benlaurence.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

My friend Flo's dad was involved in the fanzine culture of D&D in the 70s, and made some contributions to early gaming magazines. She recently shared some of his handwritten notes about the spell systems he and his friends used. I think these are FASCINATING

submitted 17 hours ago • 21 comments

want to make a small zine

submitted 3 days ago • 1 comment

Happy Mothership Day 👽 Seven years ago today the Mothership Player’s Survival Guide debuted at Origins 2018! We only printed 50 copies and made a single post advertising it on G+ (rip). We sold out that weekend and it’s been an insane ride ever since. Thank you.

submitted 7 days ago • 16 comments

Back to my quarterly struggle with HexKit, my favorite unsupported mapping software. This time all my painstakingly created maps were showing up as black rectangles. I finally figured out that HexKit had somehow unimported all the tile sets for the map. Once I imported them everything was fine!

submitted 8 days ago • 2 comments

dreamlands vermin lineart #mythos #COC

submitted 9 days ago • 4 comments

This project is so neat

submitted 9 days ago • 0 comments

@ratkingrpg.bsky.social saw my post with my rinky-dink map of the redoubt of the Children of the Spore. He was like, "oh I looked at your map and doodled this little thing up". Imagine being able to "doodle" something like this up.

submitted 11 days ago • 0 comments

What's Justin is describing is such a miserable design failure. It would be better if WOTC just skipped maps altogether

submitted 14 days ago • 0 comments

Who’s up for a bit of Thieves Cant? I found this book in a used bookstore and fell in love. If you have a thieves guild in your game, it’s a must read

submitted 16 days ago • 4 comments

I'm writing up a stealth/siege adventure with orders of battle and everything, connected with the map I shared the other day for my Patrreon. Giving GMs what they need to run intelligent opposition is a lot of work, but it makes for a dynamic adventure.

submitted 15 days ago • 0 comments

Love me some @ratkingrpg.bsky.social theory posts. I know they're in depth, but they're worth it!

submitted 17 days ago • 0 comments

I'm through grading hell and sitting down at long last to do some ttrpg writing. I'm working on the Tower of the Golden Spore, the redoubt of mysterious and mystical fungal raiders. It's an adventure location in the White Jungle of the dreamlands. Here's the map I used in my campaign.

submitted 17 days ago • 4 comments

I honestly cannot believe more people aren't backing this. This is one of the world's greatest heavy metal comics translated into English--along with a ttrpg by indie/OSR author Gavriel Quiroga! www.backerkit.com/c/projects/m...

submitted 17 days ago • 1 comment

We are coming close to the end of Designing Dungeons but that just means if you’ve been working along- you’re ready to PLAY YOUR DUNGEON! Which is the best part! I’m continuing to update mine in the document so as always check in and see how it’s going.

submitted 20 days ago • 0 comments

WOW this looks cool. Dark Sun is the only setting from the 2E era that interests me. Such a bizarre and bold melange! The idea of a West Marches Dark Sun is appealing.

submitted 25 days ago • 1 comment

Cover reveal! I finally finished the cover painting for the Great North rpg.

submitted 30 days ago • 22 comments

Ooohh I've been thinking a lot about generalizable techniques for making sandbox campaigns. Excited to check this out

submitted 30 days ago • 0 comments

This post is a banger. I 100% endorse this method. Having recently moved to a procedure where each player declares their intent in the exploration turn before any actions are resolved, has transformed game play for me.

submitted 30 days ago • 1 comment

At the very last performance at the Court Theater of the play based on Jason Lutes' graphic novel Berline rn. Super excited! it's about to start

submitted 33 days ago • 2 comments

"(...) but something has traveled inside. The masks continue fusing, digesting, as the wood creaks and whispers." Finishing my entry for #LiminalHorror Horrors of the Americas Jam. @emo-sludge.com @unenthuser.bsky.social @goblinarchives.itch.io #ttrpg #horror #itchio

submitted 35 days ago • 2 comments

#mermay five. A lot more traditional mermaid today.

submitted 38 days ago • 1 comment

DO IT. Submit, don't be shy

submitted 40 days ago • 0 comments

I just got this amazing book from @soengery.bsky.social in the mail! It’s a game! It’s a comic! It’s the generator for your next TTRPG character! I am a biased as I wrote the forward and am Marie’s sometimes DM but it is thrilling to see such a work that combines cartooning and TTRPG book like this

submitted 41 days ago • 1 comment

I don't know if this is all you need, but it's a great start for sure. The Monster Overhaul is so neat and d4 Caltrops is humbling in its boundless creativity and usefulness.

submitted 41 days ago • 0 comments

It’s true. I have always found urban-based sessions overwhelming and unsatisfying so I decided to make my own. Inspired by my use of a classic city supplement in solo D&D, I put my megadungeon campaign to an end and started writing something that (hopefully) works for me

submitted 41 days ago • 0 comments

Some game things that are giving me life in these dark times. (1) these wild posts on Grognardia about the end game of a decade long Empire of the Petal Throne campaign. This is the weirdest one. grognardia.blogspot.com/2025/04/esot... 🧵1/x

submitted 41 days ago • 1 comment

enjoyed this podcast episode by @benlaurence.bsky.social "Into the Megadungeon". Ben's megadungeon zine Through Ultan's Door is also awesome. Planning to use it briefly in my own campaign which by happenstance had a Dreamlands link too. Wishery is an awesome name! open.spotify.com/episode/0iHP...

submitted 42 days ago • 1 comment

Easily the best monster book I've seen. We could put it on every top 10 list published for the next 5 years and I'd still call it underrated.

submitted 45 days ago • 5 comments

Some people are AD&D 1E or bust. I think that's weird, but I do think there's a lot of neat stuff in there. It would be fun to design games that achieve many of the same effects. But in a different context in terms of rules and setting. If I ever complete my Jorune hack that will be the goal.

submitted 45 days ago • 1 comment

Hey Friends! I have made a PATREON, where you can find ( I just counted) 408 pieces of spot art! 10 games! Other stuff! If you sign up I will send you a sticker & a postcard (until i run out)! patreon.com/ABestiaryand...

submitted 45 days ago • 4 comments

If you haven't been following Ènziramire's work, you ought to be! In this post he examines how the common adventure setting among the ruins of a past civilization might be contrasted with the Pende people, who live among their own ruins with intention.

submitted 46 days ago • 1 comment

I do my small scale printing in the US and it's rly expensive, so I make a very small margin. I've persisted b/c my zines are niche and I don't depend on this revenue stream, so I can enjoy the luxury of working locally. For folks trying to make a ttrpg living, the China tariffs are awful.

submitted 46 days ago • 2 comments

Oo baby! The next chapter in the Designing Dungeons course is (finally) out! And it's a big one! In chapter 11, we're ready to build 15 rooms, keying to our checklist! Luckily, we did the heavy lifting in our brainstorming chapters. Check it out! dungeons.hismajestytheworm.games/docs/chapter...

submitted 47 days ago • 6 comments

This is the only part of crowdfunding campaigns i like: renders and advert images! I am ESPECIALLY a fan of any of the above which I didn't have to make myself, which these are. 10/10 pictures.

submitted 47 days ago • 1 comment