Ink Wash Experiment

I've played around with ink wash in the past with varying results but I've never really been satisfied with the results.  Here's a quick ink wash I did this weekend and overall, I found it to be a satisfactory experience that bears further experiments.  In the meanwhile, I'm toying around with some ideas that I'm rather excited about.  I'm feeling rather inspired by Christian's Loviatar zine and am thinking of doing something along those lines.  Time and energy will tell ;)...

Stonepick Crossing from Expeditious Retreat Press

Joe Browning just announced the latest Expeditious Retreat Press Advanced Adventure:  Stonepick Crossing.  I had a lot of fun doing the illustration work for that one.  Here's a look at the work I did for the covers with Daisey doing an amazing job as always on the color:

I've been working on some other stuff too and am pretty excited about it.  But more on that soon ;)...

World Building and the Campaign: How Far into the weeds?

So, I have a gaming group and I'm digging the whole DMing thing again.  As I've mentioned, we are running through a heavily modified version of Keep on the Borderlands using OSRIC.  So far, we've explored a bit of the keep and the kobold section of the Caves of Chaos.  I've placed the keep in the requisite human frontier.  The Moinar Marches, as I've mentioned is a politically turbulent place.  Not only are there political minefields to be navigated, but spiritual as well.  For instance, there is the Church of Daegraed, the Lord of the Dawn.  Daegread is the half mortal/half devine son of the Mortal Celestial King Charondros I and Gaehoen the Divine Mother.  Gaehoen herself is the basis of many other religions.  In some, she is the only god (monotheistic) and in others, she is part of a pantheon.  There are splinters off the church, cults, sects, etc.  I want there to be a very tangible feel of political strife (between the Moinar and Stennish peoples and aligned factions) as well as religious uncertainty.  Just because you belong to the Church of Daegraed, it does not mean that your denomination is necessarily the same one practicing in the next town. 

But anyway, I love these kind of fiddly little details.  But I'm not sure how far into the weeds I should go.  My players seem to like to roleplay and peel back the layers of the onion, so I feel that I must flesh this out to some extent.  However, I'm not sure that I have the wherewithall to do a full treatment of every detail and facet (although I'm tempted to delve into that).  So, I'm fighting my natural inclination to obsess over detail and actually making something useful for my players.  It's going to be a fine balancing act for me and I hope to deliver a satisfying experience for my group.  But, I guess only time will tell.

Game Night Cancelled Due to a Stinking Cold

Bah, this winter has been rather crummy due to various forms of crud going around.  I ended up calling in sick to my gaming group due to a new crud that I picked up.  I'm not feeling terrible, but I knew I couldn't really hold up to 3+ hours of DMing.  Ah, such is life.  However, not all is a total loss.  I spent the day mapping my adventure for Polstrus Lev.  I'm going to finish the highly modified Keep on the Borderlands adventure and then entice the players over to the small road side rest stop/holy shrine Restover.  This will become the new base for launching into Polstrus Lev and surrounding environs. 

I've established the campaign in a rather wild part of the world known as the Moinar Marches.  There is lots of political tension as the invading Stennish people have pretty much an ongoing conflict with the native Moinar people.  The church of Daegraed, Lord of the Dawn is striving to drive out the older religions and this is just adding to the political strife.  There are many wild adventuring sites in the Marches that have many an adventurer here to seek glory and/or riches.  Again, this serves to ratchet up tensions a bit.  Add some crazy ass worshipers of alien gods from beyond the stars and you are really adding a match to the gasoline on the powder keg.  And that is the kinda place my players find that they are having to navigate career wise, socially, spiritually, and politically.  While they might escape with their life, they could very well lose social standing, spiritual grace, or their sanity.  Should be a fun ride ;).

Here's a map of Restover:

Here's a map of the first level of Polstrus Lev:

Here's a map of the second level of Polstrus Lev:

Here's the Third and final level of Polstrus Lev:

Not to be outdone, my seven year old son Bear decided he wanted to show off his mapping skills as well.  Here he recycled one of my rejected maps and made it wholy his own:

Happy Gaming!

Can I have some cheese with my whine please?

WotC's decision to reprint the original 1e core books with new covers in support of the Gygax Memorial Fund is sheer awesomeness.  The thing that isn't so awesome for active old schooler like myself that live outside the US is that it looks like I'm not going to have any direct means of purchasing these items.  If the goal is to honor one of the founders of the game by raising money for the memorial, why not let folks order them from the web so that fans around the world can not only have a nifty new printing of the edition they love, but get a chance to chip in to the fund as well?  Seems a bit exclusive and looks like I'll be forced to go the eBay route.  Ah, sigh... more cheese please ;).

Love for Loviatar

I just received a box in the mail containing back issues of the gaming zine Loviatar from Christian of the blogs Destination Unknown and Loviatar.  These things are fun as hell and contain a lot of gaming goodness packed into a sweet little zine package.  Back in my punker days, I was into the zine thing but kinda fell away from it all for one reason or another.  However, in recent years with my resurgent gaming itch, comic itch and punk rock itch, the love of zines burns bright again.  If you haven't checked out what Christian has been up to, I highly encourage you to go check out this effort.  You'll be glad you did!

Just like riding a bike

Finally got my game on this weekend and had some great fun.  I DMed a group of three using OSRIC/1e rules through a modified version of Keep on the Borderlands.  So far the group has hired some mercenary muscle and managed to talk the Priest at the Temple of Daegraed, Lord of the Dawn to lend one of his novices to the expedition.  They picked up some rumors at the Pickled Boar from some grizzled vets and then headed off towards the unknown.

They spotted a kobold off the trail and decided to investigate.  The party's initial inattention lead to one of the mercinaries to fall into a pit trap and while they were rescuing him, they were ambushed by kobolds hidden in the woods.  After a heated combat, one kobold escaped, they slew seven of them and captured one.  The elven fighter/mage questioned the prisoner who was reluctant to talk, but the elf applied some torture and cut off a couple of fingers.  The kobold gave some ominous warnings and then bit off its own tongue and died a rather horrible death.  The fighter/mage being chaotic neutral simply told the paladin that the kobold escaped during the night so as to not stir up inter-party conflict.

After a guarded rest with only the mad hermit making a rather spooky cameo in the middle of the night, the party set off for the caves.  Of course the kobolds were prepared having been warned by the escapee from the previous day.  The party managed to track the escapee to the entrance to the kobold section of the caves.  The outside of the cavern complex was quiet and the party entered the kobold section uneventfully.  Learning from the previous encounter, the party checked for traps as they went and easily found the pit trap.  They had a skirmish with the guards just inside the complex.  Two of the guards split off to warn the remaining kobolds.  The party killed the four remaining.  They had a bit of a nasty surprise with ten readied kobolds from the kobold den in phalax formation.  As they began the encouter, one of the kobolds that had escaped snuck up behind with some reinforcements,  After a heated battle with only the fighter/mages ssleep spell allowing them to best the kobolds, they decided to break off the encounter and take their severly wounded comrades back to the keep to rest up and collect a bounty the castellan had set on the kobolds.

So, much fun was  had by all.  It was my first time to DM in many a year, but I found myself quickly picking it all back up.  I stumbled a little but it didn't seem to affect gameplay and I quickly recovered.  I've beenbusy planning the reponse when the party returns to the caves.  The kobolds are crafty and will be waiting to avenge themselves on the party.  It won't be such an easy task to clear out all of the little devils that's for sure!

FINALLY: Gameday Saturday!!! Warrens of Polstrus Lev City of Degenerates

Wahoo!!!! This Saturday it's game time. I finally managed to have the time, motivation, and opportunity to assemble a gaming group and play some OSRIC/AD&D this weekend! I'm testing out my adventure idea for Polstrus Lev City of Degenerates. I'm a bit nervous as its been years since I've gotten my game on. However, the good news is that none of my group is really experienced in gaming (other than a recent foray into trying out some 3.5) and extremely excited to try out Old School game play. I had them read Matt Finch's excellent Quick Primer to Old School Gaming to familiarize them with the old school gaming ethos. So Saturday it is.

Here's an excerpt of my background for Polstrus Lev: Over six hundred years ago, the citizens of Dustchapel Downs established the colony of Polstrus Lev as a detention camp for the diseased, malformed, mentally infirm, and other such undesirables believing that they were the cursed of the gods and they thus sought to purge them from their society. Thus began a woeful legacy of exclusion and sorrow. Located a day’s travel outside the city of Dustchapel Downs, Polstrus Lev was established inside a system of caverns underneath a system of low hills. Over time its use was discontinued as the worship of Daegraed, Lord of the Dawn began to take hold and such practices were deemed anathema to the Light Bearer’s philosophy of inclusion, enlightenment, and understanding.

Expanding upon the cave complex over the span of three hundred years and then abandoned to their fate; the children of the hills were thought to have succumbed to disease, infirmities, or even suspected predation by some of the more loathsome of the inhabitants of this city under the hill. In time, Dustchapel Downs became a prosperous city at the edge of the wilderness, rich in natural resources and excitement for the adventurous. Polstrus Lev had become a distant, if somewhat disturbing memory. Recently, with unsettling events such as mutilated animals and missing travelers and pilgrims, ominous rumors have begun to circulate that the descendants of the debauched inhabitants of Polstrus Lev have emerged from the depths of their warrens to exact vengeance upon the world for their mistreatment. And here's a more fleshed out version of the level one map:

More to follow ;)!

The Warrens of Polstrus Lev City of Degenerates

I hope everyone's 2012 is off to a good start. So far, it has been slow going for Team Bingham with a bout of influenza ushering in the new year, but it seems that is all behind us now. So finally back to projects! I'm revisiting my idea for a low level adventure, the Warrens of Polstrus Lev. A while back, I mused on my idea for dark elves. I never really cared for how dark elves have been portrayed. I picture Dark Elves akin to the degenerate humanoids found in R.E. Howard's "Children of the Night" (you can read the short story here). To me, dark elves seem, well, too cultured and not degenerate enough. At any rate, I've always wanted to do something with that. So, I'm currently working on a low level adventure entitled "The Warrens of Polstrus Lev, the City of Degenerates". I picture it as a pulpy romp through an underground "city" full of degenerate humanoids. Think of Howard's story meets the movie Night Breed and that is kind of along the lines of how I picture this. Here's a peek at the first level map so far:

I've finished most of the mapping, now I need to key it. It'll have three levels. Time to go for now but more to follow soon!

2011 Art Year in Review

Happy New Year! You know, for some reason, the New Year's holiday has always been a bit melancholy for me ever since I was a kid. It never seemed like a new beginning but more of an ending of the holiday season and that meant getting back to the grind and facing the long Winter until the first blush of Spring. 2011 was a good year for me and many things were accomplished that I'm proud of. There were several good things going on, I sold my house, sort of received a promotion at my day job, attended Gen Con for the first time, did a lot of commissioned art. The down sides were few but one was significant in that I lost my grandmother to complications to Alzheimer's. But all in all, I'm happy with 2011. I'm not sure what 2012 will bring but that's part of the ride. So here's a look back at some of the artwork of 2011:

So, now 2012 is here, I'll try not to squander it ;)!