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rooted in blogs, linked in a ringA Knight at the Opera · linked by the ring
Posts by A Knight at the Opera that other blogs in the ring have linked.
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Artist credit: Jeffrey HummelGamers suck at talking about difficulty. It's one of those topics that somehow never produces a good conversation. It's mired in bizarre value...Linked by the ring
- The Explorateur: Issue #19 Explorers Design
- The 46er - April 2026 Table 46
- Shiny TTRPG links #272 Seed of Worlds
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About a year ago I played through Fire Emblem 7 for the first time. I got through the tutorial a couple times as a kid, but for some reason I never moved on to the main...Linked by the ring
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Dungeons & Dragons began as a game about exploring mazes, trying not to get lost as you navigate spaces with complicated layouts. At some point, these conventions fell to the...Linked by the ring
- Around the Blogosphere in 80 Days (Blogwagon Roundup) Prismatic Wasteland
- The Most BROKEN Class in AD&D!?!?!? Magnolia Keep
- Patchwork Newsletter (Vol 2, Issue 10) Patchwork Paladin
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- CATMAIL #2 AMONG CATS AND BOOKS
- The Explorateur: Issue #17 Explorers Design
- Black Fang's Dungeon: A Masterclass of Design Magnolia Keep
- Stationery & Maps Traverse Fantasy
- The Player-Drawn Dungeon Map is a Fast Travel Hack Blog of Forlorn Encystment
- Shiny TTRPG links #264 Seed of Worlds
- The 46er - February 2026 Table 46
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I started this blog 6 years ago. Here was the last retrospective. It contains the origin story and some badly-aged advice.In the time since then, A Knight at the Opera has...Linked by the ring
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This post is part of the "Appendix N" blog bandwagon. I decided to share some of the many influences that have shaped a game I've been working on for a few years called Tricks...Linked by the ring
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[Context for this post: this is a re-write of an old post of mine I wrote back in 2021. I wasn't happy with my explanation, and it's filled with errors, but people link to it...
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Continuing my posts about The Seven-Part Pact (7PP) and some of its nifty mechanical design ideas, I want to discuss this game's approach to authority.This is, of course, a...Linked by the ring
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We sometimes joke that blogging is a method of exorcism for the game design demons inside us. And right now, I'm possessed by the demon called Legion, for it is many. That's...Linked by the ring
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After collecting as many initiative methods into one post as I possibly could, I offered to write a review of them. A few people were interested, and I like having an excuse to...Linked by the ring
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This is a follow-up to that one previous post. I'm glad to see it's been received pretty positively, and that I've gotten lots of suggestions for additions. One year on, I've...Linked by the ring
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Credit: Alan LeeThis is a post about a very subtle facet of spotlight management. I consider it to be one of the most important techniques a GM needs to master, and is very...Linked by the ring
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This is a post about our wuxia game that's currently in development. You can check it out here.Every player needs a character sheet and a copy of the cheat sheet. Click those...Linked by the ring
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I sure do talk a lot about the needs of "simulation," huh? Truly the least interesting approach to design. But my defense of simulationism is a topic for another day. Instead,...
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Does this guy have any actual solutions for us? Of course I do! I'm not just here to poop parties! But first, we must once again return to the ancient wisdom: the difference...Linked by the ring
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Credit: Ralph HorsleySo you're trying to make your ultimate citycrawl procedure anyway. And right there, you've already run into the second problem. You assumed that it should...
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Alternative series title: My (Frequently Tested, Yet Still Dubious) Theory of Urban GameplayApparently it's been too long since I last wrote about settlements in D&D (and...
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My brother and I are making a wuxia tactical combat game. We're finally ready to release a beta version to the world.We started this project in the summer of 2020. It began as...Linked by the ring
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Here's a course-correction that I wish had happened a decade ago. It's an idea surrounding the OSR that I wouldn't call a misconception, exactly, but is definitely missing out...
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All the cool bloggers are into slushposting. I think it was started by Dan over at Throne of Salt? He occasionally does this thing where he takes all the unfinished posts in...Linked by the ring
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You've heard the good, the messy, and the annoying. But here in our grand finale? These are the real reasons I haven't run a 5E game in years. The stuff that makes me sometimes...Linked by the ring
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As you know, I quite like D&D 5E. Hopefully I was able to illuminate some of its positive qualities that you may have overlooked. But let's be honest. This is the moment you've...
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You've probably noticed me blogging a lot more about 5E lately. And if you've read any of that, you'll know I that I have pretty complicated feelings towards it.It's still my...
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"Go on in, it's okay. You can see him."The Dungeon Master was frozen at the door. He was nervous for what he'd find on the other side. But that was his player in there. His...
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This is satisfying:This is unsatisfying:This is most relevant to competitive board games, but it can also sometimes matter for RPGs.Luck provides uncertainty. Challenge-based...Linked by the ring
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This is my submission to DIY & Dragon's Summer LEGO RPG Setting Jam. Got it in just under the wire. Click this link to access a Google Drive folder with all the materials.Just...
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Not really. But maybe, with your help, we actually can. Let's give this a shot.Every now and then I've seen a blog post attempting to cover this topic and they always just seem...Linked by the ring
- disassembling sentinel comics Fluorite Guillotine
- final fantasy tactics could have been a ttrpg Fluorite Guillotine
- All Along the Clocktower Prismatic Wasteland
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- The Electrum Archive is Prescription Medication Valeria Loves
- The Electrum Archive is Prescription Medication Valeria Loves
- 2025 Year-in-Review Blog of Forlorn Encystment
- Da BEST initiative: Chaos sandwich! A shrike for my dreams
- boss relative: telegraphs & radial positioning Fluorite Guillotine
- Death in the Dark - Meaningful Torchlight and Light-based Initiative Beneath Foreign Planets
- full metal bones: initiative Fluorite Guillotine
- 2024 Year-in-Review Blog of Forlorn Encystment
- Shiny TTRPG links #177 Seed of Worlds
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This year, my friend Ty is taking his blog mindstormpress.com on tour, and I'm lucky enough to be honored with one of his highly-prized articles. I've said some pretty harsh...
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This is the cover to the original 1977 Traveller boxed set, now commonly referred to as "Classic Traveller." Because of this iconic cover, May 1st is celebrated as "Traveller...Linked by the ring
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This post has some required reading: a blog post from Swedish designer (?) Sandra Snan called Blorb Principles.[By the way, Sandra's blog is absolutely bonkers. She's written...Linked by the ring
- Play Is Canon Prismatic Wasteland
- CATMAIL #1 AMONG CATS AND BOOKS
- Own Personal Blorb/AntiBlorb Seed of Worlds
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This is a joke for everyone except Warren to getPrismatic Wasteland has issued a challenge to come up with a new mechanic for basic task resolution in RPGs. While I appreciate...Linked by the ring
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A B C D Demon Dragon E F G1 G2 G3 H I Jackalwere K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZCredit: Paul CarrickIf you haven't seen the previous post, I've started a series where I'm...Linked by the ring
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I'm gunna be a little self-indulgent and quote myself.Every piece of crunch you add has a cost. A cost in how much brainpower it takes to learn, to teach, to remember, to use....
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Artist credit: Katie HicksDolmenwood is now a big deal. But it was a journey to get here. It was originally conceived as a setting by Gavin Norman and Greg Gorgonmilk around...Linked by the ring
- Mythic Bastionland: Nu-OSR Encapsulated? Dénes Szántó
- The Electrum Archive is Prescription Medication Valeria Loves
- The Electrum Archive is Prescription Medication Valeria Loves
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- Kelpsprot Session 8 The Dododecahedron
- Kelpsprot Sessions 6 & 7 The Dododecahedron
- Kelpsprot Session 5 The Dododecahedron
- Kelpsprot Sessions 2-4 The Dododecahedron
- Kelpsprot Session 1 The Dododecahedron
- Appendix K The Dododecahedron
- Kelpsprot Origins The Dododecahedron
- Fixing Dungeon Crawls. Or, Playing the World Press the Beast
- In the Grim Darkness of the Far Future, There Is Only Cringe (The Night Land Review) Idraluna Archives
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Mystery scenarios are probably the second-most popular genre of gameplay in RPGs after dungeoncrawling. Despite this, quite frustratingly, most detective-y games don't provide...Linked by the ring
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Poster for Possession (1981) by Basha AKA mythic Polishgraphic artist Barbara Baranowska.Long ago, in ages past, I warned you there'd be more art posts. Today you get to see my...Linked by the ring
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As I'm sure you well know, not all crunch is the same. It can be broadly useful to know if you generally prefer less crunch or more crunch. But it helps a lot to feel out the...Linked by the ring
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D&D didn't forget about or abandon followers, flunkies, and lackies. They merely evolved. Adapted to selection pressures, now built for a different ecosystem. Now D&D has...Linked by the ring
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Anyone here into HEMA-tube? Yeah, I bet you are. You fucking denegerates. You love LindyBeige. You probably have some others you watch, too. That part of YouTube is the center...Linked by the ring
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This is the secret technique that you wouldn't find in "How I Run The Table." This one weird trick will supercharge your game and maximize player satisfaction. I call it...The...Linked by the ring
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After this post, Josh encouraged me to write about some of my "soft skills" of GMing. I talk a lot about game design and scenario design. I pretty rarely talk about how I...Linked by the ring
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Before we get started, I swear I'm not a sociopath.I don't think of NPCs in the same way that most other GMs do. If you're new to the hobby, you'll find no shortage of tips and...Linked by the ring
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If you only ever listened to annoying AD&D fanboys, you might think that the OSR is strictly about crawling through big megadungeons as sword and sorcery murderhobos. But no...
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I haven't blogged in awhile, but I've still been spending a lot of my time on D&D-related things. I recently had an experience I simply have to share. I got a hold of some...Linked by the ring
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I recently had a very novel experience running a game that I think has some potential that ought to be explored. Maybe someone out there has done this sort of thing and would...
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It's more likely than you think.Notorious bird Prismatic Wasteland is up to his antics again trying to get decent, law-abiding folks to weasel their way around legal trouble,...Linked by the ring
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Artist Credit: Wayne ReynoldsThis is a spiritual sequel to a previous post about crunch. Everyone uses the word "balance" in reference to something in RPGs but they frequently...Linked by the ring
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I have a hypothesis: Wizards of the Coast's 5E adventures are for fucking weenies.I know, it's a tall claim to make. Let's prove this through rigorous scientific...Linked by the ring
- Daggerheart - a Dishonest Review (full of Lies) Valeria Loves
- Daggerheart - a Dishonest Review (full of Lies) Valeria Loves
- The Bloggies Hall of Fame Explorers Design
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- Review + Actual Play: Winters Daughter Seed of Worlds
- Capsule Reviews #8: Recent Old School Adventures Seed of Worlds
- The Demon of Dogwater Gulch Pre-Postmortem Gordian Blade
- The Winners of the 2022 Bloggies Prismatic Wasteland
- Bloggies 2022: Voting Begins Prismatic Wasteland
- Shiny TTRPG links #95 Seed of Worlds
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Okay I'm sure that isn't true of all of you. But statistically speaking, it's probably true of you. Because I have never once met another GM who can run a game they say will be...
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TL;DR: here's a link to a rough draft procedure I've made for hacking gameplay[INTRUSION DETECTED: EPIC HAX0R AVA WAS HERE]Today I will once again be speaking confidently on a...Linked by the ring
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The "Mythic Underworld" is a term popular in the OSR that was (probably) coined by Trent Smith and then popularized through an essay by Jason Cone in Philotomy's Musings. Cone...Linked by the ring