rootring
rooted in blogs, linked in a ringRoll to Doubt
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On the ring since 2026-05-25
Latest activity 2y ago
136 posts
Earlier
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I’ve ran the scenario Separation Anxiety, from Fear’s Sharp Little Needles, for three players using Cthulhu Dark. I will break down my prep process, my decisions during running...
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I just can’t be bothered with stat blocks if running old D&D in a more or less mechanically faithful manner. Compared to BRP-alikes (I recommend some form of competence band),...
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The hobbyist’s natural instinct is to tinker, like a rules goblin. Such is natural, and, I believe, more effective as a direct result from play. A campaign is the rules text...
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If this has already been presented elsewhere (and it most definitely must have been), let me know. This presumes you are using a Move stat from some version of old D&D. The...
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In my preparations for a megadungeon game I have among my list of Play-by-Post (or, hopefully, in real time whenever possible) campaigns I need to get out of the ground...
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In this issue: horror and investigation as roleplaying introduction, and my actually effective rules making. Horror as Roleplaying Introduction Have you ever thought about...
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When I’m playing What an Odd World, I use something that I called a Loadout. It’s somewhere between the Electric Bastionland Failed Career and the background in some other...
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I read and play many so-called rules-light games, but they aren’t rules-light at all. No game is. All games rest on a lot of rules, just happens that some of them don’t write...Linked by the ring
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What is Ramsey Campbell’s Demons By Daylight doing in the Recommended Reading section of Moldvay? I was struck by that question while perusing Moldvay Basic recently. Sure,...
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Searchers after horror haunt strange, far places. For them are the catacombs of Ptolemais, and the carven mausolea of the nightmare countries. They climb to the moonlit towers...
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There’s something I’ve been using in my solo games and that I’ve been dedicating a lot of attention too. So much attention that it briefly flirted with being a PWYW zine (with...
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The clue is the heart of traditional horror roleplaying, which is mostly thought of as investigative gameplay. Whether you are trying to solve a mystery or collect information...
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This is a really specific thought. Wondering what else interests me in a roleplaying text besides the aesthetic it evokes on me for playing, I stumbled on the issue of rules...
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There’s more theory and advice for GMs of horror campaigns than for players for the same reason there’s more advice for GMs in general: it’s the bigger share of the market. But...
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I’m lucky that my players enjoy the premise of old school adventure gaming. I really am, because it can be a tough sell. They enjoy the actual risk of losing characters, the...
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So I think it’s pretty well-established by now that we don’t need combat subsystems to run combat. See Justin here and here, whose posts I’m rather shamelessly ripping off. See...
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This is a post I’ll just update over time as more and more posts come up and a category may feel inadequate for reference. Analysis House Rules
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First things first, I refer to “OSR” and such as the adventure gaming ethos, not how to convert modules that are compatible with D&D or such. That’s easy anyway, Vagabonds of...
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Skills in Standard World of Dungeons Skills are presented as a partial-partial success. What exactly this means has been very debated by other refs I’ve talked with, and my...
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SotU is one of my favorite ultralite D&Ds. One of my other favorite games, ItO, was influenced by it. Both recover HP fast. Hum. Here’s some house rules for ItO combat in SotU:...
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Gaining Experience These below can be combined with XP for silver or replace it. XP per Exploration: XP given to exploration depends on the environment explored. If it is a...
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In this issue: Tunnels & Trolls in World of Dungeons, MUs using the Cleric framework, World of Dungeons’ Cantrips, and season-based campaign framework. Magic User as Cleric I...
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Here’s something from it that may be useful for others. I exclude Clerics whenever possible, partially to make the undead threatening as they should be. But there’s a way that...
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Cosmic posted this in the expectation of further discussion. I did discuss with her a few minutes after the publishing (the added footnotes at the end were influenced by that),...
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Someone better than me might use this as springboard. This presumes non-variable damage (which is also standard in B/X but most people go to the variable damage alternative)...
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Bit of a slush post. This is a list of a few campaign settings that, like so many, linger on the hidden drawer, expecting for the kiss of life or for me to just face them solo,...
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Taking a Risk When you attempt something risky, roll 2d6 + bonus. 6- is a miss; things don’t go well and the risk turns out badly. 7-9 is success with some cost or harm. 10+ is...
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(Blog will hopefully return with a lot of content, but a bit of theorycraft first. My thanks to John Bell for entertaining my rambling) I joke that many house rules are an...
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(This was originally meant as part of a post with other solo rules, but my schedule makes it better to be published now for blog pacing) So you want to play ItO/EB or...
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Nuromen is really good – Harry Clarke. Not everything deserves its own post. Today: WIS/INT, OD&D Without Ability Checks, GM facing Rolls, and my solo campaign with many house...