Blog Index

October 19, 2025 by Justin Andrew Mason Pathfinder Quest Funds! The BackerKit campaign I designed for Paizo's Pathfinder Quest has funded funded after highly successful campaign! The project closed with $916,118 USD funded by 3,772 backers. Be sure to check it out here.

August 21, 2025 by Justin Andrew Mason New Random Dungeon Map Generator I've just released a new Random Dungeon Map Generator. The web app creates a random dungeon with a click. Entirely unique and generated on the fly. It has options to create Small Maps (4-6 rooms) for one-shots, Large Maps (7-12 Rooms), and X-Large maps (13-19 rooms). It's highly customizable including features like: Just click the…

August 20, 2025 by Justin Andrew Mason Tavern Sign Crafter Updated Version 3.0 of the Tavern Sign Crafter was released on 08/19/2025. This updated version has a dynamic interface, live preview, and an export (to PNG) option. It currently it still uses the same asset library that I created back in 2016, but I may get around to releasing an update for that soon. Click here…

August 16, 2025 by Justin Andrew Mason Widdershins Clock — Collaborative Poetic Storytelling Game Widdershins Clock is a rules-lite collaborative poetic storytelling game for four to six players. To play, you'll need a single six-sided die, something to write on and with, and optionally five “muse” tokens per player. About the Game — The goal of the game is for the players to collaboratively compose a poem that tells…

August 14, 2025 by Justin Andrew Mason Science Fiction VTT Map Value Bundles Joining the best selling Fantasy Adventure value bundles, the long awaited Science Fiction value bundles are now available! Themed sets with a 25% discount off individual map pricing. Sci-fi cartography by Justin Andrew Mason. These have been marked as featured titles in the Paths to Adventure shop as well!

August 12, 2025 by Justin Andrew Mason Building A Custom Soundboard (Brainstorming) So, one of the ideas I've been mulling around has been creating a custom sound board. This means creating a lot of sound effects from scratch and building a library that can be indexed logically for quick reference. Especially on the fly, during a game session. I'm creating this journal entry as sort of a…

August 4, 2025 by Justin Andrew Mason New Paths to Adventure Website Launches As the sun sets on our intrepid knight, and the old logo is retired, I'd like to welcome you to the new (and much improved) PTA website! The previous blog site was created back in 2013 when the imprint was founded using Google's Blogspot platform. The layout and functionality didn't undergo many changes in the…

August 3, 2025 by Justin Andrew Mason Machine Mods & Customization My love for retro 80s and 90s 8-bit video games is a big part of my nostalgic vibe. From collecting old games and consoles, to video game history preservation, to pixel art and chiptune music. I've only started to dabble into modding machines, but its a crafty venue I plan on spending more of my…

August 2, 2025 by Justin Andrew Mason Green Knight's Helm The Green Knight’s helm is a mod project I undertook awhile back while paying homage to a childhood adventure. An unwitting quest that went awry, and then concluded nearly two decades later by the conversion of universal oddities. For this project to come about, some really strange temporal twists were traveled both by me, and…

August 2, 2025 by Justin Andrew Mason Starfinder Space Goblin In spacez, no wun can hear yoo singsong¿ When Starfinder (Paizo) released, I went all in. I think I have everything published in the first two years, as well as packaged miniatures that were never released, the auctioned rule book with all the design team signatures, special edition dice… and then could never find a…

August 2, 2025 by Justin Andrew Mason Painting TTRPG Miniatures I'll be the first to admit that my talents do not currently reside in the arena of miniature painting. Despite my lack in skill and experience, I still quite enjoy the process. I find it an amazing stress reliever and distraction when I need to "touch grass" but don't actually want to. The level of…

July 30, 2025 by Justin Andrew Mason Mini-Dungeon: A Decade of Adventure I've written a short history of the Mini-Dungeon series (AAW Games), its roots delving back to the seminal era of tabletop roleplaying games, and how a simple idea spawned over decade of adventure, two hardcover books, multiple cross-promotion releases, an old-school zine, and over 300 published adventures all available in print and for virtual tabletops….

July 27, 2025 by Justin Andrew Mason Into the Wintery Gale: A Retrospective It has been a decade since I wrote the adventures series for AAW Games, and I felt it deserved a retrospective glance. Starting with the hardcover book, Wrath of the Jötunn, the Into the Wintery Gale series would be my first major project as a game designer, and the lessons learned would prove to be…

July 26, 2025 by Justin Andrew Mason Theory of Branding/Cover Art Evolution Here is my theory on the evolution of the branding/cover artwork for Solstice: The Staff of Demnos. It's a curious tale of character evolution through the lens of 90s marketing, and a glance into how branding for video games of the era was approached and executed. Artwork #1—Mark Wilson In early 1989 (or perhaps earlier)…

December 18, 2024 by Justin Andrew Mason Two Major Projects Featured in Forbes I'm excited to see that two of my major projects are both listed in the top five recommendations of the 2024 Forbes gift guide published by Forbes Media. Both Mini-Dungeon Tome I and Mini-Dungeon Tome II (AAW Games) are recommended must have holiday gifts for Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Masters. Between the two books, I…

April 22, 2024 by Justin Andrew Mason Libram of Lost Spells Funds The Kickstarter campaign I designed for The Libram of Lost Spells (TPK Games) has funded! The project closed with $66,040 USD funded by 1,022 backers. Be sure to check out this vast hardcover tome filled with lost spells and more from earlier editions of D&D, resurrected for use with the 5th Edition rules.

April 19, 2024 by Justin Andrew Mason Now in Your Local Library via Hoopla D&D 5th Edition comes to the library system! Proud to announce the top AAW Games titles in ebook format are now available to most library systems via the Hoopla digital web and mobile apps in the United States, Australia/New Zealand, and other English-speaking countries. Be sure to check out some really great books that I…

March 22, 2024 by Justin Andrew Mason Featured in Game Trade Magazine The Mini-Dungeon Tome II (AAW Games) is featured in the April Issue #290 of Game Trade Magazine detailing its over 110 adventures and special Limited Edition print. It's always a neat feeling to unexpectedly find your projects in media publications.

March 18, 2024 by Justin Andrew Mason Music & Sound Effects for Your Campaign I just developed and pushed into live production a massive library of audio effects and ambient music that streams directly through a convenient categorized soundboard for AAW Games subscribers. The audio catalog include the hundreds of audio assets published by the company including all the adventure soundtracks. Anyone with a subscription based service to their…

December 24, 2023 by Justin Andrew Mason Gary Gygax Documentary Available Now The Gary Gygax documentary for which I was a producer and content creator for, "The Dreams in Gary's Basement" (Dorks of Yore; Directed by Pat Kilbane), is now available on Blu-ray Disc, DVD, and via digital streaming at rpghistory.net. The documentary was selected for Beloit International Film Festival 2025 and was the Gen Con Film…

November 30, 2023 by Justin Andrew Mason Mini-Dungeon Tome II for Pathfinder 2E Funds The Kickstarter campaign I designed for Mini-Dungeon Tome II for Pathfinder 2E (AAW Games) has funded! The project closed with $29,229 USD funded by 517 backers. I contributed dozens of maps and authored adventures for this tome consisting of more than 120 one-shot adventures. Check out this fantastic hardcover book filled with adventures designed to…

July 27, 2023 by Justin Andrew Mason Mediterranean Monsters Funds The Kickstarter campaign I designed for Mediterranean Monsters & Mythology (Legendary Games) has funded! The project closed with $69,276 USD funded by 1,195 backers. This amazing book brings to life more than 120 incredible creatures drawn from the myths and legends from around the Mediterranean Sea.

July 13, 2023 by Justin Andrew Mason Rultmoork Box Set Released This was my first opportunity to design a box cover for a tabletop roleplaying book set, and I was given creative freedom to "make it pop". Since the printer had the capability of printing the interior as well, I went ahead and designed a full wrap to try and capture the essence of the Rulemoork…

May 13, 2016 by Justin Andrew Mason Gaming Memory—The Hobby Shop (This article, written in 2016, was migrated from the original Paths to Adventure Website) Sweltering summer radiated from the sun overhead. There was not a cloud in sight and the heat wavered and undulated against spongy asphalt through the obscenest humidity. It was high noon during mid-summer in southwestern Kentucky. The constant rhythmic gusts of…

February 16, 2016 by Justin Andrew Mason Gaming Memory—A New Kind of Adventure (This article, written in 2016, was migrated from the original Paths to Adventure Website) My Introduction to Tabletop RPG Gaming & My First Player Characters It was the frigid winter of 1991, I was eleven years old, and attending Christian County Middle School in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Among the small niche of new friends I had…

August 19, 2025 by Justin Andrew Mason Game Design Post #003 — The Stories of the Dead I want the dungeon’s trapped souls to share a hidden thread rather than feel random. My approach is to give each group of soulbound creatures its own backstory, while weaving subtle connections between them. As I expand the story room by room, my goal is to reveal an underlying narrative for adventurers to uncover: the…

August 12, 2025 by Justin Andrew Mason Game Design Post #002 — Title Treatment Design Since I have already decided on a title for the adventure, I also decided to create branding for it as well by designing a title treatment. This will help me to set the "vibe" as the adventure design moves forward.