How to Make Paper Minis for RPGs
If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll have seen my recent experiments with paper miniatures for play with the tabletop RPG I’m writing, Long XVIth. This is a new experience to me, as in the past I’ve always been a…
Will Phillips
Long XVIth Character Creation Preview (July 2021)
Long XVIth is a roleplaying game I’m writing and playtesting for adventures in and inspired by Renaissance Europe. I’m a history nerd fascinated by this era; this is my justification to play within it. Its mechanics take the spirit of…
Hounds of Tyrol Campaign Maps
Tyrol is a region in the Central Alps which, though modernly split between Austria and Italy, was historically firmly under the control of the Austrian Habsburgs. The campaign will take place in its “Oberland” in a West Marches style, with…
Campaign Introduction
As I develop my d20/OSR-inspired rules, I’m also looking at both the campaign premise and setting. Though my primary historical focus is on the Renaissance Netherlands, I don’t want that to be the campaign setting for two reasons: …
Grizzly Camp Terrain
The fourth playtest of 15XX introduces an overhauled terrain system that includes rules for grizzly “macabre remains” littering the scene of the encounter. I’ve been playtesting this terrain type using casualty markers, but spent a few nights building a dedicated…
15XX Battle Report Playtest 04 Game 1
I released the fourth closed playtest for 15XX a couple weeks ago. In that time, my focus has been on getting the word out about the rules and getting them into the hands of my (up until now) scattered group…
Long XVIth Character Sheet Preview
Last year I began work on a no-magic, historical RPG using a modified d20 / OSR chassis. As I worked on the rules, that chassis began to grow and mutate. Lots of rules and subsystems. Accounting for social class dynamics in…
15XX Playtest 04 Released!
Exciting news! I’ve just wrapped up and released the fourth closed Playtest for 15XX: my narrative skirmish game for Renaissance-era Europe. How to View the Rules: Current playtesters, check your emails or the Facebook group. Not a playtester? Sign up…
No Dice, No Tokens, Just… Tarot Cards?
In thinking through and around the question of critical fails (specifically to model the advantages and risks firearms have compared to bows and crossbows), I’ve started to consider a new approach to the games two core mechanics of the dice…
Making Critical Fails Fair with 15XX’s Dice Pool Mechanic
I am deep into the editing and revisioning work on 15XX as I get ready for Playtest 04 (sign up for the closed playtesting here!). I hate the page-by-page editing. I’m a big idea guy, and find work that requires…