Why Publish? That's Why!

The Digital Orc wrote a nice long piece about publishing gaming material.  I really enjoyed his take on it.

He talks about why he publishes (four reasons), he talks about inspiration, he talks about his personal process, and then he wraps with a description of his current projects.

I wish that I was as prolific as he is...

Map Roundup - 13 December 2013

A long time ago, I tried to do Map Roundups as often as I could.  It was my mission to provide to you, my kindly readers, a roundup of all the cool mapping posts in the OSR blogosphere.  Life got hectic, and I fell off the task.

Tonight I came across two blog posts that required that I do a map roundup.

Both come to us from Arkhein at Rather Gamey.

The first is, from 10 December 2013, is about star maps.  I love astronomy so I really enjoyed this post.

The second, from 14 November 2013, has floor plans of a place called Bear Wood Manor.  Never heard of it.  But the maps are divine!

But since I've started, I might as well post links to some other map-related goodness that I came across this evening.

From Alexis over at Tao yesterday is this map of the top of his world.  Literally.

I recently came across a blog that I promised to myself that I would include the next time I did a roundup.  It is the blog for Anna B Meyer, Map Maker.  Everything about this blog is superb.  And if you are a fan of Greyhawk, it's even better.

Our last stop will take us to the Rusty Battle Axe.  You have to love the Montporte Dungeon, if only because it looks like it is going to be a megadungeon.  I love 'em--you know I do.  Just take a look at those maps.  Brilliant.  Level 1 especially.

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That was fun.  I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.  Until next time...

Smaug...

Sometimes I post things to this blog just to make sure that I don't forget them.

This may be a case in point.

I like this essay on the importance of Smaug, dragon of 'The Hobbit'.  I have to admit that I have never approached any of Tolkien's writings from an academic perspective.  I've read most of them; I've enjoyed all that I have read.  But I've never studied them in any substantive way.  Reading the essay, with its many references to books and articles of people who have, makes me think that perhaps I should.

If only life wasn't so busy...

The Great Blog Roll Call

The title says it all.

I don't know who Charles Akins is, but he has done a great service to readers of OSR blogs everywhere.

Check it out.

Monsters are cool...

Especially in the real world.  Which is why I dig this sort of thing.

How cool are some of those?  It's when I come across articles like that, that I think the multitude of strange creatures in D&D (and all the other rpgs) isn't so unrealistic after all.

Of course, my favorite creature in the above article is the giant isopod.  So this is absolutely great.

Enjoy!

Crabmen and their Greatest Enemy!

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I'm a fan of the crabman--perhaps the original Fiend Folio's greatest contribution to D&D.  (Okay, that last part is debatable, but I am in the mood for hyperbole.)

I can say without a doubt, however, that the creature described here is, in fact, the crabmen's greatest enemy.

(And a couple of the comment's beneath the article are pretty funny as well.)

Iconic Monsters

I came across this list of memorable D&D monsters over at io9.com.  I like their list from the perspective that this collection of monsters "feels" like D&D to me.

I've been trying to think of any others that I would put in a list of top ten monsters that say "D&D" to me.  I would obviously have to delete some from their list to do that, but I don't have the intellectual capacity for that tonight.

Instead, I'll just offer some other monsters that my mind equates with D&D.

I think that the list would have to include sahuagin.  I just love raider shark-men who climb ashore to plunder unprotected coastal villages.

Crab men--just because.

Ixitxachitl.  Evil rays.  I only used them once in an adventure, but I always thought that they were cool.

Remorhaz.  Giant, many-legged, fire worm.  Yes!

Tiamat.  Initially, I was trying to NOT include unique creatures on the list, but the list at io9 included the tarrasque--and rightfully so.

Looking at my monsters above, with the exception of the crabmen (Fiend Folio), they are all Monster Manual monsters.  I find this strange, because I loved the Monster Manual 2.  For the life of me, I can't think of any monsters from the MM2 that come to mind.

Must be old age...

So how about you?  What monsters say "D&D" to you?

Historical vs Modern Maps of US Cities

This page over at the Smithsonian is fantastic if you love city maps.

But is it 'Fantasy', you ask?  I think that you could stretch them to that.

But if like drawing city maps for your fantasy worlds, I think that you will find value there.  Especially if you are interested in how cities change and grow over time.

Deluxe Dungeon Design

So Telecanter, he of the Receding Rules, posted two times in the last several days things that caught my eye.  The most recent was what prompted the title of this post.  He calls it a Maximalist Dungeon, but I think Deluxe is a fair approximation of what he is getting at.  I've thought about just about everything that he mentions in his list at one point or another, but I like the fact that he took the time to put them all in one place--something that I have never done.

The second thing that he posted (actually prior to the above) was a small post that included old house blue prints.  I LOVE looking at floor plans of houses, old or new or anything in between.  I thought that this post was pretty cool.

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Yeah, so not much posting lately.  I'm still lurking, reading bunches of blogs--just don't have the time to post right now.  Hopefully, that will change sometime soon.

Microsoft Paint

When I drew the maps for Locales, Volume 1, I did so entirely on Microsoft Paint.  Long and painful, but, in its own twisted way, actually enjoyable.

Earlier today, I came across this.  I recommend the video: Eight-and-a-half minutes telling the story of an old man who creates art using Microsoft Paint.