#048 - july 2025 TTRPG newsletter
The monthly TTRPG newsletter from Xapur: Pathfinder 2E, Openquest
What's new at my gaming table?
This month, I didn’t have time to play any other game than Pathfinder 2E as we had 3 sessions. The adventurers are now level 4 and they explored the third level of the Abominations Vaults, then started to go down to level 4. On their way, they met two devils (that they managed to free), encountered a lot of ghouls and ghosts, found some treasure, got back to Otari to sell it, and almost got killed by a powerful will-o’-wisp (this time they fled)! Not bad! Now, with almost everybody gone on vacation, we are on a hiatus until september.
You may know that I’m interested in the Basic RPG and Mythras systems, but I find the first one not optimal as it is a toolkit, and the latter one a bit too crunchy for what I want to do with it. So I looked at another D100 ttrpg, Openquest (with ducks!) and saw that the author was having a Kickstarter running. Not for Openquest but the crowdfunding was about Swords Against the Shadows, based on The Black Hack. A lot of stretch goals were met and I’ll be able to convert and use it in a (next) Sword & Sorcery campaign.
Latest articles published on the blog
As always, my posts are written in french but your browser may propose to translate them
This month, I read an old Dungeon Magazine, issue 34 from 1992! I didn’t find it memorable so, apart from 2-3 small ideas, I won’t use much of it.
I wrote an article on the mind maps I use when I design scenario and campaigns, as I like to have a visual showing me the next steps and be able to rearrange it as fit. So Miro, Obsidian/Excalidraw or Notion are my best friends for that.
Lats article, I published a recap for my Otari campaign (mixing the Beginner Box, Troubles In Otari and Abomination Vaults) with sessions 9 to 11. This time, it was mostly making friends in Otari and the first part of Troubles In Otari.
Readings and inspirations
Readings: at last, I finished Toll the hounds, the volume 8 of the Malazan Book of the Fallen. What an epic ending! And 2 more books to go…
I also read the first volume of a french comic book, an adaptation of the first half of The Jewel in the Skull, from the Hawkmoon saga by Michael Moorcock. I’ll go on with the following volumes soon.
Films & Series: I didn’t see a film in a theater for a while but this month, we had a family meeting and went to see Jurassic World : Rebirth. Not the best of the series, to say the least… I've also binge-watched season 2 of The Last of Us, and one day I'll make a postapo-zombie-mutant mini-campaign! One day...
Creations, tips, shop…
Publications of the month
As I said some time before, I was inspired by my visit to Versailles and decided to make a special battlemap, that I named The Hedge Maze. It was very fun to make it with Dungeon Alchemist and I put inside the maze a lot of points of interest. Statues, strange flowers, a fortune teller pavillion and much more… I just released the map at DriveThruRPG and it will soon be in my Ko-fi shop.
Another project I’m working on is the Monastery of the Howling Moon, I got the idea of this one in Greece. I made good progress on it and hope to finish and publish it in August. Can you guess what the topic is?
Follow me on the web
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.