Lately, I've been sprucing up the Calific office, hanging things that inspire me. One of my favorite haunted ruins from yesteryear is Ju...

Russ Nicholson has put up a new post where he relates some of the events from the Mon du Jeu convention that recently happened in Paris. He...

This is my final take on the Otyugh Trough . I like this version the best. I've totally lost the contemporary "over-Photoshoppe...

I'm not one for the "dungeon tile" look championed by producers of the 3E/4E eras, nor am I down with "excessive Photosho...

Russ Nicholson put up a nice post on his blog yesterday that mentioned an email exchange we had recently. In addition to being uproariously...

Deep within the bowels of the City of Splendor , in the sub-sewers beneath the Domain of the Demon Rats, is the Otyugh Trough. So named beca...

Welcome to the new look of the blog. Check out the killer picture by Russ Nicholson . I love the detail in this image. Just look at those al...

I can't seem to stick with any particular set of rules for very long. The current campaign started out with OD&D, got house ruled, a...

I'm swamped with writing tasks at the moment, so here's another old map from the pile. This one is a medieval Russian fantasy map of...

Copyright © 2010, Ramsey Dow. All Rights Reserved. Here's a map I drew maybe eighteen years ago. It's the tower of an old spell ca...

Insert obligatory Vecna joke here… (From a post on Boing Boing .)

Jim Raggi mailed out comp copies of his new RPG earlier this week and they have begun to land. A gamer in Scotland received a copy and poste...

I know I've been M.I.A. for a while now. During my time away from the blog I've been busy doing maps for James Raggi's new Weird...

We were fugitives to a man, escaped slaves. While crossing the eastern Aurora Badlands our caravan had the misfortune of disturbing a large ...

I haven't abandoned this blog, I've just been inordinately busy as of late: I bought a new house. Z and I got moved in and squared...

Now this is what I'm talking about. Awesome! Update: Joesky has posted Part 1 , Part 2 , and Part 3 of his key to the Forgotten Ch...

A series of crumbling chambers, lost deep beneath the surface, awaiting your key. This will be the last map for a while, as I need to get...

There's no interesting history for today's map. It's simply the result of a five-minute doodle I made the other day. (Isn't ...

Deep beneath the Citadel of the Sorcerer-King, in dungeons long forgotten, lies the Temple of the Ratgod. Sequestered behind hidden doors ar...

At long last you have found a means to access the lower levels! The secret door opens upon a great hall, its floor comprised of broad steps ...

It's been a while since I posted a map. Blame Gary Con II. In any case, I've got a huge mapping project ahead of me and I'm stil...

Copyright © 2010, Ramsey Dow. All Rights Reserved.

After TSR , Gary Gygax created Dangerous Journeys . As a system, Dangerous Journeys addressed many issues with AD&D . Whereas AD&D&...

While sitting around waiting for a Gamma World game to materialize, Frank Mentzer asked if I'd like to check out a game. Now I'm a...

Saturday night was the highlight of Gary Con II for me. Z and I got to sit at Jim Ward 's table for a game of Metamorphosis Alpha . In ...

Gary Con II is over and I had a lot of fun. People are starting to post pictures of the con. Instead of posting the same sorts of pictures ...

The latest issue of Fight On! is upon us. I'm pleased to report that it contains an adventure by yours truly. Somewhat tongue-in-cheek ...

I'm still futzing around with Holmes YX . This time I am considering wholesale changes to several areas, including armor & armor cla...

Sometimes what you are not influenced by is interesting. I've long been a fan of weird fiction, but in creating Yezmyr I have purposeful...

What's the first thing the thief wants to do after having his mind propelled 23,000,000 years into the future? Precisely.

One year ago today six of us got together and started the World of Yezmyr D&D campaign. Back then the crew set out to explore the for...

Every session I run with my crew reminds me of why I largely gave up computer gaming. Computer games lack the uproarious levity of a roomful...

I was in an experimental mood this evening and decided to try out some new techniques. I'm not sold on them, but I had fun—and I think t...

More loving derision from our friends at Something Awful : WTF, D&D?! - The Original Dungeons & Dragons . Go read it. Love it.

Copyright © 2010, Ramsey Dow. All Rights Reserved. Today, I present a partial cross-section of Ziqquratu Ziyaret . This map depicts the lo...

Here's my take on that famous British WWII poster :

A part of the excitement of Holmes YX is that the magic isn't Vancian any more. In Yezmyr sorcerers don't use spell books. The very ...

Copyright © 2010, Ramsey Dow. All Rights Reserved.   The western part of the Pillar of Shagraath is dominated by the dusty Plains of Sah...

I was rereading Metamorphosis Alpha the other day (the 1976 version, in case you were wondering) and I came across a little table in the &q...

I'm slammed writing at the moment, so forgive the quick post this morning. I'll try and wrangle up some longer content soon. In the ...

I'm channeling some sort of mutant combination of Richard Corben and Vaughn Bodé today… Out in the Aurora Badlands, beyond the safe...

My gaming group has been playing OD&D for the past year. The experience has been fun, but not as cohesive as I desire. As a DM I've ...

This is one of those "flogging a dead horse" topics, but I want to write something about it regardless. It's no secret that I ...

I'm back with a short opinion piece. I'm hard at work on "the project," which I'll discuss sometime in the future. In ...

Copyright © 2009, Ramsey Dow. All Rights Reserved. Known as "The Eyes of Achlatea," this medallion is worn by the priests of the...

I'm swamped writing, so this is a simple post. I drew this map several months ago. For various reasons I dropped the project it was asso...

While we were walking around downtown Seattle this weekend, Z took this photo: Got too many elves? No problem!

Copyright © 2010, Ramsey Dow. All Rights Reserved. This is the third and final post in which I detail the languages I use in the World of ...

Copyright © 2010, Ramsey Dow. All Rights Reserved. This is the second post of three in which I detail the languages I use in the World of ...

Copyright © 2010, Ramsey Dow. All Rights Reserved. The World of Yezmyr is one of many tongues, both living and dead. This is the first pos...