RPG Blog Carnival Roundup — No Dice

That’s it, folks. 2022 is done, and 2023 is here. Who knows what the year will bring, but we wish you the wisdom and courage to ride the storms and opportunities that come your way. With the end of the year comes the final RPG Blog Carnival roundup of 2022, as we wrap up the topic “No Dice“. Here’s what some of the best RPG bloggers around the world had to say on the topic:

To Roll or Not to Roll, part 1

Mike Bourke of Campaign Mastery expertly breaks down the various kinds of die rolls common to most RPGs. You might expect — from that short intro — a boring treatise on stuff you already know, but what Mike has created here is a master class that unpacks many of the core aspects of telling a story with dice that I have not seen any other resource cover. That includes books on game design.

For example, I found his explanation of attention and awareness mind-opening and equipping — there’s far more to a Perception roll than I ever thought possible. If a die roll is a GM’s tool, then Mike’s post offers a better understanding of how those tools work, when they work, and why they work.

There’s more to his post than I’ve covered here, so have a read of To Roll or Not to Roll, part 1.

To Roll or Not to Roll, part 2

Mike’s second article explores when to avoid rolling, and how this allows GMs to keep the story going. As with part 1, this article is another master class for GMs, but then his site is called Campaign Mastery. Read To Roll or Not to Roll, part 2.

Nod Ice

RPG Wandering visited the land of Nod and brought some icy scenes to inspire your next campaign. I like how they played with the theme for the month and painted intriguing winter scenes that built a world. Read Nod Ice on the RPG Wandering blog.

No Dice

James of Hereticwerks looked at diceless RPGs, providing lists of these games on various TTRPG web stores, then offered up some examples of his past campaigns where they did away with some rolling. Read No Dice on the Hereticwerks blog.

Thank you to all who contributed to the RPG Blog Carnival this month, it was a great month!

Flaming Holiday Sale

It’s our birthday, and we have two sales underway:

The Flaming Birthday Bundle: 15 publications for only $25, on Drive Thru RPG.

The Flaming Sale on Itch.IO: 10 publications for only $20.

Remember, you can find all of our RPG products on our product page. This includes supplements for Dungeons & Dragons, the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, and many stand-alone tabletop RPGs.

Have a wonderful 2023!