I was bouncing around YouTube tonight and I came across this awesome video where a guitarist does 100 classic guitar riffs in one take. It amazing to listen to, not just because he is very talented, but because the riffs are so much less than the songs they are a part of even though they are what "define" the songs in question.
100 riffs and I could identify at least half, and recognized to some extent nearly all of the other half. All that and I was left unsatisfied. Why? Because these riffs on their own lack the depth of the songs built around them.
I think that can be applied to RPG characters. In many ways we define them by their stats, but for them to actually come to life, to sing, those stats have to be part of something deeper.
The best stats in the world don't mean much if the character doesn't have some depth to go along with it. Or maybe I just heard the hooks of a hundred songs and now I want to listen to them all, as the hooks leave me feeling empty on their own.
Stats only seem to matter to me during character creation. Sure I get a bit disheartened if I have a few bad rolls, and excited if I get a max result, but two weeks later, I'm playing to my strengths, and the stats are only there to add some random element to a dice roll. From that point on, it's all about playing the whole character.
Master Elric Swann Speaks on Weapons
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A video on youtube, as a preview for The Lantern, as promised in the
Opening Card of the last post.
Launching: https://youtu.be/ARhyMMjfvPE?si=6h2kzdVVR1...
Iriandor: My New Campaign World
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I was not really planning on doing this. I have enough projects on my
plate to keep me busy for years. BUT I also kinda want to this. What is
this? This...
Advanced Train Trauma in Chagrinspire
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Last stab at trains got some basic stuff down, and now is the time for
more. Players found the working station in the gnome town under the
plateau. The T...
On Archetypes II
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More character examples. We have uplifted animals and Synths!
https://sinlessrpg.com
------------------------------
*Hack & Slash*
Follow, Twitch, Supp...
Spacefarer's Guide to Planets: Sector Two (1979)
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From Publisher's Catalog:
The 100 planets described in *Sector Two* are all a part of a single
cluster - the curious astrological entity known as Roarde'...
Punch A Nazi Week - Ubermadchen
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The Ubermadchen were Nazi femme fatales who appeared in an a Miss America
special and Avengers 1959. I really enjoyed that miniseries and if you have
a cha...
Inheritance
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I inherited some minis from my friend Belle.
They're mostly GW medievalish types: peasants, artisans, criminals, and a
bishop (who might well be classe...
Emelda’s Song
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By Scott MalthouseNecrotic GnomeOSELevels 2-4 The market town of Lankshorn
is abuzz with excitement after the cruel Lord Malbleat announces a festival
hono...
Planesk8
-
If you play in any of my in-person groups, turn back now! No huge spoilers,
but stuff that would be more fun to discover in game.
Okay?
Right.
So I've ...
A Twisted Tale of the Tongue...
-
nce upon a time, when yours truly was a much younger DM, I planned what was
supposed to be your standard town-next-to-the-dungeon affair. Problem was,
re...
[Free RPG Day 2025] Battle for Nova Rush
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Now in its eighteenth year, Free RPG Day for 2025 took place on Saturday,
June 21st. As per usual, Free RPG Day consisted of an array of new and
interest...
How I Run OD&D Combat
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Link to discussion
Over the years I’ve settled on a way to run 0e/OD&D/White Box combat that
keeps the action moving and is pretty simple, while covering...
June ‘25 In Review
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Summer arrived, and did so with a stretch of disgustingly hot days. I can’t
begin to express just how happy I am that I have the basement to work in.
Whe...
Free GM Resource: Some Good Old-Fashioned Map Porn
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[image: Free GM Resource: Some Good Old-Fashioned Map Porn]
I've been a little *obsessed* with Kingdom Come Deliverance (KCD) this last
couple of weeks. N...
Super simple XP system, take 2
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My "super simple" system ended up sounding a lot more complicated than I
intended.
After trying to create a formula to match monster XP with gold XP, I
r...
[NEWS] July 30% off site-wide sale
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Now 30% off!
I am pleased to announce that, starting from July 1 and ending July 20, I
will be holding a site-wide sale on all currently available EMDT pr...
Loopy Tombs
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This poast was inspired partly by reading James Holloways 'Tome of Tombs'
- a zine of Tomb creation which you can find here;
https://james-holloway.itch...
Community Greyhawk – Grey Grimoire Issue 5
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The Grey Grimoire is a pdf fanzine produced by a number of well-known names
in the Greyhawk community. It clocks in at 31 pages, and has 10 articles,
rangi...
Into the Majestic Fantasy Realms, Last Day!
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My Kickstarter for Into the Majestic Fantasy Realms: the Northern Marches
is now in its last day!
Link to the Kickstarter
Random Party Generater
Everyb...
Traveller is Retro-Futuristic
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Traveller is an endlessly fascinating game to explore in the 2020s. Its
first release was only three years after Dungeons & Dragons, but unlike
D&D, which ...
What to do on a Gaming Break
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It's summer again. Well it's supposed to be but with temperatures lingering
around 40 it doesn't feel like it. Most summers I take time off. A couple
mon...
I come from the land of the ice and snow
-
So I got a wild hair and created 81 pages of demographically accurate
random birthplace charts covering every hamlet, village, town, city,
castle, and...
A long overdue hobby update!
-
Welcome back to the Vault everyone! 2025 is going by in a blur; I last
posted in February, almost started a post in March and now it's the end of
May. W...
Progress With My Card Game
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On February 9, 2018 I was struck with inspiration for a card game idea that
I brought to Gary Con 10 and play tested away most of the rough edges. I
had th...
Pulp: Adventure Location: Trindade & Martim Vaz
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History is fractally interesting. Start examine any event, or following any
citation, and interesting facts emerge. But some places, for whatever
reason,...
Playing at the World 2E V2 Arrives
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With the release of its second volume, the second edition of *Playing at
the World *is finally complete. The two books combined total well over
1,000 ...
Blogs on Tape season 6 has begun!
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Hi everybody! Its been a minute. How are you? Everything is awful all the
time? Horrors never cease? You’re being driven mad by the weight of the
unfathoma...
The Hungering Dark
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Go into the earth, and reality will walk alongside you.
Walk further, and you will eventually be walking alone.
The world is plastic down there. Tar Lat...
Articulations
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Creating house rules, custom rules specific to a local group or campaign,
has been common throughout the history of D&D. What makes an effective
house rule...
Writing playlists for all occasions
-
Hello again! Going off the idea of inspiration elaborated on by the prior
post, I also have music playing while I write my various games and fiction
pieces...
The Tarot of Pips
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Somewhere in your dice collection is a die like this one, the humblest of
dice. Although you don't know it, this small white die carries with it a
secr...
Pirates and Necromancers, a Play Report
-
Over the Thanksgiving weekend we did a lot of gaming ranging from
“off-table” domain level stuff to some solo adventures to spell and magic
item rese...
It's been a bit
-
Hey everyone, I hope you are doing well! I've had a lot going on and
haven't had much time to blog lately. Heres a recap of gaming events and
other st...
*'s in SpaaaaaAaaaace
-
A lot of SF (including a certain 2D6 RPG grandaddy) deal with ancient
aliens taking humans from Earth and dropping them, fleas and all, on one or
more w...
Last move - to self-hosting!
-
As my vote regarding Substack in the “marketplace of ideas”, I’m moving to
self-hosting.
I’m now at (and hopefully staying for a long time at)
Blog: ht...
Clean Your Room
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Looking back at my little blog here. That last post… wow, I was having fun
playing WOW Classic! That was August of 1999 and I was having a blast… it
was ...
Steve Jackson Interview
-
James Maliszewski recently did an interview with Steve Jackson over on his
Grognardia blog. Steve chats about the beginnings of The Fantasy Trip and
upcomi...
ToAD Monster of the Week: Crocoman
-
Now that I'm back doing the blog thing I thought I would use Tome of
Adventure Design to create monsters for The Black Hack.
Using the monster tables in th...
Strange, Dangerous, and Inhuman: The Fey and Fairie
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When I was a boy I loved fairy tales. Jack and the Beanstalk, Puss in
Boots, Rumpelstiltskin - I devoured all of it. My fascination that there
was a strang...
Dungeons & Dragonmead Fall Schedule
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*As you know, I run public classic Dungeons & Dragons games at **The Loaded
Die**/Metro Detroit Game Night's Board Game Nigh at **Dragonmead**, in
Warren...
Fiction in Airhde
-
On a whim this weekend, I picked up some fiction off the TLG store. *A
Houseless God & Other Tales* and *The Mirrored Soul & Other Tales*, both by
the T...
Ravensburg Reboot: Streamlined City Map
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I mentioned in my last post how I was tweaking and reworking parts of my
Ravensburg setting. Today I streamlined the city map. The old map had lots
of redu...
And Now the News Draft Download on Patreon
-
It's self-styled Throwback Thursday and *having just released the 34-page
draft booklet of Hill Cantons news to my Patreon backers* I am going to
indulge m...
The Withered Crag available now
-
I just enabled the sale of the PDF version of The Withered Crag at
DriveThruRPG a few minutes ago, and the custom print version will be
available startin...
Annihilation Rising Goes live
-
The latest in Fail Squad Games’ Quick Kick projects has gone live and needs
your support!! This project is only running 11 days and ends on 5/28/2019!
...
James's Celebration of Life
-
We could not have asked for a prettier day for James's service. It was a
bit chilly and windy but gorgeous. A heartfelt thank you to all that joined
us tod...
Trap Tuesday: A step back
-
I will get back to Tomb of Horrors soon. I found a topic that was
interesting enough to take a break. While interacting in a 5E group on
Facebook I talked ...
Let's Talk About Pacing!
-
The idea, I think, is that the RPG is ultimately about the long game. Even
rolling back to the early days of Basic & Expert, the goal of the player
was...
Profane and Profound Prep Part 2
-
This is part 2 of my work to edit my magic items for a DMsGuild release,
along with adding cursed items along the way. Here is part 1. Bone of a
Saint 8000...
Please, I don't do paid advertisements - don't ask.
-
A little note since people have asked me about this. My video channel's
*not* an advertising platform, so I'm not available for hire if you want to
promote...
New website!
-
Slowly but surely, all the content here will make its way — in updated
form! — to my new website: timbannock.com. For fairly obvious reasons, that
site wil...
Please Update Your Link!
-
If you're seeing this, it means your link to the Greyhawk Grognard blog is
out of date.
Please update your link to www.greyhawkgrognard.com (RSS feed is
h...
Total Sales for WB:FMAG
-
Hi Folks,
It's been a long time since I provided an update for the sales of White
Box: Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game.
*LULU*
Print: 396
PDF: 433
*OBS*...
How can We Destroy this Campaign World?
-
d12
1. You must trick a bard into strumming the *Chords of Fate* on the *Lute
of Annihilation*
2. Legends tell of thermonuclear weapons beneath megadunge...
Mord Mar - Session 5
-
We had another successful delve into the dungeon yesterday. The delvers:
Moira, the Magic-User
Radovan - Human Cleric (of Odin?)
Khazgar Stonehand - Dwarf ...
Bundle of Fantasy Age
-
Bundle of Holding: Dragon Age/Fantasy Age: Available until March 12. PA
Presents: Fantasy AGE Freeport live play Green Ronin in 2018 The Fantasy
Age RPG ma...
New Free PDF Module: The Hyqueous Vaults
-
A new dungeon module—written in celebration of OSRIC's 10th Birthday—by
Rebecca Dettmann, Allan T. Grohe, Jr., Jimm Johnson, Matthew Riedel, Alex
Zisch, a...
Swords & Wizardry Light: Session # 6
-
Two months after our last session (thanks to things like 8th grade finals,
a 4 year-old's birthday and party, Father's Day, etc.), we finally had our
next ...
Stats only seem to matter to me during character creation. Sure I get a bit disheartened if I have a few bad rolls, and excited if I get a max result, but two weeks later, I'm playing to my strengths, and the stats are only there to add some random element to a dice roll. From that point on, it's all about playing the whole character.
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