Thursday, May 26, 2011

Dungeonspiration: The Dragon Palace

I've decided to do a regular feature - on Thursdays, no less.  The idea is to highlight a piece of art that can help inspire new ideas at the gaming table.  It could be visual art, a poem, or something else - but whatever it is, it should inspire.  Thus the name, Dungeonspiration.  No, that's not an underground tomb with sweaty walls.  Well, that's not such a bad idea, either.

First up on Dungeonspiration is The Dragon Palace:


The Dragon Palace is in the Japanese genre of ukiyo-e, a type of woodblock print focusing on a somewhat stylized or unreal subject matter, much like a modern day comic book.  This particular piece was done by Okumura Masanobu in the 1740s.

The woodcut is probably a scene out of a story or myth.  While my book on ukiyo-e calls the picture The Dragon Palace, an online gallery calls it Perspective Print of the Diving Woman Retrieving the Jewel from the Dragon Palace, which probably hearkens back to the story that inspired the artist.  Whatever the original story is, I don't really care for this exercise.  What do I make of the image?

Reading from upper right to left, in Japanese style, we see flotilla of boats.  The people in these boats appear to be well dressed - upper class perhaps - all focusing on the man holding something in the water.  Perhaps a rope?  The rope leads to a wall in the direction of the palace in the water.  Is that an anchor, or a diving line?

A naked woman swims in the water, sword in one hand, something pulled to her breast in the other hand.  An angry dragon stares her down.  She looks like she is heading towards a hole in the sea wall.  What is the hole?  Is it a aquatic dragon doggie door?  A cadre of ugly warriors is making their way down the ramp, headed towards the woman.  They appear upset.  They have weapons. 

I think we are looking at a classic D&D scene here.  A thief is hauling ass from the scene of the crime after a heist.  The thief is naked and alone with the goods while the rest of the party hauls up anchor and makes their escape.  I sure hope she can swim fast. 

Of course, there are lots of other ways to interpret the scene, but that is how it spark my imagination.  And just look at those fellows with fish on their heads.  I'm sure that hearkens back to some bit of mythology about Japanese fish spirits, but I'm in way over my head regarding Japanese culture to know.  My favorite is Mister Octopus over there.  Isn't he great?

So click on the image to make it bigger and dive in.  There are a lot of wonderful details all over the place.  Where do you think the Jewel was stored? How do you think the thief snuck in?  Are there two dragons, or is that one, and how are the two bits connected?  And why does the woman have to do all the work? :)

Enjoy.

- Ark

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Geek Pride Day

I had no idea that I had a whole day

Rights:
  1. The right to be even geekier.
  2. The right to not leave your house.
  3. The right to not like football or any other sport.
  4. The right to associate with other nerds.
  5. The right to have few friends (or none at all).
  6. The right to have as many geeky friends as you want.
  7. The right to be out of style.
  8. The right to show off your geekiness.
  9. The right to take over the world.

 - Ark

Saturday, May 21, 2011

The Awful Green Things From Outer Space

There were a lot of strange games advertised in the first decade of Dragon Magazine.  I think I wanted every single one of them at that point.  Steve Jackson must know this, of course, because when I walked into FLGS on Friday, The Awful Green Things From Outer Space was staring at me, straight in the face.

I remember thinking about the game a lot as a kid.  I imagined what it would be like, and even fashioned a Star Frontiers adventure after my impressions.  It wasn't like I ever hoped to own it - or even play it.  West Texas just really wasn't awash in 'gaming product,' even though I knew Steve Jackson was sitting in Austin being raided daily by the FBI for committing bizarre Illuminati hacking conspiracies.  Or whatever the hell that was about.  So, it was just a pipe dream.

Then I was holding it in my hands. 

Crap.

Steve Jackson got more of my money yesterday.  He's never let me down - but - well - I know he does produce lemons and was worried.  I still have no idea.  The boy didn't look too impressed, so I haven't got to take it out for a spin yet.  But I'm ready.  Look at the photo!  I'm ready, dammit! :)

(Pewter raptors and skeleton army not included - I was just getting ready for THE RAPTURE.)

- Ark

Friday, May 20, 2011

Savage Overland Travel

The Jovial Priest, and a host of other smart people, have been hashing out an Overland Travel System.  The gist is that a character would take hp damage over time while stumbling around in the outback, getting coated in leeches, suffering malaria, and stubbing all ten of their toes. He's got seven options on his table. I'll offer and eighth.

Hit Points have always been abstract and non-affecting. A character with 100 hp is just as able as a character with 1 hp. It's just that a player with a character with 1 hp is a lot more frightened to put the character in harm’s way. The RPG Savage Worlds has a mechanism that I have found very useful called the Fatigue Track.

The Fatigue Track has five states: Normal, Fatigued, Exhausted, Incapacitated, and Death. This track is separate from a D&D style hit point system. Each point on the track has an effect on the character.


Normal - Character is peachy keen.
Fatigued - Character is at -1 to all actions (would equate to around a -5 for all actions based on a d20.)
Exhausted - Character is at -1 to all actions (would equate to around a -10 for all actions based on a d20.)
Incapacitated - May be conscious, but is pretty well useless and can't move.
Death - Self-explanatory.

Various 'Hazards' kick a character down the track, including Bumps & Bruises, Cold, Disease & Poison, Drowning, Fire, Heat, Hunger, Radiation, Sleep, and Thirst. Each type of Hazard has it's own specifics and usually requires a Vigor (Constitution) check to avoid. Rest and other types of healing kick a character back up to the top. Grab Savage Worlds for specifics (just $10 bucks.)

I think something like the Fatigue Track and Hazard system would be far more effective at replicating the pains of overland travel that hp reduction. Of course, I haven't worked out the specifics or play-tested, so it's just vague conjecture for now. :)

- Ark

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Old School Runs!

The idea was simple - draw a little picture of some adventurers in the 'School House Rock' style, akin to the whole Old School Rocks image I drew a while ago.  It's taken me weeks and I've pulled out lots of hair.  It makes me envy artists who can spit out cartoons like a faucet - such as Ed Chase

As I was drawing, inspiration came from Bard, who mentioned that OSR should stand for 'Oh Shit, Run!.'  (Though he was cooth enough to asterisk out the nasties.)  I thought that was fabulous.  While some may not OSR that way, I certainly enjoy that style.

I finally finished it, so here is the picture.  Enjoy.

Click to embiggen.

- Ark

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Diana Davidsson's Flame Princess Fairies

I enjoyed Raggi's visual retrospective of the Flame Princess.  Some really great stuff there.  But when kelvingreen mentioned in the comments that he would like to see a colored version of Diana Davidsson's Flame Princess Fairies, my pavlovian coloring conditioning kicked in.  Well, okay, he didn't say color, he said colour, which I think means he's from New Jersey.

So yeah, I colored it.  Sorry, Diana.  I have no idea where you are to ask permission.  If you are not amused, just let me know and I'll toss it in the trash.  But it's a great piece and I had fun colo-u-ring it.

- Ark