Blogging A to Z 2026 Theme Reveal

It's that time of year: when I dust off my writing brain and start thinking about my theme for the A to Z Blogging Challenge.

In all the years I've been doing the A to Z Challenge, I've been pretty consistent: table top roleplaying game (TTRPG) themes and related grim, dark fiction with a decidedly Warhammer feel, and I think I'm going to be leaning into this theme again.

I've blogged about my player's characters, my setting, my campaign, my take on playing the game. This year, we will revisit one of those campaigns from 11 years ago: The Gigantic Melancholies of the Princeps. An almost five year campaign set in a “border princedom" in a stretch of territory south of the World's Edge mountains of the Empire.

Here Orcs and Goblins raid hard scrabble settlements of disaffected Elves, entrepreneuring Dwarves, outcast Humans, and shifty Halflings. Every settlement is run—ruled?—by a wannabe Prince (or Princess); often strongmen (or strongwomen): some tyrannical, benevolent or both. These lands are not just home to Greenskins, but also home to banished cults, bandits, lost tombs, haunted ruins, and necromancers with armies of undead.

Gigantic Melancholies is borrowed from Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian

Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandalled feet. 

—Robert E. Howard, The Phoenix on the Sword, 1932

In the campaign, our Princeps is a former player character (PC) turned non-player character (NPC) enjoying the trappings of a disposed strongman in a river side settlement called Padua, on the river Avon, Padua-on-Avon. His “hand"—or Master of the Horse—is also a NPC nÊe PC Halfling Witch Hunter. Do not cross this “half-man," trust me.

The blog may enjoy some diversions, some letters will be a stretch for the daily theme. As always, expect some deversions.

I'm looking forward to revisiting the campaign and the characters!


Comments

  1. Ronel Janse van VuurenMarch 13, 2026 at 1:08 AM

    Sounds like a fun theme. Good luck!

    Ronel visiting for Theme Reveal for A to Z Blogging Challenge 2026

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anne E.G. NydamMarch 14, 2026 at 6:27 AM

    Wow, in all the time I've heard of Conan, I've never actually read Howard's description before. Amazing! Good luck with the A to Z.
    https://nydamprintsblackandwhite.blogspot.com/2026/03/a-to-z-theme-revelation-2026.html

    ReplyDelete
  3. D Kai Wilson-ViolaMarch 17, 2026 at 8:27 AM

    This sounds like such a fun theme, and diversions are neat!

    Kai
    https://kaiberie.com/blog/2026/03/13/blogging-from-atoz-life-and-how-to-survive/

    ReplyDelete
  4. J Lenni DornerMarch 20, 2026 at 11:02 PM

    Sounds like lots of fun.
    Looking forward to the challenge this year.
    “I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.” —Jimmy Dean


    J (he/him 👨đŸŊ or 🧑đŸŊ they/them) @JLenniDorner ~ Speculative Fiction & Reference Author and Co-host of the April Blogging #AtoZChallenge international blog hop

    ReplyDelete

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