Greatest Hits

So obviously the biggest thing to come out of this is Brave. You can find a whole page dedicated to that above. As for everything else on this blog, I'll put some links below to different posts that you might enjoy if you've never read them before, from the old and unnoticed posts to the big hits.

The Three Best Posts on This Blog

1. "How to Make Problems for Your Players" - the first post on this blog is still literally the best DMing/game design advice I've ever written. It was talking about 5E D&D but it still applies to all gaming types, so read it anyway.
2. "Oh God There Are So Many RPGs (A Guide)" - Desperately needs a rewrite and expansion, but the current version is alright I guess.
3. "The Least Interesting Type of Crunch" - also mercifully short

Galaxy Brain 3000 IQ Game Design Theorizing and DMing Advice

1. "Not All Crunch is the Same"
2. "Game Design vs Level Design"
3. "An Incomplete History of Mazes in RPGs"
4. "A Thorough Look at Urban Gameplay in D&D" - I developed on these ideas further in my design notes for the settlement rules in Brave.
5. "People, Power, and Land" - picture heavy and easy to read!
6. "Unity vs Division" - a followup to "People, Power, and Land"
7. "Princess Mononoke and 'DM-Prepared Plots' in Old School Games"
8. "Would 'X' Be a Good Idea for a New Class?"
9. "Running On Empty" - about "exhaustion" mechanics and a way to reinterpret HP as such
10. "Getting Classy With Equipment"
11. "On Dungeon Size"
12. "Splitting the Party Isn't That Bad"
13. "How Do You Handle the 'Inside' of a Hex?" - okay this one isn't actually that good or brilliant or anything but I still want people to read it so I can see if they know what I'm talking about and we can all get on the same page about this thing which has bothered me for awhile but which no one ever acknowledges.
14. "Iterative Design"
15. "Gritty Realism: Adventuring in Weeks, Not Days"
    
16. "Subterranean Thoughts"
17. "My (Untested) Theory of Nautical Campaigns"
18. "How to Make Combat Spicy"
19. "Stranger Things and 'Puzzle Monsters'"
20. "A Primer on Star Wars RPGs"
    
21. "Computer Hacking in RPGs"
    
22. "Enough Dweeb Adventures" - Winner of a Gold Bloggie!
    
23. "Not All Balance is the Same"
    
24. "The Genres the OSR Can't Do"
25. "People Are Problems: NPCs as Challenge Elements"
26. "How I Run the Table"
27. "Clashing, Not Attacking"
28. "Nested Tasks"
29. "Imaginary Roller Coasters"
30. "Action Mysteries"

Mercifully Short:

1. "Changes I'd like to see in new RPG Products" - content creators take note
2. "The Case for Character Specialization"
3. "Campaigns Are Overrated"
4. "Here There Be Dragons"
5. "The lost art of the 'Stable-of-Characters'"
6. "A Fracture in Old-School Philosophy: Barbarian or King?" I almost put this one in my top 3 posts ever so just know it's really good.
7. "The Only Two Enemies You'll Ever Need"
   
8. "It's All Levers"
   
9. "Potpourri" - a series of short musings strung together
10. "Traits of the Mythic Underworld"
    
11. "You Suck at Keeping your One-Offs as One-Offs"
    
12. "Product Identity? In MY Monsters?"
    
13. "Picture Book Gameplay"
    
14. "Christmas Adventures"
15. "Samwell Tarly the Slayer vs Ghost the Good Doggo"

Houserules You Should Steal (and others you definitely shouldn't):

(These are also oftentimes mercifully short)

1. "Electrum is Underdark Money"
2. "Advanced Darkness"
3. "Fumbles Can Be Great if you Just Make the Perfect Rule" - after spending a while using this one, I only recommend it to 5E DMs who can stick this table on their DM screen easily. Otherwise it's not worth it. But when it's viable, it's great!
4. "Magic Metals and Stuff" - a must-have for Knave players
5. "Talking Statues: The Ultimate Quest Dealer"
6. "Potent Potables" - a fun mechanic for drinking (both alcohol and potions)
7. "Fifth Edition Downtime"
8. "Decent Rules to Make Languages Fun"

"The Discourse":

1. "The New School, the Old School, and 5th Edition D&D"
2. "I Don't Think I'm Going to Allow Elves to be Playable Anymore"
3. "The Two Worlds of RPGs"
4. "Table is Theatre, Videogames are Film"

Serieseseses:

1. "The Differences in Mystara, Greyhawk, and Forgotten Realms" - because a lot of people couldn't really tell you the major differences between the three traditional "vanilla" settings of D&D, I thought I'd point out the highlights. Could probably use a re-write to be honest. I have a couple more things I'd add to Forgotten Realms now. But not much.
2. "Campaign-Level Play" - this is a series about a nebulously-defined topic that has to do with downtime, sandboxing, "treating the game world as though it were real," and freeform mechanics. But it's really good stuff, especially the third part.
3. "A Thorough Look at Skill Challenges" - this is only two parts but it is very dense. The first post is just exhaustively cataloguing houserules, so if you ever want to take a close look at 4E-style Skill Challenges, I did the heavy lifting for you.
4. "Alternative Economics" - this is a surprisingly popular series about relatively minor ways you can spice up the economics part of your gameplay without going overboard, mostly inspired by real-life bits of weird economics from history. It's also pretty educational.

Hedonistic Worldbuilding Garbage:

1. "Weird Dwarf Traits"
2. "Alright Let Me School You on Gnomes"
3. "Bugbears that Go Bump in the Night"
4. "Medieval Halflings: Pechs, Not Hobbits"
5. "Dragons of the Great Game"

Fun and/or Stupid:

1. "Flatter Me, Mortals" - a visual essay about the ways in which "the Dungeon Master" is depicted in any art where they get included as an in-universe entity, and a demand for something better.
2. "Hollow Advice" - go read Watchmen if you haven't yet.
3. "The Points Don't Matter!" - my substitution for Inspiration systems.
4. "Top 10 Philosophical Conundrums We Were Forced to Resolve in our D&D Game"
5. "Women Warriors" - a collection of pictures.
6. "The Forgotten Fire Bird of Castle Greyhawk"
7. "This one's for all the aspiring Matt Mercers out there"
8. "Medusa and the Gorgons" - another collection of pictures.

Non-D&D Related But Still Excellent for Fans of Fantasy/Gaming:

1. "Violence as Magic" - an essay about the way violence is depicted in fantasy fiction media, like, thematically speaking.
2. "I Want to Talk About the Green Knight" - an essay all about medievalism, Arthurian mythology, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and the A24 film adaptation of it.
3. "Model United Nations: the Most Popular FKR Game"
4. "Literary Allusions"
5. "Game Theory and Uncertainty"