rootring
rooted in blogs, linked in a ringAll Dead Generation
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On the ring since 2026-03-27
Latest activity 4y ago
63 posts
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The Procedural Dungeon CrawlThe “Procedural Dungeon Crawl” gets mentioned a lot on All Dead Generations” and many of the pieces here describe its theoretical underpinnings --...Linked by the ring
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FIVE ROOMS DON'T MAKE A DUNGEONThis blog is largely devoted to repeating a single message about game design, hammering away at the same subjects for what I hope is a growing...
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AESTHETICS“Clewd the Fighter straps down his heavy heater shield and loosens his arming sword in its sheath, while behind him Sister Agata’s kneels, her mace resting on the...
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A PDF of this 60 page adventure is available on DriveThruRPG. An introductory delve into a densely interactive classic dungeon crawl designed with contemporary...
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You want to write a dungeon adventure for a classic style roleplaying game, and you want it to be good. How does that work?What exactly does a “dungeon” imply and what is it as...
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MERCILESS SHILLINGBroken Bastion is the third “mini-adventure” I’ve written up for Tombrobbers of the Crystal Frontier. (Link to Drivethru Page) It’s a longer location,...
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Adipose MabExpedition LeaderBelow is the first play report for my current home campaign, a playtest of Tombrobbers of the Crystal Frontier, which I'm also working on for...
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VULGAR COMMERCIALISMDecember has been a productive month, though projects keep moving off sideways rather then plodding on properly to their finish. I’ve put out a second...
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So rather then work on the various projects and posts I have planned for All Dead Generations, I decided to prepare a series of ambitious projects:Equitone - Our Lady of...
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LEGACY SOCIAL MECHANICS AND CONTEMPORARY DUNGEONS & DRAGONSAlignment x Reaction x Asymmetry x Faction PDFThis summer I wrote a series of threads about the ways that certain...
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A revised, updated, edited, illustrated and annotated version of my 2012 Prison of the Hated Pretender is now available for purchase and download at DriveThruRPG. The...
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This is Adventuring!1st Edition Player's Handbook Cover PaintingIn past essays All Dead Generations has focused on the “Risk Economy” as the engine of classic dungeon crawl...
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The 2020 One Page Dungeon Contest wrapped up on the 15th of July, and I’ve entered this year (for the first time since 2015). I don’t think my dungeon has much of a chance -...Linked by the ring
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VESSELS OF THE PLAGUE FLEETThe Capital Fleet of the Successor Empire, once a thousand stone ships, depleted and weakened by mutiny, war, neglect, disaster and finally broken in...
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A REGRETTABLE WASTE OF OPPORTUNITIES Icespire GM's Screen - that almost makes up for sparse art. This blog isn't often kind to the products of Wizards of the Coast - largely...
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FOUL BEASTS OF THE SHORE Sea Hulda in repose 1. Vampire Apes: Hulking, 8’ - 9’ tall, four armed and pale furred predators. The Apes resemble Plague Monkeys on a massive scale,...
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WITHIN THE GREEN MORASSShadowed channels and dense thickets mean that encounters with the resident horrors of the Green Morass tend to occur at close range, 2d6X10’, unless the...
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A LAND APPROACH Approaching from the shore is no less dangerous than from the sea, and the area within a half day from the wrecks is an arcane sink, polluted with rotten magic....
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Sea Encounter DetailsBishop Crab: Hog sized, muddy grey green crabs with bright blue human eyes. They are oddly communal creatures, building inexplicable edifices on their...
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Do not taunt the Sharktopus APPROACH THE DROWNED COLOSSITilted observation spires and the deck castles of the wrecked fleet are visible above the mangrove canopy from ½ a day’s...
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EXPEDITION TO GREEN FLOW MORASSSeveral days South East of Aurum Ferro, at a confused delta of the sluggish Green Flow, a serpentine twin of the Black Flow, Turpid Wake, and...
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RUMORS OF THE PLAGUE FLEET AND GREEN MORASSTwo sets of rumor table for characters who express an interest in discovering more about the Plague Fleet. Simply offer a rumor for...
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Below is the first of a series of shorter posts discussing my personal design process and rationales for design decisions through the example of keying a location - the wrecks...
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In the last post All Dead Generations looked at the general design principles in Wizard’s of the Coast’s new campaign tome Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus, and compared...
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Cover of Descent Into Avernus With the basic ideas behind dungeon crawl style play covered, I'll be taking a look at the current state of contemporary Dungeons & Dragons...
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The last of the set of basic design principles for classic Dungeon Crawls are those around the animate opposition, the active threats to the character, commonly called...Linked by the ring
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Recently I’ve discussed the importance of resource based risks to classic play, and perhaps offered a reason to use this play style, but I’ve saved the most important element...Linked by the ring
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COMPLICATING THE RISK ECONOMY Slow building tension and risk is one of the goals of the Risk Economy, a way to encourage exploration by offering the chance and creating a need...
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TIME & THE RISK ECONOMY Only when I started running 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons, and really digging into the rules did I realize something shocking to a player with a...Linked by the ring
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What’s Illusionism, and why should you care while running a game? Illusionism is a method of setting building or adventure design that raises the question of player choice or...