I. Dear friends…
Today, for my own quirky interest, I present to you a random list of old school fantasy tropes from the 80s and beyond that have been on my mind recently.
Magic with Sparkles (Treated Seriously)
There was a time it was more than just kiddie clipart or unicorn vomit. Magicians casting magic that glitters, and doing it with a straight face.
Pointy Blue Hats With Stars
Either on top of a grizzled old guy, or on a short anthropomorphic animal flanked by marching brooms with buckets of water.
The Crystal Ball
Look into the magical crystal ball, and see your future. Or scry upon your enemies as you cackle menacingly. Just remember to keep it away from any libertarian billionaires.
Gelatinous Cubes
Where did they go? They were all the rage in the 80s. One of the unique monsters synonymous with early DnD. We just dont see them much anymore. … My dungeon needs cleaning, damnit!
Chivalric Orders, and Medieval Codes of Honor based on the Seven Virtues
Faith. Hope. Prudence. Charity. Fortitude. Justice. Temperance. … Paladins before paladins. Were they just too vanilla? Boring? Archetypal and unrelatable? The butt of a joke? Constant target for (fun) corruption by the easily bored?
Elves. Elves. And More Elves
We’re a long way from Tolkien, and all of the LOTR impressionists through the decades. From Middle Earth, to Azeroth, to world-building Redditors saying ‘My Elves are Different’.
Speaking in Terrible Middle English
Yes. Mi’Lord.
Summoning Demons with Pentagrams.
Some things truly never get old. For the sake of fashion, lets bring back pentagrams with candles, and big red horned muscle hunks/babes wreathed in fire.
Legendary Magic Swords
Always the prize of heroes. The pinnacle of lethal weapons, and with legendary, nigh existential attributes of which it defends or represents. The ultimate “No U” against evil.
Hair Metal Warriors with Chiseled Abs
Everyone a Conan, backed by red skies. Or femme with horned helmet, furs, and deep eyeshadow. Beware the impractical armor. Don’t forget to punch horny creeps in the nads.
Every Wizard Looks Like Gandalf
That same big gray bearded old guy. Wise, harsh, cranky, and leading some youngin to their inevitable adventure with no regard to impending trauma. Always in a robe, and a pointy hat. (And always white for some reason??)
Weird Outer Space Tie-In
When our medieval fantasy world is too common-place, so we decided to sprinkle a crushed space opera into the lore. Lets throw in a NASA space shuttle for good measure. Or a photon gun!
Armored Warrior Vs Great Beast
From Beowulf and Grendel, to Don Quixote and Windmills, Ironman vs Thanos, and Shrek+Donkey and the Big Lovely Dragon. Epic showdowns, and subversions to showdowns. … Bring your big shield!
Yes, my list of ridiculous tropes! … I list you in loving appreciation and a healthy degree cringe, for if it wasn’t for you, we would not know taste of our fantastical food well enough to know how to cook something greater.
If you have certain tropes you love (or hate), please comment them below!
II. The Sage Speaks
Continuing the saga of populating the TTRPG Glossary.
Here are this weeks terms:
Critical Hit/Miss - An action or attack with a powerful outcome, often as the rare result of a dice roll, such as with a d20. A hit means great success (20), while a miss spells utter disaster (1).
Megadungeon - A massive, sprawling complex of rooms and mazes large enough to be its own campaign setting, with countless dangers and treasures. A megadungeon may be treated as an ever deep location to consistently revisit over the campaign, or one to be lost in across multiple sessions.
Quantum Ogre - An obstacle which the game master causes to happen regardless of the path (or choices) of the players. While it can be employed to save on GM planning, it often invalidates player actions by creating an “illusion of choice” which the players can easily see through.
Retroclone - A modern RPG which evokes the style of a classic RPG. Often this is done by emulating art, atmosphere, and rules commonly found in games of the time in order present a vintage or nostalgic experience.
Virtual Tabletop (VTT) - A digital platform for running pen-and-paper RPGs and board games online. Provides visual assets, basic dice rolling, quick reference to the rules, and even a means for voice or text chat between players. … Some common examples: Roll20, Foundry, Owlbear Rodeo, Fantasy Grounds, etc.
III. The Treasure Chest
«««»«»«»«»»» This Weeks FREE Resource!! «««»«»«»«»»»
For indie creators, writers, bloggers, graphic designers, and others,… art resources are everything! MorgueFile is a fantastic site for free stock photos. Find over 400k images both Creative Commons 0 and Public Domain. … because why reduce your work with slop when there are TONS of free and legal resources out there to work with!?
IV. Markings on the Wall
TTRPG Sales, Deals, Etc.
Modiphius Entertainment is hosting the ”Press Start to Play” Sale, with up to 50% off on a massive list of TTRPG core rulebooks, supplements, dice sets, and starter kits. (Star Trek 2E, Achtung! Cthulhu, Fallout RPG, Dune RPG, Dreams and Machines, and more!!)
The Game Master’s Handbook of Patrons, Pacts & Pantheons is available for pre-order now on our Bookshop.org store! Build a divinity for your fantastical world, and call forth the gods of creation.
Modern horror
REDACTED! Experience the Delta Green Cosmic Horror RPG collection, and assemble your team of doomed agents confronting bumps in the night, now on Fanatical.Check out the Independent Media Collective bundle, which includes a discounted subscription to Rascal News, Aftermath, Rogue.Site, and Never Post! … Enjoy some gaming journalism!
[6 DAYS LEFT] Magpie Games has gathered together a few of its indie titles into the Magpie Classic Indie RPG Physical Book Bundle.
NEW Crowdfunding Projects
City of Sirens: 5E+ Urban Adventures in the Eldritch Fallout - Enjoy a siren-cursed expansion and campaign setting in the urban apocalypse. Generate your own forsaken city, and confront aquatic horrors. Inspired by Bioshock and Fallout.
Dungeon and Wilderness Stamps by Castle Grief - Hand-crafted stamps perfect for map-making, sandbox campaigns, and hex-crawling adventures, whether it be within a sprawling overworld, or a twisting and cavernous underworld. Bring some charm to your physical cartography!
RPG News and Finds
I’m super happy that Dragons Dungeons & Drinks was able to mobilize after a catastrophic theft left them with nothing! … If you’re a Minneapolis local, or appreciator of DnD events, check out the GoFundMe!
The battle of MTG Arena vs WOTC over unionization sees Wizards failing to recognize the organizing by the May 1st deadline and forcing through a painful election process. Here is the latest Reddit post here!
If you’re a lover of solo TTRPGS, you should really check out the blog and NEW podcast by . Episode #2 has just been released, and you can listen to it here!
In February 2025, Chaosium Inc. released Questworlds RPG, a rules engine designed for play in larger-than-life cinematic settings. monkeyX’s games blog digs into its merits, where it excels, and where it lacks in QuestWorlds: An Engine Looking for a Showrunner
A site consisting of AI-genearated profiles of TTRPG icons, designers, and industry people has sparked outrage on social media over the intrusion of slop into the historical record, Rascal News reports.
I highlight ’s content quite a bit for the fantastic GM and design advice. The Living Dungeon is no exception, as it provides a thorough look at dungeon crawls, and how to make them into dynamic, high-stakes settings filled with meaningful conflict.
When it comes to world-building, real life lore is the perfect starting point for inspiration, and Earth is already filled with mysteries of old! … The have collected a list of unsolved historical mysteries which keep them up at night.
Bleeding Cool covers the recent Kickstarter policy change over adult content in crowdfunding projects, targeting comics specifically. A policy which may no doubt move into other spaces such as RPGs.
Check out the previous issue here!