The Novel Game Master
@thenovelgamemaster.bsky.social
TTRPG blogger @ https://www.thenovelgamemaster.com/, I GM for the Skoll Patrol and the Kitsap Death Saves.
Sci-fi & fantasy author at shannonrampe.com
Sci-fi & fantasy author at shannonrampe.com
Anyone designing an OSR game by starting with Borges is doing something right in my book!
I have posted too close to the sun, the hogs bay, pigs in the mud wiggle and writhe. I have been forced to write An OCR, and will be doing it in as strange a way as I can manage.
thegardenbelow.blot.im/don-quixote-...
thegardenbelow.blot.im/don-quixote-...
Don Quixote & Dragons - The Garden Below
making an old school roleplaying game from first principles.
thegardenbelow.blot.im
December 4, 2025 at 10:15 PM
Anyone designing an OSR game by starting with Borges is doing something right in my book!
Reposted by The Novel Game Master
I fear you'll all be sick of me this month, but I just published November's Idle Digest! Subscribe to this if you want to keep up with my work and don't use an RSS reader! Or just if you want some recommendations for what to read and what to check out! open.substack.com/pub/idlecart...
The Idle Digest #13
Idle Cartulary's Digest for November 2025
open.substack.com
December 3, 2025 at 11:43 PM
I fear you'll all be sick of me this month, but I just published November's Idle Digest! Subscribe to this if you want to keep up with my work and don't use an RSS reader! Or just if you want some recommendations for what to read and what to check out! open.substack.com/pub/idlecart...
Reposted by The Novel Game Master
The bloggies are coming, the bloggies are coming!
I come to you like Paul Revere on the back of a liger. The Bloggies are coming!
Like, share, and subscribe.
www.explorersdesign.com/the-bloggies...
Like, share, and subscribe.
www.explorersdesign.com/the-bloggies...
The Bloggies 2026!
The blogosphere's annual celebration is coming back.
www.explorersdesign.com
December 3, 2025 at 6:00 PM
The bloggies are coming, the bloggies are coming!
This looks so fun and cool. I love the aesthetic. I kind of want to hack this into a game of Cyberpunk where the party's netrunner is just playing his own solo game
A “souls-like cyberpunk Balatro” coming December 2nd.
Follow along and get the word out.
Free demo on release.
www.kickstarter.com/projects/not...
Follow along and get the word out.
Free demo on release.
www.kickstarter.com/projects/not...
Coming soon: Card Drives
Turn playing cards into a cyberdeck in this cyberpunk rogue-like deckbuilding solo RPG!
www.kickstarter.com
December 2, 2025 at 7:09 PM
This looks so fun and cool. I love the aesthetic. I kind of want to hack this into a game of Cyberpunk where the party's netrunner is just playing his own solo game
Reposted by The Novel Game Master
I had fun at PAX Unplugged! I played over 20 hours worth of games and went out to the local taverns every night. How did I do it all? That’s proprietary, but you can instead read all about the games I played
#osr #ttrpg
#osr #ttrpg
PAXU: Cram a Month of Gaming into One Weekend — Prismatic Wasteland
I Played Seven Games at PAX Unplugged and Lived To Tell You the Tales Thereof
www.prismaticwasteland.com
December 2, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Reposted by The Novel Game Master
I just published my first Mothership module: Twinkle Twinkle little star
The module will have your crew investigating a solar research ship orbiting a dying star, can you figure out what happened, and will you complete their mission?
Available now on itch!
personable.itch.io/twinkle-twin...
The module will have your crew investigating a solar research ship orbiting a dying star, can you figure out what happened, and will you complete their mission?
Available now on itch!
personable.itch.io/twinkle-twin...
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star by Personable
A sunny module for Mothership
personable.itch.io
December 2, 2025 at 12:59 PM
I just published my first Mothership module: Twinkle Twinkle little star
The module will have your crew investigating a solar research ship orbiting a dying star, can you figure out what happened, and will you complete their mission?
Available now on itch!
personable.itch.io/twinkle-twin...
The module will have your crew investigating a solar research ship orbiting a dying star, can you figure out what happened, and will you complete their mission?
Available now on itch!
personable.itch.io/twinkle-twin...
It's been a minute since I updated the blog, but that's because I was busy writing an OSR-inspired novel!
www.thenovelgamemaster.com/2025/12/writ...
www.thenovelgamemaster.com/2025/12/writ...
Writing an OSR Novel
There was screaming coming from below. Down a short flight of steps was a stone archway opening into some kind of gallery. All Dariel could...
www.thenovelgamemaster.com
December 1, 2025 at 10:24 PM
It's been a minute since I updated the blog, but that's because I was busy writing an OSR-inspired novel!
www.thenovelgamemaster.com/2025/12/writ...
www.thenovelgamemaster.com/2025/12/writ...
This is an amazing piece of work and really fun to explore!
Spent the last month mapping the blogosphere by its links. The graph is finally ready
Communities clump into a big hex and the whole thing looks like a star map
What are blogs anyway but stars in the sky?
elmc.at/mapping-the-...
To check out the graph directly follow this link:
graph.elmc.at
Communities clump into a big hex and the whole thing looks like a star map
What are blogs anyway but stars in the sky?
elmc.at/mapping-the-...
To check out the graph directly follow this link:
graph.elmc.at
Mapping the Blogosphere
An interactive graph of TTRPG blogs, showing who links to whom, how communities change over time, plus stats and how it all works.
elmc.at
December 1, 2025 at 9:57 PM
This is an amazing piece of work and really fun to explore!
A beautifully succinct take on the soulless void that is generative AI. Aligns with my thinking that content generated by AI is content without meaning behind it, and is hence absent of substance or value. It's philosophically bankrupt.
Some thoughts on artificial intelligence [sic] and its perils to tabletop gaming as a medium #osr #ttrpg
AI and Empty Art — Prismatic Wasteland
On the perils of artificial intelligence when it comes to the tabletop gaming medium.
www.prismaticwasteland.com
August 5, 2025 at 9:54 PM
A beautifully succinct take on the soulless void that is generative AI. Aligns with my thinking that content generated by AI is content without meaning behind it, and is hence absent of substance or value. It's philosophically bankrupt.
Reposted by The Novel Game Master
August is here, that calls for a party! A new month means a new Carouse, Carouse! and thats something worth celebrating! www.carouse.blog/august-2025-...
August 2025 - A Beast of a Newsletter
Once more landing in your inbox, here's Carouse, Carouse! If you're ever bored and don't know which issue to read, there's now enough to fill a d6 table. However, given that you're reading this now, y...
www.carouse.blog
August 1, 2025 at 12:25 PM
August is here, that calls for a party! A new month means a new Carouse, Carouse! and thats something worth celebrating! www.carouse.blog/august-2025-...
First I played: AD&D (1e)
First I ran: BECMI Red Box (DM'd before I played)
Played the most: AD&D 2e in ages past
Run the most: D&D 3e/3.5e in prior epochs
Fave: Call of Cthulhu (or Mothership... or Shadowdark... or OSE...)
Most recently played: Shadowdark
Most recently run: Delta Green
First I ran: BECMI Red Box (DM'd before I played)
Played the most: AD&D 2e in ages past
Run the most: D&D 3e/3.5e in prior epochs
Fave: Call of Cthulhu (or Mothership... or Shadowdark... or OSE...)
Most recently played: Shadowdark
Most recently run: Delta Green
First I played: Basic Fantasy RPG
First I ran: Basic Fantasy RPG
Played the most: On The Bones of Batala (I can't remember anythting else)
Run the most: Mangayaw
Fave: Mythic Bastionland, too
Most recently played: Cain
Most recently run: Pine Shallows
First I ran: Basic Fantasy RPG
Played the most: On The Bones of Batala (I can't remember anythting else)
Run the most: Mangayaw
Fave: Mythic Bastionland, too
Most recently played: Cain
Most recently run: Pine Shallows
First I played: Pathfinder 1e
First I ran: Streets of Marienburg
Played the most: Into The Odd-ish
Run the most: Into The Odd-ish
Fave: Mythic Bastionland, currently
Most recently played: Horizon Zero Dawn homebrew by one of my home players
Most recently run: Into The Odd-ish
First I ran: Streets of Marienburg
Played the most: Into The Odd-ish
Run the most: Into The Odd-ish
Fave: Mythic Bastionland, currently
Most recently played: Horizon Zero Dawn homebrew by one of my home players
Most recently run: Into The Odd-ish
July 19, 2025 at 5:18 PM
First I played: AD&D (1e)
First I ran: BECMI Red Box (DM'd before I played)
Played the most: AD&D 2e in ages past
Run the most: D&D 3e/3.5e in prior epochs
Fave: Call of Cthulhu (or Mothership... or Shadowdark... or OSE...)
Most recently played: Shadowdark
Most recently run: Delta Green
First I ran: BECMI Red Box (DM'd before I played)
Played the most: AD&D 2e in ages past
Run the most: D&D 3e/3.5e in prior epochs
Fave: Call of Cthulhu (or Mothership... or Shadowdark... or OSE...)
Most recently played: Shadowdark
Most recently run: Delta Green
Reposted by The Novel Game Master
The Worm HUNGERS for the ENNIE. Voting for it is the only thing that will satiate it, and deter it from rising through the Underworld and devouring the mortal lands. Save yourself. Vote for the Worm.
vote.ennie-awards.com/vote/2025/
vote.ennie-awards.com/vote/2025/
July 19, 2025 at 3:44 PM
The Worm HUNGERS for the ENNIE. Voting for it is the only thing that will satiate it, and deter it from rising through the Underworld and devouring the mortal lands. Save yourself. Vote for the Worm.
vote.ennie-awards.com/vote/2025/
vote.ennie-awards.com/vote/2025/
Reposted by The Novel Game Master
Joined the Blog Bandwagon last minute with the theme of "holes" for something holey must have possessed me to write this debauchery. I give you DEATH. DROP. DELVE. #blog #holes #bandwagon
theplayreports.com/posts/death-...
theplayreports.com/posts/death-...
theplayreports.com
July 16, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Joined the Blog Bandwagon last minute with the theme of "holes" for something holey must have possessed me to write this debauchery. I give you DEATH. DROP. DELVE. #blog #holes #bandwagon
theplayreports.com/posts/death-...
theplayreports.com/posts/death-...
Reposted by The Novel Game Master
I wonder if this old Table of mine counts for the new Hole Theme 😅 blog.d4caltrops.com/2022/09/d100...
d100 - What's At The Bottom Of This Pit?
D ecided to go ahead and round out this particular Table that has been lingering on my list for a spell. Sometimes those Pitfalls and Pit ...
blog.d4caltrops.com
July 16, 2025 at 4:13 PM
I wonder if this old Table of mine counts for the new Hole Theme 😅 blog.d4caltrops.com/2022/09/d100...
Reposted by The Novel Game Master
Today we're posting hole on main, and I've written about the humble pit trap, a classic for a reason.
billhook.bearblog.dev/in_praise_of...
billhook.bearblog.dev/in_praise_of...
In Praise of the Pit
There are many holes in fantasy adventure games. (dungeons), (dragons mouths), (enormous debt), and (discourse). One of my favorite holes in fantasy a...
billhook.bearblog.dev
July 16, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Today we're posting hole on main, and I've written about the humble pit trap, a classic for a reason.
billhook.bearblog.dev/in_praise_of...
billhook.bearblog.dev/in_praise_of...
Reposted by The Novel Game Master
For my entry to the “Post Hole” blog bandwagon, I also hereby simultaneously submit to @diyanddragons.bsky.social’s 2nd Annual Lego Jam: Lego Rock Raiders as Space Horror (with a focus on the rock monster)
#osr #ttrpg
#osr #ttrpg
Lego Rock Raiders as Space Horror — Prismatic Wasteland
You are stranded on a hostile planet, but fortunately its subterranean tunnels are rich with the fuel you need to get back home. Less fortunately the tunnels are also home to hulking monsters that can...
www.prismaticwasteland.com
July 16, 2025 at 2:05 PM
For my entry to the “Post Hole” blog bandwagon, I also hereby simultaneously submit to @diyanddragons.bsky.social’s 2nd Annual Lego Jam: Lego Rock Raiders as Space Horror (with a focus on the rock monster)
#osr #ttrpg
#osr #ttrpg
Reposted by The Novel Game Master
Blogpost time! My contribution to today's Blog Bandwagon goes in a bit of an odd direction, but I promise it goes somewhere! I'm Hole-Posting about Digimon World 3 (PSX, 2002)
Static Site: farmergadda.neocities.org/posts/holesp...
Blogger: farmergadda.blogspot.com/2025/07/hole...
Static Site: farmergadda.neocities.org/posts/holesp...
Blogger: farmergadda.blogspot.com/2025/07/hole...
Farmer Gadda's TTRPG Hayloft : Holes-Posting - I Find An Excuse to Talk About Digimon World 3
A shitty early 2000's liscenced JRPG gives me thoughts about Fast Travel and, well, Holes.
farmergadda.neocities.org
July 16, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Blogpost time! My contribution to today's Blog Bandwagon goes in a bit of an odd direction, but I promise it goes somewhere! I'm Hole-Posting about Digimon World 3 (PSX, 2002)
Static Site: farmergadda.neocities.org/posts/holesp...
Blogger: farmergadda.blogspot.com/2025/07/hole...
Static Site: farmergadda.neocities.org/posts/holesp...
Blogger: farmergadda.blogspot.com/2025/07/hole...
Reposted by The Novel Game Master
Jumping on the band wagon by complaining about something no one has cared about in twenty years: The weirdness of a hole left in your humanity by cybernetics and what I take to instead
wayspell.blogspot.com/2025/07/sws-...
wayspell.blogspot.com/2025/07/sws-...
[SWS] Hole in Your Soul, or Lack Thereof
A thing that ain't ever fully set right with me in cyberpunk games is how the installation of cybernetics always seem to make you 'less' o...
wayspell.blogspot.com
July 16, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Jumping on the band wagon by complaining about something no one has cared about in twenty years: The weirdness of a hole left in your humanity by cybernetics and what I take to instead
wayspell.blogspot.com/2025/07/sws-...
wayspell.blogspot.com/2025/07/sws-...
Forlorn Encystment also created a "Hole-in-the-Wall" tavern!
For the latest blog bandwagon, I wrote about an extradimensional tavern that can be entered via specially made portable holes, a passwall spell, and the usual planes-traversing spells - a literal hole in the wall, and what manner of strange patrons one might encounter therein.
The Hole in the Wall Lounge
The blogosphere is celebrating Stanley Yelnats's birthday by posting about holes . It's a blog bandwagon! A holewagon. The following post is...
forlornencystment.blogspot.com
July 16, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Forlorn Encystment also created a "Hole-in-the-Wall" tavern!
Reposted by The Novel Game Master
Sallying out of Magnolia Keep, it's Holes Day on the blogosphere! I decided to take the time to write about how some of my favorite books, comics, and roleplaying game thinkers have dealt with the terror of dying in enclosed spaces underground.
magnoliakeep.blogspot.com/2025/07/fear...
magnoliakeep.blogspot.com/2025/07/fear...
Fear of Holes (With Due Apologies to Jacob Geller)
My dad is a fan of horror movies. From the cerebral horror of something like The VVitch to low-budget trash like Mourning Wood or Zombea...
magnoliakeep.blogspot.com
July 16, 2025 at 12:00 PM
Sallying out of Magnolia Keep, it's Holes Day on the blogosphere! I decided to take the time to write about how some of my favorite books, comics, and roleplaying game thinkers have dealt with the terror of dying in enclosed spaces underground.
magnoliakeep.blogspot.com/2025/07/fear...
magnoliakeep.blogspot.com/2025/07/fear...
Reposted by The Novel Game Master
Blogpost: The case for why your dungeon entrances should be pitcher plants rather than mere doors or simple holes
(Part of the @prismaticwasteland.com blogomatic universe 'holes' day) #osr
pointlessmonument.blot.im/tumbling-dow...
(Part of the @prismaticwasteland.com blogomatic universe 'holes' day) #osr
pointlessmonument.blot.im/tumbling-dow...
Tumbling Down the Rabbit Hole: The Case for Pitcher
Plant Dungeon Entrances - Pointless Monument
Back in February, a call went out via Prismatic Wasteland for hole blogs: blogs about holes. This post is one that I’ve had in the back of my mind
pointlessmonument.blot.im
July 16, 2025 at 11:31 AM
Blogpost: The case for why your dungeon entrances should be pitcher plants rather than mere doors or simple holes
(Part of the @prismaticwasteland.com blogomatic universe 'holes' day) #osr
pointlessmonument.blot.im/tumbling-dow...
(Part of the @prismaticwasteland.com blogomatic universe 'holes' day) #osr
pointlessmonument.blot.im/tumbling-dow...
Reposted by The Novel Game Master
"Here's a secret, young adventurer. No cave you delve into, no volcano that erupts, no monsters that lashes at you from the bowels of the stone is "natural". It's the dwarves, it's always been the dwarves."
behindthehelm.bearblog.dev/dwarf-ecology/
behindthehelm.bearblog.dev/dwarf-ecology/
Dwarf Ecology
The first-generation dwarves are born programmed with one, simple goal: with blinding speed they dig upwards in all directions, spreading like ants search...
behindthehelm.bearblog.dev
July 16, 2025 at 10:51 AM
"Here's a secret, young adventurer. No cave you delve into, no volcano that erupts, no monsters that lashes at you from the bowels of the stone is "natural". It's the dwarves, it's always been the dwarves."
behindthehelm.bearblog.dev/dwarf-ecology/
behindthehelm.bearblog.dev/dwarf-ecology/
Reposted by The Novel Game Master
It's a blog bandwagon day in the TTRPG blogosphere. Today's theme is HOLES! My offering is a drop-in adventure location for your elfgame of choice... a "Hole in the Wall" tavern with actual magic holes on the wall. Stick your arm in and see what comes out!
www.thenovelgamemaster.com/2025/07/the-...
www.thenovelgamemaster.com/2025/07/the-...
The Hole in the Wall: A Magical Tavern
Hole in the Wall is a weird, magical tavern filled with the potential for opportunity, tragedy, and fun that you can drop into any fantasy ...
www.thenovelgamemaster.com
July 16, 2025 at 3:54 PM
It's a blog bandwagon day in the TTRPG blogosphere. Today's theme is HOLES! My offering is a drop-in adventure location for your elfgame of choice... a "Hole in the Wall" tavern with actual magic holes on the wall. Stick your arm in and see what comes out!
www.thenovelgamemaster.com/2025/07/the-...
www.thenovelgamemaster.com/2025/07/the-...
Reposted by The Novel Game Master
Feeling the love from the Green Ronin community as we navigate the Diamond bankruptcy. At the time of this posting, we are at 82% percent of our goal. If you aren't in a position to support the legal fund, sharing this with your network is a huge help: gofund.me/970ea49a
July 11, 2025 at 1:53 AM
Feeling the love from the Green Ronin community as we navigate the Diamond bankruptcy. At the time of this posting, we are at 82% percent of our goal. If you aren't in a position to support the legal fund, sharing this with your network is a huge help: gofund.me/970ea49a