Tag Archives: RPG blog carnival

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.

Flaming Birthday Bundle Cover

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!


No Dice — RPG Blog Carnival, Dec 2022

It’s time for us to host the RPG Blog Carnival again, and this month the topic is “No Dice”. Read on to stimulate your brain with new ideas and fresh takes from the TTRPG blogosphere.

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If you’re a reader, here’s how it work:

RPG bloggers from around the globe will drop links into the comments below. You can check them out there or come back to Rising Phoenix Games at the end of the month, when I’ll post a summary of all the posts (that’s New Years Eve, the same day as our birthday!)

If you’re a blogger, here’s how to join in:

Check out the ideas below or come up with your own take on “No Dice”, publish an RPG-flavored blog post, then drop it in the comments of this post, below. Because I’ll need to get the summary up on New Year’s Eve, please get your post in by the 28th of December.

We’ve tried to keep the topic as open as possible, so hopefully you’ll find something to inspire your articles this month. Here are a few thoughts on the topic:

  1. Mechanics. Every game has mechanics that aren’t linked to the dice. Maybe you’ve invented diceless mechanics, or you want to discuss some rules from your favourite RPG that don’t require rolls. Tell us about them.
  2. Beyond the Game. Roleplaying games are what they are because of the players, and story is a vital part of the game that goes beyond dice and numbers. Pick some aspect of the game that doesn’t involve mechanics and discuss it.
  3. Weal and Woe. Luck is an important part of most roleplaying games, so tell us about the time your party’s luck ran out, or they were exceptionally fortunate. You could create items based around luck, a monster that eats or creates luck, or a trap that looks like a giant D20.
  4. All About the Story. Sometimes the best sessions have very little rolling involved. If you’ve had such an experience we’d love to hear about it.
  5. ‘Tis the Season. Give us a list of Christmas gift ideas for roleplayers, but avoid dice.
  6. No Limits. The dice often set the limits, but we’re not setting any for you. If you’ve got an idea that falls outside the theme and want to take part, please join in the fun still.

Feel free to drop more ideas in the comments below.

Till the end of the year, have a good one, stay safe, and keep rolling!

 


Can We Improve RPG Leveling Systems?

Look at me, killing monsters for wealth and XP! Experience points (Exp or XP) are a great reward for players and a fun part of the game (it’s all fun though, right?). But do they really do their job? Can we build better RPG leveling systems that include roleplaying?

Void Dragonborn

Leveling up with XP is a staple of the genre and games like D&D and Pathfinder would lose much of their playability without it. Imagine being level 1, forever!  Each new level gives you more options and lets you fight bigger monsters and face more dangerous challenges. But has anything really changed for your character? Hasn’t the bar just moved? Has the character’s experience of the world really changed them at all?

Before I sound too much like a jaded grognard, I’m not saying that the system’s broken. It doesn’t need fixing. But what if the system incorporated character development? What if your character didn’t just become more powerful, but their outlook changed and they grew in their understanding of the world?

The Mouse Guard RPG and Marvel Heroic Roleplay both tie mechanics to your character’s goals, and I’ll bet there are a ton of other systems that do too. How does it work? Basically, you gain some penalty or bonus (or both) when your character’s goal or flaw comes into play. These goals or flaws often change at the end of a session or when you level up your character.

In D&D, we have ideals, bonds, and flaws, but they’re not linked to level progression. With One D&D recently announced, are we likely to see that change? What might an ideals-based leveling system look like?

An Ideals-Based RPG Leveling Systems

Instead of (or in conjunction with) using inspiration in your D&D games, players earn experience points when they play to or against their ideals. You can award XP according to four tiers linked to the XP Thresholds by Character Level table in the Dungeon Master’s Guide (Chapter 3). For example, a minor use of an ideal, for a 6th level character, you might only award 300 XP. Going against their ideal that causes major consequences might, in contrast, be worth 1,400 XP to the same character.

This XP is awarded only at the end of the session, and could be divided between the players to ensure nobody is too many levels ahead of the rest. In essence, while one character might have had a significant moment of personal growth (or regression), their whole party is affected and learns from it.

This isn’t rocket science, so I’ll be surprised if GMs aren’t already doing something similar. Let me know.

RPG Blog Carnival

A big “thank you” to Adventures to Authenticity for hosting this month’s RPG Blog Carnival. This month’s topic is “Character Development”,  so head on over there to see all the great articles submitted by the community.

Camp Karate Goes Copper

Camp Karate, our game of hot-blooded dramatic roleplay, is now a copper seller on Drive Thru RPG. To celebrate, we’ve got a special discount link for you, so you can join in the action. Haya!

Camp Karate RPG

5e Madness Cards for Home Printing

We’ve added a PDF version of our Madness Cards for 5e to Drive Thru RPG, so you can print them at home. We still think the POD option is better, but here’s a discount link if you want the PDF.

Madness Cards Set
Just look at the prettiness! You get two sets of the cards in a nice tuck box if you order the POD version.

That’s all from me for today, have an amazing weekend.

Rodney

Dragon Rep: The Top Tier PR of Dragons

Dragons get good public relations (PR) these days.

It’s easy to forget that dragons used to be the embodiment of evil. They were the Serpent, Satan in the garden of Eden and the Book of Revelation. You know that Vecna guy? Dragons were worse.

These days the public image of dragons is more varied.

I was watching trailers for upcoming movies the other day and was surprised to see how many of them had dragons in them. Some inclusions made sense; the Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves trailer has two (a black and a red). House of the Dragon… that’s easy…

Then there was Shazam! Fury of the Gods and The Sandman. I’m not so familiar with either franchise, but I didn’t expect to see dragons here. I realized that it was time to get educated, so I picked up The Sandman, Volume 1. I’ll let you know when the dragon appears.

https://youtu.be/83ClbRPRDXU

Even Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has what looks like an Aztec representation of a dragon, seen just briefly on screen.

So, dragons are really popular, but is that just in the circles I hang out in? There’s even a mod for Stray that lets you play as Spyro the Dragon. I think that just points to the fact that dragons intrigue us. Ever since our ancestors first picked up a dinosaur bone, we’ve been fascinated with scaled giants.

The RPG Blog Carnival and Dragon Fire

In July, this fascination came home. We hosted the RPG Blog Carnival with the topic “Here Be Dragons“, and here’s what our friends had to say about our fire-breathing friends:

Kim Frandsen of Beyond the Horizon Games talked about Wyrms of the North, a series of articles that ran in Dragon Magazine from 1996 to 1999. He says (and I agree) that the history — the story — behind each dragon is an important part of what makes them work at the table.

In his second article, Kim introduced Patina, a copper dragon with a grudge. Here’s an excellent campaign idea for your table, based around an intriguing creature. This isn’t a simple “slay the monster, get the gold” adventure idea either, and I love that.

Kim’s third article opened up dragons in a big way. I even consider this article a must-read for Pathfinder 2e and Dungeons & Dragons 5e GMs looking to run a campaign featuring dragons, as it deals with some aspects not covered in the core rules. Dragons are Dangerous, and Kim has done some work to ensure they play that way at the table.

Finally, Gonz at Codex Anathema created a dragon-focused campaign based on three one-shots he ran. The article is written in Spanish, but Google Translate in Chrome will get you there in a jiffy! The players get to meet phoenixes during their adventures, so we’re big fans already. And oh, it gets better from there. Give it a read.

Thank you to everyone who contributed this last month, and to everyone who joined us along the way.

Before we go, I’d love to hear from you. Who is your favorite dragon? What setting are they from and why do you like them? My favorite is Niv-Mizzet from the Magic: the Gathering TCG, because who doesn’t love making things go boom?

Just Out

We just released Camp Karate: Hot-Blooded Dramatic Roleplay, a new little indie RPG. We loved making it and we think you’ll enjoy playing it. Check it out.


Here be Dragons — July RPG Blog Carnival

At the furthest edge of the map, far from civilization, the words “Here be Dragons” is scribed across the most inhospitable, unexplored lands. Journey with us, as the RPG Blog Carnival ventures into these lands of legend and danger.

Here be Dragons

Here be Dragons — July RPG Blog Carnival

Every month, the RPG Blog Carnival takes a turn at a different RPG blogger’s site, and this month it’s here, at Rising Phoenix Games. If you’re a blogger, you can join in by writing an article inspired by the topic and dropping a link to it, in the comments below. I’ll write a wrap-up article at the end of July that covers all of the posts submitted. I hope you’ll join us!

If you’re not an RPG blogger, hang out with us and see what everyone brings to the topic. In March we had a great time exploring magical space adventures. What adventures will we have this month?

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Here are a few ideas, but you can interpret the topic as loosely as you like, we’re not the thought police:

  1. Dragonlance is coming for Dungeons & Dragons (here’s the Dragonlance trailer). Take us back to your gaming table, or try and predict what we’ll see from Wizards of the Coast.
  2. Give us a new dragon for Spelljammer, your own setting, or a different game. Science-fantasy dragons, cyberpunk dragons, superhero dragons, steampunk dragons… there are more themes to explore than I could ever hope to mention.
  3. Maps! The history of the phrase “Here be Dragons” is very interesting and would mean nothing if not for map makers and their art. Give us a map, a map maker NPC, or some ideas about how to use the phrase “Here be Dragons” on our own maps.
  4. The symbolism of dragons can bring up some interesting ideas. How can GMs apply the concepts often associated with dragons to their human NPCs?
  5. Wikipedia states that dragons are known in virtually all cultures around the world, so looking at different dragons from around the world should bring up plenty of interesting ideas.

Void Dragonborn

So them’s the rules. Let’s dive back into the world of Space Punks for another new race, dragonborn descended from void dragons.

Void Dragonborn

With deep black eyes that shimmer with the light of a thousand stars, void dragonborn display their faint bloodline back to void dragons. This rare variant of dragonborn are known for their insatiable wonderlust and weak grip on reality.

Void dragonborn are dragonborn (Player’s Handbook) with the following draconic ancestry:

Dragon Type. Void
Breath Weapon Damage Type. Fire and Radiant*
Damage Resistance Damage Type. Cold
Breath Weapon. 15-foot cone (Dex save)

*You deal 1d6 fire and 1d6 radiant damage from first level. This increases to 2d6 fire and 1d6 radiant damage at 6th level, 2d6 fire and 2d6 radiant damage at 11th level, and 3d6 fire and 2d6 radiant damage at 16th level.

Hot Sales All July Long

We have massive sales on, all July long. Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter to get the deals first, or follow us on Twitter and Facebook to get notifications of new offers.

That’s all for now, but be sure to check back at the end of the month for the roundup.


Space Adventures—RPG Blog Carnival Roundup

Oh my! How fast time flies when you’re hurtling through space on a galleon held together by rope, magic, and a wish spell. The end of May means it’s the end of our RPG Blog Carnival for the month, so let’s look back on the wonderful space adventures we’ve had.

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Before we dig in, remember that you can join us, every month, for new themes and fantastic articles by many RPG bloggers. It doesn’t matter if you’re just browsing or you want to contribute your own articles, you can find out more about the RPG Blog Carnival at OfDiceAndDragons.com. There’s also a growing archive of past carnivals that’s well worth digging into.

Beyond the Horizon Games

Our good friends at Beyond the Horizon Games explored the difference between science fiction and science fantasy in their series of articles:

  1. Fantasy-Fi or Science-Fantasy explores two different takes on fantasy in space, using the examples of Spelljammer and Starfinder. Kim’s insightful look at the two settings also explores the difference between Paizo and WotC’s business models.
  2. What Jammer? That Jammer! takes a fascinating look into a little slice of RPG history, and the bitter-sweet existence of a lesser-known RPG gem that followed in the footsteps of Spelljammer and was a precursor to Starfinder, namely Starjammer. Starjammer is compatible with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game (1st edition), but lets you build space fighters and explore the vast expanse of the Void. The game is a platinum seller on Drive Thru RPG and is published by d20pfsrd.com Publishing.  Check this out, especially if you enjoy Starfinder or Spelljammer.
  3. Star Wars and Science Fantasy looks at three of the four iterations of Star Wars TTRPGs (Jawa players, throw up your hands and give me a “Utini!”). Adding to what Kim said, I know that Edge Studios is reprinting many of the Fantasy Flight Star Wars books, which is excellent news. 
  4. Adventures in Science Fantasy discusses three adventures — one is a remake — that do science fantasy well. Go check out Kim’s suggestions, and maybe drop some suggestions in the comments of that article if you know of other great adventures people should check out.

Codex Anathema

Gonz of Codex Anathema is a regular contributor and host of the RPG Blog Carnival. His article, De Eberron a sus Lunas (From Eberron to its Moons), explores Jules Verne’s works and brings them into the D&D setting of Eberron, through space travel. Although the article is in Spanish, Google Translator (or even better, DeepL Translator) will open up this inspiring article. Gonz has certainly given us a lot of interesting ideas for space adventures here.

The Other Side

Timothy S. Brannan, who blogs at The Other Side, gave us a review of the Monstrous Compendium Vol One: Spelljamer Creatures, which was recently released by Wizards of the Coast.

Rising Phoenix Games

And of course, we went mad with a bunch of new races that would fit your D&D 5e Spelljammer games. We have:

  1. The cunning Star Foxes, mentioned in our first post.
  2. The Gruune, immortals born out of the destruction of their planet.
  3. The Eu’karai, beings of living light that, as a race, were tasked with cataloging the universe.
  4. The Skriblin, elementals of creative energy that make me think I’ve watched a little too much Space Jam.

And that, as they say, is that. We hope you enjoyed these adventures in space, and that you’ll join next month’s hosts for more RPG Blog Carnival content.

Till next time!

The Skriblin — A Weird D&D Spelljammer Race

Creatures of pure imagination, the skriblin appear as moving illustrations that speak, breathe, and think like normal humanoids. Let’s find out more about this weird D&D Spelljammer race.

Skriblin D&D Race

Pure Imagination

Skriblin appear magically in densely populated cities. Scholars believe that the skriblin are the incarnation of humanoid creativity; an overflowing of artistic energy made manifest. Although they contain similar levels of arcane and cosmic energy to other humanoids, scholars agree that these energies don’t support the skriblin’s existence. Rather, they are elementals of creativity. Although many have tried to harness this creative energy for other purposes, the skriblin and the force that animates them remains as mysterious as ever.

The skriblin themselves have little interest in their source of life, and instead concern themselves with living lives that conform to their core being or essence. Scholars have noted that this odd behavior often correlates to tropes from drama, bardic sagas, and story telling.

Skriblin D&D Race Traits

Your skriblin is a walking, talking drawing. Although no two skriblin look the same, they share the following common features.

Ability Score Increase. One ability score of your choice increases by 2. Another ability score increases by 1.
Ageless. Skriblin enter life fully formed. You do not age, are immune to aging effects, and take no penalty for being old.
Alignment. Most skriblin tend to be chaotic, but there is no hard and fast rule for this diverse race. All skriblin follow their alignment without deviation, only ever changing alignment through magical means afflicted on them.
Size. Most skriblin are Small, while a few are Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 25 feet if you’re Small, or 30 feet if you’re Medium.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and one extra language of your choice. Skriblin usually adopt the language of the societies they live within.
Animata. You contain creative energy that sustains you. While you have no levels of exhaustion, you have advantage on saving throws you make to avoid gaining a level of exhaustion.
Animated Creator.
You know the prestidigitation cantrip. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for it.
Trope*. Choose a trope that you most closely align with. You have advantage on skill checks and saving throws where your trope is applicable. For example, if you choose to be “the only sane man“, you might have advantage on Wisdom saving throws to avoid being compelled, and on Wisdom (Insight) checks to avoid being fooled. TvTropes.org has a long list of character tropes worth checking out. The Dungeon Master is the final arbiter of how your trope is used in the game.

* Trope might be the weirdest racial trait I have ever written, and the skriblin is certainly the weirdest race. Have fun, and don’t take it too seriously.

RPG Blog Carnival — Adventures in Space

This month’s RPG Blog Carnival, themed around ‘Adventures in Space’, is fast coming to a close. Be sure to check out the first post, and especially the comments, for loads of other articles related to our theme. I’ll also have a roundup article posted, soon, so check back here in a few days.

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Want More Weird Races Like the Skriblin?

The Skriblin and their friends will appear in the forthcoming Space Punks book, published by us here at Rising Phoenix Games. Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter to keep up to date about the project.

Psst, we’ll even give you free books for signing up!

Free Books from Rising Phoenix Games

Fun for One RPG Blog Carnival Roundup

Trumpets. Red carpets. Fireworks. It’s an auspicious occasion! Not only is it Rising Phoenix Games’ birthday (yay!), but it’s also time for the December RPG Blog Carnival roundup, just as we ring in the new year! Here’s a look back at December 2021, where our topic was “Fun for One”.

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Gaming is Good for your Brain

Kim Frandsen of Beyond the Horizon Games, who should be no stranger to regular readers, provided insights into how game designers gain inspiration from their experiences, including their experiences of other people. This includes gaming, which he says is good for you — and that’s something we certainly agree with.

Read the full article on Beyond the Horizon

The GM is the Real Star of the Show

Antony Brotherton of Dragons Keep Roleplay Club talked about that one player we can’t do without, the GM. Antony offers five great tips for new GMs, but experienced GMs will surely be taking notes and nodding their heads too.

Read the full article on Dragons Keep Roleplay Club

DriveThruRPG.com

So You Want to Solo Pathfinder 2e?

Here at Rising Phoenix Games we looked at getting into solo games of Pathfinder Second Edition. I’m sure it’s a topic we’ll be revisiting throughout 2022 and beyond.

Read the full article, right here

Fun for One — Final Thoughts

Tabletop roleplaying games are a unique beast, and Game Masters, players, and RPG designers are faced with many unique challenges in their quest to deliver the most entertaining and meaningful gaming experience possible. The key though is that everyone adds their bit to the mix, so the whole is always better than its parts. And, when everything comes together, it’s an amazing experience that is unique to tabletop roleplaying.

So here’s to 2022 and all the adventures we’ll have, the hardships we’ll overcome, and the tales we’ll have to tell.

Game on!


Fun for One — RPG Blog Carnival, December ’21

It’s December, and that means Rising Phoenix Games is hosting the RPG Blog Carnival. This month, it’s “Fun for One”. Read on and find out how you can join in on the RPG-flavored action.

‘Tis the Season to be Mental

Aargh! It’s December again! Is the Christmas spirit supposed to be this silly? Is the mad rush of buying gifts worth the heart attack? Any way you paint it, December is always a “special month”, much like mommy’s “special boy” who’s mostly unruly but can have his moments of genuine humanity.

At Rising Phoenix Games, December means gift-giving, hiding toy soldiers in Christmas trees, eating too much chocolate, and hosting RPG Blog Carnival.

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RPG Blog Carnival and Fun for One

RPG Blog Carnival is hosted by a different blogger every month, throughout the year, with each blogger suggesting a topic for the month. Any RPG blogger can take part by writing about the topic and posting a link in the comments section. You can write as many articles as you like, too, and we’ll compile them all into a roundup that’ll come out around the 1st of 2022. So, if you love reading RPG blogs, this is the place to be, all month long.

Our topic this month is “Fun for One”, and you can swing that any way you like. Here are a few ideas:

  1. Write about a session nobody but the GM enjoyed. It happens! Give us some ideas to help us avoid the same train smash.
  2. Tell us about a game you ran for a friend.
  3. Create a big bad boss for your favorite system. Make sure your creation is tough as nails and hard to take down.
  4. Make some magical items that give a hero plenty of perks, at the expense of a curse on the party.
  5. Write an encounter or short adventure using the theme “Fun for One”. We have loads of cheap stock maps to inspire you.
  6. Make a short RPG for one player, or for one player and a GM. Or write an RPG where every player controls the same character, much like in Everyone is John.
  7. Give us some ideas for turning character creation, which usually is only fun for one, into something the whole group can enjoy together.
  8. Talk about how you handle splitting the party.
  9. Build some diabolical traps that are designed to target one hero only.
  10. Make critical fumbles the most fun thing to roll with new rules that’ll amaze and entertain.

We look forward to seeing those posts rolling in.

Unleash the Power of the Magus

Our friends at d20pfsrd.com Publishing just released Art of Magic: Melee and Magic, which hit Copper Seller in 24 hours. It includes new magus archetypes, feats, magus arcana, and spells. Melee and Magic offers a wide variety of builds for every magus player.

Melee and Magic

The book is compatible with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game (first edition) and is $2.99 for 24 pages.

 

Wanna be a Great GM? Get an Education!

So, you want to impress the boys at your local with your masterful storytelling? Figure you’ll show the ladies a good time with dice and an epic quest? Looking to put “Professional GM” on your CV? Well then, if you want to be a great GM (or DM, or Storyteller), then you need to get an education.

What kind of education? I’m not talking about school — stay in school kids — I’m talking about life experiences.

Cruel Trinkets of the Mad Gods

Why?

Rules are great. Acting skills are useful. Improv skills are even better. Knowing and understanding all the tools available to you, that’s the road to being really great.

But all of this isn’t very useful without some real experiences. Some fuel for the creative fire.

Go ride a horse. Practice martial arts. Write with a quill pen. Hike up a mountain. Go camping. Gut a fish. Travel.

Real experiences always beat book learning. What you’ve lived through becomes a part of you in a way clinical understanding never can.

Have you ever noticed that many writers, those brave souls who battle with pen and paper their whole lives, struggle to sell a good novel, while non-writers (usually sportspeople and explorers) seem to create best-selling books without much effort? There are exceptions, but I’ll bet that the key ingredient here is substance. Those with real experiences have something meaty to offer.

A poorly-researched example, as Exhibit A: Stephen King cited being hit by a car as inspiration for many of his books. I’m not sure which, but my Google-fu tells me it’s a bunch. Sorry, Stephen, you’re free to pipe up in the comments.

Your experiences are beautiful pigments for painting truly memorable images at the table. Your fantasy games will be so much more real when you embellish them with realistic details drawn from your experiences.

So look, listen, and learn. I promise it’ll be worth it.

Thanks to The Five Foot Square for hosting this month’s RPG Blog Carnival. Do go check them out and join in the fun.

While you’re here, please check out our store or our Drive-Thru RPG page. We have loads of publications for D&D 5e, Pathfinder, and unique systems we know you’ll love.