09-09-2026, 05:40 PM
Yes, I feel quite similarly. McDowall remains an extremely talented rules-writer—I think I mentioned it on the 'cast, but his little wargame, "Grimlite" (published by Osprey as The Doomed) is one of my favorite indie miniatures-agnostics. The combat rules in Mythic Bastionland rock, too, definitely an improvement over most of the Oddlikes out there. But the lack of ready-made playable content is tough.
From the conversations I've had with him (and I think he's probably even said this publicly, somewhere or other?), McDowall in general does not run published adventures written by others. My sense is that the overwhelming majority of the stuff he runs at his own table are things that he came up with himself. Which... makes sense? I guess? If you never run adventures, I can see how you'd reach the conclusion that despite making rulebooks with quite intricate and specific settings and events, adventures are not the ideal medium to support play. My hunch is that this is a fairly prevalent mode of thinking across lots of other scenes, and circles, too—"I never use adventures, so why would anyone else?"
From the conversations I've had with him (and I think he's probably even said this publicly, somewhere or other?), McDowall in general does not run published adventures written by others. My sense is that the overwhelming majority of the stuff he runs at his own table are things that he came up with himself. Which... makes sense? I guess? If you never run adventures, I can see how you'd reach the conclusion that despite making rulebooks with quite intricate and specific settings and events, adventures are not the ideal medium to support play. My hunch is that this is a fairly prevalent mode of thinking across lots of other scenes, and circles, too—"I never use adventures, so why would anyone else?"