d100 - How Do Those Wizards Know Each Other?

Recently when re-watching The Last Unicorn for the umpteenth time, I noticed something interesting in a scene I know I had seen so many times before:

In King Haggard’s Court, when Schmendrick seeks the role of King Haggard’s Royal Magician, Mabruk is summoned and seems to already *know of* Schmendrick, greeting him with a “My Dear Boy!” and everything. It started me thinking about the implications of a Setting where each and every practitioner of the Arcane Arts knew each other in some way.

So here are a hundred potential ideas for those Magical Meetings or serendipitous situations where Sorcerous Paths may have crossed prior. There are obvious interactions one could exploit with the Mentor/Apprentice Relationships, but some of these get a little more specific. Seems like it might work a little better in those Worlds where Magic is a bit more Wonderous and Rare, but the opportunity for those kinds of interesting NPC and PC interactions seems just far too tempting not to try out once in a while.

d100 - Where Does That Lamp Oil Come From?

Sometimes, I like to confront a few of the curious questions that occasionally come up in various Settings. This time I decided to tackle that ubiquitous Lamp Oil, filling up all those Flasks flung over the years or reliably illuminating the way via Lanterns. Where does it come from? Who makes the stuff? Why is it so ubiquitous? This table contains a hundred less-conventional notions on how it’s derived to make a given Game World a little more interesting.

d100 - Brainfood for Burgeoning Blogs

Recently, some impressive work Mapping the RPG blogosphere by elmcat had me thinking about the recent surge in new Blogs about these games. It is very exciting to see more and more people deciding to use these once more to capture their thoughts and ideas. Blogs are a bit less ephemeral than some of the other spaces that we use to discuss these things (such as Social Media/Discord Communities) and so much is often lost or goes unacknowledged in those spaces. With a Blog Entry, it is somewhat more preserved for others to read, reference, and riff on. I began mine (with the usual fits and starts) way, way back in 2007 and it’s still going!

In the early days, at the genesis of the OSR, blogs were wonderful for starting conversations and discussions between different authors. If someone posted something thought-provoking, innovative, or interesting, other bloggers could link to their post and contribute their own ideas and elaborations. From this, those wonderful communities you see in elmcat’s fascinating graph formed, and spider-webbed throughout the internet.

So as a way to welcome all these new Bloggers, I put together a d100 Table of Topics to Blog About. Just as with the empty page of a brand-new blank notebook, it can sometimes be intimidating or difficult to know where to start. This list gives you something to roll or choose from should you find yourself without any inspiration about what to post. Many of these skew a bit toward Fantasy (which is generally more common) but feel free to re-skin them to apply to your situation and Setting!

Should you end up deciding to tackle one of these, let me know! I’d love to read your results!