CHAINMAIL: 04.27.2024

Including - Inherent Tension, D&D Balance is BORING. This is why., and Shannon Appelcline Interview: ep. 162.

Chainmail is a weekly newsletter dedicated to sharing the abundance of excellent content available in the TTRPG space. You'll find YouTube videos, blog posts, quotes from books, and many other forms of media related to improving your skills as game masters and world builders. Enjoy!

Inherent Tension - Yak-Hack

Tension is the key to excitement in your game. If you create an encounter without tension, it's a waste of time. When designing dungeons, encounters, NPCs, etc. make sure that you consider where the tension lies. If you can't think of anything that provides tension, start over.


D&D Balance is BORING. This is why. - Deficient Master

Fuck balance.

Combat as war, always.


Shannon Appelcline Interview: ep. 162 - TABLETOP TALK

Whenever I drop something related to the history of D&D, it tends to get less views. I don't care. The history of our hobby is incredibly fascinating to me. TTRPGs are their own unique medium separate from movies, video games, and books. For 50 years we've been exploring emergent stories and over that amount of time there have been all kinds of innovations and unique perspectives. Shannon, the guest on the linked podcast, is the writer of "Designers and Dragons", a series of books outlining as thoroughly as possible the history of our hobby from day one. This podcast ends up being a condensed version of that history, going over every decade and what took place as designers adapted, explored, and embraced the different ways we play TTRPGs. It's a long one but just throw it on in the background while you get some work done. I guarantee you'll learn something new.


I hope these resources inspire you! If you haven't already, the best way to stay up to date with everything hothead-related is to join the discord. See you next week!

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