Errant Thinking

Errant Thinking

@errantthinking.bsky.social

Asking insightful questions. Seeking thoughtful answers! https://errantthinking.com/ TTRPGs, Game Design, Philosophy, Science, Education, A Love of Life

51 followers77 following174 posts

Been thinking about low fantasy for a long time. I'm a big fan on settings with good foundations in realism or low fantasy. It makes them more believable and introduces real world knowledge into the game for me and others to explore. Once grounded, then I like to explore the higher fantasy more. 🚀

Errant Thinking reposted

Patchwork Paladin is not here on bsky to promote it, but are people wise to her newsletter? Great picks for the cream of the blogosphere each week, a swift rundown of what’s in the discourse and my personal favourite, a weekly poem. #osr #ttrpg #blog #newsletter

patchworkpaladin.comPatchwork Newsletter Volume 2, Issue 28This week’s Discord discussions, blog posts to read, projects to download, arrivals, a ton of play reports, and of course a poem.

As work on my draft of Small Souls, I'm revisiting my creature entries, as its both a "monster manual" and playable creatures list. Working on something that is meant to be more generic of a system (relative resolution or even the small folk genre) I find it difficult to put the vibe in the text. 🧵

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This can be difficult for a generic system to resonate with the audience when it is farther removed from a story or vibe. For Small Souls, I realize my story lies in fairy tales and the lil folk genre. So I'll emphasize all the folk tales and magic of story telling I can for each lil creature. ✨

All this to say, TTRPG material is meant to _inspire_. Vibes may seem nebulous as in what it is, but as a concept I find it clear. Vibes. Vibrations which are felt. Feelings. Like art, TTRPG material is to move you, but more so it is to inspire you to create and act and play with your imagination.

As work on my draft of Small Souls, I'm revisiting my creature entries, as its both a "monster manual" and playable creatures list. Working on something that is meant to be more generic of a system (relative resolution or even the small folk genre) I find it difficult to put the vibe in the text. 🧵

Recently, I've come to realize that vibe is the primary point of all TTRPG material, even mechanics. Why this resolution over another? To purposefully support the intended vibe of play! Relative resolution is meant to encourage giving it your all, pushing your physical limits - but at a cost! 🧵

Why this system over another? vibe first. This setting over another? Vibe first. Why do we love art? 1000 unspoken words of vibe and even more, a story when its real good. Vibe and stories are what we gravitate towards. It is the first and foremost thing to consider when making TTRPG material. 🧵

A quick read on what amounts to a something like Ocaam's razor for game system design. If a rule is added, then it better provide a richer experience within the desired play space than if it weren't present. Always ask, "what is the benefit of adding this rule to the game?" And play test often! :]

Personable | Markus@personable.bsky.social

Playing with fire by blogging about game design and the role of rules personable.blog/designing-ga...

This is a card from "The Moth presents A Game of Storytelling". Less so a game & more so useful prompts for self-reflection & turning memories into stories, or TTRPG character questions! I use it to inspire prompts in my WIP game Affinity Divined. Tarot cards for improv & retroactive storytelling

Velocitree was among the early few to discuss tiny epics with me back at the start of March. He recently shared a reflection on play principles he learned while playing RPGs with his kids. An excellent read! I enjoyed reading their experiences & love for unchained imagination :D "Yes and" strong!

Velocitree@velocitree.bsky.social

For all those RPG folks who play woth young kids out there, please benefit from my mistakes: dreamshrike.blogspot.com/2026/04/maus...

I enjoyed reading this post out of mutual appreciation for Wind in the Willows and for their art & delightful spin in the middle. Considering sentient creatures of varying sizes in the same world opens up a plethora of ecological and moral dilemmas. I'm glad someone wrote something on that. :]

Errant Thinking reposted

I swear I'm still working of some stuff! Just a lot going on in the background - here's a mostly-done grab of the 11x17 broadsheet my adventure is going on for the B2Cons zine. Not gonna lie, I'm pretty excited to finish - I've got so many Redwood Hack ideas I want to explore! #ttrpg #osr #layout

I love energy & physics modeling! An action packed game has high energy and lots of kinetics in your game's focus. My game's dynamics start kinetic heading to bad times. The players are encouraged to intervene and direct potential energy to stop the big bad ball in motion. Good food for thought!

Ty@mindstorm.bsky.social

⚡ NEW BLOG POST! I'm back talking about adventure design, this time laying out a mental model for 'energy' inside of an adventure. It's a simple and effective way to categorize elements inside of the scenario and look for stagnation and chaos. Check it out! ⚡ www.mindstormpress.com/energy-coin-...

Foraging tends to focus on rations, but this post explores what if crafting was the focus? These homebrew rules & some new & modified items for OSE got me thinking more about foraging & the purpose it serves in game world and at the table. Consider giving it a read, esp. if you forage in OSE.

Will - Hardboiled Fantasyland@hardboiledfantasy.bsky.social

I blogged! Been writing a fair number of house rules for my OSE open table, and figured I could throw some of them online. Here are my Foraging rules! Something different to what I've seen elsewhere... perhaps they interest you? No more rations! hardboiledfantasyland.blogspot.com/2026/04/fora...

Just set the min required dice to roll under a value to succeed. You situate yourself in the narrative to add dice or lower the scale of difficulty, possibly automatically succeeding. This quantizes the states between automatic success & failure. Forward moving mixed-outcome & fun in itself! :]

Given its the March of Tiny Epics, I decided to share some practice sketches I made. Most of these are sketched from reference to Mouse Guard art. The Frieren Angle though is my own after getting a feel for the style. ;]

The March of Tiny Epics continues! errantthinking.com/march-of-tin...

errantthinking.comMarch of Tiny EpicsMore join the March of Tiny Epics for this RPG Blog Carnival!
Errant Thinking@errantthinking.bsky.social

The small ones among us are may be overlooked, but they surely have grand tales to tell! Let's explore these tiny epics in the #ttrpg Blog Carnival. Smol mouse & a needle sword? A Shadow of the Colossus boss fight? Share your creations early! Final roundup on March 31 errantthinking.com/tiny-epics/

Midway through the March of Tiny Epics! I share some early posts & some discussions. Don't worry, you have time to join the march! Share your published works early, even if WIP or ashcans, and I'll do more weekend updates before the final round up on March 31st errantthinking.com/amidst-tiny-...

errantthinking.comAmidst Tiny EpicsAn update on recent contributions to the Tiny Epic March RPG Blog Carnival and a brief discussion of ideas.
Errant Thinking@errantthinking.bsky.social

The small ones among us are may be overlooked, but they surely have grand tales to tell! Let's explore these tiny epics in the #ttrpg Blog Carnival. Smol mouse & a needle sword? A Shadow of the Colossus boss fight? Share your creations early! Final roundup on March 31 errantthinking.com/tiny-epics/

I love Into the Odd's snappy auto hits in combat. However, without the roll to hit, I realized it lacked grounding. A complete noob at archery always hits! What, are you going to "save" to harm another? PW's got a post considering accuracy for a Pokemon ttrpg. Its nice to know others are on this! 💖

Prismatic Wasteland@prismaticwasteland.com

If you ask someone how Into the Odd has streamlined their games, they will probably mention removing the "to hit" roll and just rolling damage. I blasphemously ask the question: can we re-incorporate accuracy and missed attacks with Into the Odd without turning it into a major slog? #osr #ttrpg

Gotta love to see people analyzing their design influences like this!

Serket :3c@serket08.bsky.social

I played Final Fantasy Tactics and it was a game of all time. Delita Heiral lives rent free in my head now, so I decided to unpack the ways in which this game has influenced my ttrpg design. www.fluoriteguillotine.com/blog/2026/03...

Errant Thinking reposted

Hey gang, my second Dolmenwood adventure lair is up on drivethruRPG. It features a fractious gang of spooky witch owls occupying an ancient deorling temple along with their shadow minions and some brainwashed prisoners. It's a good time! #osr #dolmenwood #necroticgnome

drivethrurpg.comParliament of Owls - Dougal Cochrane | DriveThruRPGParliament of Owls is an adventure for the Dolmenwood RPG by Necrotic Gnome. It's designed to be a monster lair dropped into any Dolmenwood hex situated near a river. The lair consists of a set of rui...

The small ones among us are may be overlooked, but they surely have grand tales to tell! Let's explore these tiny epics in the #ttrpg Blog Carnival. Smol mouse & a needle sword? A Shadow of the Colossus boss fight? Share your creations early! Final roundup on March 31 errantthinking.com/tiny-epics/

errantthinking.comTiny Epics: Small Souls in a Big World!The small ones among us are sometimes overlooked, but they surely have grand tales to tell! This March, let's explore these tiny epics for the RPG Blog Carnival!

I've been thinking of re-reading Wind in the Willows! A classic and I wanted to see how it holds up for me after all this while. I also deeply enjoy Ernest H. Shepards' illustrations. So lovely!

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Festivals display the customs & culture of a society. For the Nov. RPG Blog Carnival, I shared a bit on irl festivals and mythos focused on the change of seasons to inspire our TTRPGs! I only scratched the surface. Do you know any such festivals or folklore? #ttrpg #dnd5e #worldbuilding #dnd #mythos