Black Curtain - A metaphorical barrier which blocks out all sight, and hides knowledge from the players in order to preserve the power, mystery, and machinations of a game master and the adventure itself. A GMs screen is a physical example of this.

Scene Framing - As a GM, this is the art of not just setting a scene, but determining how it is presented to players, what their paths are, how they can approach it, and how they might complete it.

Fail-Forward - A concept in gaming where failure progresses the events in-game, rather than halting them. The party stumbles, but the adventure moves forward. This can also be reframed as “success, but with a cost”.

GM Screen - A gamemasters screen (GM screen) is an accessory made out of cardboard or other light-but-rugged material used by the game master to hide notes, physical items, and dice from the players in order to preserve the mystery of the game.

Murderhobo - A player (or group of players) whose character wanders from place to place within the campaign world, killing things and moving on. This play-style of often at the expense of more social or roleplay centric play.

FREE RPG DAY is quickly arriving at the end of this week! There will be all sorts of fabulous games and adventures to pick up at your local store and online. Jason Volk over at TTRPG Fanatics has assembled a list of publishers participating with free stuff that will be available June 27th. … I’ll be eyeing the Daggerheart and Pirate Borg adventures personally!

Cyberpunk Summer Spotlight Titles … Up to 50% off on a library of cyberpunk TTRPGs and supplements on DriveThruRPG.

Professor DMs Dungeon Crawl Classics Essentials Bundle … $1,269 $45

Cyberpunk RED Ready-to-Run Essentials Bundle … $318 $35

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Bundle on Fanatical … $202 $19

Mutant Crawl Classics RPG Bundle on Fanatical. … $366 $18

Delta Green Cosmic Horror RPG Collection on Fanatical… $398 $15

Cyberrats IN SPACE - Become a vengeful rodent! Pilot one of ten different mech, take up munitions, and blast the enemy to bits in this fun, tactical, and bizarre RPG inspired by the likes of XCOM, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Shadowrun, and Atlas Reactor. … Standalone, but compatible with previous Cyberrat games!

One of the biggest waves in TTRPG blogosphere content this week is on the topic of “Repetition”. As game masters and developers, we may be compelled to try to refresh and remix the dungeons and points-of-interest in our campaigns and game worlds. Sometimes, staying within repetition and preserving the game loop is the best thing you can do!

You know me, friends! I’m always learning new terminology and approaches to game design. Circa 2021, the blog Trilemma proposed an experimental RPG design principle which has since gained some traction with new game projects on itch.io. Take a moment and learn a bit about MOSAIC Strict RPG Design.

Here’s an interesting way to get inspired. Imagine building your adventures, setting pieces, and world on literary quotes? In fact, WormLikeChain has built a Random Inspiration Generator which takes various quotes from across public domain books and other literary works and let you roll for inspiration. What will you roll? A random line from Shakespeare? A one-off from utterance from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein? Or maybe the most random passage from the King James Bible? … Give it a spin and see what ideas inspire you!

The Lonely Star blog provides us a fun and useful translation between common dice rolls (d2-through-d400) and a plain deck of 52 cards! … Using the power of maths and probability, you can spice up your game by switching mediums altogether.

Its not exactly like Oregon Trail, but its possible that your TTRPG party may find itself trekking along with a caravan of peoples, maybe even across a timeline of weeks rather than days. In this case, you’ll might want a more specialized approach to encounters, obstacles, complications, and scenery. Ye Old Revivalist proposes a system and presents How to Make a Caravan Crawl.

I got back into watching Invincible, the animated superhero series. Based on the comics, its a story of conflicting tones; a coming-of-age superhero story filled with bright colors and amazing characters subverted with bloody (sometimes gory) consequences. As it turns out, the Invincible TTRPG is confirmed for release at retail locations starting July 30 per Free League Publishing's official site. Check out the FREE Quickstart Adventure here!

In the Dungeons and Dragons world, WOTC has been releasing Unearthed Arcana to playtest villainous subclasses and options.

The 2026 Origins Award Winners have been announced by GAMA. Check out RPG Fanatics breakdown who won Game of the Year, Best Supplement, and the top nominations of each category.

Matt Mercer, the prolific DM of the show Critical Role, has been a driving force in the TTRPG live-stream circuit, introducing hundreds of thousands of new players to the medium. It is often said that his style of game has inspired many, but also casted a difficult and sometimes uncomfortable mold for everyday game masters to break out of, often dubbed the “Matt Mercer Effect”. … Jody Macgregor at PC Gamer has decided to throw in their hot-take and argue that “There’s no such thing as the Matt Mercer Effect”.

R Talisorian Games have dropped a massive sourcebook for their Cyberpunk RED TTRPG. This supplement, titled Night City 2045, is a full setting breakdown complete with geography, history, politics, factions, districts, and over 600 locations to visit!

I uncovered MORE magical game jams LIVE NOW on itch.io!

Are you eyeing the Backrooms Jam one and thinking to yourself “How would that work as a dungeon?” … Bob World Builder has already postulated this and released a video on the subject. Not limited to DnD of course.