iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Some of those scattered bits of advice that didn't "make the cut" for the RC are probably one of the things I miss most (and Tournaments and Artifact Rules 😄)

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ktrey @ktrey.bsky.social · 22h

Yep! I do like how the booklet "sets" trickled out things more gradually and there's definitely some thing is that we're lost in the editing to compile all that info. The RC does remain a wonderful reference for me though 😅

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ktrey @ktrey.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Pretty solid for a "teaching dungeon" and honestly, you can't put those words on the box without *having both* in an Adventure 😂

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ktrey @ktrey.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds 😅

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ktrey @ktrey.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I think BECMI gives them a Barding Multiplier and Carrying Capacity at least!

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ktrey @ktrey.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Mentzer is also where you start seeing "smaller" Dragons that might be more feasibly defeated by lower level characters! Interesting that it made it into the Denning Black Box though!

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ktrey @ktrey.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I think I've seen it happen maybe thrice in all my decades playing these games, but each time was certainly memorable!

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ktrey @ktrey.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Always filled the floor when I'd put it on at the club!

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ktrey @ktrey.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Still one of the best generators out there!

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ktrey @ktrey.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I'm the same way! Sometimes it just takes that initial tiny acorn to grow the mighty oak tree!

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ktrey @ktrey.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

It's tricky to fit 100 ideas on a single page, so a lot of them end up being shorter or more ambiguous than I'd like. I think that sometimes lends itself to an entry serving more like a "springboard" or "starting point" which can be fun! But there are always other ways to riff on a topic or imagine!

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ktrey @ktrey.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Thank you for the kind words! I love hearing that the resources I provide might be useful to someone! 😊

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ktrey @ktrey.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I like to sprinkle in some Religious Rituals: blog.d4caltrops.com/2025/01/d100... Clerics usually have to contend with stricter Taboos: blog.d4caltrops.com/2021/02/one-... and perform Penances though! blog.d4caltrops.com/2025/01/d100...

blog.d4caltrops.com

d100 – Sacred Ceremonies & Religious Rituals

P art of my ongoing attempts to dive deeper into the Deity Disfavor Class feature of the Cleric, here are a hundred relatively minor rite...

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ktrey @ktrey.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

There's usually a "germ" of an interesting idea in all those older games. Dragonraid has this odd thing where the "Good Guys" use a d10 for resolution but the "Adversaries" always use a d8...weighing things in the Party's favor!

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ktrey @ktrey.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Gonna charge them *per brick* and hand them the tub of Castle Lego

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ktrey @ktrey.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

I enjoy when they have "their own rules" and get *stranger* the deeper you go. On the third level, there might be a Gargoyle's Spout that flows upwards, etc. to hint that they're "Not in Kansas Anymore." Figuring out a "Dungeon's Rules" becomes something they can use to their advantage later!

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ktrey @ktrey.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

We have done them anonymously, but they were not mandatory or necessarily highlighting each player.

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ktrey @ktrey.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

I had something similar, but it was Dogfights with Planes!

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ktrey @ktrey.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

I remember playing with the Holmes ones back in the day (it took awhile for us to find actual polyhedrals, but we raided board games for d6s!) So many spilt or mixed up cups/hats interrupting play...but we made it work! 😅

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ktrey @ktrey.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Strangely, this only seems to work with me for the ones with the Pips. Can't do it when they feature numerals 😅

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ktrey @ktrey.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

But I have a lot of first hand experience with BECMI and that higher level Play (we even made it to those Immortal Tiers back in the day!) I think a lot of the conversations tend to stem from viewing the Classes "On Paper" rather than through the lens of Play 😅

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ktrey @ktrey.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

It's also interesting to note how their "Role" tends to change once the game progresses past the Dungeon Tier (not a lot of locked doors or treasure traps in the Wilderness!) they become more akin to Scouts sometimes. In Domain, you see them turn into Assassins/Spies/Guild Leaders/Masterminds.

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ktrey @ktrey.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Funny thing is: there are a lot of Treasures that obviate those Thief Abilities completely (Elfin Boots, Invisibility Rings, etc.) and the Thief is likely to get *first dibs* on that sort of thing. By the time they get Scroll Use in Basic...I seldom see them test those at all!

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ktrey @ktrey.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Thanks for the shout-out! Glad you are finding them useful!

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ktrey @ktrey.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Industrial Band, but they do have a very specific aesthetic for their album/single artwork and I guess the text placement just reminded me a bit of it! 😆

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ktrey @ktrey.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Brave of her to go barefoot in a Dungeon! 🦶

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ktrey @ktrey.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Is this intentionally channeling KMFDM album covers or is that just me 😂

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ktrey @ktrey.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I get that urge to try and convey every footfall through certain places that are detailed or well-imagined (in my mind at least) when broader brushes might be better. Saving the *more zoomed in* stuff for tense situations, chases, etc. Different *details* and *senses* to surface in each situation.

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ktrey @ktrey.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

"Footfall Fidelity" is something I have to convince myself to resist when it comes to that Travel 😅

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ktrey @ktrey.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I'm *awful* at revealing Scales. It's always in Days or Weeks for me, rather than hard distances...because those means of straight line travel are pretty rare in most of my Wildernesses 😅

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ktrey @ktrey.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Yeah! Overlays to demarcate a Kingdom, a persistent Weather Pattern, or even Territories of certain powerful Monsters could be really cool!

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ktrey @ktrey.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Do love me some of those Voronoi Tesselations for Maps sometimes! They provide a much less rigid way of dividing things, and can provide other things like Faction Soans of Control, etc.

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Reposted by ktrey

Gary Hornseth @garyhornseth.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Designs for ticket punches, c. 1914 from "Hardware, Tools & Supplies - Catalogue No. 500,” Hammacher, Schlemmer & Co., New York Image: International Tool Catalog Library Collection via @archive.org; archive.org/details/hamm...

A catalog page on sepia paper titled "Designs For Ticket Punches." The page features a grid of several hundred unique, numbered ticket punch silhouettes including symbols and icons like hearts, stars, anchors, letters, numbers 1-9, arrows, a tree, bell, train car, moon, anvil, hat, horse head, and many that just seem abstract. The footer reads "PAGE 626" and "SEE DISCOUNT SHEET."

Archivist’s note: “The (catalog) scan is from the Internet Archive's Smithsonian Libraries collection … The catalog was issued in 1914 or 1915 according to magazines of the period.”

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ktrey @ktrey.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

They didn't even like the very short-lived open mic performances I used to do in a "Lounge Singer" style at the local Coffee Shop.

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ktrey @ktrey.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

The Tutulary of Rumbling Stomachs often dispenses gifts such as these. If one had waited longer, a wheel of hearty cheese or hunk of smoked meat might appear. The loaf will nourish, provided you do not let the Blood of a creature touch your skin.

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ktrey @ktrey.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

What if they also told stories? 😅

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ktrey @ktrey.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Yeah! It's a great way to shorthand those rationales for "Hey why are we Adventuring Together" and I love that it has provisions for those late joiners/new Characters at later stages!

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ktrey @ktrey.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Love the BtW style "Companion* features!

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ktrey @ktrey.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

The "Squatting Problem" actually works a bit to our advantage when we're trying to determine the starting BECMI Spells (a list of 13!) because it gives them a *little* agency by saying "Nope, I don't want that one!"

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ktrey @ktrey.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

My d13 is usually "pick a number from 1-12, and if you roll that it's a 13" not *quite perfect* probability-wise (because they can squat on a number they *might not want*) but it works in a pinch.

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ktrey @ktrey.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Might have something on the burner for the "Taken" result in dev:

Table Entries for Total Party "keepers" that reduce lethality.

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ktrey @ktrey.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Think I remember something to this effect, very fiddly. But yeah: There's usually a germ of something *interesting* that I can sniff out in most games if I have the patience to try! 😂

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ktrey @ktrey.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Ah yes...the "Wordrunes." Part of what let's them lean into that "Learning System" tagline 😅 There's another odd bit in the game too involving asymmetry: Good guys roll a d10, but the Adversaries always use d8. Always found that kinda interesting in terms of mechanics.

Pages from Dragonraid showing some of the Wordrunes

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ktrey @ktrey.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

It's dangerous to go alone! Maybe hire some Retainers next time? perchance.org/retainer-npc

perchance.org

Rapid Retainer & Hapless Hireling Generator

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ktrey @ktrey.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Dragonraid used "Adventure Learning System" but try as I might, can't get that one to catch on 😂

Cover of the Dragonraid "Adventure Learning System" booklet.

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ktrey @ktrey.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Again, they're not really *specific* (because I often need to tailor traps to a given location/situation when stocking) but there are some "prompts" on my Dungeon Stocking expanded that also can sometimes give me a little inspiration for the "kind" of Trap: blog.d4caltrops.com/2024/12/dung...

Dungeon Stocking Expanded - Trap Entries with prompts for different "styles" of Trap

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ktrey @ktrey.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I ended up doing a few tables on Doors over the years: Where is the Key? blog.d4caltrops.com/2022/07/d100... Why is it Stuck? blog.d4caltrops.com/2022/05/d100... And some more Peculiar Portals blog.d4caltrops.com/2024/11/d00-...

blog.d4caltrops.com

d100 – Why Is This Door Stuck?

D oors are so often stubbornly Stuck in Dungeons. What is it about those places that makes it so hard to hire a decent Doormaker? Having ...

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ktrey @ktrey.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

When I see an OSR Referee grousing about PbtA, I like to remind them about how awesome the Reaction Roll is in older D&D 😂

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