Idle Cartulary

  • Bathtub Review: No Room for a Wallflower Act 1

    Bathtub Reviews are an excuse for me to read modules a little more closely. I’m doing them to critique well-regarded modules from the perspective of my own table and to learn for my own module design. They’re stream of consciousness and unedited harsh critiques. I’m writing them on my phone in the bath. No Room… Continue reading

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  • I Read BREAK!!

    I was supposed to go to a miserable family party today, but my wife is sick, so instead I’m going to read BREAK!!, one of the most long-anticipated games in recent memory. I’m not going to call it a review, because I don’t have time to play BREAK!! right now (maybe I could run a… Continue reading

  • To review or not to review

    Rowan wrote a very clear reasoning why negative reviews are out of bounds for the new series Dungeon Deep Cuts, and it made me think I should articulate why I’ve decided to do the opposite with Bathtub Reviews. This is a challenging little thing to write, actually, because it’s personal. The constant refrain echoing about… Continue reading

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  • Bathtub Review: Barkeep on the Borderlands

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

  • The Supply Chip

    I was saying to Marcia and Emmy that I’m feeling a little tired regarding the complexity of Knave 2e’s abundance of hazard dice, and mentioned that I am preferring a token system right now. I use poker chips. Buy Supply Chips in town, at the cost of 1 gp per Supply Chip. They take as… Continue reading

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  • Bathtub Review: Oz

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

  • I Read Shadowdark

    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

  • House Rules for 5e from a House with No 5e

    There’s been a lot of talk about how 5e is bad lately (it isn’t) from public GMs and designers who want their players to switch to new or their games (they won’t), because GM and design centric perspectives misdiagnose that 5e is good, actually. This video’s first point illustrates the misdiagnosis well. Actually, players of… Continue reading

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  • Bathtub Review: A Pound of Flesh

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

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  • Auto-gathering: A Cosy Overland Travel Layer

    I was thinking about encumbrance in the context of this fantastic post and was thinking that, while I love this level of quantum inventory, because streamlining inventory helps most games a lot, it detracts from the fun of “Ooh! I have this cool thing!” which I want more of. I, like everyone else, am playing… Continue reading

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