April 2025 - The Difficult Sophomore Album

The Carousing Collective returns to give you yet another round of the freshest RPG writing on the internet, including 48 Mörk Borg origins, a review of The Violet City from Ultraviolet Grasslands, advice on working with artists, and much more.

The collective has expanded to include Clayton Notestine of Explorers Design. Please give him a warm welcome! This isn't the last time we'll expand the team. We are well aware that the current team composition does not reflect the diversity of the hobby, which is an accidental, but unfortunate, result of the organic way the collective formed. Inclusivity isn’t merely the absence of exclusivity; it requires active work, and we will prioritize this as we expand the team further, as well as in the work we highlight.

Roll to Carouse!

1. Lighten your coin purse at the Projects Pavilion.
2. Pilfer ideas from the Blog Bazaar.
3. Sample the delights of the Gameable Gallery.
4. Hear the raving of Reviewers Row.
5. Stroll the Columnists Colonnade.
6. Languish in the Opinion Oubliette.

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Projects Pavilion ⤴

• ADVENTURE! by Skeleton Code Machine
  Exeunt Press brings us a comprehensive and well-researched workbook on adventure writing, structurally based on Mörk Borg's introductory adventure Rotblack Sludge. The 83-page zine is chock-full of exercises and actionable advice. Pre-orders for the print edition are open, but you can download and use the digital version today as well! - Tobias Adam
• Extra Ordinary (Kickstarter) by Kodi Gonzaga
  A Belonging Outside Belonging game about kids with extraordinary powers on the run from a world that can't accept them. I was a playtester for this at GenCon 2024 (see my review here) and adored it. Kodi's take on the BOB structure clicked with me in a way that felt electric. Want a taste? They've got two fully recorded sessions starting here. The Kickstarter runs until April 9th. Check it out! - Taylor B.
• Make Your Own Zine by Shouting Crow
  Shouting Crow brings us a free 24 page zine on how to (home) print your own zines. Basic layout and project management tips aim at enabling you to contribute your ideas to the DIY culture of the TTRPG scene. - Tobias Adam
• Mistwalker by Personable
  One of our own embraces this year's mood of the Beta in his characteristic style. - Will
• Paper Cult Club by Charlotte Laskowski, Binary, and Nova
  With a desire for social media that is less corporate and more curated, I was happy to find a new forum built with ttrpg designers in mind! With a surprisingly active community halving it's time between immediately having discussions about game tech and Kickstarter experiences and marveling at how fun and retro the forum medium is for said discussions. This Farmer feels that moving our discourse off of discords and onto more permanent-feeling locations is best for the hobby and our mental health while participating in it! - Farmer Gadda

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Blog Bazaar ⤴

• A Reading: Ultraviolet Grasslands and The Black Citadel: Second Edition at Old Men Running The World
  As it is turning into a theme, my favourite blogs manage to put my vague thoughts into words I am unable to formulate. Eventually, I'll have a bible of blogs I can send to my friends with the tag: "Look! This is me!" - Will
• Campaign Conflict Generator at Deeper in the Game
  If you're in need of some large scale campaign threats and premises for your next game, Chris Chinn has blogged about 36 of them! - Ty
• Double Bill: What I learned about fighting from NBatemen + Being a joyful player at Lonely Star
  This blog post reads like a list of player principles most books forget, probably because they are universal. Next time I play, I'll be sure to exercise some of this advice. - Clayton
• Experimental TTRPG Reading List at Snow's Substack
  In the middle of discussions of experimentation in the medium of TTRPG, Snow provides her own provocative take: that we are not a young medium, and that we have always been experimenting with weird stuff, as well as an artist statement on what she finds interesting right now. It comes with the titular reading list, packed with games that I will be checking out. - Markus M.
• Growing the RPG Tradition at Ward Against Evil
  Maybe the more accurate way to track an RPG tradition is by its people? This article rings really true to me. Roleplaying games are a tradition, and while I think it's tidier to track my gaming "career" by the spines of book covers, the more accurate lineage would be full of my unofficial mentors. - Clayton
• How do roleplaying games help you roleplay? at Playful Void
  Nova discusses how various game systems facilitate roleplay in different ways, reminding us that all of them are valid—even if we personally might not vibe with them. - Tobias Adam
• How I Ended Up Roleplaying as an Ant for a Month by Generic Honeydew
  Vlog Vista - I have always been fascinated by stories where a group of individuals finds a space, be it physical or digital, and decide that they are going to Role Play there. Tumblr User Generic Honeydew shares their experiences as part of the Ant Farm, an unplanned but successful digital larp about being an ant in a colony and shitposting about it. - Farmer Gadda

• Most Adventures are Bad - An Adventure Writing Process at All Dead Generations
  Is this really a "hot take" from Gus L? I don't think so—instead, it raises some solid questions to consider if you're planning to publish your own adventure. - elmcat
• Pointcrawls & Emergent Play at New School Revolution
  Yochai Gal makes an extensive and compelling argument for how pointcrawls can offer the same amount of flexibility and focus on player choice as traditional hexcrawls when it comes to West Marches campaigns. Lots of inspiration to make you want to start your own game! - Tobias Adam
  —
  A crucial piece from Yochai Gal, demonstrating a successful pointcrawl in action. While it might not sway diehard hexcrawlers, each such example helps debunk the idea that hexcrawls are the ultimate exploration method. In reality, both achieve the same goals in different ways, with no clear advantage beyond personal preference. We need more pointcrawl showcases! - elmcat
• RANDOM ENCOUNTER TABLES AS ADVENTURE RAM: Adding "Memory" To Encounter Checks at I Cast Light!
  Warren proposes a modified encounter table that adds dynamic elements to the dungeon with very little cognitive load. - Ty
• The Palette Grid (a safety tool) by Jay Dragon
  Rather than relying on strict lines and veils, the grid creates a spectrum between risky/comfortable and explore/ignore. This is my new safety tool of choice! - Ty
  —
  Let's be honest—this is more than just a safety tool. Jay Dragon designed a dead simple solution to help your group get on the same page! - elmcat
• The Supply Die at MURKMAIL
  Murkdice writes about the Supply Die, which is their evolution of the Usage Die. It both collapses all supplies into a single die, and introduces additional possible outcomes. - Markus M.
• Urban Gameplay Part 1: the Search for the Holy Grail (is futile) at A Knight at the Opera
  Dwiz does it once again! He writes a 6 part series about urban adventuring in TTRPGs. Each post contains a bounty of links to other posts and resources. A must read for those inclined towards city based adventuring. - Ty
• You can now run the BIGGEST chat system of the 2000s at home! by MattKC Bytes
  Another Vlog Vista - Instant Messengers have been the backbone of online roleplaying for years, and the first service I ever used has had a revival. MattKC shares a bit of AOL Instant Messenger's history, as well as the efforts to preserve and make accessible its internal functions. Yes, you -can- set up your own server and use AIM in 2025. - Farmer Gadda

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Gameable Gallery ⤴

"How Do I Contact This Wizard?"

by Farmer Gadda

Some things require a magic user's touch, but a wizard isn't always available. How does one inform their friendly local master of the mystic arts when their services are required? Use this 1d20 to determine the most efficient way of getting their attention.

d20	Contact
1	Snail Mail. Better find a fast Snail.
2	Duck Calls.
3	Synchronized Swimming.
4	Bongos.
5	(A) Deer (Named) John Letter.
6	E-mail. It's the current year.
7	Shell Phone.
8	Enscribe your message on a Paper Airplane.
9	Aggressive Patty-Cake.
10	Messenger Bird. Any bird will do.
11	Whisper into a Teacup.
12	Interpretive Dance.
13	Smoke Signals.
14	Singing Telegram.
15	Rockie-Talkie. Over.
16	99 Bottles of Beer on the wall, with your message as the final verse.
17	Ritual Yodeling.
18	Burn a Note with a Candle's flame.
19	Air Traffic Control Flags.
20	Messenger Orphan. Any orphan will do.

The Sword of Carnage

by Markus M.

An old sword, its blade and hilt encrusted with blood from ages past. When touching it, it induces a terrible ache of the soul, as if the sword itself is evil but tortured, always hungering for blood and violence, unable to quench its bloodthirst. When swinging it, it seems to guide the wielder's hand, knowing exactly where to hit, though it seems to have no interest in evasion or parrying, leaving the wielder completely open to counterattacks.

When wielding this sword, all attacks by the wielder are critical hits, automatically dealing maximum damage. However, all attacks targeting the wielder will hit, also dealing maximum damage.
Damage: as a longsword.

B/X Class: Augur

by Rowan H.

Auguries

The augur knows one augury at first level and learns a new augury every odd-numbered level. The augur can perform a number of auguries per day equal to the number of auguries they know. Performing an augury takes one turn and may be done during a rest turn, but not while moving. Unless otherwise noted, no augury can foretell what will transpire past the current day.

Unequivocal Speech

When an augur of 4th level or higher speaks truthfully and unequivocally, they may cause all within earshot to recognize their words as indisputably true.

Sinful Origins for Mörk Borg Bastards

by Clayton Notestine

Rot rides the wind with a stench of curdled blood. Over the cities, and the fields, and the valleys of the cursed. A dying world, a bitter world, as damned and tortured as the hells below. So cursed is the land of Galgenbeck, that hell rests just beneath its dust—cast aside on the wind.

From the mass burial pits these bastards are stirred awake, dragging themselves from a sea of cold limbs. They are not unlike other Mörk Borg bastards, ranging from gutterborn scum to wretched royalty. Roll up their stats and class like any other—except instead of omens, you are the omen.

You lived once, died once, and were judged. Now, as the world unravels, Hell sends you back. Who are these wretched sinners, these unwelcome saviors, that even the Basilisk forgot?

Check out this page for more!

The Behander

by elmcat inspired by Prismatic Wasteland's skeet

A disconcerting aberration, the Behander is a floating orb festooned with slender, left-handed tendrils. Rather than unleash deadly rays, it caresses its prey with unsettling intimacy—its touch a prelude to psychic disorientation. Roaming dank corridors and ancient ruins, it navigates solely by feel, turning even the darkness into a hunting ground.

10 HP, 15 STR, 11 DEX, 8 WIL, caress (1d8+1d8)

• Tacticle Immunity: Unaffected by effects targeting any senses other than touch.
• Handshake: The Behander craves nothing more than a confident, firm handshake. It will submit to anyone who can successfully give it one, granting safe passage or a momentary truce.
• Critical Damage: Target suffers an additional 1d8 WIL damage. The WIL loss is permanent.

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Reviewers Row ⤴

The Fiction We Live

by Markus M.

The Fiction We Live is a Zine-sized game by Chris Bissette of Loot the Room. It revolves around a group of friends meeting and reminiscing about the past. Throughout the game, the players are prompted to act out scenes from their characters' past, and through this build out their characters and their relationships. It uses a hexmap to move between different types of scenes, and playing cards to prompt locations, situations, and who is involved.

The game instructs the reader to not read the whole game, but rather to discover the game together as a group. An instruction that I have mixed feelings about (and have chosen to disregard to write this review), as I think having at least one player familiar with the rules in advance will make play smoother. (It is possible that I have misunderstood Chris' intentions here, and that it just means that it's not necessary for all players to have read the rules in advance.) The game also spends a generous number of pages on safety tools, which is good and important for specific issues, but sometimes I wish games like this would be bolder and just say, e.g. "This game contains scenes related to sex, it's not for you're not into that." I don't want to play the Qatar Airways cut.

I can see this game bringing about some really good and intense sessions, and I can also see it falling completely flat. It does not include any examples of play, and thus relies on the players having the roleplaying experience, or at least a knack for improvisation and collaborative storytelling. In the right hands, I think this would be great, but it not a game I would just bring to any crowd, I would need to know that they were into this sort of thing, and could do it without much hand-holding.

A final verdict? I think this is a really cool game for experienced improvisers and storytellers, but I would not necessarily suggest it for first timers, at least not without an experienced player to guide the beginners.

Touching Grasslands: a review of UVG's Violet City

by Taylor B.

Background

Ultraviolet Grasslands is a setting designed by Luka Rejec to kill unworthy GMs. Psychedelic, time-lost, it's a borderline inaccessible tangling of Luka's art and influences: doom metal, biomagic, nomads digging through the waste of aeons on radioactive steppes. I fuck with it heavy.

credit: luka rejec

UVG has a reputation of being difficult to play due to just how overwhelming it is. It's a sprawling book designed to take players on a lengthy caravan trip through the titular grasslands; running it means parsing a mountain of poetic setting text and caravan procedures while also filling in the blanks left in the setting's enormous map. And that's just assuming you're using the game's built in SEACAT system, which is, to put it lightly, less than inspiring. Still, it's compelling to be overwhelmed. So much passion is oozing through the page that it feels electric - almost intimate? - and has left me hungry to get it to the table. Sadly that hunger is still unsated!

Here's my thing: I'm not going to review the book as a whole. If you want that, check out the first link up in the Blog Bazaar. Instead, as I approach the tail end of a year-long Triangle Agency campaign and look forward to what's next, the UVG parasite (aka my physical copy tempting me from the shelf) is calling my name. Today, I'd like to digest just the first major area - the Violet City - with an eye toward how I might bring it to the table. Let's dig in.

The Violet City at the edge of the Circle Sea

Recommended listening: All Along the Watchtower by Jimi Hendrix

From the book:

The Violet City is a place of tradition, luxury, magic and poverty. The thralls of the cat lords keep a veneer of order, barely hiding the feline sneers at the rules of Metropolitan bean counters and inquisitors.

and vibes, of course. credit: luka rejec

What's nearby? Violet haze. Swamp wisps and narcotic fields. Decomposing gods brought unwilling to our world. To the east: the obliterated Bluelands around the Circle Sea. And west: the long, long path to the Black City. The Last Chair Salon squats a few days out - the last bar to the left, run by a drug-dealing exile and serving beer brewed from the milk of a psychopathic machine mother. At least I hope it's milk.

What's inside? Horned cats and tranquil human thralls. High walls around a luxe metropolis. The opening line to one story (a cat tried to squirm into an urchin's mouth, ready for a new pet) and the broad strokes to another (who stabbed the lovesick were-pug?). 1d12 goons from all walks of life. Carousing rules and consequences. 1d8 addictive drugs (mostly cat related). 1d6 dining halls with lagniappe for the regulars. A light framing narrative of a warlock and sidekick ("Poncho") caring for a capital-H Hero as he bumbles through Violet nightlife.

How would I run it? Ultimately, the biggest thing I'm thinking about while reading is: how the fuck do I communicate all of this to players without monologuing for the entire session? To paraphrase fellow carouser Ty, UVG requires a higher than average cognitive load to get on its level. The Violet City is the introductory zone, like, session one, and already full of otherworldly culture and strange technology. On top of that, the most exciting part of this book is the long, explorative journey to the Black City, so I don't actually want to spend too much time here. Is the best way to introduce players to toss them in the deep end and hope for the best? Or ease them in?

Personally, I vote ease them in. But how? I think of the core ideas on display: telepathic cats, debauchery, loss of self, re-integration, a sort of feverish desire to head out west. There's also the built-in side story about Vorgo the stabbed were-pug, seeded with little one-sentence encounters suggesting prejudiced cats, scared townsfolk, and biomech beetle possession. It's a solid intro to city culture and even comes with a hook that drives players to a location months to the west. It's also intentionally incomplete, full of holes you're meant to fill in. I can work with that.

Here's a first session sketch:

• Start off on a caravan coming in from out east. Emphasize the haze, the growing crowds, maybe introduce players as they're stopped for routine inspection. Probably set the tone with some alien, slightly off-kilter music. First thought: Remembrance by corru works.
  • Hook: The caravan's owner, Woger de R.F.D. (straight from the book) is prepping for a trip further west. You can come if you go collect his "loyally incompetent scout" (this is Vorgo).
  • Someone from the goon table is riding along bc I think it'd be fun. I'm partial to Glim, the silent monk / former inquisitor.
• Turn 'em loose to find Vorgo. Pull from carousing tables for city flavor. Emphasize suffocating crowds, outsiders desperate to blend in, the way noise mutes when a higher cat passes, low-lying paranoia over the possibility of feline enthrallment.
• Keep Vorgo's questline mostly the same but stick in a small adventure site because I think having a small explorable location gives players a lot to grasp onto in this sea of information.
  • Someone's stolen his treasure map to the Behemoth's Shell way out west, maybe?
  • I like Shéh Shah from the table of dining establishments. Broad strokes below made with Mythic Bastionland's site creation procedure.

• If the item retrieval (and Vorgo retrieval) is successful, Woger parties before heading out. One player (highest charisma? draw straws?) rolls on carousing table and gets a new, strange consequence for the journey ahead. Tomorrow: we go west.

IMO, this is doable in one meaty session and _ideally gives players enough freaks to talk to that they can get a sense of the world while still getting up to some fun bullshit. I really liked being able to pull from the flavor tables to fill out this little site while still having plenty of unused entries to pull from later.

Overall, the Violet City whips. Putting this together just reinvigorates my desire to see it in play. I rate it five stars whatever my cats tell me to rate it out of five.

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Columnists Colonnade ⤴

The Rest of the F#@king Owlbear

by John Bilodeau

This is the first in a series of articles I call “The rest of the F#@king Owlbear” about making art for tabletop role playing games. This month I want to talk about the basics of finding art for your adventures and other creative projects.

Check out this page for the rest!

Dear Diem

Relationship Advice for People who Roll Dice
by Carp A. Diem.

Greetings, dear readers! This is only the second month we’ve met, but already I feel as though our precious column has become a staple of my day to day. Below are a pair of letters from last month’s audience who reached out for advice. Let’s continue on as we began!

Dear Diem,
I'm the only one who runs things for my in-person group, and with that and also the nightmare of scheduling I find myself flitting from system to system a lot as I get burned out. My players understandably get frustrated that they have to keep learning new systems and leaving things hanging, but I get sick of the old systems and plots that haven't moved in ages.

What do I do? - Moving on in Memphis

Dear Moving On,
This is a classic problem that I’m sure is familiar to many readers of this column. It can be difficult to balance the desire for closure with the understandable pressure that comes from being the Forever DM. Asking someone else to run while you recover is, of course, a ridiculous ask. Every table has the single soul cursed to forever sit behind the screen, and God has seen fit to forsake you specifically. Running from system to system as a means to delay the inevitable collapse of your soul seems to be working for you, so keep that up. Despite your cowardice, you’ve no doubt invested in the unique settings and stories of these worlds, and both you and your players feel the compounded stress of never reaching a conclusive ending. What should you do? Well, have you ever heard of Kingdom Hearts? Just do a Kingdom Hearts.

Good luck with making your big move! - Diem

Dear Diem,
Players often talk of itching to play a game. I have an unfortunate and unique problem. I tend to develop a rash *during* the session, distracting me from the matters unfolding at the table. Do you have any recommendations for a topical ointment and the etiquette for application thereof mid-session?

Thank you in advance. - Itchy in Indianapolis

Dear Itchy,
Um. Hmm. I mean. We didn’t really receive enough emails for me to NOT print this. Editorial isn’t thrilled with the output so far, so I can’t be terribly choosey. This feels more like a question for a doctor than a TTRPG Advice column? I’m genuinely stumped, Itchy. Plus, once you apply the ointment, your hands are going to be moist and pruney for a good 40 minutes, which isn’t ideal for rolling dice and eating cheese snacks. It might be time to switch to an online campaign, with the cameras turned Off. And a dedicated mute button to hide the squelching noise.

Hope this scratches your itch! - Diem

As always, dear readers, remember that all relationships require mutual respect and communication. Until we meet again, Carpe Diem!

Letter Submissions may be sent care of carousingcollective [at] proton [dot] me, titled "Dear Diem." Letters may be edited for space and anonymity.

Challenge Jam: Alphabetical Edition

everyone should be writing more. even you! here's a challenge to get the juices flowing. send me your entry over on bluesky and i'll shout out my fav in the next newsletter! - Taylor B.

Rules: Write a dungeon room. Must have at least one interactable - a trap, a monster, a Device, w/e. Any system or formatting is fine.
Challenge: the first letter of each word must follow the alphabet. Ex: "A Bat Calls Down Evil Filthy Ghouls". Once you hit Z, circle back to A and keep going. You can start on any letter.

My entry: Perfumer's Quay
Ruined ships tilt under violet waves. Xanthic yellowfins zip about.

• Bilgewater (cold, damp)
• Elongated Figures (ghostly humans. immaterial. jealously kill living men [needles 1d6])
• Perfumed Quilts (rancid scents: tallow, uncured veal, woad)

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Opinion Oubliette ⤴

Fixing Feats

by Rowan H.

I have a confession to make: I miss feats. D&D 3.5 was my introduction to role-playing games and my primary game for about seven years. And it included an absurd number of feats. As teens, my friends and I spent more time engaging with the character-building minigame than we did actually role-playing. While I’m in no way eager to repeat that experience, here’s my hot take: the problem with D&D 3.5 wasn’t that it handed out feats like candy—the problem was that those feats were poorly designed.

Take Spring Attack, for example, which allows characters to move before and after attacking. First off, this feels like something every character should just be able to do. After all, attacks of opportunity already penalize moving out of melee. To make matters worse, to even take the Spring Attack feat, a character needs a base attack bonus of +4 and the Mobility feat, which in turn requires the Dodge feat and a Dexterity score of at least 13. Yeesh.

And yet feats appeal to me—in concept if not in execution. They occupy a weird gray area between skills and spells that's been underexplored by OSR designers. Brooks Dailey observes in "The Danger of Skills" (quoted here from issue #1 of Knock) that "Making something into a skill inherently walls that thing off from the open domain of play." I agree with OSR designers' decision to shun skills and embrace flexible OSR-style tools in the form of spells and magic items. A well-designed item or ability should enable a character to do something that others cannot. It should not solve a specific problem but should have many possible applications.

Into the Odd and derivative games adopt a clever approach: every character ability is an item. However, some players feel a loss of character identity when their characters' capabilities are defined entirely by their possessions.

So I say, bring back feats, but make them good. The Unequivocal Speech ability I wrote for the augur hits the mark, I think. Get weird, get creative, and give non-spellcasters unique abilities. Grant one character the ability to mimic others' voices. Grant another the ability to infiltrate others' dreams. Playing a classless game? Provide diegetic opportunities for characters to earn abilities. Put a weird little freak in your dungeon who can teach a character to change their scent like an olfactory chameleon.