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Roleplaying Games, Fiction, Myth, War, and Steel
The Family RPG System
Fantasy RPG design essays, old-school procedure, and table-facing notes for DAD and The Family RPG System.
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Uses hard-currency economics to explain why fantasy banking would remain local rather than central-bank driven, and why that reinforces a focused twenty-mile adventuring radius.
Looks at hard currency, dungeon gold, and fantasy campaign economics without treating treasure like modern fiat money.
Frames playable worldbuilding as constraint, history, map logic, and consequences at the table.
Explains why a twenty-mile campaign radius gives travel, community, and player decisions useful pressure.
Argues that traps work when their logic fits builders, access, maintenance, and dungeon purpose.
Examines Second Edition’s design lineage through Gygax’s blueprint and David “Zeb” Cook’s execution.
Looks at humans, ambition, advancement, and why human characters matter in fantasy roleplaying.
Errata notice for the omitted complete list of permitted multi-class combinations in the Multi-Class rules section.
Discusses DAD’s approach to character actions beyond narrow powers, class features, or permission lists.
Defines classes as durable social and practical roles, with kits adding narrower campaign identity.
Treats adventuring as organized expeditions rather than isolated rooms and disconnected challenges.
Looks at law, ruin claims, ownership, and why dungeons exist where authority breaks down.
Formal errata notice for the Deck of Unbridled Destiny.
Explores adventuring as a known occupation in unstable fantasy worlds.
Discusses True Neutral, druids, balance, and alignment meaning in DAD’s fantasy framework.
Discusses the design principles behind The Family RPG System and its relationship to cleanroom fantasy design.