Category : games

Let the Games Begin!

It’s been a bit since I last ran a tabletop role-playing game and I am antsy as all get out to get back into it. And so I’m looking for four friends to play in some TTRPG adventures that I want to run online, starting in January. Friends who like playing “Let’s Pretend” for similar reasons as I do, who like hamming it up when playing their characters, who like “yes, and”-ing their fellow players, and who have the time, energy, and interest in committing to playing regularly (every two weeks, preferably, around 3 hours for a session). (more…)

10-17-2025 | 6

Drawing a New Map

I’m thinking of starting a series of one-off TTRPG days/night (maybe monthly? or monthly-ish), in person and/or online, where I run one adventure from a starter set for a game I’ve never run, for people who have never played tabletop role-playing games but have wanted to, people who have only played D&D and want to try something else, or anyone else who maybe doesn’t have the time and energy to commit to a regular campaign. I want to go a little outside my comfort zone (I don’t usually run one-off games) and have some friends join me there.

If this is something you’d be interested in, comment below or contact me through the usual channels.

Because it’s been asked, here are the games I’m looking at running: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Call of Cthulhu, Pendragon, Pathfinder Remaster, Starfinder 2nd edition, Star Trek Adventures, Dragonbane, and Blade Runner.

3-29-2025 | 2

Nerds in the Wild

Setting: Milton’s Cafe in downtown Lawrence, KS. Lunch time. I’m reading a Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay book while eating scrambled eggs and turkey sausage.

WAITRESS: Is everything delicious?

ME: It’s great, thanks.

WAITRESS: Good! I’ll get you some more water and IS THAT A D&D BOOK?!

ME: Well, kind of. It’s actually the Warhammer RPG. It’s kind of a grubbier, funnier version of D&D fantasy.

WAITRESS: Oh! I’ve heard of it! This is what happens when nerds see game books out in the world.

WAITER, STANDING NEARBY: My younger brother introduced me to Warhammer 40K lore recently and I went down a deep rabbit hole watching videos on YouTube.

WAITRESS, TO WAITER: Have you seen the videos where people play D&D for 24 hours straight?

They walk away, talking about D&D actual play videos.

It’s wild how something that would have gotten me bullied when I was a teen now gets me in fun conversations with complete strangers.

(I originally posted this to Facebook in January, 2025.)

3-11-2025 |

Sketches of the Five Republics

Sketch of the Five Republics

Here are the first (top) and second (bottom) map sketches of the Five Republics. I changed some names of places and expanded some others. The overall design of the map was heavily influenced by the map in an old Dragon Magazine article by Ed Greenwood, an article that made a big impact on me when I first read it in middle school. (In fact, that article was where I first learned about Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast, which is another big influence of mine.)

4-16-2014 |

The World of the Five Republics

For 3,000 years, the Great Empire of Namaloom ruled all of the Eastern Lands, stretching from one coast to the other. The Imperial Dynasty of Namaloom reigned with an iron grip, supported by the elder gods of the Court of Shadows. Until 300 years ago, when the young gods of the Court of the Sun and the Tribe of the Moon rose up against the Court of Shadows, inspiring the commoners of Namaloom to rise up against the Imperial Dynasty. After 50 years of bloody rebellion, the Court of Shadows was overthrown, and Namaloom fell into ruin. Refugees from Namaloom traveled across the Ocean of Storms to the Western Realms and joined with the elves, dwarves, goblins, gnomes, and other Fae there to build the Five Republics (Coruna, Tormerine, Nemantha, Calioch, Pashtria), devoted to the Court of the Sun. North and west of the Republics are the Wild Frontiers, where Human and Fae barbarians worship the Tribe of the Moon. The gods of the Sun and Moon encourage the people of the West to work towards progress, growth, harmony, and enlightenment. But across the sea, the Lost Empire of Namaloom and the gods of the Court of Shadow seek to regain their old power and turn this Age of Illumination into an Age of Darkness and Tyranny.

Notes: I’ve always been a fan of epic, high fantasy. I love Tolkien, but one of the things that bothers me is his obsession with bloodlines, “the thinning blood of great men” and “rightful kings.” (This bloodline obsession tends to show up in other high fantasy as well, like in C.S. Lewis’ Prince Caspian and other stories that center around the “long-lost rightful heir to a throne” trope.) I’m a big fan of the European and American Enlightenment movements, so I wanted to create an epic fantasy setting (for fiction and/or a tabletop RPG) that involved republicanism and liberalism, humanism, scientific experimentation, and religious reformation, as well as the traditional Dungeons and Dragons tropes of ancient magic and wizards, polytheistic pantheons of gods who take an active role in worldly affairs, and fantasy races like elves, dwarves, etc. This is what I came up with, which I think of as Swashbuckling Clockpunk Enlightenment fantasy.

4-15-2014 | 2