Tabletop Gaming Masterlist

This page (which is a perpetual WIP) is a collection of everything I've written (and many things that I have not) that are related to tabletop roleplaying games, aka TTRPGs. I absolutely love these games and want to share that love with just about everyone I meet.

Game and Supplement Recommendations from Me

Some of these posts are ported over from an old blog of mine and have been updated in transit.

D&D 5e Supplements

• What Crooked Roots by Cassi Mothwin

Solo Journaling Games

• A Torch in the Dark by Michael Elliott
• Apothecaria by Anna Blackwell
• Ebb Tide by Stephen Kohler
• Her Odyssey by S. Kaiya J.
• Last Tea Shop (Classic) by Spring Villager

Non-D&D Group Games

• Call of Cthulhu 7e Starter Set by Chaosium

TTRPG Resources for the Burgeoning Game Master

This list excludes general founts of advice such as Reddit and other discussion-based online spaces. Also, I realize this is the advice that literally nobody wants to hear, but... just do it. You can study as many GM-ing resources as you can stand, and they will be helpful, but nothing compares to actual experience at the table. Just do it, and you'll fail forward as you learn.

General

• The Alexandrian, a blog that is maintained by the owner, Justin Alexander, a true master of OSR who has a great deal of good advice related to that style of gaming.
• Seth Skorkowsky, a YouTube channel maintained by its owner of the same name, who is a Call of Cthulhu and Traveller enthusiast. He reviews modules for those and several other games as well as dispenses general advice.
• "Running the Game", a playlist of over a hundred YouTube videos created by Matt Colville, a noted OSR enthusiast who has been playing and DM-ing various editions of Dungeons & Dragons for longer than I have been alive.
• Double DM is a weekly podcast created and narrated by two friends, Emil and Nils, who DM and play fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. Although the podcast is focused on D&D, most newbie GMs will find its advice general enough to apply to other games as well.

Safety at the Table

• Making Spaces Safer: A Guide to Giving Harassment the Boot Wherever You Work, Play, and Gather by Shawna Potter, a book discussing how to ensure physical and emotional safety for yourself and others in shared spaces. This slim volume isn't aimed explicitly at the tabletop community, but is a good resource for all GMs to have in their back pocket in case of antagonistic and harassing behaviors at the table—and beyond it.
• Session Zero Guide, a free downloadable PDF created by Discarded Dork about the importance of session zero (i.e. the session that occurs before the start of the campaign where expectations and boundaries are set) and how to navigate it.
• "D&D Must Grapple with the Racism in Fantasy", an article for the magazine WIRED by Cecelia D'Anastacio regarding the prevalence of fantasy racism and genetic essentialism in Dungeons & Dragons... and the greater fantasy genre as a whole. For any GM who wants to be conscientious towards nonwhite players at their table, this a must-read.

Mapmaking

Ready to Use Maps for Download

There are many, many more cartographers offering their maps online besides the ones listed below. Explore and consider supporting them!

• Dyson's Dodecahedron, a blog that is maintained by the owner, Dyson Logos, a legendary cartographer in the TTRPG space who has many maps that are free to save and print for your home games.
• 2 Minute Tabletop, a blog and webshop dedicated to TTRPG battlemaps and other resources (but primarily maps and VTT tokens), run by Ross and Troy McConnell. Ross creates the maps using a cartography software called Dungeondraft (which will be discussed in the upcoming essay for the next section).
• Czepeku Maps, a portfolio site (with attached Patreon where the maps can be obtained for a price) dedicated to gorgeously rendered TTRPG maps of various kinds. All of the maps come with variants showing different seasons and times of day.

Make Your Own Maps

This is a complex topic, so I can't just fling a bunch of resources at you and call it a day. I'll be writing a small essay on this subject comparing different approaches to making your own maps and offering advice, ideas, and resources for each one. Keep your eyes open for it!

TTRPG Actual Play Shows & Podcasts

• "Mice in the Herb Garden: A Rittermaus Limited Series" from Girls Run These Worlds (YouTube)
• "Call of Cthulhu: Bookshops of Arkham" from Chaosium (YouTube)