by brucew_o

A$7.00 for RPG Item: Fiasco - In a Box
Condition: Like New
Location:

A new episode has been added to the database: LIFE PATH CHARACTER CREATION - Emotionally stable people don't become adventurers

by Bifford [White Hare Games] (Sam)

The Thursday Thing aims to highlight contests and other interesting things on RPG Geek.
Please Geekmail me suggestions and In My Own Words articles.


On Bravery
by [username=Bifford]Bifford[/username]

Being brave in life, and in games, need not always be about striding forth to battle a foe head on, mono a mono. Today my eldest was a brave lass. She needed to have four pre-molar's out to allow room for her other teeth to settle and not push everything out of whack. That meant having injections and sedation. The numbing cream helped but she still felt the needle but didn't even flinch (she has always hated needles, and the last time she had to give blood she feinted afterwards from moving too soon, so she was naturally reticent). This wasn't a 50ft dragon, Minotaur, Goblin horde, or other big scary, it was a personal worry and fear.

If you've built your RPG character well they will likely have things they are scared of, or unsure about. Maybe they are not a social character, so going to speak to an NPC may be their personal demon; perhaps they are scared of fire, so being the one to hold the torch so the others can weild weapons is the enemy they overcome.

Respect that nuance in roleplaying and reward it. Praise them.



Greatness is among us! Bryce has reached 2000 reviews (only the second person to do so). Congratulate him here:
https://rpggeek.com/blog/1051/blogpost/183596/congratulation...


Naturally I needed to highlight a Bryce review from this week!
A bit more elan is needed


When is a group of Orcs as wound up as a busted hornets' nest? When the PCs prod them, of course.
The Cardiff Boys lost in the Lone Lands: Part IV - Bruni tries to get everyone killed


Every day there's a new Question of the Day. Most of them are game-related but once in a while we get one that'a more geek-related like favorite movies or books. The question changes every day and you can even suggest a QOTD. When you check out this week's Question of the Week, you can see a link to all the old questions and the chance to suggest a question of your own. Here's this week's QOTD:
QOTD FEB 25: Do you have any fun stories about your pets (or the hosts pets, if they aren't yours) interfering in play? (A cat jumping on the table, a dog being overly friendly, etc.)


Need a good earworm tune for your brain pan? Suggestions here:
What have you been listening to lately?


Here are some other things you might want to check out.
Geek of the Month is a chance to learn more about our community members.
Behind the Screen is an archive of advice by/for GMs written by our community.
RPG Spotlight Event Tracker focuses on questions and ideas for specific games.
Solo RPGs you have played - Jan 2026

European RPG - Heap of Generosity is the European "Pay it Forward" geeklist (you do not have to give something to receive!)
[US] RPGG Pay It Forward: Traditional List is for the US traditional swap of things (2026 edition).
[US] RPGG Pay It Forward: No Obligation List is for the US non-traditional swap/not of things (2026 edition).

Kickstarter RPG Game Books - 2026 details Kickstarter crowdfunding projects in 2026.
BackerKit RPG Projects details Backerkit crowdfunding projects 2021-2026.

Contest Subscription Thread is where we go to find contests on the RPG side.
2026 RPG Character Creation Challenge
2026 Run 5 RPGs New to You in 2026 Challenge
2026 Play 5 RPGs New to You in 2026 Challenge
2026 Ladder of Insanity
2026 Review Challenge

Banners are by the talented [username=pdzoch]Patrick[/username].

by Rachel

Pumpkin Spice & Everything Nice is ready, Eight Elephants just needs the poker folio for the rules (and I actually think I've figured out how to do this!), Liberty , Death, or Taxes just needs its hook box (with the rules printed on the inside)- I do actually have them fully written out though, so yay!, V1 cards are done for: The United Cards of America and Lincoln's Cat. The new Fireworks Cards for the special edition of Fireworks for the 4th are also done! Whew. Here's a few sneak peeks at what I've been up to (all art is mine and all fonts are either mine or legally useable):

Revised card back for: The United Cards of America , Liberty, Death, or Taxes, and Lincoln's Cat

For Liberty, Death, or Taxes:
The borders look big, but that's because these images include the bleed. This is a relatively simple bluffing party card game.




Lincoln's Cat has dead space on quite a few cards, but I actually like the simple look. Also, by doing the #s Horizontal/Vertical on Left and Right, it makes this in-hand ordering game friendly for right-handed or left-handed play:



I like my Round Tracker too:



The Action Cards for The United Cards of America are looking pretty good:







The State Cards for The United Cards of America are more of a mixed bag. There were some formatting hiccups early on, but I like most of them, here's a few:






Still plenty more to do, but that's a lot of progress and all in all, I'm pretty happy with the current state of my To-Do list :geek_grin:.

Waiting to hear back from some more folks regarding VGG of the Week... I'd really like that sorted ASAP too...

Game Over On borrowed time...

Happy Wednesday and happy playing!
-Rachel

Thank you for reading my blog. If you liked it; then please click the green thumb [microbadge=23724] at the top of the page. If you really liked it; then please subscribe.

A new episode has been added to the database: Bonus: It's more like Chess than Yahtzee! Good Society (1st Edition)!

A new episode has been added to the database: ONE PIECE D&D: MARINES #64 | "The Four Kingdoms"

A new episode has been added to the database: EP220 | A Timely Visit Part 8 - Spelunking Season | 26/02/2026

A new episode has been added to the database: Tempest Talks: Starfleet Academy Continued

A new episode has been added to the database: Season Seven Premiere: I Am Historical Art

A new episode has been added to the database: Expounded Universe 320 – Funky Yellow Patina

by SeaofStars

$107.00 for RPG Item: A Red & Pleasant Land
Condition: New
Location: United States

by Lowell Kempf

A friend of mine recommended Dungeon Crawler Carl to me (which I quite enjoyed and will keep reading, thank you) but when I did a bit of research, I found it was part of the genre of LitRPG.

And I went ‘Oh, there’s a name for it.’

LitRPG is media, usually literature or comic strip, where the setting follows the mechanics of a computer RPG. (Sometimes a tabletop RPG but computer RPGs are by far the most common.)

A book of Dragons of Autumn Twilight wouldn’t count because, while the world of Krynn is a literal Dungeons and Dragons setting, the characters don’t look at their stats or discuss actual leveling. They just live there.

In a ‘proper’ LitRPG, the characters are fully aware of the mechanics that run their world. In many of them, characters can pull status and inventory screens. All the nuts and bolts that run the worlds they’re in are clearly visible.

Within that range, definitions can still get kind of fuzzy. For instance, Bofuri (another series I want to read more of) follows the rules a computer RPG because it’s about Kaede flat out playing a video game and driving the developers nuts. And it’s considered LitRPG.

Most of the examples I’ve read, though, have the characters actually living in the setting. Many of them have someone from ‘our’ world entering the new world, usually getting some kind of special power or insight in the process. I feel like a huge chunk of the Isekai works I’ve looked at are also LitRPG.

Because the concept of LitRPG is intrinsically meta, it tends to lend itself to comedy. The idea of characters pulling up a status screen is absurd. When you can measure your health by discrete hit points, things are unreal.

With that being said, there is room for more serious elements.The aforementioned Dungeon Crawler Carl in underpinned by the seriousness of the overall situation and also has some scathing social commentary. LitRPG has some intrinsically escapist elements pretty much baked in but there is clearly room for depth.

According to Wikipedia (a place I discourage students from ever using as a primary source), one of the earliest examples of the genre is Quag Keep by Andre Norton. A story where a player is pulled into a D&D game, it is also the first Dungeons and Dragons novel, even set in Gary Gygax’s Grayhawk.

… Why have I never heard of Quag Keep?

Back to Wikipedia, it says it wasn’t critically well received. And looking at other reviews, it looks like it wasn’t one of Norton’s better books and is more viewed as a historical curiosity than anything else. At some point, I should try and hunt it down and find out what my opinion is. Still wild that I’d never heard of it.

While LitRPG seems to have grown in popularity, it’s been around for decades. I’m also think that line defining it is fuzzy. (Does Joel Rosenberg’s Guardians of the Flame count?) And it may be one of the most extreme examples of write-what-you-know I have seen.

I also have no idea where it falls in the spectrum of ‘serious’ literature. I am sure there are academics who are studying it. Regardless, as a genre, LitRPG is entertaining and I think it has as much potential to be meaningful as any other.