Secret of the Dragon Emperor #4 posted: the Riddermound takes its due, a new band of scholars descends, and what comes back out isn’t quite the same. Aftermath, new allies, hard-won relics…and Outskirt already pointing them toward fresh trouble at the marsh’s edge. blog.monkeyx.games/2026/03/10/d...
Agree - character death is just part of the fun! There are some games where its not but that's OK too as long as everyone signs up for the same thing.
Today is International Women's Day—a fitting date to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Hawkmoon roleplaying game and its lead designer, RPG trailblazer Kerie Campbell-Robson. In 1986, 20 year old Kerie was one of the very first female lead designers in the industry.
#IWD2026
To what extent is that just playing games closer to RAW?
I don't remember much character death when I played back in the day (as a kid) but I remember a lot of dice fudging.
Nowadays everyone is very anti-fudging.
Cold City & Hot War are out now in PDF and available to pre-order in print. Written by Malcolm Craig, a senior lecturer in Cold War Studies, & updated for this 2026 edition, Cold City & Hot War bring trust and betrayal to a backdrop of a terrifying alternate timeline. handiwork.games/cold-city-ho...
Which designer understood their own rules the worst? Don't worry you can tell me, they'll never find out.
What if your RPG rules mostly stayed out of the way and just stirred the drama? I’ve been reading QuestWorlds, Chaosium’s generic story engine, and wrote up my thoughts. blog.monkeyx.games/2026/03/06/q...
Pick up your Terminus copies here 👇
I always feel horribly embarrassed when I hire someone to do something I think I should do myself but frankly don't want to and rather pay. There's an awkward dance of how long you hang around being polite before disappearing from view.
How I arrived on Bluesky.
Episode 6 of Children of Fear is up on the blog. A quiet morning in Sian gives way to grave goods, dead ends, and one last unsettling message before the expedition heads west. A little more mystery, a little more dread. blog.monkeyx.games/2026/03/03/c...
🍄 I'm so delighted to introduce you all to the latest (& tiniest) denizens of Rascaltown the LIL RASCALS! 🍄
I think these are definitely some of the most fantastic minis we've made yet and I'm so hyped that they're FINALLY OUT RIGHT NOW at roguehobbies.com
I hope you guys love them 🥲
#rascaltown
Finally someone said it
I had a bit of a commute today for a change, so started listening to the Hobbit, narrated by Andy Serkis.
Quite tempted to follow up with the full LotR trilogy.
I used to read LotR every year for about 25 years but stopped when I got married. Forgotten how good the writing is.
I think game designers should pack depth into their games but players should, like any consumer of art, be free to take what they need / want from them.
I know I may not appreciate a Euripides play without a close reading but if I enjoy it and take one of its themes that is sometimes enough.
Hard disagree on this. I wouldn't expect anyone to run D&D by reading PHB cover to cover (nvmd DMG and MM).
Some books are short enough to read cover to cover but getting most games to the table means discarding this completist mentality IMO.
Read enough and learn through play.
I think this remains my favourite video we have made for a crowdfunding campaign.
Thank you. I can't wait to get the hard copies in my hands for another read.
It's good to put that childhood trauma to such creative use.
My review of Hot War Second Edition. What happens when the Cold War goes very hot, fallout, border-science monsters, and the grim logistics of a ruined 1963 London. I dig into why it hits now, and why playing collapse-horror can still be a rehearsal for hope. blog.monkeyx.games/2026/02/20/h...
Unless its a published scenario I'm just running, I like to run it 1-2 times before the convention. I figure my online group can wade through unpolished stuff whilst con players have paid to be there and deserve at least some effort to make sure the thing works.
Haha I only recently watched it and gotta say it was very disturbing. Your generation had a rough time on the old Beeb.
My review of Hot War Second Edition. What happens when the Cold War goes very hot, fallout, border-science monsters, and the grim logistics of a ruined 1963 London. I dig into why it hits now, and why playing collapse-horror can still be a rehearsal for hope. blog.monkeyx.games/2026/02/20/h...
Barely scratching the surface of their secret knowledge. The question that keeps me up at night: Why did they make create the Internet? To host idols of them, certainly. Surpassing Bast's temples or the tribute city of Istanbul for sure. But what is their end game? And why does the generative AI...
The Words We Leave Behind
Against Time and Death
It's funny my first foray into 2-player epistolary games both riff of the same premise: two agents of competing sides of a time-war.
Both landed recently in my hands; I've found two different partners to play them out.
Both use playing cards but otherwise structurally / mechanically different.
Sure, although my thinking about PbTAs are more around which player has narrative control over the entire fiction (what moves represent) with an edge to those leaning heaviest into the genre. In which case, whilst the PCs are centres of gravity the players are shaping the "spacetime" of the story.
That is not true of other TTRPGs and that is half the disconnect between the 5E and other TTRPG community. In 5E, the campaign solely serves to make the PCs shine but in most other games the PCs are one element (and maybe not the flashiest one) of a wider experience.
Chargen for D&D is 80% of the fun; players love rolling their own characters. I's say D&D is often about making a campaign around all those very divergent wacky characters in an over-the-top tone. I think D&D GMs should take a PC-building first approach to learning / teaching the game.
Our next episode of Slow Boat to China is out now!
The first night aboard ship falls. Dinner, drinking and dancing provide an indulgent backdrop to a mysterious disappearance.
🎧 Listen: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0TTFU8cAfqeo59YdbBFTJ2
🛳️ Join our Discord: https://discord.gg/qVpcTCrPPz
