Thursday, January 5, 2012
What Happens When You Let The Demons Read Carcosa
Happy New Year! I'll remember 2011 as the year I moved from a rather monotonous diet of 4e games in the RPGA to full fledged nostalgia overload with the OSR, through the conspicuous consumption of ancient role playing paraphernalia and glorious, glorious mass killing of PCs.
I also started blogging seriously (or not so seriously) about my old school gaming and the process of bringing my son into the fold. This year I'm going to be putting more focus into drawing with the Rather Gamey comic. I had a lot of fun drawing the My Little Pellatarrum mock comic for Erin Palette, so I figure I might as well stay the course.
So, Thursdays will now alternate between Dungeonspiration articles and the comic. Hopefully - if things go right - I can graduate to TWO or maybe THREE panels per comic. Woot!
(No actual correlation between the term 'comic' and the concept of 'humor' is implied.)
- Ark
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Who Do Dwarves Hate?
Members of the 'Sexy Elves for Axeless Dwarves' Charity Cheerleaders Squad, that's who.
Really, it was just an excuse to practice drawing a picture of an axe pulled tight across boobies. Why? Ummmmm . . . no idea. Oh yeah - fun! Yeah, that's it. It was fun! :)
- Ark
Monday, January 2, 2012
Vayniris Anthology Project Update
I'd like to thank everyone for their great story submissions for the Vayniris Anthology Project. We have some wonderful stuff here that I am reading through now.
We have a slight problem though . . .
There are not quite enough stories to flesh out a full anthology. I know that there were other stories being worked on that were not completed by the end of the year. As such, I'm going to extend the submission deadline to March 31st, 2012. And if you are interested in submitting more than one story, please feel free.
I'd really like this project to be successful, and I'm sure a little time wouldn't hurt at all. :)
- Ark
We have a slight problem though . . .
There are not quite enough stories to flesh out a full anthology. I know that there were other stories being worked on that were not completed by the end of the year. As such, I'm going to extend the submission deadline to March 31st, 2012. And if you are interested in submitting more than one story, please feel free.
I'd really like this project to be successful, and I'm sure a little time wouldn't hurt at all. :)
- Ark
Friday, December 30, 2011
New Moleskine
Check out the new Moleskine I got for Christmas. I'm not sure whether to use it or frame it.
And yes, I've been dorking with the blogs template. Things are changing. It's not just your imagination. ;)
- Ark
And yes, I've been dorking with the blogs template. Things are changing. It's not just your imagination. ;)
- Ark
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Dungeonspiration: Contact Sheets
This will be my last Dungeonspiration column for the foreseeable future. I'll get into why after this week's installment . . .
I've been running a Stars Without Number campaign, which has been going fine with it's automagically generated sector sandbox. But I got a hankering to try out a published adventure, so I went out and grabbed Kevin Crawford's Hard Light. It's basically The Keep on the Borderlands for a science fiction campaign - a sort of mini-sandbox inside a great big sandbox. The thing reads great, and has been playing great as well.
One avenue the referee and players can explore in Hard Light is in solving a mystery. There are about ten important players in the mystery. In planning the game, I became worried that the players would not be able to keep up with all the people involved. How could they remember all of the people if I was having a hard time keeping track myself? Then I thought of a trick I used to use in my old Top Secret days - contact sheets.
I whipped up this contact sheet of contacts (from page 6 of Hard Light, for those following along at home) in less than an hour using deviantArt.com's search function and the freebie graphics program Paint.Net (which I use when I don't want to spend the time waiting for Photoshop to load.) As the PCs meet the denizens of Hard Light, I pull out the sheet and point. Not only do the players seem to enjoy looking at the pictures - they seem to be remembering them better than they would just with a auditory description.
There was an unforeseen problem. The character in the lower right-hand cell - see him? When I snagged the pic, I noticed that it was labelled 'Old Man Logan.' Having read X-Men back in the 80s, I knew who Logan was, and just assumed that someone had drawn him old, and that the players would never think to associate him with Wolverine.
As soon as I brought out the sheet, two of the players pointed and said 'Hey, it's Old Man Logan!.' I had no clue that there had been some sort of very popular 'What If?' kind of series based on good old Wolverine in the future. The players seemed to immediately like the guy before I said a word about him.
So, if you are snagging art for a game, give some thought about the impact a particular image will create. Players already bring a lot of baggage with them into a game, so try to use it to your advantage. :)
Now . . . as to why Dungeonspiration column is going into hiatus, or perhaps retirement:
1) Focus - The intent of the column was to inspire DMs (and as an afterthought, players) about gaming. I have a hard time writing about just that. I'm all over the place - as this particular column illustrates nicely. It really has nothing to do with the concept of 'Dungeonspiration.'
2) Need - Do the readers in the OSR blogosphere really need to be inspired? From what I read on other blogs - no. People are chock full of awesome ideas all over the place. I think that what people seem to need above all else is time. If I could somehow bottle time and distribute in via the Internet, that would satisfy a lot more people's need.
3) Self-Discipline - Another reason for the Dungeonspiration column was to provide me with a weekly reminder to write blog post - at lest one a week. While I think it has helped, I also think that I would have done it anyway - crazy holiday weeks not withstanding.
4) Other Projects - I've got some other projects in queue for 2012. Those projects have to do with gaming and providing additional blog content - so it's not like loosing Dungeonspiration would be reducing content on the blog itself, I just need to juggle my time wisely. I still have a lot to juggle and decide what I want to tackle - so some meditation time is in order.
So thougts are my thoughts on the Dungeonspiration column and it's future. But perhaps I have missed something. If the column is doing something else for you that I haven't thought of, please let me know. There may be a reason to keep it around longer that I'm not aware of. Maybe it warrants a monthly column or something. I don't know. If you have any input, feel free to leave it below. :)
Have a Happy New Year - and don't go driving drunk or nothing. Boozing away and passing out on someone's sofa is far better etiquette than wrapping your car around a telephone pole.
- Ark
I've been running a Stars Without Number campaign, which has been going fine with it's automagically generated sector sandbox. But I got a hankering to try out a published adventure, so I went out and grabbed Kevin Crawford's Hard Light. It's basically The Keep on the Borderlands for a science fiction campaign - a sort of mini-sandbox inside a great big sandbox. The thing reads great, and has been playing great as well.
One avenue the referee and players can explore in Hard Light is in solving a mystery. There are about ten important players in the mystery. In planning the game, I became worried that the players would not be able to keep up with all the people involved. How could they remember all of the people if I was having a hard time keeping track myself? Then I thought of a trick I used to use in my old Top Secret days - contact sheets.
I whipped up this contact sheet of contacts (from page 6 of Hard Light, for those following along at home) in less than an hour using deviantArt.com's search function and the freebie graphics program Paint.Net (which I use when I don't want to spend the time waiting for Photoshop to load.) As the PCs meet the denizens of Hard Light, I pull out the sheet and point. Not only do the players seem to enjoy looking at the pictures - they seem to be remembering them better than they would just with a auditory description.
There was an unforeseen problem. The character in the lower right-hand cell - see him? When I snagged the pic, I noticed that it was labelled 'Old Man Logan.' Having read X-Men back in the 80s, I knew who Logan was, and just assumed that someone had drawn him old, and that the players would never think to associate him with Wolverine.
As soon as I brought out the sheet, two of the players pointed and said 'Hey, it's Old Man Logan!.' I had no clue that there had been some sort of very popular 'What If?' kind of series based on good old Wolverine in the future. The players seemed to immediately like the guy before I said a word about him.
So, if you are snagging art for a game, give some thought about the impact a particular image will create. Players already bring a lot of baggage with them into a game, so try to use it to your advantage. :)
Now . . . as to why Dungeonspiration column is going into hiatus, or perhaps retirement:
1) Focus - The intent of the column was to inspire DMs (and as an afterthought, players) about gaming. I have a hard time writing about just that. I'm all over the place - as this particular column illustrates nicely. It really has nothing to do with the concept of 'Dungeonspiration.'
2) Need - Do the readers in the OSR blogosphere really need to be inspired? From what I read on other blogs - no. People are chock full of awesome ideas all over the place. I think that what people seem to need above all else is time. If I could somehow bottle time and distribute in via the Internet, that would satisfy a lot more people's need.
3) Self-Discipline - Another reason for the Dungeonspiration column was to provide me with a weekly reminder to write blog post - at lest one a week. While I think it has helped, I also think that I would have done it anyway - crazy holiday weeks not withstanding.
4) Other Projects - I've got some other projects in queue for 2012. Those projects have to do with gaming and providing additional blog content - so it's not like loosing Dungeonspiration would be reducing content on the blog itself, I just need to juggle my time wisely. I still have a lot to juggle and decide what I want to tackle - so some meditation time is in order.
So thougts are my thoughts on the Dungeonspiration column and it's future. But perhaps I have missed something. If the column is doing something else for you that I haven't thought of, please let me know. There may be a reason to keep it around longer that I'm not aware of. Maybe it warrants a monthly column or something. I don't know. If you have any input, feel free to leave it below. :)
Have a Happy New Year - and don't go driving drunk or nothing. Boozing away and passing out on someone's sofa is far better etiquette than wrapping your car around a telephone pole.
- Ark
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
I Used To Be A Blogger Like You . . .
. . . then I took an arrow to the knee . . . AND they stole my sweet roll . . . WHILE breathing fire on me from the sky. Thank goodness for DRAGONREND.
I hope everyone had a great Christmas - even if you don't do that sort of thing. Religion should never get in the way of getting drunk and insulting family members. Even if they are aliens who shoot you in the knee.
- Ark
P. S. Did I mention knees?
I hope everyone had a great Christmas - even if you don't do that sort of thing. Religion should never get in the way of getting drunk and insulting family members. Even if they are aliens who shoot you in the knee.
- Ark
P. S. Did I mention knees?
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Dungeonspiration: Jonas De Ro
De Ro, a Portugese/Belgian living in Germany, creates absolutely wonderful vistas that take the breath away. I've collected a small smattering of his work below that can inspire ideas in setting ranging from fantasy, cyberpunk, and post apocalyptic nightmares.
Currently, De Ro is working as a Creative Artist on the movie based on the book Cloud Atlas. If his paintings are any indication, it should be a visual treat.
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| Lost Citadel |
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| Hong Kong Ruins |
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| Forgotten Glory |
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| Epocholis |
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| The Great Tree |
Be sure and click through to the images on his deviantArt account and take a look at the rest of his gallery. It's some great stuff that left me inspired.
- Ark
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