I originally posted this to Detritus so that my players wouldn’t read it while it still contained spoilers. But as of yesterday this is no longer a secret to them, so I’m sharing it publicly because I think it’s really interesting. Lots has been written about Jacquaysing the dungeon, often in the abstract. We talk about “increasing player choice”, non-linear exploration, meaningful decisions, etc. For a lot of us it’s become something we just do out of habit or out of feeling like it’s the “correct” way to design a dungeon. We’ll add loops, multiple entrances, shortcuts to deeper levels, and ..read more

This was originally a Twitter thread posted in July 2021. I’ve wanted to move it onto the blog for a while now anyway, but the impending explosion of the bird site finally gave me the kick I needed to actually do it. Unlike my other thread mirrors (like the long reads that I do) I’ve […] This post is only available to members ..read more

This essay was originally posted to Detritus, where subscribers get access to exclusive content, behind the scenes posts, musings on the craft of writing, drafts of works in progress, and more. Oral Traditions in Gaming Join Detritus here. This post is only available to members ..read more

This was originally posted to Detritus, a monthly subscription where I share lots of work in progress pieces, thoughts on the craft of writing, and other behind the scenes work. You can support the project on Patreon or through Ko-Fi. Today I’m working on one of the adventures I’m writing for my summer dungeon drop, and I’ve been thinking about how the way you present things in the text of an adventure potentially leads to different play outcomes. The central conceit of the adventure is this: there’s a series of tunnels inside the cliffs near a small village. They’re rumoured to be filled wit ..read more

A common criticism of D&D – in particular fifth edition, though I’ve seen this levelled at all instances of the game in one form or another – is that the only mechanisms in place are interested in combat and violence. The game ostensibly has three "pillars" – exploration, social interaction, and combat – but it’s that third pillar that’s most represented in the rules as written. It’s not strictly true that the game has no mechanisms for resolving social encounters, it’s just that a) they’re found in the DMG and b) they’re not particularly robust, not as granular as the combat rules. A few ..read more

I fully encourage you to jump into the comments and tell me I missed your fave off the list. The Sunless Citadel It’s a classic for a reason. The Sunless Citadel is an introductory dungeon crawl from 3rd edition D&D. It’s a classic dungeon crawl harkening back to the origins of the game, with enough meat for veteran players to sink their teeth into and plenty of hooks to open up the game for future adventures. If you want to see what good dungeons look like, you could do much worse than to start here. Pick up The Sunless Citadel here. The Village of Hommlet Old school players talk about K ..read more

Imagine there was an introduction to this listicle and that you really liked it. Artefact Artefact by Jack Harrison is a game about developing the history of a magic item over the course of generations. Ideal for solo play but also a ton of fun when played with others. A friend and I have had an ongoing game in a shared Google Doc for the past couple of years where we occasionally drop in and write a bit more about a magic pair of sandals with an incredibly bloody past. The original zine is gorgeous but it’s now also available in what Jack calls a "beak zine" format that’s super portable and ..read more

Yesterday Wizards of the Coast announced that they’re bringing Spelljammer back for 5th edition. I’ve got a lot of nostalgia for Spelljammer and I’ve posted some stuff before. After the announcement I dug out Adventures In Space and Wildspsace and immediately got the urge to write some random encounters for travelling through wildspace. Adventures In Space says this about encounters: Given the nature of space movement, an oppossing craft may appear suddenly in the distance, then slow to combat speed almost immediately. Since it is in the nature of the spelljamming helm to stop when it nears ..read more

I write random tables as a warm-up every day. You can suggest a prompt here. Get this post in PDF at Detritus. Curious Market Stalls A teetering shack made of reclaimed driftwood and roughly hewn quarry stones. Simultaneously appears to be an ancient, immovable part of the landscape and like it might fall down in a stiff breeze. Owned by Sweaty Steve, a leather-faced man of indeterminate age who exudes a musk of sour body odour and sharp salt. Sells unimpressive chunks of ambergris and planks of rotting wood painted in spirals of red ink. It’s tat, seemingly, but he does a steady trade and h ..read more

Recently @molomoot posted a really cool method of dungeon generation using the daily crosswords they find in the Metro newspaper. I absolutely intend to try this at some point, especially as there’s now a Crossword Dungeon Game Jam running on itch. I haven’t done a crossword in years, but I have been doing Wordle every day like the rest of the planet. And the combination of the crossword generation, Wordle, and reading The Vast In The Dark got me thinking about other ways to use the things you do every day (crosswords, Wordle, whatever) to generate gameable content. I realised that the chart o ..read more