Author Archives: Clark McVey

I was excited for the new 5E D&D Spelljammer setting. Overall, it is okay. Three books with enough info to get a game going, but not much depth given. Between the three books you get a smattering of details, very little lore, and zero mention of THE Spelljammer. But I’m actually fine with all ofContinue reading “The Hadozee: Why it is Never a Good Idea to try and Rehabilitate a Racist Trope”

The year was 1990. I was a twelve year-old kid who had fallen in love with TTRPGs. Most of my friends played AD&D (at this point, most of us had started shifting to 2nd Edition [2e]). That meant that I played AD&D, and occasionally managed to talk them into trying out one of the newContinue reading “D&D Goes to Space: or how I learned to love giant space hamsters”

Once again Wizards of the Coast (WotC) is teasing the return of two older campaign settings for Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). This came from WotC releasing some infographics on upcoming projects in 2022 (https://screenrant.com/dungeons-dragons-setting-classic-ravenloft-wizards-coast/). It was “confirmed” by certain WotC/D&D leads over on Twitter, with the little addendum that the products in development are justContinue reading “Prediction Time: What to do with Draconians in 5E?”

There’s a lot of buzz going around about a new video game based on a TTRPG. It was initially set for release in the Spring, but got pushed back (a few times) to avoid “crunch” (but then it was revealed there still was in fact crunch). Add to that exploitation of the trans community, someContinue reading “How a video game managed to become everything the genre warned us about”

Content Warning: this post contains an analysis on a game from the 1970s, and contains references to racism and sexism. Usage of the term “Indian” to refer to Native American people. If you have been following this blog, you probably have at least a passing understanding of my feelings towards Gary Gygax, aka the (co)creatorContinue reading “Boot Hill: or, “That Wild West game you probably never heard about” – 1st Edition”

Content Warning: this post contains references to military actions, combat, and death. This post also contains strong language. This blog post specifically is in response to a August 2020 tweet by one of the more prominent individuals in the table-top role-playing game (TTRPG) industry with an active Twitter account. The post was about why youContinue reading “On Fantasy Worlds and Military Forces: or, “Why don’t we just send our army to clear out that dungeon?””

Content Warning: this post contains references to genocide, racist stereotypes, murder, violent assault, and derogatory terms used to describe members of certain marginalized communities. This post also contains strong language. The gaming sphere is an interesting place, with its own little microcosms forming throughout. Table-top Games alone covers several sub-categories like Board Games (BG), WargamesContinue reading “Political/Societal Critique in Table-Top Gaming: or, When did gaming get so political?”

Content Warning: this post contains references to fictional death/murder scenarios. The dungeon is a time-honored feature of tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs). It is even in the title of the most ubiquitous TTRPG of all time. But what is a dungeon, and why are the player characters (PCs) delving into it? Traditionally the dungeon was aContinue reading “Dungeon Delving: or, “Why are we going into that hole in the ground?””

For a lot of people, D&D is the first tabletop role-playing game that they will be exposed to. This makes sense, because it is the most ubiquitous TTRPG system, with it being sold at certain major retailers (thanks in part to the distribution network that comes built-in by being owned by one of the biggestContinue reading “What System Should I Use?”

I recently read a post asking if you had ever ditched “Common” as a language from your campaign setting, and how it went? Language is a complex issue, and not all of us have the advantage of having studied linguistic anthropology in any degree. Using “Common” has been a long-standing means of narrative sleight-of-hand toContinue reading “Languages and Your World”