Not the best year

In many ways 2021 has not been a lot of fun. For me, it started with catching COVID-19, along with many of the friends I game with, and while, fortunately, we all recovered, it was a distinctly “unfun”… Read More

Eternal Five Fantasy Roleplaying

First Five Fantasy Roleplaying is my retroclone of the 1991 black box Dungeons & Dragons set. When I first got into the hobby, it was surprisingly hard to find the Rules Cyclopedia in my city in Australia, or… Read More

Chivalry & Sorcery 5e: 5+1 Sessions In

Some time ago, I reviewed the Chivalry & Sorcery 5e PDF, on the basis of reading it through and rolling up a character myself, but not after actual play. Since that time, the printed books have been shipped,… Read More

Demonic Pacts with Lord Gogmak

This write-up is from my Lamentations of the Flame Princess campaign where a player character has formed a pact with a demon lord… Lord Gogmak Lord Gogmak is a mighty demon, worshipped by several cults across Europe, including… Read More

Teaching D&D to Teens

My kids are young (10 and 8 at time of writing), and so when I run D&D for them and their friends, I feel justified running my preferred iteration of the game: Basic D&D. It’s perfect for kids… Read More

D&D For Kids: The Sanctuary of Elwyn

As I mentioned late last year, I have started running Basic D&D for kids (specifically, my kids, two of their friends, and one of their friend’s dad, who is a gamer too). The ages range from 8 to… Read More

Resources for the Weird Fantasy English Civil War

As mentioned in earlier blog posts, my Lamentations of the Flame Princess campaign is set during the English Civil War, starting as it did with the excellent England Upturn’d module published by LotFP by Barry Blatt. I thought… Read More

Player Agency & Emergent Storytelling

When I started this blog a few months ago, I picked the title “Save vs. Player Agency”. The reason is two-fold: When people ask me what I emphasize as a referee, I tend to answer “player agency” and… Read More

Twas the night before Christmas…

The family and I have travelled home for Christmas to spend the holiday period with our friends and family. For the second year in a row, I’ve organised a big gaming get together with all of my old… Read More

Races of the Hollow Earth: Fomorians

Fomorians are humanoids who live in the permafrost of the north of the Hollow Earth. Once they lived on the surface, and were the enemies of the elves, whom they fought for control of Ireland. Their leader, Balor,… Read More