Cinco: Bibliography

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Swear to Gxd I was working on this before the previous post. I just waited to post until it seemed less topically timely because it was a genuine effort and something I had wanted to write as a reflection on where I’ve been and gone over the years. Happy New Year and, if you celebrate, Happy Logos Incarnation Anniversary! Or solstice or whatever. Fuck. This is also nice to post on the blog because I can actually include links to things here.

Cinco! is mostly inspired not necessarily by Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition (2014) as much as by the McElroy Brothers’ podcast The Adventure Zone and my experience playing D&D as modeled on that media. This book is a tribute to that subculture which despite being centered on D&D also elevated it through play to something more than a tactical skirmish game. It’s inspired by tumblrinas, gamer girls, and theater kids who strove to redeem creative sparks from boring prisons.

Ben Milton’s Knave (2018) inspired me to seek simpler role-playing game experiences than name-brand D&D could offer. I had played with the “Fancypants” edition (2018) by Joel Priddy on his blog An Abominable Fancy. The house rules “Knacks for Knaves” (2019) by The Man With A Hammer directly—and vastly—influenced my preference for feat-based over class-based character design. Jesse Ross’s Trophy Gold (2022) made me realize that characters didn’t need standard attributes. Inspiration for minor items is an adaptation of gear bubbles from Jared Sinclair’s 6E (2020). Wanderhome (2021) by Jay Dragon inspired character concepts and my discrete approach to rules.

Warren F. Smith’s post “Worldbuilding as a Team Sport” (2022) from his blog Prismatic Wasteland became my favorite worldbuilding method ever since I experienced it as a player and since I have gone on to use it in my own campaigns. My campaign setting is largely derived from my interests in early modern history of colonization and religion, but also takes cues from my favorite fairy-tale adventure films like The Mummy (1999), Pirates of the Caribbean (2003), and The Princess Bride (1987). Playing Idle Cartulary’s adventure module Bridewell (TBA) was very inspiring for its emotional core.

Nick LS Whelan’s post “Flux Space in Dungeons” (2017) from his blog Papers & Pencils influenced how I design and run adventure sites as node-based graphs rather than as architectural blueprints. Ty Pitre’s “Pocket-Sized Powder Kegs” (2025) from Mindstorm clarified in retrospect my preference for conflict-based adventure design and gave me a point of reference when writing my own guide. My six-room site scheme is taken from my simplification of the dungeon design guidelines from the original D&D (1974), which was published as “Bite-Sized Dungeons” (2022) on my blog Traverse Fantasy.

Combat initiative takes after Robert J. Schwalb’s Shadow of the Weird Wizard (2025). The ammunition rules likewise take after D&D Gamma World (2010). Isaac Williams’s Mausritter (2019) influenced my inventory rules. “Zelda-Style NPC Personalities” (2023) from To Distant Lands influenced my NPC trait tables. The conversation procedure is lifted almost directly from D&D Fifth Edition (2014). Believe it or not!

I won’t lie to you. I came up with my downtime system using treasure-as-tokens from playing Fall Guys (2020) one night with my partner and our friends. There’s also a bit of Fire Emblem: Three Houses (2019) in there with the monthly calendar. The haven system with lackeys is inspired by Animal Crossing: New Leaf (2020) and Fantasy Life i (2025). The travel rules are inspired by West of Loathing (2017) and Ryuutama (2007).

Unrelatedly, I tried making a hex map for my little printout for FMC. It’s ugly. I don’t like it. I might just have to go with it anyway. Sorry, Hodag, for your art having to sit next to it. What else... Oh! I had a lovely Christmas season with my partner and both of our families :) hope y'all did too! It's been a very slow time for me creatively speaking—except that S got me an espresso machine so I've been inviting my friends over to pretend to be a barista for them, so much fun—but I'm hoping to get my head straight on writing Brimstone and developing Resourciv this year. The category last year was becoming more annoying, and that was a mission success, so this year it's to become crazier!

Also sorry for being away and not getting to y'all's comments, I really appreciate y'all reading and sharing your thoughts. The backlog just puts me in a position of wanting to procrastinate but eventually! :) 

Comments

  1. OtspIIIJanuary 4, 2026 at 3:14 PM

    How much OSR cred do I lose for admitting that listening to Actual Plays (of which AZ was my first) has influenced my design a lot. Listening to other people play through systems and seeing which parts they naturally use/don't use/change has some incredibly valuable lessons to teach for system design, even for people designing for games with pretty different goals than the implicitly story-forward AP style.

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