Welcome to the second anniversary of The Glatisant! Two years ago, I did not expect this to become one of the biggest RPG newsletter out there, so thank you all for the support!
Knave 2e
Progress on Knave 2nd Edition continues (although slowed down a bit this month due to the birth of a new baby). Patreon supporters get access to new drafts as they are released! I’m currently working on implementing a clerical magic system.
Reviews
FOUR adventures were named the best over on Ten Foot Pole: City of Bats, The Hideous Halls of Mugdulblub, Monkey Murder Manor, and Tomb Robbers of the Crystal Frontier (reviews are here).
From the Crystal Frontier review:
The town is described as “A town filled with vileness, its very atmosphere impregnated with the odour of abomination; murder runs riot, drunkenness the rule, gambling a universal pastime, fighting recreation.” Now that’s the kind of frontier town I like! A deadwood after my own heart. One of the gangs is called Bug Tunny and the DeadHeart Boys. Not bandits. Not brigands. No. Big Tunny and his DeadHeart Boys. THAT’S how you refer to something in an adventure.
The Dungeon Dive reviews the classic solo adventure game Barbarian Prince:
Reviews from R’lyeh takes a look at my adventure The Waking of Willowby Hall.
The Waking of Willowby Hall gives the Dungeon Master everything necessary to run the scenario, not least of which is a great cast of NPCs for her to roleplay—and that is before you even get to Mildred. After all, what good Dungeon Master would turn down the opportunity to roleplay a goose? The Waking of Willowby Hall is great fun, both raucous and ridiculous, combining elements of farce with a classic haunted house and a countdown ’til the bell tolls for thee.
Beyond Fomalhaut reviews the early OSR ruleset Seven Voyages of Zylarthen, which takes a Sinbad-like approach and allows for weapon vs. armor class modifiers with the use of a simple table.
Geek Gamers does an in-depth look at Into the Wyrd and Wild.
Warren at Bones of Contention reviews Gavin Norman’s excellent starter dungeon The Hole in the Oak, including a detailed play report.
At Questing Beast I reviewed Planar Compass Issue #2 and The Book of Gaub, a grimoire of spooky spells from Lost Pages.
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Have an upcoming Kickstarter or an RPG project you want to promote? Advertise in The Glatisant (8,200+ subscribers) or on Questing Beast (50,100+ subscribers) by emailing me at questingmaps at gmail dot com.
News
Kickstarter has moved ZineQuest to August to coincide with GenCon. In the mean time, the Zine Month website has a showcase of zines launching in February. Dave Thaumivore and Axian Spice have lists of zines that stood out to them.
David McGrogan (author of Yoon-Suin) is launching the OSR zine entitled In the Hall of the Third Blue Wizard and is looking for submissions. Due date is February 15th.
Eldritch Fields has released Issue #1 of Ulfire Tablets, a free OSR community zine focusing on science fantasy and planetary romance.
Alexis at The Tao of D&D has created a contest to see who can make the best video explaining how to write D&D adventures. Over $1000 in prize money will be awarded, based on the decisions of the judging panel (which does not include Alexis). The contest ends on May 31st.
Volume 4 of the stunning 28 magazine is out now. Probably the best looking publication in hobby gaming, bar none.
A recent paper in the journal of Current Psychology examines people’s reactions to the original 5e Orc description.
Sales
A Hamsterish Hoard of Hexes, a Lost Pages spellbook: 50% off.
Warlock!, a grungy RPG based on early British roleplaying: 50% off.
On Downtime and Demesnes, downtime rules by Courtney Campbell: 50% off.
Dark Streets and Darker Secrets, urban horror/fantasy system: 80% off.
Awards and Retrospectives
At Questing Beast, I presented the 2021 Questing Beast Awards.
Glass Candles picks out the best GLOG (Goblin Laws of Gaming) posts from 2021.
At Swamp of Monsters, Nate summarizes his absolutely insane high-level campaign.
Uncanny Spheres gives concrete numbers for how his publishing enterprises went in 2021. A great behind the scenes look at RPG publishing.
The skeleton crew at Bones of Contention looks back over the last year of reviews and discusses their plans for the future.
Uncle Atom at Tabletop Minions gives out awards for the year’s best wargames.
Theory and Advice
Orbital Crypt: Replay's Value: A Case for Replaying Adventures
Prismatic Wasteland: The Secret to Realism in Games
Matt Colville looks at a number of RPG reward systems, including XP for Gold.
The Alexandrian on why Splitting the Party can be great.
Līber Lūdōrum on The Trouble with Trigger Warnings, which examines some of the research papers on the subject.
GGNORE is back with another Dear Gary episode, where they answer the internet’s RPG Questions.
Tabletop Curiosity Cabinet examines the uses and abuses of the 5-room dungeon.
Monsters and Manuals: Violence and Its Uses
Chris Gonnerman (author of the Basic Fantasy RPG) talks about The Old School Campaign.
Idiom Drotning has a set of principles for using mind affecting magic: No weaksauce effects, always a supernatural cause, and describe failures to the successful.
At Questing Beast I talked about the 5 Duties of a Dungeon Master and the 4 Duties of a Player.
Rules and Game Design
Kelsey Dionne at the Arcane Library (creator of the The Hideous Halls of Mugdulblub, and a prominent independent 5e writer) is developing an OSR-like called Shadowdark. Here’s her walkthrough of the Hideous Halls.
Michael Raston at the Lizard Man Diaries introduces Empyrean Dynasty - A Grand Freeform Sci Fi Strategy Game over 33, 330 years!
Marcia B. is creating Fantastic Medieval Campaigns, a rewrite of OD&D and Chainmail using control panel layout.
From Luka Rejec: Monochrome Rainbow, a worldbuilding minigame set in the Ultraviolet Grasslands.
From Chris McDowall: Ask The Stars, a space-faring game inspired by the 2400 rules.
From Yochai Gal: The Dungeon Game, a super-simple dungeon crawler for ages 3+. Here’s a rundown of how it works.
Dungeon Masterpiece looks at Counter Strike’s dungeon-building lessons.
Michael Prescott at Trilemma Adventures releases a very stripped down version of his Burning Wheel-inspired After the Lords of Memory.
DM David makes the case that there is no single best way to make perception checks, and proposes a toolkit of methods.
Coppers and Boars breaks down D&D’s fire spells into a modular system.
Alchemist Nocturne and Library of Attnam both come up with diceless, deterministic initiative systems.
Dreaming Dragonslayer on Decisive Combat, e.g. combat that does not roll to hit or for damage.
Art
Someone on reddit trained an AI on the D&D monster manual and asked it to come up with new monsters. Of course, people are giving them stats.
Trent at Miscast starts working on dioramas.
Worldbuilding
From Listing to Port: Eight letters that have not yet made it into any alphabets.
Throne of Salt describes the worst inhabited planet in the universe.
Grisly Eye advises against over preparing when creating cities, keeping their layouts and inhabitants mysterious and surprising.
Dungeons and Possums has d6 Moderately Magical Weapons.
Save Vs. Hollowing has d10 Magical Lanterns.
Rose Up Comus investigates what makes a setting cozy.
Rhystic Studies remembers the Kamigawa setting from Magic: The Gathering.
Robot games has 30 Relics you might find in the Whorl.
Nate at Swamp of Monsters shows how to build monsters when your party is above level 20.
I Cast Light: GRENDEL MENDEL: Using Punnett Squares For Monster Design
Against the Wicked City: Drunken incompetent regional magnates: the purpose of aristocracies
Trilemma Adventures: Dead Steps
4: The Dead Step Portends a Sacrifice. The gods walked the young earth, completing it and setting in motion its destiny. But here, no god has ever stood. This inch of the earth is still new. You could complete it and send it on its way! A great pattern of your choosing could begin here, but at what cost?
History
Professor Dungeon Master explains why B/X D&D is the best.
John’s D&D Vlog has an in-depth look at Early D&D Influences.
William SRD tells the story of how the the Secret Service raided Steve Jackson Games, looking for a GURPS supplement.
Podcasts and Interviews
Chris McDowall interviews Johan Nohr, the designer behind Mork Borg and Into the Odd Remastered.
Arnold at Goblin Punch releases episodes 3 and 4 of Go Die in a Hole.
Weird and Wonderful Worlds interviews Anne Hunter of the DIY & Dragons blog.
That’s it for this issue, see you all next month!