This is the fifth in my series of capsule reviews of non-fiction books that would be useful or inspiring in RPGs – Weird Books for Gamers This 1979 book is pretty simple. It's a collection of over 100 black & white maps of fictional worlds from various fictional works. There's a short description for each. … Continue reading Weird Books for Gamers V: An Atlas of Fantasy by J.B. Post
Here's a somewhat more academic work then the last few books. It's a review of various alternate theories of the origins of humanity from pseudo-scientist cranks, religious cults, and various grifters. It includes multiple Ancient Astronaut theories, various Creationisms, and a couple of ideas so bizarre, as to defy any easy categorization. Strange Creations: Aberrant … Continue reading Weird Books for Gamers IV: Strange Creations by Donna Kossy
This is the third in my series of capsule reviews of non-fiction books that would be useful or inspiring in RPGs - Weird Books for Gamers Here's a short biography on Marion "Joe" Carstairs, a 20th century heiress, competitive speedboat pilot, and eccentric. The Queen of Whale Cay: The Eccentric Story of 'Joe' Carstairs, Fastest … Continue reading Weird Books for Gamers III: The Queen of Whale Cay
If you're running any RPG set in the early 20th century, it's only a matter of time before a Zeppelin or other airship shows up. There aren't a lot of living people who have actually traveled on an airship, so it'd be helpful to have some idea what traveling in one was actually like. Dr. … Continue reading Weird Books for Gamers II: Dr. Eckener’s Dream Machine
Some of my favorite books for creating role playing game worlds have nothing to do with RPGs. I thought I'd start posting about some of them here, in case others find them useful. Things That Never Were: Fantasies, Lunacies & Entertaining Lies by Matthew Rossi (Goodreads) This is a collection of short essays on alternate … Continue reading Weird Books for Gamers: Things that Never Were by Matthew Rossi
I've gotten a lot of use from this list of old & obsolete color names for OSR games. They're great for naming places, ancient books, etc. https://www.wordnik.com/lists/archaic-colours Just attach a color to the name of of something, and you're set Porphyrous Ooze The Pyrrhous Sea Codex Rubiginous The Leucochroic Throne Etc..
I've been playing with Stellagama Publishing's Sword of Cepheus fantasy RPG. I wanted to make my own setting to try it out in, so this is what I've come up with: The Dispute A vast demilitarized frontier between two antique and dying empires. All of known human history is the war between the Empire Immemorial … Continue reading Into the Dispute: a Fantasy Sandbox World
I've been working on a pulpy adventure campaign setting set in an underground/Hollow Earth world set in the 1960's . It's essentially a Kennedy-era dungeon crawl. I'll most likely use Savage Worlds as a system, or possibly Hollow Earth Expedition. Inspirations & Influences Three influences - two real, one fictional Project Mohole - A scientific … Continue reading Deep Frontier – Kennedy-Era Dungeon Crawl
I've been noticing a sub-genre of science fiction that's been popping up in a couple of different RPGs recently. If it has an actual name, I'm unaware of it, so I've been calling it the CRT Future. Essentially it's sci-fi influenced by the the visual aesthetic of 1980's science fiction movies, most importantly Alien & … Continue reading The CRT Future: Retro-80’s Sci-Fi
Polyhedral Nonsense 