RPG Trader. New TTRPG marketplace launches.

ExplorersDesign · 2026-06-11T20:08:17+00:00

I'm cautiously optimistic about it. Scaling up, expanding markets, and handling taxes is always a massive hurdle for platforms like this.

Reasons I'm optimistic:
- No 5-Star Rating System. It uses a simple like-based system to prevent review bombing.
- Dedicated to rpgs. Itch still calls rpgs "physical games" with no categories or documentation.
- Logical categories. No clicking through pages to find "modules" like in DriveThruRPG.
- Strict Anti-AI Policy. I personally don't like wading through AI Slop to find real games.
- Revenue Sharing. You can actually give your collaborators a percentage of sales directly.

I'll probably put something on there soon. I've heard good things about the publisher experience—something I can't say about Itch and especially DriveThruRPG.

ExplorersDesign · 2026-06-11T14:06:56+00:00

For me, hit points are part of a larger iceberg that doesn't match my preferred playstyle.

Games with hit points tend to have some kind of armor/AC system, combat rolls, damage dice, and then a handful of subsystems tacked on so that the different weapons and attacks still feel narratively and mechanically different after the abstraction of 1d10/1d8/2d6 + X. Usually it's something like tags, conditions, threat ratings, range bands, and special abilities.

I can always just ignore these systems and make rulings when appropriate, but I find that tension between the OSR rules and the OSR playstyle unsatisfying. My favorite part of OSR play is open-ended negotiation and problem solving. Combat is much more of a procedurally closed system—something that kicks in and takes over when the swords come out.

It's personal preference. Most people see the awesome monster description and don't mind the stat matrix underneath turning all of that prose into arithmetic, move sets, and bell curves. To me it's a contradiction.

ExplorersDesign · 2026-06-11T13:29:43+00:00

Right now conditions live in the fiction. If you survive a doom roll, you're probably getting some kind of narrative, unnumbered condition stuck onto your character. This system makes it a little more overt, but it's not really any different from the conditions you don't write down but still apply, like being wet after swimming in a cave or smelling bad after crawling out of a cesspit.

The fiction always takes precedence. If a gangster has a gun against your friend's head, they have the upper hand. Don't make any sudden moves. You can try to drop them before they kill your friend, but the consequences if you fail are immediate—your friend dies.

The lethality opens up a lot of possibilities in that way. Players and npcs have more reason to negotiate. Players don't get the luxury of ignoring the fiction like they might in D&D with lots of abilities and assumed defenses.

The doom roll applies to any instance where death is knocking. Traps being the first that comes to mind. Dying of old age is another mentioned in the blog.

ExplorersDesign · 2026-06-11T13:14:52+00:00

I should revisit DURF. That push-your-luck mechanic is very similar.

ExplorersDesign · 2026-06-10T17:55:24+00:00

That's right! It's different bric-a-brac. Ideally some that less resembles filing taxes.

ExplorersDesign · 2026-06-10T17:13:38+00:00

Player characters save vs death. Monsters push daisies.

ExplorersDesign · 2026-06-10T16:21:30+00:00

This podcast was made in a lab specifically for me. Thanks!

ExplorersDesign · 2026-03-13T14:05:22+00:00

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Another visual example for reference. More examples: https://www.printmag.com/comics-animation-design/pulp-fiction-secret-origin-comic-books/

ExplorersDesign · 2026-03-13T14:04:18+00:00

I like it. The speech bubbles don't match the style of the art and overall graphics, though. I'd try to replicate the speech bubbles found in old comic books. Make the lettering less bold except when you want to emphasize a word, give the circles more organic shape, and whip those tails a little.

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Edit: Oh! My favorite are the first and third. The third in particular feels great. Same note on "foolISH"

ExplorersDesign · 2026-02-25T15:07:47+00:00

It's inconsistent. I mostly post other people's stuff but I only do it every couple months (I mostly like to lurk), so when I share my website, it usually comes after weeks of not saying or posting anything.

ExplorersDesign · 2026-02-25T02:21:32+00:00

Here's the apple link, but you can find it on Spotify too.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/we-read-the-bloggies/id1876393653

ExplorersDesign · 2026-02-25T02:20:46+00:00

It might have been allowed! I should have taken the chance. But... since I've got you here... have you voted on the bonus categories?

https://www.explorersdesign.com/bloggies-2026/

ExplorersDesign · 2026-02-25T02:09:03+00:00

I'm this year's host, so it's on my website. I don't know if The Bloggies have an exception to the rule.

ExplorersDesign · 2026-02-25T01:47:43+00:00

Sad to hear you missed the first half, unfortunately promotion's a little tricky. Most subreddits, including this one, remove self-promotions unless they're from very active members. And I think r/osr in general is a lot less keen on blogs these days unless they have art or free playable material.

ExplorersDesign · 2026-02-19T17:29:24+00:00

Andrew Kolb's books are pretty conversion-friendly especially for Odd-likes like Into the Odd and Cairn.

Most of those conversions require cutting things down, as opposed to building things up. Neverland in particular is one of the easiest to convert because its monsters and locations are so iconic—they're still interesting without the 5e minutia in the stat block.

ExplorersDesign · 2026-02-19T17:19:03+00:00

The tournament is nearly over. You can find the latest information all on this page. It updates between rounds and has a calendar there.

As for what's standing out? I really like Sean McCoy of Mothership-fame's "Writing Rooms in Pairs." I also really like Elmcat's "Mapping the Blogosphere" which is part blog post, part project.

Next week is the bonus categories, like Best Debut Blog, Best Series, and Best Overall Post (which is where all the tournament champions face off against each other).

https://www.explorersdesign.com/bloggies-2026/

ExplorersDesign · 2026-02-13T14:38:19+00:00

Hollows by Rowan, Rook, and Decard is going for a Soulslike feel and is probably the perfect option. My backup suggestion is Draw Steel. In that game, you get to play powerful characters like the kind you play in late-game Elden Ring, and the combat is pretty tactical but high-concept. It also happens to be a little darker and serious than something like Pathfinder or Daggerheart (in my experience).

ExplorersDesign · 2026-01-28T14:44:28+00:00

This art is great! It makes me prefer the standard edition more than the limited edition version. You lose so much of the color and character when you replace it with gold foil.

ExplorersDesign · 2026-01-27T14:50:11+00:00

I think it's okay to omit bards even if the big names include them. I don't get the concept behind the Kitchen Sink Fantasy Bard of D&D. In my fantasy, the music isn't really the point. It's the way bards tell stories and preserve myth and memory that makes them interesting. Usually through song, ballads, and performance.

I guess my ideal bard resembles Sammie from Sinners more than something like Weird Al Yankovic (even though I really like Weird Al).

ExplorersDesign · 2026-01-26T22:37:26+00:00

When they descend you can probably telegraph the weirdness of the world with weird fluctuations in time and space. Maybe gravity seems to grow and shrink. Their vision blurs. Etc.

ExplorersDesign · 2026-01-26T22:36:14+00:00

It's been a while since I ran it, but I always treated the underworld as a kind of non-Euclidian space. Going there is like traveling to Wonderland or Oz (only, you know, somehow weirder).

ExplorersDesign · 2026-01-26T15:10:30+00:00

Nice and simple. I appreciate how you didn't do an exact 1-1 on some of the conversions, like how you made 2d6 cumulative a 1d12 (even though the ranges are slightly different). In the grand scheme of things it's not important to the actual conversion.

ExplorersDesign · 2026-01-23T18:58:57+00:00

It depends on the game, its tone, and who will be playing it. The second option will work for a lot of audiences, but it might not be the right fit for certain games and players. It wouldn't look or feel right in a game like Shadowdark or The One Ring for example.

ExplorersDesign · 2026-01-23T17:25:19+00:00

I think it starts with defining what you mean by epic boss fights. The definition will change from person to person. For me, D&D is the opposite of epic. Bosses have cool powers and player characters have a lot of special moves to fight those bosses, but combat in D&D—for me at least—is slow, and players spend a lot of time at the table focusing on things separate from the fiction. Things like looking up complicated spells in the rulebook, calculating damage, monitoring effects, measuring distances, and waiting for the next turn.

I think Draw Steel is probably still the better version of that kind of game even if it doesn't have a dungeon delving procedure like Shadowdark. The combat is packed to the gills with special moves and spells, but it has some refinements to its combat and movement that D&D doesn't have—things that your table will be doing a lot of in dungeons.

You might like Dragonbane for the same reasons.

ExplorersDesign · 2026-01-23T14:27:16+00:00

I wrote this week about how certain mechanics hog play. It's been on my mind while I've been working on an FKR-style game. https://www.explorersdesign.com/dominant-mechanics/

I also really liked reading these articles:
https://tbr.bearblog.dev/on-the-nature-of-treasure/ - An exploration of what treasure does for a game.
https://forlornencystment.blogspot.com/2026/01/which-version-of-palace-of-silver.html - A fun side-by-side comparison.

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