The Explorateur: Issue #6

Entering the judge mines…

Quest Givers

This section shares any game jams, contests, and collaborations. If you want to share a community event, jam, or project message me on Bluesky.

• The Ultimate Game Jams Directory. A big thank you to Bryant for making this desperately needed, hyper-usable directory for ttrpg game jams. If it’s hosted on Itch, it’s in here, organized and searchable by end date.
• Black Sword Hack SRD. The Merry Mushmen’s Conan-inspired OSR system is among my favorites. It takes the best of the Black Hack and dials it up to 11. It’s criminally underrated and now it’s primed for 3rd party creators.
• Dolmenwood SRD. Necrotic Gnome’s Old School Essentials looms large in the old-school scene, but Dolmenwood, his bespoke setting and system, drips with flavor. This newest SRD is going to lead to a lot of great adventures.
• Block, Dodge, Parry SRD. What started as a more granular toolbox for Cairn 2E has become its own standalone rpg. Check it out if you like Cairn but you want some tiny tweaks here and there.
• Meatheads Jam Part II. Nothing is better than a big ole’ blockhead with muscles. Why make something about spells or songs, when it can be about punching something really, really (really) hard? Jam ends May 15th.
• What We Didn’t Know. This dagger-quick, mace-heavy Mörk Borg jam ends soon but the actual deliverable is small enough to make it work: a single horizontal A4 page. Give it a look. Jam ends April 7th.
• Enter the Zungeon. Kludge together a fast and weird zungeon zine. Don’t know what a Zungeon is? Check out the Zungeon Manifesto.

Reviews & Exhibits

Critique and examinations of tabletop rpgs, adventures, and more. I try to share exhibits with something to say other than the usual, “Is this worth buying?”

• Tiny Fables (Mausritter) by Idle Cartulary. Tiny Fables might have the best design in the entire Mausritter catalog. (That’s really saying something.) Nova gives us the details. Does the structure and writing meet the visuals?
• Dogs in the Vineyard by Ludonarrative Dissidents. Podcast. Vincent Baker is famous for Apocalypse World, but before that, he made his now disowned, unavailable, but potentially most compelling work—Dogs in the Vineyard.
• Goblin Grinder (Mörk Borg) by Forlorn Encystment. The Goblin Grinder is one of Mörk Borg’s most popular adventures—not a surprise given that it’s free. But is it as good as its popularity would suggest? Time to compare notes.
• Nirvana on Fire: Expanded Edition by Save Vs Total Party Kill. This adventure is easily one of Mothership’s best, and I’m excited more people are starting to notice. The graphic design by Eric Hill is one worth studying.
• Tunnels & Trolls’ History by Roll to Doubt. When the first edition came out, it was everything D&D wasn’t. One thing I know for sure: the alternate universe where the OSR obsessed over T&T is infinitely weirder than this one.

Rumors & Bestiary

The never-sponsored section of the newsletter. These links are the treasures I found while wandering the internet wilderness.

• The Department of Unusual Observations. It’s not very often I find an Itch page that has exactly my style, but that’s DUO. They’re my Dan Flashes—except instead of complicated patterns, they make beautiful, clean micro rpgs.
• The Absurd Heart of OSR Gaming by One Man and His Dice. The misconception around old-school play is that it’s all self-serious grognards describing 10-ft poles. In reality, it’s mostly slapstick comedy.
• Publishing Tips from Between 2 Cairns. I try not to share paywalled content, but the advice Yochai and Brad share in this Patrons-only exclusive is rock solid. A teaser: Make 3rd party stuff. Be a fan of others. Talk normal.
• Is the OGL Era Over? (2 Years Later) by Designers & Dragons. This article digs into the after effects of the OGL Fiasco. Instead of getting nuclear fallout, we got the opposite—dozens of games without the D&D baggage.
• The Awards 2024 Winners. The tabletop rpg awards for “weird shit” has officially announced last year’s winners on their website and they’re great. There’s a lot of variety and inspiration to mine here.
• The Indie Groundbreaker Awards Nominees. This award show is hosted by the Indie Game Developer Network and always shines a spotlight on well-deserving games and their creators. This year’s nominees are no exception.

Theory & Advice

Any ideas, guidance, and tools that make playing and creating in the tabletop space more engaging, meaningful, and rewarding. This is the catch-all section.

• Most Adventures are Bad (An Adventure Writing Process) by All Dead Generations. It sounds like an incendiary take, but instead, what we get is a post that is surprisingly thoughtful. (And one I agree with wholeheartedly.)
• Random Encounter Tables as Adventure RAM by ICastLight! If there’s one thing I love more than a good system mechanic, its adventure tech. This is one of those—an encounter table that evolves as it gets used.
• Meaningful Suboptimal Play by Hendrik Ten Napel. There’s been a recent uptick of games that describe their gameplay as something other than play-to-find-out storytelling. Gameplay that, one might say, resembles board games.
• Designing Dungeons by Rise Up Comus. Josh and Warren continue to write their ultimate guide on designing a fantasy dungeon. This latest chapter is all about room descriptions—with awesome advice from surprise guests.
• Binary Pass/Fail Rolls are Fine, Actually by Gordon Kirchner. For years, binary pass/fail results were considered a failing of trad game design. In this article, Gordon points the finger at something else. Something I agree with.
• Urban Gameplay: A Series by Knight at the Opera. Crafting a satisfying system for urban adventures is a tradition as old as time in the OSR. This long and insightful series by Dwiz offers insights begging to be borrowed.
• Information Grids for Mysteries & Investigations by Shannon R. A sharp and simple method for mapping NPC’s and their secrets. It reminds me of another article. I’d like to see this technique evolve.

Design Lore

Design inspiration from beyond tabletop rpgs. I share them when I find them.

• Nordic Larp Talks Oslo 2025 by Nordic Larp. Video. Imagine TED Talks but good. The speakers this year covered a range of topics: organized play, player agency, current events, history, and “player bleed” to name a few.
• Anatomy of Larp Thoughts by Numerous. Every year, the Nordic roleplaying conference, Knutepunkt, publishes a free magazine of compelling, boundary-pushing essays, reviews, and more from the Nordic Larp scene.
• Website Inspiration. This database features some of the best design and talent from across the internet. It’s strictly websites, though, so don’t expect inspiration without a fair amount of hacking and creativity.
• The (Unofficial) Expert Guide to Affinity Publisher by Mike Loader. A free PDF that walks through every feature in Affinity and how to use them. This is considerably better (and more thorough) than the official guide.
• 7 Optical Illusions Every Graphic Designer Should Know by Nostalgic Dolphin. Making a logo, a cover, or some vector graphics? 50% of all mistakes are usually one of these culprits.
• 6 Challenges You Will Face as a Freelance Artist by Pigeon Makes Art. This advice matches what I’ve heard and experienced as an on-again, off-again freelancer. It’s not just about finding the work, but living with it.

Missed the last issue? Read it here.

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