Wednesday, June 10, 2026
Have Folks Forgot T$R???
Tuesday, November 25, 2025
Splendid Isolation
- In 1978 I picked up the original first published Judge's Shield by Judges Guild. This was really made for OD&D using the Greyhawk supplement, but it worked for our D&D gane until the Dungeon Masters Guide was released around the summer of 1979. (I made a canary yellow Advanced Labyrinth Lord screen in honor of my old and worn Judges Guild screen.)
- During this period of the late 70s through the 80s is was also common for Dungeon Master's to just use gatefold record albums. This did not provide any helpful tables, but did hide the DM's notes and often the record albums were chosen for their trippy art.
- Later (not sure when) I acquired or most likely shared the T$R AD&D (1st Ed.) Dungeon Master's Screen. This is probably the most classic and well known screen, even had a separate 2-panel screen just for psionics!)
- When I restarted our game with new rules in 2004 I used the Ver. 3.5 D&D Deluxe Dungeon Master's Screen which was my first landscape paneled screen (my older screens basically had panels in portrait orientation). I really enjoyed being able to see over the screen better without having to stand up.
- When I developed a 3rd Ed./AD&D hybrid rules we used in our game starting in 2012 I found the original 3rd Edition DM screen from 2000 and just clipped a whole bunch of alternate tables on top the screen.
- During 2018 when we switched to a modified 5th Ed. I used Dungeon Master's Screen, Reincarnated (2017) which was the first screen I used in game play that was hardbacked instead of cardstock (4th Ed. had the first landscape/hardback screen I ever purchased, however we never ran our campaign in 4th Ed.). This was a superb improvement, especially when players in our game "sieged the DM" by launching volleys of dice attacks. The hardback screen repelled dice attacks where the cardstock screens often fee. I ended up over time covering this screen in stickers.
- When we switched to Advanced Labyrinth Lord retro-clone in 2019 I made the aforementioned canary yellow Judges Guild tribute screen.
- I also created homemade ref screens for Arduin games I've run for Green Hell in 2022 and a more generic Arduin screen in 2023. And also made a little mini-screen for Lamentations of the Flame Princess off of art for a future screen that hasn't yet been published.
- During 2024 we first started our new 5th edition campaign I used the 5e screen from the 5e Wilderness Kit (the screen art is very cool), then when the 2024 revision books were released switched to the 2024 standard screen.
Wednesday, April 10, 2024
Goodness Gracious, I've Gone to the Dark Side
- All 3 of the core 5e books: Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, and Monster Manual
- The "Wilderness Kit" screen which for my purposes is better suited than the DM screen "Reincarnated"
- The aforementioned Primal Order and Chessboard books
- Toolbox by Alderac Entertainment Group, a bunch of useful ref's random tables which I have owned for nearly 2 decades without using it much
- Vornheim: The Complete City Kit by Zak Smith still the best for random city construction/adventures and lots more
- Finally, my copy of The Critonomicon, a long out of print 3rd edition splatbook by Technomancer Press of very specific and fun crits and fumbles (Cripes, someone crafted a 5e version!)
Friday, January 26, 2024
Happy 50th Birthday Dungeons and Dragons!
Wednesday, January 10, 2024
Iconic RPG Author and Artist Jennell Jaquays Passed On Today
Jennell Jaquays left us today. She wrote many Judges Guild scenarios for D&D that were used several times over during my early gaming, most notably Dark Tower. Ha, I played a lot of paladins and always braved the tower for its Mitraic artifacts.
Hi Matt.Thank you for the letter. No worries about cheap stunts, etc. I jumped across the stream six years ago already. I'm surprised these days if someone HASN'T heard about it. And to answer the question that many ask, "Yes, I'm a LOT happier now."I'll try to give your version of The Walking Wet a look over sometime soon. I ran a Swords & Wizardry version of it (with many modifications) two years ago in Texas and am currently doing a complete overhaul and expansion of it for one of my own projects. I set the events of my original adventure in the past of the one I'm working on. Lots of map expansions and revisions, new world content, some new monsters, and more. My current working draft is about 80 pages, typeset. I'm doing the same with another adventure Morkendaine Manor, that I wrote for issue 9 of the Dungeoneer as well. Unsurprisingly, a lot of my characters are female and unashamedly LGBT as well.
I currently have four different RPG adventure projects in the work and really need to finish one of them (I did, earlier this year, something called The Dragon's Secret for a fund raiser).
Anyway, I hope the convention run goes well.
Monday, December 19, 2022
Bejesus, Satanis...
Friday, August 20, 2021
"Death Dealer"
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| ("Death Dealer" by Frank Frazetta, 1973) |
Ok, fuuuuuuuuuck... I have so much shit I need to get done. Let's make a list!
Seriously, I was getting a bit overwhelmed a year ago when my work began opening up again that sorting things, listing, setting priorities really helped. Ha, I would prefer not to exit life with a bunch of half-finished contributions to the hobby I love.
First, say it, I waste way too much time reading posts in Twitter and arguing with right-wingers on Facebook. STOP IT! Pick one day per week, like Thursday night, take 4 hours to riff through the thoughts of others. (This worked for me in law school.)
Second, gotta allocate time for work, non-profit orgs, and family. 4 hours each day during the week is the minimum I need to plan for my practice, I spends something like 6 hours each week hoping to contribute to the greater good, 14 hours per week spending time with my son and special needs grandson and maybe another 6 hours every other week visiting with other fam.
Thirdsies, Sleeeeeep... Dude, you need at least 6 hours every day (my psydoc back in the day had me set an alarm for midnight each day so I would get to bed by 1am).
Fourth, meals and grooooomong. What, an hour a day unless I'm going out to eat.
Fifth, music. I orta practice an hour each day if'n I wants to get better on the drums. (Just kidding, still bassey.)
Ok so how many hours per week is that??? 4+20+6+14+3+42+7+7=103 out of 168 hours per week. 103-168=65 hours left over, say 9 hours each day. Obviously me and me spouse need our time, and there's gonna be time shopping for groceries, doing bills, cleaning, laundry, minor car repairs, etc. Given all that I should be able to set aside 2 hours five days a week to work on gaming stuff contributin' to our craft.
So what is in the pipeline for the past many months (years)...
- Video on City State of the Invincible Overlord (Several folks have done overviews, but I don't think by anyone who gamed the City State. And we gamed it hard.)
- Advanced Labyrinth Lord version of Underport (Just that new level nine needs some imaginatory time.)
- Video on the underworld of Arduin (Continuations of my series of "brief" Arduin setting videos.)
- Hard to be an Aorit-Q (My Qanon and last scenario for Troika!)
- Metropolis of Chaos (The abyss under Underport, a lot of ideas on this.)
- A weekly 2-hour online game (Hmmm, I am leaning toward LotFP. Our regular group runs every other month and I only Ref as part of a rotation. I get some satisfaction refing an ongoing campaign solo.)
Saturday, May 8, 2021
The Combat Discharger
Saturday, September 5, 2020
Chronospatial Details in Lamentations of the Flame Princess Adventures
I have been intrigued for the past few months to run a sand box campaign in the Lamentations of the Flame Princess early modern weird historical fantasy milieu. While refereeing our games I have made brief ventures into alternative timescapes, but always part of a larger, sword and sorcery medieval fantasy campaign. In Lamentations weird historical fantasy the scene is primarily set in actual early modern 17th century Earth. It is an era of post-renaissance scientific revolution, commercial exploration, colonialization, and exploitation, and some profoundly devastating military conflicts often based around religious or quasi-religious differences.
Mechanically, the basic impact from the early modern setting is the addition of rules for simple firearms such as the flintlock. Other than that there is certainly enough mysterious and uncharted territory (at least from the European perspective) in Africa, the far east, the Arctic, and in the Americas.
In terms of a campaign setting map, I discovered this awesome 17th century atlas, Atlas Maior published between 1662 and 1672, which provides very cool worldwide maps. I just struggled a bit with how to initiate the campaign in a region and timeframe where I could maximize in both a spatial and a temporal sand box the potential incorporation of Lamentation adventures already extant.
So, what I fashioned is a spreadsheet of Lamentation adventures and supplements that includes product number, title, year, location, some locations notes, any recommended PC level, and (for giggles) the product release date. While I purposefully attempted to avoid spoilers, this is really a resource for game referees and not players.
My hope is that with the adventures outlined I can pick a time and a spot for a campaign that will maximize my use of the standard Lamentations products which in turn lets me know where I may be filling in encounters with my own home brew material.
Wednesday, May 20, 2020
Fireworks Hailing Over Cube World
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| (Artist unknown, embellished from a t-shirt) |
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| (The Adventures of Prince Ahmed, by Lotte Reiniger, 1922) |
Tuesday, May 5, 2020
Legendary Lands of Arduin, Episode 3 (Home Brew)
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| (Arduin home brew map...) |
Sunday, May 3, 2020
Legendary Lands of Arduin, Episode 2 (Cosmology)
Correction: When I mentioned David Hargrave's AKA "Dream Weaver" I also mentioned there is a class by that name. The class is correctly "Rune Weaver" and in the game's far distant history were "the first true men" who defeated the reptilian Kthoi.
World of Khaas web archive...
Emperors Choice Games...
Emperors Choice on DriveThruRPG...
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| (From Moons of Arduin by Thomas Grable) |
Thursday, April 30, 2020
Legendary Lands of Arduin, Episode 1 (Published Materials)
Apologies! The author of "White Roc Inn," "World of Khaas," and "Arduin Eternal" is Monty St. John. I repeatedly in the video misstated Monty's name as "Monty St. Jean" so sorry. Monty spent more than a decade keeping the Arduin fires burning!
Games of Berkeley...
Emperors Choice on DriveThruRPG...
Dragon Tree Press...
Arduin Eternal on Amazon...
Arduin Eternal Bestiary on Amazon...
Arduin is a Registered Trademark of Emperors Choice Games & Miniatures.


















