Sunday, December 18, 2011
Boy Meets Leaf
The Boy has mastered the ability to get his rear end up over his head, scoring a critical hit on the leaf heap. All of those swimming lessons have finally paid off.
- Ark
Saturday, December 17, 2011
What the OSR Means To Me
Friday, December 16, 2011
Dungeonspiration: Skyrim
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| No, I didn't draw it - but I should have. |
Skyrim is awesome. It look great. It plays great. Dragons drop out of the sky in an attempt to punk you all the time. And what's better - there is not a cluster of people around the world hating you because you were late for a raid.
As I play, I see vistas to describe, horrible traps to throw my players into, and quests to get them involved with. I'm totally inspired, but somewhat deflated by the knowledge that every single one of my players is playing Skyrim too, and so all this cool new stuff won't be new by the time I regurgitate it into a campaign.
It seems like everyone I know is playing this game. I wouldn't doubt that there has been a worldwide drop in blog posts since 11/11/11. A friend's girlfriend also mentioned that there will most likely be a dip in the number of births 9 months from now. The game is riveting, and when our table-top group gets together, we sit around talking about what we did in Skyrim.
Which makes me think: Skyrim is bound to have an effect on table-top game design. Admittedly, I wasn't paying attention to tabletop or video games in the early 2000s, but 4e has long been lauded as an attempt to make D&D more WOW-like, and from the little I know about WOW - that definitely seems to be the case.
So what will be the effect? There is not a lot new or groundbreaking about Skyrim - it's primarily the execution that is superbly done, coupled with a great advertising campaign. A Skyrim billboard still sits on I35 out of Dallas heading for the suburbs.
I'm not much of a game designer. I'm not good at picking apart Skyrim for it's interesting mechanics - aside from maybe it's lock-picking mini-game. So I'll post the question to everyone:
What effect do you think Skyrim will have on table-top game design - or even just mechanics or idea integration into existing games and people's campaigns?
And yeah, I know some of you have not played Skyrim. Ya'll feel free to fuss about us other time wasters down in the comments below too. :)
- Ark
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Warning your DM
My Pathfinder DM - Merwyn - let me roll up a new Pathfinder character - a level higher than normal - if I used "in order" 3d6, as opposed to something more wimpy - like 4d6 minus lowest wherever you want. I took him up on the offer and rolled this:
STR: 10
DEX: 9
CON: 12
INT: 14
WIS: 8
CHA: 17
Not horrible, but not what I would call a great spread for the classes I'm used to running. After some research, I discovered that the Pathfinder Bard would work with those numbers. I've never run a Bard - and never had any interest in doing so - but it gave me an idea.
Crazy-ass Tim plays a halfling thief in the game - Peter No-Parents. Peter is min-maxed so that he can basically never be seen by anyone if he doesn't want to be, and can pickpocket just about anyone. He also has an ability that makes him look just like a human child (i.e., street urchin,) rather than a halfling. Peter No-Parents is basically worthless at anything else.
Peter is quite evil, and steals from the party. Actually, Peter isn't really known to the party. He hangs on the periphery and commits mischief. Evey once in a while, a character might see a kid, but the kid walks on by, and no one is any the wiser. It's really irritating (but funny,) and I designed a character specifically to detect and kill him. That was Bloodspurt the half-orc paladin. Bloospurt, regretfully, died - murdered by another party member (an assassin) for tying him up and trying to convert him to a Lawful Good diety. Oh well.
My idea was . . . unusual . . . so I figured I had to warn Merwyn before I brought this character out for a spin.
Subject: A Warning
Merwyn,
My rolls lean me towards a bard, and with the present make up of our party (I'm talking about players, not characters,) doing anything constructive or legal will be pointless. So I have made a trickster/scammer bard - a conman and entertainer in one.
It hit me that I can work Peter No-Parents into the act. I could continue on, earning full master level ranks for my Beard and Boobs badge, and make a female bard, and have that female bard pretend to be Peter's mom, for heightened scamming activity. It also gives Peter an avenue to actually be an active member of the party - even if maybe some party members never quite figure out what is going on.
Tim and I discussed this briefly, and I believe we are both happy with the concept. Her name shall be Alouette - like in the French song (Ah-low-et-ta,) meaning a lark. Yes, she sings. And she dances. And she knows all about nobility and bluffing and disguise. She is quite greedy as well.
Peter, will of course, be required to take a bath. And be fumigated.
So, basically - I'm warning you.
Run for the hills.
Sincerely,
Your worst nightmare
We'll find out tonight at the Pathfinder game how well this goes over. If you can't beat em, join em.
- Ark
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Yes, Those Are Dice in My Pocket AND I'm Glad to See You
Feel the power of my huge-ass dice! They are so big, I could take out car windshields if I decided to chunk these off of an overpass. The creator was saying that they had imperfections - but frankly - my eyes don't focus to the level where said imperfections might be. They look great!
That right there - where the #5 is - is where the frikkin space medusa is waiting for the party. Shhhh - don't tell them though. Let it be a surprise.
- Ark
That right there - where the #5 is - is where the frikkin space medusa is waiting for the party. Shhhh - don't tell them though. Let it be a surprise.
- Ark
Monday, December 12, 2011
Naked Ponies!
Okay, not naked, but here is the original My Little Portal Ponies image without all that text. I figure that other people can probably make it funnier than me. Feel free to make word balloons, insert bad jokes, and spread bronie RPG love world-wide on your blogs and other places. Penicillin optional. Link-backs welcome.
- Ark
- Ark
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| Clicking makes it bigger. |
Sunday, December 11, 2011
My Little Pellatarrum
A few weeks ago, I made a smart-ass comment to Erin Palette, that went something like this. "For my next trick, I will draw the My Little Pony invasion of Pellatarrum." Pellatarrum being, of course, her crazy-ass fantasy setting, and My Little Pony being - well, if you don't know - stop reading. This isn't for you.
I had no idea how hard drawing fan art is. Well, I could have spit out pony stick figures, but no - if I was actually going to act on my half-baked remark, I should do it right. Trying it really makes you respect professional cartoon artists. The forms are so simplistic - but have to be so perfect - otherwise they don't look right. There is something very zen about the art form. Yes, and this is complete drawn from scratch - no tracing - and done in SHARPIE on paper, then sucked into Photoshop for a dye-job.
The Boy was horrified and refused to look at what I was drawing while I hummed the My Little Pony theme song. Okay, that was just a side benefit for my inner sadist.
Below is the MLP Invasion of Pellatarrum. I do not give this to the OSR, like previous art. I give it to Bronies worldwide. Post it wherever. Not that I own anything about it. Hasbro owns it all. Just like D&D. You know the drill.
So anyway, enjoy!
- Ark
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| Click Rainbow Dash to embiggen. |
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