for less generic fantasy settings… Instead of a floating arcane eye with stalks that each shoot magical rays, I’ve

A Dyson Logos Classic This post was written as a "Secret Santicore" response to the Dododecahedron's request : "What are your hopes for the future of the OSR/NSR?"

Less Combat ...

A lot of dungeon design advice focuses on “interactivity”, and to a degree this word can be a meaningless substitute for “stuff I personally like”.

A HUNTER OF THE VERGE AND WASTE At the heart of all violence, atrocity, and suffering is fear, and a mortal's greatest fear is death.

This is an odd post, it’s adventure design advice, specifically dungeon/location based adventure design, but it’s not about specifics, just the process.

A Brief Barrow Fields Gazetteer I was born on the Cidro.

You want to run a “Dungeon Crawl” adventure… Not just an adventure in a "dungeon", but a Dungeon Crawl - that distinct, classic mode of RPG play about exploring a fantastical space, obtaining its treasures, and unraveling its secrets ... while surviving i…

I've been running an ongoing Crystal Frontier campaign using the "Fistful of Crystals" ruleset for the past several months, and at the same time finishing up editing and layout on a larger dungeon for publication - the Iron Barrow.

Gary Gygax is probably the best known name in Role Playing Games -- still, nearly 15 years after his death.

THE LAST ROOST OF THE BEAKED GOD On the ungovernable border land between the North Eastern Crystal Frontier and the Imperial canton of Blackacre, the jagged Maiden Tomb mountains meet the sea, straggling out into the shallow, dark waters as a series of se…

"Vpon the Seuentene Daye of the Seconde Moneth, that same daye were all ye fountaynes of the greate depe broken vp, and the wyir of ye heauens cast wyde." - Late added marginalia in the Codex of Lead 7:11 Joseph Grady - The Bank of England - 1830 Imagining

Fabulation, Tall Tales, & Lies.

Crawling Down From 1974 “Dungeon crawl” has entered the popular lexicon as a description of any sort of adventure in an underground or ruinous space.

TACTICAL COMBAT MECHANICS for Theater of the Mind Dungeon Crawls Front Piece From the Holmes Edition - 1977 Running skirmish sized combat requires more than a party that can win with limited special abilities (such as a sleep spell or fireball), and must…

“There are many worlds.

Back in the aughts and the 2010’s, a decade ago now, there was a movement in older RPGs that I was part of - the “Old School Renaissance” or "OSR".

To the North and East of the Crystal Frontier, beyond the Bay of Fallen Stars or across the Maiden Tombs over the Road of Dead is the Province of Blackacre, sometimes known as the Blackmash.

Character Generation and House Rules for My Home Game I'm going to be running a Crystal Frontier game online, the first semi-public game I've run since the end of G+.

DESIGNING FOR DUNGEON 23 With my decision to work on Dungeon23 coincides my starting a public Crystal Frontier Campaign and being dissatisfied with the progress I've been making to various new projects.

A DUNGEON DESIGN CHALLENGE FOR THE NEW YEAR Sean McCoy of Mothership fame recently proposed a community challenge, event or project he calls Dungeon23.

I've created an Archive of all the free adventures I've written since 2012 here: FREE ADVENTURE PDF ARCHIVE I also wrote a paragraph about each the adventures included to place them within my own design evolution and perhaps a larger story of OSR design f…