WiddershinsWanderings

Martin always makes great stuff. Do yourself a favor and pick this up.

Oh, the irony.

If there is one thing I am nostalgic about, it is G+ campaigns. I love that Ram is reposting his old Carcosa play reports.

Once more because I'm a silly goose and always forget to #osr posts.

Play Style Preferences: Character Cultivation, Not Character Builds A blog post talking about the benefits of developing and advancing your character based on experiences grounded in in-session action when playing Adventure games of the OSR play style.

I'm back with another of my Play Style Preferences. This time, I'm talking about Diegetic Advancement and how I prefer Character Cultivation over Character Builds.

widdershinswanderings.bearblog.dev/playstyle-pr...

The Bloggies 2026! The blogosphere's annual celebration is coming back.

I come to you like Paul Revere on the back of a liger. The Bloggies are coming!

Like, share, and subscribe.

www.explorersdesign.com/the-bloggies...

The most important play report of all: How Prismatic Wasteland prevailed over Widdershins Wanderings and Bastionland in a board game battle.

The Explorateur: Issue #14 Monthly design jams, critique, theory, and inspiration for tabletop rpg designers by rpg designers. Vetted. Looted. Curated.

The Explorateur #14 is out now! The only newsletter designed to level-up your design skills (how's that for sales copy?).

Please like, share, and subscribe. If you have any links you particularly like, drop a comment on Explorers Design or here.

www.explorersdesign.com/explorateur-...

I appreciate this preview of a future "Folks!" outro.

PAX Unplugged 2025 Recap This past weekend I attended PAX Unplugged for the third time, a con that I highly recommend as it is a very fun mix of board games and roleplaying games. ...

Here’s my recap of PAX Unplugged 2025 weirdwonder.net/pax-unplugge...

Mapping the Blogosphere An interactive graph of TTRPG blogs, showing who links to whom, how communities change over time, plus stats and how it all works.

Spent the last month mapping the blogosphere by its links. The graph is finally ready

Communities clump into a big hex and the whole thing looks like a star map

What are blogs anyway but stars in the sky?

elmc.at/mapping-the-...

To check out the graph directly follow this link:

graph.elmc.at

PAX Unplugged 2025 Convention Report A blog post talking about the events of PAX Unplugged 2025, specifically focused on several playtest sessions of OSR games.

I went to PAX Unplugged 2025, played in/ran a lot of OSR game sessions, and had a lot of fun chatting with other bloggers, designers, and other very cool people within our little hobby.

widdershinswanderings.bearblog.dev/pax-unplugge...

I had an absolute blast, Rey! Rocket punch for the win!

Robot Voice: "For Great Justice!"

*Derek B.

My nemesis, the alternate form of Derek, rears its ugly head again! 😂

The OSR Onion The OSR may be best understood as a layered approach to design centered around a specific way of writing, refereeing, and playing adventures.

Every RPG blogger is allowed one “What is the OSR?” post. Here’s mine:

I would have just given it to you, but I was glad for another zine to look at!

@yochaigal.bsky.social gave them to me to pass out to the players of a playtest of mine, but everyone already had a copy. It only seemed right to pay it forward!

Pocket-Sized Powder Kegs A framework for building powder keg scenarios.

I blogged my musings about making little micro scenarios, check it out:

www.mindstormpress.com/pocket-sized...

I’d Rather Be a Mouse Than an Elf — Prismatic Wasteland I love pretending to be an elf just as much as the next guy, but it pales in comparison to the joys of pretending to be a mouse with a sewing needle sword at my side.

New Blogpost: I’d Rather Be a Mouse Than an Elf

Why sword & whiskers fantasy is more gameable than your standard pseudo-medieval fantasy settings.
#osr #ttrpg #MausritterMonth

I made a "barebones" version of Cairn. Sort of. It's the 2e rules but with swingy and random character generation (no tables, no implied setting). I'm still tweaking it a lot so expect some changes.

It's SRD only now, but here you go I guess.

cairnrpg.com/barebones/

Fabien's Atelier by Brad Kerr A puzzle dungeon TTRPG adventure module for Cairn

My adventure "Fabien's Atelier" is pay-what-you-want this month in honor of @directsungames.com Puzzle Dungeon Jam. Please enjoy. brad-kerr.itch.io/fabiens-atel...

Play Style Preferences: The Hand You Are Dealt A blog post talking about the benefits of embracing random character creation when playing Adventure games of the OSR play style.

The Better Legends RPG Preference Matrix has been making the rounds in some parts, so I thought it would be a fun lense to use to discuss Play Style Preferences.

I'd love to see where everyone else falls in the various categories.

widdershinswanderings.bearblog.dev/playstyle-pr...

Yes, exactly! You can't fall back on a certain persona you constructed long ago for certain types of characters, so you have to play to find out the type of character they are.

I do enjoy a good non-optimized party setup. Of course, it's easier to do this in the games that I like to play (Cairn and other Oddlikes) because there are no classes.

Yes, absolutely. That's why I called the series Play Style Preferences. Random Character Creation can really struggle to satisfy in certain play styles and systems, which is why one of the things I first look at with a new system is how much it punishes me for randomization.

I definitely think that certain systems lessen the sting of this compared to others.

RPG Preference Matrix | Better Legends Get more from Better Legends on Patreon

Link to the original Patreon post: www.patreon.com/posts/rpg-pr...

Play Style Preferences: The Hand You Are Dealt A blog post talking about the benefits of embracing random character creation when playing Adventure games of the OSR play style.

The Better Legends RPG Preference Matrix has been making the rounds in some parts, so I thought it would be a fun lense to use to discuss Play Style Preferences.

I'd love to see where everyone else falls in the various categories.

widdershinswanderings.bearblog.dev/playstyle-pr...

A giant stands in a burning field in front of a tower. All hand drawings except a fire vector put into a roll20 tabletop board.

We finished mythic bastionland tonight. The Snare Knight @naeolin.bsky.social , Magpie Knight @rrookstudio.bsky.social , and Leaf Knight (Dan!) used a pack of wolves and other animals plus mental trickery to yell The Sun back into the sky to become the winter sun again. #osr

Fall Newsletter is out to subscribers, or viewable on the web here:

sendy.cairnrpg.com/w/sfWAXaPpdW...

Mother's Basement does good work.