Now that the Dolmenwood kickstarter has been fulfilled, and I am in possession of all my books and extras, I want to start running the game for family and friends.

But I don’t just want to run the game. I want to immerse myself in all things Dolmenwood. For my tastes, my aesthetic preferences, my preferred fantasy setting, and my general love of folkloric fantasy, I’ve decided to make my way through many of the inspirational media creator Gavin Norman lists in the Dolmenwood Player’s Book.

A kind of book/cinema club focused around Norman’s inspirations.

Some of the things listed in the Player’s Book are movies, TV, and books I’m intimately familiar with, but others are new to me. I’m not able to read/watch everything from the list in 2026, but I’m going to try and cover as much as I can.

Below is my tentative schedule. Feel free to read/watch along with me, and check here and on my newsletter for my reflections on each text. I’ll try to post something about the text at the end of each month. For example, I’ll post my thoughts on Mio, My Son at the end of February, “Goblin Market” at the end of March, etc.

I’d love for this to start a larger conversation about Dolmenwood RPG, folklore and fairy tale fantasy, and classic works of fantasy literature overall.

YEAR OF DOLMENWOOD SCHEDULE:

February: Mio, My Son (Astrid Lindgren)

March: “Goblin Market” (Christina Rossetti)

April: The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories (Susanna Clarke)

May: “Smith of Wooten Major” (J.R.R. Tolkien)

June: The King of Elfland’s Daughter (Lord Dunsany)

July: Lud-in-the-Mist (by Hope Mirrless)

August: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell (Clarke)

September: The Fellowship of the Ring (part 1) (Tolkien)

October: Gormenghast (Mervyn Peake); Over the Garden Wall (dir. McHale)

November: The Green Knight (dir. Lowery); The Wicker Man (dir. Hardy)

December: Krabat (Otfried Preussler); Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell (BBC TV adaptation)