The 46er - October 2026
We're going live a day early with this one as I'll be at Gamehole Con through the weekend.
This Month on Table 46
No new posts this month! I had a bit of a health scare; hopefully I'll be able to return to normal quickly.
Blog Posts and Other Gaming Reading
Inside Out Library is a resource that compiles over 1.8 million illlustrations from over 50,000 books in the public domain.
Theory
- Microblog: This Ogre is Quantum, or The Unseen - Orkish Odyssey - on semantic drift, the quantum ogre, and proper prep.
- Not All Improv is the Same - Ladino's Rogue Thoughts - on how improvisation can vary based on how much it will affect the situation and how much of it can be drawn from prep.
- MAGIC NEEDS MINI-PROBLEMS NOT MINI-GAMES: A Defense of Vancian Magic - I Cast Light! - a defense of classic D&D style magic systems.
- Paganism and Diegetic Magic - Melon's Blog - on the benefits of spooky magic that isn't simply fire-and-forget.
- Completely Untested Magic System Theoryslop for the Masses - Billhook Blog - why not have preparation be storing material components in your inventory?
- Signposting, Signseeking, and Agency Spirals: Hazards for the Ambitious in Tabletop RPGs - Atmospheric Underworld - on signposting and how too much of it can remove agency from the players.
- the fuckass axis of rules and regrets - in lowercase - musing on how rules shape play, what we mean when we use several common descriptors for games, and how games support different playstyles.
- Reaching the Horizon - Dice Exploder - does playing a campaign long enough change the game you're playing?
- RAW Mind Control - Pool Time with Swim Allen - how closely should systems or games be played to their rules as written?
- Let There Be Light - Semitext Games - what is the purpose of lighting rules?
- Games, lookups, and the science of interruptions - Skeleton Code Machine - how often do your game's rules require you to look something up in a book or reference and what does that do to gameplay?
- What is a Mystery - Among Cats and Books - what distinguishes a mystery from a puzzle or an investigation?
Gameable
- Bags in Arcade Style D&D - Store Brand Dagger - why inventory restrictions are good along with 26 magical bags.
- Beholders are intellectual property, eh? - Rise Up Comus - four alternatives to beholders emphasizing other senses.
- Safe Transit, Dangerous Transit: Two Ways of Adding Juice to Interstellar Travel in TTRPGs - Dice Goblin - systems for handling FTL transit in sci-fi games.
- What if stronghold construction is the adventure? - Kind of Old Games - a generator for complications that happen while building or expanding a stronghold.
- Knight [In the House of the High King] - Rise Up Comus - a spin on the classic OSE fighter but with a much more heavily implied setting. I look forward to seeing the other classes!
- Sorcerous Spells In the House of the High King - Rise Up Comus - here's the next class, the magic-user.
- The DOUBLEGANGSTER - Save vs. Worm - a mob-inspired take on the doppelganger.
- Squad Goals - Dead Tree, No Shelter - rules for running large numbers of hirelings as a squad.
- Can we use bingo cards in TTRPGs? - Skeleton Code Machine - ideas for how bingo-like mechanics can be integrated into a game.
- Wolves of the Aegean - The National Centre for Tabletop Games - a hack of Wolves Upon the Coast for a Mediterranean setting. Full rules in the blog post, but the setting is a paid product on itch.
- Ones Digit Hit Boxes - Toucan't Blog - playing around with hit locations.
- Restraint, State of Mind & Force - Dice Goblin - ideas for simple lightsaber combat rules and an attempt to extend them outside of Star Wars.
Advice
- Workflow Eats Features for Breakfast - Bastionland - why great rules don't matter unless you have a good procedure for using them.
- Juice and Value Chains in RPGs - The Play Reports - what can be done to keep everyone at the table satisfied and engaged.
- Do not Overthink the City - Pool Time with Swim Allen - how to make running a city interesting.
- Running NPCs - Hags - how to avoid making your NPCs unmemorable.
- Judging a Book by its Cover--On GM Screens and Dismantling Table Power-Dynamics - Orthopraxy - how various GM aids can change table culture.
- The Mistake of Adventure Adaptation - 5 Million Worlds - when is it worth it to adapt an adventure to suit your needs compared to running it as written?
- Unfulfilled Aspirations - Bastionland - why goals players are unlikely to reach can still be worthwhile to put in your game.
- Pawn Stance is Objectively Correct - Dice Exploder - why you shouldn't let your beliefs about how roleplaying should work get in the way of having a good time.
Critique
- Dolmenwood: One and Half Years Later - Eldritch Exarch Press - a hearty recommendation of Gavin Norman's magnum opus, along with a lot of minor niggles.
- The Keys to My Heart - New School Revolution - Yochai examines various styles of keying and their strengths and weaknesses.
- Meditations on Veins of the Earth - Orkish Odyssey - a review and play report of Patrick Stuart's classic.
- A Quick Look at a Big Book: Girl Frame - Personable Thoughts - a review of Isabelle Ruebsaat's mechsploitation game.
- Old School v Old School Essentials - The Dice Pool - comparing keying styles between TSR and OSE adventures.
- An Exhaust(ing)ive Critique of Fatherfog: Mission, the Bit, and the Will Problem - Am I Cool Yet? - exactly what it says in the title - a review of Tuesday Knight Games' fantasy hack of Mothership.
- Death and Violence in Fatherfog - Am I Cool Yet? - a continuation of the review, going deep into the structure of combat.
- Good Adventures and Great Adventures - Patchwork Paladin - what features enhance a published adventure?
- Fiend Factory Freaks that Failed to Fill the Fiend Folio - Save vs. Worm - a review of monsters from White Dwarf's Fiend Factory column that didn't make it into the Fiend Folio.
- Analyzing Appendix A - Blog of Forlorn Encystment - a thorough review of the procedural dungeon generation systems from AD&D's Appendix A.
Worldbuilding
- Spare Bits of the Sunset Palace of the Starry Sultan (d23 leftovers) - Sheep and Sorcery - fun ideas for encounters and dungeon regions from an abandoned Dungeon23 project.
- The Forgotten Setting of Rogue Trader - Tales of the Lunar Lands - an examination of how the first Warhammer 40K publication differed from where the setting went in the future.
- Microblog: Gold Coins, I Love You, But You're Bringing Me Down - Orkish Odyssey - on why the piles of gold coins we imagine in a dragon's hoard can never make sense.
- Power Word: Kill is a First Level Spell - Throne of Salt - what if wizards could kill with a thought? Why isn't everyone doing it?
- Vinga Through the Ages - Dr. Nightstone - a look at the publication history of the Gloranthan goddess Vinga and how her depiction has shifted over the last three and a half decades.
Meta
- TTRPG Table Alignments - Widdershins Wanderings - how do preferences about distribution of responsibility at the table align?
- Design Hireling: Pricing Models - Explorer's Design - how should freelancers charge for their work?
- How Deadly is the OSR Actually? - Valeria Loves - the data is in from Valeria's survey.
- How to make your own TTRPG kits - i am losing teeth. - making starter sets that can be slipped into a Little Free Library.
What I'm Reading
- The Dungeon Book
- The Knight Errant
- Stirring the Hornet's Nest at Het Thamsya
- Tragedy at Zaya's Theatre
- What Happened to the Silver Spoon Boys?
- Otherly Lives
- The Ancient Assyrians
- Stonetop - The Wider World
What I'm Playing
- D&D 5e
- Under Fantastic Skies
- Blades '68
- Imperator: Rome
- Ultros
- Bioshock