VOLUME XI LIBRARY OF BABEL'S FIVE ON FRIDAY

Welcome to the first Library of Babel of 2020! Please accept my sincere apologies for not publishing a list of blogs last Friday,please accept not FIVE but TEN MORE THAN FIVE blog posts by way of compensation. Oh, and if you have been celebrating Yule, remember that twelfth night has already passed (see below) and you need to remove your decorations at once, or Old Father Time will eat your soul.

If you don't like my writing it means you hate Shakespeare.

First, in service to the greater blogger gods: read Froth's Humpday Blog-O-Rama and please have a look at this incredible blogroll at Dragons Never Forget.

Let us not shilly-shally any longer...

DIY AND DRAGONS

ADVICE FROM THE BLOGOSPHERE

https://diyanddragons.blogspot.com/2020/01/advice-from-blogosphere.html 10

This is a thoughtful and comprehensive post highlighting the growth and development of the OSR blogosphere over the past year, including an excellent list of posts (not least a link to Library of Babel's Five on Friday hosted by this very site). 

As Anne explains, there were some big changes to the DIY scene last year. Tragic as they were, it is heartening to see such a flowering of creativity across multiple platforms in their wake. Anne makes some of her most insightful remarks in the comments section, so be sure not to miss them.

NOISE SANS SIGNAL
NOTES ON A BIOMEGA SETTING
http://noisesanssignal.blogspot.com/2020/01/notes-on-biomega-setting.html 9

Currently, Marquis Hartis and Pandatheist are curating something known as the NSR Planescape, a blog-based collection of settings described with four elements and ten spells. I've previously mentioned (in response to Lexi's Meatropolis) that I would love to collect a list of one post settings from around the blogosphere, and it seems as though the two projects would have a lot of crossover! 

Kyana's post here would certainly fit into the latter category, but there is no spell list here. That said, this is an incredibly evocative piece of writing, detailing the world of Biomega, and includes some mouthwatering images from the manga in which it is created.

Go and have a read, it is a delight: biopunk, science fantasy, synthoids and zombie drones... glorious.

ARCHONS MARCH ON
SLUSH PILE DUMP
https://archonsmarchon.blogspot.com/2020/01/slush-pile-dump.html

I'm not going to write too much about this, as I'm bristling with envy: there's probably more good ideas here, cast aside for us to pore over, than I've had for the whole of 2019.

A list of pithy statements which each beg further questions, much like David Byrne in an oversized giant suit...

HALF MINOTAUR ARMOUR & SHUTTERED ROOM
THE INITIATIVE OFF!
https://halfminotaurfarmer.blogspot.com/2020/01/dex-int-initiative-d20-initiative.html
https://shutteredroom.blogspot.com/2020/01/classic-six-initiative-order.html

Two approaches to a dynamic, stat-based initiative from two different blogs: Half Minotaur Farmer's system gives combat more of a back and forth, ebb-and-flow feel, whereas Shuttered Doom creates a narrative structure based around stats.

Personally, I prefer initiative to be side-based, and following an action-based sequence, but nobody asked me so I'll keep my trap shut. 

ELFMAIDS AND OCTOPI
SIGNS THE OLD ONES WERE HERE
http://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com/2020/01/signs-old-ones-were-here.html

Another excellent selection of tables  listing sources of signs, types, stories of the Old Ones, expert opinions... as ever, (virtual) combinative infinity!

FALSE MACHINE
ADVENTURES ON THE MARGINS
http://falsemachine.blogspot.com/2020/01/adventures-on-margins.html

A really fantastic list of adventure seeds, offered for free on one of the best OSR blogs. What fitting way to conclude this weeks post and to usher in 2020, which is destined to be the year of the blog.