#ttrpg

Of all the #DnD expansions to the #ForgottenRealms during TSR's "let's slap real world cultures into this world", al-Qadim was the best by far.

Part of the reason was that the player characters were assumed to be locals by default, instead of portraying the region as something to be "conquered" by player characters from the Heartlands of Faerun. #ttrpg

The design style of Jugendstil - or "Art Nouveau", as it is called in English - has long been a subject of fascination for me.

If I had the time and resources for such a project, I'd do #ttrpg products with cover illustrations in that style. #art #arthistory #Jugendstil #ArtNouveau

I supported the Kickstarter for the "Guide to #Glorantha ", and at the moment, I am finally trying to immerse myself in this setting. While my reading is currently on hold, I'm sure I will return to this soon. #ttrpg #RuneQuest

Historical mining has a lot of fascinating complexities which are mostly ignored in fantasy #ttrpg (definitely including #dnd ) - which I think is a shame, since there's so much cool stuff out there.

Take water - you need to get it out of the mines, but on the other hand you also need lots of water to power the pumps that accomplish this feat - as I've learned during my recent vacations to the Harz mountains.

Oh, and if you really want to make your players hate you, read up on the invention of the Man Engine... 😁

The Belgian "Obscure Cities" are a fantastic #comics setting that has Mad Architects and Mad City Planners the same way other settings has Mad Scientists. It was enormously influential on one of my #ttrpg fantasy worldbuilding efforts.

#Drawing and (digital) #painting is something I often fantasize as a hobby I'd like to take on - if only I had more time. And, given how many art-related books I own, I have fantasized about this a lot.

Alas, my time is limited - so I largely limit myself to some #ttrpg #cartography at most...

I have a tendency to hoard obscure travel guides I find in public bookshelves ("Little Free Libraries" and the like) - not only because I am interested in the regions in question, but also because I want to use them as inspiration for #ttrpg #worldbuilding .

Of course, this would require that I actually read them instead of just hoarding them...

"The Neverending Story" is one of the best works of children's literature I know - and I do mean literature in the most profound way. I mean, one of its central themes is the Thelema (of Aleister Crowley) fame, and there's a lot more depth than what you'd find in, say, the average Harry Potter book.

It also has plenty of inspiration for fantastic #ttrpg scenery. But do me a favor and read the book - ignore the rather disappointing movies.

I've always wanted to try out the #StarWars #ttrpg by Fantasy Flight Games (now EDGE), but two things annoy me:

• No (legal) PDF versions of the rules. This was not FFG's fault, as it was part of the license restrictions imposed on the line, but it still means that, barring reprints, individual books can go out of print forever, which is not great for the longevity of the line.

• Expensive custom dice - and I dislike having to buy stuff for TTRPGs beyond the rule books themselves. Yes, in theory you could use "ordinary" dice and read the results off tables, but that's an extra step I'd like to avoid.

The Midgard campaign setting is the oldest German #ttrpg / # pnpde setting out there, dating back to 1981. And would probably have invested more time in learning about it if the following reasons hadn't made me leery of it:

• A rules system which has seemingly ignored all innovations in RPG game mechanics of the last few decades (at least, that was the case for the edition I was familiar with, which was largely published in the 00s).
• The refusal of the publisher to sell PDF versions of their books. I mean, it's their intellectual property and their choice if they don't want to. But I've had to move my RPG book collection through five moves between different cities, and moving that many books only gets more aggravating as it gets older.

(Yes, I assume I could simply pirate scanned PDFs of these books, but at my income level I refuse to engage in ebook piracy.)