This step-by-step guide to printing, folding, and trimming zines by Matt Jackson is full of hard-won tips from the trenches. Things like adding “stops” to your long stapler with rubber bands to save time, and using a bone folder to fold the pages; I’d never heard of a bone folder before reading Matt’s post. The […]
Matt Jackson’s guide to making zines Read More »
After seeing the killer glam/KISS OSR logo that Stuart Robertson designed, I thought it’d be fun to make a variant with an umlaut (because metal, and because changing the pronunciation is funny), in purple (because I love purple). Stuart shared the link for the font, Die Nasty (which is free for most uses, but do
You too can ooh-ess-arr Read More »
Is it a “roundup” if there’s only one issue? I don’t know, but I want to blog about Wormskin anyway! I’m still feeling out my approach to zine posts; this one turned into more of a full-blown review. Wormskin is a brand-new OSR zine by Greg Gorgonmilk and Gavin Norman, available on DriveThruRPG (paid link)
Zine roundup: Wormskin #1 Read More »
Step 1 Remove box from shelf. Step 2 Open box. Step 3 Remove sealed bag of dice from box. Step 4 Cut open dice bag. Step 5 Remove dice. Step 6 Clean dice with soap and water to remove crayon residue. Step 7 Ink dice with Sharpie. Bonus step (optional) Realize your white paint marker
How to reduce the value of a Moldvay Basic set by 50% in 7 easy steps Read More »
Crawl! (also available on DriveThruRPG; paid link) is a DCC RPG fanzine designed and published by Dak Ultimak, with a rotating cast of writers (which often includes Dak). I recently snagged the full run, and this zine is really, really well conceived and executed. It’s rawlished — both raw and polished at the same time,
Zine roundup: Crawl!, issues 1-11 Read More »
I’ve discovered that if I’m careful I can de-ink — de-crayon, really — old precision-edge dice, then ink them anew with a Sharpie. My first real test of this was tonight, using the dice from my Cook Expert set. They’d been nicely crayoned years ago (by someone else), but crayon isn’t really my jam.[1] Here
Removing crayon from old-school precision-edge dice Read More »
Chris Kutalik has been running his marvelous-sounding Hill Cantons campaign for seven years, and blogging — with clarity and vigor — about his experiences along the way. I love reading about sandbox and hexcrawl games, and Chris knows his stuff. (He’s also published several books, three of which — Slumbering Ursine Dunes [paid link], Fever-Dreaming Marlinko [paid
Hill Cantons and Building Dynamic Sandboxes Read More »
Thanks to a great question from Rogue Prismatic Golem on G+, I’ve updated Hexmancer to version 1.1. This version includes clearer language for the d24 roll, the d20 roll, and the Byways and Waterways section, plus a new logo. (The logo font is Hexatus, by Koczman Bálint.) I also thought it would be a good
Hexmancer update and extended example Read More »
I needed a simple system for procedurally generating hexcrawl terrain and features, so I made one: Hexmancer. It’s two pages long, including design notes and acknowledgements, and you get to roll funky dice. What it does Hexmancer hexcrawls with your hexes, baby! Hexmancer is designed to procedurally generate a fantasy borderlands/wilderness region in “fantasy Western
Hexmancer: Procedural Hex Generation System Read More »
Richard LeBlanc, who produces wonderful, polished old-school resources, just published a free one-page tracker for exploration resources, and it’s glorious. (Here’s the direct download link.) It’s set up to help you keep track of torches, time spent in the dungeon, etc. in one-turn increments, and it includes notes for 0e, B/X, and 1e. This one’s
Free one-sheet time tracker for old-school fantasy RPGs Read More »
