CATMAIL #3

08 Apr, 2026

Look what the cat dragged in.

This month's issue is a little belated because I was traveling and didn't get it out in time.

I've also been thinking about the format of this newsletter. I like doing roundups and pointing people toward cool posts I've read over the month, but these issues can turn into big piles of links, and I'm not always sure that makes for the most useful kind of discovery.

So I'm thinking of experimenting a bit. A few ideas:

Fewer links, but more curated, with short blurbs for each.
More focus on posts that aren't already being covered everywhere else. There's often a lot of overlap, and the bigger blogs in the scene almost always get featured no matter what they write. It's good stuff but it's also less likely to be missed.
A biweekly or even weekly format: shorter updates, but more selective. The downside is that this might mean more work for me, and I'm not sure I can keep up with that pace.

Anyway, I'll definitely experiment a bit between issues. If you have thoughts on what you enjoy about this newsletter, or what you'd like to see more of, let me know. I do this mostly for myself and to stay engaged with the blogosphere, but I also think little posts like this (and other efforts similar to this) are real community work.

In this Issue

A note on the newsletter format and possible changes
Rootring launch + updates, fixes, and roadmap
Blogosphere map updates
Featured reads with blurbs
A pile of loosely categorized links + some older bangers

The Yarn Ball

What I've been doing!

New on the Blog

I wrote an announcement post about rootring, my little webring project, which has been live since then.

Hopefully that frees me up to write about some actual RPG topics again. I recently joined a Wolves Upon the Coast play by post game run by my friend Markus, which will hopefully get me back into that headspace.

Rootring

As mentioned, rootring went live this month. It already has over 100 activated blogs on it, which is far more than I ever expected. I love seeing people embrace old web tech, and there's even a small user base actively using the hub page.

There are still a few blogs in the application process. I'm doing this all semi-manually by myself, so if you haven't heard back from me yet, it probably means one of two things:

I couldn't get in touch with you. Some people listed Discord as a contact, but don't allow private messages unless we share a server. Others use Bluesky, but don't allow DMs unless we're mutuals. I'm still trying to reach the few cases where this happened.
I haven't vetted your blog yet. There are some blogs I didn't know before and haven't had time to go through properly. You will hear back from me. Sorry for the slow progress.

Since launch, I've mostly been updating the site and fixing bugs. Here's a mini changelog:

Updated how posts are listed, grouping them by date and slightly improving the visual design.
Added tracking for inbound and outbound links between blogs on the ring. This works similarly to the blog map, with the same limitation: all data comes from RSS feeds. If your feed only includes a preview, I can't track its links.
Added the /explore page, which shows which ring posts got the most traction over the last 14, 30, or 90 days. There's also a view for posts that only got 1-2 links.
Added a field on the setup page where you can enter your blog's URL, and all the snippets will automatically update the placeholder variable for easy copy-pasting.
Added a blog edit function, so you can change listing details or update your brick banner. Reach out if you want to do that.

I'm not done with the project yet, and I've got more plans for it. A few things on the roadmap:

An event management system people can use to host or share blog challenges and events like blog carnivals, bandwagons, prompt-based challenges, with extra support for blogs on the ring.
Including older posts from a blog that aren't covered by RSS, and building archive pages. I'm not sure yet what that should look like, or how useful it'll be, but I want to explore it.
Better search. Right now it's keyword-only, but ideally I want full-text search that feels closer to a proper search engine.

Blogosphere Map

As usual, I updated the map on the last day of the month: March 31, 2026. I didn't do any work on the graph itself beyond adding more blogs I stumbled across or that reached out to me.

Things I Dragged Home

My favorite blog posts I read this month

Burn the Bodies — So Long as Men Die
This is a very touching write-up on one reason I don't enjoy more mechanics-focused or traditional TTRPGs. The game stops being interesting to me, and if I want that kind of experience I can always pick up a video game.
Seven-Part Pact — Origins (Chapter 1) — Jay Dragon
This is by far the most intriguing game I've ever encountered. Everything I read or hear about it has me nodding along in awe. Reading this series has only made me want to sink my claws into it even more.
It's About Time (in praise of campaigning) — a wandering mind (thinking about RPGs)
All of my TTRPG blogging advice assumes a long, sandboxy, player-driven campaign. Edmo gets at one of the main issues I have with more traditional forms of play: they almost always are time related.
Teaching Cairn to Kids — Widdershins Wanderings
This goes beyond playing with kids and is really about how to introduce OSR play. We need more posts like this, repeated again and again, until this stuff becomes part of the shared canon.
Referee Sabotage — Papers & Pencils
One of the most frustrating things, both as a player and as a referee, is that awkward moment when nobody really knows what to do next. Often it's a lack of information, but sometimes it's just bad moderation from the person running the game. Nick puts his finger on why "What do you do?" is not, by itself, enough.
RATLINGS NOT HALFLING: Or Why Beast Folk Are Better Than Demihumans — I Cast Light!
Yes, yes, yes. A great argument for beastfolk over stock demihumans, and at the very least a good prompt to reconsider what kinds of ancestries actually feel fresh at the table.
The Mythic Bastionland GM Oaths — Old Men Running The World
As a big Mythic Bastionland head, I can't stress enough how much I liked this write-up. Taking the Oaths and interpreting them from the referee's side is such a good angle, and there's very solid advice here.
Thinking about Permadeath in Fire Emblem — A Knight at the Opera
Big fan of the GBA Fire Emblems, and an even bigger fan of using another medium to think through common TTRPG problems. In this case about character death.
OSRIC 3e: An Informal Review — Traverse Fantasy
Marcia managed to get me interested in OSRIC for the first time with this review. "It's not trying to capture a lost moment, nor does it insist on its own significance [...] OSRIC 3e aims to reintroduce an old game for a new cultural context of play."
Let's Talk About Player Skill and Equipment — Patchwork Paladin
A very solid list of equipment use cases. Definitely a handy inspiration sheet for players.