Artistic Inspiration

One of the non-rpg websites that I frequent on a daily basis is io9.com.  There is always something interesting there, and its updated throughout the day (and night).  This week, I am going to link to some articles there that really caught my eye.  Today will be the first in at least four such posts.

This article presents a bunch of fantastic art by ten different artists, many of whom also have deviantart pages.  Plenty of material here for rpg inspiration.

New Blog and Great Post

So I have accepted the fact that I am basically failing as a blogger.  I can't think of the last time that I posted something original or my own.

But that's okay, because I'm using the blog to record things that I don't want to lose.

Today, I came across a blog that is new to me: Elfmaids & Octopi.  I'm really digging reading through it.  The author has a sensibility that is "different" enough to make reading a lot of fun.  Even better for OSR-types is the large number of random tables that inhabit the blog.  Massive tables.  Numerous d100 tables.  Many smaller ones.  It is fantastic.

Here is a post that I REALLY like: Psychonian Citadels.  The top illustration is evocative.  Within seconds of looking at the picture and then scanning down through the many tables beneath it, I realized that a huge citadel (skyscraper, arcology, whatever you want to call it...) would make an incredible megadungeon.

There's really not enough time in the world...

Legacy

I don't have the mental power (or time) right now to post anything significant about this article, but I wanted to link to it, because I feel that the points raised by the author are worth remembering in ANY situation.

He, obviously, was writing about sports, but the same points apply to "which game/edition is the best?" questions and any of the myriad other little issues that we debate endlessly.

Nicely written and something that we would all do well to remember.

Beat me to the Punch!

For a long time, I've wanted to post a Work-in-Progress of a map.  I thought that it would be cool to show how I go about drawing my maps.  Then I thought, "Wouldn't it be cool if I posted a series of maps that showed the evolution of a cave or dungeon?"  NOT a Work-in-Progress but the actual expansion of a cave system, dungeon, or dwarfhold over time?

I think that that would be really cool.  Haven't done it yet, but I'm going to try to do it one of these days.

But back to the Work-in-Progress idea: Because I haven't done it, of course, others have beaten me to the punch.  Slightly annoying, but then again, it was by two mappers out there who I am sure you are all aware of.  And I can't be upset, because I hold both of them in high regard: Matt Jackson and Dyson Logos.  (Of course, I just realized that the link to Dyson is just his Google+ page so if you want to see specifically what I am referring to, look for 29 Jan 2014 and what he posted at 3:35pm.)

I really dig both of those.  A lot.

A long time ago, there were a lot of people posting One Hour Dungeons.  You know-- post a picture on your blog of a dungeon that you drew in one hour or less.  A lot of people did it, and it was a lot of fun to see what people were up to.

Perhaps with matt and dyson leading the way, there could be a new event where people post WIPs of the maps that they are working on.  It would be great if they were animated, like those above, but it would be cool even if they were a series of pictures.

I'll try to see what I can come up with over the next few days.

Anyone else up for it?