Blog

Detail is Debt: Making Your Favorite Settlement Map Gameable
Detail is Debt: Making Your Favorite Settlement Map Gameable
Why you should avoid the temptation to map every square inch of your favorite fantasy city and instead lean into a lower-fidelity representation of it instead. Read more...
Running the League of Dark Few In Your Favorite Fantasy City
Running the League of Dark Few In Your Favorite Fantasy City
So you took the pledge! Great, now you need to figure out which city your Vulgar Manse calls home. Luckily, the League of Dark Few has been designed to fit... Read more...
Running a City, the Ultimate Sandbox
Running a City, the Ultimate Sandbox
Following my article on running sandbox adventures, I share practical tips for running city-based campaigns. Often considered the hardest challenge for GMs, I share my prep process to make running... Read more...
Cursed Scroll 6, the Best Yet?
Cursed Scroll 6, the Best Yet?
I give my impression of Shadowdark's Cursed Scroll #6, and walk through how I would prep "The City of Masks" to run as a sandbox.  Read more...
How Did Gary Think People Would Play D&D?
How Did Gary Think People Would Play D&D?
I take a deep look at the article that inspired the Gygax '75 Challenge to understand how D&D's original creator viewed campaign design and world building. Read more...
How to Run a Sandbox Adventure
How to Run a Sandbox Adventure
Many GMs find running sandbox-style games hard relative to the trad style of a plot-driven adventure or campaign. Which is really unfortunate because sandboxes should, in fact, be easier to... Read more...
In Defense of Humor in Adventure Modules
In Defense of Humor in Adventure Modules
Why adventures don't need to be serious in order to be taken seriously. Read more...
The Mark of the Dark Few
The All New Revivify Games
An apology for my silence as I launched this new site and a sneak peek at my Zine Quest project for this coming year "The League of Dark Few." Read more...
Running “Lovely Jade Necropolis” in DCC.
Running “Lovely Jade Necropolis” in DCC.
A Dungeon Crawl Classics conversion guide for Joseph R. Lewis’s latest adventure. Read more...
51 Uses For the Immovable Rod.
51 Uses For the Immovable Rod.
Is the immovable rod the perfect tool to teach players how to do OSR-style puzzle solving? I think so. Plus a list of 51 uses for it that I rattled... Read more...
Adding Deeper Random Encounters to your Hexcrawls.
Adding Deeper Random Encounters to your Hexcrawls.
Building on my lazy hexcrawl building process, I share a way to make your random encounters more interesting without all the work. Read more...
The Virtues of Small (Conventions).
The Virtues of Small (Conventions).
I reflect on the merits of smaller TTRPG conventions and my recap of The Ettin 2025. Read more...
The Chateau Between Two Cairns.
The Chateau Between Two Cairns.
Whoa! The Chateau Amongst the Stars is featured on Between Two Cairns! Read more...
Pagination for TTRPG Designers.
Pagination for TTRPG Designers.
I discuss how I utilize pagination documents in my adventure design process, and how they can benefit other TTRPG designers. Read more...
The Overachiever’s Lazy GM Binder.
The Overachiever’s Lazy GM Binder.
I’m back with a continuation of my last article, The Overachiever’s Guide to Lazy Hexcrawl Building, where I demonstrate how I use a GM binder to organize everything and expand... Read more...
The Overachiever’s Guide to Lazy Hexcrawl Building.
The Overachiever’s Guide to Lazy Hexcrawl Building.
There are hundreds of guides spread along the internet to help game masters build their campaigns; this is mine. Read more...
Free Rahasia Maps
Free Rahasia Maps
Steal my prep! A free collection of maps Tracy and Laura Hickman’s classic B/X adventure Rahasia. Read more...
Summer LEGO RPG Jam: The Magenta Line.
Summer LEGO RPG Jam: The Magenta Line.
The Magenta Line: My entry into the Summer LEGO RPG jam. A collection of monorail random tables and police vehicles for use with the Cy_Borg TTRPG. Read more...
Using Japanese Notebook Binders for Character Sheets
Using Japanese Notebook Binders for Character Sheets
How I’ve started using Japanese smart ring binders and notebooks to organize my player sheets and spell lists. Plus a free DCC Character sheet to use with your A5 binder. Read more...
Running “The Veiled Vaults of the Onyx Queen” in Shadowdark.
Running “The Veiled Vaults of the Onyx Queen” in Shadowdark.
Conversion notes for DCC’s “The Veiled Vaults of the Onyx Queen” to run the level 0 DCC funnel in Shadowdark. Includes my free VTT and print map downloads. Read more...
Supporting files for the Château Amongst the Stars.
Supporting files for the Château Amongst the Stars.
VTT maps, GM Tools, and NPC tokens for the Shadowdark adventure “The Château Amongst the Stars.” Read more...
Graphic Design Tips for Print and Play TTRPGs.
Graphic Design Tips for Print and Play TTRPGs.
Graphic design tips for self-published TTRPGs to facilitate print and play and help minimize the effect of the recent tariffs. Read more...
My Top 5 Shadowdark Gauntlets.
My Top 5 Shadowdark Gauntlets.
A look at the Shadowdark gauntlet modules I enjoy and how I run them. Read more...
Designing for Myself
Designing for Myself
A look at the roundabout way I have established design goals for my first TTRPG system. Read more...
Urik, City of Lions
Urik, City of Lions
My rendition of the Urik, the City of Lions, from the Dark Sun setting. Available for free download. Read more...
What I Value In Adventure Design
What I Value In Adventure Design
Inspired by a post on the NSR Cauldron, I explore my personal criteria for great adventure design. Read more...
Why It’s Been Quiet Here Lately
Why It’s Been Quiet Here Lately
Announcing my 2025 Zine Quest project, “The Château Amongst the Stars.” Read more...
A Stinking Suspicion
A Stinking Suspicion
Grab your copy of my free low-level Mörk Borg and Shadowdark adventure “A Stinking Suspicion.” Read more...
Appendix N: Cy_Borg
Appendix N: Cy_Borg
The list of campy cyberpunk movies that serve as my personal Appendix N for Cy_Borg games. Read more...
Running “The Portal Under the Stars” in Shadowdark
Running “The Portal Under the Stars” in Shadowdark
A conversion guide for DCC’s Level 0 funnel, “The Portal Under the Stars,” for play in Shadowdark. Read more...
Running a Campaign in Rules Light Games.
Running a Campaign in Rules Light Games.
Using an “energy profile,” inspired by music composition, to model tension in a rules-light campaign. Read more...
The End, 1995’s Most Blasphemous TTRPG.
The End, 1995’s Most Blasphemous TTRPG.
Drawing inspiration from Joseph Donka’s The End, a mid-90s apocalyptic TTRPG about the rapture. Read more...
Gobbler’s Grotto: Shadowdark edition
Gobbler’s Grotto: Shadowdark edition
A Shadowdark conversion guide for my free turkey-themed one-shot 5e adventure “Gobbler’s Grotto.” Read more...
Everything you need to know about “the Borgs.”
Everything you need to know about “the Borgs.”
An evolving compendium of all things Mörk Borg. Read more...
Mörktober Post #3: The Cauldron
Mörktober Post #3: The Cauldron
Next up for #Mörktober is “The Cauldron” (Oct. 27th), a pit of broken bones and spilled blood located along one of Cy’s many rivers. Read more...
Why I Love the NSR
Why I Love the NSR
I’ve been thinking about what appeals to me about the new school revolution, why I keep turning toward these quirky little games, and why I believe they have made being... Read more...
Mörktober Post #2: Cy_Borg Apps
Mörktober Post #2: Cy_Borg Apps
Next up for #Mörktober is a set of four apps for Cy_Borg. Hack the planet! Read more...
The Ghost of Mistmoor VTT Maps
The Ghost of Mistmoor VTT Maps
A free set of VTT maps for "The Ghost of Mistmoor" by Leonard Wilson. Read more...
Mörktober Post #1: Cy_Borg Feats
Mörktober Post #1: Cy_Borg Feats
A collection of eight feats for Cy_Borg in the vain of Mörk Borg’s Unheroic Feats. Read more...
Coming Soon(ish)
Coming Soon(ish)
A quick update on some of my forthcoming projects, including announcing an all-new setting compatible with Cy_Borg and Mork Borg. Read more...
The Hamlet of Rotbrook
The Hamlet of Rotbrook
Rotbrook is a quaint hamlet of bugs, slugs, and snails. Burrowed into the base of a fallen tree, it flourishes amid rot and decay. Read more...
My Top 10 Cy_borg Adventures
My Top 10 Cy_borg Adventures
A roundup of ten unique adventures for Cy_borg to run at your table. Read more...
Crunchier Combat in Cy_Borg for 5e Players.
Crunchier Combat in Cy_Borg for 5e Players.
Simple movement rules to make combat feel familiar for 5e players while keeping the rules-light spirit of the game. Read more...
Binding Your PDF Zines.
Binding Your PDF Zines.
What’s a GM to do with all those PDFs? Yeah, you can organize them in folders to make them easy to find, but why not print and bind them so... Read more...
My Wall Killclub
My Wall Killclub
One of the doors on the G0 bulwark is said to lead to the underground killclub/music venue called My Wall. Read more...
Sewer Exploration in Cy_Borg
Sewer Exploration in Cy_Borg
The conceptual connection between sewers and dungeons in a cyberpunk setting is obvious, but what happens when the GM wants to use them as a journey rather than the destination? Read more...
The City of Tyr
The City of Tyr
My rendition of the city of Tyr from the Dark Sun setting. Available for free download. Read more...
Doomsday Scenarios for Post-apocalyptic RPGs
Doomsday Scenarios for Post-apocalyptic RPGs
So, you want to play a post-apocalyptic game? In this article, I have outlined ten scenarios to help inspire the event that led to the apocalypse. Read more...
Underground Ripperdoc Clinic
Underground Ripperdoc Clinic
A master ripperdoc for Cy’s elite. This doc has moved into a secret underground office to maintain complete anonymity. Read more...
A Soundtrack for the Jilted Generation
A Soundtrack for the Jilted Generation
Looking back at 90s future music to gain inspiration for a cyberpunk setting. Read more...