January 2022

  • Resolving acts in Oracle

    Previously we focused on the Oracle system, what we can use it for, what potential it has, and then we put a pin in it and decided to finish later after we have a better sense for what the rest of the system looks like. Let’s begin with the action resolution system. The system as Continue reading

  • Any rainboblin

    This is the first Challenge of the Week. The rest will be paid subscriber only, and this one serves as a taster for what will serve as tiny morsels of character, encounter or game design. Challenges (1) are meant to be easy to read and to scale easily. Consider Luke Gearings tweet: For challenges, I Continue reading

  • Dancing around the rules

    This week, I’m going to read all eight Anti-Sisyphus zines by Jared Sinclair (1). Disclaimers: I like and respect Sinclair and considered him a friend, although our interactions have been limited since he departed Twitter. We engaged around AS and the philosophy of roleplaying a lot in good faith. My discussions with Sinclair informed a Continue reading

  • Challenges!

    In the current draft of Infinite Hack, a challenge is what any encounter is called, be it social, combat, environmental, or fluid. It has a rough framework to it, and is designed to be very flexible in the way it’s presented. A challenge consists some number of: Threats that oppose the heroes Conditions that prevent, Continue reading

  • The Oracle

    Recently I tweetstormed through Dragonlance: The Fifth Age, a ‘Dramatic Adventure Game’ from the AD&D 2e era. I found a lot of mistrust in its audience and a lot of legacy pulled across from 2e that weighed down a system with a lot of potential. I thought it might be interesting to redesign it here, with Continue reading

  • The four challenges of the anti-canon system

    Troika! (1), in my opinion, is an example of movement towards the theoretical anti-canon system. It feels in memory like it is more or less mech-text free. I suspect – intentionally or not – that I have similar goals in writing Infinite Hack to what Daniel Sell had in writing Troika. This post is going Continue reading

  • Canon is not for the idle

    I struggle with traditionally written roleplaying game settings and adventures. They feel like university textbooks, full of hidden salient points unclearly flagged, information not directly relevant to the examination at hand, an opportunity for the writer to flex their literary muscles rather than for me to be provided tools to experience the world or invite Continue reading

  • What’s a playful void?

    Hi! You probably know me through my weird roleplaying game catalogue, twitter, or through the previous incarnation of this blog. This is a place for me to idly muse about tabletop roleplaying games in a longer format. I expect I shall be philosophising about play and the role of the author in tabletop roleplaying games, Continue reading

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Recent Posts

Threshold of Evil – Dungeon Regular

Dungeon Regular is a show about modules, adventures and dungeons. I’m Nova, also known as Idle Cartulary and I’m reading through Dungeon magazine, one module at a time, picking a few favourite things in that adventure module, and talking about them. On this episode I talk about Threshold of Evil, in Issue #10, March 1988! You can find my famous Bathtub Reviews at my blog, https://playfulvoid.game.blog/, you can buy my supplements for elfgames and Mothership at https://idlecartulary.itch.io/, check out my game Advanced Fantasy Dungeons at https://idlecartulary.itch.io/advanced-fantasy-dungeons and you can support Dungeon Regular on Ko-fi at https://ko-fi.com/idlecartulary.
  1. Threshold of Evil
  2. Secrets of the Towers
  3. Monsterquest
  4. They Also Serve
  5. The Artisan’s Tomb

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