rootring
rooted in blogs, linked in a ringRoll to Doubt
Visit site Feed Incoming links Search this blog
On the ring since 2026-05-25
Latest activity 11mo ago
136 posts
Earlier
-
(I feel like I can’t be bothered with naming post drafts as anything but “Notes on…” recently) I’m currently moderator for a Discord server until they decide to depose me due...Linked by the ring
-
Filmic rendition of Planescape’s Sigil. This is a late-night thought following my last post. I proposed Anchors as thematic elements of the campaign that would serve as...
-
Illustration by Mervyn Peake. This is a skeleton for rules that can more easily support, provoke and suggest some of my main interests in TTRPGs: the occult, the horrific, the...Linked by the ring
-
The above meme is, at the time of writing, pinned to a channel in a DIY Adventure Games Discord I participate in. It came about because people there, often newbies, time and...Linked by the ring
-
Poetry is for the childrenWhose light turns the empty stagesInto solar fields for magesWhose hands transform dejectsInto carved and tailored affectsWhose laughter turns the...Linked by the ring
-
In the city, whether its wonders and horrors are in full display or dwell in back-alley shadows, there is law to be violently upheld. Yet it isn’t enough to have a standard...
-
Peter Cushing on a promotional still where he plays the most famous of secular wizards. CW: brief mention of sexual extortion. It has been said that the secularization of...
-
The city may have gone through industrialization, through the seizing of the lighting by humanity, through the shadow of nuclear disaster and even the dislocation of self and...
-
No one is born a man, says the Carnival; he becomes a man by developing the proper taste for well-tailored three pieces and the adrenaline high of a heist well pulled, the...
-
The 8th edition of Tunnels & Trolls (T&T) was announced. While skeptical at first, seeing Chris Bisette and Scott Malthouse as lead writers gave me some interest. The...Linked by the ring
-
Organizing my Conduct of Play section on a campaign document, I realized I’ve never talked here about it. Players are often advised to Ask Questions, Play Their Characters...Linked by the ring
-
I’m a puppetry fan, and considered more than once taking up the art. The key quality of the puppet, much like the doll, is its vital, tactile consciousness. It carries an anima...Linked by the ring
-
Looking at my backlog, it strikes me: many of the posts are just bad. They have been better recently, but the backlog is mostly terrible. What it means to have a bad blogpost?...Linked by the ring
-
Writing is a continuous process, not segmented into easily contained steps but a molecule that takes pride in amorphous shapes as new connections emerge. One of the ways we...Linked by the ring
-
Villains might be appalling and monstrous, but rival adventurers dare to steal your shit before it was yours. Those are the bastards who pump players up. But how to organize...Linked by the ring
-
There’s not a single cowboy novel in AD&D’s Appendix N (Boot Hill appendix notwithstanding) nor in B/X’s Recommended Reading, and yet attentive reading of old D&D reveals how...
-
This is directed to newbies who are interested in GMing an OSR game. I won’t assume previous experience with TTRPGs at large, although I can imagine that they’re GMs who come...
-
The only thing that teaches about TTRPGs is actual play. People don’t play enough, especially beginners, and while there’s many barriers for play that can’t simply be ignored...Linked by the ring
-
What an unassuming volume it is, tastefully leather-bound, marked by a passion-scarlet ribbon. Its title, gold and bold, stands right above the fading image of the author’s...
-
Curses are the foulest of arts. Curses are speeches against life, a winter breath coming from the cold, dark night of the soul. In some worlds, a sorcerous practice, studied by...
-
1 – The Swan: an automata torso bound by a corset, somehow moves as if had legs. Wears a large birdcage as a royal gown. Noble in her own manner, the Swan has an affinity with...Linked by the ring
-
Demiplanes and Dread (D&D) Ravenloft is D&D. Ravenloft is a crystallization of the gothic film influence in early D&D, bringing too some influence from gothic literature (if...
-
Quirky people deserve a special place in whatever dimension of inescapable suffering one’s metaphysical leanings conjure. Their self-aware artificiality of spontaneous wonder...Linked by the ring
-
Was brushing my teeth and came up with this. Monster Ratings in Tunnels & Trolls are a stumbling block for some. As attractive as having a monster determined by a single value...
-
Even the most “A Wizard Did It” person has a weird suspension of disbelief bugbear when it comes to creating a setting for play. What we understand as sign or simply...
-
As I come back to nail down the setting of my next campaign, there’s a need for a consistent approach to create playable elements, instead of accumulating lore that is not...Linked by the ring
-
Live text is written roleplaying during an assigned time slot. Synchronous play-by-post is another way of putting it, and I suggest reading my previous post on PbP for further...
-
OSR is many things, including a play style which can be performed with any ruleset (and of course each table will have their own play culture that mixes styles). It’s more...
-
Thoughts that didn’t feel like complete blogposts. On easy gonzo settings and having non-humans and wizards as only character types. Portal Gonzo When “how to make gonzo...
-
In my previous craft post, I included a paragraph about adventure writing. There’s posts about why writing adventures is more interesting than systems (here for example), but...