Sesame Street taught me the alphabet; Scholastic taught me to read; Infocom taught me how to play with words. Through shared and solo play, interactive fiction shaped how I read, my sense of humor, and my appreciation for imagined spaces in ways that still inform my approach to OSR play.
Wherein I take stock and mentally prepare to take the Solo Play plunge with a crawl through Stonehell, with the help of DM Yourself.
Remember those old animated gifs that used to exist on every Geocities, Angelfire, Tripod and FortuneCity (my personal preference) sites? That's what this post is, minus the epilepsy trigger.
My introduction to Dungeons & Dragons was found tucked away among my dad’s back issues of "Heavy Metal," some Rifts books, and Frazetta art books
I coaxed my group onto the Mothership last week for a run-through of Luke Gearing's "Orphans." It was by far the softest landing we've had in a new system, and the most fun
Each of these was either foundational to my interest in the hobby, or it's something I return to often for inspiration. In short, it's stuff that I love, and with luck this list will keep growing
This is an ongoing list of cursed magical items, weapons and armor which players will hopefully find intriguing, and be tempted to use, despite their downsides. Magical creations gone awry, or intentional products of malign influence
Brief encounter tables for highland regions and a bevy of weirdos
These intentionally slight entries are intended as creative prompts—especially for weirdos such as myself who like to daydream about this stuff, even outside the context of game prep!
Almost all the music I play while prepping and running sessions is plumbed from the boundless depths of dungeon synth on Bandcamp. These are but a few of my current favorites. Enjoy, and support these artists—especially if it happens to be Bandcamp Friday