As part of an organized effort on the Paper Cult forums, I have been playing a variety of games in short 3-session campaigns to “Meet The RPG“. It’s kindof like a book club, but for games. Our first game of 2026 was Beam Saber, a Forged in the Dark mecha game by Avalyn Ramsay. I’ve … beam saber campaign report
In late 2024, I was hanging out in Farmer Gadda’s discord server, talking about tabletop rpgs (as was custom at the time). He mentioned that he had published 28 blog posts that year, and would like to try writing one a week in 2025. As someone with a disastrous amount of hubris, I thought to … 2025: how it’s going
I was born in the USA, but my parents moved overseas when I was four. Outside of a very brief stint in an international school, the vast majority of my pre-university education was homeschool. When I was around 13, this meant attending an online school. We used an ancient pre-Skype conferencing software called GatherPlace to … 2009: how it started
I like superhero comics. As a trans woman, I feel a particular affinity with the X-Men’s mutant metaphor. I had a few random comic books as a kid but I began a serious collection during 2020; as the pandemic began, visiting the local comic shop was an excuse to leave the house once a week. … breathtaking comics: a holiday playtest
Have you ever thought to yourself: “I wish my fantasy campaign had a deckbuilding minigame like Triple Triad, Gwent, or Pazaak“? Would you like something more mechanically involved than doing an opposed luck check but not something that would completely derail the session? I have these thoughts. I have these demons — the minigame demons … crystal clash: a deckbuilding minigame
I hang out with a lot of OSR folks. It’s where I’ve found community, and it’s where I perceive the most discussion happening in the ttrpg space. The blogging culture is thriving and it feels like people are talking with each other rather than posting to an audience. Unfortunately, despite the excellent work Elmcat is … anti-blorb principles
It’s time we re-examine what we mean when we use the term “quantum ogre”. The seed of this post started when Valeria posted her review of Fabula Ultima and quoted Emanuele Galletto (the game’s author) using the term to describe the game’s playstyle. If I had been vaguely aware of the term beforehand, that post … quantum ogre reborn
Earlier this month, fellow blogger soopersmert (Random Ape Encounter) proposed a mini-collab to investigate the style of play implicit in generic roleplaying games. Soopersmert has already tackled their experience with GURPS, followed by dadstep (To Be Resolved) writing about his perspective on Cypher. Generic game systems used to be one of my major interests, so … generic play: revisiting cortex prime
Gather with me around the fire as I bring you another tale of Meet the RPG. The night is cold and there are spirits moving in the darkness, but perhaps the story will bring some warmth to our tired bones. I was joined once more by my compatriots in the Paper Cult to play a … the legend of legend in the mist
The beacons are lit. Prismatic Wasteland calls for aid. A new blog bandwagon emerges. This holiday season, Warren has assembled us to write a hex based on the Rankin/Bass Christmas cinematic universe. For those who don’t immediately recognize the name, that’s the studio behind the old 60’s stop-motion holiday movies. Everything from Santa Claus to … blogwagon: broken bronco on the silver steppe
