The Explorateur: Issue #7

Monthly design discoveries for tabletop rpg designers including jams, critique, theory, and tools. Vetted. Looted. Curated.

Haus Rules for Mausritter

My house rules and mouse-sized hacks for the sword-and-whiskers roleplaying game, Mausritter.

False Dichotomies of RPG Design

Tabletop rpg design is plagued with either-or fallacies. "A book can be usable at the table, or it can be fun to read," is just one of them.

Designing a logo for Carouse, Carouse!

How I made the branding for Carouse, Carouse! A monthly party of an rpg newsletter full of rpg links, ideas, and gameable content.

The Explorateur: Issue #6

Monthly design discoveries for tabletop rpg designers including jams, critique, theory, and tools. Vetted. Looted. Curated.

An RPG's Guide to Surviving Shipping

Which rpgs survive the journey to my house? It depends on the packaging.

Why Combat Is a Fail State

Revisiting the old-school maxim "Combat is a fail state" and redefining what it means at my table and as a design theory for the OSR.

The Explorateur: Issue #5

Monthly design discoveries for tabletop rpg designers including jams, critique, theory, and tools. Vetted. Looted. Curated.

How Do We Design a Gaming Community?

Do we have good communities, how can we build better ones, and what role do award shows have in community-building?

The Explorateur: Issue #4

Monthly design discoveries for tabletop rpg designers including jams, critique, theory, and tools. Vetted. Looted. Curated.

Vote in the Bloggies

The Bloggies 2025 are almost over. Read my synopsis on the nominees. Mark your calendars. And celebrate rpg blogging!

The Meta-First Way

An alternative (and experimental) approach to roleplaying games that does what fiction-first systems cannot.