Martin Orchard
orchardmartin.bsky.social
Martin Orchard
@orchardmartin.bsky.social
Organises an East Bristol, UK RPG Meetup group (DM for details)

Pointless Monument TTRPG game stuff at: pointlessmonument.itch.io

Very occasional blog at: pointlessmonument.blot.im
Pretty sure your whole degree was adjusting the big dial with 'admiration' on one side and 'shame' on the other, right?
November 9, 2025 at 10:46 AM
But I would probably stick with point buy if I returned to 5e or tried PF2E because the baseline maths is so critical when you're doing A Lot of Combat

(Although... were I to run those systems today I'd almost certainly house rule/campaign frame to create fewer, higher stakes combat encounters)
November 3, 2025 at 7:27 AM
It's very system dependent for me - I think it works particularly well in Cairn/Liminal Horror (although I toy with Mausritter/Mythic B's smaller ability score *ranges*) for different reasons - Cairn's problem solving and dungeon cycles, LH's emphasis on being ordinary people
November 3, 2025 at 7:27 AM
"The Animorphs were a warning... an echo from the past"
October 30, 2025 at 2:36 PM
+1 Shield of Judicial Impartiality (4 drawer)
October 27, 2025 at 1:26 AM
You're going to do it from behind a filing cabinet at the back of the room?
October 25, 2025 at 11:54 PM
I see the follow-up to Seven Part Pact will be Henry VIII
October 18, 2025 at 7:00 AM
Hilary Mantel's Booker Prize winning novel Space Wolves' Hall
October 17, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Note that the Alexander one does have this campaign map with a very stealable early 60s style to it
October 13, 2025 at 10:50 AM
"But doctor... I *am* Pagliacci the ski lift operator"
October 10, 2025 at 6:27 PM
"Most comics actually *lose* money on Riyadh, hoping that it will pay off in exposure, an award and a place on a future series of Taskmaster"
October 10, 2025 at 9:39 AM
'Love Has Won: The Cult of Mother God' is my wife's top cult doc pick
September 28, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Any creature sufficiently mean/spiteful/annoying that you don't feel bad taking advantage of their gullibility and/or cowardice.

Grotto of the Golden Gargoyle was my most recent GMing of them (cursed, but in such a way that you don't tend to evoke much sympathy for them)
September 25, 2025 at 9:50 PM
For a low prep, semi-open table using published modules, I came up with this, which is going well so far in playtesting:

pointlessmonument.blot.im/mothership-c...
Mothership Campaign Framework: The Anti-Carousing Table - Pointless Monument
I have many pamphlets but I must campaign: A Mothership table story Mothership one-shots are a lot of fun! (enough to make me write a blog post
pointlessmonument.blot.im
September 20, 2025 at 6:58 AM
Stephen how did you give my wife a cold?
September 16, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Cairn 2nd Ed is <£5 on both Lulu and Amazon print on demand.

You do need a full set of dice, although a character sheet is simple enough that you can just write it on a sheet of paper.

The creator will send you copies to put in Little Free Libraries and similar.
September 10, 2025 at 9:44 AM