Idle Cartulary

  • The You’re Not An Idiot Principle

    One of my guiding principles in Bridewell is “The reader is not an idiot”. What do I mean by this? I’m assuming that someone reading my (independently published, single-creator, idiosyncratic horror sandbox influenced by haiku, 17th century literature, and queer rage) setting sandbox has come to it with the wherewithal to figure out how to… Continue reading

    ,

  • Playtest Report – Bridewell Session 2

    My Bridewell playtest campaign continued today with Marcia, Sandro, and with Zedeck joining. It was a shorter session because I was running it from in hospital! We’re playing in my own hack of Trophy Gold. There will be Bridewell spoilers, but if you’re a part of the playtest, you can definitely read this. Vero the… Continue reading

  • Bathtub Review: Witchburner

    Bathtub Reviews are an excuse for me to read modules a little more closely, but I’m doing this as a critique from the perspective of me, playing, and designing modules myself. They’re stream of consciousness and unedited harsh critiques on usually excellent modules. I’m writing them on my phone in the bath. Witchburner is a… Continue reading

  • Monsters in Trophy Gold

    Trophy Gold monsters really have only one stat: Endurance. Endurance is between 2 and 12, and players pool their efforts and take the two best results to equal to or beat the endurance to defeat the monster. The problem is, I’m not really sure how to set Endurance. From my experience, it’s hard to get… Continue reading

  • Playtest Report – Bridewell Session 1

    I thought people may enjoy a Bridewell playtest report. I started my playtest campaign with Marcia and Sandro yesterday. We’re playing in a modified version of Trophy Gold, the rules of which I’ve posted bitwise here. There will be spoilers for the events in the session, and hence some for Bridewell, but no spoilers outside… Continue reading

    ,

  • Bathtub Review: The Isle

    Bathtub Reviews are an excuse for me to read modules a little more closely, but I’m doing this as a critique from the perspective of me, playing, and designing modules myself. They’re stream of consciousness and unedited harsh critiques on usually excellent modules. I’m writing them on my phone in the bath. The Isle is… Continue reading

    , ,

  • Combat in Trophy Gold

    Combat in Trophy Gold is a mess, as written in the book. I suspect it’s just badly written, not badly designed. I’m going to decipher it, hack it if necessary. Say how you expose yourself to injury, then roll your weak point. If, during combat, any dark die is equal to your weak point, take… Continue reading

  • Only two or three things

    Just today, Luke wrote about NPCs: When writing NPCs, you can communicate 2 or 3 things, or 4 related things. Anything more than that, and you’re either going to be ignored by the person running the game, they’re going to change it, as is the nature of translation, or they’ll be checking your notes so… Continue reading

  • Bathtub Review: Beast of Borgenwold

    Bathtub Reviews are an excuse for me to read modules a little more closely, but I’m doing this as a critique from the perspective of me, playing, and designing modules myself. They’re stream of consciousness and unedited harsh critiques on usually excellent modules. I’m writing them on my phone in the bath. The Beast of… Continue reading

  • Bridewell’s Annotated Appendix N

    Influences for Bridewell and my work in general are often distant, vague and sparse. My brain works in impressions, absorbs the shape of a concept which is then brought to bear without reference to the concept itself. So the concept of an Appendix N for it feels odd, but may have value anyway. Books Thematically,… Continue reading

    ,

Want to support Playful Void or Bathtub Reviews? Donate to or join my Ko-fi!

I use affiliate links where I can, to keep reviewing sustainable! Please click them if you’re considering buying something I’ve reviewed! Want to know more?

Have a module, adventure or supplement you’d like me to review? Read my review policy here, and then email me at idle dot cartulary at gmail dot com, or direct message me on Discord!

Recent Posts

rootring: follow the ring from blog to blog, catch up on recent posts, and discover new TTRPG writing without relying on feeds, timelines, or recommendation algorithms.
Prev Next Random Ring

Categories

Archives

March 2026
M T W T F S S
 1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
3031  

Recent Posts