Trollsmyth

THIS!!!  Yes, a thousand times, this!   Back in the day, I referred to this as “neo-classicalgaming,” which is to say, the sorts of games that came out of various deep dives into older...

http://trollsmyth.blogspot.com/2024/04/the-light-dawns.html

Here's a new YouTube channel that's absolutely worth your time.  There's some clever ideas in this video I will absolutely be implementing in my campaigns soon (especially the "what are you t...

http://trollsmyth.blogspot.com/2024/02/corkboards-curiosities-new-angle-on.html

Map Crow is a YouTube vlog that’s hit-and-miss with me; when it’s hot, it’s pretty hot, but when it’s not, it’s pretty meh.  FOR ME, I’ll hasten to point out; there’s a lot of ...

http://trollsmyth.blogspot.com/2024/02/fun-dice-tricks-with-map-crow.html

Ok, not a single roll to cover the entire fight.  But a single roll by each player to adjudicate not only the success or failure of their attack, but also how much damage they did to their foe a...

http://trollsmyth.blogspot.com/2024/02/mad-mashup-one-roll-combat.html

Ron Cobb is a name to conjure with in the art world, and his work as the  concept artist for the ‘82 Conan the Barbarian movie is well known to me.  At least, I thought it was!  I came acr...

http://trollsmyth.blogspot.com/2024/02/ron-cobb-implied-storytelling-in.html

 Verðandi Verðandi is a G-type star, and among the earliest stars claimed by Humanity, most likely during the Second Diaspora.  Settlement on Verðandi’s worlds date back at least to the ...

http://trollsmyth.blogspot.com/2024/02/stellar-atlas-of-zauberreich-verandi.html

The capital city of Praxis contains a dozen palaces for the Hexenkönigin (one for each of the Twelve Houses of the Galactic Wheel), the bureaucracy of the Zauberreich, and the most prestigious u...

http://trollsmyth.blogspot.com/2024/01/stellar-atlas-of-zauberreich-praxis.html

I’ve been too busy to keep up with the RPG blog-o-sphere lately (more on that later), so I missed this excellent article at Goblin Punch on negotiations between PCs and monsters/NPCs .  It mak...

http://trollsmyth.blogspot.com/2024/01/parley.html

 And back to my series of classes for my mad mashup of various sources, but based on a B/X core.   Bard Some artists can literally tap into the music the Primal Ones used to sing Creatio...

http://trollsmyth.blogspot.com/2024/01/mad-mashup-bard.html

And back to my series of character classes for my mad mashup D&D game based on B/X but including rules from all over.  This time, a bit of Hindu myth that really, really harshes on what lots of ...

http://trollsmyth.blogspot.com/2024/01/mad-mashup-apsara.html

14. HEART OF THE BEAST:  Cast this spell on a slain monster’s heart (or reasonably equivalent organ or portion), then consume it.  At any time, you may take the devoured creature’s shape, o...

http://trollsmyth.blogspot.com/2023/03/magical-magic-that-feels-magical.html

 This guy packs more in a two-minute video than most others manage in 20+ minutes.

http://trollsmyth.blogspot.com/2023/03/you-should-be-watching-emergent-gm.html

 Face it, if you want something in this harsh and unforgiving world, you have to do unto others as the royal and filthy rich have done unto you: you gotta steal it. -   Mark Finn   Mar...

http://trollsmyth.blogspot.com/2023/02/bill-willingham-on-polite-society.html

Elves represent the greatest deviation I’m making from the classic classes.  B/X elves are warrior-wizards.  My elves are much more Tolkienesque.  They’re an excellent alternative to Cle...

http://trollsmyth.blogspot.com/2023/02/mad-mashup-elves.html

What are you general thoughts about rules that don't have the GM rolling any dice.  For instance, if a monster attacks a PC, instead of the GM rolling on behalf of the monster, the PC's player r...

http://trollsmyth.blogspot.com/2023/02/no-dice-for-you-and-question-about.html

It does this old troll’s heart good to hear that folks are still getting fun out of Shields Shall be Splintered .  I recently discovered that the Down In a Heap podcast discussed the rule ,...

http://trollsmyth.blogspot.com/2023/01/shields-still-being-splintered.html

  Contemplating doing ZineQuest this year.  Any advice from those of you who have done it before?

http://trollsmyth.blogspot.com/2023/01/zinequest.html

First off, let me say that ChatGPT is a chat-bot, not story-writing software.  And I do not doubt that, in my lifetime, we’ll see story-bots that can do better than this.  But ChatGPT isn’t...

http://trollsmyth.blogspot.com/2023/01/tell-me-story-please-mr-robot.html

As requested, here is a Sorcerer Miscast table used by one of my players.  The PC is a cambion, which is why there are so many references to demons in this.  (Since this was made, I’ve writ...

http://trollsmyth.blogspot.com/2023/01/a-sorcerer-miscast-list.html

Anyone else feeling a bit of RPG industry déjà vu ?    At this point, there doesn’t seem to be much WotC can do to put the genie in the bottle.  The whole OGL fiasco has been a sel...

http://trollsmyth.blogspot.com/2023/01/the-2023-24-fantasy-rpg-mad-scrum-is-on.html

A player in my weekly face-to-face game mentioned that they’d hardly played anything other than D&D, and 5e at that.  I couldn’t let that stand, so I promised to run something for them a...

http://trollsmyth.blogspot.com/2023/01/a-little-fudge.html

  I was flipping through the 2e monster manual , looking for inspiration as to what will be under the ziggurat, when I realized there’s no reason I need to use the monsters in there.  I di...

http://trollsmyth.blogspot.com/2023/01/dungeon23-which-monsters.html

The bandits have been using the edge nearest their tents as a latrine.  Anyone trying to sneak up to the camp through the dry river during daylight hours will almost certainly be seen by the ban...

http://trollsmyth.blogspot.com/2023/01/dungeon23-dry-river.html

 Really looking forward to reading what the good Doc is doin' .

http://trollsmyth.blogspot.com/2023/01/happy-duranduran-mass.html

THE CORRAL The bandits improvised a corral here inside the ruins of a large building.   Strong smell of horse and oats. Repaired ruin walls. Wooden fences to mark the edges of the corral...

http://trollsmyth.blogspot.com/2023/01/dungeon23-bandits-corral.html