April 4, 2026
Town advancement, part 2 Captivated by the idea, I explore the required components of a town-advancement system.
April 2, 2026
Town advancement Player advancement is one thing, but what if towns could grow in RPGs as well?
January 3, 2026
I tried mapping and didn't like it Mapping sounds fun but the reality is tedium that draws players out of the story. Next time I'll try reviewing the map one room at a time.
January 3, 2026
Cairn Advancement Hack An additive hack for Cairn that enables characters to grow through failed attribute saves.
December 30, 2025
Random Table of German Names A random table of 200 German-sounding names for boys and girls. Useful for generating names for player characters in a game or story, or for naming your next child!
August 22, 2025
GM Mistake #2: Blocking low-stakes exploration If a player wants to explore and the stakes are low, then let them do it. It's good for morale and the game.
July 7, 2025
Shadowdark characters are fragile If you don't treat low-level Shadowdark characters with care, they will die.
July 4, 2025
Cairn 1999 A Cairn RPG hack inspired by Stranger Things and set in a small Pennsylvania town in the late 1990s.
June 2, 2025
Hazard table A d6 hazard table lightly edited from the Necropraxis Productions Hazard System.
June 2, 2025
5 tips for designing better adventures Good adventures have an objective, a reason, a location, a time limit, and a villain.
May 6, 2025
The Copper Caves A simple dungeon-crawling setting for table-top role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons.
May 1, 2025
GM Mistakes #1: Balancing Realism and Playability A lesson in balancing realism and playability in your adventure games.
April 23, 2025
Rethinking wolves Subverting the trope of villainous wolves from folklore for your adventure games.
April 23, 2025
SoloDark Together: Session 1 Retelling the first session playing the SoloDark rules for Shadowdark with two players.
January 17, 2025
Random Encounters Resources for adding random encounters to your adventure.
July 23, 2024
Spellcasting Chaos Table Adding a little chaos to spellcasting in your adventure games (TTRPGs).
June 6, 2024
Cairn Starter-package Table A starter-package table for Cairn based on Into the Odd.
May 30, 2024
Five-room Dungeons General recommendations for creating five-room dungeons for your adventure games.
May 17, 2024
Cairn RPG Resources and more for Cairn, the rules-light tabletop roleplaying game.