Every word you speak, every thought you think, every deed you perform will create an echo that will outlast you. Might as well make the best of it, no?
Writings
Don’t Use Initiative! | TTRPG Tactics
Ditching initiative can free up players’ minds to think about the game in more creative and practical terms. Here’s how to make that work at your table.
Narrative Combat – Don’t Use Rounds! | TTRPG Tactics
When combat encounters are allowed to emerge from the narration rather than isolated by hard parameters, it creates a thrilling experience.
The Sensibility Rule | TTRPG Tactics
When people try to break the game in absurd ways, one concept ultimately supersedes any exploit – a notion which is here termed “The Sensibility Rule.”
One-Shot Idea: Campaign Interludes | TTRPG Tactics
Do you have players who can’t make it this week? Just need a palate cleanser? Run a one-shot! But not just any one-shot – run a campaign interlude!
The Trap of Convenient Answers | World Building for RPGs
When building worlds for RPGs or stories, cool answers are better than correct answers. Put square pegs into round holes.
Time Has No (Inherent) Meaning
Time has no meaning without context, and the same is true with existence. It is better to push on reality and create ripples than not.
When the GM Asks “Are You Sure?” | TTRPG Tactics
The question “Are you sure?” strikes fear into the hearts of players everywhere. However, it’s actually a sign that your GM is looking out for you. Usually.
Random Encounters & Looming Threats | TTRPG Tactics
Random encounters can be a blast. Here’s a simple way to create random encounter tables for dungeons in your favorite RPG using only a d6.
Talentless Clods Don’t Exist
Talentless clods don’t exist because they are a statistical impossibility. Therefore, you are not a talentless clod. Really.
Being Good For Something – Taking a New Direction
Thoughts on the future of The Astral Wanderer and the kind of tone I’d like to set from here on out. Also a bit about what I’ve been up to lately.
A Problem with Rage
Rage is all the rage these days.
The Anatomy of Confusion – A Quick Study
A close look at how confusion occurs. Also some quick life lessons based on this close look at how confusion occurs. Also I haven’t slept well in weeks.
Quick Thought: The Strength of a Shield Wall
A quick thought on shield walls and protection. In a shield wall, strength in numbers is not additive; it’s multiplicative.
The Ways Nature Marks Time
How does nature mark time? By the revolutions of worlds and the changing of seasons, and by that nagging sensation in your gut that says it’s dinner time.
The Tale of One Who Flew the Cuckoo’s Nest
A man flies a cuckoo’s nest like a kite high above a storm next to a city for which he harbors some resentment. It doesn’t crash, until it does.
Obvious Filler Post: Obvious Filler Is Obvious
Insert random description here. It could be about birds. It could be about squirrels. It could be about your deceased great great aunt. Get jiggy with it.
The Place Where Horrid Creatures Dwell
There is a place in the universe where horrid creatures dwell, the twisted remnants of cosmic erasures rolled with the filthy remains of things forgotten.
30 Ways to Ruin a Conversation in Ten Words or Less
Here are thirty entirely subjective ways to ruin a conversation in only ten words or less (ten words or fewer if you feel like being that way).
Stop Wondering if You’re Enough: Part 2 – Soldiers
A continuation of an entirely unwarranted rant about being enough, this time with a discussion of warriors versus soldiers. Also a playful jab at Oprah.
Stop Wondering if You’re Enough: Part 1 – You’re Not
This is an entirely unjustified rant about a trite bit of positivity that people have been spreading around social media lately.
The Place Where the Stones Sing (& Other Locales)
There is a place in the universe where the stones sing everlasting hymns to their creator. Also three other weird and wondrous locales.
The Place Where People Walk an Endless Road | Flash Fiction
There is a place in the universe where people walk an endless road, never seeming to get anywhere, but going all the while.
Thoughts About Language, Context, and Listening
Some quick musings about how people manage to understand one another, even when it happens that they’re not speaking the same language.
A Waking Nightmare: Cliffs, Seas, and Starry Skies | Short Story
A man jumps off a cliff in an attempt to escape something horrible. He doesn’t succeed since he keeps waking up again. And again. And again.
The Sanctity of Night
The night is a profoundly sacred time in which we dream dreams, see the heavens, and share in communion with all of creation.
Please be quiet past this point
Please be quiet past this point. I’m trying to hear the stars.
Generating Writing Ideas – There’s a Place in the Universe
How many ways are there to complete the phrase, “There is a place in the universe where…”? The possibilities may well be limitless.
Using the Battle for Wesnoth Map Editor for Fantasy Hex Maps
There are many ways to make fantasy maps. This method makes use of completely free software. In a completely unrelated game.
Mini Painting and How to Get One’s Self Writing
Odds are, there’s something you do purely for the fun of it. Why not let your writing be fun too?
“Sewer” Is a Word Because French Is a Dumpster Fire
The only reason “sewer” exists as a word is because the French “language” got hold of it. Disclaimer: Includes angry words about French.
Impossible Is Not the Opposite of Possible
Impossibility is just the lack of possibility, not its opposite, but if “impossible” isn’t the opposite of “possible,” then what is?
And Now for Something Completely Different – Miniature Painting!
I enjoy many art forms, not just writing. Lately, I’ve been doing a ton of miniature painting, and I figured I’d share some of my work here.
Take Care When Stirring the Pot
Which came first, the stirring of the pot, or the thought of doing so? Take care when stirring the pot lest the pot stir you instead.
The Will of the Ink
When you draw with ink, you must commit to wherever the ink flows, for the will of the ink is supreme, and the only error is that which deviates from it.
ADR, Elections, and Winning at All Costs
Elections can be stressful, especially when you feel like your candidate has to win at all costs. Here, we look at ADR to illustrate why that’s a problem.
Responding to Hilariously Out-of-Place Spam
Some off-the-cuff responses to spam comments in a blog post. None of the spammers will see it, but they probably wouldn’t have anyway.
The Brief Tale of the Mad Swordsman | Weird Flash Fiction
What do you do when you accidentally steal every last one of someone else’s ideas? Straight out of his head? With a sword?
The Cosmic Painter | Flash Fiction
There’s a place in the universe where a cosmic squid paints a world upon a canvas of stone and iron. But paint will always flow where it flows.
A Hole in the Horizon | Weird Flash Fiction
Harold enjoys a normal morning walking through the city. From the memories in his pockets to the great hole on the horizon, it’s business as usual as far as he can tell.