Long Reads

On Dwarves The Long River Kingdoms were the first to encounter these strange beings. Their name for them, Dwa-Phen (which in time and under less sophisticated tongues becomes our crude “dwarf”) has many translations. The most commonly cited translation is “The Earthen Folk”, or perhaps “Children of the Caves”. Some scholars argue it could be translated as “The Armoured Ones”, or “The Old Men of Many Plates”. These translations are suitable enough, to one degree or another. Bu

Dungeons and Dragons has shifted dramatically in terms of tone over the years. The very first editions of the game were effectively direct lifts of popular fantasy fiction, from Tolkein and Moorcock to Lovecraft and Howard. As the series went on, its tone shifted through space-faring science-fantasy, gothic horror, surrealist planepunk, before settling on its current cosy, fairy-tale, Winds in the Willows by way of Lord of the Rings vibe.  But occasionally, amongst all those

I have a deep affinity for goblins.  My first ever D&D character was Dirk Cheeto, a character who was half goblin, half slightly larger...

I’m going to preface today’s blog with two points:  Firstly, I am a disabled person. I suffer from a joint disorder that leaves me prone to dislocation and injury, and subsequently I struggle with low energy and fatigue while my body attempts to hold me together. I suffer from arthritis and use a walking stick.  Secondly, I work professionally in the Accessibility and Inclusion sector. I have worked with several organisations to make sure that a given location is accessible t

You have been wandering through the Underdark for days now. At least, you’re pretty sure it’s been days: It’s hard to tell, given the lack of sunlight and the ever-present glow of these damned mushrooms. The smell of subterranean gasses float up from deeper, darker levels of this cursed labyrinth, snagging in your throat and clinging to your nostrils. Every now and then, a lizard the size of a horse lumbers by, fixing you in its lazy purple gaze. Sometimes, you think you hear

We stand knee-deep in the spooky season, and “horror” is the word on everyone’s lips. GMs clamour to inject terror into their campaigns, and players long to be thoroughly terrified. The question, however, is how. Horror has been a staple of the TTRPG scene since its very inception, and of all the different flavours of horror that have influenced the hobby, the greatest and most terrifying is cosmic horror.  Horror is a tricky genre. Mechanically, it’s very similar to comedy:

I recently took part in an interesting conversation on Reddit about ableism in TTRPG design. Specifically, the thread was about how to...

I have a confession to make. As someone who cut his teeth on Dungeons and Dragons and Pathfinder, it’s a difficult confession. However, I...

The common signifiers of the fantasy genre are pretty consistent at this point. Dragons are pretty central, as are variably-sized...