Friday, November 24, 2023
X-Cards
Friday, October 13, 2023
Bidding into Danger

- An RPG where pro-wrestling is for realsies: The flippy shit high-fliers can take the initiative by willing to risk botching their attack.
- A fantasy or horror game: Wizards may go first if they are willing to risk accidentally unleashing the forces of hell.
- Rolemaster, just for fun: Initiative bidding where the number goes up and the result is added to everyone's fumble range.
Saturday, October 07, 2023
Rest in Peace, Dave Hoover
[This is not about the comic book professional Dave Hoover.]
Yesterday I learned that Dave Hoover passed away. Dave was a key person in the Champaign-Urbana, Illinois rpg scene for decades. He GMed lots of local campaigns (I played mostly Feng Shui and Savage Worlds with him) and many, many games at the local convention. He once ran a game in every single slot of the con, something like 12 different games over one weekend. Dave also hosted some Halo LAN parties, if anyone remembers those glory days. He and his wife owned a game store called Armored Gopher Games for a while and it was the friendliest FLGS you could ever ask for. Nearly every store game I ever ran was at the Armored Gopher.
More importantly than being a Game Dude, Dave was just a decent human being. He was kind and caring. He was, by all accounts, a good husband and father. Certainly every time I saw him interact with his family he was earnestly trying to get that stuff right. He was also the kind of guy that, if it happened to come up in conversation that you weren't familiar with the work of the band Avenged Sevenfold, next time he saw you he'd hand you a CD burned with his favorite tracks from their catalog. That was the sort of generous spirit Dave had. He was a genuine good guy and the world is the worse off without him.
My heart goes out to his family.
Saturday, September 30, 2023
Grim Weaponry
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The other day I goofing around on heroforge.com and I decided to knock together a quickie Grim Reaper. |
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That's when I thought of this visual gag, which I call "New Reaper Shows Up to 1st Day of Work Having Misunderstood the Assignment." |
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So what else could a Grim Reaper wield? This sword looks cool but feels kinda basic. |
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This battle axe looks pretty dang badass. |
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"What am I, a cleric over here?!?" |
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"Time to die. Square up, mofo." |
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Is this a Shaolin spade? The author of the Zombie Survival Handbook insists that this is the best weapon for decapitating zombos. |
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Dual wield spiked chains seems extra AF. |
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This Reaper is not messing around. |
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The ultimate horror. |
Wednesday, September 27, 2023
Tuesday, September 26, 2023
An Email Exchange
STEVE:
- I started the campaign with the map from the original (1997) Fallout, the PCs are from vault 13, and they've been everywhere in the region: spent a few weeks in LA, which would take the giants a few nights raiding (a week?) to destroy the populated parts of the city, maybe a neighbourhood a night.
- The underground vaults are probably safe from the giants for now. There's a nuke in the possession of one of the villains someone might turn on a vault or a skyfortress.
- Truck Stop, the longtime base town of friendly mutants and assorted refugees is perpetually in peril, packed with repeat NPCs and the PCs favourite cocktail lounge. There's more than enough people and stuff to threaten, but this place is probably the one that would hurt most. It would be crushed in a night.
- The first village they came to outside the vault is Shady Sands, and that's where I'll start. Probably nobody remembers that first game in like 1999-2000, but there may be notes on the long-forgotten NPCs, none of whom are likely to be heartbreakers. Anyway, now it's all a trampled, mildly radioactive, gory mess anyway, gone in an hour, and the green cloud of mutant lightning nimbus death is headed to whichever locale is next on the shitlist.
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Chainmonster by Ian MacLean |
Monday, September 25, 2023
The Cosmic Purpose of Role-Playing Games
If your sessions are anything like mine, a lot of ludicrous stuff gets said by the participants. RPGs put people into imaginary situations via dialogue. That means people will say things in an RPG session that would never be said in any other context. Therefore, RPG play taken as a whole is a sort of Unique Utterance Machine. We are collectively reciting the Nine Billion Names of God, the spoken version of the Tower of Hanoi, the oral Library of Babel. The last RPG played will exhaust language itself.
Gameblog-O-Rama 3
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On Bards - *Statement: bards using music to cast spells is stupid. * *Query: how does one make bards using music to cast spells cool? * *Answer: creative cursing. *...
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Mince Pie Fest 2023: "Holly Lane" (Aldi) - Holly Lane! Which doesn't exist, because it's Aldi. The pastry has a lovely soft crumble with a pleasant sweetness, but is a little undermined by too much ...
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Philately & Phylacteries: D&D Comes to the USPS - If you follow Grognardia as closely as I do, you have no double heard about the upcoming D&D stamps the United States Postal Service will […] Read More
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1d6 Random Encounters Found in a Rimbaud Poem - Rimbaud has always been my nahual (spirit animal). I went to a goth festival in Mexico City where Maldoror were performing live. It was back in 1997 and on...
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ACKS 2 Kickstarter - Last 24 Hours - Before I forget - *Adventurer Conqueror King* is coming out with a second edition. The kickstarter is in the last 24 hours. Alex had been posting playt...
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Frankensteining The Perfect Dracula - We have all faced this dilemma: -Dracula is cool -There is no Dracula movie that does not contain many things that are boring or stupid. Yet: -A lo...
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Hobgoblins and Fate Witches for your Lotfp game - Hello Dear Readers! Today I thought I would indulge my ego and write a little bit about my homebrew setting, which has no maps…really, it is just scraps of...
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Fundraiser for Jennell Jaquays - Sad news about the health of Jennell Jaquays. Jennell's is a well known name to most old school gamers, a highly influential game designer and artist of ...
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how i think about rules - i think of rules as jewels, treasure, or trading cards. Pharaoh's Treasure when i was a little girl there was a tiny little seven eleven near my...
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babbling plasma; a troika city story, chapter 2 - before you hit play (the audiobook is only available on my substack, or read chapter 2 or go back and read and/or listen to chapter 1) i want to mention ...
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Numenera: Those Who Move Clouds, Session 1 - When a Shadow of the Demon Lord campaign I was running came to a close, I had everyone vote on what would I would run next, from games on The List (almost ...
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Introducing the new LotFP releases, out at Ropecon and Gen Con! - Here is a video introducing the 10 new releases, 6 reprints, and one third-party book that we have for you! We'll have them on sale at Ropecon (July 28-...
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Recap 3: AD&D Ice World "Ice Crabs" - *Dungeon Master: *Bill (running his first campaign ever) *Characters & Players:* Bolus II (Male Human Ranger) - BJ Fern (Female Elf Ranger) - Steve ...
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Playable Skaven Class for Lamentations of the Flame Princess - [image: Eshin - Age of Sigmar - Lexicanum] As usual, I wanted a Skaven class for LotFP, as I have a ton of Skaven miniatures. This allows players to pic...
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The Ultimate Pseudo-Historical Fantasy Campaign - I'm planning on running a pseudo-historical fantasy campaign in the near future. I'm gonna set it in some far corner of Siberia, but from the player's p...
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Troika! character sheet - I made a simple horizontal Troika! character sheet and thought I’d share it here for free. Hopefully somebody will find it useful! 🙂 Download the charac...
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Dinsu, the Peaks of Supine Gods Vol I -- Thousand Thousand(er) Islands Part II - *Dinsu* *The Peaks of Supine Gods* ______ SevenDays,Crunching through snow ______ Gold, silver, jewelry, and spices are piled high on ra...
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cryptid in july poetry day 09, the enfield horror - a poem about the enfield horror I’m an armpit leaping around the woods on three legs waiting for police to arrest me I’m the living embodiment of cough...
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Übersiedelt - Dieser Blog ist Anfang des Jahres 2022 übersiedelt. Am Blog von gazerpress.at schreibe ich weiterhin über Historisches und Aktuelles rund ums Rollenspiel.
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In Defense of Race As Class - Race As Class! Baffling to some, overly simplistic to others, gold to me. Race As Class does what even AD&D didn't have the balls to do: it not only says "...
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A Fresh Start - Morning Folks I came across someone's blog the other day and I liked it's focus, focus is something I could use so I'm going to steal it along with anyt...
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A timeline for historical games in the Lowlands - 6th century: Clovis I, King of the Franks, converts to the Roman Church 1000: Pagan Saxon and Frisian religions cease to exist as such and are subsumed un...
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Not the best year - In many ways 2021 has not been a lot of fun. For me, it started with catching COVID-19, along with many of the friends I game with, and while, fortunately,...
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Another Whack at Skills and Classes - I have enjoyed running Lamentations of the Flame Princess games regularly since 2012. Regardless of certain tedious controversies surrounding the publis...
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Lectures criminelles : La Face sombre de la Belle Epoque, Crimes et attentats, de Michel Malherbe - J'ai sombré dans le crime. Ou plutôt, dans le Crimes. Pour qui ne connaîtrait pas, Crimes est un jeu de rôle d'enquête et d'horreur situé en France (sur...
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XP per esplorazione - Di recente la blogosfera è stata attraversata da un dibattito su come assegnare punti esperienza extra oltre il consueto (e rodato) Oro*xp. Già a suo te...
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Blog Reboot - How starting over feels... After the disaster that was 2020 I decided it would be best to start over on a new blog. Wipe the state clean as they say. It'll...
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In Search of OD&D Part 3: The Northern Shores of Tamerthya - In part 1 and part 2 of this search for OD&D, I asked the question: does my old friend Mike McDowell's 1992 game style, the one that has for years haunted ...
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Vengeful Cuckold and Cuckquean Generator - I submitted a table I made to Jeff Rients for his awesome Flame Princess Cult Zine. I have already used it in several ways during games and have enjoye...
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REVIEW – Fish Fuckers - Fish Fuckers is a Lamentations of the Flame Princess Adventure with Text and Art by Kelvin Green, Graphic Design by Alex Mayo, and Editing by Jarrett Crade...
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Gygax Challenge Week II: To Be Continued... Later... - So, Dundjinni can be very, very slow on an old computer - which was one of the reasons I started using my less reliable G5 Mac to plan the work - but yet...
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Ten Fearsome Pit Fighters of the Grand Arena - There are many fighting pits in the city, but none of them compare to the Grand Arena in terms of prestige, showmanship, and skill of the fighters. The fig...
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3 Reasons why D&D 5e is good but not great. - Oddly enough, I’ve never been a big fan of D&D nor was it the game I played the most. I … Continue reading →
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Finally, a review! - Today, we are taking a look at *Obscene Serpent Religion 2 By *Jeff Rients for Lamentations of the Flame Princess. I rate products in these categories: Writ...
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House Rule: (More) Cannon Fodder - One issue that people can have with LotFP/OSR games is high character turnover. Sometimes the module is too deadly, the players too green, the GM too evil...
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GM Notes - Morgansfort Session 14 - Death Frost Doom - Part 2 of 2 - So, here stands the final chronicle of my two-year Basic Fantasy campaign. It ended a year ago and I'm just now getting around to finishing off the write...
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[Battletech] AAR – World Wide Event “Finders Keepers” - The Tacoma chapter of the Puget Sound BT group re-ran the WWE this Saturday, and unlike last time I was able to attend. Apparently the last game was a pret...
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You Can't Do That! - I remember the light and magic that lit my mind of fire the first time I played Dungeons and Dragons. My friend had gotten a starter set that had a great ...
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Very Busy Witches3 days ago
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2023 Kickstarters5 days ago
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5e XP Advancement Tables3 months ago
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Writing Again4 months ago
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Moving On...6 months ago
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3d printed minis7 months ago
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Some Favorite Audiobooks7 months ago
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Is There Anybody Out There?7 months ago
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Magical Magic That Feels Magical8 months ago
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New Wotc D&D Survey8 months ago
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Open Locks and Update10 months ago
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Looking Back1 year ago
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2e Character Sheet1 year ago
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New OSR Games for 20212 years ago
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GRIDSHOCK 20XX2 years ago
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New start, new blog.3 years ago
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RE: ZAK3 years ago
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Why I am not a racist4 years ago
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[chapter 2]4 years ago
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I Believe Mandy Morbid4 years ago
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Please Update Your Link!5 years ago
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The Great Google+ Exodus5 years ago
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One Shot World5 years ago
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On electric guitar tone6 years ago
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The Migration Has Begun6 years ago
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Director George Romero passed away.6 years ago
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Strange Romance vol 26 years ago
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Wood Working Shows6 years ago
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“Trouble in Trollwood” en español6 years ago
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Glass top coffee table ideas7 years ago
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[map] The Village of Meerfeld7 years ago
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In Memory of Steve7 years ago
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Picking Up Where I Left Off8 years ago
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The Truth About Lies (2015)8 years ago
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Gorgonmilk: PETTY GODS AGOGO8 years ago
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business at home8 years ago
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0-Level ACKS Alices8 years ago
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Point Buy Calculator for D&D Next (5e)9 years ago
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My FIVE favourite house rules9 years ago
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Still alive and more useless crap10 years ago
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Navel gaze wife post10 years ago
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BTW, I have an art blog10 years ago
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Bardic Songcasting10 years ago
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It's been a long time...10 years ago
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Прощайте, товарищи!10 years ago
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Big News.10 years ago
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Country Home in England11 years ago
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Gamma Red Death World11 years ago
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Uppdatering11 years ago
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Touchdown11 years ago
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eiglophian12 years ago
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From the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: 115412 years ago
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Wow...Summer has sucked! :)12 years ago
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News of the Weird (lands)12 years ago
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Games last night on google+12 years ago
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GAMING IN THE DIGITAL AGE, PART II12 years ago
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Dungeon Magazine Indexes12 years ago
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First12 years ago
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You appear to be lost…12 years ago
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Launching a New Fanzine!12 years ago
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Gamicon is Coming!12 years ago
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New Blog12 years ago
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Back to the sword!12 years ago
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Piece of Cake: Cthulhu Bits13 years ago
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The Miscellaneum of Cinder13 years ago
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House Rule: Rest and Recovery13 years ago
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ODD Bits 113 years ago
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Homemade Hobbit Hole13 years ago
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Our debt to the Wizard of Chicago13 years ago
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Gaming with my girlfriend13 years ago
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Book Review: Free13 years ago
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This blog has moved13 years ago
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The Adventure So Far13 years ago
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Monsters: Bloodscales14 years ago
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Young NaNo of the Writers Workshop14 years ago
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Hexes of the Iridium Plateau Completed14 years ago
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Setting Material14 years ago
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Teleport Without Error14 years ago
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Blog-O-Rama 2: Electric Bugaloo
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[Update] Comments Disabled For Now9 months ago
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I have a new blog about weird old SFF novels10 months ago
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The Blade Itself10 months ago
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New Home!2 years ago
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Getting His House in Order2 years ago
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Migration6 years ago
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Dynamic Grappling8 years ago
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This blog is defunct, go to my website8 years ago
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Quick pre-move thought8 years ago
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Another Prize Draw10 years ago
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Jason Brody’s Lethal Efficiency11 years ago
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Hrrmph11 years ago
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