BlackDragonCan

Squealer

One of my favorite AD&D 1e monsters, bad AC but great HP and damage so super fun in a fight.

Also a bit freaky looking so always good to terrify the players.

From one of my favorite modules, Expedition to the Barrier Peaks

Nice haul Ezra

Oi! @kittensoft.bsky.social, @blackdragoncan.bsky.social and @herogm02.bsky.social looky at my latest order from Golden Apple Comics.

#ImageComics #DCComics #GIJoe #AbsoluteSuperman #AbsoluteWonderWoman #YoungBlood #GhostPepper #ColdSlither

Oi! @beyondtheweird.bsky.social my copy of the #Rolemaster Classic Crearures & Treasures book finally came in. Now all I am waiting for is my copy of High Adventure Role Playing 2e core book.

@blackdragoncan.bsky.social
@kittensoft.bsky.social
@ericklw.bsky.social
@dungeonnoir.bsky.social

John Carter of Mars

John Carter of Mars

John Carter of Mars

John Carter of Mars

A little pulp inspiration for your gaming

Art by Sal Buscema and Ernie Chan

I wasn't a huge fan of DeCarlo, his inks tend to be too sketchy for my taste, but he really worked well with Lightle.

These pages are just gorgeous.

Credit where credit is due.

Dweller of the Forbidden City Leaning In - Running D&D For the Players There are a few areas in D&D where I feel that I am an outlier, at least if social media discussi...

An old blog post on "leaning in" to what the players find interesting. Referees often discourage activities by players as they feel they are "irrelevant" or they don't fit the ref's idea of "appropriate" play.

This is a mistake

dwelleroftheforbiddencity.blogspot.com/2021/04/lean...

Red Sonja

Red Sonja

Esteban Maroto Red Sonja

Dragon Magazine cover

Dragon Magazine cover

Fancy a game of chess?

What's your DnD character? Whatever it is I can draw it for you.

Dweller of the Forbidden City What You See Is What You Get - Description in D&D I was asked how I handle description in the game and I thought it would be easiest to blog...

An old blog post on the role of description by the referee in D&D. The ref is the PCs “eyes” in the game, so good description is a must:

dwelleroftheforbiddencity.blogspot.com/2021/03/what...

The Far Side

My favorite Far Side

I still quote this on the regular

The nice thing about AD&D is that it is to some meaningful degree modular. If you don't like the complexity of WvsAC modifiers you can just drop them.

I like a game that provides me with optional systems, I can embrace whatever complex elements I like

This doesn't even touch on the fact that there are different levels of complexity, built in complexity vs situational complexity, sub-system complexity, complexity becomes familiar and easy to manage over time, and the fact that games like D&D have a referee to help players manage the complexity.

I would love to return to the previous way of framing this discussion, complex games are an option, simple games are an option, you pick the playstyle you prefer.

However, neither is "better" in any absolute sense, they are just better suited to particular styles of play.

Combine this with rising levels of innumeracy and illiteracy, and you end up with people complaining about the bare minimum complexity.

I once saw someone lament that you needed two rolls, one to determine a hit, one to determine damage, as it added too much complexity to the process.

Then Twitter types reclassified complexity as "gatekeeping", the argument being that complexity prevented some people from being able to play the game, so it was harmful.

From that point forward, the public discussion has circled around this idea that complexity bars people from play.

If you look at old Dragon magazine letter columns and forums people have been debating the value of "crunch" for decades. That debate has for the most part been about "play styles", and people on either side of the divide treated complexity as a playstyle preference.

You like what you like

I like that

Dweller of the Forbidden City Complexity in Gaming and Game Design This morning I woke up to a discussion of how having spell levels and characters levels is confusing (a...

An old blog post on a topic near and dear to me - complexity in TTRPGs.

IMO too many people disparage games for complexity, they are missing out

dwelleroftheforbiddencity.blogspot.com/2021/02/comp...

It’s a product of its time, but that’s part of the fascination, watching a film depicting an earlier time’s idea of what the future will be like

Absolutely, of course there is the possibility of catastrophic failure, but that’s what makes it exciting!

Thank you!

Rollerball poster

Still one of my favorite sci-fi movies

Dweller of the Forbidden City Building Bhakashal - "Balanced" Encounters and Scaling the Game One of the things I get the most pushback about when I discuss TTRPGS is the...

An old blog post where I tackle the scourge of "balanced encounters".

TLDR - Nope!

dwelleroftheforbiddencity.blogspot.com/2021/06/buil...

One of Julin De Narvaez’s fine illustrations for the Folio Books edition of Susanna Clarke’s acclaimed fantasy novel “Piranesi”.

Warrior on bird

Warrior on bird

Does your game have aerial mounts and rules for aerial pursuit and combat?

Bhakashal does!

Art by Chris Achilleos

Dr Strange

Feb 1980

Cover

Feb 1980 was a groovy year for Mighty Marvel

A Sienkiewicz and Rubenstein picture for the Marvel Calendar. The individual daily entries are good fun to read too.

Talislanta

Talislanta

Talislanta

Talislanta

When I’m asked about “well designed games”, Talislanta always comes to mind.

Always flavorful and elegant.

Awesome finds!