rootring
rooted in blogs, linked in a ringWiddershins Wanderings
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On the ring since 2026-03-17
Latest activity 19mo ago
39 posts
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A blog post about how to design a regional sandbox pointcrawl map that is player-facing.Linked by the ring
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A blog post about how to think about and design obstacles when designing adventures for OSR systems.Linked by the ring
- A Design Consideration for Trad-Style Systems Ladino's Rogue Thoughts
- Completely Untested Magic System Theoryslop for the Masses Billhook
- What Should Have Won the Bloggies Table 46
Show 7 more
- Bloggies Breakdown: Round 2 Explorers Design
- Bloggies Breakdown: Round 1 Explorers Design
- The Bloggies' 2026 Nominees Explorers Design
- Bloggies / New Year The Dododecahedron
- Mastering the Puzzle Dungeon Through Challenges and Lessons Puzzle Dungeon
- Spell Research: Knock and Wizard Lock Blog of Forlorn Encystment
- Shiny TTRPG links #212 Seed of Worlds
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A blog post about how to handle death in OSR games, and some alternatives that are more dramatic than instantly killing a Player Character.Linked by the ring
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Image taken from the Magic Tree House anime. Can you believe they didn't bring this thing over to the US? Missed opportunity. IntroductionA lot of ink has been spilled on...Linked by the ring
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IntroductionHello, Gentle Reader! It's time to take up quill and ink and return to the task of creating Player-Facing Pointcrawls. If you have no idea what I am talking about,...
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IntroductionHello, Gentle Reader! I recently had the opportunity to run a few TTRPG sessions for some Middle Schoolers at my school (Editor's Note: Hahahahahaha! I wrote this...
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Player-Facing Pointcrawl Series 1: What Makes A Good Player-Facing Pointcrawl? 1.5: Cairn In the Classroom (Optional: technically a play report, but reading it before you read...
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Painting in the public domain of Alexander the Great cutting the Gordian Knot. IntroductionI'm really a fan of all the many pleasures of the OSR play style, but one of my...
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The Upper Valley. Map by Amanda P. IntroductionThis session marked a milestone in the campaign, as rather than pursue a paying job from one of our established faction contacts...
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The Upper Valley. Map by Amanda P. Player Characters: Harrow (Derek/Me) - Fieldwarden Background Aster (Zedeck Siew) - Beast Handler Background Snowdrop (Bobby M.) - Foundling...
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IntroductionHello there. Several months back I wrote a blog post designed to introduce new people to the roleplaying game Cairn. To preface my specific guidance for that game,...Linked by the ring
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The Upper Valley. Map by Amanda P. IntroductionIt has been too long, Gentle Reader, since I have updated everyone on the goings ons of the Cairn 2e West Marches playtest. It...
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IntroductionToday is a bit of a combination blog post, Gentle Reader. I was recently given the opportunity to run a game for my wife and a married couple we are friends with,...
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The Upper Valley. Map by Amanda P. IntroductionI'm back again, Gentle Reader, with another play report from the ongoing West Marches game being run by Yochai Gal, creator of...
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The Upper Valley. Map by Amanda P. IntroductionAs many people are likely aware at this point, a playtest document for Cairn 2nd edition has recently been released. What you may...
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The Cover of Break. Art and layout by Grey Wizard. IntroductionThis is a bit of an unusual post, Gentle Reader. I don't typically set out to review TTRPG game systems. Not that...
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Art by Gus L. IntroductionHello again, Gentle Reader. This session actually happened a while ago, but a combination of online and offline projects conspired to keep me from...
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IntroductionThere's a game jam for Cairn going on this month, A Town, a Forest, a Dungeon, and I have decided to enter. Given that I am an incredibly opinionated person, but...
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Lesson #1: The cover is flipping you off. IntroductionHello there. There has been a lot of new blood injected into the OSR/NSR space recently. I'll leave the hot takes as to...
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IntroductionI have said on more than one occasion that Gus L.'s Crystal Frontier is my favorite published setting, and Cairn is my favorite game, so it is only natural that I...
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Habis the Wanderer by GusL. IntroductionHello again, Gentle Reader. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the last game and am unable to give you a firsthand account. However,...Linked by the ring
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Iron Barrow Exterior by GusL. IntroductionWe are back, Gentle Reader, with another exciting session of GusL's Hinterlands of Empire Open Table. This session we had a larger...Linked by the ring
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IntroductionI've decided to start reviewing modules, focusing mostly on things that I own and especially if I don't think they have gotten enough attention (or I feel like I...
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Photo by Malik Shibly on Unsplash IntroductionAlright, buckle up ladies and gentlefolks, because this session was pretty incredible and generated a lot of reflection on my...
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Photo by Malik Shibly on Unsplash IntroductionWe had another session of GusL's Crystal Frontier Open Table game (you can read session 1 here and session 2 here ), and so here...
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Photo by Malik Shibly on Unsplash IntroductionAnother Friday night spent in good company, and so another play report put together based on adrenaline-fueled memories and...
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Photo by Malik Shibly on Unsplash IntroductionOne of my favorite settings to come out of the OSR is GusL's Fallen Empire. This is the setting where one can find the Crystal...
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My apologies for the long delay. Flu puts a damper on one's productivity. Last time, we looked at the beginning stages of the Setting Creation rules for the upcoming 2nd...
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I am a big fan of Cairn, a mash-up of Into the Odd and Knave written by Yochai Gal that is designed to let people play old school modules using a more modern, minimal ruleset....