Lysus
@lysus.bsky.social
Posting about roleplaying games, history, and politics. Wisconsinite.
My blog - table46.bearblog.dev
My blog - table46.bearblog.dev
I decided to start a newsletter tracking some of my favorite blog posts around the blogosphere and a few other gaming-related sundries. Here's the first issue - table46.bearblog.dev/the-46er-jan...
#blog #nsr #osr #posr
#blog #nsr #osr #posr
The 46er - January 2026
I thought it would be a fun idea to regularly call attention to the great posts that the writers of the RPG blogging communities gift to us. I am , but I ...
table46.bearblog.dev
January 16, 2026 at 5:17 AM
I decided to start a newsletter tracking some of my favorite blog posts around the blogosphere and a few other gaming-related sundries. Here's the first issue - table46.bearblog.dev/the-46er-jan...
#blog #nsr #osr #posr
#blog #nsr #osr #posr
I love this rework of B2 - it makes it into something that I'd be much more interested in running myself.
I was underwhelmed by the minimalist sandbox in B2: The Keep on the Borderlands, so I made my own:
Creating a New Regional Sandbox for B2: The Keep on the Borderlands
Over on Bluesky, I recently finished up my readthrough of Dungeon Module B2: The Keep on the Borderlands - actually, by the time this post ...
forlornencystment.blogspot.com
January 14, 2026 at 5:48 PM
I love this rework of B2 - it makes it into something that I'd be much more interested in running myself.
This is a great thread full of insight about what random encounters mean. I hope it gets preserved as a blog post!
A lot of people conceptualize random encounters as the party encountering the monsters, but they make more sense the other way: the monsters encounter the party.
Below is a thread on what most people get wrong about encounter activities and what there is to be done about it. (1/14)
Below is a thread on what most people get wrong about encounter activities and what there is to be done about it. (1/14)
January 14, 2026 at 2:02 AM
This is a great thread full of insight about what random encounters mean. I hope it gets preserved as a blog post!
I wrote a bit about the posts I nominated for the Bloggies this year! If you haven't yet, go submit your favorite posts.
table46.bearblog.dev/bloggies-202...
#bloggies #osr #nsr #posr #rpg
table46.bearblog.dev/bloggies-202...
#bloggies #osr #nsr #posr #rpg
Bloggies 2026 - My Nominees
It's the most wonderful time of year, the ! The RPG Blogosphere all gathers around, has a contest in which we pit the year's best blog posts against each oth...
table46.bearblog.dev
January 9, 2026 at 10:17 PM
I wrote up my 2025 wrap-up, featuring what I played, what I read, and my plans for the coming year, among others.
table46.bearblog.dev/the-rearview...
#rpg #osr #cairn
table46.bearblog.dev/the-rearview...
#rpg #osr #cairn
The Rearview Mirror - Endies 2025
It's the start of a new year and a lot of folks have been posting their yearly wrap-ups, so I thought I'd get in on the show and talk a bit about what I've b...
table46.bearblog.dev
January 2, 2026 at 2:43 PM
I wrote up my 2025 wrap-up, featuring what I played, what I read, and my plans for the coming year, among others.
table46.bearblog.dev/the-rearview...
#rpg #osr #cairn
table46.bearblog.dev/the-rearview...
#rpg #osr #cairn
I updated my friction pool system for my WIP project, the Jewelsea RPG. It's a combination of ideas from the overloaded encounter die and the Underclock along with the One Roll Engine - table46.bearblog.dev/jewelsea-rpg...
#rpg #osr #nsr #cairn
#rpg #osr #nsr #cairn
Jewelsea RPG - Friction Pool, Second Draft
I've been working with the friction pool (my answer to the random encounter check, overloaded encounter die, and underclock) since I first posted about it . ...
table46.bearblog.dev
December 31, 2025 at 8:55 PM
I updated my friction pool system for my WIP project, the Jewelsea RPG. It's a combination of ideas from the overloaded encounter die and the Underclock along with the One Roll Engine - table46.bearblog.dev/jewelsea-rpg...
#rpg #osr #nsr #cairn
#rpg #osr #nsr #cairn
I'm looking forward to seeing Yochai's new work!
I wrote about my plans for 2026, both under the @cairnrpg.com umbrella and Between Two Cairns.
newschoolrevolution.com/cairn-in-2026/
newschoolrevolution.com/cairn-in-2026/
Cairn in 2026
Every year I try and write a little post about what folks should expect from me in the coming year. I suppose a small part of me feels that once I've announc...
newschoolrevolution.com
December 27, 2025 at 5:53 AM
I'm looking forward to seeing Yochai's new work!
Reposted by Lysus
My friends! The Apocalypse World 3rd Ed kickstarter ends on Friday night. We launched with a Q&A on Reddit and I think we'd like to wrap up with a Q&A here.
Ask me anything! Ask @megueyb.bsky.social anything too!
www.kickstarter.com/projects/lum...
Ask me anything! Ask @megueyb.bsky.social anything too!
www.kickstarter.com/projects/lum...
Apocalypse World: Burned Over
The 3rd edition of the groundbreaking original.
www.kickstarter.com
December 16, 2025 at 1:11 PM
My friends! The Apocalypse World 3rd Ed kickstarter ends on Friday night. We launched with a Q&A on Reddit and I think we'd like to wrap up with a Q&A here.
Ask me anything! Ask @megueyb.bsky.social anything too!
www.kickstarter.com/projects/lum...
Ask me anything! Ask @megueyb.bsky.social anything too!
www.kickstarter.com/projects/lum...
The synthesis - Die Hard is an OSR Christmas movie.
Die Hard is OSR? Noel answers the question with science.
Die Hard is OSR
"The more of the following a campaign has, the more old school it is." - Principia Apocrypha.
In , Nakatomi Plaza is a fabulous dungeon. It is jacquaysed t...
viridianvoid.bearblog.dev
December 15, 2025 at 7:07 PM
The synthesis - Die Hard is an OSR Christmas movie.
Reposted by Lysus
Bluesky has fallen. Lysus of table46.bearblog.dev, a linguistics obsessed nerd, has provided a bevvy of blogposts on language that I'll share in a thread as I read through them. Check out his blog.
1/8? 🧵
1/8? 🧵
Does anyone know of any good posts relating to languages (and/or conlangs) in games? This cry for help goes out to any and all #osr #blog #sages and RPG #cunningfolk who may hear it.
December 11, 2025 at 9:54 PM
Bluesky has fallen. Lysus of table46.bearblog.dev, a linguistics obsessed nerd, has provided a bevvy of blogposts on language that I'll share in a thread as I read through them. Check out his blog.
1/8? 🧵
1/8? 🧵
Movie you've watched more than six times with a gif. Hard mode: no Stars (either War or Trek), LOTR, or Marvel.
December 7, 2025 at 10:40 PM
Movie you've watched more than six times with a gif. Hard mode: no Stars (either War or Trek), LOTR, or Marvel.
I enjoy reading MurkMail every week and Blood & Salt was fun, so I'm looking forward to this one.
We've been live for just over 2 hours and there's already 200 people following our @morkborg.com megadungeon project Inkvein www.backerkit.com/call_to_acti...
Madness!
Madness!
December 3, 2025 at 7:40 PM
I enjoy reading MurkMail every week and Blood & Salt was fun, so I'm looking forward to this one.
I've been watching elmcat build this for the last few weeks and it's super cool!
Spent the last month mapping the blogosphere by its links. The graph is finally ready
Communities clump into a big hex and the whole thing looks like a star map
What are blogs anyway but stars in the sky?
elmc.at/mapping-the-...
To check out the graph directly follow this link:
graph.elmc.at
Communities clump into a big hex and the whole thing looks like a star map
What are blogs anyway but stars in the sky?
elmc.at/mapping-the-...
To check out the graph directly follow this link:
graph.elmc.at
Mapping the Blogosphere
An interactive graph of TTRPG blogs, showing who links to whom, how communities change over time, plus stats and how it all works.
elmc.at
November 26, 2025 at 8:20 PM
I've been watching elmcat build this for the last few weeks and it's super cool!
Reposted by Lysus
This is my favourite game. Every part of it sucks, but each part sucks in a way that GESTURES TOWARD something that would be awesome were it not undermined by every other part. It can't be improved because everything that's terrible about its load-bearing. Did I mention it's the best game ever made?
November 25, 2025 at 1:43 AM
This is my favourite game. Every part of it sucks, but each part sucks in a way that GESTURES TOWARD something that would be awesome were it not undermined by every other part. It can't be improved because everything that's terrible about its load-bearing. Did I mention it's the best game ever made?
Another great look at the interesting (and odd) implications of the rules in the 1st Edition DMG.
I dug through AD&D to find out: where are all the high-level NPCs? I talk about why it's an important question to ask & do some number crunching using an average AD&D city & some demographic figures I made up. It's better than nothing!
Where are AD&D's High-Level NPCs?
This is a question I've pondered quite a bit in my exploration of AD&D. Theoretically, my assumption would be that there's nothing to restri...
forlornencystment.blogspot.com
November 6, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Another great look at the interesting (and odd) implications of the rules in the 1st Edition DMG.
I've been enjoying the snippets of the Great Antarctic Hexcrawl as they're released. I'm looking forward to when the anthology is released!
October 28, 2025 at 11:10 PM
I've been enjoying the snippets of the Great Antarctic Hexcrawl as they're released. I'm looking forward to when the anthology is released!
Reposted by Lysus
Describe a character in Greek mythology the way someone trying to defend a politician would. I’ll start.
Oedipus: Like you’ve never had sex with someone and regretted it later
Oedipus: Like you’ve never had sex with someone and regretted it later
October 24, 2025 at 11:40 AM
Describe a character in Greek mythology the way someone trying to defend a politician would. I’ll start.
Oedipus: Like you’ve never had sex with someone and regretted it later
Oedipus: Like you’ve never had sex with someone and regretted it later
It's true. All of it.
October 21, 2025 at 6:55 PM
It's true. All of it.
I'm a big fan of Forlorn Encystment's exegesis of AD&D 1e. This is another great entry!
My contribution to the proud tradition of trying to understand alignment languages. I discuss why speaking alignment languages in AD&D is socially taboo, how then they are meant to be used to identify creatures with a common ethos, & what this suggests about what alignment language actually is:
Alignment Languages are Socially Repulsive
In my last post on languages in AD&D , I teased that alignment languages were a topic worthy of their own post. Was I right? Let's find out....
forlornencystment.blogspot.com
October 20, 2025 at 6:02 PM
I'm a big fan of Forlorn Encystment's exegesis of AD&D 1e. This is another great entry!
I wrote up some basic retreat rules for my WIP dungeon crawler last night, loosely inspired by Veins in the Earth's climbing mechanics -
table46.bearblog.dev/jewelsea-rpg...
#nsr #osr #rpg
table46.bearblog.dev/jewelsea-rpg...
#nsr #osr #rpg
Jewelsea RPG - Retreat
It's been a hot minute, but I've still been working on the Jewelsea RPG despite not posting about it much here. I've gone through a few iterations since the ...
table46.bearblog.dev
October 14, 2025 at 5:40 PM
I wrote up some basic retreat rules for my WIP dungeon crawler last night, loosely inspired by Veins in the Earth's climbing mechanics -
table46.bearblog.dev/jewelsea-rpg...
#nsr #osr #rpg
table46.bearblog.dev/jewelsea-rpg...
#nsr #osr #rpg
It saddens me to hear about this. I didn't know Rob well, but I've talked and played with him on several occasions and he seemed like a great guy.
I am absolutely gutted to hear of the death of Rob Wieland, literally one of the greatest tabletop reviewers and commentators we had. Tirelessly tracked industry news, omnipresent in our collective circles and communities. I am so sad for his young family. These are dark days, friends.
October 13, 2025 at 3:45 PM
It saddens me to hear about this. I didn't know Rob well, but I've talked and played with him on several occasions and he seemed like a great guy.
I'm a big fan of footnotes in general, but I think they can work well in roleplaying games despite the challenges. They're a great addition where they're used in Burning Wheel.
October 9, 2025 at 5:23 AM
I'm a big fan of footnotes in general, but I think they can work well in roleplaying games despite the challenges. They're a great addition where they're used in Burning Wheel.
Reposted by Lysus
"This Whole Thing Smacks Of Gondor," i holler as i overturn my uncle's funeral pyre and turn the 4th Age of Man into the 4th Age of Shit
October 7, 2025 at 3:46 PM
"This Whole Thing Smacks Of Gondor," i holler as i overturn my uncle's funeral pyre and turn the 4th Age of Man into the 4th Age of Shit
Nova is one of the community's most valuable reviewers and I think this is a great look at what a review means.
I wrote a little about criticism today. idlecartulary.com/2025/09/25/w...
What do critics owe us?
A few things recently happened in the discourse that raised the question, “what do critics owe us?”, in various forums across the TTRPG space. I have a response, but to understand it we must meande…
idlecartulary.com
September 24, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Nova is one of the community's most valuable reviewers and I think this is a great look at what a review means.