April 2026 - Hallelujah!
Spring has sprung in the northern hemisphere, and the ent babies are sprouting! This month's issue features an oneiric adventure site for Mythic Bastionland, tips for using treasure maps to test your players, and a rousing bit of encouragement that may just convince you—yes you—to start a play-by-post game.
Roll to Carouse!
- Lighten your coin purse at the Projects Pavilion.
- Pilfer ideas from the Blog Bazaar.
- Sample the delights of the Gameable Gallery.
- Hear the raving of Reviewers Row.
- Stroll the Columnists Colonnade.
- Languish in the Opinion Oubliette.
Projects Pavilion ⤴
Dying Hard on Hardlight Station: Anthology Edition from Magnum Galaxy Games
Having played the original Dying Hard on Hardlight Station, as well as participating in playtests of two of the adventures in this collection, I'm super excited for this new and expanded edition, with contributions from a wide array of Mothership luminaries. - Markus M.
The Fading Coast by Bath Imaginable
A huge supplement for Electric Bastionland detailing a swampy, delirious, very vibe-heavy coastal environ. I love the atmosphere here and the amount of work put in to setting the tone is astonishing - there's even an official soundtrack! Reminds me of a bizarro-world Carver's Ridge taking place slightly closer to civilization. It's tight. - Taylor B.
Pilgrim's Passages by Monday Cox
A fascinating fresh release covering the slow, meditative journey of wandering mediums. Comes packed with stunning art and procedures that enable a methodical, weighty style of play that tickles something good in the back of my brain. I adore what I'm seeing on this one and I hope to get it to the table soon! - Taylor B.
Blog Bazaar ⤴
stop writing like a robot! by Was It Likely
Ms. Screwhead has been a tear lately, and I appreciate this post in particular. I too get the impression that the obsession with prompts and generators within this scene dampens creativity. - Rowan H.
Gameable Gallery ⤴
Lacuna Cove
by Taylor B.
An adventure site across the veil of sleep. Written for Mythic Bastionland. Intended as a Sanctum for the Dreaming Seer (pg. 54).
Waking knights use the left map. Sleeping knights use the right.
Entrance 1 (to 1): Trees bend painfully into a tunnel over a lavender-scented cave.
Entrance 2 (to 5): Via sailing or swimming. Woven foliage formerly covered the entrance to this cavern. The water holds its remnants, like digested wood.
- Dried attendant corpses in faded lavender robes. Hanging herbs and tealights. Dusty bedrolls equal to # of knights. NE tunnel collapsed. The blockage, and the corpses, are gone in your dreams.
- Asleep: a hundred moon toads around a shredded corpse. They turn their eyes as one when you enter, daring you to try something.
Awake: Ellery, scavenger (mace d8) hunting moon toads. Already licked one. Robs the party while they sleep in 1 (CLA save to wake up). Flooded vein to 5 (VIG save to hold breath). - Asleep: Stalactites weep crystal-blue droplets - the Seer's tears. You glimpse her face as they cross your eyes.
Awake: Prophecy records from before the big sleep. Ruined by water. There's a hat on the wall - while worn, you always know the direction of the nearest place that'll give you a bed. - Asleep: Four bored attendants with an ungodly feast. Smells and tastes like nothing. Eating it draws you deep into the dream - permanently lose 1d4 VIG and gain the same amount of SPI. The servants try and trick you into eating some.
Awake: Silvery lizards gnaw the jerky-like skin of four corpses at a table. - Asleep: The ceiling opens up to vast cosmos. Attendants writhe in unaging ecstasy. The Seer appears in waterfalls from the stars, whispering through her servants' moans.
Awake: It's all flooded. No meat, no bones. Moldy rolls of lavender cloth on the ceiling are the only survivors. Two Gravetender Gar swim through the ruin, attacking any who disturb the water in this space. - Asleep: Blocked. Inaccessible. A veil of tears rejects your dreamflesh. The Seer whispers: it's not your time.
Awake: A musty smell, a vanity, a mirror. It reflects all the dreamers who died here. They're running towards the glass impossibly slowly. The darkness behind them, and you, is vast.
Moon Toad, Silvertongue
VIG 3, CLA 3, SPI 3, 1 GD
Attractive flora aroma.
Any that lick the toad have their bite imbued with a sleeping sickness. The infusion and any sleep caused by a bite lasts until the biter next sleeps.
(from Mythic Bastionland pg. 55)
Halflight Attendants
VIG 0, CLA 9, SPI 10, 3 GD
Ephemeral robes
Intoxicating Censers (d6 SPI)
Gravetender Gar
VIG 6, CLA 13, SPI 10, 5 GD
Glimmering scales
Castigating bite (d8)
If the target is swimming, gain +d8.
For something a little more generic, replace the Seer in sleeping room 5 with:
- Hypnagogic Lighthouse
- A vast monolith in the deep stars. Imprints upon the first person who sees it, appearing in their dreams from then on. When you camp for the night, the lighthouse is lit if the hex holds an undiscovered landmark.
Reviewers Row ⤴
Check back next month for more reviews!
Columnists Colonnade ⤴
Rewarding Exploration with Treasure Maps
by Rowan H.
Warren of Prismatic Wasteland has organized another Blog Bandwagon, this time about maps!
I often see mapping dungeons discussed as an aspect of play that tests player skill... wilderness mapping, less so. Consider including treasure maps in your sandbox that test the thoroughness of players' exploration and their skill in creating a detailed and accurate wilderness map.
("Treasure map" refers here to any map that leads to a desirable destination or reward, not necessarily literal buried treasure).
I most commonly see treasure maps used as rewards or hooks: follow a clear path from an obvious landmark to reach the hidden treasure. But what if a treasure map featured inaccuracies or less obvious landmarks?
For example, a treasure map might depict a river winding in an "s" shape between two mountains. Only players who have located such a landmark through extensive exploration and mapped its location will be able to follow it.
Another map might be mostly accurate—expect everything is off by about 30 degrees. If the players have accurately mapped the relative position of various landmarks, they'll be able to identify how the flawed map relates to their own. Another map might depict a landmark that no longer exists save for subtle remnants: a collapsed bridge, a dried-up river, or a fallen tree. Only a mapper with an eye for detail will be able to follow such a map.
Opinion Oubliette ⤴
Just Start Playing by Post
by Markus M.
I've recounted over on my blog how I have been setting up a Play-by-Post game of Luke Gearing's Wolves Upon the Coast. There were several reasons behind me doing this, the primary one being that I really wanted to play Wolves Upon the Coast, but I could not fit another game into my weekly schedule (I already have two nights for RPGs in addition to other commitments, and I like having a couple of evenings off as well). Playing by post neatly sidesteps this, and also means I don't have to worry about scheduling: we can all post on our own time!
Another reason for doing this with Wolves is that I really wanted to lean into the procedures of the game, which I thought would be a good match for a PbP: people state their actions, resolution happens, time advances, rinse and repeat. There is of course room for back-and-forth discussion, but you can put a lot of play into a few posts by telegraphing suggested points of interaction, and what is likely to happen should the characters decide not to do anything. A key piece of advice I would give is working under the assumption that the current/planned course of action will be followed and let them know this, while also leaving room for change: set it up so you require as little input as possible to advance the game, while respecting player input and agency. This will help keep the game from stalling.
Another benefit of running PbP is that there is much less time-pressure than in a live game - there's plenty of time to look everything up, follow GM background procedures when advancing time, and it's even easy to go back an correct mistakes! If anyone reading this has considered GMing but don't feel confident making snap rulings or improvisation, being put on the spot, etc. playing PbP very effectively mitigates this.
If you're struggling to find a group, schedule games, etc. I recommend reading a bit of advice, e.g. Yochai Gal's "How I Do Play by Post" and then Just Start Playing by Post.