The Glatisant: Issue #71
DCC debates, Maze Knights, and more
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Sales
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Humble Bundle is selling 26 Call of Cthulhu books for $25.
At Exalted Funeral, physical copies of Monty Python’s Cocurricular Mediaeval Reenactment Programme are 25% off and the Herbalist Primer Bundle is 50% off. Use code QUESTINGBEAST at checkout for an extra 10% off.
This Month at Questing Beast
At the end of 2025 I made a video ranking the top 10 books I reviewed that year.
I also made a video looking at the the problems I have with the presentation and design of adventures in Dungeon Crawl Classics.
This generated a lot of interesting discussion online, with responses from Save Vs Total Party Kill, Orthopraxy, Dungeon Merlin, and Doomslakers. I responded to the comments in a follow-up video.
I’m currently in three different RPG campaigns at the same time, a first for me. I’m playing Mythic Bastionland with Ram at Save Vs Total Party Kill, The Sunless Citadel with Mike Mearls using his new Odyssey system, and The Wildsea with my in-person group.
I’ve released the first draft of my Maze Knights rules to paid Substack and Patreon supporters! This new game is taking Maze Rats in a new direction by giving every players whole team of PCs to control and exploring how to make large groups fun and fast to run. Supporters also get access to the secret discord server where we’ve been talking about its development.
And Now a Word From Our Sponsor…
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Reviews
Ten Foot Pole declares Eastern Spark “The Best.”
Man, this thing is great! There’s no wormhole monsters or saving the world or anything exotic or set piecey. I’m not even sure there’s a whole lot of treasure in it. But what there is a game world full of shit that you are just BEAMING to run as a DM. Glee, just glee. Or, maybe, scene after scene that builds to a great finale.
Familiar Waves writes up a play review of Tomb Robbers of the Crystal Frontier.
Playful Void reviews Castle of the Veiled Queen, an adventure for Beyond Corny Groń, which is a setting designed for my Knave rules.
Missives From the Meatcastle reviews the Mothership module Dead Weight.
DEAD WEIGHT has a special premise at its center (the Pearl), weaponizing something Mothership has in steady supply - corpses - as an additional means of ratcheting up the tension and adding to the chaos of cascading failure.
The Alexandrian reviews 3 more Mothership modules.
On the strength of Norgad’s Dead Weight, which I very much enjoyed and have previously reviewed, I immediately grabbed a copy of Brackish, written by Norgad and C. Bell. I recommend you immediately do the same, because I love everything about this adventure.
Valeria Loves reviews both issues of The Electrum Archive.
Issue 2’s existence commits Emiel to a frankly bonkers implied promise - that one day, each of those big circles on Issue 1’s world map are going to receive their own sandbox module. Over time, Orn will morph into one weirdo’s fantasy google street view. If we support him enough to keep that passion burning, he is going to map every building on the entire continent. Ultimate Legwork.
News and Gaming Culture
Among Cats and Books presents data on the state of the OSR blogosphere in 2025.
Explorer’s Design recaps the winners of the previous Bloggie Awards.
Submit entries to this year’s Bloggie Awards here! Only 1 day left.
Throne of Salt rounds up the most interesting media entering the public domain this year.
All Dead Generations predicts the future of the OSR.
Grumpy Wizard remembers Tim Kask, who passed away recently.
Alone in the Labyrinth proposes City ‘26, a challenge to build a city over the course of a year.
Playful Void hands out the Idle Cartulary Awards for Excellence in Elfgames
I found this fun website for a “Universal Character Sheet.”
Puzzle Dungeon looks back at the Puzzle Game Jam. Lots of innovative ideas.
GGNORE is back with some Beyond the Wall gameplay.
Theory and Advice
Knavelands has been posting a series attempting to replace normal game prep by just rolling on the generative tables in my Knave book. The results are a lot of fun.
Silverarm: All Hail King d12
Rotten-Pulp: High Impact Enemies in Mythic Bastionland
Direct Sun has a video series where he collaborates on a puzzle dungeon with bloggers such as I Cast Light, Arnold K, Rise Up Comus, A Knight at the Opera, and Joseph R Lewis.
Dungeon Scrawler: Dungeon Room Opinions: Mapping at the Table, Part 2 - Abstract Mapping Toolkit
The Alexandrian: Thought of the Day: GenAI and RPGs
To Distant Lands: How to Not Do Zines Wrong
Explorer’s Design: Against Dominant Mechanics
Dungeon Mecha: Solving the 1 HP Goblin
Fail Forward: The Loot Sicko’s Dilemma
Dungeon Masterpiece: 3 Dungeon Design Patterns Game Devs Keep Secret
Mazirian’s Garden: Monster Presentation
Sam Sorensen: Sam’s Three-Question Taxonomy
Prismatic Wasteland: All Along the Clocktower
Among Cats and Books: Common, Recalled, Obscure
Daniel Sell: Strategies in Bibliomancy
Occultronics: A Really Obvious Solution to Player Consumable Hoarding
Rise Up Comus: Forging and Artifice
Worldbuilding
False Machine: Spider is a Mushroom Now; Concepts for an ‘Avatar’ RPG
I Cast Light: SIX HEX CRAWL: A Mini-Setting Proposal For A Megadungeon
Daniel Sell: Relics of the Saints
Traipse: Vivid Worlds Will Kill You
Paradiso: Megadungeon Level One
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