Tales of Tallavanor – Now in Audio Form!

Enjoy the new Tales of Tallavanor – now in audio form!


You – Hey you! Want to listen to all of Tallavanor’s Tales from the very beginning? Well now you can! Thanks to our Friends over at Fantasy Storytellers, you can listen to a large chunk of my character’s story. Pretty neat! I’ve embedded the first one below for your delight. Also – gotta say, I love the artwork! Someone’s got some talent over there, and I want to know who! If you want to reread Tallavanor’s Tales then check out the homepage for that here, and if you want to read more of my work, check out my novels and DM’s Guild Dungeons and Dragons Modules!

A Return to the Maryland Renaissance Festival!


Exciting news everyone! I’ll be returning to the Maryland Renaissance Festival this fall. You’ll be able to get my alternate history steampunk series, as well as an exciting new TTRPG offering from things previously available only online. You won’t be able to get these anywhere else, so be sure to pick them up. I’ll have more details to come in the near future, but for now, be sure to book October 1st in your calendar to come and visit me to get your books signed! Of course, if you prefer to go any other weekend (and let’s be honest, if you’re like me, you want to go several weekends) you can always go and grab my book from then before or after that weekend as well!

Tickets go on sale in August, so be ready to grab them! You can get multi day passes now.

Camp NaNoWriMo Check in #1 – End of Week 1


Howdy everyone! Let’s do our check in for the first week of NaNoWriMo! The as yet unnamed final project is in progress. Let’s look at this week’s stats….

Continue reading “Camp NaNoWriMo Check in #1 – End of Week 1”

Camp NaNoWriMo 2023 – Here we go again…


Yup, you heard right! I’m tackling Camp NaNoWriMo again this year, but with a simpler goal – write a young adult fantasy novel. I’m excited to use what I’ve learned from writing D&D campaigns and adventures in this world I’ve named Teraneath. It’s also the world that includes various D&D adventures I’ve already written such as Tales from Temerrit. I’ve got so much more to reveal to you in this series, but suffice to say you’ll have to wait until the ending for the big reveal, rather than getting tons of hints and tricks!

Continue reading “Camp NaNoWriMo 2023 – Here we go again…”

Designing a D&D Campaign for Middle Schoolers – The Tutorial Section

Running a D&D Campaign for Middle Schoolers – the Tutorial and Learning to Play


As I mentioned in an earlier article, I’ve been running a D&D club for middle schoolers at a local school. I had more interest than slots, and decided to run the club just one day a week to maintain my sanity. Let’s quickly review what I said I would do…

Continue reading “Designing a D&D Campaign for Middle Schoolers – The Tutorial Section”

Making a Top 15 List of Alternate History Blogs!


Hi everyone,

It’s been a while, but I wanted to share with you that I’ve made a list of top 15 alternate history blogs. I’ve had the fortune to talk with and blog with several other people on this list, but I encourage you to go check them out! See the list here. I’ve got another exciting thing in the pipeline, but I’ll wait to share about it until it is ready to go.

In other news…. after a rough few months I hope to be returning to blogging and writing more frequently. Watch this space!

  • Daniel

Designing a D&D Campaign for Middle Schoolers Afterschool: Episode 1

Designing a D&D Campaign for a Middle School afterschool program.


Greetings, and welcome back to Modern Papyrus! Today I’ll start looking at a new series of designing a Dungeons and Dragons campaign for a group of middle schoolers that fits into a shortened time period after school. This has it’s own challenges and restrictions that require some suitable tweaks to the standard D&D Campaign. So let’s take a look!

Continue reading “Designing a D&D Campaign for Middle Schoolers Afterschool: Episode 1”

Renaissance Festival Roundup


Today I’m going to recap my trip to the Maryland Renaissance Festival (in brief) and share some exciting news, as well as plans for some future blog posts!

As always, I loved visiting the Renaissance Festival. My hosts – the wonderful Vicki and Thomas at Page after Page – were gracious and supportive as always. Even in the rainy early October weather, we had great crowds and wonderful patrons coming by to purchase, get books signed, or just to chat! I had one of my best selling days so far, even with the poor weather, and I hope to be back next year.

While the blog has been a bit more inconsistent as of late, I’m hoping that with the school year settling down that I’ll be able to write some more. I have started planning my next novel – focusing on Corbus and his continuing story – as a stand alone (at this point) story arc. The goal is to get this story planned out by November so I can participate in NaNoWriMo for the (however many) year in a row. We’ll see where it goes!

Today’s Renaissance Festival Book Signing is a go!


Even though the winds may blow and the rain may fall, I’ll still be there to sign books for you all! Today’s book signing event at the Renaissance Festival in Crownville, MD, is on as scheduled. Wear your warm clothes and take a cloak, buy some hot mead or cider and come enjoy the day. All five of my novels, plus my anthology, will be on sale through Page after Page, the wonderful book store hosting me for today.

Make sure you click the link above to buy your ticket, as there are no tickets available at the door. While you’re there, check out all the amazing vendors and performers and give them a hearty Huzzah!

See you there!

Renfest Book Signing this October!


Hi everyone,

It’s been a busy time here in the Ottalini household, but I’m excited for things to settle down a bit with the school year starting, and even more pleased to announce my return to the Maryland Renaissance Festival this October 2nd, 2022! Thanks to the kind generosity of Page after Page, the preeminent (and only!) Bookstore at the festival, I’ll be signing copies of my novels and anthology, which you can pick up there in person!

Also feel free to chat with me about all the great Dungeons and Dragons modules I’ve been putting out this last year.

See me last year in my author get-up. I’ll hopefully have a few additional pieces of gear to wear this year! Make your reservations to visit the faire here, and come out and support me and my books (and have a cracking good time at one of the best events in the Mid Atlantic!)

If you can’t wait to get your copies, you can always order them in advance here!