BEST READS OF THE WEEK! MAY 23 - 31, 2015!

 

Welcome back to the Best Reads of the Week! Every week I read through more than 450 blogs looking for the best rpg related articles and bringing them directly to you. This week we've got: forbidden tombs of occult lore; +Jack Shear's continued exploration of his Arksylvania setting; thoughts on Callers; one of the most fantastic collections of terrible tables I've ever seen; and so much more!

As always, if you liked any of the posts listed here be sure to let the author know. Leave them a note on their blogs, give them a plus 1, like them on the Facebooks, and share their posts in your social media feeds! Till next week!

BEST READS OF THE WEEK!

MAY 23 - 31, 2015

Eternal Lies – Books of the Los Angeles Cult: Cult’s Library (Part 1) and Eternal Lies – Books of the Los Angeles Cult: Cult’s Library (Part 2) by Justin Alexander, from the blog The Alexandrian: Vile cults are supposed to have libraries filed with mysterious tomes on forbidden lore and the esoteric, demonic summoning arts. These volumes in this two part series from Justin is a great place to get your imagination working.

Not Very Good at This by +Tom Doolan, from the blog Wishful Gaming: I'm firmly convinced that Tom is an incredibly underrated blogger whose focus on games like Mutants and Masterminds is a refreshing breath of air in a hobby dominated by dungeon slaying crazies who are looking for a good time. So reading a post where he talks about the things he's not very good at just relieves all this internal pressure that I end up putting on myself about the things I'm not good at either.

Arksylvania Part 4: Karnberg, Locksley, Malheim and Part 5: Konstantine, Wounded God, Crimson Martyrdom by +Jack Shear, from the blog Tales of the Grotesque and Dungeonesque: The continuing posts describing Jack's fantastic Arksylvania setting. Be sure to check them out!

Clerical Work Part VI: Specialty Priests of Azuth for D&D 5th Edition; Part VII: Specialty Priests of Illmater; and Part VIII: Specialty Priests of Umberlee by +Mark Craddock, from the blog Cross Planes: Mark's continuing efforts to bring in the Specialty Priest into 5e. Still rocking.

Judging Dungeon Designs: One Page Dungeon Contest by +Martin Thomas, from the blog Daddy Rolled a 1: In this post Martin, one of the judges during this year's One Page Dungeon Contest, discusses why the contest is so cool (aside from the fact that it provides us all with lots of free dungeons to use in our own campaigns).

On Callers by Delta, from the blog Delta's D&D Hotspot: The Caller is one of those early aspects of D&D that never gets enough love. In this short post from Delta we're treated to his thoughts on the benefits of this much maligned part of the game.

D20 NPC's from Pandelver by +Mark Van Vlack, from the blog Dust_Pan_Games: Are you looking for some quick NPCs? Mark has your back in this excellent d20 table.

Some Thoughts on the Indie RPG Industry by +Vb Wyrde, from the blog Elthos RPG: The Indie RPG Industry is an odd one that becomes incredibly difficult to conceputalize because there are so many different companies attempting to gain a foothold and to make ground in a crowded field. Vb's thoughts on the matter put things in a perspective that anyone contemplating entering the field should consider.

The Last Word on Edition Warring by +Jeremy Smith, from the blog Froths of D&D: In this short post Frothsof reprints the powerful words of Frank Mentzer on edition warring. Well worth reading for anyone foolish enough to think arguing about what edition people play is a valid use of their time.

My Job as a GM by +Tim Shorts, from the blog Gothridge Manor: What are the things that you worry about doing as a Game Master? Tim's got some valuable thoughts on what concerns him.

Call for LotFP Monsters [PAYING WRITING WORK] by +James Raggi, from the blog Lamentations of the Flame Princess: While I believe that the submission time has passed I still wanted to draw attention to this post because what James is looking for here is what we should all be looking for in the monsters we create and use. That is to say that they should be more than just a stat block of damage and abilities.

DISPLACER KLAUS STRANGLING A UNBORN WORLD by +Scrap Princess, from the blog Monster Manual Swen from Pants: All the tables you never asked for and didn't want when you got them. Whole post is great stuff.