RPG Lessons Learned

*assistant TO the meat leader

Slug House, Part 1! (Tan Hack: Slug House) Tanner runs Slug House for Dusty, an old-school dungeon that's a bit bigger than what they are used to! Topics of converstation include hacking together your own OSR system, one player running multipl...

Tanner ran "Slug House" by Stromberg Press for me! He ran it in his own OSR rule set, "The Tan Hack." It went well! #slughouse #tanhack #ttrpg #strombergpress #rpgll

I also use that candy tin for dice storage! And I need to look into Undying Sands, I guess... robot pharaohs... neat!

black and white village map : a village over a hill with its houses going around it from the bottom to the top, following a road. a river passes nearby amongst cultivated fields. some pastures both free and fenced to the let.

🗺️ village map, hand-drawn commission, 2024. 🧭

#cartography #dnd #ttrpg #art

Death In Space! (Welcome to the Ring) Tanner ran Dusty through a one-on-one sci-fi OSR adventure in Death In Space, and it wasn't great! They chat about the joy of creating characters by rolling on random tables, playing a character with ...

I struggled with the "Death in Space" game that Tanner ran for me... My fault; not the game's! #welcometothering #deathinspace #ttrpg #rpgll

Lots of copies of this right now. Grab one before it sells out again!

Jem and the Holograms Theme Song 🎤⚡️ Choose your favorite music service

Truly outrageous! Happy 40th Anniversary, Jem!

orcd.co/jemthemesong

Hex Dungeons At Home! (Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game) Dusty tells Tanner about running games for some family and friends, and talk about secret doors in dungeons, metagaming the map, Jaquaysing the dungeon, keying your maps, pacing and indecision, red dr...

I'm really proud of "Hex Dungeons" as a fun innovation on dungeon crawls... abstract hexagonal "areas" make it easy to "map" the dungeon as you explore, and to understand the relative position of the "rooms." Tanner and I have had a ton of fun with these! #hexdungeon #ttrpg #rpgll

Lancer, Part 2: Campaign Update! (LANCER: Operation Solstice Rain) Tanner gives Dusty an update on his Lancer campaign with his home group, talking about how long combat takes, the importance of scheduling, designing tactical combat encounters, roleplaying mechanics,...

This week, Tanner and I talk LANCER once again! Tanner's campaign is underway now; listen in to find out how it's going! #rpgll #lancer #ttrpg

Escape from Drassana! (Star Wars d6) Dusty ran Tanner a one-on-one one shot in West End Game's Star Wars d6 system. Discussions include the fun of making an adventure vs running one, the best types of characters to play for a game with o...

Geez, I forgot to post about last week's #StarWarsD6 episode! I ran a home-brewed one-on-one adventure for Tanner! While I made some miscalculations, the #WEG #D6 system was a blast!

Best and Worst GM Advice! Dusty and Tanner talk their favorite GM advice from games they love, as well as some not-so-great advice, including advice on random encounters, asking your players what they want, magic tricks at the...

We talk about our favorite GM advice, as well as some not-so-great advice! Includes advice on: random encounters, asking your players what they want, magic tricks at the table, building trust between players and the GM, railroading in published adventures, and linear story structure! #rpgll #ttrpg

Lancer, Part 1: Pre-Campaign Advice (LANCER) Tanner seek's Dusty's advice for his next campaign he is running for his home group, the LANCER RPG. Topics of discussion include 4th edition D&D, scenario design, roleplaying in combat, and lair ...

Tanner and I talk "Lancer," and I wax poetic about Fourth Edition D&D... I think it's worth a listen, but I'm, you know, biased.... #rpgll #lancer #ttrpg #4e

Cyberpunk, Part 3! (Cyberpunk RED) Tanner and Dusty talk the finale of their Cyberpunk RED mini-campaign, discussing tactical combat on battle maps, virtual tabletop gaming, and the campaign and system as a whole. 2-Minute Tabletop: h...

But... we did release another episode yesterday. The finalé of our foray into #CyberpunkRED... if you need a distraction... you can listen to two amateurs share their thoughts on a great #ttrpg system. rpgllpodcast.castos.com/episodes/cyb...

I feel a little silly posting about my podcast right now. The "checks and balances" I learned about in the fourth grade seem to be fictional. Democracies like Taiwan and Ukraine are under attack by autocracies. My savings are worth less and less every day.

Cyberpunk, Part 2! (Cyberpunk RED: Agents of Desire) Dusty and Tanner talk about their second session in Cyberpunk RED, playing the published adventure Agents of Desire, discussing pre-written adventure layouts, PC and GM expectations for combat, and if...

Tanner ran "Agents of Desire" in "Cyberpunk RED" for me; listen to what happens when a player is more trigger-happy than the GM expects... #cyperpunkred #cyperpunk #agentsofdesire #rpgll #ttrpg

The Pointcrawl vs. The Hexcrawl The following post is a cleaned up version of an old Twitter thread. THIS is a point crawl map. THIS is a hex crawl map. Hopefully you are familiar with Super Mario World and Dragon Quest, but if n…

New Blog Post: The Pointcrawl vs. The Hexcrawl

onslaughtsix.com/2025/04/06/t...

Cyberpunk, Part 1! (Cyberpunk RED: Cyberpunk RED Easy Mode) Tanner ran the quick-start adventure for Cyberpunk RED for Dusty, and they chat after the game about their first impressions of the system, cyber Joe Rogan, the necessity for a Cyberpunk game to feel ...

Tanner ran "Cyberpunk Red" for me... our first ever cyberpunk-genre game! #rpgll #ttrpg #cyberpunk #cyberpunkred

Castle Gygar - The Upper Works | Tidal Wave Games Get more from Tidal Wave Games on Patreon

A goal for this year is to work more on Patreon. So, here's the budding embryo of a new expansion for Castle Gygar. It's little more than an intro and a few ideas, but soon it'll be its own project, and I'll do my best to update it at least once a month.

www.patreon.com/posts/castle...

We will not be distracted.
We will not be discouraged.
We’ve got our eyes on the prize.

And we will build the prosperous, free nation for all that we deserve.

The time to organize is now.

OcasioCortez.com

Here is "Carnival of Crime, Part 3: Checkmate," the home-brewed, one-on-one adventure I wrote and ran for Tanner in our "Mutants & Masterminds" three-session mini-campaign! #mutantsandmasterminds #adventuremodule #ttrpg #rpg #rpgll #carnivalofcrime

And here's a link to the .PDF for "Carnival of Crime, Part 2: Rides & Games!"

The first page of "Carnival of Crime, Part 2: Rides & Games," an adventure for the "Mutants & Masterminds" table-top role-playing game!

The second page of "Carnival of Crime, Part 2: Rides & Games," an adventure for the "Mutants & Masterminds" table-top role-playing game!

The third page of "Carnival of Crime, Part 2: Rides & Games," an adventure for the "Mutants & Masterminds" table-top role-playing game!

The fourth page of "Carnival of Crime, Part 2: Rides & Games," an adventure for the "Mutants & Masterminds" table-top role-playing game!

Here is "Carnival of Crime, Part 2: Rides & Games," the home-brewed, one-on-one adventure I wrote and ran for Tanner in our "Mutants & Masterminds" three-session mini-campaign! #mutantsandmasterminds #adventuremodule #ttrpg #rpg #rpgll #carnivalofcrime

Martin's Game, Part 2! (Old-School Essentials: Palace of the Silver Princess) Dusty gives Tanner an update on his long-running OSE campaign with the world's greatest GM, Martin, and they talk simulationism in RPGs, GMPCs, missing content in games, remembering RPGs for posterity...

What's your game like when your GM majored in sociology? Listen to this week's episode to find out! #rpgll #ttrpg #ose #osr

Bernie Sanders, AOC, and Greg Casar on stage in Tucson in front a crowd of 23,000 people.

Tucson, Arizona today.

Original projected attendance was 3,000 people.

23,000 showed up.

Carnival of Crime, Part 3! (Mutants & Masterminds, 3E) Dusty and Tanner discuss the conclusion to their Mutants & Masterminds game, and cover the volatility of 1-on-1 combat encounters, sidestepping GM prep, luck rolls, and how to talk GM-to-player in...

The last episode in our "Mutants & Masterminds" arc... the Ark Corporation goes down... and Tanner and I discuss wrapping game mechanics in chocolate! #mutantsandmasterminds #carnivalofcrime #ttrpg #rpgll

Even though he never had a channel, my first thought is Chris Perkins. I started DMing after the first Acquisitions Inc podcasts in '08 or '09. I learned who Perkins was there. And Wizards used to put Convention panels on YouTube. And I devoured every video with Perkins... learned a lot.

Carnival of Crime, Part 2! (Mutants & Masterminds, 3E) Dusty and Tanner chat about Part 2 of Carnival of Crime in Mutants & Masterminds, and talk three-act structures, player agency vs railroading, and more. Carnival of Crime, Part 2: https://drive.g...

Dusty and Tanner chat about Part 2 of the Carnival of Crime in Mutants & Masterminds, talk three-act structures, player agency vs. railroading, and more! #rpgll #mutantsandmasterminds #ttrpg

And here's a link to the PDF for "Carnival of Crime, Part 1: Entry Fee" for "Mutants & Masterminds."

The first page of "Carnival of Crime, Part 1: Entry Fee," an adventure for the "Mutants & Masterminds" table-top role-playing game!

The second page of "Carnival of Crime, Part 1: Entry Fee," an adventure for the "Mutants & Masterminds" table-top role-playing game!

The third page of "Carnival of Crime, Part 1: Entry Fee," an adventure for the "Mutants & Masterminds" table-top role-playing game!

The fourth and final page of "Carnival of Crime, Part 1: Entry Fee," an adventure for the "Mutants & Masterminds" table-top role-playing game!

Here is "Carnival of Crime, Part 1: Entry Fee," the home-brewed, one-on-one adventure I wrote for our "Mutants & Masterminds" three-session mini-campaign! #mutantsandmasterminds #adventuremodule #ttrpg #rpg #rpgll #carnivalofcrime

Carnival of Crime, Part 1! (Mutants & Masterminds, 3E) Dusty and Tanner discuss the first session of their three-part Carnival of Crime mini-campaign in Mutants & Masterminds! Carnival of Crime, Part 1: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pDz9vxtWEGHk_V...

Tanner and I start a three-session mini-campaign in Mutants & Masterminds! The Carnival of Crime!