The Ultimate God and Others

If you haven't already seen the latest post on Monster Brains, do so now. Aeron Alfrey has put a much-deserved spotlight on the artwork of Sidney Sime.

Sime was probably one of the finest popular illustrators of the 20th century. He contributed his artwork to stories by luminaries like Lord Dunsany and William Hope Hodgson, among others. In a dream world, my fantasy RPGs would be illustrated by Sidney Sime and Ivan Bilibin.

Anyway, if you find yourself in need of inspiration, do yourself a favor and take a look.

Low Gaming

I'm suffering from low gaming.

I haven't played anything in months. Well, actually, I've played some video, board, and card games here and there, but no RPGs of any kind since I left New York in late January.

I've attempted to find a new gaming group here in Gainesville, but so far, haven't found anybody playing anything other than D&D 4E. I already know how I feel about that particular incarnation of the game. I've got no interest in playing it again.

It's tough to maintain anything like enthusiasm in a gaming drought like this one. I had intended to submit something for the random table contest I posted about not long ago, but ultimately I couldn't think up anything I felt was worthwhile. Likewise, the wiki I talked about starting up is, well, a non-starter.

Then to top it off, "Macho Man" Randy Savage died.

Ultimately, I have more important things to worry about right now. Finding a job is high on the list, as is concentrating on my graduate work. Still, I hope I can game again sometime soon.

Mountainskull Dungeon

I've been feeling pretty uninspired lately, so I'm lucky that there's somebody like scottsz out there. He's been going over classic modules with a fine-toothed comb in his Cold Text File series at the Lord of the Green Dragons blog. His latest post on Gary Gygax's classic module, The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan, uses my header logo as a sort of instructional aid toward understanding the ancient language of the Aztec people, the ways in which it was recorded visually, and how it's used in an old D&D module.

Trust me, it makes more sense if you just read the article.

So, that logo my brother designed for me isn't just cool to look at, it's educational. Bet you can't say that about your header image.

Fight On! Random Table Contest

I try to avoid posts like this one, but the idea behind this contest is too damn brilliant to ignore. Not just what it's about, not just the prizes, but the way the prizes are determined. I say again: brilliant.

Random tables are a big part of what I love about RPGs. I'm already trying to think up a decent submission or two.

Wikity Wack

I haven't had a game session for a couple of months now, and I'm fiending for an RPG fix pretty badly. Since I'll be starting grad school (and hopefully finding work) soon, I'm worried I might not have time to play for a while. Still, I need some kind of creative outlet.

I'm thinking about writing up my D&D mini-setting, which I've been calling Cosk thus far, in some detail. I don't want to go overboard with it - as a more prolific blogger recently pointed out, providing a lot of setting detail is problematic at best. Too often, that way lies tedium for anyone involved besides the author. But occasionally a potentially neat concept or an interesting tidbit of information will pop into my head, and I want to start scribbling them down someplace.

At the moment, the best way to do this seems to be to create a wiki. New York Red Box's DMs use one to keep track of campaign notes, character stats, house rules, and setting info, and for the most part it works well. Scott Driver also put together an impressive wiki for his Wilderlands of Darkling Sorcery setting. The advantages of organizing setting notes (and the potential to keep DM and player information in the same place if I actually get to run a campaign with it someday) seem to outweigh any drawbacks.

Unless somebody knows of a better way to do it, I've more or less made up my mind to launch a wiki for Cosk (though I'll have to come up with a more impressive name for it than that). The real question is this: is anybody interested in reading the wiki material here on the blog, or should I just post a link to the wiki once and leave it at that? I seem to be gaining followers even though my posting has slowed, so obviously, somebody's interested in what I have to say, but I don't want to clog up the blog with the details of traditional swamp goblin ear-hair braiding in the Maggele Slough if people are just here for random tables and witty commentary on old module covers.

Thoughts?

Unearthed

Over Grognardia way, James Maliszewski reminded us of the existence of a line of AD&D-branded stationery and binders produced by a company called St. Regis in the early 1980s.

It turns out these were illustrated by a man named Alex Nuckols. It's beautiful, classically rendered, and downright classy work that gives my beloved Greg Irons-illustrated AD&D Coloring Album a run for its money. I know many gripe about the merchandising of D&D in the early 80s, but in my opinion, some of the best (if not the best) D&D-themed artwork of the era wasn't being produced by TSR at all. Nuckols' work for St. Regis is a perfect example.

There's a gallery of several Nuckols-illustrated St. Regis products at the Tome of Treasures forum. A lot of the scans and photos are frustratingly blurry, but even this limited glimpse is well worth your time if you're into D&D fantasy art in the least.

(By the way, I'd be more than willing to bet that some of these images - including the one posted above - were originally intended to depict scenes from J.R.R. Tolkien's work. That looks like Bard of Laketown slaying Smaug to me, and I'd be shocked if the "Death Rider" art wasn't supposed to be one of the Ring-Wraiths seeking out Frodo and company.)

The Serpent Was Subtle

It appears I spoke too soon when I wrote of the untimely demise of the Dragon Warriors role-playing game:

Dragon Warriors, the classic 1980s dark-fantasy RPG recently re-released by Magnum Opus Press, is moving to new British publishing company Serpent King Games.

From 1st April the game will no longer be available from Magnum Opus, which had published Dragon Warriors through Mongoose Publishing’s Flaming Cobra imprint.

Serpent King Games will keep the existing Dragon Warriors books available, and will publish new supplements for the game. The first new release will be the Dragon Warriors Players Book, in July 2011, with another two releases planned for the first year.

It would be bad form to repost the entire announcement, so if you're interested, there's more detail at the Serpent King Games website. Considering the individuals involved, the game appears to be in very good hands, and I'm more than happy to help spread the word.

I won't directly benefit from any of it, but I would be remiss if I didn't mention that Dragon Warriors' previous publisher, Magnum Opus Press, is selling all of the PDFs of the game line at less than half-price, and that Mongoose Publishing (the game's former distributor) has also reduced the price of the hardcopy books significantly - including an "ultimate bundle" that includes all seven books released thus far for $79.99. All indications are that the new Serpent King Games material will be fully compatible, so if you're thinking of checking out one of the UK's finest old-school fantasy RPGs, now is the time.