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Welcome to Day 6 of #RPGaDay2026. As I explained in my Day 0 post, I’ll be creating NPCs based on the day’s prompts and the week and day modifiers presented in the infographic below.  Check out that post for further details.

Today’s combination: Reach (Prompt) + Intellect (Weekly Modifier) + Far to Go (Weekly Modifier) + Space Opera (Genre)

Here is today’s NPC… well, a sort-of NPC: an intelligent space opera artifact MacGuffin. I hope you find it useful.

Skull of Wisdom (Fantasy Name Generator used for the name: Artifact name generator)

The Skull of Wisdom was discovered by the first species to reach beyond their home world. The obsidian-colored skull of an unknown entity is oblong, polished, and crossed by reddish cracks. It lacks a lower jaw and does not belong to any species known to travel the stars.

Whatever its origin, the skull whispers to its owner in their sleep, regaling them with tales of past victories and achievements. Although these visions can be confusing at first, the Skull of Wisdom ultimately advises its owner on their most pressing matters. No one can tell if it possesses a single intellect or the collected wisdom of its many previous owners, but it can reach through the ages to find the exact parable or knowledge the current owner requires.

However, the Skull of Wisdom has a profound effect on its proprietor. While it offers counsel in their dreams, it also fosters an intense sense of wanderlust and ambition. It drives them to seek out discovery or conquest, constantly convincing them that their destiny remains incomplete and that they still have far to go.

Conquerors and explorers have sought and claimed the Skull of Wisdom throughout the ages, and it has guided them to forge galactic empires and plumb the unknown regions of space. Some seek to own it, while others wish to destroy it, but the voice of the Skull of Wisdom is always present, waiting for the next audacious being to hold it in their hands. 

Thanks for reading; I am looking forward to your RPG a Day 2026 post, comments, and conversation. If you want further information about #RPGaDay2026, be sure to check out Autocratik’s blog.

A Spanish version of this post is available at the Desde la Fosa Facebook page.

See you all tomorrow!

The post Video of the Day – The Whoniverse Show, 2026 appeared first on Blogtor Who.

 The Leigh Brackett Solar System—often termed the classic "Planetary Romance" setting—blends hard-boiled noir, colonial exploitation, decadent alien antiquities, and melancholic space opera. Unlike the sweeping galactic empires of hard sci-fi, Brackett’s Solar System is a gritty, frontier-driven setting of trade companies, lawless outposts, dying alien races, and ancient cosmic mysteries Needleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

Doctor Who Magazine 632 includes a Circuit Breaker comic and River Song audio drama

 

This month’s Doctor Who Magazine, issue 632, brings Circuit Breaker to DWM’s comic strip. There’s also more coverage of the new multimedia event taking place across audios, comics, novels, audiobooks, and more this summer. Meanwhile, in DWM’s main cover story, they summons a panel of experts to discuss the show’s future. You can also listen to an audio drama from Big Finish, starring Alex Kingston as time travelling archaeologist River Song.

 

Highlights this issue:

• Where Next for the TARDIS – Director Warris Hussein, former showrunner Steven Moffat, and prolific Big Finish script writer Rochana Patel consider where the series might go next…
• Ingrid Oliver – the actor talks to DWM about the return of UNIT’s Petronella Osgood – and her involvement in the Circuit Breaker story arc…
• The Deadliest Weapon – Writer Steve Lyons and producer Michael Stevens on pitting Jo Martin’s Doctor against the Cybermen in Circuit Breaker audio original The Deadliest Weapon…
• The Fugitive TARDIS – James Sutton reveals the intriguing story of the Fugitive Doctor’s Police Box.
• The Honourable Society – The Fugitive’s Circuit Breaker quest brings her into conflict with the Sontarans in this extra comic strip
• Peepshow – River Song fights her way through a carnival of monsters in this audio drama

 

Also this issue:

• Meet the forgotten Romanas! –  Maggy Armitage speaks for the first time about her fleeting appearance alongside Tom Baker in 1979’s Destiny of the Daleks.
• Vanessa Poulton – The make-up designer talks about her work on Doctor Who in the seventies and eighties.
• Ace Odyssey – Sophie Aldred and producer Paul Carmichael talk about this quirky podcast series.
• Lorne Martin – The events mastermind who was involved in countless Doctor Who exhibitions, is remembered by those who worked with him.
• Star Trek – Did Terrance Dicks get his ideas from Star Trek?! Find out how the classic sci-fi series may have influenced some of his Who serials.
• The Sontaran Stratagem – The Fact of Fiction about the Tenth Doctor’s skirmish with the formidable warmongers!
• This Month In… – Travel back to the sweltering summer of 1976!
• The Randomiser –  Learn all about William Hartnell’s holiday cover stand-in for The Celestial Toymaker…
• Brief Encounters – A new prose short story, as two Doctor Who heroines meet in a deserted London Underground station.
• The Daleks’ Master Plan Interlude Part One – A brand-new comic strip adventure for the First Doctor, Steven, Katarina, and Bret.
• Gallifrey Guardian – the monthly round-up of news.
• Reviews – All he latest audio dramas from Big Finish.
• Other Worlds – The essential guide to new stories in Doctor Who’s expanded universe.
• Competitions – Prizes to be won include the new comic collection featuring the Tenth Doctor and Rose Tyler.

 

DWM 632 (c) Panini Doctor Who Magazine 632

DWM Issue 632 is on sale Thursday the 23rd of July from the online Panini store, TG Jones and other retailers priced £11.99 (UK). Also available as a digital edition from Pocketmags for £10.99. You can also save with a subscription, as well as receiving exclusive, text-free covers.

The post Doctor Who Magazine 632 appeared first on Blogtor Who.

August always goes too fast - wrapping up summer, back to school, the days are precious. So I'm grateful you've taken a little time today to join me for another Crochet and Catch Up with Moogly! Grab your current WIP and join me as we chat about everything happening on Moogly, from new patterns and […]

The post Crochet and Catch Up with Moogly - August 5, 2026 appeared first on moogly. Please visit www.mooglyblog.com for this post.

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What started out as a potential Act III for the module I'm working on has... expanded.

9 nearly full pages of old-school mega-mega-mega-dungeon. 

All created using the random tables on pages 170-172 of the AD&D 1st Edition Dungeon Masters Guide by Gary Gygax, published in 1979.

Why? Because drawing dungeons from just the scratch of my imagination has become kinda boring. 

I marked my entry point in the center of a page and simply went with whatever happened. It was linear at first, but it soon expanded; side passages upon side passages, straight, diagonal, parallel, intersections -- 4-ways, Xs, Ys, Ts, all leading to chambers and rooms of all shapes and sizes (it's implied but never explicitly stated that rooms have doors and chambers do not). These tables are designed to go on and on and on; there are occasional dead-ends, but if you don't consciously stop it, it probably will not stop (25% of periodic-checks introduce side passages and 50% of side passages introduce multiple side passages).

I wanted every passage to take you deeper down the rabbit-hole, so no looping was allowed until deeply forward for every path. Every new corridor goes underneath any room or passage it crosses, but eventually loops do occur, plenty of them. At times, it's like solving a puzzle; decisions have to made, to connect or not connect? Sometimes I beg for a dead-end and sometimes I have no choice but to place one and sometimes a loop is allowed. This place is wild. I get lost just looking at it. If players were mapping it, they'd fuck up quickly, just as they would if it were a real place.

This process also reinforces the notion of space; not every room will be occupied (could/should still be interesting though) and there are many long, twisting corridors. Noise wouldn't travel here very well, not clearly. Certainly you might hear echoes and clangs and screams, but they would haunt like distant nightmares. It's easy to see adventurers snooping about, even fighting, without disturbing much of anything at all. What about the goblins in the next room? With Gygax's system, chances are, there are no goblins in the next room. 

Eventually I came to the edge of the first page, all four edges, and thought, what the hell, let's keep going, and before long, it became clear that it would bleed over onto at least 9 pages. I configured entry points to align with Act III if I insanely go in that direction. Who am I kidding... 

Some thoughts...

Wandering Monsters are built in. That's right, on the main d20 "Periodic Check Table" a roll of 20 results in a wandering monster, not a check, an actual random monster right then and there. So, I put an X on the map, always in a corridor. Sometimes they occur in bunches. So, what if wandering monsters were always handled this way, and, is that a repeated occurrence or just a one time thing? Just thinking out loud; one time occurrence is obvious to me, unless something (a glyph?) is spawning creatures.

Stairs... come up plenty of times, but there's no way I'm doing levels below this monstrosity. So, I simply put stairs in the corridor -- almost always going down. Combined with the fact that new passages go under already drawn ones, the farther out you go, the deeper underground you are. It's shaped like an underground hill. This could be how danger (dungeon levels) is measured. Center page -- dungeon levels 1 and 2; 8 pages surrounding the center page -- dungeon levels 3 and 4; 16 pages surrounding that -- dungeon levels 5 and 6, etc. So danger equals distance from the center as opposed to levels straight down. 

Tricks/Traps come up as often as stairs and such; all in corridors. I've never been a fan of hallway traps because they're punitive and make the game an unfun slog. The players have no defense other than to check every 10' of the place. So whatever these turn out to be, there must be clues.

Special passageways... Rivers, caverns, chasms, streams, all come up periodically, but I've avoided all so far. I have a certain look in mind -- the cellar of Castle Dracula, complete with arched columns, vaulted ceilings, and at times, unfinished floors. I may add subterranean canals at some point, but I'll be damned if I taint this place with caverns.

After a few weeks, all 9 pages are nearly complete (much more complete than the pic I posted above) and it has a shit-ton of passages bleeding off in every possible direction. This implies a larger ring of 16 new pages for a total of 25. I would love to keep going until all natural dead-ends are met, but this could become comically large. So, is it now just a work of art? A curiosity? The odds of it stopping on its own are astronomically low. I wonder, what is the largest dungeon ever made using these tables? This is probably unknowable.
And then you must stock it!


Your mind would never imagine what these tables create.

Gary Gygax was a genius.

The Fugitive Doctor heads into the Daleks’ past to save her own future in Doctor Who: Dawn of the Daleks, out now from Titan Comics

 

This year’s multi-media Doctor Who adventure, Circuit Breaker continues with the second of two issues from Titan Comics. It’s already featured battles with Sontarans, Cyberman, and Daleks in audiobooks, magazines, and comics. Now, Circuit Breaker #2: Dawn of the Daleks arrives, as the Fugitive Doctor and Osgood head to the planet Skaro in the ancient past.

In 1975’s Genesis of the Daleks, the Fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane and Harry were on Skaro without the TARDIS. Worse still, Kaled soldiers confiscated the Time Ring – their only way off the planet. In Circuit Breaker the Time Ring has mysteriously materialised in UNIT’s Black Archive. Soon, its unstable energies threatening to destroy London. If the Fugitive can’t get it back where it belongs, her future will end in the Daleks’ past…

Dawn of the Daleks is written by Dan Watters with art by Sami Kivelä, the team behind Everyone Must Go!, and The Prison Paradox.

You can find links for buying in the US, or from Forbidden Planet in the UK here.

 

Dawn of the Daleks comes with five variant covers to choose from: Circuit Breaker #2. Cover by Nipuni (c) Titan Comics Doctor Who: Circuit Breaker #2 Cover B (c) Titan Comics Circuit Breaker #2 Cover C by Kit Wallis (c) Titan Comics Circuit Breaker #2. Cover D by Flops Doctor Who: Circuit Breaker #2. Cover E by Flops

Circuit Breaker continues throughout August and September, in books, audios, comics and even more. Check here for the complete list of chapters, as well as release dates.

 

 

Doctor Who: Circuit Breaker #2

Dawn of the Daleks: The Doctor Travels To The War-Ravaged World Of Skaro As She Battles The Daleks With The Fate Of Their Kaled Forebears At Stake!

Circuit Breaker continues with Castling, from East Side Games on the 6th of August

The post Doctor Who: Dawn of the Daleks – Out Now! appeared first on Blogtor Who.

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to the end of Crisis! This week, I'm looking at comics that were published on July 11, 1985.

Arak Son of Thunder #50: We arrive at the long ago announced final issue of the series as Arak and friends part ways from their more recent allies from the Middle East, and head ever eastward on a Chinese ship. Machinations of the Serpent see them barely making it to Japan, where they are attacked by the Ezo people under the command of an oni. Arak drives off the demon, sending the Ezo running too, and putting Arak and friends in the good graces of the local lord. The relationship sours, however, when Arak refuses to exterminate to Ezo for him. As Arak leaves, he frees an Ezo prisoner, who leads the group to his village. The Ezo aren't on the demon's side at all, but under his thumb. They want to escape to another island, free from the Japanese and the demon. Arak and friends slay the oni and get the lord to agree to giving safe passage to the Ezo.
Arak and Maligigi reveal that they have seen in visions that Charlemagne has now been made Emperor of the Romans. Valda realizes she must return to her king. Arak and Satyricus set out in a smaller boat to the Americas, but Maligigi is sure he and Valda will see them again.
This is the end of their story, though. Aside from some cameos, Arak and friends haven't appeared in the post-Crisis DCU. At 50 issues, Arak had the second longest run of any Sword & Sorcery character not based on a Robert E. Howard property in American comics.

Amethyst #11: Nice cover here by Cullins and Tanghal. Cohn and Colon/Kesel have Topaz and Turquoise reveal their love to Amethyst. Feeling betrayed, Amethyst decides to quit Gemworld to just live as Amy Winston on Earth. Gemworld isn't out of danger, though. Odd crystal formations are emerging, and one in the form of a serpent recruits Sardonyx for some evil scheme.
Things aren't so great on Earth, either. Amy's friend Rita is now Carnelian's accomplice in luring her father to his home to be a sacrifice for some dark ritual using the power of Dark Opal's broach. Meanwhile, in the Winston household's domestic drama, it seems like Herb's dissatisfaction with married life with an adopted kid who's also the savior of a fantasy world may be heading to an affair with one of his students from Hudson University.

Arion, Lord of Atlantis Special #1: The promised final issue of the series became a special instead. Kupperberg and Duursema seem like they're stuffing in every potential plot element they had thought of in this one issue. Atlantis is attacked by sub-men, alien invaders arrive, and jackal-headed S'net launches another assault. All of these forces manipulated and abetted by the evil god, Chaon. It's a lot for one issue, and it crowds out any significant focus on the characters, except that we do get to see Mara in her new relationship with the musician who also has an unusual ability: the power to manifest wings. 
In the end, the alien invasion is turned back after the revelation that they had their origins in expeditions from Atlantis millennia ago. Their ship is driven into the sun by one of their leaders sympathetic to the Atlantean cause so they won't be returning. S'Net is lost in space, and the sub-men have allied with the Atlanteans against their common foes. 
In Arion's fight with Chaon, though, the demon unleashes a blast sends seismic shudders through the land.  Arion banishes Chaon, but Atlantis is doomed. Arion, Chian, Wyynde, and many Atlantean refugees escape in ships, but their great city is no more. This is also the last appearance of Arion and his supporting cast in the pre-Crisis universe. Arion will show up in the post-Crisis world, mostly as a background element, though he will get another series in 1992 where he takes up residence in modern day New York.

Batman #389: Thanks to the Crisis (and Moench and Mandrake) there are red skies over Gotham. That's got Bruce thinking about his love life. He goes to the gym where Vicki is always working out to end things for good, but she thinks he's trying to win her back and storms off. Catwoman is back in town, tracking down the person killing wayward members of the False Face Society, and Batman meets with her to let her down easy, too. This attempt goes a bit better, but she declines to give up her vigilantism. Meanwhile, Jason is feeling the lack of a mother, so when a disappearance Bullock is working suggests Nocturna is back in town, he goes to the observatory to find her. Apparently, she's the one leading the False Face Society. Though no one knows it, Night Slayer is the one killing the Society members, with Nocturna is final goal. 

G.I. Combat #280: In the first Haunted Tank story by Kanigher and Glanzman, Stuart's Raiders draw cards to see who will go on a solo suicide mission to destroy the secret hangar for Germany's new jets, but even after Jeb "wins," his men won't let him go it alone. The second is a solo Rick story where he's attending a carnival with a woman when the Germans attack. Rick takes a shot from the top of a roller coaster to take out a fighter pilot.
In the Mercenaries story by Kanigher and Catan, the trio steals back a convoy of food relief for the Ethiopian famine from a hijacker chief, Nakamti. 
The two nonserial stories are both by Kanigher. The first, with art by Cruz, has an American G.I. and former championship skier besting the Chinese and an avalanche to complete his mission. The second has art by Catan as his about a paratrooper unlucky enough to get his chute caught on the wing of a German fighter plane, but lucky enough to make it out alive. 

Justice League of America Annual #3: Mishkin and Hoberg/Gustovich give us the ending of the pre-Crisis Red Tornado. It seems to me impossible to square the early events depicted here with the version of them in COIE #8 (though Wikipedia makes an effort). Here, Red is conscious and alone at the JLA station as he uses equipment there to test his powers, seeking to find out what the Anti-Monitor's cryptic comments meant about their being more to him. This leads to him exploding and sending the damaged station falling on to the Earth. The disaster is responded to by the new Justice League and several of the old members including Firestorm, Green Arrow, and Black Canary. 
Meanwhile, unusual weather patterns are starting up, and members of the JLA discover it isn't due to the Crisis but an experimental weather manipulation station that has mysteriously gone out of control. Red Tornado's lady friend, Kathy, is contact by Red through a TV set and other electronic devices. He asks her to meet him at the golden gate bridge.
It turns out Red Tornado has survived, he's again in the form of the living tornado, the Tornado Champion. Now viewing himself as a force of nature, he looks with a new-found horror at the ecological devastation humanity had wreaked on Earth. He decides to destroy civilization and battles the heroes to do just that. Finally, Kathy gets through to him, and he leaves the Earth to go elsewhere in the universe.

Legion of Super-Heroes #16: Levitz and Lightle/Smith still have Brainiac 5 moping over the death of Supergirl. If "moping" seems a dismissive description of grief over the death of a loved one, well, that's weirdly exactly how the narrative treats it. Brainiac is drawn to look like a sad sack, and a lot of other characters question why he's so upset when her death had occurred a long time ago and was a matter of the historical record. It seems the opposite of what you would want to do in a story, particularly when Crisis spent so much time trying to make her death impactful. I assume Levitz was trying to drive home that this is the future, and the past had been written, but that only draws attention to the fact that it clearly isn't, and it also seems to contradict the idea of Crisis as a sort of meta-temporal occurrence. Otherwise, to everyone but poor Anthro, maybe, the Crisis is to some extent "in the past."
Interestingly, the DCU fandom wiki argues Brainiac 5 is glum about the 1000 anniversary of Supergirl's Pre-Crisis death. It points out her death is not mysterious in this story--unlike a number of other Crisis-related events --and further notes Crisis isn't mentioned in this issue, nor does it carry a Crisis banner. Given, however, we saw Brainiac 5 grieving Supergirl in COIE #8, I'm not persuaded, but it is interesting.
Beyond, that a lot of Legionnaires attend the baptism of Graym, Lighting Lad's and Saturn Girl's infant. The new members also go on their first solo case to take down some bombers, which proves more complicated and mysterious than anticipated.

Omega Men #32: Klein and guest artist Spiegle do a fill-in issue where Felicity returns to Karna and finds work as a bar dancer, only to lose that job due to the lack of titillation in her dance. She meets a scarred face human named Mung who helps her get more work and gives her some dance pointers. In the background of all this, the cops are hunting for a serial killer who they believe to be a "regressor," a Karnan who can turn into a big cat like Tigorr. The story seems to signal that Mung is the killer, and he certainly tries to kill Felicity after revealing himself to be the bounty hunter Bedlam we saw previously. Felicity manages to best him and the cops take him away. Still, the issue ends with some ambiguity: Was Mung the killer? The only other possibility is that Felicity is secretly a regressor, but I'm not sure what Klein intended. 
Star Trek #20: Laurie Sutton scripts with Tom Sutton and Villagran on art for this Sulu solo story. Sulu attends a family wedding where a clan cousin he was romantically involved with in his youth is marrying a son of a rival clan in the un-Trekian giant robot business. It turns out the young man hasn't given up the feud, it ends as these things must: Sulu and the guy fight, each piloting a giant robot.

Super Powers #3: Kupperberg and Kirby/Theakston send Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and Dr. Fate to Easter Island, probably so Kirby can again illustrate the Maoi, which he has done more than once before. Like in those stories the statues turn out to be aliens, but the primary menace here is Kirby's redesigned Mantis. The grateful Easter Islanders erect busts of the heroes, but unfortunately Green Lantern feels they have to be destroyed, which could be construed as "destroying evidence."

Superman #413: Bates and Swan/Williamson get to the end of the this "Clark Kent--Fired!" storyline. Luthor, already having Supes doubting his sanity, moves to his endgame. It comes at a particularly bad time, too, because Clark has been invited to a dinner, unaware that it's a big to-do in his honor put in by his friends and colleagues. Luthor's devices convince Superman that the Earth is dematerializing around him. Lex plans to trap him in this simulated reality of defeat forever, but his super-hearing (I guess) picks up all his friends and co-workers mentioning Clark Kent. Their calls focus him on the real world, allowing him to pull out of Lex's machine. As he fights with the villain, though, Lex is pulled away by some force. From Crisis, we know that's Brainiac, but it's mysterious here.
Superman attends the dinner and gives Clark's regrets but clears his good name by saying his previous reporting was all part of a plan to catch Luthor.

Welcome to Day 5 of #RPGaDay2026. As I explained in my Day 0 post, I’ll be creating NPCs based on the day’s prompts and the week and day modifiers presented in the infographic below.  Check out that post for further details.

Today’s combination: Burden (Prompt) + Intellect (Weekly Modifier) + Full of Woe (Weekly Modifier) + Fantasy (Genre)

Here is today’s NPC.

Inafarihm the Taciturn (Fantasy Name Generator used for the name: Wizard name generator)

It is said that when you need to find out the secret name of a baleful creature from the depths, or the formula to break a slumber caused by a fairy’s tears, there is no wiser or more intelligent sage to consult than Master Inafarihm. He is also known as Inafarihm the Taciturn, though never to his face.

The massive, balding man with a square jaw has a frame that must have once been imposing, but has grown rotund and sluggish in old age. His expression is locked in a perpetual scowl. His heavy eyelids hood clear blue eyes that appear far younger than the deep lines on his face would suggest. His huge, calloused hands seem ill-fitted for a sage’s work, and he relies on one of his many attendants to do most of the writing for his voluminous correspondence.

Those few who remember his youth confirm that this man once went by another name, and that the original Inafarihm was his companion, a wizard of some renown. The two traveled to far-away lands in search of treasure and adventure, but only one returned—a broken man, full of woe and regret, who retired to the wizard’s tower, never to sally forth again.

Despite his isolation, tales of his intellect brought adventurers and other sages to consult him, and his reputation grew. Quiet, reserved, and often surly, he can still be coaxed to answer a query or research a formula for the correct price or the right vintage. With good wine and enough time, one may earn the Master’s trust and learn the terrible truth: the burden of a wizard’s mind living on inside the body of the man who was once his friend, retaining his vast knowledge, but completely lacking the power to use magic.

Thanks for reading; I am looking forward to your RPG a Day 2026 post, comments, and conversation. If you want further information about #RPGaDay2026, be sure to check out Autocratik’s blog.

A Spanish version of this post is available at the Desde la Fosa Facebook page.

See you all tomorrow!

The post Video of the Day – Doctor Who: Motivational Quotes, 2026 appeared first on Blogtor Who.

 In Dave Hargrave’s Arduin Grimoire series (Volumes I–III and The Arduin Adventure), random treasure generation subverts standard fantasy tropes. Hargrave mixed high fantasy with sci-fi, cosmic horror, and weird fiction. This blog post picks right up from Integrating Adventurer Conqueror King System II (ACKS II) with the legendary, chaotic, and maximum-gonzo DNA of Dave Hargrave's Needleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

Welcome to Day 4 of #RPGaDay2026. As I explained in my Day 0 post, I’ll be creating NPCs based on the day’s prompts and the week and day modifiers presented in the infographic below.  Check out that post for further details.

Today’s combination: Charm (Prompt) + Intellect (Weekly Modifier) + Full of Grace (Weekly Modifier) + Horror (Genre)

Here is today’s NPC.

Mamaachik “Manny” Sihui Cuya (Name source: Fantasy Name Generator – Quechua name generator)

Mamaachik Sihui Cuya never uses his birth name these days. He goes by Manny. Originally from Peru, he admits to having once been a paqos, a type of priest, in his home in the Andes. But he hasn’t been one in a long time. At least that’s what he claims.

An amicable and charming old man with a penchant for fancy suits, Manny runs a local car service which employs a few other immigrants, and owes various vehicles, including a limousine, that he often drives. He is glib and can strike up a conversation with anyone. He seems to know a bit of trivia on almost any subject, and many passengers are awed by his incredible intellect.

But what he seems to know most about, but is often reluctant to talk about, is the dangers that lurk in the shadows where men do not dare look, of the invisible dangers of this world and beyond, of the ancient secret masters of reality.

If pressed, he admits to having confronted some dangers others might not have survived, but insists he only managed to do so by the grace of the balance and wisdom of the universe.

However, when people confront the unknown, and their concept of reality is frayed, someone may pass them a dog-eared business card for a car service and tell them to ask for Manny; he might be able to guide them out of this mess.

Thanks for reading; I am looking forward to your RPG a Day 2026 post, comments, and conversation. If you want further information about #RPGaDay2026, be sure to check out Autocratik’s blog.

A Spanish version of this post is available at the Desde la Fosa Facebook page.

See you all tomorrow!

The post Video of the Day – Late Show with David Letterman, 2014 appeared first on Blogtor Who.

 C.L. Moore’s Northwest of Earth collection—featuring her iconic space-faring rogue Northwest Smith—blends planetary romance, cosmic horror, dark decadence, and raygun pulp. In Moore’s 1930s Solar System, Mars is a dry wasteland of ancient dead gods, Venus is a sultry jungle ringed with sinister matriarchal fortresses, and Jupiter’s moons hide ethereal siren-entities. This picks rightNeedleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

Art by Jeff Easley
A lot has been written about the "Myth of the Frontier" underpinnings of D&D, and the games perhaps greater homology to Westerns than traditional fantasy in many ways. Interestingly, despite that clear element of the game's core assumptions, when we look at published D&D settings, we don't really see a frontier and expansion setup.

The implied setting of D&D, as a number of writers have pointed out, can also be said to be post-apocalyptic. That often conjures images of science fantasy writers from Appendix N, but of applies to in the literal sense if not the generic sense to the Hyborian Age of Conan and the 3rd Age of Middle Earth. Materially greater and in some ways more advanced civilizations must precede the current one for there to be so much wealth and magic to be looted in old ruins.

A post-apocalyptic setting allows the frontier to be closer at hand, and indeed really sort of obscures it even being a frontier, as no discernable border but instead the distance between "civilized points." Connecting these dots seems more reclamation than expansion.

That works, but in D&D settings like Greyhawk, Krynn, and the Forgotten Realms, the apocalypse is remote enough so that the current civilization doesn't seem post-apocalyptic, at least no more than the High Middle Ages seems to us recovering from the fall of Rome.

Yet, Greyhawk, for all its map full of named regions, heraldry, and rulers with elaborate titles, is really empty. Some of this exists to facilitate the desired game play, sure, but that's the Doylist explanation. I like the more Watsonian explanations of humanoid and demihuman groups that are not adequately censused coupled with events that have led to a decline in population.

As Chris Kutalik and other commentors suggested in his blog series of years ago, I think Greyhawk is best analogized not to some science fantasy post-apocalypse but to historical eras like the "Dark Ages" (or early Middle Ages) after the collapse of Rome, or the plague, famine and war riven period of the Crisis of the Late Middle Ages.

In many ways, I think, Greyhawk reads better as a setting where the apocalypse (or at least an apocalypse) is not the remote past but happening now or relatively recently. This isn't so much a total destruction kind of apocalypse but a "civilization is dealt a blow" sort of one. This allows for the breadth and complexity of social structures described in Greyhawk, but also for the population numbers and available real estate for enterprising adventures to carve out something for themselves. 

It's "points of light" to use the modern descriptor, but not (like so many of those settings) a rather static period, but one where there are still roving bands of invaders (humanoids, monsters, or armies of other human nations) and isolated communities that must either grow larger and more resilient or be wiped out. I should add, There's no one way the communities have approach this problem to survive. Orcs settling down to live in some sort of peace is potentially just as possible as driving them out and killing them.

I think this sort of implied framing could be fun to lean into. D&D settings need more Random Calamitous Event Tables and societies in flux (like we see in some epic fantasy like A Song of Ice and Fire). Christopher Buehlman's historical horror novel Between Two Fires and his fantasy series beginning with the Blacktongue Thief where human civilization is still dealing with the fallout from a disastrous (and still simmering) war with goblinkind are great inspirations, as well.

 Here is a d100 Wilderness Random Encounter Table tailored specifically for a Sword & Sorcery campaign using Castles & Crusades. This blog post picks right up from OSR Sword & Sorcery Adventure Fodder - d100 Treasure Table tailored for the Tower of the Serpent Horde, fully compatible with Castles & Crusades (and most classic OSR systems)In true Sword & Sorcery Needleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

Welcome to Day 3 of #RPGaDay2026. As I explained in my Day 0 post, I’ll be creating NPCs based on the day’s prompts and the week and day modifiers presented in the infographic below.  Check out that post for further details.

Today’s combination: Poise (Prompt) + Intellect (Weekly Modifier) + Fair of Face (Weekly Modifier) + Cyberpunk (Genre)

Here is today’s NPC.

Alecia “Nova” Seins (Fantasy Name Generator used for the name: Cyberpunk (nick)name generator)

There are endless rumors about Nova’s origins, but they all contradict each other. Whoever she was before breaking into the city’s entertainment scene is practically unverifiable. Only her birth name, Alecia Seins, and the fact that she was born in the broken-down rural wastes of the interior could be gleaned from a leaked detention bulletin once shared on the Net. While her history has been scrubbed extensively, those two facts remain.

She originally represented small-time acts for corporate interests but soon branched off as an independent producer, making a name for herself in unsanctioned taverns and underground dance halls. In these dangerous circles—often controlled by the Yakuza—she held her own. Always unfazed and projecting absolute poise, her sharp intellect and quick wits kept her safe. She quickly built a network of contacts throughout the city’s unofficial circles, turning the information she gathered into her primary currency.

Today, Nova still represents some of the most famous non-corporate up-and-comers, holding court at her eponymous dance hall. There, she highlights the cream of the underground crop, some of whom have even managed to cross over and become corp-stars. She is known just as much for her cunning as her looks. While her true age is a closely guarded secret, she appears far younger than she should; she is undeniably fair of face, though her beauty is heavily augmented by surgical enhancements, some of which are rumored to be far deadlier than mere cosmetic upgrades.

Renowned for her unmatched business intellect, Nova now serves as a premier information broker, go-between, and trusted contact across the neon-lit underworld.

Thanks for reading; I am looking forward to your RPG a Day 2026 post, comments, and conversation. If you want further information about #RPGaDay2026, be sure to check out Autocratik’s blog.

A Spanish version of this post is available at the Desde la Fosa Facebook page.

See you all tomorrow!

The post Video of the Day – Doctor Who: Sixth Doctor Adventures, 2026 appeared first on Blogtor Who.

 In Decaying Orbit—the atmospheric sci-fi horror tabletop RPG focused on exploring a doomed orbital facility and uncovering lost memories—The Red Room serves as one of the station’s most ominous, high-tension focal points. This blog post picks right up North West of Earth By C.L. Moore - Orbital Decay (MicroRed version) From The Red Room & The New Flesh Rpg - Expanding The Needleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11243274667834930867noreply@blogger.com0

Covers and details for Big Finish’s grand finale for Doctor Who: Circuit Breaker are here

 

Circuit Breaker, this year’s Doctor Who multimedia epic, continues throughout August and September. The various chapters are standalone adventures while also building into one huge storyline. By the end, it will have wound its way through Titan Comics, Doctor Who Magazine, BBC Audiobooks, East Side Games, and books from Puffin and Penguin Random House. The grand finale, however, will play out in audio releases from Big Finish. Covers and details of those two audio releases are now available.

Big Finish’s contributions comprise the two-hour series finale, Full Circuit (a full-cast audio drama) and two Short Trips-style audiobook stories released together as Short Circuits. Both will be out in September.

Circuit Breaker sees UNIT recruit the Fugitive Doctor to help with a major crisis. Objects from throughout the Time Lord’s history have mysteriously appeared in UNIT’s Black Archive. Each radiates the same strange energy which threatens to tear time and space apart over the skies of London. The Fugitive is the only one who can return them to their proper place. But the danger may be more linked to her own past with Division than anyone realizes…

The cast of Full Circuit includes Jo Martin as the Fugitive Doctor, Ingrid Oliver as Osgood, Jemma Redgrave as Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, Omari Douglas as Andrew, and Dan Starkey. You can also expect more casting news closer to the release date. Dan Starkey also reads both stories in Short Circuits.

 

“It all pays off at UNIT Tower, facing a massive threat to the planet, and only they can stop it!”

Robert Valentine, writer of Full Circuit, said: “I was thrilled to write the climactic episode of the Circuit Breaker saga, and it was quite the responsibility. The Doctor, Osgood and Andrew have been on this perilous journey together, and it all pays off at UNIT Tower, where Kate Lethbridge-Stewart is facing a massive threat to the safety of the planet, and only they can stop it.

“It was also huge fun pairing the Fugitive Doctor with Osgood and Kate, because Jo Martin’s Doctor is an irreverent, no-nonsense incarnation with no sentimental baggage about her UNIT allies, so her Doctor can say things to them that no other version of the Doctor could. And that was a blast to write!”

Valentine also script edited Short Circuits, about which he said: “What I love about the two Short Circuits stories is the sidelights they cast on the two main Circuit Breaker characters brand-new to Doctor Who – the formidable villain known as the Conductor, and Osgood’s gifted assistant, Andrew Turner – and the extra depths they give them.”

 

 

Full Circuit by Robert Valentine:

The Doctor, Osgood and Andrew are joined by Kate Lethbridge Stewart. A final mysterious object is manifesting, this one at the pinnacle of UNIT Tower itself.

A Time Bomb! Which threatens a dark future for all of the Doctor’s incarnations.

Only this Doctor can save herself – and her other selves – from this intricately woven scheme.

 

Doctor Who: Short Circuits. Cover by Soundsmyth Creative (c) Big Finish Short Circuits contains these two short stories: Battleships by Alex Hewitt

Meet the Conductor. This cadaverous specimen is a peerless tactical genius. But life is hard for a man who stands out from his fellows, and this formidable mastermind must outwit certain rivals before setting his sights on his true enemy.

Get Rich or Die Trying by Alex Hewitt, from a story by Natasha Siegel

Meet Andrew – a young man with a good job and a mysterious benefactor. Following a coded message to the Jurassic Coast, where a team of palaeontologists are digging up a dinosaur skeleton, Andrew encounters a stranger who gives him a so-called time-travel device. Before he knows what’s happened, Andrew is plunged back through history, all the way to the Jurassic Period itself. Why has he been sent here?

Who is his anonymous benefactor? And is he the victim of a sinister experiment? Only time will tell…

 

Doctor Who – Circuit Breaker: Full Circuit is now available to pre-order for just £13.99 (download to own) or £21.99 (download to own + collector’s edition CD), exclusively from the Big Finish website. And, Doctor Who – Circuit Breaker: Short Circuits is now available to pre-order as a download to own for £11.99.  

Plus, a multi-buy bundle of both releases is available for £23 (download to own) or £31 (download to own + Full Circuit collector’s edition CD). 

 

 

Doctor Who: Circuit Breaker #2. Art by Jay Anacleto (c) Titan Comics Circuit Breaker continues with Dawn of the Daleks, from Titan Comics on the 4th of August

 

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