Backing ZineQuest 2

ZineQuest 2 is Kickstarter’s now-annual homage to the handcrafted print zines of yesteryear. As someone who crafted a print zine with my friends using my Commodore 64 and a dot matrix printer, I have a lot of love for the idea. For those who never experienced them, zines are fan-produced publications dedicated to any number of … Read more

Blogworthy: Floating Worlds, Tome of Beasts II, Data Detox, Savage Frontiers, Backpacking Tips

A map of the World of Greyhawk

Artists Creates Floating Worlds In Test Tubes – Rosa de Jong creates tiny models of buildings, trees, and geographic features that float on sculpted, rocky islands in a test tube. Think Avatar’s floating islands meets the traditional ship-in-a-bottle models. Greyhawk CY 576 by Anna B. Myers – Thanks to funding from her Patreon, cartographer Anna B. Myers released a refreshed … Read more

Top of the Pile: X-Men Resurgence

The X-men step through an otherworldly portal.

The X-Men are back. After years of being sidelined in the Marvel comic book universe, the X-Men have returned to their rightful prominence. Heralded by the twin six-issue series House of X and Powers of X, the X-Pantheon is back with a full-line up of comic book titles consisting of X-Men, New Mutants, Excalibur, Marauders, X-Force, and Fallen Angels. Thanks to a … Read more

Starting on the Trail to Philmont

My son and I are headed to the Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron, New Mexico in six months. Once there we will spend 12 days backpacking with other scouts from NeutronLad’s troop. In total, three adults and six scouts are going. We’ll be backpacking approximately 60-80 miles while at Philmont. The variability comes from the … Read more

Blogworthy: Smart Star Wars Soldiers, Witcher Timeline, Pulp Magazine Archive, Stem Cell Robots, Ice Safety for Giant Monsters

An armored warrior walks out of a sunset.

The Mandalorian Is the Only Smart Soldier in the Star Wars Galaxy – The Angry Staff Officer at Wired.com explains how everyone’s new favorite bounty hunter and his ally, the former Rebel Alliance drop trooper Cara Dune are the first on-screen soldiers in the Star Wars universe to use reasonable, intelligent strategies and tactics. Here’s why writing things … Read more

Blogworthy: A New Star Wars Reckoning, Four-Day Week, Supernova, Risk, Y2K Redux

A close up of the cannon aperture of the planet-sized Starkiller Base.

10 Intriguing Star Wars Details We Learned From The Rise of Skywalker’s Visual Dictionary – There are a lot of interesting tidbits in here, but the strangest one is the decision by Lucasfilm to drop the Before/After Battle of Yavin (BBY/ABY) timeline reckoning in favor of Before/After the Starkiller Incident (BSI/ASI). While I can kind … Read more

Weather in RPGs – Advice, Generators, and Tables

An example of weather in RPGs - lightning strikes down from clouds over the ocean. Darkened land can be seen to the right.

Bad snow storms and extreme weather scuttled many a Game Day over the years. They throw our RPG gaming lives into chaos, and while being able to fall back to Roll20 can help the game go on … it’s useless when it comes to shoveling snow or bailing out the basement. Just as a Nor’easter … Read more