It Came From The Blogosphere: The Return

 I used to do this more often, sorry! Blog posts I’ve read recently that I liked. Just so happens that a bunch of really good ones have come along in relatively short succession, hence:

Zedeck just posted about how Tone Is Bullshit and I concur! I’ve had questions of tone rattling around in my head lately as I create more Graverobbers stuff, but those always go out the window when it comes to actually writing or playing. Of course art can be funny and scary and sad. That’s life!

(“But you write for a horror rpg” yes and there is always a cat on the spaceship or an NPC called Kevin Tremendous. Also MoSh doesn’t attempt to scare its players, just their characters, but that’s a discussion for another time sooooooo)

I always enjoy Marcia’s very thorough yet accessible looks at old D&D from a modern context, and this overview of Collapsed Tiers of Play is no different! It’s neat to see how old assumptions in the rules have turned into something more… approachable? through play over time. And I love the whole dungeon/town loop, so good food for thought in this one.

I bounce off “proper, academic” texts like criminal charges off a cop, so it’s a testament to Enziramire’s writing that I was so engrossed by An Empty Africa, a look into Pathfinder’s attempt to do an African fantasy setting. Well argued and researched, and while it’s not something I can speak to directly it helps me think about how I use “real places” when designing game worlds.

Speaking of - one last blog, non-gaming this time! The London Dead is, if you’ve read any of my Graverobbers stuff, clearly going to be a perfect source of inspiration from the name alone. I appreciate David’s insights and stories into how we treat our dead and death in general. (I’m glad the first I learned of the Hardy Tree’s falling was in the recent post about it’s possible regrowth!)

Side note - Chris “Bastionland” McDowall does great live streams over on his YouTube channel, reading through and playing games, giving thoughts and insight. Check out his recent flip-through of BREAK!!, and tune in tonight where he’ll be going through Electric Bastionland’s failed careers - definitely worth a watch!

That’s it for now! Happy reading x