I doubt I'll do much more than do a layer of towns, cities and other features, but here's Daen-Ral's Midlands map. I tried to emulate the MERP style a little...
Hand drawn on chart paper (about 24"x30" or 30"x48" or something) folded into scannable regions, scanned, then I used gimpshop to create a layer over the scan (which I cropped, this is about one fifth or something of the total hand drawn world map) and then drew coastlines and forests on the layer, then started coloring. I wasn't sure how to do the mountains - but I just started drawing them in gimp (my originals were just upside down Vs and looked pretty bad). I chose two shades of brown to suggest a little depth on the mountain ranges. Not happy with the desert or the forest - happy with the water and pretty happy with the mountains.
I've been using AutoREALM with my maps and have been mostly happy with the results, although I am not able to do a large poster-size map. I thought about doing a hand-drawn map, as I have a cartography specialization as part of my undergrad degree (back in the pen & ink days) but I found I actually liked my AutoREALM maps.
I've tried autorealm a couple times - and I could never get it to do what I wanted to... I guess I'm just a pen in hand kind of guy (I even bought a pen and tablet for the PC thinking that I might actually be able to jump the curve...but I haven't been able to so far...)
The Shreev Comes to Thono Inn
-
Our Gnydrion game in *Grok?! *continued last Sunday. The party:
- Antor Hogus (Paul) - Vagabond. Reckless.
- Jerfus Grek (Jason) - A vagabond as ...
Planning By Mad Libs
-
Planning in RPGs has always been a problem. On one hand, it’s often
necessary for a group of players to plan out something their characters are
trying to a...
Night's Dark Terror 11: Xitaqa 2, Tower Base
-
*This is part of a series of posts with a scene-by-scene critique,
appreciation, and improvement of the 1986 TSR module B10, Night's Dark
Terror. *
Once...
Tiger II
-
I got around to painting the 1:100 scale Bergman Tiger II model I'd been
mucking about with in Blender and printed on my elderly Ender 3 in eSun
PLA+....
When The Student Is Ready....
-
This afternoon's blog post prompted *DM Escritoire* to make the following
comment:
*I love it when one of the good guys goes off. Alexis was similarly
inc...
Sims 4 Overthinking: It’s Trash
-
The headache has passed for the most part, and now we may return to working
on the apartment. Last time, we tested if the very small kitchen was
functional...
Setting: A Matter of Time
-
One of the things Outer Worlders find most curious about those from the
Otherworld is how preoccupied with punctuality they are. Anyone with any
experien...
The Judges Guild List
-
*Judges Guild list*
So, I like to make lists.
In part this is probably part of my endless, and essentially unsuccessful,
efforts to get organi...
Maps of the mind
-
Martin Noutch, author of the wonderful Steam Highwayman books, is a true
scholar of the craft of gamebook writing. One of the reasons his own books
are s...
Character stable #40
-
The most recently played characters are listed first, aside from the
graveyard, where the highest wargamey experience gets priority place.
Characters in Co...
Cirsova Cashflow Crisis
-
So, while Cirsova Publishing itself is doing okay, personal expenses have
been mounting higher and higher over the last several months. Because of
last yea...
More Lejendary Adventures
-
Lejendary Adventures had its heyday from 1999 to 2008 or so. Not bad when
you think about it. The game had its own problems (a lot of problems), but
the...
Venture-Gossip on the Town
-
Venture-Gossip on the Town
Thursday, March 28, 2024
Hello, Pathfinders!
You know, I genuinely thought that this column would be much quieter than
the d...
Battletech: The Technical Readouts
-
The TRO's are the "fun" books of the line. They give you game stats for a
bunch of mechs for a given time period but they also give you a big
illustra...
FKR logo
-
I like logos, can't help it, I just go. I was talking to a friend of mine
about our love of the FKR-style games and the thought occurred to me that
maybe a...
On Emotion in the Creative Process
-
I have written a lot in this blog about AI and machine learning, and have
probably established my credentials as a sceptic. It is not 'intelligence'
and ...
[New Spell] Grip of Insomnia
-
Grip of Insomnia ‘The upside is we will be alert for a few days, nobody
will get the drop on us,’ Jaundo said, trying to cheer Uzeb the Wise up
after the d...
Axetember #11 – Karev’s Bloodbath
-
Wow, I kind of forgot about this project. A few years back I drew 50 swords
and made “Dyson’s Book …
Continue reading →
Haven: Ellizari’s Vacation Palace
-
On March 27th, Year 15, after a few weeks of recovery from confounding
traps and unusual undead in the ruins near Aithreachas, some of the party
gathers to...
Freedom of such a Low Bar
-
There are so many favorite parts writing this - 1) Is that I can do the
same structure I would write for an adventure: NPCs, motives, inertia of
the settin...
sha-Arthan Appendix N (Part II)
-
In Part I of this post, I shared the four *authors* whose stories and
settings have most influenced my development of *Secrets of sha-Arthan. *In
this pa...
Problems, Annoyances, and Misconceptions
-
I watched this YouTube video titled "5 Things in D&D that Make No Sense"
[Of course referring to 5E specifically], and I found it interesting that
she fo...
Random Character Races
-
I show you how simple or complex random generators can help you create new
(and weird) character races for your #osr or #dnd #ttrpg
Creation Is An Act Of Sheer Will!
-
If you are only familiar with the movies, John Hammond just seems like a
dedicated (but naive) scientist with a dream. However, the original book
version w...
2024-03-27 Convert text file to PDF
-
2024-03-27 Convert text file to PDF
I just couldn’t find a good way to turn a text file into a PDF. Within
Emacs, ps-print-buffer is hard to configure and...
Pathfinder Monster Core is Out - Some Thoughts
-
I snagged the new Monster Core for Pathfinder's 2E revised series, and
have to say this is a nice, robust tome with a larger page count and
content than...
Gary Con Post Convention Report
-
Well, folks, the Elf Lair Crew has gone our separate ways once again
(we're scattered across three states) and are back home, settled, and (at
least in ...
Three Powers Behind The Gods
-
These are things within mortal ken worshipped oft as gods. Rather than the
inscrutable mind-warping unrealities of the darkness-beyond-stars, these
are T...
March of 5, 10, and 15 years ago
-
This blog is now old enough that I can look back 15 years. I'll also dip
into what was happening 10 and 5 years ago.
Self-indulgent? How dare you! I'll d...
The Ring of the Battle Maiden
-
By Ashley Warren Self Published 5e Level 1 A legend speaks of a lost ring
that belonged to famed battle maiden Dagmar the Unyielding: traverser of
the real...
Double-overloading the Random Encounter Table
-
Over on Prismatic Wasteland, we have a very cool way to roll just 3d6 to
tell you what monster, how many monsters, the distance they’re at, their
reaction,...
Tuesday Magic Item – Warrior Band
-
Gollaon and Voddick watched the soldiers drill, moving in close unison,
their years of working together obvious. “I am pleased they are our
allies,” said V...
At Sea Once More
-
In the last session, the party successfully rescued Lenore and Emily from
the machinations of the Convent of Our Lady of the Blood Reborn. In this
sessio...
The Spectre of the Commodity Form
-
My friend Ènziramire shared a paper with me, "Wages against Artwork: The
Social Practice of Decommodification" by Leigh Claire La Berge. The author
explo...
Dan Plays Video Games, Part 3
-
Previous episodes: 1, 2
Balatro
This game is fucking dangerous. Absolute chronophage. One-more-run taken to
the extreme. Makes brain chemicals go brrrrrr...
Returning to Xen
-
This is another article to file under "I don't know who this will
interest":
I am returning to the *Silver Gull Campaign* after a hiatus. I find coming ...
Unnamed Traveller Girl
-
As rolled up with the Mongoose Traveller RPG 2nd Edition 2022 Update, a
book I was at first skeptical about...
Initial stats:
- Strength: 4 (-1)
...
First Impression: When Winter Came to Skedemosse
-
Hello Dear Readers! Today, I provide a first impression of a module written
by Christopher Käck for Old School Essentials. The module is called “When
Winte...
Gary Con XVI: Where Dreams Came True
-
*Prelude*
After putting it off and making excuses for so long, it was finally time to
make my first ever pilgrimage to Lake Geneva and attend a Gary Con....
Unfathomable! Session 9
-
Ye Dogs of Destiny contend with a psychic predator, horrible mutations,
and academic rivalry.
The Campaign: Operation Unfathomable! and Odious Uplands...
The Bastard Princess
-
It’s hard to find anything interesting any more. You know things that dare
to color outside the lines even a bit. Enter The Bastard Princess. I admit
that ...
Pursuit of Glory for Vassal 2.0.2
-
Of course, there’s always a few things I miss in any major release. I put
out an emergency fix for some trouble with the AP reinforcement card right
after ...
It’s Tolkien Reading Day
-
I recently started rereading *The Silmarillion*. I had last read it over
two decades ago. I liked it then but I’m really enjoying it this time!
Despite b...
Forgotten Gods
-
There are so many gods, it's inevitable that some get forgotten. We can
forget gods, but let's not forget the people who made them. Contributors
will be li...
Stonehell: Those are permanent you know!
-
Session 224 was played on 8/2/23
Morgana, Magic User (Rob)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter (Lanse)
Koltic, Cleric 7 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter 5 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 5 ...
Eschat-Jihad and the Red Lands
-
*an Unbalanced Skirmish Game of Deception, Madness and Causality Horror,
set in the Eklipsis/Prescience Wars paracosm.*
(No, I haven’t actually worked out...
Running Missions and Quest Chains
-
This article is one in a series where we look at types of adventures and
examine how we prepare them. how we run them. what pitfalls we might run
into. how...
No Foolproof Illusions
-
This post has some required reading: a blog post from Swedish designer (?)
Sandra Snan called Blorb Principles.
[By the way, Sandra's blog is absolutely bo...
Not RPG: Palm Sunday 2024
-
When comes that happy end, O Lord our God!
Your glory rains as blizzard-snow around!
Those feet that on the palms and nails have trod
shall tread the cryst...
Artists I Like: Bruno Prosaiko
-
It's a series!
Bruno Prosaiko is a Brazilian artist whose work I first encountered when I
saw a pretty kickass character sheet he created. From that poin...
Night Club! (new magic...item?)
-
*I know it's stupid. That's why I made it!*
This carved club, made of polished walnut, possesses some peculiar magical
abilities:
- Club's all ma...
Wizardry: Adventurer Spells II
-
Wizardry: Adventurer Spells IIMore spells from Complete Adventurer.
Cacophonic Shield creates a sound barrier that prevents hearing and damages
those who c...
Star Scoundrels: Na-Bani
-
Happy Saturday all, sorry haven't posted in a bit, been working on real
life stuff. Thought I would post another alien species for *Star
Scoundrels*. Hop...
Cyclopedia of Common Animals
-
I have completed through *Volume L* on my Patreon, and expect to have
finished the alphabet before the year is out. I have compiled statistics
for over 3...
Union: Cousins Once Removed
-
Say you want to make characters who are all from the same small town. Or
from related noble houses. Or who all came to this planet on the same
generation s...
The Sun Lich
-
This is a campaign setting idea I've had for years but never got to use.
Perhaps you can have fun with it?
Edge of Darkness by Ben J
Long ago, a wor...
Play Balance in Britannia and Duel Britannia
-
Play balance - that is, ensuring that each player has an equal chance of
succeeding - is an ideal in games that it can be difficult to achieve when
the gam...
Hobby Shop Dungeon
-
I have rooting around on the web for old-school dungeons and ran across a
photo of the sixth level of the Hobby Shop Dungeon. My first reaction was
"wai...
OSR: Even More Schools of Magic
-
As usual, I'm very late to this trend, if it ever was one. Consider this
post a companion piece to this one.
by SeaofFireflies
*The Imperial Model:*
The...
[OSR] Bear with me! -D20 Bear Monsters
-
Over at mewe.com, Samwise 7 had shared a post about an amazingly gigantic,
now-extinct kind of bear from 11.000 years ago (the “Short-faced Bear”). If
you ...
Frightful Fridays! Paingolem
-
Hello and welcome back for another Frightful Fridays! I’m back on schedule
with another construct (or…concrust…Sorry!). Since the pangolem’s name left
room...
The Descent
-
I recently watched the stop-motion psychological horror film Mad God. It
was pretty cool, though a little too impenetrable for my liking. However,
the fi...
Thanks for the adventures, Jim
-
A couple of days ago, we lost Jim Ward. He’s known for several things like
the controversial but awesome Deities & Demigods for 1st ed AD&D,
Metamorphosis ...
Singing in the Wilderness: reconstructing Dune pt.3
-
I thought I was done, but one more thing… The biggest of all Dune’s sinews
is probably scarcity: the whole book is a paean to the power of lack. Water
is s...
Singing in the Wilderness: reconstructing Dune pt.3
-
I thought I was done, but one more thing… The biggest of all Dune’s sinews
is probably scarcity: the whole book is a paean to the power of lack. Water
is s...
Phantastical Dodecahedral Anniversary
-
This year marks the 12th anniversary of my oldest extant blog, *Applied
Phantasticality* (and my 25th anniversary of blogging in any capacity, as
shockin...
Phantastical Dodecahedral Anniversary
-
This year marks the 12th anniversary of my oldest extant blog, *Applied
Phantasticality* (and my 25th anniversary of blogging in any capacity, as
shockin...
Smaller Games of 40K
-
[image: Necons]
I’m enjoying the latest iteration of Warhammer 40,000. With the release of
its 10th Edition, the designers created a smaller scale game m...
Prayers of Ways and Means (Shrine Procedure)
-
Sometimes, when I'm writing up a shrine or other location where PCs might
encounter the image of a divine figure of some sort, I feel like I want a
stan...
The Sudden Sea –Session 15
-
*[May 12 through 16 – Unexpected guest and return to Mouzaki]*
*[This game uses the Hero System Fifth Revised Edition (FREd) roleplaying
game. Game sess...
Recent Arrival: Special Edition
-
Other gaming products have shown up at Grubb Street, and they will
eventually get their own write-ups, but this one just showed up, and I feel
it is impo...
The Awful Lights
-
This past weekend I was at Breakout Con, running *The Awful Lights*. This
is an alpha edition of a wilderness/zombie survival paramilitary RPG,
heavily i...
Osr anchorites?
-
It's been a long time since I listened to any osr podcasts. Anchor was a
lot of fun. I'm not sure if the community is still going? I deleted the
app ...
Fudging, lying and cheating
-
*[D&D] is a game, and outcomes shouldn’t always be predictable! Removing
the risk of failure also removes most of the fun. *(From an upcoming random
encoun...
Playtest Sessions 8-11
-
I stopped posting session summaries for my games a few months ago because
it seemed like nobody was reading them, but I recently heard from a couple
of p...
Dice with a memory | … sort of [Markov dice?]
-
I’ve not been blogging much lately as I’ve been following the invasion of
Ukraine by the genocidal regime in Russia. You can donate to a reputable
aid char...
A Goblin in the Synthetic Dream Machine
-
A good human finally asked: “Are there any quick-and-dirty conversion
guidelines for porting in B/X or OSE monsters into SDM? HD roughly equate
to level, u...
Owen KC Stephens is RAD!…ioactive
-
Owen KC Stephens is currently undergoing radiotherapy for cancer that went
undetected for a decade. In the USA, this is really expensive. We want to
help h...
My 2023 in Review
-
This is my third annual Year in Review post, so I think I can officially
consider it a tradition! Here are my favorite things from 2023.
*The Best Thin...
Poor, neglected blog…
-
Wow, my last post is more than a year ago. What all has been going on? My
spouse ran their Prohibition-era Mage20 game. That went pretty well, and it
ended...
How to Make a Hexagonal Cartogram in ArcGIS Pro
-
Of course maps are just the most fascinating and information dense
graphical information products around…in my unbiased opinion. I can, and
do, go on and o...
Conquistadors of Tartarus
-
*There was a great wind, and darkness on the face of the sea. Then the
proud ships vanished.*
In 1571, the Holy League was fighting the Ottoman Empire. T...
Thinkin' 'bout Dragonballs
-
The death of Dragonball and DragonballZ creator Akira Toriyama had me
thinking about Dragonball. though I don't know that I am really touched by
the p...
Spherical Hex Map
-
My last post generated two types of responses:
"How did you wrap the hex map onto a globe?"
"You actually can't. It's been a quest of the computer games...
Arneson’s version of Challenge Rating
-
One of the more fascinating bits of information to be gleaned from Tonisborg
is a section which reveals Arneson’s methodology of stocking dungeons. For
t...
New edition of Starmada! Huzzah!
-
So Daniel Kast's *Starmada* has a new, 30th anniversary edition out. You
can get the pdf from WargameVault (the wargame store of the DriveThru
people) or...
Troika! character sheet
-
I made a simple horizontal Troika! character sheet and thought I’d share it
here for free. Hopefully somebody will find it useful! 🙂 Download the
charac...
The Sea Caves of Aubergiole
-
I found this file on my hard-drive a few days ago, and since I will never
ever finish the project (and in fact I don't recall many of the ideas) I
give it ...
ICE AGE MEGAFAUNA! - Back to Basic
-
It looks like all (and there weren't so many, really) the prehistoric
mammals got wiped off the books along with the Dinosaurs.
Apply one or more of the ...
No new posts for a while
-
In a little less than ten hours from when I post this, I start moving
house. Unfortunately, the new residence doesn’t have internet or telephone
connecti...
The Time Bandits
-
Six boisterous dwarves, who, until recently, were employed by the *Supreme
Being* to fix holes in the space-time continuum. Then they had a
brainstorm: W...
Planet Karus – Session 20
-
The marathon D&D session I have been daydreaming about for a long time
finally occurred last weekend. Six players and I spent most Saturday
playing, only s...
Elf Variant for Delving Deeper V4b
-
The following rules only apply to Player Character Elves. NPC Elves follow
the default rules.
Any special abilities of Elves not mentioned below (see pg....
On Sinless Art
-
I just want to share some of the art from the project.
Get your own copy:
https://preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/472142/Sinless
---------...
The Shattered Obelisk, session 18
-
We played our eighteenth session of The Shattered Obelisk on Monday,
February 26, 2024. Everyone was in attendance – the DM (me) and all three
players. I...
Old Maps: Ehrn
-
In January, I found and posted some old, analog maps from a campaign I ran
many, many years ago. A handful of folks expressed interest in seeing the
note...
Damage Using Player Skill (stopwatch weapons)
-
A synthesis of duels using player skill and Troika! variable damage for use
with B/X, Old-School Essentials, and other elfgames. What if you didn’t
roll to...
ShadowDark Magic Items
-
The next campaign I run will use the ShadowDark RPG. I'm not sure when
that'll be (I'm hoping a little later this year), but ShadowDark is my
choice. I'v...
Backgrounds + Starting Gear for Autocrats of Night
-
All subject to change before campaign starts. Also if this pitch sounds
interesting feel free to join the discord, though this game is probably
only goig...
replacement parts successfully installed
-
Seven years ago I suffered a minor knee injury that never quite got better
despite surgery and a bery of injections. Yesterday I got the mechanical
upgrade...
Get ready for the shittification
-
If you haven’t heard, WordPress and Tumblr users are probably going to have
their work sold to train “AI” — it’s all over the nerdy reportage (here,
here, ...
The Many Schools of Magic
-
The Manse has recently published a very nice rant on categorisation of
magic where they discuss several approaches to the classification of spells
and deri...
The Giant's Forge
-
A small, three page module describing the fortress-home of a giantish
master smith, his children, and their slaves. All ready to run.
"*Bromsag. *Beard...
Paper Huts
-
Lettuce is kickstarting a zine for Forbidden Psalm using the bric-a-brac
formula. It will contain some articles, scenarios, warbands, etc and most
importa...
Pregens are an art-form. Meet Bosclori
-
So, in an effort to get more interest in my achiest heartbreaker RPG,
Crypts & Cryts, I have been working on pregens to get kids new to the
system up an...
Dead Theory Necromancy
-
*I. Introduction*
GNS theory is dead, but this post on the history of the Forge contains an
interesting tidbit:
As originally conceived, the rec.games.f...
Corkboards & Curiosities: a New Angle on DMing
-
Here's a new YouTube channel that's absolutely worth your time. There's
some clever ideas in this video I will absolutely be implementing in my
campaign...
Xandering, Jaquaysing, or Arneson-ing the Dungeon?
-
Yet another gamer firestorm arose shortly after the passing of Janelle
Jaquays when it was noted that Justin Alexander had changed a rather well
known p...
Choosing Gaming Music
-
(I was going to mention this in my last post on gaming prep & workflow, but
it really is its own topic)
I have spent hours hand-picking music for my in-p...
Isotelus Complex on Kickstarter
-
Isotelus Complex, a blogpost written on a whim in response to a GLOGtober
prompt, has lightly taken over my life. So, with Zine Quest here, I've
decided ...
The Dungeon of the Black Cauldron
-
I just saw The Black Cauldron for the first time and absolutely loved the
dungeon architecture in the Horned King’s palace. Open them in a new tab to
blo...
GλOG: Item Templates
-
Lambda templates are associated with items rather than a character class. *Gaining
a λ template is simple: spend a downtime action* *training with the
as...
More Adventures in Cuccagna!
-
No, not from the previous party, but (hopefully) from a brand new one! At
the suggestion of one of the Weeknights in Nightwick crew I have decided to
r...
Bribery
-
How much is a typical bribe? Depends how rich the recipient is, and what
sort of exacerbating circumstances exist. *Somebody will only take a bribe
if they...
13 YEARS OF DADDY ROLLED A 1 (BLOG ANNIVERSARY)
-
Yesterday, February 9th 2024, was *the 13th Anniversary of my blog*. Sadly,
I've rather neglected this space over the past 365 days while I prioritized
...
More gadgets
-
My Sony tablet has been running continuously for 11 years. It's still
going strong. Batteries wearing out? Oh no they don't!
However, it's OS is old and ...
Kickstarter: Dimday Red TTRPG – Nodus Zine 02
-
A couple of days ago Spiros Drakatos reached out to me and let me know
about Dimday Red, his post-apocalyptical TTRPG and the Kickstarter he’s
currently ru...
Vlätkrig: Rangers of Myrkváld
-
The latest addition to the growing range of Vlätkrig Paper Minis - The
Rangers of Myrkváld comprises nine outdoor adventuring characters of
different ethni...
Teeth Among Shadows
-
Cyberpunk Red. January 2024 IRL, 1/20/2045 IG PART ONE (1/20/2045) Glitch,
Smith, and Adams were on a rooftop in the Vintner Court Collective
neighborhood,...
-
So do I only post on this blog to promote Kickstarters anymore? It seems
like that may be the case. Anyway… Fantastical Classes: Blobs vs. BladesNow
on Ki...
GLOG Class: Bioweapon
-
I got this idea from mad gods on bear blog.
Crab Evo from Kagaku Sentai Dynaman
A thousand soldiers were slain. Too many to be tragic--this is just a fact...
Let’s make goblins unique
-
When a goblin is encountered (or a bunch of the nasty beasts), roll a set
of 6 dice (d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20) for each of a few of them, or at
least thei...
Clothing Makes The Man (MyD&D)
-
Everything has a level in MyS^amp;D. This especially includes executive
positions in the hierarchy. For example your typical bishop of a mostly
rural bis...
Black Pudding 8 Print Edition Out Now!
-
The print edition of *Black Pudding Issue 8* is now available to order from
the Squarehex site using the following link:
https://www.squarehex.co.uk/coll...
Anatomy of a Pre Order
-
*Wyrmspan* by Stonemaier Games has gone up for pre-order for both retailers
and hobbyists. How do I go about figuring out how many copies to buy? This
on...
The Economy Engine, v0.2
-
I made a thing. For D&D 3rd edition, so it might not be that interesting to
a lot of people. But I made it and I think it’s cool. The 3rd edition
Dungeon M...
-
Guess what? To those who have been following the Back to the Dungeon RPG,
the BACK to the Dungeon RPG Deluxe Hardcover PDF is live for all to devour
for ...
A Bevy of Beyond the Supernatural Sheets
-
I don't know if anyone out there is still playing *Beyond the Supernatural*
("BtS"), Palladium's fun* little game of proto-super heroes hunting the
para...
Skyship Battle Playtest
-
I was exceedingly elated when I discovered a *blog article* Xaoseed wrote
in 2021 about the game mechanics I posted back around that time. I didn't
spot ...
The Great Tabletop Hackaton: Hard Wired Island
-
Hard Wired Island's cover.
Hard Wired Island is a cyberpunk game published by Weird Age Games in 2020.
It’s a beefy 400 page tome comparable in size to t...
D&D Turns 50, and Something Else Turns 200
-
2024 marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of *Dungeons & Dragons*.
Nailing down the exact release date of a product as informally produced as
D...
OSR: Stonehell OSE Open Table 11-16
-
Noticed that I never finished this one, was rotting in my drafts folder.
This is a continuation to the general notes on sessions 1-10, about 6
additional...
3x10 initiation rites
-
Random acts and tasks a guild/clan/order/gang might require from those
wanting to enter their ranks.
*Sneaky*
1. Spend a night in jail and carve your name ...
Gorean Adventures: Moon Dance RELEASED!
-
ADULT PRODUCT In this adventure our party is swept out to the far Tahari
where strange rumours recall events from decades ago. Stealth, cunning and
diploma...
Planned Hiatus
-
Since reviving this blog in 2019 my output has not been as consistent in
both quality and quantity as I would like. Setting the issue of quality
aside f...
The Progeny of Bahamat (D100+ Dragon Table)
-
This originally all started as the two of us, Unlawful Games and The Red
Lantern, working on separate D100+ Dragon lists. The thing is though,
Dragons are ...
(Pocket) Monstrous Monday: Scyther
-
I've had a soft spot for Scyther since pretty early in my journey with
Pokémon. I'm sure this was partly influenced by how universally valuable
its card...
Triangulation: The Land That Time Forgot at 100
-
I was once again offered the opportunity to write for DMR Books - as this
year marks a century since *The Land That Time Forgot* (or the novel fix-up
for...
What Else Have I Got in Me?
-
Brechewold's been done for a little while. Still incredibly pumped to have
this labor of love out in the company of LotFP's marvelously creative body
of ...
The Tellian Sector: The Empty Synod
-
The Empty Synod looks around at the Imperium, at the galaxy, at its
brutality and cruelty and waste and stupidity, and says "None of this is
necessary. E...
Random Encounters by Stephen Crane
-
Stephen Crane was an odd duck. A well-beloved writer, poet and
Darwinist, you can read about him on Wikipedia as easily as I did; and his
poems are al...
Dice Set Sunday!
-
i mentioned to a friend that I was going to take a day off from my blog he
mentioned an author who posts pet pictures when he doesn’t want to write
that da...
Photo Parade 2023
-
A bit of fun at the beginning of the new year. I’m following several German
travel blogs, and that way came across the annual Photo Parade (Fotoparade)
on ...
gaming goals 2024
-
This is a year of cutting back - I anticipate further cuts to my time and
there are other things I want to prioritize with the time left, so gaming
gets ...
Ave Atque Vale, Jennell
-
Jennell Jaquays passed away two days ago, and it's hitting me hard.
I had a chance to meet Jennell at NTRPG 2016 (and '17), and even get into a
playtes...
Last move - to self-hosting!
-
As my vote regarding Substack in the “marketplace of ideas”, I’m moving to
self-hosting.
I’m now at (and hopefully staying for a long time at)
Blog: ht...
AD&D 1e DMG: Combat
-
I've been thinking about initiative and combat maneuvers and decided to see
what Gary had to say about them.
But first:
*Are crippling disabilities and ...
Gwenevere (2023)
-
Poster by Sarah McIntyreBanished from Camelot, Queen Gwenevere (Laura
Frances Martin) must travel across wild country to the abbey where she is
to live out...
Of Urbanity in Troika!
-
This was sparked by someone asking about Orbital Intelligence's crapland.
which is about crappy suburbian.I jokingly call it a crappy suburb of
Troika! (t...
Happy New Year, and the annual DriveThruRPG report.
-
Happy New Year
I wish everybody a Happy New Year! I have much to be thankful for in 2023,
especially family, friends, and work. I want to thank everyone wh...
On Play-Style
-
Welcome to the third post wherein I lay the groundwork for this blog's
future direction. Today, I want to discuss the concept of *play-style* as
it perta...
Time Rolls On
-
Today is December 31, 2023, in the mid-afternoon. In less than ten hours it
will be 2024. 2023 2023 was a good year. But all years are good years. Both
goo...
Happy New Year from the Dice Mines!
-
"Do you think they have Holmes-made pumpkin pie?"
A lot of you wrote in to inquire about yesterday's post* [Does anyone
believe me when I imply that I'v...
Tricube Tales sales figures for 2023
-
*Last year* I provided a breakdown of the *Tricube Tales* sales figures for
2022, so I thought it was about time I did the same for 2023.
Total Sales per ...
Greyhawkery #1067
-
Happy Needfest! Good luck in 2024 Greyhawkers! I'll see you at *Gary Con, *on
*Legends & Lore* or on *Canonfire* (mortellan) and *Discord *(greyhawkmike)...
Dark Days?
-
Where has the year gone? Today is the winter solstice, and I thought I'd
revamp a quote-post with some wise words (not mine!) from the first year of
thi...
My Druid Adventure On Sale
-
Oakfell Vale, my adventure about mysterious druids in a secluded valley, is
on sale now for 20% off - only $7.99. It is 64 pages, and is intended for
use w...
OSR Wilderness Fundraiser Delivers, again (cont.)
-
Continued from this initial announcement, that is.
Mission OSR II can be reported a success. This "ascent" is happening much
later in the hiking season tha...
GLOG Class: Prosthetic Shinobi
-
Has someone done a Sekiro class? I feel like someone has done a Sekiro
class. But I can’t find it anywhere, so here we go, five years late. A:
Prosthetic L...
Helldelvers (GLOG character options for a game)
-
I needed a little character creation ruleset to test a dungeon I'm writing
and I guess I decided to do it here instead of google docs so now all of
you can...
Fimir for C&C
-
Today, I shift away from Chaos Goblins and the Undead and toward the Fimir,
found on pages 218-219 of the 1989 Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (WHF). WHF
tells ...
d66 Classless Kobolds Linktree (of sorts)
-
Hello!
As of Summer this year, I have changed jobs to work as a middle- and
high-school Humanities teacher for a classical Christian school. As such, I ...
RPG Blog Carnival: Endings
-
Apologies for my lack of involvement over the last few months, real life
gets in the way sometimes. I do have a post still in draft for the
September Car...
Guardian Monsters - Listed and Considered
-
There are a great number of guardian monsters to help spice up the role
playing. Guardian-type monsters are a regular feature in dramatic fantasy
fiction...
Downtime: Home away from Home
-
I had some more thoughts on downtime I wanted to share. But first,
speaking of downtime, it was just announced that my supplement, *Downtime
in Zyan*, i...
Spider Bankers of the Bureau of Universal Exchange
-
I'll put in a picture when I have one. We're working on these a bit at a
time. The Spider Bankers have been in Troika since the beginning and I've
alway...
axe beak
-
thought by some to be an ordinary creature developed through those regular
processes, that slow and gradual pattern that draws the schematics for
mundane...
The Horrors of Halfway
-
*I've played a lot of Monsterhearts, and certainly enjoyed it, even though
I certainly was doing it wrong.*
*But I've got no patience for games that reward...
Lost Luggage
-
Above is a recently completed illustration for an as-of-yet unannounced
publication. Like most of my illustrations, it contains references and
call-outs to...
Wild Cats of the Eastern Satrapies
-
Its been a while! Uh, way too long in fact. I still haven't ran a session
of KoK since my last post, but I figured the best thing to get me back into
the...
Play Report: Skull Mountain
-
At the end of the last Skull Mountain session the PCs had retreated to
safety at Owen's redoubt, met with visiting elves, and recovered from
injuries ...
Lantern Man (Romance of the Perilous Land)
-
A spirit related to the corpse candle, the lantern Man appears as a shadow
figure carrying an ethereal lantern. He wanders the marshlands and swamps,
en...
This Blog Has Moved!
-
The new blog: samsorensen.blot.im!
Hello!
This blog, Caput Caprae, is old and deprecated. If you're looking for the
latest, freshest, hottest, coolest new...
Escape from Manhattan (chapter 4)
-
*Escape from Manhattan *copyright 2023 Derek Stoelting
Anthony Quintano, CC BY 2.0
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 , via Wikimedia Commo...
Clerics of the Flanaess, Part 1
-
It’s been a while since we’ve had one of these articles, but the pages of
Dragonne Magazine have once more released their secrets from that alternate
unive...
Fearful Ends Now on Kickstarter
-
[image: Fearful Ends book & cards on Kickstarter]
The long-time passion project of my Wandering DMs partner Paul Siegel is
currently funding on Kickstarter!...
Falkrest Abbey Review
-
Hello All – It has been quite some time since we talked. There was this
little pandemic that happened, and life got all crazy. I played a hell of a
lot o...
-
Heya folks, the 21st Salt Mine book, Import Export, has hit the digital
shelves! In the 21st book we follow Aaron Haddock-codename Stigma-as he
tries to ...
Using Hex Kit for Thirty Years Reuel, 2nd Age
-
Here’s a sample of what I am working with to populate a hex map for my West
Marches style game. I’m using the Cairn 2e playtest and running it on
Owlbear R...
The Adventurer’s Dilemma, rolling in the open
-
*DMs are cheats and liars. Sometimes.*
The anomaly at your tableWhen someone performs a death-defying stunt
there’s a non-negligible chance they’ll ...
My Weekly Game
-
My weekly game with the neighborhood kids. They just completed the good old
Sunless Citadel. They limped out into the sunlight with their pockets full
of...
Open Table Gaming
-
Since February I have been running a monthly open table game at the local
gamer pub. I run a simple house ruled version of BX dnd. Because it is a
drop ...
Angels, Demons and Subtle Bodies
-
It’s delightful when D&D-isms sometimes converge with ancient wisdom, even
accidentally. I was watching a video from Jonathan Pageau earlier today
concerni...
5e XP Advancement Tables
-
This game design grease monkey has been under the hood of 5e tearing it
apart to figure out how to get it to run like 1e, preferably with strictly
DM-facin...
The End
-
In January of 2011 I launched a new blog, this blog, *Adventures in Gaming
version 2*.
I had had several blogs before this one, most notably of course, *...
Bad Weather after Judgment Day
-
The world has ended and the weather is fucking terrible.
Oh it's not as bad as a decade ago, when the poison storm of a Gas Front
would sweep through and tu...
A Short Update
-
Nothing new to share in terms of D&D stuff, but I have to say I've been a
little more productive on another project now that all social media sites
are u...
Wasted Lands - a Completely Customizable RPG
-
Here we go, folks! The final blog before the *Wasted Lands Kickstarter *
launches! Stay tuned for more behind the curtain looks as the campaign
progresses...
Exeunt - shuttering this blog (...for now?)
-
I just realized I haven't posted here in years and don't really have plans
to start again. My writing itch is being scratched but good since I started
ne...
Monster Stat Concept: Disposition
-
Yesterday, I introduced the concept of monster Motivations as a way to help
understand how to use that monster when designing encounters, or what they
mi...
Moving On...
-
So, my D&D 5e experiment has blown up the lab in a puff of green smoke
leaving my face blackened like Wile E. Coyote after a failed roadrunner
Acme trap...
SORCERER (Afterword)
-
Hi there. I'm sure you, astute reader, have noticed that this blog isn't
very active anymore. That's because I don't quite have the inspiration for
it. N...
3d printed minis
-
A question for all of you - I've been ignoring the OSR and blogs (which I
assume are dead at this point) and forums (also guessing, dead) and reddits
and...
Some Favorite Audiobooks
-
While I prefer reading actual books, I do enjoy to fall asleep to a good
audiobook. Here are some of my favorites, and you might notice my bias for
stuff...
Another take on demihumans as social constructs.
-
I had an idea knocking around inside my head, and then I saw that Dan had
already done it over on Throne Of Salt, which rather undercut my brilliant
orig...
The State of the Metal Earth and What's to Come.
-
To begin with, I'm still here and still doing stuff.
The good news, I suppose is I have had a change in the way I approach game
design.
In the past I...
substack announcement
-
I've been writing short stories and putting them on Substack. It's
matthalton.substack.com, it's just my name.
If you like the writing on this blog, you...
what if there were a few more status effects?
-
D&d 5e has some decent status effects, they're pretty significant and kind
of make sense. They all pretty much impose disadvantage to something in
some ...
Eberron for Savage Worlds Revised!
-
Eberron for Savage Worlds has been republished with updates and expanded
content and is now available in print and PDF through DriveThruRPG.com!
d100 dark souls
-
*I recently returned to Lordran and have some thoughts on applying the
lessons of Dark Souls 1 to ttrpgs slowly percolating. In the meantime, a
stocker...
The Four-Fold King
-
The men of the Frostlands are no friends of giants, and have often warred
with them. But they have always respected certain traditions. Certain
prophecies...
Now at ageofravensgames.com
-
We've moved locations-- you can now find my blog content, hacks, scenarios,
reviews, TTRPG histories, AP videos and more at ageofravensgames.com.
I'm...
There Were Dice
-
I started my Spelljammer game last weekend. It was my first time DMing
since December 2021. I wasn't as rusty as I thought I was going to be, but
I *was ...
Real Tomb Maps for Your Gaming Enjoyment
-
Tomb KV08 - Pharoh Merenptah
Copyright American Research Center in Egypt
(ACRE) used with permission under Fair Use
I came across a wonderful resource for...
I have a new blog about weird old SFF novels
-
Well, as you can see I haven't updated this blog in quite some time. I
still play D&D but I don't get creative ideas for it in the same way that I
used ...
GAME REVIEW: Four-Color Heroics
-
Before we get started, here are some disclaimers:
- I am reviewing a comp copy provided by the author
- The author and I are friends, and have bee...
Mad Max custom figure
-
This amazing custom was posted on ebay at the beginning of 2023. The
seller's account was listed as Old Colony Hobbies. It looks like there are
a lo...
I think we just won . . .
-
Just caught the news that WotC and the "Embrace, Extend, Extinguish" crew
in their upper echelons publicly claimed the irrevocable status of the OGL
1.0...
Moving to Markdown
-
In one sense, it's a no-brainer to move away from Blogger. The interface is
archaic and unpredictable, the platform is limited in capability, and as a
fr...
Beneath the Cliffs - part 4
-
This week, I've finished up two more sections of the Ruined Monastery of St
Amruss. I wrote the last descriptions of the kitchen area and wrote up the
th...
More ripples from WotC OGL revision
-
Wizards’ attempt to undo the OGL and break up the third-party publisher…
uh, party, continues to have ripple effects across the tabletop roleplaying
indust...
The Blade Itself
-
I just finished listening to the audiobook of The Blade Itself, volume one
in Joe Abercrombie’s The First Law trilogy. This was my first exposure to
his wo...
-
Haven't posted in along time but if anyone is wondering I took down the
various D20 content in case there are any forthcoming compliance issues
with th...
Halbardier Re-spin
-
(reposted from my frotz.prose.sh blog)
*Helmbarten* is Alex Schroeder's fantasy take on a Classic *Traveller*-style
game, and I liked it so much I wanted...
Kadmeian classes
-
This is the last of three posts setting up the Kadmeian Mysteries setting.
Here, we detail the classes of the setting. Some will simply be
reflavorings o...
Chronicles of the Adventures in the Dune Imperium!
-
Cover art for Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium core rulebook
I have one of the few copies of the Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium core
rulebook that were ...
Krampusnacht Curios
-
So what does Krampus leave inside the shoes or boots of good little boys
and girls? Since the winter months are so harsh and unforgiving, he usually
g...
Looking Back
-
They say that if you don't look back at who who were from a year ago and
cringe that you haven't grown enough.
What if I look back five or seven years?
It...
Gaming Tidbits
-
Just sharing some things, because I’m thinking geeky thoughts and don’t
have a clear shot at a game at the moment. Fantastical Medieval Campaigns –
A new f...
The Island of Death and Rubies
-
Today I'm rolling up another random campaign. I'm choosing two of the
three starting adventure opportunities to test out their roll-up tables,
then lett...
Tommy's Take on Camp Terror, an Actual Play Review
-
So this weekend I talked my group into taking a detour from D&D 5e to
return to an old friend of ours: Savage Worlds. Not for an established
setting suc...
SEXY BEAST
-
Gal has an advantage over Don Logan simply because he has found people who
can love him. Don has, instead, constructed a mirror-ego to achieve
sufficent...
Midjourney and Campaign Inspiration
-
I'm an improvisational GM.
I love random tables. I believe in the oracular power of the dice. I
believe in emergent storytelling and character backstori...
Decad(enc)e
-
The above remains my favorite hex type, though I do need to spend some more
quality time around the Rockies to make sure. As I write this, I find
mys...
Mechanics: Errant Spellcasting
-
Starting Point
Spell: A specific, codified form of magic, somewhat limiting a caster's
flexibility but maximizing speed and allowing for much more drama...
FREEDOM SQUADRON Now Available on DriveThruRPG!
-
* The Freedom Squadron October 2021 product line is now available on
DriveThruRPG!*Click on each picture to follow an affiliate link to purchase
and supp...
Notes on a semi-successful skill system
-
When I finished my Team Tsathogga campaign back in 2019, one of the things
that I noted afterwards was the extent to which fighters had struggled to
keep...
Denizens of Restenford: Fairwind
-
Ah, yes, the Baroness Fairwind, beleaguered spouse of the tepid Baron
Grellus; what do we know about her? From the "castle" roster: she is 42
years old, ...
Moving the blog
-
I am moving this blog to a git-based version at todistantlands.github.io.
For your convenience, here is a link to its RSS feed.
I have migrated many of my...
This is an Important Game Mechanic
-
*"That's the GM's Regional Map from my AOWG. And it's a damned good
regional map. It's not a good map for a Simple Homebrew Campaign. It does
some s$&...
This is a Fossilized Blog
-
After digging around through the guts of this blog, we've decided to
mothball it but make it available as a sort of internet-fossil of sorts, in
case anyo...
The Brave Art of Running Away
-
In last night's game, on two separate occasions the player characters
decided that discretion is often the better part of valor, and decided not
to fight...
Skull Mountain Reboot in East TN
-
*North of the last outpost of Sparn, through the cannibal haunted jungles
of Brool, a boulder-strewn crag rises from the mists. An enormous stone
reptile...
Review: The Magus
-
I decided to dig into my PDF library of RPGs and look at "The Magus". I had
bought it last year during a Twitter-driven "Sell me an amazing Indie RPG"
thre...
Review: The Magus
-
I decided to dig into my PDF library of RPGs and look at "The Magus". I had
bought it last year during a Twitter-driven "Sell me an amazing Indie RPG"
thre...
2e Character Sheet
-
One of the most popular posts on this site over the years has been the 2nd
Edition AD&D character sheet I cooked up for our game in the early 90s. I
cleane...
In Defense of Race As Class
-
Race As Class! Baffling to some, overly simplistic to others, gold to me.
Race As Class does what even AD&D didn't have the balls to do: it not only
says "...
Knock! Issue 3
-
Knock! Issue 3
Hey all! I'm a contributor to the OSR zine Knock! I wrote up 12 Sword Saint
techniques specifically for your Fighter character!
Click the ...
A timeline for historical games in the Lowlands
-
6th century: Clovis I, King of the Franks, converts to the Roman Church
1000: Pagan Saxon and Frisian religions cease to exist as such and are
subsumed un...
What’s in the Wizard’s Mug?
-
Mmmm smells good! Just a sip… 1d8 1- A potent shrinking potion. You are now
swimming in the cup alongside a drenched wizard. 2- Hot Green Slime. That’s
w...
Not the best year
-
In many ways 2021 has not been a lot of fun. For me, it started with
catching COVID-19, along with many of the friends I game with, and while,
fortunately,...
Unlawful Update
-
Hi everyone it’s John G of Unlawful Games here. Just stopping by to remind
y’all that I have moved over to https://www.unlawful.games/ where I
continue ...
A Treatise on Traps
-
This post is available in video form on my YouTube channel (opens in a new
window).
*Click to enlarge*
Here is a simple 3d6 table to generate...
Announcing: Book of Extinction
-
We're working with a good friend of ours, Lucas Zellers (@SparkOtter), to
craft a new book that gives life to extinct animals through Dungeons and
Dragons:...
Abiørn's Satchel
-
This weathered leather satchel is tooled in nautical designs and is full of
rose-colored salt. Rubbing the salt on a sea creature will dry it out and
sh...
SRDCAT Sneak Peek: Collections
-
My first post on WTF.com is up! It's the first glimpse of SRDcat's
Collections interface, which helps us organize the vast amount of game
objects that...
[ Kinship ] The Shadow Riders
-
I float above what is called by many the Road, some call it the Highway,
some call it something worse. Highway to Hell is a favorite. And if you
end ...
It's 2021 and the Dream is Dead
-
So reads the cover caption of Mayfair's *Underground*, published in 1993.
Taking place in 2021, *Underground* is unusual in terms of genre; perhaps
“dys...
New Home!
-
This is just a quick post to let everyone know that I'll no longer be
updating on this blog primarily due to all the spambots that plague this
platform. ...
Mothership: Further Thoughts
-
In my previous post I gave a few thoughts on a rough Mothership setting.
Have some more. Note: I am not a physicist so the below is probably very
wrong. ...
My FREE RPG 12v12 Is Out Now!!!!
-
I hope everyone is well. I am very excited to be able to share a little
game I have been working on for a while. 12v12 is a D12-based multi-genre
RPG, an...
Hey, what's going on in here?
-
It seems the Mad Scientist is working on something secret in his laboratory
of horrors... I wonder what it will be? Is it anything to do with Warrior...
"Things to Find" tables and Velonia
-
So in my Lost Carcosa supplement something I did was have an encounter
table as well as a "Things To Find" table for each region. I initially
assumed th...
Short Shelf of Picks - Vol. III
-
Blood in the Roots
This is a packed little half fold pamphlet. Evocative in a way that I
appreciate. I am aware of Trollish Delver Games (Scott Malthous...
-
Wow. That was a weird 5 years.
So, I'm semiretired now, and after the last job, which made a lot of money,
but almost killed me , I'm loving it.
S...
COKE DWARVES
-
The second of my races for my gonzo kitchen sink campaign using the Black
Hack. Inspired by the almost no information on Diesel Dwarves from Ultra
Viole...
The Many Returns of Gamma World
-
I started this post planning to examine my growing interest in the
roleplaying game *Gamma World*, after having only been casually
appreciative of it pre...
Inspiral - A game about (not) making stuff
-
I've been feeling bad about not making (well, releasing) stuff, so today I
made a game about (not) making stuff. It's unbalanced and untested, but I'm
re...
The Visitor Royal Telepath
-
I have taken a little break from blogging to set up the Ravens Purge
campaign for Forbidden Lands for my friends on Discord for a bit of a
change of pace. ...
Hello world!
-
Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then
start writing!
The post Hello world! appeared first on theskyfullofdust.
"Good old Udemy" (not)
-
Good old Udemy.I was unable to submit tax paperwork because the submission
process failed many times over the course of some weeks.Now that I need a
1098/...
The Spine of Night Premiering at SXSW Tonight!
-
*The Spine of Night* will be premiering tonight at *SXSW*. I am extremely
excited about this one! If the past output from Morgan King/Gorgonaut has
been ...
Circle of the Moon Druid Magic Item
-
Looking to enhance a Circle of the Moon Druid, but having a hard time
finding a magic item that can do it? Look no further...
The post Circle of the Moon...
Monsters of Wander Marsh
-
*Lantern-Tail:*
A large bat-like creature that possesses both hair, and an exoskeleton like
an arthropod. It has a lengthy prehensile tail equipped wi...
I moved ages ago, but forgot to tell anyone
-
I decided to get my own domain name: strangevistas.org and have been
posting there for over a year. When Adam at Barking Alien mentioned that
he wanted...
Review: Beyond the Wall
-
I recently re-discovered this lovely post about the 1937 Hobbit book as a
RPG setting, luckily for us the author has continued to write about this
Wilder...
Troubleshooting Detachments and Forts
-
I'm running custom Detachment rules which are a mash-up of *Into the Odd's* company
rules and *Apocalypse World's* gang-sizes so that ship crews in my pi...
False Machine Dungeon Poetry
-
EDIT: Area 8 has been fucked for months, sadly. I forgot to mention that
there was a 2 in 6 chance of the High Forgetter being present in the
chamber...
A new beginning
-
I've been blogging here for a while now, but I think it's time to move on
to a new blog with a new title. There's a lot of dragons and flagons and
flago...
The Best of the Journal: The Pettigrew Selections
-
Mark Pettigrew wrote the delightful swashbuckling role-playing game,
Flashing Blades. He also wrote two Tekumel adventures, A Jakallan Intrigue
and The Tom...
Hamsterish Hoard of Hexes is live!
-
Today's the day!The day that Hamsterish Hoard of Hexes is live! :D
Brought to you by Paolo Greco of Lost Pages (lostpaolo @ Twitter), with
lovely art by ...
Context-Sensitive Encounter Tables
-
The goal of these encounter tables is to provide dynamic, context-dependent
encounters with as little additional work as possible pushed onto the
referee. ...
The Why of a Blog?
-
Because Writing Helps You Learn
Journeys of discovery are not something you start doing, but something you
gradually stop doing. — Erling Kagge, Walking: ...
Blog Reboot
-
How starting over feels...
After the disaster that was 2020 I decided it would be best to start over
on a new blog. Wipe the state clean as they say. It'll...
New Blog
-
I am retiring my WordPress blog and migrating over to Blogger. This site
will remain up, for the time being, but you can follow my new stuff here:
https://...
New OSR Products at DTRPG — November 26th, 2020
-
This is the first Thanksgiving in years that I have not worked. Kinda
strange.
Adventures
A Misplaced Prince - Featuring "piranhakeets", which I thin...
My RPG Zine Trilogy is on Kickstarter!
-
I can't believe I didn't post about it here!
The Dead are Coming, Screams Amongst the Stars and Running Out of Time are
on *Kickstarter right now!* Thes...
I keep doing this
-
Sometime near the end of each year, I open up my blogs and realize I
haven't posted in many moons. It's not that I don't have anything to say
(in fact, i...
NEW Appendix N Video Review Series
-
Daniel, over at The Dungeon Dive, is starting up a Youtube review series
of various Appendix N authors, I highly recommend you follow along with his
inves...
City of Heroes / City of Villains roster
-
Mid September I’ve returned to a game I’ve played for a while a long time
ago. At the time, I didn’t focus on the mechanics, or the story: I just
wanted to...
Revised Prison of the Hated Pretender Release
-
A revised, updated, edited, illustrated and annotated version of my 2012
Prison of the Hated Pretender is now available for purchase and download at
Dr...
First licensed SWAG release
-
We're thrilled to announce that the first licensed Accursed release on SWAG
has just hit! Adam Loyd introduced a new Witchbreed, the Oni. It includes a
d...
Dreams and Fevers Turns Two!
-
*Image is self explanatory*
2019 will probably be remembered as the most consistent year in the blog’s
history. But even though this year has turned out ...
Ten Fearsome Pit Fighters of the Grand Arena
-
There are many fighting pits in the city, but none of them compare to the
Grand Arena in terms of prestige, showmanship, and skill of the fighters.
The fig...
Time Management and the Role of Caller
-
Last week was the first session of my Wednesday night Roll20/Discord
group’s new B/X campaign (a continuation of a long-running AD&D campaign
that went o...
Undermountain Map Origins
-
As documented on the Ruins of Undermountain sales page, "TSR didn't
actually use Ed Greenwood's original maps," at least not in their entirety.
This post d...
The Broken Lands - The Undertemple of Arkon
-
As part of our current online campaign, The Broken Lands, I used an
adventure called, "The Undertemple of Arkon" from The Dragon Horde Zine #1.
This isn't ...
The Map for my Current DnD Campaign
-
So maybe two months ago, when we all realized that lockdown wasn't just
going to last a couple of weeks, a number of us agreed to try playing a
Dungeons an...
Gamma World 12`000 AD
-
My 20 answers to scraps questions
1. Yes, yes there are, many different types of them. You can play one as
mutant animal, you can get one as a mount, no y...
Half-Organized Thoughts About Monsters
-
When I think of a Monster it's all images and impressions at first, then it
eventually settles into something like this, a loose sort of novelistic
encyclo...
Blood Sundown Review
-
I've actually been running games recently! Bully for me. I decided that
I'd start reviewing the products I actually use - this was my first review
on Driv...
Poison!
-
I don't love Save or Die poison. It's a bit to on off for me. It's also
not that realistic. I often end up ad-libbing something less gnarly but
more in...
WB:FMAG Total Print Sales
-
Hello Folks,
The last time I did a quick sales report was in September 2018.
I pulled reports from Amazon, Lulu and DrivethruRPG from October to current
fo...
DIE 20!
-
Blame the stay at home order if you like. Well you cannot blame it for
what this is. I guess the social distancing and stay at home order gave me
uninter...
Welcome!
-
Welcome to Meandering Banter!
ALLERGY ADVICE: Contains GLOG classes, OSR rambling, bizarre heartbreakers,
traces of discourse and has been manufactured in ...
Crystal Crypt Of Zhool
-
*Crystal Crypt Of Zhool* is a free mid-level Barrowmoor crypt for use with
Barrowmaze or as a small set-piece in your campaign or hexcrawl. Stats are
gi...
I Cast RESURRECTION!!!
-
So, I know it's been awhile. I didn't realize it had been quite *that *long.
I hope some of you are still around out there.
I know I've talked about some ...
Favourite anime of the last decade
-
My favourite anime of each year, 2010-2019, plus some honourable mentions:
2019
*Favourite:* The Promised Neverland
An amazing mix of cuteness and horror.
...
Mold lines are the bane of my existence
-
This afternoon I was putting some models together, cleaning mold lines, and
doing some basing. Mold lines are a long-running antagonist for my hobby
activi...
Vampire: Year One, Part II
-
And now for the second part of my dive into 1991, when the Soviet Union
fell, the Japanese economic bubble burst, Gene Roddenberry passed away, and
most pe...
Power 10 for 5E D&D.
-
As I play more and more fantasy role-playing games, especially D20
variants, I find that some of my favorites are the ones that boil the
entire leveling ex...
New start, new blog.
-
This bad boy has been neglected, and now I am leaving it behind. I'm
starting fresh at http://douglaseasterly.blogspot.com with posts featuring
art and gam...
Restarting the Blog
-
I haven’t been blogging for the last decade, but now seems like a good time
to give it another go. I’ve moved the blog to my own server in the process;
no ...
Restarting the Blog
-
I haven’t been blogging for the last decade, but now seems like a good time
to give it another go. I’ve moved the blog to my own server in the process;
no ...
The Howling Caverns (5e)
-
The hunched beast prowls the forest, sniffing at the still air. The roiling
sky flashes and thunder breaks the silence. The time is near and the beast
sens...
Wargaming Wednesday: Blood Cross Chapter
-
Well, I'm a month behind already. ~sigh~ I'll just have to get better. As
usual, Amazon affiliate links at the end.
A Tactical Battle Brother of the Blood ...
Levithan
-
I just picked up a copy of Scotia Grendel's Leviathan. This is a game I've
been meaning to get for years but thanks to the excellent Leviathan War
blog, ...
One Hundred Thieves' Tools
-
"He dropped into the garden noiselessly, and I watched from my tower window
with rapt curiosity. The thief approached a guard and quietly dragged him
off i...
Dungeons & Dragonmead Fall Schedule
-
*As you know, I run public classic Dungeons & Dragons games at **The Loaded
Die**/Metro Detroit Game Night's Board Game Nigh at **Dragonmead**, in
Warren...
Campaign Planning for Dragon of Ice Spire Peak
-
Essential PhandelverI am planning a D&D 5e campaign with my friends to
introduce them properly to the game and get past the only one session we
have done...
PC Infravision in OD&D
-
PC Infravision in OD&D
Delta asked about infravision, and how OD&D may be an outlier edition that
denies infravision for player characters.
The idea that...
TFH&P Release Notification Signup
-
Dear Friends, This game is very near to completion, and there has been a
flattering amount of interest in the game since the kickstarter campaign
ended. So...
Echoes of Prohibition
-
Prohibition is a nearly forgotten time in Maryland history, despite the
still-visible paint on the side of a Fell’s Point building urging residents
to “Vot...
Lots of Microlite20/74/5e Goodness
-
I have recently discovered Brian Mathers' blog, The Gnomish Embassy.
Brain's blog has a large number of posts for Microlite20 in general
although his Micr...
Friendly Advice: Finding Inspiration
-
This past week I spent my days in the verdant mountains of Pennsylvania
near a small town called Bedford. It was a farm that went by Fort Royal
where a mus...
Best Spam Comment Ever
-
Wow, I normally wouldn't give any sort of attention to a spam comment, but
this was too fantastic to pass up (posted to several of my posts as
comments and...
How to Cleric in Moog
-
*This is a quick, down and dirty guide for Clerics and other faith-based
characters in the World of Moog. It is written for 5E but much of it can be
easi...
Temporary new home for the blog
-
Something I should have posted earlier:
>> MY 'DEV BLOG' IS NOW AT DRAGONS.IE <<
I'll get to make a proper home for my bloggerings at some stage, but ...
Attacking the Stat for Fun and Profit*
-
Ascending Armor Class at the time of 3rd edition was a major intuitive and
time saving innovation. But what is more important is how it points to
rolling ...
James A. Smith, Jr. Memorial Video
-
A beloved father, devoted friend, and D&D Dungeon Master extraordinaire. We
miss you! To view video, click here Memorial Video
Note - The original video...
[chapter 2]
-
The children’s names were Abdan and Mershi. Preteens, traumatized. Everyone
helped, but Mazi turned out to be surprisingly good with them. Jase started
tea...
New content! New look! New locale!
-
What comes first? The dungeon or the wilderness?
https://mythopoeicrambling.wordpress.com/2019/04/01/leveling-up-and-world-building/
I got mine!
-
The Fantasy Trip Legacy Edition kickstarter has started shipping. I got
mine yesterday! It's a pretty big box (lower left) that shipped in a much
bigger...
"Alignments that aren't stupid" in action
-
I wrote about a new concept to map onto the term alignment some years ago
here:
https://spellsandsteel.blogspot.com/2015/12/alignments-that-arent-stupid.ht...
Bestiary of the Fabled Occident
-
A long time ago I started to put together a bestiary. I've pursued various
other projects in the time since but I still have a fair bit of material
I'd lik...
Profane and Profound Prep Part 2
-
This is part 2 of my work to edit my magic items for a DMsGuild release,
along with adding cursed items along the way. Here is part 1. Bone of a
Saint 8000...
Banished to the Purple Planet - Part Thirteen
-
Under a Weirdling Sun
*Peril on the Purple Planet* is an epic DCCRPG box set devised by +Harley
Stroh. The adventure is a hex crawl, so player characte...
SHORT BREAK.
-
I'm going to take a break for a week or so and will start up again in the
New Year. Thanks for reading and we'll start with Level 6 when I get back.
Iain Lovecraft, 3D Sculptor
-
Nope, it's got nothing to do with Cthulhu. I just did a video conversation
with Iain Lovecraft, who designs 3D miniatures and terrain. If you're not
doi...
Please Update Your Link!
-
If you're seeing this, it means your link to the Greyhawk Grognard blog is
out of date.
Please update your link to www.greyhawkgrognard.com (RSS feed is
h...
A lighthearted open letter to Greyhawk fans.
-
Let me start by saying I don't dislike Greyhawk. I play in a current AD&D
2nd ed. game set in that setting, Greyhawk and Blackmoor also, as the
settings de...
My new blog: devilghost.com
-
For months, I’ve been slowly moving entries from my old blog (here) to my
new blog. I want to escape Blogger both because of technology preferences
(I li...
100 Evocative Character Titles (Part II)
-
From the 'Drolatic Dreams of Pantagruel' by Francois Rabelais
This is part two of a resource for sparking character ideas. See part one
here.
Descriptive...
Spells by Keyword
-
Another diversion... In order to help myself in creating new weird spells
I came up with the following method and four d100 lists of keywords. The
idea i...
Wolfheart by Richard A Knaak
-
Wolfheart
Written by Richard A. Knaak
World of Warcraft
$7.99 in Kindle Format
I'm a fan of Richard A. Knaak from way back in the 80's. I read his Legend...
Long overdue closing down message
-
Friends.
I guess if you see this in you notifications or feed reader you will be
quite surprised. This blog have now been dormant for a long time, and much...
d20 Jungle Environments
-
For all its focus on random combat encounters, one thing *Tomb of
Annihilation* doesn't have is a table of places that make engaging in
random combat fun a...
New blog
-
Ok, people, time to update your bookmarks. I'm moving this blog to another
domain, so this is my last post here.
You may find the new blog at http://letra...
The Orchid Club
-
Bral caters to almost every vice, from grand scale corruption, via most
types of imaginable gambling, to lotus addiction, with each sin having its
own v...
UVG: The Caravan Sheet
-
The UVG (my patreon) has grown a lot over the weeks and I got some friendly
editing input from Skerples, and from that I realized I needed to
restructure t...
Comertul online si lenjeriile de pat
-
Avand in vedere amploarea pe care a luat-o comertul electronic in ultimii
ani in tara noastra, putem intalni pe intreg internetul magazine online
care ofer...
2018: I Yam What I Yam And I Don't Give A Damn
-
Time for another year-end beatdown.Time to roll another one out. This past
holiday season I resolved to be more mellow than previous years, which I
met w...
Behold Beyond Dread Portals now has a cover!
-
Our upcoming release of Paul Mitchener's Dimension Hopping Fantasy
Adventure game, Beyond Dread Portals, now has a cover courtesy of Jon
Hodgson. Continue ...
Migration
-
A note to anyone checking this blog:
I've moved my blogging activity to https://necroticgnome.com/blogs/news.
This blog will remain indefinitely, but will ...
Here Be Monsters 4: Out of the Primal World WINNER
-
Congratulations again to all our Top Five. However, as a classic movie once
taught me, there can be only one, so special congratulations to the winner
of...
Portfolio Images from an old CD from a while ago
-
This one contains some game art, a few 3d images I created from 3d CAD
models, some 2d line art drawings etc. Again, fun work!
Air Warrior pilot wing...
Airlines Suck
-
I returned home to Pennsylvania a few days ago, after visiting my father in
Colorado.
I had absolutely *no trouble* with the Transportation Security
Adm...
Night Ride Part 1
-
Night Ride Part 1 “Look, Pa, it’s my turn. Also, Nana is having one of her
spells again and she has no idea who I am when she gets this way.” Saw
sighed an...
Castle Keepers Guide
-
I am perusing the 2nd printing of the *Castle Keepers Guide*, today.
So far the sections on magic staves/wands and expanded equipment lists have
been of int...
The Migration Has Begun
-
It was inevitable - whether Sarmaks, swallows or Indo-Europeans, folks have
to migrate eventually. Thus, the good old Land of Nod blog is making a move
to ...
The Ramparts of Tharrenton Deep
-
I only just today realized that I haven't posted anything here since the
closing days of 2015. Wow. That's not a good way to maintain a blog.
And I look ...
Director George Romero passed away.
-
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment...716-story.html
Hard to believe he's gone. I've seen all of his movies. He's the man who
made everyone know what a zo...
Moving Day!
-
I’ve decided to start blogging on Blogger. I’ve written a more detailed
post over there. For now everything I have previously written will be
archived here...
A Pipeful Of Trouble out now!
-
All is not well in Brierfield. The idyllic halfling village has fallen prey
to unknown bandits and marauders. These peaceful victims of shattered loves
...
Starter Set Sandbox 19 - The City of Neverwinter
-
For some strange reason, the city of Neverwinter was never properly mapped
in an RPG product until 4E's *Neverwinter Campaign Setting*, and it was
really ...
The King Arthur Pendragon RPG is free to download
-
Hop on over to the nice people at DriveThruRPG and you’ll find the classic
1st Edition of the King Arthur Pendragon RPG by Greg Stafford available as
a fre...
-
I'm very pleased to announce that I've received the outline and readied the
cover for the first Battleaxes & Beasties adventure that is not written by
me. ...
Daily Monster Art- Axe Beak
-
This art series is more like the monsters I've never actually used in a
game series. I think the axe beak is pretty cool, I mean, it is weird dumb
crea...
How-to: Under-bed Play Board
-
Happy Holidays everyone! This year, for Christmas, I undertook my first *real
*woodworking project- meaning one that starts with boards and ends up with
...
Not QUITE a TPK...
-
But you could see one from there! I know my players read these, so I'm
going to try to avoid campaign spoilers. But there will be some. Last
night the par...
Swords & Glory, Vol. 2: Tekumel Player's Handbook
-
Hello, 14 year-old me... I stumbled across this post on the Tekumel
Foundation blog early this last week, on Facebook (I think I traced that
back correct...
Adventures in the City of the Dead
-
I am trying a new approach to dealing with sessions that multiple players
have to miss in my new Waterdeep campaign. If I know in advance that
multiple pl...
California Natural Dog Food
-
The California Natural dog food brand is produced and manufactured by
Natura Pet Products, Inc. This dog food company uses premium, high-quality
ingredie...
6 Years
-
Today, August 10th, marks the 6th year anniversary of Purple Duck Games and
our 6th year at the OBS (Rpgnow/DTRPG) set of stores. Starting off with a
sub...
Time in my OD&D Campaign
-
I was running an OD&D game world when the first three AD&D books were
published, and I resisted for a while, but of course made the purchases.
I read the ...
AD&D Troll Sculpt WIP
-
Troll sculpt nearing completion, I've done some more
detail work since taking these photo's. He just needs
his right arm/hand completed. 50mm to top of...
In Memory of Steve
-
This is Steve's wife Jenn. I am sorry to say that Steve passed away on
December 21. My love for him will live on, as will his art. Steve's art can
be seen...
[DIY] Faux-parchment
-
Have you ever thought about doing old looking paper for fancy handouts or
for kids’ scavenger hunts, for example, but felt like its too much work? Me
too! ...
Review: Otherworld Fantasy Skirmish
-
Since the untimely demise this year of the Warhammer Fantasy setting, and
thus the three decades of games that it spawned, one might have expected
the edi...
Picking Up Where I Left Off
-
It's been a bit since I have posted to The Sandbox of Doom. In the
intervening time, a lot of things have changed, most of them good.
- I have been ga...
Poker Tables For Sale
-
Last night, March 15, on an all new "Comic Book Men" on AMC, "Star Wars"
actor Billy Dee Williams of The Stash with the rest of the crew and they
take a ...
A new rpg blog
-
https://ropeblogi.wordpress.com/ This one is old and feels cluttered.
Rather than try resurrecting this I decided to start a new rpg blog. Some
content is ...
Current Portfolio
-
If you’re looking my current portfolio, please head over
to www.chrishuth.com. If you’re looking for gaming-related writing or
updates on some other gaming...
I ran Torchbearer
-
I ran Torchbearer this weekend. I had fun, and I want to run it again.
Damn does this game have a learning curve, though. We were fumbling around
with the...
Vanity, thy name is "A New Blog"
-
*"Don't call it a comeback. I've been here for years..."*
- apologies to LLCoolJ for the use of his lyrics.
I've started a new blog. It's not the "OSR" blo...
Back from the Dead! - Yet Again!
-
I have never stopped playing RPGs but I have been extremely slack about
updating this blog. No posts for over three years? Uggh... I am running a
campaign ...
Quick pre-move thought
-
One thing that surprises me, looking back on nigh-unto a decade working for
the same place, is how few friends I have here. Plenty of cheerful
acquaintance...
No Mean City Session 1.1 "National Express"
-
Session 1.1 THE NATIONAL EXPRESS
* Take the National Express when your life's in a mess It'll make you smile
All human life is here...
-
Not going to be maintaining the FF blog on Google anymore. Mainly because
of this which seems to be the thin end of the wedge.
http://www.theguardian.co...
Episode 30: The Conclusion
-
‘The Conclusion’ is the 30th episode of a Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG actual
play podcast. Additional information can be found
at http://irontavern.com/po...
0-Level ACKS Alices
-
Introductory Complaining If I’m running a low-power game, I like 0-level
play: It sets the tone, establishes more of the character at the table, and
introd...
Exploring the BigDungeon
-
I haven't been making much use of this blog lately. Plans come and go. I've
been playing with programming some of my own tools lately as I mentioned a
whil...
Mad Wizards and Demented Godlings
-
*Achaierai:* "Though the foul motives which caused these loathsome birds to
be first summoned from the infernal depths are now lost from memory,
remnants ...
New supplement plus thinking out loud.
-
Go get it
Tons of options for your characters and scenarios in FiveCore games.
Balancing on ledges, pick pocketing and taming wild animals, we got you
cove...
TrollsZine! #8 Is Waiting For You!
-
[image:
http://www.rpgnow.com/product/137077/TrollsZine-8?filters=0_0_0_0&manufacturers_id=2238]
*TrollsZine!* #8 is waiting for you!
The eighth issue o...
Fiction: A Disruption
-
*Another fiction post everyone. Same character as before.*
I lay on the chaise in my long formal dress I wore to a few events in the
late '20s. I have no...
New Campaign 2014 Update
-
We've been playing 11 session now into the new campaign. The players had
some hairy encounters with Proud, Spider-eye Goblins and Quill Wolves
(along with ...
Team Adventure - Fun and Fungus
-
Alagon dived into the pool, using his ability to breathe underwater that he
had acquired in the Tomb of the Holy Avenger. Alurax joined him and they
invest...
Storing Information, Playing Information, Dungeons
-
Someone asked about nesting information.
Oh and this is mostly about older D&D.
Oh, and this is very useful in this context.
Oh, this might be boring. I'm...
Support My Friend's Patreon Page Cause He's Awesome
-
Hey guys, if you like supporting independent artists / musicians and
creative types then please check out my friend Mike TV of the band Get Set
Go's Patreo...
Brain Scraper Death Dive
-
So, real life has been intruding on my (and my friends') ability to play
*Rifts* lately. This is a familiar story, I suspect, to most people that
are int...
Point Buy Calculator for D&D Next (5e)
-
Figure out the point buy value of your character for the Dungeons & Dragons
5th edition role playing game with this calculator.
STR 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 ...
DC Gameday XIV: Casino Karnstein
-
DC Gameday XIV is coming up on the weekend of March 29th-March 30th and
player registration is already open. After a grueling couple of months of
real-worl...
North Texas RPG Con 2014 Lineup
-
Well it's time for the 6th Annual North Texas RPG Convention! The NTRPG Con
focuses on old-school Dungeons & Dragons gaming (mainly OD&D, 1E, 2E, or
Bas...
Prepping for Success
-
Last week, I wrote about working with success. By leaning into the players'
success, you make your campaign more engaging and exciting. When you put
your g...
Still alive and more useless crap
-
I wonder if anyone still reads this blog. Anyway, things have been changing
at the speed of light in the last few months so I feel like a little update
is ...
Check It Out...
-
And speaking of building new worlds...I've been a regular reader of Rob
Conley's Bat In the Attic blog for a while now. He's a dedicated gamer with
an ext...
Megadungeon Bindings!
-
When I used to game all the time, most of my GMing took place in Waterdeep
and Undermountain in the forgotten Realms. In order to keep everything
organize...
Meet the Party
-
I'm back in Poland for a few days. Which means it's time to move my D&D
campaign a bit. I have little time left to the session, so just take a look
at the...
The Perfect Answer to All the Financial Problems
-
Today loans are playing an integral part in the normal lives of people.
Gone were the days where availing loan of any kind was considered to be a
taboo. ...
[Article] Dwarves
-
A notably prominent demi-human race in *Dungeons & Dragons*, dwarves no
doubt owe their popularity to the success and mythology of Middle Earth.
Whilst w...
Lets Read Mythus pt 25
-
*Mythus* spell lists: my face when.
Last section of the *Advanced Mythus* spell lists sample castings, which so
far have been boring enough to make a Ch...
RIP Druid
-
Back in late autumn I began running a Dungeon World game with some friends.
They've been ever so patient with me over the past two years - we played Labyrin...
Charging Wands in Dungeons & Dragons
-
Looking through the rules in original D&D, wands and staves can apparently
only be made by Wizards (Magic-Users of 11th level) or higher. It also says
that...
The Wilderlands
-
Four Dwarves seeking adventure and excitement crawled from there hole into
the grander world. There first two days away from the humble mines that
there fo...
Murderous Menagerie: The Hounds of Skaith
-
*I am Flay.*
He was big. The ridge of his spine would have reached Stark's shoulder. His
withers were high and powerful. The thick neck drooped with the we...
Guest Post: Setting Out for the Lost City
-
Originally posted on Jeffro's Space Gaming Blog:
Earlburt is my closest gaming friend, and has done more than any other
person to help bring the games I’ve ...
New Website & Blog Live
-
Finally the pieces start to come together. The new website is up (not much
on the front page to look at yet) and the blog is located on the second tab
at t...
Rental Equipment As a Business Strategy
-
During stock tracking, you might normally want to sell off rarely used and
even underused equipment. Turn these obligations into resources instead.
Create ...
New Site
-
I won't be using my Livejournal much more, I'm afraid. All of my new blog
posts can now be found at montecook.com. Hope to see you there!
Thanks!
Your Money or your Life!
-
The Lamentations of the Flame Princess adventure campaigns at Indiegogo are
now live! 19 adventures by really famous RPG blokes, such as Vincent Baker,
Mon...
The End
-
...and so, we arrive at the last page in this story! Ironic as it may be,
it will also be the first personal post. And last, of course.
I've been thinking ...
-
Terminal Space blog is closed. Time has showed that I am unable to maintain
two blogs at the same time, so I decided to move all creative content from
here...
Closing Today
-
The Underdark Gazette will go Down, sometime after 11:00 PM, Central Time,
this evening. Please, if you would be so kind, update your links to my new
blog ...
What I Have Learned from Random Mutation Tables
-
Here is a lesson I have learned from using random mutation tables in D&D. I
normally use the old Realms of Chaos books for mutations, and usually it’s
beca...
The Iron Court
-
So, to celebrate the TPK-related end of the first (shortish) Zu campaign,
here's the map AND the key to the Iron Courts, the place where the party
has met ...
After-action report: Tomorrow's War
-
After a supply ship was brought down by Neo-Soviet recon elements on the
desert world Fornacis V, the decision was made to send in a retrieval squad
from ...
Dark Dungeons has Moved!
-
Dark Dungeons is no longer alone. It now has a sister game – Darker
Dungeons – and another one on the way. Because of this expansion, I’m
moving from this ...
Review #14: Farman
-
Jason Farman is an Assistant Professor at University of Maryland, who has
used Pervasive Games as material on his courses. He has published an
academic rev...
Quick comic recommendations and reviews
-
There are a lot of really great comics out there and with the changes at
Marvel & DC there is a lot to be excited about for comic book fans.
Here are a few ...
A Ruined Castle of Aventurien
-
Another map courtesy of *Das Schwarze Auge*, in this case, a ruined keep on
the water. I imagine the keep above plagued by skeletons and the ghosts,
rat...
Blog Has Moved !
-
I have reboot and moved my blog. In all reality it is a new blog, but I
will explain that shortly. The new address is:
http://sylvaeon.blogspot.com/ The ...
Interesting Places: Tomb of Yekelil
-
Today's map is dedicated to all my Internet friends who hate blue maps.
This map revisits last year's map of the Tomb of Yekelil, one of the many
levels w...
Old things and rare my treasures are.
-
*Survivors beyond memoryOld things and rare my treasures are.Times folded
gates, fast closed to me,These lonely sentinels unbar.Years do no...
Dungeon Magazine Indexes
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So the other day I was thinking to myself about how it would be good to
have the various Dungeon Adventures organized not only by level, but also
by topic,...
Finding My Way
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As mentioned in my last post I will continue blogging and I'll expand the
scope to include other facets to my life and interests. So it is with great
pleas...
Pallas Cat
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I am fascinated with the Pallas cat. If you notice, the pupil of their
eyes are round, not slit-like other cats.
Since it is Monday, here is a random beh...
ODD Bits 1
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ODD Bits is a web log series of trivia questions culled from the pages of
Volumes 1, 2 and 3 of original Dungeons & Dragons. If you care to play
along, ans...
New Game and System
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I've recently discovered Microlite20, a "stripped down" version of 3.5
Dungeons and Dragons. To give an idea, the core rules- including character
creatio...
D&D was a Wargame
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I have been giving this one some thought recently. I was first introduced
to wargames, and it was only afterwards that I started into D&D. The
concept of t...
This Is The End…My Only Friend, The End
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This is the end Beautiful friend This is the end My only friend, the end
Well folks, this is the very last post on this particular web
address. Everything...
4 comments:
Very cool. How did you draw it?
Hand drawn on chart paper (about 24"x30" or 30"x48" or something) folded into scannable regions, scanned, then I used gimpshop to create a layer over the scan (which I cropped, this is about one fifth or something of the total hand drawn world map) and then drew coastlines and forests on the layer, then started coloring. I wasn't sure how to do the mountains - but I just started drawing them in gimp (my originals were just upside down Vs and looked pretty bad). I chose two shades of brown to suggest a little depth on the mountain ranges. Not happy with the desert or the forest - happy with the water and pretty happy with the mountains.
I've been using AutoREALM with my maps and have been mostly happy with the results, although I am not able to do a large poster-size map. I thought about doing a hand-drawn map, as I have a cartography specialization as part of my undergrad degree (back in the pen & ink days) but I found I actually liked my AutoREALM maps.
I loved the look of your map. Nicely done.
I've tried autorealm a couple times - and I could never get it to do what I wanted to... I guess I'm just a pen in hand kind of guy (I even bought a pen and tablet for the PC thinking that I might actually be able to jump the curve...but I haven't been able to so far...)
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