Monday

A Land once magic title logo

A feast for a sphinx cover

Echo from the dark icon exploration

Hello gamers I'm opening *emergency* graphic design commissions, to help me keep my healthcare due this friday. Flexible pricing, I'll do:
-Title typography
-Iconography
-flyers
Looking forl ow effort/stress (ie not suited for short turnarounds and big expectations), great for mockups and prototypes

Blogwagon Announcement: Merry Hexmas — Prismatic Wasteland A new blog bandwagon where everyone writes a hex for a winter wonderland hexcrawl and posts it on their blog, linking to blogs that have adjacent hexes. This announcement has all the information you n...

NEW BLOG BANDWAGON
During this interregnum between High Halloween and Mighty Christmas, a call goes forth to all the world that bloggers shall band together to collectively create a hexcrawl across the blogosphere, themed around those hokey claymation Christmas specials of yore!
#osr #rpg #hexmas

THE UNDERCLOCK: Fixing the Random Encounter For a long time, I had the same random encounter table rules as everyone else: Every 3 rooms (or 30 minutes of exploration time), roll a d6....

I was recently introduced to the Underclock by @goblinpunch.bsky.social, and it's the coolest way I have seen random encounters be done in TTRPGs. Check this out if you want to add some tension to your dungeon crawling!

The higher upon the frames of Elcontra one climbs the more cairns can be found. The few communities of the slopes cannot keep-up the lowland practices just due to the sheer number. It’s said that as one nears the Shoulders communities build their homes into the cairns, living side-by-side the lost.

Within the shadowy hollers of the Toes, a lone cairn to a Pilgrim is nurtured by the community its within. A loving duty performed for generations. These graves are treated as markers for future cemeteries and as such are maintained.

Pilgrimage to the summit of Elcontra was deadly before the Queen was appeased. After the body of the great Spirit was dry the endeavor was considered suicidal by most. That doesn’t stop devoted Pilgrims from trying. Those that return to sea level are said to come back more Spirit than mortal.

The word Pumpkins in orange. A green zombie fella carrying a giant pumpkin on its back.

#MÖRKTOBER #Mörktober Day 31: Pumpkins
Typeface: Darka by Sudtipos

Running a campaign with no rules to a rulebook by the end is on my bucket list.

Rad! Yeah I, personally, have never heard anyone talk about recording rulings afterward. Which in hindsight is obvious.

I guess what I am trying to ask is, do you find translating diegetic rules to endogenic rules to be useful? Not as a published product but as a reference for the table.

I’ve been playing with ideas of the world affecting the rulebook lately. Essentially allowing the world (as dictated by the table) to write the rules. Have you played much in that space? I have found it allows players to feel a bit more secure in future play as our game “physics” are recorded.

Thanks for the reminder, just got mine backed-up.

Pocket Thoughts on Pokemon Legends Z-A Legends Z-A is a steakhouse that only has a kids' menu

I wrote about how Legends Z-A is yet another Pokemon game carried by unrealized potential

obsidianmoonshine.com/public/1-blo...

It feels like it *should* have grown beyond ip and become something greater, but capital can’t allow it. It’s been around for 30 years, which is just about the same amount of time between say Conan and D&D.

Oh man, you ending the article with the idea of Pokemon more as a legend that a real thing rings so true. I am working on a fan ttrpg for the series as a guilty pleasure. While working on that project I got to thinking about how Pokemon feels like a stunted idea at this point.

whose dung steams high, high, high...whose dung steams beyond measure

I’ve been eyeballing switching myself. Do you still have windows accessible somewhere or did you just jump cold turkey?

aand another one for the archive

I also think the price is too high and the preordering of expansions day 1 is mega fucked. I highly recommend that you give it a shot if you can. Oh final note, it runs fantastic on Switch 1. Don’t buy a switch 2 for this. If you have a switch 1 and the cash, it’s worth a shot!

…Such a cool direction to take HMs.

My overall take is that this is the riskiest game that the company has made in a decade or more. It’s incredibly daring. I wish they dumped more time/money on the project to improve the aesthetics since I think that’s most folks’ issue.

- HMs are back in spirit? I adore this! So for clarity, I hated that HMs went away. They forced the player to make decisions with team building outside of combat. Which is rad. In Z-A they have made it so that certain barriers require a certain type of move and a certain range to clear…

..There are hidden areas that require you to have specific tools gain entry. Folks wanted a catacombs. Which I do to tbf. Though the roofs kinda work in the same way. They are a more challenging area to traverse and more dangerous. I do hope they add catacombs in the expansions.

…One could argue that this is because you are giving orders to your avatar, that is giving orders to the ‘mon. Which I don’t hate.

- The map. Okay this might be the most fascinating thing about the game for me. I think Lumiose City is a mega dungeon. I love it. It’s a maze with different factions..

The interesting.

- Look the new forms are gonna have folks who love em and folks who hate em. 🤷

- New combat. I’m unsure on this still. It’s fascinating seeing such a drastic change. At this point I am engaged but I wish movement was more responsive…

Good cont.

- I love the change to the gum challenge. Unlike sun/moon and Arceus which abandoned the framework entirely this feels like a compelling evolution.

- The interior spaces feel lived in. This started with Arceus and feels like it is nearing perfection in Z-A.

The good!

- The character customization is fantastic!

- The writing keeps improving! While the tutorial is too damn long. I found the characters engaging and the things they are setting up are interesting.

- You are actually rewarded for exploring!

- The side quests are narratively engaging!

What is bad!

- The buildings look rough. Like really rough. It makes sense that folks keep pointing it out.

- The tutorial is loooooong. Like 2 hours which is nuts!

- The variety of architecture is lacking. Would love to see the different districts looking more distinct.

- I miss abilities.

Pokemon Z-A is fascinating, and there’s very little nuanced takes on it. Folks either think it is the most disappointing release ever, or it’s Arceus’ gift.

So here is a lil thread if you are curious about it. Keep in mind that I’d guess I’m only 1/3 of the way through it.

SONGS FOR POLYMEDE.

Free tomboyish supplement for FMC (1974 OD&D + Chainmail). Campaign setting & special rules & poetry. For the FMC Icon0clasm Ball. Class as sex class + angels + resource rules + false canon + imagined mythic history.

oleandergarden.itch.io/songs-for-po...

Whelp I know what I am getting