The 46er - March 2026

16 Mar, 2026

A month has passed yet again and I have continued to track my favorite blog posts from across the RPG blogosphere this month. There's a lot of great writing to read, think about, and use in your games. I'm really grateful that so many talented folks share their wisdom freely in this hobby.

Also, happy Ides to all who celebrate!

Blog Posts and Other Gaming Reading

• I've Been Thinking of Starting Things: Lessons in starting open world campaigns from Skyrim - Orthopraxy - I, of course, was comparing Morrowind's opening sequence to Skyrim's while reading this, but it's a good look at how to hook players into a sandbox quickly.
• Depicting Violence - The Garden Below - An interesting analysis of the cover art for Luke Gearing's latest effort from Juniper, the artist.
• The Player-Drawn Dungeon Map is a Fast Travel Hack - Blog of Forlorn Encystment - if you want an in-depth analysis of what the rules of AD&D imply and encourage, the ongoing series at Forlorn Encystment is great. I particularly like this look at mapping for the ongoing blogwagon.
• Daggerheart - a Dishonest Review (full of Lies) - Valeria Loves - don't let the title fool you! This is a great review full of truth.
• Designing Lore Blocks - Explorer's Design - an examination of Zedeck Siew's monster format from Reach of the Roach God along with an expansion and extension to further the goals Clayton laid out in the The 1 HP Dragon.
• Lockpicking Minigame - Tree Climber - a fun minigame for lockpicking.
• Squirm - Dungeon Mecha - a look at what it means when the conversation stops at a game table.
• Threaten Me with a Bad Time - BASTIONLAND - an argument for why rules that don't get used much and may be actively avoided can still be good for a game.
• Pokémon is OSR - Prismatic Wasteland - an interesting look at how OSR principles can be seen in the Pokémon series.
• Make Better Encounter Tables - Pikliz Dungeon - meditations on what the encounter tables of Pokémon imply and how you can build similar implications into your own tables.
• Talking about Pokémon 2 Much: The Implied Setting of Kanto (Generation 1) - Pikliz Dungeon - a fun examination of what elements of the early Pokémon games imply and how you can use those implications in your own game.
• final fantasy tactics could have been a ttrpg - Flourite Guillotine - I'm a big fan of Final Fantasy Tactics and this is a great analysis of how it works and how it could be ported into tabletop form.
• Rating Every Room in White Plume Mountain - Prismatic Wasteland - a fun, in-depth review of the classic module. Funhouse dungeons aren't my jam, and playing this one was one of the ways I discovered that!
• Failure with Gradient Descent - The Usual Tongues - a review that goes into issues that came up in actual play of this classic Mothership megadungeon.
• learning spells - Joe B - a review of how new spells are acquired in a few different systems, along with a suggested new variant for Troika.
• Three More Mapping Game Paradigms - Idraluna Archives - what if a dungeon game was more focused on exploration than combat or role-playing? This post proposes three ideas for the how and why of that type of game.
• 3d20 Fairytale Character Creation Tables - Sheep and Sorcery - it's exactly what it says on the tin. There's a lot of fun options on the tables!
• Stranger that Fiction: Fun with Maps - Magnolia Keep - an examination of not just what maps depict, but what they can mean and what they tell you about the people who made them.
• For the Last Wolverine, a Myth - Bommyknocker Press - a Mythic Bastionland myth along with an essay about the inspirations for this myth and what myths mean.

What I'm Reading

• Awaiting the Burning Gods
• The Smuggler's Guide to 1365
• Secret Vault of the Windswept Island
• The Far Edges of the Known World: Life Beyond the Borders of Ancient Civilization
• Fantastic Medieval Campaigns
• The Woman Who Would Be King

What I'm Playing

• Under Fantastic Skies - we continue to explore the island long dominated by the great dragon
• D&D 5e
• Warhammer 40K: Wrath & Glory - we've secured the succession for our Rogue Trader and now move back to learning the mysteries of the local sector.
• Imperator: Rome - I'm working on conquering the Erythrean Sea as Mosylon
• Touhou Luna Nights - I've played through two bosses. This one is interesting, but I find the mapping a little frustrating as there's no way to easily mark items I see but can't reach so I can come back later.