Tuesday, March 29, 2011

A Pearl By Any Other Shape Still Smells Like Swine

At least I think that's how the saying goes - from Shakespeare on the Mount 2: Electric Boogaloo, wasn't it?

Anyway, this is my latest visual spam.  The brilliant Daddy Grognard suggested that I replace the pearl with a d20, so there you go.  Over there.  The orange thing.  Yeah, that.

Let me know what you think. :)

- Ark

Monday, March 28, 2011

Links To Wisdom - Now In Technicolor

After replying to Carter Soles about color schemes and playing around a while with color, I think I have something that bridges the colors that I saw in my mind's eye with the palette on the Links To Wisdom site itself.

So the now colored logo attempt is now up.  Right over there.  You can't miss it.  Hopefully it evokes some sort of Wisdom.

Critiques welcome.

- Ark

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Links To Wisdom

There is a really nifty project called Links to Wisdom, cataloging all kind of smart stuff in the OSR blogosphere.  I feel left out of this project since I don't know where jack-crap is.  I read cool stuff, but I never remember where I saw it. 

So, I figured that since I happened to have the artistic muse buzzing around me at the moment, I'd try to be useful and do a logo for the site.  I'm a little bit unsure how to entry one for consideration, but I figured that if I just throw it off into the aether, it's probably end up before the right set of eyeballs.  Or, at least someone would hit me with the clue stick.

So here it is.  Feedback is welcome.  Coloring is always a possibility, if desired.  If it's not readily apparent why I drew this image for the Links of Wisdom site, then I have critically failed the roll on my Heraldry skill. :)

- Ark

Saturday, March 26, 2011

I'm Like WALMART Now!

I took Sniderman's advice and brought the Old School Rocks image to CafePress to make a t-shirt out of it.  I really want to wander around NTPRGCON in a t-shirt with the logo on it.  The boy, of course, needs one too.

If anyone else wants one, the CafePress Store is at http://www.cafepress.com/StudioArkhein.  You can also get mugs, backpacks, and clothing for your dog.  Geez. 

Or, if you want to do it yourself, I'll give you a copy of the 600 dpi colored version so you can go use your own t-shirting facilities.  It's YOUR picture, after all.  Honestly - I suck as a capitalist.  My heart just isn't in it. :)

- Ark

Friday, March 25, 2011

Old School Rocks d30 Version

Okay, since Spawn of Endra asked nicely, here is a d30 version of the Old School Rocks! image.  It's purple in honor of the mythical rientsdie. 

Who said I never did anything nice? :)

- Ark

Old School Rocks!

I've had this picture in my head for a couple of months now, and it was finally time to get it out.  It pretty much looks exactly like what I imagined, which is a first.  It's done with a black Sharpie on cheap copier paper and cleaned up/colored with Paint.net. Click on the image to see a wallpaper sized version in case you want to impress your computer.

It's yours.  I give it to the community.  Do with it what you will.  Spindle.  Fold.  Mutilate.  Clean out your ear wax with it.  Roll it up in your pipe and smoke it.  Print it out for hand outs at GenCon.  Put it on t-shirts.  Replace the flag of your local municipality with it.  You know, whatever.  ;)

If you want a 600 dpi non-colored version, just ask.

- Ark

Have Evil, Will Travel

One of my favorite They Might Be Giants songs is 'The Mesopotamians,' a song about a band of ancient Akkadian, Babylonian, Assyrian, and Sumerian emperors who drive around in their Econoline van and play gigs.  If you have somehow missed out on this gem, go watch it here.  There.  Aren't you better person now for having watched it?

I love ideas like that - and they are so fun to implement in a game.  Imagine the looks on the PCs faces when they discover that the bards who have been playing innocuously in the back corner of the local tavern for the last year are actually undead emperors from a bygone era with a desire to make music?  Then the band discovers that the PCs have been looting their tombs!  Talk about awkward.

Themed traveling groups are fun.  During one campaign, I created a traveling circus called Cirque Noir.  This circus was run by evil monsters.  The citizens of the towns and villages that the circus visited never really caught on that the evil monsters were really evil.  They just figured that the monsters were people dressed up in costume and makeup. 

The ring-mistress of the circus was a drow - who also did acrobats and used her drow-y powers to startle and confuse the crowd.  There was a strong-man ogre, a knife-throwing dark-stalker, and lesser demon who did fake magic tricks.  One of my favorites was Manny the Minotaur, who dressed in sparkly sequined clothes and carried an equally sparkly red cape.  Manny was a minotaur matador.  I was very pleased with myself for coming up with the idea, and woud laugh for hours thinking aobut it.  The party immediately began calling him Liberace.

My absolute favorite circus members were the clowns.  These were creepy two foot tall clowns with white skin, red noses, pointed hats, and fangs.  They were not wearing makeup or costumes.  They were undead.  They would throw paralysis pies at people, and squirt them with acid from flowers on their lapels.   

The clowns had a self-propelled carriage that they would travel around in.  The carriage would appear to fit an infinite amount of clowns.  The vehicle was actually a portal to another plane of existence where the undead horror clowns lived. 

The PCs stole the carriage at one point and kept in on their ship.  Later, while traveling in another plane of existence, they found where the clowns lived by accident - in a flop-house above a tavern with a portal on the wall leading back to the carriage.  Talk about awkward.

So, anyway, I enjoy themed traveling groups - and akward situations in RPGs. Feel free to use any of these idea any way you wish.

- Ark

PS - I'm inspired by events to remember the exits in back of me.