Midsummer Updates

Hello out there in dice world! Hope you all are managing to stay cool. 

Just wanted to chime in with a few updates (my brain is too pickled for a real post)

-The Black Hack 10th Anniversary jam begins in 26 days and has 45 registered participants! Wow! Legitimately very excited to see what people are gonna make. There's been some conversation in the TBH discord's #jam channel but I'm going to try and get some discussion started on itch as well. 

-Appendix N jam 2026 is in full swing. My give title is kind of a head scratcher so we'll see what I end up making ("The Rasped Prophecy")

-MemoryCore's backerkit campaign was a success! I mention this specifically because I backed this game (and I almost never back crowdfunding campaigns for games) and am really excited about it. Think it's gonna provide a lot of fun in 2027.

-I joined the rootring. This is a very cool project by elmcat to create a webring for ttrpg blogs. Just click the little buttons down at the bottom of any page on this blog (web version only - gotta ask about how to make it viewable on mobile) and you can hop to other blogs in the ring. Why doomscroll when you give yourself access to a nigh endless feed or tabletop game discourse and content? 

 -I am absolutely obsessed with Rules of Engagement's CAIN actual play, Division 12. I generally bounce right off APs but the voice acting and sound design on this one are *chefs kiss.* 

And that's all for today folks. My baby has been sleeping through the night for two weeks, I am filled with grilled meats and storms seem to have broken this hellish heat. Let me get back to bed before the boiling starts in the sky again. 

The Black Hack 10th Anniversary Game Jam

I'm hosting a game jam to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of The Black Hack.

I've mentioned it before on this blog but I adore The Black Hack. It is the retroclone that introduced me to retroclones and the wide world of the OSR. And it is the game that convinced me that maybe I could make some elf game stuff of my own. Despite all the games that have come sense I still find myself drawn back to it - and clearly all the folks over on discord agree that it's a game still worth talking about. 

The Jam isn't judged and there are no prizes. I just want to see people make some stuff for a system that I love. Also I have never done this before and have no idea what I'm doing. Maybe it goes poorly? Maybe no one submits anything? Still feels worth giving it a shot 

Form a team, make some funky art, rewrite the armor rules again. Throw something into the mix and let it join The Black Hack canon.

That's it. That's the pitch. Come make something with me in August.

I'll do a post-mortem post on this once it's all over but keep your eyes on the #jam channel in The Black Hack discord and the discussion page on itch for in-process updates. Oh and peep the #TBH10th hashtag on your favorite social media platforms.

Monsters from the Movies #1: Red Sonja (2025)

My wife: You'll watch any sword and sorcery movie, won't you?

Me: It is my curse.

Since the baby refused to sleep last night, I was burdened with the knowledge that the new Red Sonja movie is on Tubi. Folks, it's not great...but it's not completely awful either. Its biggest sin is that Matilda Lutz doesn't seem to have chemistry with anyone besides the horse playing Sonja's beloved horse. Luke Pasqualino and Robert Sheehan do most of the heavy lifting in this movie. Sheehan especially. He turns what could be a pretty one note villain into one that's pretty memorable.

Where this movie does kind of cook is the random background monsters. There are two characters who are Mandrill people and it goes completely unremarked upon. Where did they come from? Doesn't matter! We gonna get this practical makeup off.

There is also a Cyclops who shows up mid movie. It doesn't do anything memorable besides being one of the coolest fictional Cyclops I've ever seen. It's got the body of a Gorilla along the horns and legs of a goat. That sounds stupid but it absolutely fucking slaps.

I knew I had to stat up these monsters so here they are for your roleplaying pleasure. Torment your PCs! Have them make a new friend! You'll figure out what to do with these guys.

 

Randomness is a Conversation

I struggled deciding how to participate in this Blogwagon. I'm not particularly enamored with random tables - I'd rather roll on them before a session to pre-plan encounters than during. I absolutely hate the concept of the "gonzo" RPG, it just reminds me too much of teaching grade schoolers. And I will fudge a dice roll if it pushes the evening in a better direction. 

But as I was listening to a old episode of Between Two Cairns (the one where they review B10), Yochai dropped a gem which perfectly summed up my feelings on Randomness:

"I play roleplaying games to be surprised by my players." ~ Yochai Gal

I don't sit at the table to be entertained by tables or dice. I play roleplaying games with other humans - my friends - because I know they will do things that will surprise me and make me laugh. Or gross me out. Or completely flabbergast me.

For me, true randomness is the result of my conversations with my players and their interactions with each other in the world I've laid out. The dice and tables only matter as much as they help facilitate that conversation. 

Don't get it twisted. I'm not saying we should get rid of dice and tables. I personally need them to make sure I don't fall into tried and true patterns. I how my players will respond if a hatchet wielding Goblin leaps out of the bushes. I don't know what they'll do if they find that same Goblin crying at the roadside or arguing with his Bugbear boyfriend. 

And I have been told that Goblin CW romance drama is a trope I constantly fall back on. Sometimes we need random tables to save us from ourselves.

Sometimes couples fight and it's truly best to not get involved. No good group of D&D players will refuse to get involved.

But we need to strike that balance between letting our random encounter tables be prompts to inspire our players - and loaded guns aimed at them. Nobody puts a Dragon on one of those because they're just really hoping the party gets a friendly reaction roll. 

Okay, that's all I've got. Let me leave you with a table that will hopefully get the juice moving at your table.

d6 Random Enounters to surprise your players

1. Goblin & Bugbear having a lover's spat. 

2. d20 Fighting Men milling about the roadside. Half of their company is experiencing severe intestinal distress.

3. Cyclops attempts to collect a toll.

4. Roc feasting on an adventuring party.

5. The party crosses paths with a Necromancer and his undead thrall (d8 Zombies.) One of the zombies is a familiar NPC.

6. A bizarre, disc shaped object appears in the sky just ahead.

Stuff I've Written

Eagle-eyed readers might notice a new page on this blog: My Work. 

I have, at times, fancied myself a bit of a games designer and took a crack at putting out some stuff. 

Milk Bellies

I've been thinking a lot about milk lately. Breast milk specifically.

You might've noticed there's been a brief lull in this blog and that's because I've been on a little sidequest: me and my wife had a baby. There was a lot of preparation and running around but in the end nothing really prepares you for the process. 

Further complicating it is that before you even really get to take a breather and just appreciate the little bundle of meat and gristle in your arms you realize you have to feed it. Then you're faced with the breast milk vs formula dilemma. And it feels like every single medical provider and random family member will judge you for whichever you choose. 

All that is to say, I've been kind of plagued thinking about why the feeding of infants rarely comes up in tabletop adventure modules. It is a subject rife with mysticism and rumors. Also my wife and I have been watching a lot of Delicious In Dungeon while up late with the infant. 

What follows is a collection of rumors and plot hooks I think could be used to add a little lactose to your adventuring worlds.

 

Talking about Pokemon 2 Much: The Implied Setting of Kanto (Generation 1)

As mentioned in my last post, I have a lot of thoughts about Kanto - specifically as it is presented in the OG Red & Blue versions - and how that can help inspire our world building in tabletop settings.

And no, this isn't going to be some fanwank about how "pokemon is a post apocalyptic world where all the grown men died in a horrible war." Quite the opposite. But let me make a note before we proceed: I am going to take literally everything we are presented about Kanto in Generation 1. Cartridge limitations? Bad translations? That's world building baby.