The previous article in this series discussed my reasons for generating a new campaign setting. This time I will discuss the maps that Dwarf Fortress generates for a new world. DF allows users to export the world maps and history in Legends mode. This creates great depth via procedural generation without requiring the world builder to design everything by hand. (I … Continue reading Using Dwarf Fortress as a map generator
When last we left our heroes, most of them had left us one way or another. But the Redbrands realized they'd reached a turning point...
D&D Fifth Edition appears to use the Forgotten Realms as the default setting. For me, however, FR just comes with too much baggage: an intricate history, many novels of existing lore, and the sense that this world already has its heroes. Players will tend to see the world through their own lenses after playing through … Continue reading Generating a campaign setting: Motivation
On quiet nights here at home, my daughter (just shy of 11 years old) occasionally asks if we can play D&D together. Tonight, I told her that we'd try something a little different. Rather than try to slog through a nerfed version of the Lost Mine of Phandelver, we'd do things the way I did when … Continue reading Microlite20 and solo play: winging it
I've noted here before that I have played MMORPGs since at least 2005. Actually, though, my history with computer games goes back about 30 years before that, including online gaming most of that time. BBS door games like Legend of the Red Dragon and Solar Realms Elite occupied huge amounts of my time when I was … Continue reading Gaming and operating systems
This weekend, I discovered Microlite20 on donjon.bin.sh. Suddenly I "got" the OSR. Despite having read a bunch about it, the whole thing just hadn't clicked for me. Then I read that Purest Essence version and boom. I remembered being 13 in my best friend's converted garage, playing D&D and GURPS and Traveller and our own designs and … Continue reading Microlite20 and O5R
Technoskald's Forge 