#028en - november 2023 TTRPG newsletter
The monthly TTRPG newsletter from Xapur
A busy month on the work and personal front, which has resulted in a certain lack of energy and availability for role-playing and creations this month.
Latest articles published on the blog
As always, my posts are written in french but there is a translation widget on the blog
On the blog, I'm continuing the adventures of the characters in my "Adventures in Phandalin" campaign for D&D 5E, which has just come to an end, with reports on sessions 22 to 27. This time, we're moving away from the village and heading a little further south to the Sword Coast. It's the start of problems centered on the town of Leilon, on the edge of the Mere of the Dead Men.
I've also written an article on Monsters of the dungeon, a supplement containing a bestiary, as the name suggests, which I'd backed in.
I'm stalling a bit on my mega-dungeon and struggling to get motivated, but I'll finish it… one day!
What's new at my gaming table?
With my D&D campaign finished, I've moved on to another universe, Danae, this time inspired by an old issue of Casus Belli magazine (the french number one ttrpg magazine for ages!), with a game system largely based on Mythras (formerly Runequest 6, derived from Chaosium's Basic or D100). A first game took place this month, with two players involved who co-wrote with me the characters and events set in a low fantasy city.
The rest of the time, I've created quite a few NPCs and a few scenario starters to have on hand, just in case... The advantage of not having levels for the characters will, I think, make them easier to use.
Readings and inspirations
So I read Monsters of the dungeon and wrote a few lines about it, but I also read issue 45 of Casus Belli, largely devoted to Tolkien (sorry it’s only available in french!).
Nothing very original or exceptional, but it's always a pleasure to immerse oneself in the Professor's universe. As for the scenarios for Chroniques Oubliées Contemporain, Galactiques, The One Ring and Laelith (mainly french games this time), where I like to pick up ideas, there's far too much text that leaves things out. I'd like more synthetic points to highlight the essential things. The adventures lack overall originality, and the one involving Tolkien didn't appeal to me. Nor am I a fan of using Tauriel in a Middle-earth scenario that mixes certain elements already read or played with characters inspired by the films. I'll just pick a few spaceship maps out of this issue - which isn't much in a hundred pages!
As for novels, I read Dune Messiah by Franck Herbert (volume 2 of the Dune cycle), reread Noon du Soleil Noir by L.L. Kloetzer (a french couple of authors) and continued with its sequel Noon: la première ou dernière, which is also a great success and inspired by Fritz Leiber. A great source of ideas for my Danae adventures. I'll be talking about it soon on my reading blog. Finally, I picked up season 3 of The Expanse series.
Creations, tips, shop…
Publications of the month
Only one publication this month, but five levels for The Old Mine (and another one as a bonus for the faithful)! You can find it on Ko-fi (where I've stopped offering subscriptions) or DriveThruRPG.
Current projects
I'm thinking of taking a break from publishing at the end of the year and I'll see what I can do next year, as I lack the time and motivation to get more involved at the moment.
Follow me on the web
follow me on Twitter and/or Mastodon and/or Bluesky
Buy me a coffee, or a tea, or a beer! Explore my shop!
my TTRPG blog (in french - with a translation widget), my english small website
That’s it for this issue, see you soon!
And do not hesitate to leave a message or comment below or answer to the email to let me know what you think of this letter.