March 2024

  • Double-overloading the Random Encounter Table

    Over on Prismatic Wasteland, we have a very cool way to roll just 3d6 to tell you what monster, how many monsters, the distance they’re at, their reaction, and whether the players are surprised by this all. It’s elegant as heck at the front end, and takes advantage of the power of 3d6, but because Continue reading

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  • SLMDNGN Update

    SLMDNGN, my slim dungeon-crawler, has just received an update. I’m really enjoying playing this hyper-light B/X /GLOG fork, so I’m finding little tweaks. The new version separates the core rules and character creation, so that players can create their characters using the character sheet. Gran has also generously provided a Portuguese translation for any Portuguese-speaking Continue reading

  • Bathtub Review: The Stone-Flesh Gift

    Bathtub Reviews are an excuse for me to read modules a little more closely. I’m doing them to critique a wide range of modules from the perspective of my own table and to learn for my own module design. They’re stream of consciousness and unedited critiques. I’m writing them on my phone in the bath. Continue reading

  • SLMDNGN Design Notes

    Advanced Fantasy Dungeons was a whole lotta maximalist design. You might be surprised to find that’s not what I usually play, and I’m craving simplicity. So I wrote SLMDNGN. Today. You can download it here for free. The design principles: I drew from Skerples’ GLOG hack Many Rats on Sticks and Blades in the Dark Continue reading

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  • I Read Slugblaster

    I Read Games reviews are me reading games when I have nothing better to do, like read a module or write or play a game. I don’t seriously believe that I can judge a game without playing it, usually a lot, so I don’t take these very seriously. But I can talk about its choices Continue reading

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  • Reflections on a West Marches Campaign

    So, a few years ago I ran an open tabled West Marches campaign in 5th edition. I did this because it didn’t seem like enough of my in person playing friends could commit to a weekly game, and a West Marches campaign seemed like a good way to get people to the table without a Continue reading

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  • Bathtub Review: The Undermall

    Bathtub Reviews are an excuse for me to read modules a little more closely. I’m doing them to critique a wide range of modules from the perspective of my own table and to learn for my own module design. They’re stream of consciousness and unedited critiques. I’m writing them on my phone in the bath. Continue reading

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  • Chekhov’s Toolbox: Complexity and intratextuality

    The projects I write tend to spiral out of control. Whenever I find a glimmer that gets me excited, I add in a note that says something to the effect of: Who else in the world cares about this? It looks like this. I’m writing about a small frontier city, and there’s a town square. Continue reading

  • The Three C’s of Challenges

    In a recent Dungeon Regular episode, Hirward’s Task, I found a neat framework for challenge design that I’ve never seen before. This post will be an exploration of whether or not it has legs. Basically, and perhaps unintentionally, this module had three clear, built in solutions to its primary challenge, and they were clearly geared Continue reading

  • I Read Daisy Chainsaw

    I Read Games reviews are me reading games when I have nothing better to do, like read a module or write or play a game. I don’t seriously believe that I can judge a game without playing it, usually a lot, so I don’t take these very seriously. But I can talk about its choices 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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