Posts

Sike! Lets go System Agnostic (or with OSE)

Image
Last week, I stated that I had decided to take The Tsardoms of River and Weed, and turn it from a System-Agnostic Setting to Rules + Setting. I have decided this wasn't the best course. WHY? Well I reflected on what It was I wanted from the Tsardoms. Like, what do I need for it to be (at a bare minimum) in order to get to play around with it? What I came up with proved one thing to me, the Tsardoms would be best produced as a Setting. Not a system. Here, exactly what I figured out I needed: 1. A 1;1 time calander that could incoperate seasons, maybe weather, the Lunar Cycle, a planetary cycle, day in which monsters are weaker or stronger or more or less active. 2. Yoon Suin Style Social circles and settlement generating tables. 3. Seasonal Encounter tables to pair with the calander. 4. Setting Specific Treasure Tables and Treasure Types. 5. A setting Specific Beastiary of monsters, entries could include: monster names, behaviors, omens, treasures, rumors, adventure ho...

Zero-Prep and Low Prep Playing

Image
Yesterday, I saw a fantastic question on the Necrotic Gnome Discord. @Sethmokami asked "What would y’all say is the bare minimum amount of prep needed to run an OSE campaign? I’m itching to run something and I’m trying to figure out all my options for lower-prep but still fun games that actually have fans willing to play them." Not only do I think this is a good question. I think the is THEE question that folks looking to play NOW, not six weeks from now after compiling a mountain of prep they'll never fully finish. Will eventually ask themselves (Yes it haunts me that im still preping for the Tsardoms. I really need to hurry up and get it into a playtestable state and not just theory). Modules vs. Zero Prep If you’re running a module, low prep can be as simple as this: read it once, then flip to the section you need at the table, as you need it. That’s it. I strongly recommend (especially with larger tables), that as the referee you is elect one of the players ...

Will He? Wont He?

Image
Today's post is gonna be a short one (I know I'm sorry, but I got a lot todo today). Every since I first started making these blog posts I've been struggling with takingthe Tsardoms of River and Weed (what I am now calling Kaz Kaz, yay a name change; exciting isn't it) from a System-Agnostic Setting to Rules + Setting. On my part there has been way too much hemming and hawing. way to much going back and forth between making a full on system or stick to the orginal goal, the orginal promise? We I've decided to full send it. After a helpful suggestion from @ClericsWearRingmail, in which he thought (I am paraphrasing here) "hey way not go full hog into the system side of things, and make a OSR conversion appendix?" SO THATS EXACTLY WHAT I'VE DONE! below you'll find said appendix, with all my colorful conversion ideas. I hope you find it interesting, and hey if you want to chat we me about it more, you can join the new Discord I've cre...

Occidental vs Oriental Fantasy

We live in an age of Marvel blockbusters and historically careless retellings of the Iliad, where the fairy tale has largely been pushed to the margins. Today, fairytales live on in children’s literature or as Broadway retellings aimed at audiences who, frankly, are not being invited to wrestle with difficult ideas. But rather with the social taboos of today, dressed up in silly costumes and accents. The days of when fairy tales functioned as vehicles for serious introspection have passed. Stories that once carried uncomfortable truths, hid social rules, passed on cultural assumptions about the world itself. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis took these traditions seriously; not because they were neat, but because they understood that the fantastical is one of the few languages capable of expressing certain kinds of truth. (This is one of the most important lessons Crossface has impressed upon me.) Or so I thought. The Argument That Started It Last night (01/17/2026) , I found myself i...

Kaz-Kaz/Myrth.... My Whatcha Ma Call it!

Image
About a year ago (2025) , in May, I started collecting ideas and creating art for a new D&D setting: Kaz-Kaz . The goal is simple, yet fourfold. 1. Return to Fairytales At the turn of the last century (going from the 20th to the 21st) , our collective Western culture lost something. I think it was our soul; our voice. Something still present in the great works of the 20th Century: The Lord of the Rings , Narnia , Earthsea , Howl’s Moving Castle , Princess Mononoke , Snow White and the Seven Dwarves . My goal is to return to the fairytale; the stories that inspired the great stories of the 20th Century. Because I’m a bit eccentric, I’ve decided I’m going to stick to a specific subset of fairytales that are often overlooked: Slavic fairytales. Simply because I think they’re neat. They are familiar yet exotic, which is the feeling I want to capture when exploring the worlds we create when we play D&D. 2. Capture the Principles of My Three Favorite OSR Books I w...

Magical STDs..... And Other Useful Tables

" @AlchemicalRaker puts it best when he suggests that players deserve less. If they’re two things that are true, it’s: Thanks to a generational porn/smut addiction and Critical Roles influence on the hobby. Today’s player base is filled with a ton of perverts who seek out opportunities to bring romance and sexual innuendo into the game. Players are like children. They become great when challenged and punished accordingly by their DM. So in an effort to correct this issue in the funniest way possible. I present the magical STD Table, along with a sub table for determining the probability of your players contracting one of these hilarious, unplaytested, potentially game breaking STDs. AND! As an added bonus, I’ve thrown in a new playable “race” for " @TheBasicExpert’s 0DnD clone, " @WightBox . Action The PC or NPC Takes Likelihood The PC/NPC hooks up with a promiscuous PC/NPC. 35% The PC/NPC hooks...

Lean Times In Lankhmar, The Playable Braunstein Hidden In The Backdrop

Image
Returning to the ring against ' " @RumpDM ', I dug deeper than Conan and choose ' " Fritz Leiber’s, Lean Times In Lankhmar ' —as my weapon for this round. This short story—follows Fafhrd & the Grey Mouser through Lankhmar’s The Street Of The God, after the iconic duo split over financial pressures. Seeking a new life of solace, Fafhrd (a northern Barbarian) becomes acolyte to Bwadres, the last priest of Issek of the Jug. Meanwhile Mouser, (the more cunning of the duo) finds himself a lieutenant to Pulg, the street’s the chief Extortioner. Personally, I was intrigued by the hidden braunstein playing out in the background, rather than the story itself. At first I was going to discuss the various factions at play. But that wouldn’t make for a very compelling entry for the “Kang Of The Ring Tournament”. No we DESERVE something grander, something bolder! So How about a small Braunstein Inspired by the text instead. The Braunstein *Note: You MUST read ...