The 46er - September 2026

16 Sep, 2026

This Month on Table 46

No posts from me this month, but there's plenty of good reading down below. Hopefully I'll finish up some of what's in my drafts in the coming days!

Blog Posts and Other Gaming Reading

I added a new category for Worldbuilding this month, because there's good blog work that happens in that space that I wouldn't call strictly "gameable."

There's a Names Blogwagon going on, discussing how to give people, places, and things names in your setting.

Jonas Schumacher has started a new newsletter, looking at the collections of people in the community. See the first issue with Clayton Notestine of Explorer's Design here.

The Indonesian TTRPG Blogwagon has wrapped up! I linked to a few of the posts below, but check it out for even more of them!

Theory

Game Structures and the Lack Thereof - Ladino's Rogue Thoughts, Part 2 - a look at how lacking structures or having structures that don't fit the desired gameplay can alter play.
THE OSR IS DEADLY: But Not Deadly Enough To Kill Long-term Play - I Cast Light! - a look at death rates and long term play, along with a few recommendations for how to tune down early-campaign mortality.
Myth, Magic, and the Logic of Dreams - Orkish Odyssey - on what magic is and what it should mean.
It ain't blorb - Among Cats and Books - what blorb isn't.
Mechanizing the Brothercrawl - Orkish Odyssey - how do we structure systems so players stumble into the middle of situations in motion rather than being the primary actors of a whole region?
Rulings of Cool - To Be Resolved - what's the difference between a ruling and the Rule of Cool?
Control, and the Axes of Narrative / Interface Pervasiveness / Robustness : Shoot Gun, Toss Rock, Fly - Doğa Eskier - verbs, interfaces, and how players interact with both video games and roleplaying games.

Gameable

Creating a Sandbox for Pokémodule B1: In Search of the Unown - Blog of Forlorn Encystment - thoughts on what overland exploration should be like in Into the Oddish along with a small sandbox to surround Quasqueton with.
Indonesian TTRPG Bandwagon: Orangladangs - Archons March On - mutated orangutans enslaved by plantation owners. A horrifying monster.
"6 SECONDS PAST NOON" - Toucan't Blog - a fun pistol dueling minigame.
Pretending to Be an Elf and Other Inhumans - Bare Nuckelavee - new spins on the standard fantasy ancestries.
ZLDA - Hilander RPGs - a Legend of Zelda-themed GLOG. Hilander has been rapidly expanding this, so check the blog archive for more!
Indonesian TTRPG Blogwagon: The Pocong - Afraid of Encounters - a ghost for Liminal Horror.
Bestiary 1 - The Woods - Hilander RPGs - d12 forest-themed monsters.
Cursed Queen of the Southern Sea - Gibbering Pudding - a Mork Borg class based on Indonesian folklore.
Pilgrims of the Painted Idol (GLOG Class: Small God) (GLÅUGUST 2026 #6) - Seed of Worlds - an interesting take on a character as a group of otherwise no-account minor NPCs.
Vitamins - Stat Gain for Into the Oddish - Farmer Gadda - an expansion of Into the Oddish's advancement rules.
Chainmail Combat for OD&D: A Reflection - Idraluna Archives - expansion and tweaking of Chainmail's combat for OD&D, eschewing the alternative combat system.
NPCs as Magic Items - Whose Measure God Could Not Take - turn magic items into NPCs who have the same ability to make them more interesting and interactable.

Advice

The Springfield School of Worldbuilding - Magnolia Keep - why you should name places in simple, descriptive language.
Morality Puzzles in TTRPGs - Meadow of the Witch-Hares - how to set up moral dilemmas in your game.
Making a Rollable Random Table Spreadsheet - Sifting from the Stream of Knowledge - a resource for creating a spreadsheet that can quickly roll on your random tables for you.
The First Draw - Roll to Doubt - why you should go with your gut, use your first idea.
Detail is my devil - Murkdice - why you shouldn't prep set dressing.
what does that look like? - Joe B. - be curious about what your players are doing.
Growing Edges and GMing Exercises - Sifting from the Stream of Knowledge - a variety of exercises that can be used to become a better GM.
The Elemental Level of Megadungeon Construction - Rise Up Comus - a suggested methodology for building megadungeons with room clusters.
Three-sentence Hexes - Idraluna Archives - reduce the burden of keying on yourself.
Prepping Should Be Fun, Too - Magnolia Keep - what to do when prepping makes you feel burned out.
Quick Character Leverage - Billhook Blog - make characters with interesting motivations quickly.

Critique

Reading in the Dark - Patchwork Paladin - a review of The Dark of Hot Springs Island, along with some suggested tweaks to reduce the sexual violence present.
Jay Dragon (Steve Jackson Games/Possum Creek Games) Interview - Seven Part Pact - Trick's Tales - going into some of the inspirations and design decisions behind the game.
Faction Procedures: A Comparative Review - The Usual Tongues - reviews of faction systems from several different games along with a system of the writer's creation.
A Quick Look at a Big Book: Troika! - Personable Thoughts - A review of Melsonian Arts Council's flagship game.
Into the Oddish is a Stupid Idiot Game (affectionate) - Valeria Loves - a review and play report of Into the Oddish.
game report - the doom of the dark - probing the depths of infinity. - a play report and review of Patrick Stuart's most recent effort.
Reflections: OSR - Beau Rancourt - Beau looks back at three years of OSR play, what works, what doesn't, and how various games are less interoperable than they look.
Deconstructing Bastionland: Session 1 - Standing on the Corpses of Giants - a look at how Myths work in Mythic Bastionland and how you can take them apart to repurpose them.

Worldbuilding

Technology - Arbor Point Antiquity - an overview of some of the technology available in Juniper's WIP play-by-post cyberpunk/transhuman setting.
You don't need slavery. But you don't need anything. - Snakebite - musings on the place of slavery in worldbuilding for gaming.
WELCOME TO HELLBOX (Traveller) - Bare Nuckelavee - a planet for use in Traveller campaigns.
On the matter of the proposed importation of one (1) vampyre of the old kingdom, August 2026 - Rowan, Rook and Decard - what does transporting Dracula to England from Transylvania look like today?
Lemurians - Glass Ziggurat - science fiction lemurs with arcane science abilities.
D100 Medieval surnames that are now extinct or critically endangered for your (N)PC - what it says on the tin.
Le Guinian Neutral - The Usual Tongues - a new interpretation of Neutral alignment, based on LeGuin's Earthsea.
Indonesian TTRPG Blogwagon: An Indonesian Magic System - Afraid of Encounters - thoughts on how to implement a magic system based more on Indonesian practice than Vance.
Where Do You Get Your Ideas From? – My Eveningstar Appendix N - The End of All Things - a list of touchstones for an ongoing solo campaign, including how they come from or inform classic D&D-style fantasy.
Org as Class for Everything - Vaults of Zin - make your classes and levels into positions in an organization.
Rub My Body in Goose Fat, Daddy, I Want to Fly - Among Cats and Books - why alternatives to traditional D&D spellcasting make for a more interesting world.

What I'm Reading

What I'm Playing

D&D 5e
Under Fantastic Skies
Warhammer 40: Wrath & Glory
Blades '68