THOUGHT EATER

Tuesday, June 18, 2019

Thought Eater Podcast: Top Three Tuesdays: Punk Bands, Drummers, and Movies from 1983

So what do punk bands, drummers, and movies from 1983 have to do with gaming? Not much, actually. Still, it is fun to ramble about other topics on occasion, and these listener call-ins gave me an opportunity to do just that.

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Moe Tucker of the Velvet Underground

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Sunday, June 16, 2019

Thought Eater Podcast: Night Below Session Recap 6.16.19

Well, we finally finished Book 1 of the classic TSR Night Below campaign set. Last night featured a huge orc battle and introduced a new group of potential allies for the party, the Svirfneblin aka deep gnomes. It was also nice to look back on the last year-plus of the campaign. It is only downhill from here (literally).

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Saturday, June 15, 2019

Free and Pay-What-You-Want 5e DMs Guild Highlights: Week Ending 6.15.19

Every week, talented creators upload products to the DMs Guild, pricing them as free or pay-what-you-want in order to reach customers. Dozens of new free and pwyw products are added each week alone. It is a lot to sort through. My hope is that highlighting a few of each week's best supplements will help the designers get the attention they deserve.

You can find previous posts in this series HERE.

100 Desert Locations from Official Dndspeak

100 bits of random inspiration and plot hooks for desert adventures. These are not fully-statted out or anything, but could be useful for a DM in need of ideas for a desert or post-apocalyptic campaign.

5e Race Guide from Joseph Morrison

This isn't going to win any beauty contests for formatting, but it is nice to have all of the 5e races in one document, including those from non-AL sources.

Profane and Profound from Alex Welk

This is basically two products in one: a set of tables to generate gods (with associated hooks and prophecies), and over two hundred new magic items.

Warden Class from Adam Steel

This is really great. Feels like a hybrid Barbarian/Druid.

The Merchant's House from Remington Churchill

Not much to say about this one, just a cool hand-drawn map.

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Friday, June 14, 2019

Thought Eater Podcast: Five Minute Friday: Unknown Clones: Engines and Empires

Happy Friday everybody! Today on the Thought Eater podcast I continue my series on "unknown clones", OSR games that maybe flew under the radar. Today I look at John D. Higgins' Engines and Empires, an OSR steampunk game. You can download it for free HERE.

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If you enjoy my free zine, podcast, and/or blog, please consider supporting my work for only $1 per month.

Wednesday, June 12, 2019

Humpday Blog-O-Rama 6.12.19

Blogs are an integral, vital part of the RPG hobby. They serve as incubators for new games, sounding boards for fresh ideas, and platforms for up-and-coming talent. They keep "forgotten" games alive, foster discussions, and build communities.

Every Wednesday on the Thought Eater podcast and blog, I take a look at what is going on in the vibrant RPG blog scene. Check out previous Humpday Blog-O-Rama posts HERE.

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MAPS

https://cubeofquazar.blogspot.com/2019/06/planet-eris-gazetteer-world-map.html
http://files.meetup.com/286932/Planet-Eris-House-Rules-Revised.pdf

https://www.wistedt.net/2019/06/09/murder-house-fantasy-horror-dungeon-map/

https://rthorm.wordpress.com/2019/06/02/planetary-logbook-moon/

BUY IT HERE!!!

REVIEWS

http://terriblesorcery.blogspot.com/2019/06/review-stygian-library.html

https://beyondfomalhaut.blogspot.com/2019/06/review-forgotten-grottoes-of-sea-lords.html

https://tenfootpole.org/ironspike/?p=6032

RETROSPECTIVES

https://dmdavid.com/tag/dead-gods-1997-greatest-dd-adventures-since-1985-number-5/

https://dmdavid.com/tag/curse-of-strahd-2016-greatest-dd-adventures-since-1985-number-4/

https://dmdavid.com/tag/lost-mine-of-phandelver-2014-greatest-dd-adventures-since-1985-number-3/

https://rollingboxcars.com/2019/06/06/late-night-t-v-inspiration-fantastic-planet/

https://www.blackgate.com/2019/06/11/the-golden-age-of-science-fiction-heavy-metal/

http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2019/06/so-close-and-yet-so-far-strange-story.html

https://thoulsparadise.blogspot.com/2012/06/interview-with-mark-acres.html

https://thewanderingalchemist.com/2019/06/05/year-of-4e-rituals/

RANDOM TABLES

http://unlawfulgames.blogspot.com/2019/06/d100-bottled-things.html

http://skullboyrollsthedice.blogspot.com/2019/06/downtime-thieving.html

http://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com/2019/06/gamma-age-urban-location-key.html

https://sheepandsorcery.blogspot.com/2019/06/there-is-no-xp-take-monster-drugs.html

CON SEASON

https://www.frugalgm.com/2019/06/north-texas-rpg-con-day-0-report.html
https://www.frugalgm.com/2019/06/north-texas-rpg-con-day-1-report.html
https://www.frugalgm.com/2019/06/north-texas-rpg-con-day-2-report.html
https://www.frugalgm.com/2019/06/north-texas-rpg-con-day-3-report.html
https://www.frugalgm.com/2019/06/north-texas-rpg-con-day-3-report_10.html

https://oldscouserroleplaying.com/2019/06/08/uk-games-expo-2019/

HACKS AND FREEBIES

http://www.goatmansgoblet.com/2019/06/homerules-document-knaves-guide-to.html

https://diyanddragons.blogspot.com/2019/06/investigations-in-dcc.html

http://3toadstools.blogspot.com/2019/06/weird-wayfaring-crowd-sourced-hexcrawl.html

https://lizardmandiaries.blogspot.com/2019/06/ashen-tumble-and-pit-house-1-page.html

http://natetreme.com/blog/2019/6/5/wander-a-business-card-rpg

http://dragons.ie/rewriting-the-b-x-spell-lists-1st-level/

MISCELLANY

http://wanderinggamist.blogspot.com/2019/06/dungeon-ness.html

http://fourcolorshadows.blogspot.com/2019/06/9th-anniversary-request-math-man-steven.html

http://talesofthegrotesqueanddungeonesque.blogspot.com/2019/06/japanese-song-of-ice-and-fire.html

PREP

http://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2019/06/prep-time-poll-results.html

https://frothsofdnd.blogspot.com/2015/08/prep-is-for-ninnies-froths-sandbox.html

If you enjoy my free zine, podcast, and/or blog, please consider supporting my work for only $1 per month.

Tuesday, June 11, 2019

Thought Eater Podcast: Top Three Tuesdays: Horror Redux, Unused Monsters, and Fave 1e Magic Items

Hi all. Fun show today with a bunch of call-ins about the horror movie episode. I also talk about monsters I'd like to use in a game but haven't, and my fave 1e magic items.

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If you enjoy my free zine, podcast, and/or blog, please consider supporting my work for only $1 per month.

Sunday, June 9, 2019

Thought Eater Podcast: Night Below Session Recap 6.9.19

After taking last week off, I am back again with another Night Below session recap. The orc lair still stands between the party and their goal of solving the Haranshire kidnappings. What manner of evil awaits them inside?

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If you enjoy my free zine, podcast, and/or blog, please consider supporting my work for only $1 per month.

Saturday, June 8, 2019

Free and Pay-What-You-Want 5e DMs Guild Highlights: Week Ending 6.8.19

One cool thing about the DMs Guild is that creators often release a lot of material to support current storylines. The first three products for today would all be useful in a Saltmarsh/nautical campaign.

Daerdan's Tall Tales: Ten Seafaring Encounters from Wyatt Trull

Shorter previews of longer products are sometimes throwaways, but this is an exception. What you have here are ten encounters taken from a much longer supplement, 101 Seafaring Encounters. The author utilizes ideas drawn from 4e's skill challenges, offering some creative scenarios for a Saltmarsh/nautical campaign. I really appreciated the monster and magic item index at the back. Bonus points for using a dragon turtle.

Saltmarsh Ship Battle Maps and Sheet from Louis Porter Jr.

This is my favorite ship sheet that I have seen so far. Really clean and easy to read. Also includes some maps with the different "levels" of a ship.

Encounters on the Savage Seas III FREE from Multiple Authors

Woah! GMs are getting spoiled today! These six nautical "encounters" are more like mini-adventures. I really liked the "Gray Matter" encounter...reminded me of Creepshow 2. If you have ever seen it, you will know what I mean. Anyway, if you dig this, consider purchasing the other two in the series HERE and HERE.

The Grim Reaper-Warlock Subclass from Midnight Tower

You had me at "zombie cat familiar".

Secret Spells of Gravity Magic from Art of Karthik

I absolutely LOVED this short collection of physics-inspired spells. Pull foes into an elliptical orbit, then let em' fly with Newton's Slingshot. Warp gravity and vanish with Pound-Rebka's Slow Time. Great stuff...but that Sphere of Annihilation material component is gonna be tricky.

If you enjoy my free zine, podcast, and/or blog, please consider supporting my work for only $1 per month.

Friday, June 7, 2019

Thought Eater Podcast: Five Minute Friday: A Cool GM Technique

Hi all! Elizabeth is off gathering supplies for her next adventure with Willy, so this week it is just ol' Froth on Five Minute Friday. Today I am talking about a cool GM technique I picked up watching Zac Eubank GM on Kollok 1991.

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Kollok 1991 is a really innovative streaming show that I have been checking out on YouTube. I went ahead and embedded the 1st episode below if you want to check it out. Zac and the cast are excellent, and I highly recommend it even if you don't typically enjoy watching streaming games.