Brendan's Blog

Posted on August 20, 2026 After moving to Portland, it was only a matter of time until I succumbed to the call of the clown.

Posted on July 22, 2026 Despite feeling pretty tired lately, I was feeling good in the gym today.

Posted on May 21, 2026 I stumbled into Egg in 4 great games you can finish in one sitting on mothership.blog.

Posted on May 7, 2026 That I actually think is pretty useful!

Posted on February 27, 2026 This is part 2 of More Than Telling a Story, an open-ended series of posts describing aspects of TTRPGs that resonate with me that aren’t “telling a story.”

Posted on December 14, 2025 Forget the Ennies, it’s time for the Endies!

Posted on November 10, 2025 Dear Reader, I haven’t done a big introspective post about my feelings in a while, but I’m feeling it tonight.

Posted on October 4, 2025 When I hear people say what they like about RPGs, oftentimes it’s something along the lines of “it’s fun to tell stories with your friends.”

Posted on September 10, 2025 In this game you create a character and write poems as that character.

Posted on April 14, 2025 I just got back from a mini-con/GM retreat and wanted to jot down some highlights and reflections before I have to do my chores and get back to the office!

Posted on February 12, 2025 I’m currently running a campaign of Frontier Scum and last session I started a hexcrawl using the procedures in the Games Omniverious Hexcrawl Toolkit.

Posted on January 4, 2025 I didn’t realize it as it was happening, or really until I sat down to write a post reflecting on 2024, but it turns out it was a year of a lot of firsts for me!

Posted on December 22, 2024 I had a fantastic time playing Reel Robot Fishing (Solo Version) by Sandro AD for Prismatic Wasteland’s Covert Critic Secret Santa 2024.

Posted on October 30, 2024 I’m swimming in a hazy mixture of post-con-blues and invigorating enthusiasm after coming home from Big Bad Con.

Posted on October 12, 2024 I love goblins.

Posted on September 22, 2024 What would an OSR-style game look like without hit points (or wounds, or stress, or ruin, or any other similarly abstract resource)?

Posted on September 21, 2024 After lurking on my shelf for measureless eons, Arkham Horror: The Card Game has me back in its tentacles.

Posted on May 4, 2024 Don’t Kill a Bird with a Baseball: A Randy Johnson TTRPG by JD Clement is a 3-page, 1-shot RPG in which every player plays a parallel version of 6’10” baseball pitcher Randy “the Big Unit” Johnson on March 24, 2001 in the 7 hours lea…

Posted on March 31, 2024 Since finishing school (which is starting to be a distressingly long time ago), I’ve found it challenging to finish personal art/design projects.

Posted on June 15, 2023 Worlds Beyond Number is doing a 2-shot using the RPG Roll for Shoes which sounds like a really charming rules-light system.

Posted on April 1, 2023 I had so much fun with my reading goal last year, I’m running it back.

Posted on March 7, 2023 A quick loaf update!

Posted on February 19, 2023 I’ve made a bunch of loaves from Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast by Ken Forkish, but they always felt like a special occasion.

Posted on January 21, 2023 I’ve played Dungeons & Dragons on and off since I was a kid.

Posted on January 2, 2023 As part of a larger effort to spend less time on my phone and more time doing things I love, I read 61 books in 2022.

Posted on August 21, 2022 I wouldn’t be surprised if Christopher Alexander’s “A Pattern Language” was more influential in the field of computer programming than it was in architecture.

Posted on August 14, 2022 When I step into a coffee shop that gets everything right, I step into a subtle alternate reality where I am cooler and more creative, less anxious, more thoughtful.

Posted on November 28, 2021 Kate and I took the week of Thanksgiving off work and ran away to northern California for a much needed vacation.

Posted on August 29, 2021 “Are you on the good internet or the bad internet?”

Posted on November 22, 2020 “Let’s start with the end of the world, why don’t we?

Posted on October 14, 2020 Today’s mood: “Crazy Over You” - BLACKPINK Somehow, sometime, I think I stopped reading novels.

Posted on May 4, 2020 Today’s mood: “Fetch the Bolt Cutters” - Fiona Apple Kate asked me to give a short presentation to her architecture firm to start a discussion about stages.

Posted on April 4, 2020 Today’s mood: “Wuthering Heights” - Kate Bush A quick note to make a commitment.

Posted on January 25, 2020 Today’s mood: “I Want to Grow Up” - Colleen Green Sometimes I imagine what I would teach if I were given free rein to design an architecture studio.

Posted on January 11, 2020 Today’s mood: Blood - Kelsey Lu I’ve been trying to figure out how to rekindle the things I loved back when I was making art in Vancouver.

Posted on January 5, 2020 Today’s mood: Somnabulate by H.P.

Posted on August 29, 2018 In my previous post I mentioned I was embarking on a new fitness plan, so here’s the deets.

Posted on August 23, 2018 One of the main topics of this blog is ultralight backpacking, so I thought I’d take a stab at writing up a quick intro to the concept.

Posted on August 18, 2018 Tarp at Goat Lake First trip report on the new blog!

Posted on July 29, 2018 Friction in a retail shopping experience is all the things that get in the way of a customer walking in, picking up the thing they want, and walking out (with the money being automatically deducted from their bank account via brain…

Posted on July 28, 2018 Hello, world!