Well, I had intended that last post to be my farewell to 2025, but my kids are munching on dinner and I need a break. Plus, the idea of writing a Year in Review post for a blog that's one month old is hilarious.
So let's get down to it, and answer some burning questions.
How did this blog come to be? I needed a place to post my random DM fun and rules hacks and module reworks and system neutral RPG ideas and bad poetry/experimental-rpg-musings. oh yeah, buckle up--if you thought this blog was a bit all over the place in 2025, 2026 is going to be a WILD RIDE!
But going back to the question, I also plan to publish some of this stuff, and what simpler way to preview, share, and workshop ideas than a blog? The last several years, I have spent many joyful hours reading OSR/NSR blogs, and the world needs one more.
What's your long-term angle here? Well, I have a full-time job and needed a distraction, and this beats drinking. Like any storycrafter, I really just want people to listen, to take up my ideas and stories and weave bits and bobs into their dreams, and then come back and tell me about their adventures. I am not in this to make money, but I am going to sell a few things eventually and charge money for them so folks take them seriously (there's so much good stuff out there, posted as random free PDFs on itch.io and DriveThruRPG, lost in a roaring crowd). My goals are:
- One day make enough to cover my DMing costs of $10/month.
- One day soon, release my fantasy heartbreaker as a free text-only PDF, and have one table (other than my own) play it and like it.
- Keep posting fun stuff to this blog, discussing RPGs on Discord with other bloggers and creators, workshopping ideas, and watching the blog reader count NUMBER GO UP (I confess, it's mildly addicting).
- Maybe, if the ADHD gods are kind, write that fantasy novel I have bouncing around my head.
What are you playing right now? I am running two games, all I have time for.
Mausritter: With my kids, we just finished the starter adventure, and they are heading back to their home town by the river to buy a ship to chase down the DeadRatz, who fled away downriver with kidnapped villagers. They will find every ship in town is busy ferrying folks across to watch the 'Song of the Frogacle' race. And our adventurers get offered a paper ship, completely free if they compete and win the race! For parents with fidgety kids, i recommend printing the items out on cardstock (or buying the physical boxes).
DnD 5e: My in-person dad's game, weekly since June 2024. To limit prep time, it's a sandbox populated with interconnected published OSR modules, which I hack to different degrees (5e folks: module prices ranged from $5-20).
First arc was Black Wyrm of Brandonsford (using this nice 5e conversion, except for the Dragon and Giant, which use this excellent OSR-->5e thread). I hacked the knight's tomb however, it was not challenging and needed a cursed treasure to blind them and properly scare the shit out of them. They tried to trick the Goblin King, and he turned their trick on them, nearly destroying the town. In 2026 I will post my light remix of the module, it really sings if you add a little bit of dragon gold folklore.
Second arc was a Into the Wider World (City-River-Port) arc, they visited Marlinko to sell treasure ("I hate that town so much. We WILL one day return, take over, and burn it to the ground": 5/5 DM stars), went downstream and got snookered by the Pirates of the Goblin River (my remix) and a slaver airship, then got further cursed and sought help in Eversink, where they accidentally released several horrors on the city, got geased by an angry Church to guard an upcoming sea voyage, killed a thieving kid (poor lil' guy), decided to rob a mysterious magical zoo (V***m, before I knew about the creator, sigh), and then fought off the mimic colony they imported on their way out (paranoia levels high, as the Elder Mimic set sail and telepathically said "see you soon...").
Third arc has been pirates! A mash up of Pirate Borg and the Secret of the Black Crag. Forced into a sea voyage, they uncomfortably helped the Church oppress some poor port town (but drew the line at slaughtering rioters, risking Geas-death over dishonor). Then they helped the lead priest try to ambush some pirates, and they doubled down, chasing the pirates into a kraken storm, only to wake up shipwrecked on a far shore. Losing little time, they stole a ship from the pirate port, gratuitously murdering and resurrecting a completely unrelated priest on the way out.
Following a treasure map, they plundered a island of trapped tombs and flaming dinosaurs (the first dungeon I created for this campaign, to spice up Brimstone Island)--only to be chased into the ocean by a stone titan, fled other treasure hunters (a familiar Elder Mimic and slaver airship), then went for repairs to Black Coral Bay island, where they amassed a small fleet and more treasure. Eventually, they found a way past the Rokewind guarding the Black Crag (the place where the cursed items have been literally been pointing), freed a pirate's soul, and just arrived at the secret of the Black Crag. With any luck, 2026 will involve more 5e pirate wavecrawl, Pirate Borg one-shots with their fleet, and maybe even Skycrawl. But who knows with this crew? They might hare off to fight a Lich's armies, investigate a cabal of dark mages, or go check out this deed to a warehouse they inherited.
What are you plotting for 2026?
On the writing front, I will finish the Shadowdark feats series with a teaser of the Quirk system--all to be published in January or February I hope as my first RPG supplement.
Then I will take a break from lists, and talk about hacking Nimble 2e, action economy in the OSR, colonial empires and cannibals and evil enemies, my favorite magic systems, and how I want (possibly) impossible things from OSR class design (all hail the GLoG). Later, I want to talk about death in RPGs, why we need it, the fail states it leads us to, and some ways around those fail states that I see in different RPGs. I'll present my own take on death in RPGs, and how I handle it as a DM. This may include (bad) art.
Beyond that, random thoughts, whirling around. No resolutions this year, I have achieved peak humility and who wants to ruin perfection?
Have a wonderful 2026!
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