Roleplaying Blogs

People love to share their passion for tabletop roleplaying. This list is just a sample of what’s available, and as you follow these links you’ll find links to more. Note that while these are sorted into broad categories, most of them cover a range of topics. In particular, expect to see reviews in most of these blogs.

Actual Play

• Role Over Play Dead | A Blog About Tabletop Role-Playing Games – Poh Tun Kai provides in-depth actual play accounts, news of the Malaysian RPG scene, and more.
• The Reef – An aging geek girl’s personal blog – Sophie Legacie provides thoughtful game reviews and analysis of the state of the roleplaying hobby.
• Transitory States – Khairul Hisham teaches English, creates paper minis and other RPG art, uses RPGs as a vehicle for teaching, and in his spare time posts on a variety of RPG-related topics.

Analysis

• Deeper in the Game – From the creator of the Same Page Tool comes tons of thoughtful material ranging from rules analysis to discussions about gaming culture.
• Lich Van Winkle’s Return to Gaming – Meticulous, informative, and thoughtful posts from a lapsed gamer who returned and has plenty of observations about gaming then and now.
• Mythcreants – Fantasy & Science Fiction for Storytellers – The Mythcreants crew critiques various aspects of writing and roleplaying.
• Papers and Pencils | Thoughts and theories on tabletop games. – Beloch Shrike explores and illuminates all sorts of topics for GMs and players alike.
• POC Gamer – Graeme Barber reviews games, discusses worldbuilding, and examines how racism affects the hobby.
• The Voyager’s Workshop – Fantasy artist Wouter Goedkoop combines art and gaming in his posts, exploring why we play and how to make it more enjoyable.
• Thoughty – Brie Sheldon interviews game designers and explores what happens at the table between players.

Gamemastering

• Burn After Running – If you want to learn how to build and run better one-shot adventures, this is the place.
• Dyson’s Dodecahedron – Dyson Logos creates dungeon maps and shares his process as well as the amazing results.
• Gnome Stew – Dedicated to the art of game mastering, this outstanding blog offers advice and resources suitable for any GM.
• Sly Flourish – Though aimed at D&D dungeon masters, Mike Shea’s game mastering tips are invaluable regardless of the game you’re running.
• The Alexandrian – Actor, writer, and gamer Justin Alexander provides lots of goodies for game masters, and highlights the connections between roleplaying and other media.

Game-specific

• Angel’s Citadel – This blog is focused primarily on Cypher System games.
• Sanity Zero – A veteran Call of Cthulhu Keeper provides reviews, actual plays, and more.
• The Data Haven - Look here for lots and lots of Shadowrun goodies.
• The Iron Pact – This is a treasure trove of information and resources for Symbaroum.

Minis-focused

• No Rerolls – Situated at the intersection of miniatures wargaming and tabletop roleplaying, this blog provides plenty of inspiration.

OSR

• Bat in the Attic – Rob Conley covers a wide range of topics from the perspective of sandbox-style OSR gaming.
• Tenkar’s Tavern – Erik Tenkar reviews games, spreads the word about the latest OSR goings-on, and holds forth on related topics.

Reviews

• Age of Ravens – Lowell Francis tries lots of different games and writes about them with clarity and depth.
• Andrew Logan Montgomery – Excellent reviews and other RPG material from an astute observer. There’s plenty here if you’re interested in RuneQuest and the world of Glorantha.
• Life and Times of a Philippine Gamer – Here you’ll find reviews, actual play reports, and more.
• Red Dice Diaries – John Large posts YouTube game reviews and explores how to play a variety of games.
• Stargazer’s World – German RPG veteran Michael Wolf has been at this blog for over ten years, and has brought in several other contributors. SGW provides news, reviews, tips, and more.

UJ Offshoots

• Setting First – If you’re really into verisimilitude, there may be some useful bits for you here.
• Train to Baikonur – It’s all Degenesis all the time.

Need to See More?

• The Tabletop RPG Blogs List at DiceGeeks is ginormous.

Image Credits

Blogs are old school, but just like Maxell audio cassette tapes, they can be pretty cool.