Appendix N Jam 2026: Submitted!

I'm proud of this cover.

Yes, it's that time of year again, and I've submitted my entry for the Appendix N Jam. This year I pulled the title "The Tomb Tappers", and once again, I went completely literal with two different definitions of the word "tapper". Now I'm downloading other entries and rating them.

Speaking of which, if you're also a part of the Jam, you can rate The Tomb Tappers and leave a comment, both of which I would greatly appreciate. If you're not a part of the Jam, go download a copy and challenge yourself to design a gonzo fantasy/sci fi adventure next year.

I had a brainwave when I started jotting ideas down: What if the tappers were aliens who could fold space? And what if there were a few tombs they wanted something out of? And what if I could use the format of the printed pamphlet to simulate that folding space?

Taberna Celeris Is Out Now!

I even printed a few copies.

I've hit the Publish buttons on my Itch store and my RPG Trader store to get Taberna Celeris out into the world. I realized I didn't publish Tabula Mortis to my DriveThru RPG shop, so I'll rectify that oversight this week for both trifold products.

Go grab a copy while it's still Pay What You Will:
Get Taberna Celeris On Itch, and At RPG Trader.

I told y'all it would only be a few days, and here we are.

Yes, this is title number 2 in what I'm calling the Trifold Triptych. It'll be three trifold zines containing random tables for generating things in your TTRPGs. I'm still brainstorming a topic for #3, but stay tuned. I'm hoping to get that one published sometime in September.

Bolthaven Folio #4 Is Live

Space Marine
by blanketfort

Howdy, all!

I just hit the "Make Public" buttons for Bolthaven Folio #4: On Our Honour at my itch.io and DriveThruRPG stores. I wrote the first draft of this zine back in 2019, when I first conceived of Bolthaven Folios, and then I sat on it for 7 years. Thanks COVID-19, undiagnosed depression, and the general enshittification of America.

BUT WE'RE BACK NOW. I overhauled what I wrote, and my kid wanted a second crack at the art (and I love what they did!). So we spent most of June making this zine to unleash upon you and your tabletop game cohorts. Head over and download a copy, kick in a few bucks if you're able, and don't forget to rate and review.

Go grab your copy:
Folio #4 at itch
Folio #4 at DriveThruRPG

Tabula Mortis

I made another weird little game add-on for you.

It's filled with a dozen random tables that detail horrific scenes of murder, mayhem, and death.

You'll love it. It's right up your alley.

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.

Jammin' and Publishin'

Hey there, Yawning Chasm That Is The Intarwebz. How y'all been? It's been a hot minute since I just talked to you, so I thought I'd do something like that now.

I basically gave this blog over to my current campaign setting Fellport over the past 2.5 years, posting nothing but NPCs, locations, items, groups, and related snippets to use in your game if you want. I shifted focus from my thoughts to stuff I made, thinking nobody would care about this aging white guy's opinions. Maybe that's true. Maybe the void will eat my thoughts and never give anything back. But does that negate the effort or the accomplishment of having strung together words in hopes of clarifying my thoughts and working through what I might think? I don't think so. I'm writing here mainly for me, but if these words reach anyone with similar beliefs and biases, great! So let's get to it.

Just to let you know, things have shifted for me since April, and things have shifted more in the past 6-7 weeks. Lemme 'splain.

(WARNING: Brain Dump Below The Cut! Double-check your safety gear now!)

Bolthaven Folio #1: Coming Soon

Draft of Bolthaven Folio #1

I've been fighting with myself for a long time. I'm just an editor (even though it's never "just" editing). I'm not a game designer (even though I've been doing it since I started playing, and I even have a card). I'm not good enough (even though friends keep asking for me to run more games for them).

It took time and effort, but I can finally talk over my Brain Weasels.

I have ideas. Given the 240ish posts here about Fellport over the past 2 years, apparently I have plenty of ideas. That's never been the issue. Developing the idea and sticking with it until there's something solid that can stand on its own has been my stumbling block. Now, I think I have something worthwhile. I thought I'd start a series of zines to start getting these ideas out into the world, called Bolthaven Folios.

Timing Isn't Everything...

Preliminary layout and art.

...but it is most things.

Bolthaven Folio Update

Suffice to say that the Bolthaven Folio Kickstarter will not happen in February. I had enough to go live with, but I'm waiting for Kickstarter to approve me before they can review the project. Part of me is bitterly disappointed. Part of me knows better.

With the delay I take get a better crack at a header. I can continue layout tweaking and figure out how to format the tables that I want to include in the interior pages. I have time to edit the text and get the second draft out to pre-readers for feedback. My daughter can finish the cat samurai artwork - she just has to tweak the katana and do some finish work on the piece.

I'm excited at the prospect of getting something out the door, and I'm thrilled at having another dozen issues worth of ideas. Let's get this one done and shipped, then I can poll the backers and figure out which few ideas to develop next.

Tempus Fugit

It's been a year to the day since my last post here. That's enough silence, and enough waiting for the rest of life to settle down. High time I started writing again, so buckle up.

I could make empty promises that I'll post something at least monthly, and then summer will happen and I'll drop off the face of the earth for a few months. So I won't. I'll just say I'll post when I feel moved to post and go from there.

For those of you still out there and reading along: Thanks for sticking with it. Or for the laziness in not cleaning up your dead blog links. Whichever, the end result is the same.

I've got a few irons in the fire currently...

The Idea Workbook

Since I wrote Honor Your Ideas last week, I've put my money where my mouth is and started doing exactly that. I started with a notebook...

The Right Job for the Fool

via Wikimedia Commons

Why do I edit?

Why do I put myself through the wringer? Sometimes I scramble to find the time to edit before the deadline when my day job crushes my schedule. Sometimes I hit a brick wall and have no idea how to express what needs to happen to improve the manuscript. Sometimes I wait for a manuscript to arrive after clearing my schedule so I'll have time to focus on it. Sometimes my edits are flat-out wrong for the project.

These are hard situations to face, but I keep finding myself coming back to editing.

State of the Wombat: Been Sick. Oy!

There's this strain of flu going around which doesn't cause a fever worth mentioning, but it makes you feel sick for a couple of weeks. And guess what I've had since just after Christmas! My apologies to those who came to Game Day for the possible infection.

Despite that, I'm getting things done.

• I'm feverishly churning out piles of little notebooks for the March Mythoard box as organized by +Jarrod Shaw. How can I say no to getting paid while advertising Wombat's Workshop to 300 gamers? I'm stamping them with skulls and calling them Tombstone Notebooks, though I'm open to other name ideas. You can stand them up to mark your fallen PCs on the battle map and scribe a remembrance inside after the encounter's done.

Tombstone Notebooks, ideal for tracking PC deaths.

Ideas Into Action

You have to have an idea of what you are going to do,
    but it should be a vague idea.
        – Pablo Picasso

Image from talkingholistic.com
via Pinterest.

Ideas will flow thick and furious if you let them. Open yourself to the possibilities and shut your internal judge up for a minute, and you can hear ideas crawling out of the woodwork. Most of them are crappy, but let them come. Write them down or they'll fade like morning dew.

Explore them. Turn them around in your mind. Scribble down doodles and chicken scratches inspired by them. Milk the possibilities out of each. Make vague plans for your most promising ideas. Get excited.

Now here's the tough part:

Do something with them.

I'm a train tumbling and making mistakes,
    But my choices are mine and that's why I have brakes.
Collisions, reversals, I keep scraping by.
    I'd rather be wrong than forget how to try.
        – The Doubleclicks, "Unstoppable Force"

I'm still fumbling my way through setting up Wombat's Workshop. Some things work, and some "great ideas" I had turned out to be total duds. But I made a thing, and now it wants to walk on its own, taking me along for the ride.

All in all, Wombat's Workshop is proceeding apace. I have an Etsy store to set up, new designs to tinker with, Tombstone Books to design and market, zines and RPGs to print and bind, and new products and partnerships explore. It's a rush, and it takes time to do correctly. I've slowed down posting in here in favor of working over there. That's not to say I don't love you, my loyal Gaming Den of Iniquity readers, but my priorities have shifted in recent weeks.

Tease: New products and parternships.
More in January. SQUEEEE!

So I'm not dead, merely distracted. These little notebooks ain't gonna make themselves, and I've got orders to fill.

In random gaming news, I received my copy of the D&D 5e Dungeon Masters Guide, and I'm starting a Classic Traveller play-by-post game. I have a few editing gigs lined up for next year, including a DCC zine and a Kickstarter project, but I'm waiting for triggers to be pulled. Stay tuned.

Gaming is happening, it's just a little squeezed for time in recent days.

And I'm learning. I'm always learning. If I ever stop learning, please bury me so at least my body will provide nutrients for the plants. If I'm ever arrogant enough to believe I know everything, please shoot me, then bury me as above.

Until next time, game on.

Thanks for reading!

The Wombat Workshop

A Magenta Graffito.

Little Notebooks for Big Adventures.
The Wombat Workshop is presently A Thing.

I've sold a couple of notebooks. I've talked it up a little at work, and I gave away a few of my prototypes. I have people at work interested in buying. I will have a table at a friend's small craft fair in a couple of weeks, in an environment with hopefully other interested buyers.

The Wombat Workshop is born. Or maybe Wombat's Workshop? What sounds better to you? Maps for sale will fall under this business name as well, I think.

If you're interested in purchasing notebooks from me directly, you can contact me on Google Plus, on Twitter, or via Email, with payment via PayPal. Let me know what color(s) you're interested in and I'll see what I can do.

The Punch List
So many things need to happen. I need to make more notebooks to sell, first and foremost. Showing up to a craft fair with only 20 notebooks ain't gonna cut it. Figuring out what colors people want will take some time in the field, but I'll take my best guess at it and we'll see how it goes.

Goings On

I've had plenty of irons in the fire lately.

Current Projects
I recently updated my Editing CV to reflect what I've been editing lately. I'm excited about putting the final touches on Drongo, consulting on the Moonquake Escape rules, and helping out with Black Powder, Black Magic in whatever capacity I can. That said, I should have the time for smaller projects. Please give a shout if you need an editor or proofreader and we'll start talking.

I really like this first map.

Aside from that, I've got a few side projects in the works. I've been mapping and binding a bit lately. Maybe it's time to mash those pursuits together.

Hopefully this weekend I can scan in some of my 3x5 maps to start playing with layout and figure out how to print/bind/laminate them effectively. I'm toying with other binding projects, just to see what's available and what I can do efficiently to bring more hand-made books to the hobby. More on those as they happen.

Creating Things

I haven't created a map yet this week, but I plan to this weekend. Work has been flat out with a data migration that got pushed from yesterday to sometime next week. It's taking a while to conclusively figure out why some money is being left on the migration room floor, and there's plenty of work yet to be done. So yeah, it's been a little busy in WombatWorkLand lately. Whee!

If only incubating ideas were this simple.

In the meanwhile, I've been floating an idea for a game product past a few friends. It's gotten generally positive feedback so far, so I'm moving on to hacking design issues and getting a prototype together. Getting everything to fit in a way that makes sense will probably be a challenge, but that's why we iterate through the design process.

Yes, I'm vaguebooking about this, but I want to have something a little more solid before I share it with a wider audience. That said, if you want to be involved with the process, drop me a line and I'll add you to the my Idea Incubation circle on G+.

I don't know how quickly things will happen, as there's a time investment I need to make, but hopefully I can get something together to demo in September. Stay tuned.

Thanks for reading!

Editing: Work and Jobs

Bad blogger. No donut.

In my defense, I've been editing my tail off. Right now I'm juggling 3 projects, and there's at least one more manuscript coming just after Memorial Day. More on that as I find time to update my Editing CV.

Earlier this week I saw 2 full-time editing opportunities go by from 2 different, established RPG publishers. I don't think moving across the country is in the cards for me right now, so I thought I'd pass them on in case any of you were interested. So, Seattleites and Austinites, listen up...

The Dance Card

Things are proceeding apace. I just wanted to take a few minutes and give a generic update here at the end of February.

Editing
The Whispering Road is coming along. The main book is in layout now, and I'm waiting to proof the PDF. I love the game - it's a fairly simple system of GMless collaborative storytelling, and I love the act structure and conflict system. If you missed the Kickstarter, keep an eye out for it later in March so you can grab a copy.

Checking In, Autumn 2013

Hi. It's been a while, but I thought I'd check in. This summer has been busy. Unnecessarily so, since I managed to volunteer at church and walk into the middle of a firestorm of competing opinions. I'm disentangling myself from that soon, and I hope to finish an article on toxic groups which relates my experience over the past year to dealing with unhealthy gaming groups.

Coming in December.

As for gaming work, I haven't put in the effort to drum up new business lately. I had a handful of small projects that hit all at once, and I've dabbled with flash fiction and fictional ads to keep from going totally off the deep end, but mostly I coasted through this summer and fall. A few things happened this week that brought me back to my senses.

1) Covert Ops
I'm editing Covert Ops for DwD Studios. I edited BareBones Fantasy for them last year. I had fun doing it, and I like the system. Bill emailed me out of the blue to ask if I had the bandwidth to work on Covert Ops, and a few hours later I had the manuscript in hand and an agreement in place. I love it when good things happen at the speed of the Internet.

I'm still getting into it, but I like what I see so far. The playtest document already has artwork and layout, which rocks. I'll be posting more about this in the next few weeks, but for now check out the briefest taste of the excellent artwork from Khairul Hisham:

Snipers Rock.

2) You Need an Editor
I've got a guest post up at Troll in the Corner entitled Three Reasons You Need an Editor for Your Game. Yes, it's a list article to GRAB YOUR EYEBALLS, and it weighs in at over a thousand words, but I think it's worth forwarding to your game designer and author friends who refuse to hire an editor. Then again, I'm totally biased.

I'd love to hear what you think about it. What feels right to you? What did I miss?

3) Kobolds Rock
I was updating my RPG editor CV when I discovered that Dark Fey had been released. That means I currently have no projects in the hopper from Kobold Press, and I find I miss that structure and the challenge of proofing and formatting Pathfinder stat blocks. I didn't push it over the summer because it sounded like the Deep Magic Kickstarter ate all the kobold brains it could find, which is totally understandable. I'll see if I can get back on Wolfgang's "editors looking for work" list before the end of the year.

4) RailSchroding as Extra Reading
I totally tripped across a link to Schrödinger's Gun GMing over at The Warehouse of Trinkets. The article's main idea involves giving your players enough rope to create and then hang themselves on the main arc of the campaign. I like that idea, and it's one of the things I love to do. Letting the world grow in response to the PC's actions makes a game come alive more than a series of canned dungeon crawls. Sometimes the GM needs to provide a push, but most gamers get themselves in trouble no matter what the GM does.

In Closing: Thank You!
I am extremely thankful that clients are starting to find me instead of me finding them. It feels really good to have unexpected work to do, and it tells me that I'm on the right track. I'd love to support myself and my family through writing and editing one day, but that'll only happen if good gigs keep finding me. After 2 years of editing professionally, we're off to a great start.

If you've been reading what I write either here or on Google+, thank you. It's all well and good to write, but writing is only half of the communication equation. If you read something I wrote and want to engage, feel free to comment or ask questions; I'll be happy to answer. Feel free to track me down using any of these methods.

As always, thanks for reading!

Whelmed

Scribbling for sanity: I'm currently whelmed, and I don't mean I've already recovered Blackrazor and Wave from White Plume Mountain.

I've got 4 gaming projects to work on, 2 of which came in yesterday. They're each small, but there's the extra work of prioritization and setting expectations to worry about. And work keeps me going flat out during the day as we push to the next rollout deadline, so I can't steal a few minutes and scribble something on paper. Today I had to pick up some slack at church from someone who didn't follow through on what they said they'd take care of. I could feel the waters rising, and I just wanted to run away.

Wankwankwank.

Y'know what? Suck it up, my precious little snowflake. Sometimes things suck. Sometimes it takes more effort than it should to do something easy. Sometimes everything hits all at once. That's life. Go with it. Get back in the saddle before you waste another breath on worrying about the entire world of problems in front of you.

Eat me.

You have a choice: You could worry about what to do next, or you could do something to cross an item off your list and simplify your next choice. Which makes more sense?

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

Get to it.

Do or do not; there is no wanking.
(Master Yoda, I apologize.)

(Warning: Personal navelgazing ahead!)

I've always struggled with follow-through. My default reaction? Escape.

Why? Moving back and forth between my parents and travelling cross-country with my grandparents every summer didn't let me put down too many roots when I was younger. I started to think that consequences didn't apply to me - I could screw up royally, then just move and start with a clean slate next year. I could live in a perpetual grace period by continually being the new kid. I could abandon anything that got "too challenging" and it wouldn't matter. Apparently children of alcoholics tend to have trouble finishing things, so I've got that working for me as well.

I constantly struggle against the "Don't finish? Don't care." mentality. I find it's limiting me to work with things I find easy and not stretch myself into uncomfortable territory. I find it lengthens my list of open projects and subtly prevents me from finishing any of them. I find it's self-defeating and extremely frustrating.

That mentality is a part of me - it's not an "it", it's another facet of "me".

So let me rephrase: I limit myself. I don't let myself finish. I have a hard time not beating myself up every time I catch myself slipping down this particular spiral. I understand what's happening mentally, but emotionally I feel like I'm betraying myself.

Enough. Time to act.

Let's check some things off my list and make some space to think, shall we?