We concluded our play-through of Kevin A. Ross's The Watcher in the Valley using Cthulhu Dark with a doozy of a session. Read on for the play report and some final reflections. vaguecountries.nl/2026/04/12/c...
It took me two sessions to shake off some counterproductive classic D&D refereeing habits and really lean into the directorial stance required by Cthulhu Dark. Our latest session was firing on all cylinders. vaguecountries.nl/2026/03/15/c...
Report of our second session of Cthulhu Dark, playing through Kevin A. Ross's The Watcher in the Valley. A slow burn (maybe too slow?) but a good time. Includes some reflections on how to handle pacing in a game like this. vaguecountries.nl/2026/02/15/c...
Book cover for Shambleau by Catherine L. Moore, published by J'ai Lu. The illustration depicts a Medusa-like woman with green eyes and flowing red tentacles in place of hair, set against a fiery red and orange background. Shadowy figures of men appear in the background. The style is vivid, pulpy science-fiction art typical of early 1970s French paperback editions.
Next, I'm going to read some classic planetary romance -- CL Moore's "Shambleau" and probably the rest of her Northwest Smith stories. A gunslinger in space? Sign me up!
Finished "War Hound" -- an excellent romp, unexpectedly spiritual as well.
@grahamwalmsley.bsky.social your game worked like a charm!
Play report and GM commentary on our first game of Cthulhu Dark, playing through the Watcher in the Valley. Includes a rules hack and a custom-made player's guide. Already looking forward to the next session! vaguecountries.nl/2026/01/11/c...
Something I've been daydreaming about doing for years! Finally! Fhtagn!
The cover of the Call of Cthulhu anthology, Tales of the Miskatonic Valley.
Taking a break from classic D&D to run a miniseries of Cthulhu Dark, playing through an adapted version of the classic Call of Cthulhu module The Watcher in the Valley by Kevin Ross, from the Tales of the Miskatonic Valley anthology.
Here's to more of the same in 2026.
Also nerded out on sword & sorcery media. The Pastel City is incredible. And Conquest (1983) is the weird, hazy, Clark Ashton Smith-flavored Italian fantasy film I didn't know I needed.
Highlights: the Planet Karus campaign keeps chugging along (8 sessions, zero PC deaths—I'm losing my edge). Thunder Road: Vendetta is probably our board game of the year. And I finally got my seven-year-olds to play actual D&D with me using Maze Rats.
vaguecountries.nl/2025/12/31/y...
Posted my 2025 year in review. Another year of monthly D&D and board games with friends—nothing dramatic, just steady gaming. Which honestly feels like the win.
A cover of Michael Moorcock's "The War Hound and the World's Pain."
I was in the mood for some Moorcock, so I got started on "The Warhound" last night. Set in the Thirty Years' War, a period that has always fascinated me. Curious to see what he will do with it.
A book cover of M. John Harrison's "In Viriconium" aka "The Floating Gods".
Returned to Viriconium for the third installment of the series. Things get weirder and weirder. But was there ever a more gifted prose stylist working in scifi and fantasy? M. John Harrison's writing is so beautiful it's almost physically painful to read.
The corollary is that OD&D only really clicked for me as a referee when I understood that, yes, its roots are in wargames and therefore lean simulationist, but what it is best at simulating is pulp fantasy and sci-fi fiction, not some historic feudal society. It's the original storygame.
The Parker essay he references was one of the main inspirations for my Planet Karus campaign. The key insight for me was that you can basically read stock OD&D filtered through a MotU lens, and it mostly just works.
After a 13-week hiatus, we finally returned to the table for another session. The players managed to eradicate a 150+ monster encampment with a combination of cunning and a healthy dose of munchkinery. It's all good. vaguecountries.nl/2025/12/13/p...
The cover of REH's Almuric.
After a short break, I am resuming my sword & planet reading project. Cracked open REH's Almuric last evening. In the first few pages, the protagonist punches a baddy in the face so hard his head is described as cracking like an egg. And also, as a man born out of time. Never change, Two-Gun Bob!
Still here. Still playing fully homebrewed sword and planet OD&D. Still posting play reports. vaguecountries.nl/2025/09/27/p...
It’s remarkable how much play we get out of such a small package.
Just completed the first actual game of D&D with the seven-year-old twins. Maze Rats worked like a charm.
Casting around for character retirement rules for classic D&D campaigns with level caps (level 6 in my case). Anyone?
They thought to casually raid a cultist's lair and miscalculated the risk that mobs of low-level, fearless acolytes could pose. We ended the battle with both at exactly one hit point. Like I said, sooo close! But no cigar for this referee.
Got sooo close to killing off not one but two of the highest-level characters in our campaign last night. A level six magic user and a level five thief/level two fighter (multiclass, baby).
We had one of those Spec Ops-style D&D sessions where players break into a place in their hometown, so they can't just solve every problem with ultraviolence but must remain undetected. A fun change of pace. vaguecountries.nl/2025/04/14/p...
A surreal science fiction book cover for "Le Signe des Locustes" (French translation of "A Storm of Wings") by M. John Harrison, published by L'Arancière in their "Aventures Fantastiques" series. The cover features a stylized nude humanoid figure with an insect-like head or mask resembling a locust or grasshopper in pink/red tones. The figure stands against a blue background with water droplets or bubbles. The title "LE SIGNE DES LOCUSTES" appears in large orange text at the top of the cover, with the author's name "M. JOHN HARRISON" in smaller text below it.
Leave it to the French to produce the edgiest of all the covers produced for this book. It also is the most accurate depiction of what goes on in the book, though.
Harrison takes the weirdness and melancholy of the first book and jettisons the conventional plotting and action. Makes for quite a reading experience. I would still recommend it but just don't go in expecting a heroic fantasy romp.