A brief introduction to this hodgepodge online dump of RPG ideas and notes.
Read moreRPG Industry News
A collection of links and latest headlines about RPG-related websites.
Read moreRPG Podcasts
The Adventure Zone, One-Shot, Film Reroll, Happy Jacks, Imaginary Worlds, Hello From The Magic Tavern and more.
Read moreSetting Up “Hard Sci-Fi” Settings
What would a “hard sci-fi” setting look like without any “magic sci-fi tech” cheats?
Read moreThe Inevitable Machine Uprisings
Some thoughts on why and how the machines will kill us all.
Read more100 NPC Types
Seeds to prompt personalities for minor non-player characters.
Read moreTricks, Minor Curses and Magical Complications
Colin McLaughlin’s ideas for minor complications from using magical portals.
Read moreD&D 5e House Rules, Take Two
A list of common Dungeons & Dragons 5e house rules, and some new ideas to consider.
Read moreFast Traveller 0.8
Version 0.8 of my re-edit of classic Traveller rules.
Read moreOn DMing Faeries and Fey Pledges
Some ideas on fey encounters and making pledges with such creatures.
Read moreStanton’s DM Screen
A peak at my cribnotes for running 5e-based games, including credit on some great reference sources.
Read moreMy MCU+ Timeline (+ X + FF)
List of news headlines includes only events as the general public would understand…
Read moreMarvel Multiverse RPG Cheatsheet
Some quick reference notes on Matt Forbeck’s rules.
Read moreHey ChatGPT, Make Me Some Wargame Rules
An experiment in AI game design using some prompts into ChatGPT-3.5, circa October 2023.
Read moreTrait System RPG Idea
Updating my 30-year-old RPG design project notes, started way back in the early 1990s. Uses d20s only, no ability scores, and players roll for all task outcomes.
Read moreAnother RPG Ruleset In Progress
Brainstorming a sort of D&D-Cypher hybrid rules idea…
Read moreLARP Character Magical Powers
I found the following character abilities in some mid-1990s LARP rules I made for con events in Wisconsin.
Read moreAnimal Spirit Powers
A sampling a possible abilities gained by channeling animal spirits.
Read moreSci-Fi Space Travel Speeds
Some notes cribbed from various sources on sunlight and faster-than-light starship speeds in popular science-fiction worlds.
Read moreCoup: Rules & Notes
Notes on how to play the card game “Coup.”
Read moreExandria Condensed Timeline
A condensed timeline of Matt Mercer’s Exandria campaign setting
Read moreMagic Item Shopping In Ank’Harel
Quick rules on shopping for specific magical items sought on the streets of Ank’Harel.
Read moreSci-Fi Environmental Standards
Taking a guess at what the “air” inside most spaceports and starships must be like in the Traveller Universe.
Read moreMarvel Superheroes FASERIP Redux
The Marvel Superheroes Role-Playing Game rates abilities by descriptive ranks, each used to roll percentile dice (d100) to measure results on the Universal Results Table.
Read moreDescribing Fiends
Ways to describe encounters with demons, devils, and other unholy creatures spawned from the Lower Planes.
Read moreImperial / Metric Conversions For D&D
Loose estimates rounded for narrative/gaming purposes.
Read moreD&D 5e House Rules
A list of house rules I tend to use in Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition games.
Read moreCall Of The Netherdeep: Game Notes
A crash course in Matt Mercer’s campaign setting ahead of playing the module released in March 2022.
Read moreOtherwhere: Game Session Notes
SESSION 0: A SUMMONS TO OLYA’S (9/8/2021) The mage-merchant Olya summons a group of adventurers in service to him to gather at his shop within
Read moreOtherwhere: Cast Of Characters
A brief summary of player character bios.
Read moreOtherwhere: Peoples And Places (2021)
A “mythological theme park” of ancient cultures and classic fantasy tropes: the fall of Atlantis, pantheons of mischievous gods, nations of human and non-human peoples, the struggle between order and chaos, and lands conjured out of dreams.
Read more5e Custom Character Traits
Some ideas on character customization.
Read moreD&D5e Action Economy
A breakdown look at RAW, plus a couple of house rules.
Read moreMagical Healing 101
A comparison of what magic fixes what injuries.
Read moreRime Of The Frostmaiden Log
Campaign session notes for playing Icewide Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden, with two major changes: The setting has been moved to Blackmoor in the World
Read moreCampaign Timeline: The World Of Greyhawk
A revised historical timeline with significant player character events noted.
Read moreMicro Fast Traveller 2.1
Even shorter version of ttprg rules for Traveller.
Read moreRoll20 User Notes
Some reference notes on using the VTT Roll20 platform.
Read moreSci-Fi Technobabble
Nonsense words to use at the table to sound like a starship engineer or doctor.
Read moreD&D5e: Expanded Conditions & Abilities Glossary
Notes on conditions, common abilities, and a few house rules.
Read moreSci-Fi 5e Medicines And Equipment
Some homebrew items for a science-fiction flavor to D&D5e.
Read moreRime Of The Frostmaiden: Blackmoor On Oerth
Details about the archbarony in the Greyhawk setting.
Read moreD&D5e: Prices For Spellcasting Services
A houserule on the price and availability of hiring spellcasters.
Read moreD&D5e: Magic Item Prices
A shopping list for magical items and spellcasting services.
Read moreWhite Plume Mountain Log
Notes on an adventure to recover three missing magical weapons guarded within a taunting wizard’s dungeon built into an active volcano.
Read moreSubtle Spellcasting House Rule
A clarification on spellcasting.
Read moreFaster Combat Tips
Cribbed from several YouTube videos and blog sites…
Read moreRenewing My Old City Of Greyhawk Campaign
Background notes on revising my college-days D&D campaign.
Read moreGamma World for D&D 5e
Notes for playing Gamma World using the D&D 5e ruleset.
Read moreDirty Tricks Of The Evil Spellcaster
Uses D&D5e PHB spells for espionage – surveillance, sabotage, psyops and assassination.
Read moreValerie Valusek’s City Of Greyhawk Map Annotated
Links to view a version of the City Of Greyhawk map with key locations labeled.
Read moreThe Xro Dinn Chronicles RPG
A quick outline about a sci-fi role-playing game from 2001.
Read moreMy Campaigns’ Metaplot
What I’ve noticed as a consistent theme in campaigns I’ve run, and how they can be made to fit together into an ongoing cosmic mystery.
Read moreWhy Does The King Send You On Adventures?
Besides the chance for fame, treasure and glory, what’s your personal link to the ruling king?
Read moreShorthand Stats For D&D Monsters
Text crib notes for D&D monster stats.
Read moreSample Riddles
Riddles stolen from a bunch of different sources.
Read moreFiend Rationales
Even the most primally evil beings in the multiverse consider themselves “good” from their own points of view…
Read moreSample Fantasy Character Equipment Lists
DUNGEONEER’S GEAR (AD&D) Adapted from Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. A melee weapon (longsword or battleaxe common). Leather armor (or better, unless forbidden). A waterskin (2
Read moreRole-Playing Mini Codes Of Honor
I once wrote up playing card-sized OD&D character sheets that included three guidelines to remember when role-playing characters. Some were distilled down from the “code
Read moreThe Outlands (Revised)
What if Planescape was run without Sigil?
Read moreHouse Rules For Modern 5e
Some rough ideas on using the Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition ruleset for other genre games.
Read moreThe Entity MacGuffin
Idea for a shared horror meta-plot across multiple games in which Nyarlathotep, Tharizdun, the Elder Elemental Eye and The Wyrm are all the same malevolent cosmic being.
Read moreTop Secret: New World Order Notes
Some initial notes on the 2018 reboot version of Merle M. Rasmussen’s original espionage role-playing game.
Read moreFantasy Timelines
Example timelines of some Dungeons & Dragons campaign backstories.
Read moreSpeed Benchmarks
A range of movement rate examples per 6-second round.
Read moreHeat And Power Benchmarks
Random notes on temperatures.
Read moreStar Trek Fast Traveller
Notes for running a Traveller game in the Star Trek universe.
Read moreT.I.M.E Stories Rules
A summary of basic rules to Space Cowboys’ “decksploration” board game.
Read moreAdventures In Middle-Earth 5e
Some early notes on the D&D sourcebook / conversion of THE ONE RING role-playing game.
Read moreD&D5e: Inspiration Hack
An alternative method for determining when and how a character gains Inspiration during play.
Read moreD&D5e: Downtime Activities
Notes about what characters may do between adventures. More roll-play than role-play but nice to have some guidelines for DMs and players to set expectations.
Read moreD&D5e: Magic
Notes about spellcasting, magic items and guidelines for effects and limitations in play.
Read moreD&D5e: Skill & Tool Use
Notes about ability checks and various proficiencies, plus clarification on the “Hide” action.
Read moreD&D5e: Combat & Health
All kinds of notes about running combat, “to-hit” rolls and damage, hit point loss and recovery and class abilities.
Read moreD&D5e: Time & Travel
Recap of rules and house rules for travel by land, air or sea.
Read moreHack: Defusing Bombs/Traps
An RPG mechanic for solving short codes such as defusing sequences for bombs or traps.
Read moreSeed: Omniscient Killer AI
What if characters pissed off an artificial intelligence that has full access to hack the internet of things?
Read moreSeed: Kill Me, I Beg You
Here’s an encounter during which a powerful NPC attacks the characters for apparently no reason, all part of a hidden plot.
Read moreRPG Starship Sizes
Some baseline measurements, maybe for use with High Guard/Trillion Credit Squadron?
Read moreCypher System
A hack to the “buying down Difficulty” rule in Monte Cook’s Cypher System Rulebook.
Read moreMy Cthulhu RPG
My hack of Harper’s “Lasers & Feelings” RPG to experience Lovecraftian horror.
Read moreBenchmarks: DC Heroes APs
A look back at the logarithmic ability score scale Mayfair Games used for their first superhero role-playing game.
Read moreMy Star Wars RPG (v.1.0)
My hack at creating a Star Wars role-playing game.
Read moreD&D5e Range Chart
Comparison of some range distance limits in Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition.
Read moreCall Of Cthulhu 7th Edition
An expanded version of Matt Puccio’s Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition cribsheet.
Read moreFantasy Forensics
BlogOfHolding’s fantastic post on how magic changes criminal investigations in a fantasy world.
Read moreGURPS: Ghellen the Elder
Another character callously murdered by GM Stanley Miller, this one by getting run down by elite-level stone golem karate grandmasters. Screw you Stan.
Read moreD&D4e: War Challenges
Repost of “Skill Challenges of War” by Michael Brewer, Jonathan Jacobs, and Quinn Murphy.
Read moreAD&D1e Fast Characters
Tournament play character sheets for use with S1: Tomb Of Horrors (also works with other AD&D modules for levels 8 to 14)
Read moreAD&D1e Fast Treasures
A collection of treasure items a party might have in its possession during an adventure.
Read moreAlternatives To Death
So, a character has died. Now what? here’s ideas to avoid a player having to “start over” with a wholly new character.
Read moreDescriptive D&D Damage
Hit point loss could be meat, OR condition of armor OR self-confidence, focus and resisting shock in combat OR ability to ignore nuisance effect like dirt in eyes or awkward stumbles OR lots of things…
Read moreAnd Then, Things Got Worse
Adventure details on making the worst out of anyplace the characters might go.
Read moreD&D3e: Ruhg Norwind
An ancient red dragon who inexplicably awoke one day in the body of a lowly human, he set out on a violent quest to regain his former form. Made for Daniel Scribner’s D&D campaign at the NYC Google offices.
Read moreSeeds: Ideas From ‘Who’
Three brief summaries of Traveller adventure ideas stolen from episodes of Doctor Who.
Read morePre-Rolled Dice
Lists of dice rolls in a random order repeating multiple times for each die type.
Read morePre-Rolled d20s
Lists of modified d20 rolls to make attack and saving throw rolls easier for DMs managing multiple opponents.
Read moreCycles And Aeons
Notes for a weird little “timeline framework” I made for time travel campaign.
Read moreAD&D 1e Skills
A summary of the original “non-weapon proficiencies” allowed to player characters, sometimes called “secondary skills” in rules by Gary Gygax.
Read more