The Reaction Roll, the Morale Roll, and the Monster That Doesn’t Want to Fight Here is a scene that has played out at countless tables running D&D since, well, I think at least from the 3rd edition days. The party rounds a corner and lo and behold, here are goblins. The goblins are there because the encounter table said goblins, or because the adventure module placed them in this room, or because the GM simply needed something to fill the space between the last fight and the next plot beat.

Not every monster wants to kill you. Two dice rolls can completely transform how your table handles encounters. 🎲⚔️

Full article in the link in bio!

#OSR #TTRPG #DungeonsAndDragons #RPGBlog #GameMastering #OldSchoolDnD #TheRPGGazette

Beyond Good and Evil: The Paths of Enlightenment and the Alien Morality of Vampire: The Masquerade From my experience, there is a moment that happens at almost every Vampire: The Masquerade table, usually somewhere in the first couple of sessions. A player's character does something monstrous. Not dramatically monstrous, no torture or senseless mass killing, but instead something a bit more quiet, even practical in the moment. But still monstrous to a normal human. They drain a human completely cause they are in dire need of Blood Points/wanna get rid of their hunger.

What if the monster isn't a bastion of pure evil, but rather just incomprehensible abd alien? The Paths of Enlightenment are VtM's most fascinating design space and this article dives deep into them! 🧛‍♂️🔮
#VampireTheMasquerade #WorldOfDarkness #VtM #TTRPG #RPGBlog #TheRPGGazette #Tzimisce

Prestige Classes: The Best Design Space D&D Ever Abandoned There is a specific type of character fantasy that was achieved by 3rd edition Dungeons & Dragons better than any other edition before or since. Not the fantasy of making your character up as you go. The fantasy of knowing what you want your character to be from session one, having a goal in mind, knowing that you are working toward it and putting in the effort and time to work toward that goal, and knowing there would be a day…

I feel like 5.5e kind of buried multiclassing. So I went back to 3.5 - where character building was an art form and multiclass was king. Prestige classes are part of the reason for that. And they deserved better. 🎲⚔️

#DnD #DungeonsAndDragons #TTRPG #DnD35 #PrestigeClass #RPGBlog #TheRPGGazette

The Book That Built the World of Darkness (Whether White Wolf Admits It or Not) There is a version of Vampire: The Masquerade that does not exist. In that version, the vampire is still fundamentally a predator. Gothic, certainly. Brooding, perhaps. But essentially a monster: something took directly from folklore, something cold and inhuman that wears a human face as a disguise. That version of the vampire has a long literary history - Stoker's Dracula…

VtM didn't invent its iconic take on vampires alone. Anne Rice played perhaps the biggest role in that — White Wolf just never said so. 🧛📖 A critical look at the unacknowledged debt behind your favorite RPG.

#VampireTheMasquerade #AnneRice #WorldOfDarkness #TTRPG #RPGBlog #TheRPGGazette

Shadowdark vs. OSE: Two Visions of OSR Accessibility When first looking into OSR games, many people ask themselves the same question: "Which one do I start with?" In my experience, nowadays, the majority of the time, there are two systems that people will tell you to start with: Either Shadowdark or Old-School Essentials. Both of these games were created with a lot of love, care and attention to detail, with strong communities backing them up.

OSR curious? Two games, two philosophies. Shadowdark vs. Old-School Essentials — same door, different keys. Which one's right for YOUR table? 🎲⚔️

#TTRPG #OSR #Shadowdark #OldSchoolEssentials #DungeonsAndDragons #TabletopRPG #RPGBlog #OldSchoolDnD #TheRPGGazette

The “Post-OSR(evival)” Identity Crisis Welcome back everyone, I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and a great start of the year! As for us, both me and Yuno managed to catch a cold right before our exam session so things could be better. But nonetheless, I wanted to take some time to write this article to relax my brain a bit before delving right into uni projects and my dissertation.

Old School isn’t what it used to be and that’s kind of the point. From Shadowdark to MÖRK BORG, the OSR has fractured into something stranger and more interesting. A look at the post-OSR identity crisis and what “old school” even means now.

#TTRPG #OSR #TheRPGGazette #RPGBlog #GameDesign

Gnomepoleon Is Here - Ep 5: Mythic Bastionland Solo Campaign In Which A Marriage Is Arranged For Sir Tollix and Gnomepoleon Takes the Field

Battles, romance, and the emergence of a living nightmare on this episode of Gnomestones

open.substack.com/pub/gnomesto...

#ttrpg #osr #rpgblog #dnd #mythicbastionland #medieval

Blogwagon: A Very Gnomestones Hexmas A Rankin/Bass Themed Holiday Hex

We’re doing a holiday Rankin/Bass Blogwagon, get on board!

gnomestones.substack.com/p/blogwagon-...

#blogwagon #rpgblog #d&d #osr #ttrpg #holiday #rankin/bass #hexmap

Stay tuned, new article dropping tomorrow!

#mythicbastionland #osr #ttrpg #rpgblog

The End Times and After: RPG Blog Carnival – Autodueling in Toril December’s RPG Blog Carnival The End Times and After is being hosted by Advantage on Arcana The End Times and After, I’ve been wrapping my head around this since mid-November when the t…

The End Times and After: RPG Blog Carnival - Autodueling in Toril vulcanstev.blog/2025/12/09/t...

#RPGBlogCarnival #ttrpg #RPGBlog #DnD #CarWars

Events Table - Mythic Bastionland Project on Blogstones

gnomestones.substack.com/p/tension-ta...

#mythicbastionland #osr #ttrpg #rpgblog #dnd #events

Mapping OSR: Hex Kit Poll Results Region Development the Gnomestones Way

The Hexwars continue here!

gnomestones.substack.com/p/mapping-os...

#mythicbastionland #osr #ttrpg #dnd #gaming #fantasy #myth #rpgblog

Internal Rock Campaign - Ghosts of Saltmarsh Rewrite | InternalRockStudio Get more from InternalRockStudio on Patreon

I am currently running a Ghosts of Saltmarsh campaign and have started a blog series about how I am rewriting the individual adventures to turn them into a cohesive campaign.

You can read the first post here: www.patreon.com/posts/intern...

#DnD #GhostsOfSaltmarsh #CampaignWriting #OSR #RPGBlog

Mind Over Magic Johnny Nine-Fingers returned smelling of moss and burnt hair, eyes wide like he’d glimpsed the soul of a houseplant. “Magic?” he rasped, slamming down a scorched notebook. “It ain’t spells, it’s feelings. They don’t cast, they emote.” I nodded slowly, pen in hand. Another system, another aneurysm.

Johnny Nine-Fingers returns from the World of Two Moons with news of psychic powers, pointy ears, and zero fireballs. My dive into ElfQuest RPG’s magic system is live – come for the chaos, stay for the Sending. 🧠✨ #ElfQuest #RPGBlog #OneManAndHisDice

The new Bard story blog is out now - check it out and subscribe on the site!

#ttrpgblog
#dndblogger
#tabletopcontent
#rpgblog
#ttrpgcommunity
#homebrewttrpg
#dndresources
#gamemastertips
#dmresources
#storytellingblog

Designing Monsters with Cairn2e Review of Creature Building Tools

Check out my new blog post on using Cairn2e resources to generate compelling monsters!

open.substack.com/pub/gnomesto...

#osr #rpgblog #ttrpg #cairn2e #dnd #art #monsters #resources #oc

A Gaming Folder (Part 4) - Character Sheets (and other player stuff) As a teacher, I'm used to students leaving their workbooks at home, the same applies to players in a game campaign...not as often, because p...

What do the players need? #TTRPGs #rpgblog #D&D
vulpinoid.blogspot.com/2025/03/a-ga...

Observations of the Fox

At the current rate of views, some time in the next month or so I'll have reached over 1.5 million views on my blog... so that's something.
#ttrpg #rpgblog
vulpinoid.blogspot.com

Alien RPG 1e Review - Halfling's Hoard With Free Leagues announcement of a second edition of the Alien RPG I think it is time for me to get my first edition review finally done. So here

Back with a review of Alien RPG 1e. I know its been a bit, but I figured with the new edition coming sometime soon, people may want to jump in now.
#AlienRPG #RPGBlog #RPGs

www.halflingshoard.com/arpg1e

CYBERPUNK 1E: initial impressions cyberpunk 1e RAW is a player-driven sandbox that begs to have a campaign turn structure added to it.

i got a chance to play cyberpunk 2013 (aka 1e) this weekend. here are my initial impressions. #ttrpg #cyberpunkrpg #rpgblog

rpgblog.nil.omg.lol/cyberpunk-1e/

721. Tolerable evil Heading down into depths of Graystone Quarry I see no signs of the fog, except perhaps the steam from strange brass pipes that adorn the cavern walls. I do however hear a monotonous chorus of hissi…

New post - 721. Tolerable evil thetamrieldrifter.com/2024/10/20/7... #ElderScrollsOnline #ESORP #RPGblog #ESO

720. The ambition of Elves The principle source of stone during the rebuilding of Orsinium has come from Clan Tumnosh’s Graystone Quarry located to the south-west of the capitol. The quarry however has reportedly fallen well…

New post - 720. The ambition of Elves thetamrieldrifter.com/2024/10/18/7... #ElderScrollsOnline #ESORP #RPGblog #ESO

719. The first victim In the aftermath of the the Malacath fanatics attack on the Temple of Ire, King Kurog has summoned me back to Scarp Keep. As I enter two huge wooden doors of his throne room, I see his figure slump…

New post - 719. The first victim thetamrieldrifter.com/2024/10/13/7... #ElderScrollsOnline #ESORP #RPGblog #ESO