Ostensible Cat

Old School meet New School: Kobold Art

2012-03-02T10:31:00.003-08:00

Not too long ago, Kobold Quarterly announced that they were having an artistry contest. I'm not too sure what the status of the contest is, but I thought I'd go ahead and display the art that I submited. As always, I'm super excited by Daisey's color work. Can you spot all of the inspirations?

20 Questions answered

2012-02-27T07:29:00.000-08:00

Oh, I'm always willing to go along with a crowd ;). At any rate, I figured I fall in line with the latest OSR meme 20 Questions. Here's my answers:

1. Ability Score Generation Method? 4d6, drop lowest, arrange as desired. Not Old School, but who cares, I want the players to play the characters that they want (within the limits of the campaign) and not fuss over having to play a fighter with 9 str and 9 con.

2. How are death and dying handled? 0 is unconscious and anything below that is dead

3. What about raising the dead? Incredibly rare. The current group is still a bunch of first level newbs so it hasn’t come up…yet.

4. How are replacement PCs handled? Again, hasn’t come up yet, but it probably would be a matter of the party returning to town and an new character joining at that point (or I’m open to some logical in game explanation such as meeting the new player on the road, in the wilderness, etc).

5. Initiative? Individual. Again, we are just starting out so I’m open to group initiative if individual initiative becomes too unwieldy.

6. Are there critical hits and fumbles? Yeah, critical hits (natural 20) do double damage (and possibly can result in the loss of limb). Fumbles on a natural 1 result in something like slipping, dropped weapon, etc.

7. Do I get benefits for wearing a helmet? Yes, it can protect against a critical hit to the head.

8. Can I hurt a friend if I fire into melee or do something similarly silly? Oh yes, yes you can. Just ask Elenora the backshooting elven fighter about that.

9. Will we need to run from some encounters or will we be able to kill everything? Yes, running is a wise decision sometimes…

10. Level Draining monsters yes or no? Yes. Not encountered any yet, but yes.

11. Are there going to be cases where a failed save results in PC death? Yup. Stuff happens…

12. How strictly are encumbrance and resources tracked? They do have a bearing on the game in that if it is relevant to what is going on, then they are tracked (i.e. torches, rations, etc). However, I’m pretty fast and loose with this as I don’t want it to become a resource management game over and above a role playing game. Having said that, if there is a large treasure hoard or some other thing that would not be feasible for the party to manage with their current resources, then they are gaoing to have some decisions to make.

13. What’s required for my PC to gain a level? Training? Do I get new spells automatically? Can it happen during the middle of an adventure or do I have to wait for downtime? Training is required. No, new spells must be researched. No, have to seek out the appropriate training.

14. What do I get experience for? Combat, finding innovative ways to deal with things, role playing, etc. So far, the players are just starting to see that my game style is much more than hack and slash. So for our early sessions, they have only been rewarded for the combat experience. But now that they are doing things like trying to parley, figuring out innovative solutions to problems and the like, they will start to accumulate more XP. I’ll reward good ideas and even to some bad ones if they show that the players are doing more than rolling dice to hit a target number.

15. How are traps located? Description, dice rolling or some combination? A combination. The players are now starting to actively do things like search for traps. A simple pit trap will be easily discovered. There are things that are a little more tricky and will require some die rolling.

16. Are retainers encouraged and how does morale work? Yes, hirelings are important since the group consists of three players (soon to be four). As long as the party does not try and take obvious advantage, then morale is fairly loosely tracked. Recently the party requested that one of the hired men at arms open a door where it was pretty obvious there were monsters on the other side. The hireling did so but immediately flattened himself against a wall and the PC behind him took a crossbow bolt in the shoulder.

17. How do I identify magic items? So far, the party hasn’t come across any magic. I intend for it to be fairly uncommon but make a significant impact. Magic items will be fairly distinguishable and lore masters will be able to identify items (for a fee). Otherwise, the party can try to figure it out on their own…

18. Can I buy magic items? Oh, come on: How about just potions? No. Again, magic is not universal and it will be rewarding to possess it. Potions? Well, yeah, some low level stuff and perhaps some low level scrolls.

19. Can I create magic items? When and how? Yes, that will come into play at some point. I’m working on a system for that so more on this one later… (I’m thinking it will appear as an article in Delve! Zine at some point).

20. What about splitting the party? Sure, if they think they can handle it ;)!

Delve! Zine progress

2012-02-26T08:03:00.001-08:00

I've been working on a small one level dungeon for my zine endeavor, Delve! Daisey questioned me as to why I'd take on yet another project since I have my commissions (upcoming stuff for Lands of Ara and North Wind publishing - Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea!), along with things like Polstrus Lev, Bassalt Keep of Wilven the Yellow, etc. I understand her point, but I figure that doing a zine is a good way to help me hone my other (larger) projects. I'm not sure if that's necessarily true, but I'm still pressing on. So far, I've almost finished writing the 11 room dungeon entitled Lair of the Pustulent Lord for Delve! issue #1. Of course there will be some new monsters, new magic items, and new spells. Since this is my creation, it'll also have new art by me in it too. I'm thinking of doing a free ezine format and a print version (I'm still working on pricing and logistics). For a print version, if anyone knows a good way for me to sell on consignment, that would be cool. I thought about seeing if Noble Knight games would do such a thing but I'm probably much too small time for something like that. At any rate, time to get back to the Delve!

If I had a stapler I'd 'zine in the mornin...

2012-02-22T06:45:00.000-08:00

Yeah, so, I got my long stapler and card stock in the mail yesterday and I'm crazy excited. I've got to focus my ambition though and actually get around to producing a finished product. I'm a bit concerned about distribution though. One thing about working for the military overseas is that I can't conduct business through the APO system. Since I'm not looking to profit from zine making, I'm looking at ways to get a zine out to those interested and not abuse the mail privledges. So, I'll look and see what the postal rates are for the Italian mail system. It'd be nice to see if there are any distribution services to do this stuff on consingment. However, I expect my runs to probably be VERY small (like around 20-30) so it shouldn't be too much of an issue for the hard copy. I'll probably do a pdf version as well. Like I saidn, I'm not sure what kind of interest there is going to be for this, but really, it is mostly to satisfy a DIY itch that I've got and to fufill a creative need. Yeah, so this will be my cheesy, home made, love letter to RPGs. Still some work to do, but more to follow!

All quiet on the Eastern front

2012-02-17T10:01:00.000-08:00

Well, not really, as usual, I'm working on stuff and I, um just can't show anyone right now really. I'm looking forward to getting back to gaming this weekend especially after having been sick. Polstrus Lev is shaping up nicely. I'm looking forward to putting my players through it. Hopefully at some point I'll release it in PDF or something. But I'll probably need an editor. This writing stuff is hard so to all you writer types out there, hats off to you. And to the editors for helping create finely honed works of goodness. I'm not going to say that writing is harder or easier than the art part of a project, just different and challenging for me.

At any rate, I've been plunking away at a small adventure for Delve! Zine. I'm waiting for my long stapler and some other supplies to come in the mail. Here is a teaser (probably not final art as I'm thinking about a card stock cover with hand printed covers of some sort). More to follow...

Three is the magic number: Post 333

2012-02-11T23:32:00.000-08:00

So, this is my 333 post here on Ostensible Cat. I've been a little lax in posting for the past few months but things have been really busy. Daisey and I have been working on various projects. I've been deeply involved in many of my own projects such as Polstrus Lev (I've got almost the entirety of the first level keyed - 41 areas) as well as running my own weekly game (which is more like a biweekly due to all the illnesses going on around here in bella Italia). I'm also working on my own zine that I'm tentatively calling Delve! Zine. I'll have more on that in the future. Here's a peek at some work I've done for the Lands of Ara blog here. You can get a sense for Daisey's brilliant color work. I'm going to do a full post about that piece once Carter and the gang release the compendium.

Daisey and I also did a cool piece for the Kobold Quarterly artistry contest recently. They haven't started posting the pictures yet but I'll put a link up when they do. Speaking of KQ, Wolfgang intimates that they would be willing to publish articles on OSR stuff but they aren't receiving submissions. Check out this post on their forums here. I know there are several of you guys out there in blog land that post content on your blogs that would make great articles. I know we have Fight On!, Oubliette, Knockspell, and others, but Kobold Quarterly has a wide audience and what better way to get the OSR message out there? I've done a bit of work for Wolfgang in the past on a couple of Open Design projects and would LOVE to do some illustrations for an OSR article in KQ ;)...

Saturday Game Night

2012-02-06T00:26:00.000-08:00

Back to the Caves of Chaos! The group had to head back to the Keep to reprovision. The kobolds in the previous encounter used some rather nasty tactics that took their toll on the party. No one died, but they were very battered after the experience and wisely chose not to forge on as they probably would have all been killed. The kobolds retreated when necessary, fought running battles, went for reinforcements, etc.

This time, the party chose to enter the goblin section of the caves. It went a little better for them but the goblins did put up a good fight. The party managed to clear several areas. The goblins were less organized but they did employ some tactics (such as sending a runner for reinforcements). At one point the party came to a room with a closed door. A couple of goblins from a previous encounter had retreated to here and were anticipating the party's arrival. The party members did listen at the door and decided to go gangbusters and bash the door in. They had the hirelings in the front ranks throw open the doors. Being no dummies, the man at arms threw open the door and then fltened himself against the wall so as to not bear the brunt of any goblin attack. The PC ranger immediately behind the hireling caught a crossbow bolt to the soulder. The party immediately shut the door but had enough time to glimpse several goblins in the room and a prisoner attached to the wall. The party earlier had tried to play on bravado and cow the goblins into submission, taking a Clint Eastwood type approach. The goblins weren't buying it (this is their home afterall). To show the PC's that they were not impressed, they began to torture the prisoner. Again the party chose to be brash, believing that the goblins would relent. The party firebombed the door with oil. This of course turned out not to be the wisest decision. The party waited a the door burned down enough for them to rush in. The goblins had retreated further in and killed the prisoner too boot. Feeling abashed, the party retreated back to lick their wounds. We ended the session there. All felt it was a good learning experience. They learned that the dungeon dwellers have their won agendas and won't simply roll over for a lot of bluster and saber rattling. The party also learned that actions have consequence. They now have to live with the fact that they probably could have taken a different tactic and saved the prisoner.

I've added my own touches to the Caves to make them fit more squarely into my campaign world. Mainly, my world is very humanocentric and humanoids/demihumans are rare. So how to account for the caves and all of the various humanoids? Well, it is part of a program by a secret cabal to modify humans for their own ends (something like Sauruman and his orc hords). I have several possible ending to the caves, but they will lead one way or another to the Warrens of Polstrus Lev, an adventure that I'm working on.

So far, the group has come together well. We're playing OSRIC but I am pretty flexible and allowing the party members to do things like multiclass much in the same way that 3.x does. There are also some other changes so this isn't straight old school but a nice blend to keep everyone entertained. I am learning along the way as well as I get my DM chops back. I let the party make their own decisions but might subtly hint at courses of action. I don't believe in being a killer DM, but at the same time, I don't want to reward stupidity so they are learning that if they want to try and be Billy Badass at first level (or any level), that those actions will have impact. I'm looking forward to next Saturday game night. Hopefully, we'll get a bit farther in and the gang will start to put together the clues as to who is behind all of this. Mostly, I look forward to getting back to the saddle and rolling the dice!

Adventurer Conqueror King Release in PDF

2012-02-02T02:38:00.000-08:00

I'm pretty thrilled to have been able to in a very small part, contribute to Autarch's Adventurer Conqueror King (latest info here). I know there have been various attempts at Domain play for old school versions of D&D. ACK covers this stuff exceptionally well. In my current group, the gang is still only 1st level, but I'm encouraging them to think in terms of where they want to go with their character concepts. ACK fits that bill nicely. I was fortunate enough to be at the Old School Renaissance Booth at Gen Con this past summer and met Tavis and Ryan. I picked up a prerelease softcover version of the rules and have been pretty excited about trying out some of the concepts. I think that there is a lot to like here. Especially for those folks playing older versions of D&D (or retroclone flavor of D&D), this makes a good companion work to expand the high level domain play. If that sounds like it's your bag, go check it out.

Kobold Quarterly Artistry Contest

2012-02-01T09:53:00.000-08:00

The gang over at Open Design and Kobold Quarterly have just closed submissions for their artistry contest. Just for fun, Daisey and I threw our names and artwork into the hat. I'm excited to see the submissions. I had a lot of fun with this and hope to show off the work Daisey and I did. Quite frankly, I think she really outdid herself on the color work for this one. It's a fun piece with a HUGE shout out to the old schoolers. I've been following Wolfgang's Open Design work since he started it and am very pleased with what they have done. While the bulk of my attention and affection goes towards Old School D&D, I first and foremost a hobbyist gamer and really love the grass roots hobbyist efforts by the Open Design community. I even did some work a while back for some Open Design projects. In the end, I'm excited to see folks that are as obviously fond and committed to gaming doing so well and come up with some cool ideas to boot.

Ink Wash Experiment

2012-01-31T11:18:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-30T12:09:00.000-08:00

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?

2012-01-24T04:02:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-21T10:21:00.000-08:00

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?

2012-01-19T22:12:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-19T09:26:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-16T07:56:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-12T11:52:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-10T09:25:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-01T01:17:00.000-08:00

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 ;)!

Happy Merry!

2011-12-24T11:06:00.000-08:00

So, we're making the final preparations for Santa's arrival. Daisey is reading the Night Before Christmas to the kids before sending them off to bed. Tomorrow, the kids will awaken to many presents and I'm sure much fun will be had by all. Santa is bringing Bear the collected Lego Heroica set. I'm not sure who will be more excited, Bear or myself. I'm looking to getting my game on Lego style tomorrow with the boy. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays all!!

Weird Adventures is here!

2011-12-16T23:48:00.000-08:00

I'm pretty excited about Trey Causey's Weird Adventures. There is quite a bit of interest in weird fantasy these days. Much of that takes the form of the darker aspects of wied fantasy in a somewhat Lovecraftian vein. However, Mr. Causey has take a different path by revisiting the two fisted tales of the pulp magazines and adding in other strangeness. The pdf was just released yesterday (see here). There is a hardcover release that will follow up fairly soon. If you ever listened to the old radio shows such as the Shadow, read any of the old pulp stories such as Doc Savage, thrilled at the adventures of The Phantom, Mandrake the Magician, or even more modern fare such as Hellboy and the Goon, then you NEED to add this to your collection. It details The City, loosely based upon New York of the interwar (1920's-late 1930's) period. You can use it whole or take the pieces you like. At 165 pages, there is plenty here to inspire. I look forward to reading through this thoroughly many times!

Older Experiement

2011-12-16T07:25:00.000-08:00

I like all kinds of comics. Superhero, fantasy, underground, experimental, comix, indie, etc. A couple of years back I got turned on to Abstract comics. What never ceases to amaze me is how versatile the form is. I don't do much in the way of sequential art because it is pretty demanding and time consuming. However, I toy with the idea of doing comics sometimes. Just a bit earlier, I was going through my large sketchbook getting ready to sketch out some ideas for some paintings that I wanted to do. I ran across this experimental comic that I did I guess about a year and a half ago. Not truly abstract but not exactly representational either. It was fun to do and is giving me some ideas.

Darkly Fantastic Fantasy

2011-12-15T07:48:00.000-08:00

Lots of great gaming stuff coming out for us old schoolers and it looks like more goodness is on the horizon. I just purchased my copies of Lamentations of the Flame Princess Carcosa and Isle of the Unknown today (see here for details). I have been follow the progress of both and am excited to see the fully realized products. I have the original unexpurgated version of Carcosa and enjoyed it. Yes, there are some rather dark descriptions in there, but I felt that it really hit the nail on the head as far as trying to capture the horrific nature of sorcery as described by the likes of H.P Lovecraft, R.E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, and well, you know the stable. Sorcery in those worlds is ugly, evil, and highly ritualized - not the fire and forget spell slinging that seems to be the norm in modern fantasy. At any rate, I'm excited to see James Raggi really giving this a delux treatment.

Another project that is along similar lines as far as dark/weird fantasy is the Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea. I've been following the progress of this project for quite some time and am exstatic that they now have a Kickstarter up to fund the project. If you like dark/weird fantasy, you really owe it to yourself to go check out the project specs here. I'm really looking forward to this so I very much hope it gets funded and gets a green light.

Dining Room Table Art Hack

2011-12-10T23:56:00.000-08:00

I don't have a real studio. Well, I guess more precise is that my real studio is the dining room table. I am OK with that as it is my only real option for the time being. However, I do like to see other artist's setups and work environments. Here's a pretty cool blog dedicated to creative spaces for cartoonists. You know, most artists like to work where they feel most inspired. I love to eat so perhaps the dining room table is a pretty good fit for me ;).

A Shout out to a fellow artist

2011-12-08T11:13:00.000-08:00

A little while back I completed my work for Autarch's Adventurer Conqueror King. I'm really excited about this project. Today, I just happened to stumble upon Ryan Browning's Etsy shop where he is selling his ACK art. Ryan's stuff rocks and I'm humbled to be able to have contributed a few pieces of art to this project. I highly encourage you all to go take a peek at his stuff, it is well worth it. As for me, I'm thinking about picking up a piece or two so you better go before I decide to spend some money ;). Having met Ryan and Tavis Allison in person at GEN CON this summer, I can tell you that they are great guys and it was fun to work with them. Do yourself another favor and go to the Autarch site and preorder a copy of ACK.

No New Tales to Tell

2011-12-08T04:19:00.000-08:00

Well not really from the Bingham camp. However, Trey Causey over at From the Sorcerer's Sroll is putting the finishing touches on Weird Adventures. Check out his latest peek here. It's shaping up to be a truly cool setting/supplement. I'm excited to have contributed some art, but more so because, well, Trey has some damn cool and fun ideas in there. It's an honor to be involved in the project, even just a tiny part.

As to other projects, things continue apace. The Team Bingham has been beset by some nasty illnesses that have delayed things a bit, but it seems that things are finally getting back on track. I'm finally nearing a close for the Lands of Ara piece and hope to have the full B&W finished by this weekend. Daisey will provide the color work and at some point, you will get to see it. Also in the works is some B&W art for Small Niche Games. Pete Spahn has a cool supplement planned for his Chronicles of Amherth setting (which I did some work for as well). Beyond that, I still have my own projects in the works but more on that later ;).

For the Love of the Game

2011-11-30T10:09:00.000-08:00

Yikes, tomorrow's December 1st?!?! How the heck has this year gone by so fast? I'm winding down my last set of commissions for the year. I'm almost done inking a piece for Carter over at the Lands of Ara blog. After that, it'll be Daisey's turn to work her magic coloring it. It's always fun to get to work on projects for the old school crowd and fellow bloggers. I've also got a bunch of interior work for another old school company coming up. All in all, 2011 has been a major boon year for me with the art gigs. So thank you for continuing to encourage me to keep doing this crazy fun work. It is heartening to get to participate and give back to this hobby that I've loved since I was a kid. At any rate, if anyone has got some projects that they are going to want some art for coming up in the new year, drop me a line. I always am willing to work something out with fellow old school gamers to give back to the hobby.

Put the wine glass down and get back to writing!

2011-11-26T09:22:00.000-08:00

Zak S over at playing D&D with Pornstars always has a way of firing folks up. I think he really nails it with his latest post which you can read here. So yeah, even though I'm here in Florence soaking up the art, food and wine (and it's all damn good). I AM still working on some projects. I just happen to be slow as hell (well that and I also like doing art for other people's projects). So, what about you?

Heading in to the Holidays

2011-11-19T07:31:00.000-08:00

Whew, this time of year is just plain busy around the Bingham household. I have a few new commissions lined up so I'm sure I'll have plenty of new drawings to do to keep me busy. It's busy at the day job too and I'm a bit tired from my latest business trip.

I'm headed to Florence, (as in Italy) next week to have a different take on Thanksgiving with Team Bingham. I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving and here's another peek at some of my Adventurer Conqueror King art.

Nothing says I Love you like a Morning Star to the Face

2011-11-12T00:13:00.000-08:00

So I wraped up my contributions to Adventurer Conqueror King last weekend. I am happy with my contributions and ecstatic that I was able to participate. I cannot wait for the finished work. Here's a peek at one of my pieces:

Now I'm working on a piece for Carter over at the Lands of Ara Blog. I am having a lot of fun with this piece. Daisey will be doing duty on the color work so I'm anticipating a very nice piece indeed. She always makes me look good ;).

I've decided to rework The Warrens of Polstrus Lev. I'm going to make it a bit darker in tone than the original. I'll rework the original for something else later, but I want Polstrus Level to be part of a series along with Sinister Sightings at Dustcahpel Downs, Isle of Maedsid, Bassalt Keep of Wilven the Yellow, and Shadow of the Umbral Palace. Yes, I'm still working those. Since I'm doing all of the writing, mapping, and art it is taking a while (not to mention my creative ADD). I probably could use some play testers so if anyone is interested let me know and I'll send out the maps and manuscripts when I get that far. Not there yet, but I'll post motre about it when I get that far.

Anyway, I hope everyone is having a good weekend. For those of us American veterans out there, I am honored to have served along side you as a fellow Veteran. Keep on gaming!

Pulpy Doodles

2011-11-05T00:29:00.000-07:00

Heh, I've been reading quite a bit of classic pulp, swords and sorcery and swords and planet literature lately. I'll admit to this being the first time I've ever really delved into much of this stuff. I'm not sure why, but my only guess is that being a comic book lover growing up that I read John Carter via Marvel Comics rather than through ERB. It is really fun to read the real deal. Of course having said that, I also do really love old comics (especially the older horror/crime/sci-fi stuff). Man, those old Gold Key comics had some awesome painted covers. At any rate, work has slowed down a bit and given me a chance to think more creatively. I'm brimming with ideas once again and that's exciting. Perhaps part of it is that for some reason, Fall always brings on a creative rush for me. Well, I'll ride that wave! Here's a little doodle that I did over my lunch break at work that shows my current creative leanings.

While the Cat's Away...

2011-11-02T07:39:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone out there had a great Halloween. We sure did here. I am sure that the kids will have candy for several months to come! At any rate, I've been pretty busy working away at some art and I have a piece to share. This one is for an upcoming release from Expeditiour Retreat Press entitled Mouth of the Shadowvein in their Advanced Adventures line:

I always greatly enjoy working on pieces for Joe and Suzi. The adventures always have that great old school look and feel and it is a hell of a lot of fun working on them. I've got some collaborations with my beautiful and most tallented wife Daisey on some covers that I'll share soon. I've also been working on finishing some more art for Adventurer Conqueror King. I'm pretty excited about those as well.

Upcoming, I'm dabling in fiction writing and looking on doing something with that. It's still too early to say much more on that front, but I'm having a lot of fun and trying to get in some practice by writing 1000 words a day.

I've got my adventures to get back to with a few odds and ends in art commissions. It's been busy but good!

Quietly slaving away at the drawing table

2011-10-15T03:35:00.000-07:00

I've been busy working on art for Expeditious Retreat Press and Adventurer Conqueror King and several other commissions. It's been pretty hectic at the day job so that has lessened my output level, but I'm slowly catching up. So if I've been quite I apologize, but I've been working!

I have acquired The first three volumes of the Arduin Grimoire. Pretty interesting stuff. I like the artwork and the over the top zany nature of it all. Fun stuff. Also, the Tome of Horrors Complete is AWESOME. I really like the small stat blocks and the adventure hook ideas. I've been gravitating towards Swords & Wizardry/OD&D a lot lately.

Finally, I hope to get back on some of my projects soon. Isle of Maedsid has really been on my mind a lot lately. Not to mention I'm thinking of collaborating on a Cthulhueque comic with a friend and also writing some short fiction. Ah, if I can just maintain enough energy to get even a small fraction of my ideas off the ground, I'll be a happy man indeed!

Reach for the Stars! Star Frontiers OSR Goodness!!

2011-10-01T05:19:00.000-07:00

OK, I know I've seen it mentioned a couple of times but it is worth bringing up again. The OSR is MORE than just D&D retroclones. There is a whole lotta goodness going on out there. One of the games I played as a kid to get a bit of a change from D&D/fantasy was Star Frontiers. DwD Studios has done a great job of supporting Star Frontiers. Some of you might be familiar with the Star Frontiersman zine already. If not, go check out DwD's downloads and load up on some good stuff!

Tome of Horrors Complete: Swords and Wizardry version arrived today!

2011-09-30T10:43:00.000-07:00

OK, I've been one heck of a busy boy lately and haven't had much blog time :(. Or for that matter, much time to do much else other than work and draw. However, I hope to change that in the next week or so cause I know you guys miss me ;). At any rate, I just received my Swords and Wizardry version of Tome of Horrors Complete from Frog God games. I believe that this version is a limited print run which is a bit unfortunate as from my cursory pass through, it is an EXCELLENT monster resource. I especially like the plot hooks for each critter, a nice addition. I think I did read somewhere that Matt said they were considering an unlimited edition of the Swords and Wizardry version. I sure hope they do because this deserves to be in every gamers horde. Alright, I gotta duck out again but hopefully I won't be gone for so long next time.

Happy Equinox!

2011-09-23T05:41:00.000-07:00

Yeah, it's been a bit crazy around the Bingham household but things are starting to wind down a bit. Kind of fitting since today it is now Fall. I've got quite a few art commissions lined up that I'm pretty excited about. I've done some work for Adventurer Conqueror King that I've been rather pleased with and some great stuff for Expeditious Retreat Press. Alphonso Warden sent me a manuscript that I've agreed to collaborate with him on. He doesn't have a publisher yet, but I feel like Alphonso's work has always been top notch and sure is fun to illustrate. Unfortunately, even though I've been cranking through a lot of artwork, I don't have anything to share with you guys just yet. Soon though, I'm excited for you guys to see the cool OSR stuff that just seems to keep coming out.

Marital Bliss

2011-09-06T10:34:00.000-07:00

Today Daisey and I celebrate nine years of marital bliss. I don't think it is an exaggeration to say that any successes I've had have been because of her support and encouragement. We've known each other over half my life now and been married for the past nine years. It is awesome to have a wife and partner who fully supports my geekery and encourages me to reach new heights. She provides much appreciated critiques and a sounding board for ideas. Thanks babe, here's to many, many more years of an awesome partnership!

Slowly Getting back into the groove

2011-09-01T08:08:00.000-07:00

Whew, I'm back home and just now starting to recover from jetlag. It is awesome to be home, even if my day job has been positively brutal. However, slaying mosnters on the drawing board is helping some with that ;). I've been working on some pieces for the upcoming relase of Adventurer Conqueror King. It was awesome to meet the team at Gen Con and be part of that whole excitement. It was also awesome to get a copy of the Limited Edition Gen Con release. Reading through it is amazing and I'm incredibly excited to get to participate. Tavis has a really good post on what Adventurer Conqueror King is all about on his blog. I'm hoping to get my first batch of illustrations to them over the next few days. I absolutely love the idea that it is not straight up medieval but falls more into Dark Age era stuff which is what I tend to prefer anyway. This will be one to keep an eye on.

Oh yeah, I also need to get back to work on Maedsid. I've got some ideas that I really want to try out. I just got my copy of Anomalous Subsurface Environment in the mail yesterday. I'm really digging it so far. GLAD's art is great as usual. He has a kind of Jim Holloway vibe going on. I'm also still going through all of the Gen Con stuff as well. Lotsa good stuff going on out there in the OSR!

300th Blog Post

2011-08-18T11:11:00.000-07:00

I'm still out and about travelling across the country. Right now I'm back with the family in the Springfield/Branson, MO region and having a good time. I've been gone from Bella Italia for two weeks and I must confess that I really am itching to get home though. I miss Daisey and the kids and am looking forward to getting back into the swing of my normal routine. I'm especially looking forward to starting a gaming group up once I get back. I've several pent up ideas that I'm looking at unleashing upon my unsuspecting players. Most of the folks I've lined up haven't played old school rpgs so I'm really looking forward to treating them to the ways of such games. They are all pretty excited so we'll see where it goes. I need to knock some of the rust off of my DMing but it'll be good to be at the helm.

I've got a few new commissions lined up and I'm excited to be putting pencil and brush to paper. It feels like it's been an eternity! I'd hoped to work on Maedsid while I was gone, but it's proved a bit more difficult to find the time or summon the energy when I do have time. I haven't fully adapted to the time zones yet which is going to be annoying when I get back since I'll be off my normal chedule by about four hours or so (which means I'll be waking up far too early and feeling sleepy far too early). So it'll probably take a bit to get my full energy back and be fully productive again. I hope all is well out there in blogland and I'll post more soon.

Dungeons and Dollar$: $150 Million Gygax biopic?

2011-08-13T09:25:00.000-07:00

I was just reading a Geekdad about the proposed $150 million USD biopic based on Gary Gygax's life and work. Reading through some of the details, I'll admit to being pretty bemused by the whole thing. I'd totally love a documentary based upon Gary, Dave Arneson and the early days at TSR but I cannot see that going into the multi-million dollar range. Maybe 1-3 million (and I think that's a stretch). Gary made D&D and we all have been affected by this to greater or lesser degrees. I'm not sure that trying to make a film for the masses is really the way to honor Gary's legacy. I could be wrong, but looking at the guys that's making the movie's screen credits, I'm highly suspicious. And hiring on a big name actor to play Gary? Why not just have interviews with the folks that worked with him like Tim Kask, Frank Mentzer, Jim Ward as well as Gail Gygax, Ernie and Luke, people in the games business, other big names like Vin Deisel and the like? I'm just a bit sceptical I guess, but I'm not going to be holding my breath on this one.

Cat in the City: Ostensible Cat at GenCon

2011-08-12T16:47:00.000-07:00

OK, OK, so it's a week after the fact but I've had a cold and still jet lagged abit. But, I did have a great time at CenCon Indy 2011. I've never been to a major Con so I had absolutely no idea what I'd be in for. If you haven't gone before, I'd recommend going at least once for the sheer spectacle. It was very cool to be able to talk to RPG business folks like Joe Browning, Suzi Yee, Phil Reed, Diesel LaForce and others. It was even more fun to see the reactions to the OSR at a major con. The OSR group booth was pretty busy thoughout the con. I loved interacting with fellow old schoolers. It was a bit surreal to sign books that had my work in them but cool none the less. It was great to have the Gygax Memorial Fund folks sharing a booth and to be able to talk to Gail Gygax. I donated and picked up a copy of "Cheers Gary". I was pleasantly surprised to see that one of the comments in the book that they chose was mine. Yep, that's me on page 299 ;) right after Rob Connely. I am honored to be doing some art for Adventurer Conqueror King nd I picked up a few new clients while I was there as well as selling a few original pieces. It was cool to meet fellow old schooler/artist/blogger Tony "Scadgrad" Mullins. I wish we had bit more of a chance to hang out and game or something. Ah, maybe next time! At any rate, here's some pics of GenCon:

Another Isle of Maedsid Map and some art

2011-08-01T11:27:00.000-07:00

OK, GenCon is almost upon us and I am getting prepared to depart. However, I'm still working on my Isles of Maedsid adventure. Here's a map for one of the sulevels here the Kulakir (baboon/avian beastmen) reside. The Kulakir live on a world that is comprised of floating landmasses covered in thick jungle growth. Here's a map of one of the landmasses that's nearing completion:

Here's a peek at one piece of art for Maedsid. It's a spectral black dog, one of the guardians of the funerary mound. The drawing is not yet complete, but getting there.

I don't know yet when exactly I'll be done with this so I guess the appropriate answer to that is "it'll be done when it is done." However, I've committed to myself to at the very least have a draft version out before the close of 2011 ;). That is something coming from me since I have been working on my adventure "Sinister Sightings at Dustchappel Downs" since 2006 (and I fully intend on completing that one too)!

Anyway, if you're going to GenCon, stop by the OSR Booth 1541 and chat or come find me wondering around like a slack jawed fool and slap me upside the head ;). I'm bringing some original art for sale too. I have ten pieces matted and some unmatted. Space will be t a premium for me and I wish I could bring more, but it is what it is. Especially since I don't know if any of it will sell ;). At any rate, all of it is from published stuff for those that are interested and it spans from 2007 to the present. OK, enough schilling, back to getting ready for my travels!

Getting ready for GenCon and my month long sojourn back to the States

2011-07-31T01:32:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my birthday and I had a great time with my family and friends grilling out and enjoying their company. It is kind of bittersweet as I'll be leaving for GenCon and taraveling about the States visiting family and working. During that time I'll be away from Daisey and the kids. I've done an extensive amount of traveling in my life and leaving my family for more than a few days is never really easy. But GenCon is sure to be fun and going to Florida and spending some time with my 86 year old grandfather will be awesome. He's an amazing man and I'm looking forward to getting to spend some time with him. My Internet connections will probably be spotty and I'm sure much of my time will be otherwise consumed so I'm sure posting here will be sporadic. However, I'm on Google+ and that seems to be a bit more condusive to short updates so if you haven't already, add me to one of your circles and I'll do the same.

Happy Birthday Gary Gygax!

2011-07-27T11:30:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I'll jump on the band wagon. But let's face it, some kids get a football when they are a kid or a guitar or whatever and that sets them down a certain path. I was given an AD&D Monster Manual and that has had a MASSIVE influence on my life. The only things that have come into my life that have even been close are my wife, kids, and punk rock, well and beer I suppose ;). At any rate, here's a toast to Gary. Keep rockin the dice all!

Maedsid Progress (Sea of O'Sr Adventure Path)

2011-07-26T12:06:00.000-07:00

I never had the chance to play in an Arduin campaign. I've heard quite a few things (good and bad) about it over the years. I think I'm going to try and make a point of finding out a bit more about is at GENCON. For whatever reason, I've been stuck on this wacked out 70's vibe listening to stuff like Hawkind and other space rock stuff and 70's US punk like the Dead Boys and Richard Hell and watching Flash Gordon and other campy 70's sci-fi and fantasy. I'm not sure how much of that is currently informing my decisions I'm making about my Maedsid adventure, but I suspect reading Lovecraft and Moorcock and listening to crazy ass 70's rock is going to have some effect. I really wanting to look over the Arduin Grimoires while I'm gone and see what I think.

Ah, who the hell knows.

But anyways, I'm working on another map for Maedsid for one of the dimensional sublevels. I'm having fun. Floating arboral islands with open aired temples, light gravity, dimensionally travelling flying monkey men looking to create a pandimensional empire, intelligent lemurs on giant flying beetles that can use pheremone based magic, and more craziness. That's what's in store for the current level. The next up will be a aquatic based level with sentient protoplasmic lifeforms that drain the life essence of other sentient life to fuel their hunger and more stuff that is chaotically swimming around in my brain at the moment. We'll see what kind of ideas I pick up at GENCON and shape some of the otehr ideas I've got. More to follow soon...

So what are your GENCON plans?

2011-07-25T11:19:00.000-07:00

I'm mostly hoping to meet some of you folks that I talk to here o the Interwebs and get in on a few ad hoc gaming sessions. I'd like to spend some time at the OSR booth chatting as well as wondering around the hall. This is my first major con so I'm not really sure what to expect. I'm really looking forward to getting a set of Zocchi dice. I ordered some, but hell, I just really want to check out the Game Science booth and pick out some as well as get a dice cup and some other accoutrements. For those of you going, look me up and chat!

Wired Geek Dad blog feature about some OSR projects

2011-07-23T08:48:00.000-07:00

A nice little spotlight on our corner of the world today. Over at the Geek Dad blog, he mentions a couple of ways to get your name up in flashing lights in the RPG community. Like me, he is corrupting his son by involving him in various RPG projects ;). Adventurer Conquerer King and Fight On! are explicitly mentioned. Who knows, maybe oneday Bear Bingham will be on the rolls of RPG game designers/illustrators.

On OSR Compatability

2011-07-23T02:45:00.000-07:00

I think one of the greatest strengths of this whole nebulous OSR thing is the willingness of folks involved to share ideas and broaden their scope to encompass other ideas all the while still giving full credit and homage to the idea originators. I say that is hella cool. James Raggi is working on a compatability license that lets folks create compatable material with is Lamentations of the Flame Princess game. You can read the preliminaries here. I'm also really excited by the similar but complimentary domain game systems coming out from CKatulik at Hill Cantons (Borderlands) and the Adventurer Conqueror King system from Autarch. Also check out the sort of combine forces approach for the domain games over at Hill Cantons here.

As for me, I'm looking forward to how I can incorporate these ideas into my Shdows of the Umbra Palace Adventure Path (which also overlaps with the Sea of O'Sr adventure path via my Maedsid adventure). Speaking of Maedsid, I'm not anticipating having anything approaching a finished adventure until sometime after I get by from my travels (so around September). I'm looking forward to networking at GENCON and feeding off some of the energy there to help flesh out some of my ideas for this adventure path. Afterwards, I'm going to assemble a gaming group to help playtest. I'd also be interested in passing Maedsid out to you guys in the community to help playtest and provide feedback. I'll keep posting on the progress and announce when I'm ready for playtests. It is an exciting time to be a gaming enthusiast (read GEEK).

Two weeks until GENCON!?!!?

2011-07-20T08:04:00.000-07:00

Holy crap, that is coming up FAST! I'd hoped I be further along on a few things at this point, but oh well. I'm very much looking forward to getting some game time in and meeting people. This will be my first major convention ever so I'm not sure what to expect. Actually I have no expectations really I guess other than just to see what is out there and actually meet some of the gamer folk I communicate with online. Anything after that will be a bonus.

Maedsid Update (Sea of O'Sr Adventure Path)

2011-07-19T12:39:00.000-07:00

So I'm at just a little over 8100 words. Five dimensions, eight new monsters. And I'm not even half through. I'm having fun and I hope when I do finally get done that others enjoy it. So far the gist is that a sect of druids, in their quest to get closer to their divinity and separate themselves from the world, inadvertantly weakened the fabric surrounding their most holy site and caused some beasties from other planes to get through. I'm going for a somewhat odd mixture here that I hope ultimately pulls together well. Think Celtic flavored druidic myth/legend meets Lovecraft meets Moorcock in a sort of crazy Keep on the Borderlands Caves of Chaos type setting that allows for further extrapolation by enterprising DMs. Yeah, well, we'll see. More to follow but back to work ;).

Advanced Adventures Riddle of Anadi for Sale

2011-07-18T09:03:00.000-07:00

I am pretty pleased with the art on this one. You can read about it here. That is all ;).

Maedsid Progress (Sea of O'Sr Adventure Path)

2011-07-17T09:42:00.000-07:00

So, Maedsid has definitely grown beyond what I had originally envisioned. So far there is the island proper with adventure sites as well a two level funerary mound (with four other-dimensional sub levels). It's coming out to have something on the order of 100 keyed locations as well as every creature being being unique to this adventure. So far I've detailed most of the first two levels of the funerary mound and am getting ready to start in on the other-dimensional sub levels. I'm thinking that it will be an adventure for 6-8 characters level 6-8. We'll see. Oh yeah, I still intend to release it for free (at least some version of it). I might do a version with art and the like and put it up on Lulu or something for sale at some point.

Ennie Awards Voting

2011-07-17T07:33:00.000-07:00

I know that there was some grousing a couple of weeks back about the Ennies. I am pretty ambivalent myself, but awrds do have the tendency to raise awareness and that can only be a good theing for us old school gamers. Having said that, there are several old school publishers listed in the Best Publisher category to include Expeditious Retreat Press, Black Blade Publishing, Frog God Games, and Lamentations of the Flame Princess. You don't have to vote in every category and you don't have to vote for every item in every category. So if you just want to go and cast a single vote for Expeditious Retreat Press, then have at it. Here's the link.

On Druids (brief)

2011-07-13T01:01:00.000-07:00

Just a couple of quick thoughts before I have to head out for work. One of the classes that I really was intrigued by in 1e AD&D was the druid. The whole Celtic preist thing really got me. And if I recall, not too many folks played them back at the time. After reading Dragon 119, I was totally hooked. I know most old schoolers revile Unearthed Arcana, but at the time I thought the whole idea of more level progression to the hierophant levels was a cool thing. At any rate, what is the current consensus on the druid class? I really didn't care for the whole animal pet thing found in the later editions.

Black Blade Publishing Imprint of OSRIC

2011-07-11T11:45:00.000-07:00

I just got my Black Blade imprint of OSRIC in the mail today. I have the original version which is cool but the Black Blade version is a thing of beauty. James Smith over at The Underdark Gazette did a nice "unboxing" post on his blog with some good photos which you can see here. I did do quite a bit of artwork for OSRIC and it is interesting to see some of that work (now alomost six years on) and see how I've evolved from then to now as an artist. There's also losts of great new art by many other OSR artists in it too (so if you have the Lulu version, the new art is pretty damn keen if you're into that).

I tend to vascilate between OD&D/Swords and Wizardry, BECMI/Labyrinth Lord and AD&D/OSRIC. I'll have to consult my newly forming gaming group and see what they would rather game with. I've been doing most of my adventure writing in Labyrinth Lord Advanced Edition Companion format so that might be the direction we go. In any event, if you're of a mind to have a Rules Cyclopedia like version of 1e AD&D, you can't go wrong with OSRIC.

I think I'll just eat some pie

2011-07-09T09:51:00.000-07:00

Wow, lots of crap slinging has been going on around the OSR Blogosphere. I am a bit saddened that Stephan Poag decided to not stick it out since the fun had been drained out of it. Well, as for me, I'm choosing to keep it light and just kick back and have some pie and put some adventure ideas together for my soon to be formed game group! I hope to be back at the DM helm when I get back from GENCON. I hope all's well with everyone else!

Destination Unknown

2011-07-06T03:26:00.000-07:00

I sure hope Christian of Destination Unknown is simply taking a hiatus. I really enjoyed hearing about his zine, his game groups, and the different happenings. I know that when you are simply trying to have fun and share with like minded people and some purile, garbage mouthed yob who hides behind anonymity comes along and makes personal attacks sure can take the fun out of it. So, Christian, keep having fun and I hope at some point you'll be back on filling us in on the happenings in SoCal.

Vornheim: A Review

2011-07-05T11:23:00.000-07:00

So, I'm the kinda guy who likes quirky stuff. I listen to 70's and 80's punk and protopunk and postpunk. I like to watch Ray Harryhousen movies. I thought Amazon Women on the Moon and UHF are hilarious. I love indie and experiemental comics by guys you've probably heard of like Robert Crumb and Harvey Pekar and stuff by guys you might not have heard of like Brad Jones and Archer Prewitt. So why am I telling you all of this? Because Vornheim by Zak S. Of I Hit it with my Axe and Playing D&D with Porn Stars fame has put together a quirky little city supplement called Vornheim: The Complete City Kit. Vornheim is a slim, hard back book published by Lamentations of the Flame Princess (James Raggi). Vornheim is digest size with b&w interior. The cover has a removable dust jacket that has a map of Vornheim on the inside and a set of instructions to use the charts on the front and back covers of the book. Yeah, pretty much every surface is designed to be useful. I'm sure you've probably read the reviews. If you haven't James Raggi does a pretty good job of rounding them up for you here. So, I'm done with talking about the traditional review part. What I was really interested in is how does it hold up in letting you create a quirky fantasy city? There have been several books published that give you the low down on city building, but what I wanted was something down and dirty. Something that I could just grab a handful of dice and really build a city. Most of the city supplements let you do this in the abstract. They have random tables that help you figure out how many blacksmiths you have, the general availablity of certain items, etc. Zak does this as well. But then, he takes a bit of a turn. Starting on page 35, he has some urban crawl rules that let you biuld the city street by street and building by building. I mean that he has put together a simple but totally logical and fun way to build the streets and buildings. I couldn't wait to try out the urban crawl rules. THIS is what I had been waiting for! I like tables, charts,etc but without being able to visualize a city, it's just a bunch of stats on paper for me. I also like mapping, but without imposing boundaries I tend to get lost. Zak's urban crawl rules really let me bridge that gap. I spent about four man hours putting together the city of Hirsthuttonshire below. I mean that was all the time it took to plan the layout, come up with 35 interesting locales and draw the map all using the tools in Vornheim. Four hours from zero to finished piece with key. For me and the way I work; that's unheard of. So yeah, I'm hella impressed. A great tool in a small package that is a tool box and setting all at once. Oh, and don't get me wrong, it's quirky but not so far out there that it can't be used by more mainstream fantasy gamers. No, this little tome should be useable by any fantasy gamer using just about any fantasy system (It does have lite D&Dish stats but you can adapt pretty easily if you're using something else). So, I'd give this 4 1/2 out of 5 stars and highly recommend it to any fantasy gamer no matter what system they use.

Pork Products and Prepping for my Vornheim Review

2011-07-03T13:42:00.000-07:00

So, Vornheim is one of those products that is not the usual RPG book. I feel like it deserves something a bit different. The key of Vornheim is to actually USE it in crafting your adventures. Zak S has put together a unique experience from city building. So after spending the day in Padova at the botanical gardens and looking at street art, I came home to my grill - my demense to read through Vornheim (check out my wife's blog for my Vornheim read through). Vornheim is not a big book. Only 64 pages. But you know what? Those 64 pages are packed FULL. And so is the cover. And the Dust jacket. Random tables and charts, strange characters and locales, and snakes as books. Brilliant. "But I'm not here to bore you with that," to steal a quote from the book. No, I'm going to actually use this tool to build a city and then review the book based on the experience. At any rate, based on the read through, this is great stuff. But being a good read and a useful tool are not always one and the same. It's late, I've started to build the foundations of my city using Zak's take on city planning from his urban crawl rules (the results kind of reminds me of some Italian city planning). I'm pretty happy with the results and I'll scan them in tomorrow and post them up. But now, I'm full of pork ribs and Aperol Spritz and just finished watching Exit Through the Gift Shop (Which rocked btw) and it's time for bed. So tomorrow, I'll use the Complete City Kit to, um, well, complete my city. Ciao!

Hey Hey I Want Some Chinese Take Away Cause I'm the Joker in the Pack!

2011-07-02T23:31:00.000-07:00

The kids are both outta school, folks are starting to go on vacation, headed to the beach this weekend.... summer is here!!! I remember being a kid and having long all night sessions playing D&D, Marvel FASERIP, Top Secret, Risk, Axis and Allies, etc. I'll have to break out Dungeon sometime this weekend and play a game with Bear. We're off to Padova today to see the botanical gardens and then back home so I can grill out some sausage and pork ribs. Later I'll do some more work on Maedsid and then watch Exit Through the Gift Shop about the Street artist Banksy. Nothing like an awesomely beautiful day, some pork on the grill, hot punk rock on the iPod, a game book in one hand and a cold pilsner in the other. I woke up with some Adicts tunes going through my head. One of my favorite punk bands. Have a great weekend and have a fun and safe 4th for my American friends!!

Weekly Creature Feature: Kulakir

2011-07-01T23:00:00.000-07:00

Here's another creature that I'm working on for Isle of Maedsid. This one has its inspiration in Moorcock's work to add a bit of Swords and Sorcery feel to Maedsid. I've got an idea sort of similar to Keep on the Borderlands with a few different races that are fighting some running battles inside Maedsid. Anyway, as per all my creatures, the Kulakir is designated Open Game Content.

Name: Kulakir
No. Enc: 3d4
Alignment: Chaotic
Movement: 60’ (20’)
Armor Class: 7
Hit Dice: 5
Attacks: 2
Damage: 1d8, 1d8 (or by weapon type)
Save: F5
Morale: 9
Hoard Class: XVII

Description: Kulakir are a degenerate bestial race that was once common but went extinct with the rise of man (or so it is believed). Kulakir are a horrific combination of both baboon and raptor. They possess the savage visage of a baboon with a crest of feathers resembling a fish eagle. They possess the hands of a primate and the great, gouging talons of a bird of prey. A ridge of mottled dusty brown and grey feathers runs along their backs and onto their shoulders and forearms. Kulakir do not possess the power of flight but are relatively intelligent and can craft arms and armor. They rarely wear much in the way of Armor, but do favor oversized bracers. They have distinctive weapons that they wield in battle and utilize a sort of sling that throw blades. Kulakir are capable of two attacks per melee round by rending with their talons, giving a fearsome bite, or utilizing a weapon.

Kulakir once dwelt in high mountainous areas and once were devout followers of Moen Hepnir, Dweller in the High Places. It was rumored that they once had Shaman and Witch Doctors that were capable of wielding both sorcerous and divine magic.

Ouch!!! How to stop the bleedding?!?!? Free OSR Adventure on the way I promise!!!

2011-07-01T10:51:00.000-07:00

I just noticed that I lost several followers today. I haven't been as active in the blogosphere lately due to the fact that I've been focusing all of my normal blog time to working on Isles of Maedsid. So, I'm hoping that I don't lose my entire following before I'm finished. Oh, did I mention that I intend for a free electronic release to include maps and illustrations. It's a Labyrinth Lord/Advanced Edition Companion release but it should fare well for adapting to most other Old School ruleset. Maedsid is also populateded by many entirely new (and open game content monsters) as well. I'm not going to say you won't be disappointed (because some folks just have strange tastes you know), but hell, if nothing else I hope you find some interesting nuggets in there. Besides, can't go wrong with free right? So bear with me, I intend on doing a sort of barebones release prior to me leaving for GENCON. I hope to meet and more importantly GAME with some of you there!

Weekly Creature Feature: Lethenex and more on Maedsid

2011-06-29T04:00:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been a while since I last did the weekly creature feature! This time, I've got a new critter that will be making an appearance in my Sea of O'Sr Adventure the Isles of Maedsid. Maedsid will have a both very earthly Celtic/Dark Ages/IronAge/Bronze Age component to it and a more unearthly feel to it. The Isles of Maedsid were ages ago untethered from the fabric of the material plane. Over time, this has caused some dimensional degredation and the Isles have experienced ecroachment of entities from beyond the material plane. The Lethenex is one such creature. I plan on using many non-standard creatures in Isle of Maedsid. In fact, I'm going to try and use only monsters of my own devising so that the adventure has its own consistency and feel. Some of the critters that I expect to be making an appearance are the Alitae, the Arepyiai, the Six Mouthed Goo Monster, the Black Dog, and the Dead Man's Chest amongst others. As with all of my weekly creature features, the Lethenex is designated open content so feel free to use it as you wish (aside for the art which is not open content and is copyright John Bingham - me). Again stated out for use with LL, it should be a fairly simple matter for a DM to convert to suit the DM's needs. So without further ado, the Lethenex:

Name: Lethenex
No. Enc: 1-8
Alignment: Chaotic
Movement: 60’ (20’), Special
Armor Class: 7
Hit Dice: 4
Attacks: 3
Damage: 1d6, 1d6, special (constitution drain)
Save: F3
Morale: 8
Hoard Class: VI

Description: These creatures are from beyond the material plane and are a strange mixture of plant, animal, mineral, and fungus. The Lethenex usually appear due to weak spots in the dimensional membranes that separate the material plane from their dimension. Lethenex are not sentient by the conventional understanding and their motivations and drives are completely alien. The only apparent drive is that they are attracted to the material plane to feed on elements and energies specific to the material plane. Lethenex are capable of dimensionally warping between their dimension and the material plane but doing so requires a great expenditure of energy. Lethenex possess crystalline “talons” along the edges of their membranous “wings” in which they can use to attack for 1d6 points of damage. In addition, the Lethenex have a proboscis that they can use to drain life energy in the form of permanent constitution drain. The Lethenex’s ability to dimensionally warp requires three rounds to accomplish, during which time it cannot move or attack.

The Lethenex appears as a six to eight foot monstrosity with leathery folds that radiate from a central, fibrous, roughly cylindrical body. The Lethenex possesses rough, crystalline talons along the “wing” folds that it can use much as claws. The Lethenex has a sensory nest at one end of its body that is where the proboscis extends from along with many crystalline “eyes”. The opposite end of the stalk has a grouping of arthropod like legs that it can use in conjunction with its wing folds for conventional mobility. The Lethenex are capable of surviving the vacuum of space and are therefore immune to gaseous attacks and cold based attacks. Electrical, fire, and acid attacks do normal damage.

Isle of Maedsid Update

2011-06-27T09:25:00.000-07:00

I tell you, writing an adventure sure is more challenging for me than illustrating one or doing maps but I'm greatly enjoying the challenge. I've not decided upon a target level range for this adventure but tend to think this is less important than developing an interesting adventure. I've mentioned that I intend this to be part of a series or "adventure path" of linked adventure. I'm thinking of more of a loose collection of possibly interrelated sites and events than a structured narative. I've got some great images in my head for some cover art I want to do. I've been really wanting to do some paining so I'm thinking of doing the covers as acrylic paintings. We'll see how it works out. Well, short update now time to get back to keying the burial mound!

Reflections (nongaming related)

2011-06-23T05:40:00.000-07:00

Wow, hard to believe we've been here in Italy for four years now. It's been a FANTASTIC time. No matter what, Italy has become part of our lives forever. Looking back on my career both for my day job and art related, these past four years have been the most professionally rewarding as well as the most growth and development. I've become a seasoned and well respected IT security professional and have been honored to become the Lead IT security specialist for the US Army in Italy and the Balkans. Artistically, I've grown quite a bit and matured in my style. It has been a lot of fun (and a great honor) to get to work on various OSR projects. Personnally, it has been amazing to watch my kids grow and our little family grow closer together and have some amazing experiences. My wife Daisey posted this great photo retrospective of life in OUR little corner of Italy in her blog here. All the way around, I'm one of the luckiest guys around and I am thankful every day for the wonderful things going on in my life. For everyone out there that has sent a kind word and/or encouragement, thank you. I do so appreciate it! Happy Summer gang!

Happy Solstice

2011-06-21T10:41:00.000-07:00

I hope that everyone is enjoying the sunshine! It has been a nice (if a bit on the warm side) day here in the Veneto. I have been working on Isle of Maedsid adventure today. Seems somewhat fitting seeing as how it is the solstice and it is druidic themed adventure. I've been doing a bit of research to give a bit of verisimilitude. I will probably keep most of it out of the adventure and put it in the Campaign setting for my world building project but put just enough in the adventure to flavor it. Check out this Wikipedia entry for Maeshowe for a bit of what I'm getting inspired by. Think: druidic cult that worships a fertility god that uses death/resurection mystery cult themes mixed with some transhumanism, with some Lovecraftian cosmic horror/strange geometry thrown in the mix of a diemnsionally distorting island with a bit of a feel of Arthurian Avalon. Anyway, go soak up the sun!

Isle of Maedsid Maps

2011-06-20T10:30:00.000-07:00

So here's the keyed maps for Maedsid. I haven't really done much in the way of mapmaking so this was a good exercise for me and fun to boot. I just sort of let things unfold organically (i.e. by the seat of my pants). I like the results though. Now, I need to flesh out the actual keys. I'm also working on some art to go along with it. This is my first time really trying to do something of this scope but I really like the process behind it. Being an artist though, that can be dangerous... It's easy to get lost in the process and never generate a finished output. But I'm determined to see one project through to the end before the close of 2011!

Maedsid Isles

Barrow Mound/Ritual Complex

Main sub level

Sub Level A

Sub Level B

Happy (Late) Father's Day!!

2011-06-20T00:37:00.000-07:00

To all the Dads out there, I hope you had a great Father's Day. I sure did. Spending the weekend in Tuscany was an awesome adventure for Team Bingham. The kids loved going to play in the sea, even if it was a bit windy. I really enjoyed the walled city of Lucca. I MUST go back for the Lucca Comics and Games convention in August. It quite simply has become one of my favorite cities (along with Venice and Barcelona). I'll highly recommend it to my guests when they visit (especially if they want to go to Pisa - which sadly is a rather large disappointment). We also went to the town of Vinci. Leonardo's home town is tucked away in the Tuscan hills surrounded by vinyards and olive groves. Beautiful! And the Chianti isn't bad either. It was fun picking up a few bottles from Vinci. I spent my downtime reading the collected works of H.P. Lovecraft and trying to work on Isles of Maedsid. I thought I was done with the maps, but hell, reading about fourth dimensional beings in Surfing Through Hyperspace combined with my H.P. Lovecraft ideas, I've got a few things I want to add to my druidic/celtic flavored work. I think it'll be fun!

Isles of Maedsid Progress

2011-06-16T04:09:00.000-07:00

So, I've actually finished the maps for the burial mound (I'll post them later today hopefully). I've got them numbered and now writing up the room/encounter descriptions. I wanted to write a little of what I have in mind for the adventure. As I mentioned, this will essentially be part of two adventure paths. First, it'll be part of the Sea of O'SR adventure path as well as the Shadow of the Umbra Palace Saga. Maedsid is a grouping of three islets that have been used over the centuries buy a druidic sect as a ritualistic isle for the life of their "Summer King" - a temporal ritualistic leader that oversees the prosperity of the Moinar people (a bronze age/iron age like people loosely based on the ancient Celts/Picts/Brittons) and an earthly representative of the god Daegraed, the Lord of the Dawn. The main purpose of the isles over their history is for the members of the druidic heirarchy to elect, coronate, sanctify, sacrifice and inter into the earth the "Summer King". Every four years, the druidic priesthood assembles on Maedsid and a "Summer King" is elected from the body of the druidic hierarchy. After a series of ritualistic ablutions, the "Summer King" is sanctified and sits as the ceremonial head of state of the Moinar people. As the term of rulership progresses, the King will return to Maedside four times each year for ritualistic observations of the passing of the seasons. At the end of the four year term, the King returns to the island and is ritually sacrificed, lain in state, cremated and returned to the earth. The process then begins again.

I've always been fascinated by Iron Age/Bronze Age history as well as Celtic myth and stories of druids. I have been wanting to do something with all of that for quite some time. Also, the ideas of higher geometric dimensions (i.e. the geometic fourth dimension) and transhumanism, ritulistic behaviors/observances and other like things have really been of primary interest to me. The main isle of Maedsid sits in a higher geometric diemension and is only accessible from the smaller "gatehouse" islet. It seems to be perpetually indistinct and etherial. Think of the Isle of Avalon. Thus, it sort of "floats" in a dimensional pocket and is tethered to this reality (and possibly others). I've also been fascinated by the whole ancient idea of a sacrificial king that as the land prospers, the king sits in rulership and when things go bad, the king is sacrificed for the good of the land. I really wanted to use that idea for something and tie it into the whole transhumanist thing that you sometimes encounter in Sci-Fi stuff. So the idea is that the "spirit" of the Summer King merges with the spirit of the newly elected Summer King and makes this being in essence an immortal that inhabits a series of bodies over time. Not really undead, but each druid that is elected becomes a willing sacrificial vessel of the essence of the Summer King, the earthly manifestation of Daegraed, Lord of the Dawn.

I have always liked the druidic character class from 1e but it seemed that it was kind of hamstrung or that no one really did much with it. Maedsid is I guess my attempt to do something about that. So if you like that sort of quasi-Celtic druidic type stuff you might want to look into this. I might flesh out the druidic hierarchy as a sort of optional rule set, but I'll have to see when I get there.

Oh yeah, I also wanted to do something with the monsters I've been posting (damn, I really need to get back to that). I'd like to have things like the Black Dog make an appearance here. Well, enough rambling. I'll try to hopefully have this all coalesce into something fun and useful. More to follow!

On Old School Adventure Paths

2011-06-14T23:34:00.000-07:00

Right now, it seems the vogue for Old School type adventures is the Hex Crawl or similar, non-linear adventure type. I totally am down with that, but I was wondering, is there room for an “adventure path” series of linked adventures? I know there are a few such as the Sea of O’SR project, and the continuation of the 1e AD&D Giants series by R.C. Pinnell. I’m working on Isle of Maedsid, which I see as actually belonging to TWO “Adventure Paths”. The first being the Sea of O’SR and the second, being part of a series that I’ve been mulling over for about the past six years or so that I call the Shadow of the Umbra Palace Saga. Maedsid, and much of the other adventures such as Warrens of Polstrus Lev, Sinister Sightings at Dustchappel Downs, and Basalt Keep of Wilven the Yellow are designed to be able to be used as standalone adventures or as part of a wider (perhaps a bit non-linear) story arc. I’m really interested in exploring higher, non-euclidean geometries/dimensions, transhumanism, planar adventures, strange entities and so on. I don’t really care for the idea of railroad type adventures so I’m thinking of doing this as sort of Easter Eggs, or themes in one adventure might be carried over to another adventure. So think along the lines of more a Lovecraftian Mythos building rather than a Tolkienesque linear story progression. Will I be able to pull it off? I guess that remains to be seen, but I am working on it. Maedsid is coming along nicely. I have the island map completed and the first level of the funerary site drawn up and keyed. I just need to flesh out the details and maybe add more levels. I don’t intend for it to be a huge adventure, but a nice appetizer to something like Basalt Keep which will be rather large. I’m also working on some art - even going so far as to maybe doing a hand painted front cover with perhaps my lovely wife helping me on the back cover and layout? I’m really excited to try my hand at the writing and production side.

Where the Hell have I been?!?!

2011-06-13T01:03:00.000-07:00

Mostly at my drawing table finish up some artwork for Weird Adventures. It has been an absolute BLAST bringing to visual life some small corners of Trey Causey's awesome setting. Now with that wrapped up for the time being, I'm going to focus on some of my own projects as the clock ticks down to GENCON. Mostly, I'm going to prep some original art of sale (matted and mounted and ready for framing - if that's your thing!). Also, I've got to key the map for Isle of Maedsid and write it up. After that, on back to the Warrens of Polstrus Lev and Basalt Keep of Wilven the Yellow and in the future, Sinister Sightings at Dustchapel Downs as well as Shadow of the Umbra Palace!

Creative Compulsive Interviews

2011-06-09T11:42:00.000-07:00

My wife and collaborator Daisey has started a fantastic new series of interviews with fellow artists of all stripes over on her blog. Her first interview is with a High School classmate who does custom car work. It is great to see the creative process through a completely different medium. Go check out the interview here. Stay tuned for future installments with some of our many artistic friends and acquaintances from around the world. It's a fascinating journey and well worth the read!

Charlie Parker Beats the Devil

2011-06-08T10:02:00.000-07:00

I don't want to steal Trey's thunder but I've been doing a lot of art for several projects and not a lot of sharing. So here's a piece I did for Weird Adventures. This is another gaming product that I'm so looking forward to. I it just me or has 2011 been a crazy good year for those of us interested in the Old School stuff?

Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG Looks Awesome!

2011-06-08T09:43:00.000-07:00

OK, so I just downloaded and did a cursory glance through the PDF. I have to say the game that the PDF presents has one hell of an old school feel and I dig the vibe. I haven't delved much into the rules yet but wanted to give my first impression. There are some great homage pieces to some 1st Edition AD&D artwork and several 1st edition artists are represented inside as well as some of the newer old school ;) guys like Peter Mullen and Stefan Poag. I'm really looking forward to this one tremendously. I have to say that this looks like it will restore my faith in Goodman Games. I wasn't too fond of their direction after 4e came out, but this looks like a return to what they were good at. If you haven't checked out the Beta Playtest rules, you can download them here. I'll read through the rules and give some of my impressions later.

Commenting Problems

2011-06-07T23:12:00.000-07:00

I've been having some problems commenting on other's posts with blogger lately. This has been somewhat of a frustration as there are several blog posts that I'd like to be able to comment on but can't. Ah well, hopefulyy this will get fixed soon. On another note, I'm working on more art for Weird Adventures. This has been an incredibly cool project. At some point I need to get my act together and update my online portfolio as the art there is now around two years old and I think my work has grown quite a bit since. I'll post some previews of what I've been working on soon.

BREAKING NEWS: DCC Beta Starts Wednesday!!! ;)

2011-06-06T21:47:00.000-07:00

OK, yeah, so not exactly a news flash. However it is pretty cool. Although I'm still kinda miffed at Joe Goodman for not giving me any freelance work after I submitted my portfolio to him five years ago. Just kidding, he actually was very nice and very constructive in his criticism. I've acted upon his criticism and think I'm better for it and might just submit my portfolio to him again and see what happens...

In the meantime, I've been working on some stuff for Trey Causey's Weird Adventures. Check out some of the kick ass art he's commissioned from some other OSR artists here. I'm super excited about this setting and have been rereading my Goon comics and been itching to watch "O Brother Where Art Thou?" to keep the mood going. It's exciting stuff!

I've also finished the one level dungeon map for Isle of Maedsid. I will have to scan it in and key the dungeon and the island up. I'll post the map up soon.

Transhumanist ideas in Fantasy

2011-06-01T05:02:00.000-07:00

Slowly, ever so slowly am I working on Polstrus Lev and Basalt Keep. Part of the problem is I tend to get distracted by reading other people's stuff and it sparks more ideas and makes me revise what I'm working on to incorporate some cool ideas that have been sparked by the material I've been influenced by. Lately, I've been rather taken by the whole Eclipse Phase setting. I'll admit to not really keeping up with the Sci-Fi side of geekdom so Transhumanism and other such concepts were not really on my radar as I'm more of a fantasy guy. However, why limit myself by drinking from one well when there is a whole ocean of cool geekdom out there right? I've really been thinking of my projects in terms of a weird/dark fantasy with Cthulhueque overtones. I've been reading up on theoretical physics and non-Euclidian geometery to fuel some ideas. I'm also now thinking about incorporating some transhumanist themes as well. I was really struck by the idea of the identity of humanity being not so much tied to the physicality and biological human form, but more by the whole idea of the idea of humanity being more attached to a state of awareness or consciousness. This ties into some ideas that I've had for Basalt Keep, Polstus Lev and others. Hm, there are for sure some ideas percolating and stuff I want to work on. Sorry if this post comes across as crambled and vague, but I've got several ideas buzzing around and I need to pin them down and figure out how to best incorporate them (or even if I should incorporate them). At any rate, I'll keep working to try and actually get something out. More to follow...

Reving up my DIY Mojo

2011-05-31T03:54:00.000-07:00

Whew, it was a crazy busy weekend of accompanying our guests from Seattle to several cool local attractions to give them a good taste (often literally) of the Veneto here in Italy. It has been lots of fun, but I haven't had much time for other projects. I DID get to work on a commission piece for Trey Causey's Wierd Adventures. I've pretty much completed the pencils so I'll send those off tonight so Trey can see what I've been up to before I start the inking work. I've got a few of my own projects that I'd like to work on before I head out to GENCON. I'm seriously thinking about begining a rather daunting DIY challenge as well. I'm a techie as well as an artist but I feel like my tech-fu is getting a bit rusty (I'm more on the IT Security management side of things than the hands on tech stuff these days). In order to facilitate getting my tech chops back up to par AND benefit my artistic skills, I'm thinking of building a Linux from Scratch system. I have a work station just sitting around and I'm thinking of starting from the ground up building my Linux box and then optimizing it to run GIMP and other open source tools as my desktop publishing/graphics workstation. I've attempted to do this in the past, but I just could not devote the time to it that I needed to (not that I have much time now). However, how cool would it be to be able to process my projects on a system that I've literally built from the ground up? Now that it my DIY challenge for myself, we'll see where it goes.

Back from Bavaria

2011-05-27T08:03:00.000-07:00

I just got back from Garmisch, Germany today. I gotta tell you, I've been in love with the Bavarian Alps since I lived in Nuremburg as a teen. The area has a very dramatic and romantic feel that one can cetainly see where Wagner got his inspiration from. However, it is of course great to be back home in Bella Italia. I had hoped to be able to accomplish some artwork while I was gone, but alas, I accomplished no such feat. Instead, I spent my days listening to some very enlightening Information Security seminars and spent the evenings enjoying the German cuisine. I did recieve my copies of Vornheim and LotFP Grind House before leaving so I read those as well as my copy of a very decidedly non-old school Eclipse Phase (which is a fantastic Sci-Fi transhuman horror setting even if I find myself a bit befudled by the rules - perhaps adapting the setting to Stars Without Number would be more to my taste). I also got a chance to enjoy my Robin of Sherwood DVDs. My wife doesn't care much for Robin of Sherwood but I have a soft spot for the show which I first encountered when I was 14 living in Nuremburg. It figured into my gaming and was quite the inspiration for me. At the time, I don't recall much in the way of live action fantasy TV shows. Ah, at any rate, I'm going to enjoy my guests in town from Seattle and have some Pronto Pizza and enjoy the family before I head back to the drawing board this weekend.

Older Map/Birthday Project: Diceless Roleplay/pseudo LARP

2011-05-21T05:14:00.000-07:00

Whew, I just finished off a set of commision pieces and am about to move on to another project. After I finish doing a project, I like to go back and look through my projects to see how I've evolved over time. Looking back through my project pictures, I came across some pictures for Bear's Fifth birthday (wow, was that really two year's ago?!?!). He wanted a knight themed birthday complete with a quest. I desinged the quest and the map. At the end of the quest, I knighted the kids. It was a lot of fun and gets me itching to do some more fun maps. I actually cut the large map up into various sections, rolled them up like scrolls and they found each new piece as they fulfilled the various quest segments. Several Years ago, Daisey made me a really cool Green Man costume that I wore as the "Green Knight" to guide the kids on the quest. Here's some photos of that "project".

I've got one more commission piece to finish up and then I'm going to work on some T-Shirt Designs, Dice Bag Designs and Business Cards for GENCON! More soon.

Light Posting for the next week and a half or so

2011-05-17T23:26:00.000-07:00

A lot going on with Team Bingham as we have friends in town from Seattle and I've got to go to a conference in Germany next week so my posting will be sparse. I'm almost done with my latest batch of commissions and am thinking about some of my side projects. I'm getting pretty psyched about recieving my copies of Vornheim and Lamentations of the Flame Princess Grindhouse Edition in the mail. I did one illustration for the grind house for the malefic eye which you can see below:

Been Illin'

2011-05-16T07:33:00.000-07:00

As in sick. Bear, Rosa and I all are sick and feeling a bit rough around the edges. Poor Daisey is harried trying to take care of all of the sickos whilst we have company coming in from Seattle tomorrow and she is trying to finish her online finals tonight for her master's program! Fortunaqtely, Rosa and I are feeling a bit better and Daisey's mom is staying with us for a bit so that relieaves some of the pressure. I've got some catching up to do on artwork but I'm pretty much on track. Once this set of commissions is over, I'm trying to think of what the next project will be. I've got a few things in mind. Probably I'll get back to work on Polstrus Lev and Basalt Keep with some other ideas floating around as well.

Sticking my thumb in the eye of the Beholder.

2011-05-13T13:05:00.000-07:00

Stefan Poag posted today about a WotC contest (I'm not really sure if it was a contest, maybe a sort of WotC artists jam?) in which several artists do their own take a a Wayne Reynold's beholder painting. Stefan had the incredibly interesting idea that some of the artists in the OSR should maybe do their own take. You know what, I'm so down with that. I'm hoping more folks will also join in. What better way to show the playfulness and creativity of the OSR than by joining in (oh I know - there will be a few naysayers out there with their Eeyore like glumness and negativity but screw em). I've got a couple of commissions to finish up but I'm going to do this. Here's a copy of the picture in question:

I'm going to even try to get my son Bear in on the act (it's been to long since I've posted his art here). Maybe if Daisey isn't too overwhelmed with school, she'll even color it. It' be a fun family project. At any rate, I encourage anyone that can hold a pencil to take a crack at it. We'll show them what the old school beholders are all about ;).

Best of Breed

2011-05-10T10:41:00.000-07:00

Dan Proctor of Goblinoid Games (Labyrinth Lord, Mutant Future, etc)announced that he has secured the rights to Time Master RPG. I'm only periphrially aware of Time Master and don't know much about it. I think that this is a cool development from what I can tell and from what little I know of the system, but it does leave me wondering, what systems should be brought back? I'm sure there are some exellent older games that suffered from lack of promotion/distribution back in the day and many not so worthy systems that got a fair bit of attion due to advertisement. I like the fact that Dan has done quite a bit to bring support back for older games (and I think he has done a great job of it). But do we have enough DIY toolkits out there already to model most of the settings/genre out there? What's missing? Old West shootouts like Boot Hill? Maybe, but I seem to recall someone working on that. I'm a big fan of TSR's Marver Superheroes FASERIP system. For me, it modeled the type of superhero slug fests that were the staple of Marvel Comics back in the 1980's. I'm kind of disappointed to find that 4C, the system developed by Phil Reed at Ronin Arts not take off. I think that it's a great fast paced, easy to play system that you could do quite a bit with. But then again, maybe I'm just a bit off. I was thinking about how we have some great fantasy systems that model just about every concievable fantasy angle and the Sci-Fi arena seems to be well represented as well. I was thinking I'd like to see something like a modern Delta Green/Conspiracy X/Fringe/X-Files type game using an OSR rule set. I suppose OpenQuest could be used but I'm thinking something a bit lighter like 4C. Although I'm not sure that 4C wouldn't lend itself better at moedling something like say Ghostbusters/Men in Black/Evolution. So, what else is there out there that has been under represented and what was out there that didn't get enough representation the first time around?

On RPG Art: Keep on Drawing (or painting, or digitizing, or printmaking) in the Free world

2011-05-08T02:13:00.000-07:00

The topic of the moment in the blogosphere seems to be on the role of art in gamebooks. This topic tends to come up from time to time on the forums and on the blogs. This latest wave originated with James M. over at Grognardia and you can read it here. Stefan Poag offers further commentary on his blog here, Matt Finch also further expounds upon this topic in his blog here, along with N. Wright at Lawful Indiferent and most recently James Raggi.

As an artist that pretty much solely works for small press gamebook companies, I felt that it was only fitting that I chimed in. I think some very interesting points have been made on the topic, especially by Stefan Poag and Matt Finch. It is funny to me how many folks claim that they like low art/no art game books or prefer B&W over color as it help them fill in the details themselves. Frankly, as we should all know, it is really a matter of taste. The role of an RPG book is to convey rules or a setting. Art should complement that and not intrude on the function of the book. By that, I mean that the art shouldn't overwhelm the text on a page from a layout perspective. One should be able to read the text easily without having to strain due to the text being placed over a highly detailed artistic background. Pretty common sense I think. Some people even hold up the 3e era WotC rule books as being the biggest offenders. I don't find that in most cases that I have problems trying to read the text in the 3x game books (except that I find in the PHB and DMG the first page of a new chapter seems to be too graphic heavy and I can see those instances for a support of that argument). For me, the problem with the new stuff being put out by the larger companies isn't so much poor layout or too much color work, but more of a problem or aesthetics. I'm not quite sure where or when it became fashionable for artists to depict characters with impossibly sized weapons and armor. I'm not a big fan of the style, but unfortunately, it seems that it has permeated not just RPG books as the "in" thing, but comics, movies, video games, and indeed the very public consciousness as the way that fantasy art should be done.

I like Matt's inquest as to whether the OSR artists are evolving more along the lines of underground comic artists did and Stefan Poag's comment that 1) he can't draw like Lockwood 2) he probably wouldn't even if he could. I feel much the same. I don't disdain art heavy game books – I LOVE them. However, that being said, I have a particular taste and if there is a lack of verisimilitude, I tend to get turned off. I don't want to see guys with tiny heads and huge bodies wielding 10' swords – I'm just not willing to suspend my disbelief that much. It is funny considering that we are talking about fantasy here, but I think a touch of realism makes fantasy seem to be all the more – well, fantastic. Seeing a person outfitted in armor that resembles something from our historical past and accoutrements of a more human scale, transports me more into the scene. Well, that's why I suppose I find the OSR more my speed.

Now having said all of that, I have to say that I'm really applauding the efforts of guys like James Raggi pushing the envelope on what can be done with game books and even putting lots of art in his books. I'd like to see more color work in OSR game books. I mean, who wouldn't want to see a book that had work by say the likes of the Brothers Hildebrandt?

Or Frank Frazetta?

Or P. Craig Russel?

Even Wayne A. Reynolds, whom seems to be the bane of many art enthusiasts in the OSR has some pretty sweet work out there when he isn't being told to fit the corporate style of WotC or Paizo's art directors.

Do I think that the other guys like Stefan, ATOM, Glad, McDevitt, Scadgrad, Peter Mullen, Felt, AOS, or myself should not still continue to do art? Hell no I don't think that. I don't think that Frazetta's work invalidates my work – we have different styles, different techniques, different back grounds, different things to offer. Did I just dare to compare myself to Frazetta? Yeah, I did. We're both artists. Art is about exploring a vision. Everyone approaches it differently and the end results vary greatly. That is what is so awesome about it.

Finally, to get back on topic, I heartily encourage art in RPG books. I'd like to see more. I'd like to see B&W and color. I'd like to see wildly different and divergent stuff. I'd like to see more verisimilitude. I'd like to see stuff by guys I've never heard of. That's what's cool about this crazy quilt DIY kit-bash that we've involved in. Show me your rough strokes and finely polished finished results (after all Robert Crumb and Norman Rockwell are worlds apart but still respected masters of their own form of illustration – neither invalidates the other). Show me your crazy visions and I'll keep showing you mine ;).

A man ( and a mother) gotta eat!

2011-05-07T08:55:00.000-07:00

Since we've been invited to hang out with our Italian landlords for mother's day, I decided to do my own mother's day feast today. My mother-in-law is staying with us for the next six months while Daisey works on her graduate degree. It's actually working out quite well. At any rate, this is where the pork products part of my blog byline comes in. I love to grill. Really. It's probably one of my favorite activities. So, I'm putting on some pork ribs, Italian sausage, pollenta and pork cutlets tonight. My grill accompaniment is a prosecco/aperol spritz and Delta Green Countdown with a mix of The Misfits/The Cramps/The Young Werewolves on the iPod. Here's some pictures done with my retro camera app on my phone to set the mood ;).

Oh, the HORROR!!

2011-05-07T03:51:00.000-07:00

I've been on a bit of a horror themed rock kick lately. Bands like The Young Werewolves and The Drakest of the Hillside Thickets really have been getting a lot of airtime on my iPod lately. Rue Morgue, the horror magazine has recently released a free compilation of horror themed rock bands in thier second anthology Hymns from the House of Horror Volume II. I find that while not every band is to my taste, their is definitely a wide selection to choose from. I've even found a few new favorites like Kreeps and the Von Drats. I highly encourage everyone to go check it out. For free, you sure as heck can't beat the cost. And who knows, you may find some new favorites while your at it!

Up to no good

2011-05-05T06:24:00.000-07:00

So, the countdown to GENCON is on! I am registered for the Hotel an rental car. Now, I just need to finish up the last of the B&W artwork for Expeditious Retreat Press' tournament module. I'm looking forward to meeting some folks and playing some games. I've got some more artwork lined up that I'm really looking forward to doing. It's been a very productive year for me artistically. So much so that I've put all of my own personal RPG projects aside for the time being. I'll get back to them when I have some downtime, but in the meantime, I'm enjoying working on other people's projects. Not to mention I feel a bit more motivated to actually follow through on projects for other folks than I tend to on my own. I think that is mostly because I tend to revise stuff a million times and then just end up never getting it out there because I'm not satisfied. The typical artist mentality - there is no such thing as finished art, only abandoned art.

Oh yeah, I also got a great hardcover edition of the Art of P. Craig Russell yesterday. It's a great book. I'm fairly certain that even if you don't know the name, you've probably seen some of his art. It is fantastic stuff for sure. Being a huge Elric fan, he really brought Moorcock's work alive for me.

Time to stop kidding myself

2011-05-03T07:47:00.000-07:00

OK, I think I've mentioned it before, but I'm currently without a gaming group. I've often attributed this to a lack of gamers, but I'm realizing there is a pool of gamers out here. The real problem is lack of a hugely precious resource on my part - TIME. I've never hidden the fact that I'm a gamer and lately, I've even advertised it to several suitably geeky soldiers and civilians on post. Most of them (actually I think all of them) seem to really dig the idea of playing an old school D&D game. I think that's awesome.

However, as with so many things, I just don't know how to squeeze in the time to my schedule. Being a full time IT professional and devoted father and husband (not to mention aspiring artist!) leaves me with very little time. But, I feel that I have a great opportunity here to bring old school gaming to the masses (military types have always been a fertile ground for gamers) and should not squander it. So, I have this question: how the #$3@ do you guys find the time to do it ;)? I feel that I should at least strike while the iron is hot and get a bi-weekly game going. Hm, I'll just have to think on how to get this going (heh, of all the problems to have right?).

Registering for GENCON Events

2011-05-01T11:20:00.000-07:00

So, I've made my hotel and rental car reservations. Now I am registering for events. I am actually a bit overwhelmed since this is my first time going, I'm not sure what to expect. I am wanting to get some gaming in as well as hit a few seminars. Actually, I mostly just want to meet people, toss around some dice and have a few beers and lotsa laughs. I'm pretty excited but also a bit nervous that I'll just end up loitering around a few booths and then going back to the hotel to watch some TV and do some art.

Another look at the Obsidian Sands of Syncrates cover

2011-05-01T01:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I posted the color finished front cover for the Obsidian Sands of Syncrates cover. I figured I'd post the B&W original so that you can see some of the process involved and just how much of a team Daisey and I are when it comes to doing the color works.

It all starts from the art direction. Everyone tends to approach this a little different, but usually it takes the shape of a verbal sketch of the cene to be depicted and a size of the overall drawing. For this particular piece, Joe Browning uses cover images that are sized 5" x 7.5". You can visit the descriptive text on Joe's blog here. Some folks are very veribose and meticulous in their verbal depictions, others are very sparse. I think Joe's strikes a nice balance in that he frames a scene but gives me a lot of leverage in using my artistic vision to visually depict the scene.

Next, I'll usually pull out my sketchbook and do a rough thumbnail sketch. For this image, I roughed it out very lightly on the bristol board itself. Normally this is only something I do if I have a strong impression of what I want the final scene to look like. Otherwise I run the risk of "polluting" the surface of the final image by making marks that are difficult to erase of cover up in the final image.

For the 5"x7.5" pieces, I like to use 9"x12" bristol board. I then procees to "frame" my work by drawing a 1" border inside the work. This is mostly for psychological reasons as it helps me break the stark white of the page and gives me a frame of reference to work from.

I then proceed to pencil the image in with my trusty mechanical pencil. I also have some cool pencils that are made from recycled newspapers. I usually will use those to do the "finished" pencils. When I get the main line drawing portion done, I'll go back and start "spotting" my blacks - the areas that will later be filled in with solid black. Some artists just annotate in the drawing itself where the solid black areas are by placing x's or other marks. Others will actually shade in the entire area with pencils. I tend to do a mixture of the two. For smaller areas, I pencil them in. For large areas of solid black, I'll simply place some marks so I'll know that it is black later on when I begin inking. I find that if I use pencil on the large areas, later when I'm erasing the pencil marks, it tends to weaken the strength of the black ink. Anyway, that's the method that works for me.

Here's the end result of this stage in the process:

The finished inked image is now ready to be scanned into the computer. I'll import it to Photoshop and the rest of the process will begin. But first, I want to back up a step and mention Daisey's contributions up to this stage. Normally, Daisey doesn't usually read the art direction - she pretty much relies on my interpretation. While I'm penciling the work, she may offer some contributions in the form of suggestions to composition. Her greatest contributions come in the inking stage where she helps quite a bit with determining just how much black I should use. She has been great at encouraging me away from the crutch of using too much fussy detail to define an image and relying on form and context. So her eye helps play a critical role in helping determine the composition.

At this stage, Daisey takes over, and we reverse roles. She defines much of the color with me only imputing critical items that need to be depicted a certain way (i.e. the obsidian sands in this case). I offer my input on design decisions but the choices at this stage are largely hers. Daisey will often use reference photos to help define texture, pattern, lighting, etc. Here's two reference pictures she used on this work. The first she used to help work on the sand for the arena floor:

The next is what she used to help define the marble of the statues:

Once we finish, we save the work in a folder on the computer with the other color works and do a slide show. This helps us determine the strengths of the piece by visually comparing it to other works we've finished. Here's what it looks like at this stage:

I then go back in and crop it and size the image to the proper dimension. Here's the end result that gets sent in to the publisher:

Now the publisher applies their layout magic and we end up with the final result:

And thus you have the end result that is born of a symbiotic relationship. Having two creative types in the house is great as we are able to feed off eachother's energy to drive our projects, be able to openly and constructively provide feedback to help strengthen our endeavors, and its just plain cool to be part of a great team. And we do so hope that you enjoy the fruits of our labors. It is a joy to be able to bring these fatastic scenes to life!

Blogging A to Z: Z is for Zero

2011-04-30T12:33:00.000-07:00

Alright, this is the last of the Alphabetical related blog posts. It certainly was challenging to do. I know some folks are looking forward to getting back to gamer related business. I'll admit that I'm looking forward to a more freeform posting. Anyway, Daisey and I just finished some cover work for the Expeditious Retreat Press OSRIC/AD&D 1e tournament module The Obsidian Sands of Syncrates. I'm very pleased with our collaborative work. I think we make a great team in so many ways and it really shines through in our artistic collaborations. Here's a look at our latest.

Blogging A to Z: Y is for Young Werewolves

2011-04-29T07:57:00.000-07:00

OK, another music post, but damn these guys just make me want to rip it up and make some art! I just recently heard of them but they take me back to my punker days. Great psychobilly sound there. If you like the Reverend Horton Heat, these guys'll rock your socks off. Now I wanna go jam out with some werewolves! Oh yeah, have a great Friday everyone!!

Blogging A to Z: X is for X-Men

2011-04-28T08:19:00.000-07:00

When in doubt, go back to your root right? Well, comic books is where it all started for me. Yeah, the gateway drug into the greater nerdery. As a kid, I think Batman was a favorite but when I entered my teens, I discovered the X-Men. And things changed for me. This was the first time that I could really identify with the characters. Sure, they were mutant rebel outcasts, but I was going through puberty when I discovered them and those changes alomost seemed like a mutation. Add to that that I was almost cataclysmically shy, just got braces, had to start wearing glasses, grew to be a 6'2" super skinny (oh, yeah, that was long ago wasn't it?), and all the rest, and I really felt like a mutant. Since my mother had remarried and we relocated to Nuremburg, Germany from Mascoutah, Illinois - yeah, I felt like an outcast as well. So the X-Men spoke to me for sure. For me, the classic team was Len Wein and Dave Cockrum. The John Byrne/Chris Claremont idea is good (and many folks cite it as the best X-Men era), but I tell yah, Len and Dave really hit a home run. Afterall, they are the team that is responsible for bringing us the New X-Men team of Storm, Colosus, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, and Thunderbird. Not to mention that Dave Cockrum's work on the X-Men is top notch. Witness this classic image:

Good stuff for sure. If you want to see more of Cockrum's work you can visit this tribute web site here. along with his X-Men work, he did some fantastic stuff for another one of my favorites, Legion of Superheroes. It's well worth looking up his stuff.

Blogging A to Z: W is for Weird Adventures

2011-04-27T22:12:00.000-07:00

If you have not been following Trey Causey's work over at From The Sorcerer's Skull, I gotta say, you're missing out on one of the freshest takes on a fantasy setting that is currently out there. Weird in a sort of crazy 1920's pulp meets seriealized sci-fi and cliff hanger movies meets lost highway Route 66 weird roadside attraction - aw hell, this thing just oozes flavor. Go check out the downloadable preview Strange Trails and read through it. Oh yeah, this is also where Daisey and I began our collaboration work so here's a piece that we worked on for Wierd adventures:

Got check it out!

Blogging A to Z: V is for Vendetta

2011-04-27T03:54:00.000-07:00

Vendettas are a good way to bring either a single encounter, recurring story arc or the basis for a whole campaign to the game. Often times, vendettas are vengeful actions carried out by someone with a perceived wrong against them by the Player Characters. Most often, vendettas are the result of a perceived insult that may be directed at the wrong persons or even entirely fallacious. Persons carrying out a vendetta are usually acting in a heightened emotional state and thus the vendetta may not even be based upon any logical. Here’s a random table for some more, er, unusual vendetta ideas that are free to use.

1. Fezmin Seven Finger at the local watering hole doesn’t like the way the PCs look. Adventuring types always mean trouble and Fezmin has an axe to grind with anyone of the adventuring stripe since he lost three fingers on his right hand as a torch bearer for a party that left him for dead during an adventure. Fezmin, a grizzled and scarred from many delves is a sour old drunkard that will cast evil glances in the party’s direction. If approached, Fezmin will be surly and rude for no apparent reason. If hostilities ensue, Fezmin will create a loud ruckus about adventuring types that like to abuse the local populace. Fezmin will not directly physically confront the party but will spit in their food and do other unsavory things to harass the party.

2. The Festering Wound goblin tribe has marked the party for an unusual vendetta. The Festering Wound tribe will try to capture the party at any turn. Over the years, the Festering Wound Tribe has developed a resurrection cult that is centered around a prophecy that a cleric will come into their midst, revive their ancestrial champion Gorzok, and lead the tribe to victory over a local group of orcs. The Festering Wound believes the party cleric is their saviour and has labeled the party members as vile heretics that have ensorceled their savior.

3. Belwen the Bawdy, one of the local “entertainers” has accused one of the party members of failing to pay for services rendered. Belwin further will claim to be betrothed to one of the party members and will become obsessed with the character to the point of stalking the character. Belwin will is firmly convinced that the rest of the party is trying to kidnap the object of his desire and will do whatever he can to hinder the party short of outright confrontation.

4. Lestheride Moda Conawlin is trying to become the master of space and time. He is throroughly convinced that the party is the cause of his failure to actually be the master of space and time. Of course, in Lestheride's mind, the parties action occured in the future so this may well be a self fulfilling prophecy.

I know, I know, I missed a day. I'll work on W and catch up. It's been a busy week! More later...

Blogging A to Z: U is for Unafraid of the Dark

2011-04-25T10:19:00.000-07:00

As I've been maturing as an artist, I've noticed a definite evolution of my work from simple line art to something more, well, more on the lines of a woodcut print I suppose. I used to have quite a penchant for crazy detail pretty much all made up of line as you can see here:

While I still have a tendancy towards that stylistically, I've been trying to steer away from that style and move to a more "noir" style I suppose. Guys like Mike Mignola make the minimalism involved look easy but to be honest, I find it quite intimidating. It's not easy to "let go" and trust yourself enough to let go of the detail and define a picture by form rather than line. I find myself quite often taking much more time on my pencils than I ever did previously. Most of this time is actually involved in a process that is called "spotting blacks". When trying to define an image through form, it becomes critical that the positive and negative areas define volume and mass. Determining a light source is key in this process. Two of my more recent pictures show some of my progress towards using form to define a picture rather than line:

Sure, I still have a ways to go before I'm really up there with something like this:

But I think stuff like this is moving me in the right direction:

Ultimately it all boils down to two things: Fear and Trust. First, overcome the fear of letting the shadows and negative space enveloping the detail and let it define form and mass. Second, trust that the viewer is going to be able to understand the image without leading them through extravagant detail. I find it pretty hard to let go. My wife is always urging me to just let go and let the shapes speak for themselves. Ah well, it is always an evolutionary process and a journey moreso than a destination. And I do hope you enjoy the ride with me.

Blogging A to Z: T is for Thickets (The Darkest of the Hillside)

2011-04-23T04:52:00.000-07:00

OK, I'll admit to being way outside the cutting edge of the music scene. I guess that kinda happens when you become a family man. I'm not complaining, it just means that I'm a little slow on the uptake on what's going on out there. At any rate, I just got turned on to The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets, an awesome Cthulhu Punk rock band. I've been a fan of bands like the Misfits and the Cramps for many years so these guys are right up my alley to be sure. Go check out their site here. Here's a youtube link to one of my current favotite songs by these guys: .

My investigations into Darkest of the Hillside Thickets have also yeilded some other cool findings such as Rue Morgue. The Rue Morgue Facebook page also turned me onto another cool Horror Punk/Rockabilly band the Young Werewolves. Here's a cool video from those guys.

So I'm happy. I've lost a few sanity points, added some new bands to my punk rotation on my iPod, discovered some cool new scenes going on that I wasn't tracking, and now have a wallet that is a bit lighter for it all. If you're a horror fan, a punk rock fan, you like Lamentations of the Flame Princess, etc, go check these links out!

Blogging A to Z: S is for Satisfaction

2011-04-22T05:16:00.000-07:00

Unlike the Stones, I get a tremendous amount of satisfaction from the act of creating something. I'm sure if you've been following my blog, I tend to be a bit more heavy on the art side or more specifically the artistic process and though process than I am on RPGs. The act of creating work is incredibly satisying and fufilling for me. And I'm always interested in learning about other creative type's processes. My wife Daisey has a Blog dedicated to her creative process. Lately she has decided to branch out beyond just her creative process and interview other creative types in an effort to document the creative process for others. Today she has made a post of my four year old daughter Rosa's creative process and more specifically how her figure drawing has evolved. Hopefully soon she will have interviews with other creative types from many diverse backgrounds. So if you know of anyone with a creative background that would be ameneable to an interview about their creative process, let myself or my wife know. It doesn't matter wheather they are a visual artist, a writer, a publisher, or what have you, she's interested in highlighting the creative process in many media.

Blogging A to Z: R is for Relief Printing

2011-04-21T07:54:00.000-07:00

Alrighty, so the other day I went over to my favorite online artseller and ordered a bunch of art supplies. I ordered a a bunch of stuff to make some linoleum prints. You know, I don't think I've made any lino prints since I was in High School (damn, and that was a hell of a long time ago). I know we did quite a few found object prints for zines in my punk days but that was a bit more spontaneous and in college I did a lot of etching and lithography. So anyway, my lovely wife has volunteered to sew up some flannel dice bags and I'm going to make up a print design for the dice bags. I'm fully intending on being at GENCON this summer so I'll hand out what I bring for free. I'm also thinking of making some hand printed T-shirts and the like. I'd sell some of this stuff but unfortunately I can't use the US military mail and the Status of Forces agreement bars me from conducting business through the Italian post, so I figure making a batch of stuff up and giving it out to those that are interested would be cool. So, I'm not sure if anyone is interested or if anyone is going to GENCON, but I'll hopefully be there and handing out some free stuff made by myself and my ubertallented wife Daisey.