Characters As Hope

Why do we make characters? What compels us to keep rolling up characters we may never play or even look at again? What's the point of spending time breathing life into numbers on a piece of paper if that life only ever sees that glimmer of reality and never a full table?

For me, it's a form of self-soothing.

Lemme 'splain, using Mongoose Traveller. Also look at Hanlon Greyrazor.

Lance Sgt Malachi Dobbs (Human, Age 30, ex-Army Scout)
B46686 - Athletics 0, Carouse 0, Drive 0, Gun Combat (Slug) 2, Heavy Weapons (Vehicle) 1, Investigate 1, Leadership 1, Melee (Blade) 1, Navigation 1, Recon 2, Streetwise 0, Survival 1, Vacc Suit 0
Gear: Cr 8,350. Augments: Enhanced Vision, Subdermal Armor. Cloth Armour, Suppressed ACR (DNA-locked), Cutlass, Mobile Comm, and an assortment of Grenades.
(Created Summer 2021)

Bolthaven Folio #3 Is Available Now

The Zine, Printed.

On 2/28/26, at the very end of Zine Month, I uploaded Bolthaven Folio #3 to itch and DriveThruRPG. It's playable, and I've got many expansion plans for the system.

I'd love your feedback on the system as it stands. If you play with it, please let me know what you think about the system. If you think it needs more explanation on any piece, that's hugely important to me. Similarly, please let me know if you want the information presented in a different order to make it easier to digest and use.

You can leave me a comment on this post, or reach out to me on Bluesky or at the dice.camp Mastodon instance. I'll respond, though it might take me a few days. I'll give you a mention on future iterations of the Settlement System.

And speaking of which...

Irons In Fires

Happy Zine Month!

I've made a goal to publish 6 things in 2026. I'm knee deep in laying out and polishing up Bolthaven Folio #3 right now, and I've got a new editing gig in the door, so the next few weeks feel very full. I've got some other projects in the hopper, but I may take a look back and rehab some old projects during March. So let's see what's on my mind lately.

The Present

I've done some testing with the Settlement System that appears in Bolthaven Folio #3. It's minimal as tests go, but I think the system holds up. It'll be interesting to see this work at larger settlement sizes. I'm hoping to get that published this week for Zine Month (#ZiMo), so stay tuned. And the aforementioned editing gig just kicked off, so I'll be distracted for the next few weeks.

Loose Game Prep

Not a self-portrait, but close.

I ran my Fellport D&D game yesterday for the first time since September. Before that, I did some game prep, but I don't know that my game prep is the same as your game prep. So let's talk about it.

I don't like to do "strict" game prep. I think of "strict prep" like prepping for a dungeon. "Room 1 is 30 foot square with 10 foot ceilings, and it contains an orc and a pie." The description is stated as hard facts, and there's very little the characters or the GM can add in the moment. You can bake in some surprises and leave the furnishings vague, but generally the play experience is stiff and not very memorable. It's not great for the party splitting up and wandering an urban landscape, getting into trouble wherever they go.

As a general rule, I do "loose" game prep.

Testing Settlements - Coldwater Bend Part 5

Finally A Hamlet!

I'm testing my settlement system by telling the story of Coldwater Bend, a brand new hamlet built by a party of ex-adventurers by the riverbend teeming with trout. You can read Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here, and Part 4 here.

Turn 13

Income generates 4 Coin (the Tavern triggered!), 2 Morale, 2 Wood, and a River Trout. Growing to a Hamlet proceeds apace (4 of 6 PP done. Next turn for sure.). Foraging turned up nothing. We get an Attack for an Event this turn, so we'll resolve that after Trading.

Our Specialists take their 2 Coin. Zofia trades a Wood for 1 Iron and 1 Coin (yay, special ability!), and pays 1 Coin to get some Wheat, as a hedge against growth. Tadek takes the Iron and forges weapons, giving a +1 to Militia until next turn.