A plan is made concerning the Black Orb (Spider Cult of Mirkwood part 2.5)
Late June – late August 2946... [From ICE's Mirkwood (map by Peter Fenlon).]Upon returning to Lake-town, the company returns the locked box to the merchant Thal Eolsen. Delighted, the merchant rewards...
View ArticleTo the Tower of Bar-en-Dindol (Spider Cult of Mirkwood campaign part 3)
September 2946...[A portion of P. Fenlon's magical map from ICE's Mirkwood.]The agents of Thal Eolsen are successful in their inquiries, and the merchant provides Ulvmund with the location of his...
View ArticleA note on my Spider Cult of Mirkwood Campaign posts
As you may have noticed, I’ve posted a lot about this campaign over the past day or so. The reason: my Adventures in Middle-earth campaign is starting up again (after a 5-month hiatus). I’ve been going...
View ArticleForthcoming visual history of D&D
I am curious about this forthcoming book: Dungeons and Dragons Art and Arcana: A Visual History. One thing that it reveals is that many iconic D&D monsters—such as mindflayers and beholders—were...
View ArticleSpider Cult of Mirkwood Campaign
Here is the index of my posts on my Spider Cult of Mirkwood campaign. It will remain in the section of this blog entitled ‘Some of my RPG Stuff’ (always found in the upper-right corner). This index...
View ArticleThe Frost Giant's Daughter coming to TV
[Frank Frazetta's classic picture of Conan fighting the frost giants.]I mentioned a few months ago that Amazon is planning a series based on Robert E. Howard's famous Conan character. At that time I...
View ArticleColbert and Manganiello talk about Dungeons and Dragons
In this interview Stephen Colbert and actor Joe Manganiello spend about 9 minutes talking about (almost) nothing other than Dungeons and Dragons. Truly, we live in a very different world than the one...
View ArticleLyonesse map draft
The good people at the Design Mechanism have shared this draft of their map of the 'Elder Isles' for their forthcoming Lyonesse RPG (based upon their Mythras system). The map is by Daniel Hasenbos, and...
View ArticleThe Resistance inside Nyarlathotep's Death Cult
"In the year-and-a-half since the Black Pharaoh replaced the Oval Office with a literal blood fountain throne, I’ve watched as the hits keep on coming. The executive cabinet is wracked with scandal,...
View ArticleScottish dwarves
Another insight from Existential Comics:This is a great comic, by the way. I've mentioned it here before. There are a number of strips on 'Dungeons and Dragons and Philosophy', all of which are worth...
View ArticleSaga's Sword
This sounds like the beginning of a fantasy epic: a young girl named 'Saga' finds an ancient sword in a lake...But it actually happened: "An eight-year-old [Saga Vanecek] found an ancient...
View ArticleGreg Stafford RIP
Greg Stafford passed away on October 11th.Stafford was the founder of Chaosium—one of the most important companies during the early days of role-playing games (perhaps second only to TSR)—and creator...
View ArticleAncient ship = Eldritch horrors
From NPR's article: "'Oldest Intact Shipwreck Known To Mankind' Found In Depths Of Black Sea":“More than a mile beneath the surface of the Black Sea, shrouded in darkness, an ancient ship sat for...
View ArticleG+? Isn’t that worse than an F?
The imminent end of Google-plus is now old news. For some interesting thoughts on this development and its potential impact on the role-playing community (especially the ‘old school’ wing) I recommend...
View ArticleNew version of the 5e D&D Basic Rules now available
The ‘basic rules’ for 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons are now available in a single PDF. Here is what is included: “The Basic Rules runs from levels 1 to 20 and covers the cleric, fighter, rogue, and...
View ArticleJack Vance’s Lyonesse: read it, discuss it, play it
As I’ve mentioned before here, the good people at the Design Mechanism are producing a role-playing game based upon Jack Vance’s Lyonesse trilogy. While the RPG will use the DM’s excellent Mythras...
View ArticleTwo Decades of Baldur’s Gate
There is a decent article at PC Gamer on the 20th anniversary of the classic computer role-playing game (CPRG) Baldur’s Gate(BG).I must confess that BG—and the other ‘Infinity Engine’ (IE)...
View ArticleConan wanders through Canada
By Crom! This is brilliant: artist Kris Friesen has inserted Conan (the Cimmerian with mighty thews) into a number of murals throughout western Canada (especially Edmonton).Here’s the barbarian...
View ArticleTemple of the Flayed Lord
In case you need some inspiration for a new Cthulhu Mythos style cult (also eminently useable for fantasy and historical role-playing games):Mexican experts say they have found the first temple of the...
View ArticleTolkien trailer
The first trailer for the forthcoming biopic of J.R.R. Tolkien is now available for your viewing pleasure (all 55 seconds of it). You can watch it, and read a bit about the film, here at Screen...
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