City Maps, More City Maps, and STILL MORE City Maps!

If you want to look at a whole bunch of old walled cities, look no further!

This link will take you to a very nice collection of walled city photographs.  The cartographer in me likes the aerial views, but several of the other images are just was striking.

Enjoy!

Elven View of the World (Part 2)

Back in July of last year, I posted a link to a video in a post called An Elven View of the World.

I said back then that, "The Elves in my campaign worlds can occasionally step into states of (what is effectively) suspended animation, for various periods of time.  They typically do this when they are communing with their natural surroundings.  They use this time to rest and separate themselves from the mortal burdens that all of the other races of man around them have to deal with."

I've come across another fantastic video that I think shows again what I meant.  This is how elves can see the world--when they choose to do so.

Map Roundup - 03 March 2013

It's that time again!

Let's go straight to The Iron Tavern for some maps.  A Stonghold on 27 February 2013.  A Basement on 20 February 2013.  A Cave on 11 February 2013.  I like how he is channeling the style of Dyson Logos in these.

If you have any interest in Greyhawk, you can visit Timrod over at Unfrozen caveman dice-chucker and look at these two posts.  Neither are really about the map that is included other than the map is present as an illustration for the post, but that's okay.  The first, of Hommlet (28 February 2013), is actually one of my favorite village maps around.  The second, of a large expanse of Greyhawk (14 February 2013), is a nice regional map.

But if you're going to spend any time at U(f)cd-c, you should check out his posts about the sample dungeon in the 1E DMG.  Here is Part 4 (13 February 2013) of that series of posts, which contains a map.  Moving back in time, here is Part 3 (03 February 2012), Part 2 (23 January 2012), and Part 1 (13 January 2012).

And since I've come this far, I should close this section with two more posts from U(f)cd-c.  The first is about the moathouse (some might say the moathouse) (17 September 2012) and an analysis of the construction of said structure.  Here's a regional map for a post-apocalyptic setting (06 February 2012).

JDJarvis over at Aeons & Augauries is doing a series of Town Geomorphs.  Nifty little idea if you're trying to generate a town on the fly.  Here's six of them, all posted on 02 March 2013: B1, B2, B3, B4, B5, and B6.  Of course, it might be easier just to link to all of his posts labeled geomorphs.  Of that collection, there is one that I feel the need to specifically point out: This large one hour effort.  Fantastic level for a megadungeon in my opinion.

Hopping over to Digital Orc, there have been few map-related posts recently.  A few nice city maps in this post from 02 March 2013.  Here's a post with a very basic map included.  I link to it not necessarily because the map itself is good, but because it has some nice body details in the map (13 February 2013).  Those blood splatters are pretty damn cool!

If one ventures over to Gorgonmilk (one of my favorite blog titles out there, by the way), you would find a really cool side-view map (28 February 2013) of this old well.

Finally, Quag Keep, a blog that I've spent a bit of time looking through.  I'm linking to it because I REALLY dig the map that he uses for his blog header.  I can't be sure, but I think that it was done in Microsoft paint.  Nice.

And that will wrap up this installment.

Map Roundup - 28 Feb 2013

It's been a LONG time since I did a Map Roundup.  But I've seen some things the past few days that absolutely deserved to be mentioned in a post.

Without further ado:

Blue Boxer Rebellion.  What?  CRAZY cool maps.  Go take a look:

31 January 2013.  Really nice city map.  And it comes with a history.

05 February 2013.  Nice interior iso map.  I love the details and the style.

07 February 2013.  Cut-away iso dungeon map.  Fantastic.

11 February 2013: More cut-away iso dungeon maps.  I'm going to get "Welcome to the Plunderdome" for those maps alone.

Now I have to say that I've wandered past Blue Boxer Rebellion in the past.  But I don't remember it being a repository for wonderful maps.  I don't know if something has changed or if it is just me, but rest assured that I'll be popping in over there a whole lot more often now.  I love everything above.

Here are some maps from Fictive Fantasies: 26 February 2013.

So how can you not like a post entitled Demonlord Hex Map?  From People them with Monsters on 27 February 2013.

The Splintered Realm on 27 February 2013.  I've not spent much time on that blog, but there was something about this little map.  I liked it.

For some nice stronghold maps, go take a look at the Hill Cantons and his Pimp Your Own Stonghold Contest (20 February 2013).  I really dig the cut-away Batcave image.  And if your going to be over in the Hill Cantons anyway, you might as well check out this oldie-but-goodie: How to "Awesome Up" Your Fantasy Maps (01 March 2011).  I might have linked to this in the past, but didn't want to spend the time verifying.

I'm going to close this Map Roundup with links to two posts from Oubliette.  These posts are pure greatness, as they combine maps (win), geomorphs (Win), and LEGOs (WIN!).  That pretty much tells you everything that you need to know: 19 February 2013.  27 February 2013.

This was fun to do, so I think that I'll do more Roundups in the near future.

Commoners

John over at the Land of Nod wrote an interesting little piece about the everyman, aka "the commoner".  His point is that most people aren't heroes, they're just ordinary folk.  He then goes on to give examples of some special abilities that characters in a game might have if they are one.

Nice little mechanical bits that I think make sense and add some flavor to being common.

It hit home with me, because I am working on a project right now that is all about a group of peasants and their attempts to do something extra-ordinary with their lives. 

LEGO Hogwarts

So I am a HUGE LEGO fan.  I have been my entire life.  I still have (almost) all of the sets I ever received growing up, including (almost) all of manuals.  Don't get me wrong--it's always more fun to create your own thing, but it's nice knowing that I could still build those sets from my youth.

Unfortunately, my kids historically have not been interested in playing with them.  That is, until about seven months ago, when a new family moved in down the street.  Their kids are almost identically aged to ours, and they have become great friends.  One great thing about their kids is that they are all LEGO fanatics.  They have more sets than I had and have many creations on permanent display.  This, of course, prompted my kids to get interested in them.

We've purchased a few sets for my kids, and they are really enjoying playing with them.

My middle boy is a huge fan of LEGO Heroica.  We've played a lot of that since Christmas.  We have four of the five sets and really get into it.  I plan on writing a longer post about Heroica another time, so more about that then.

My oldest received the Haunted House for Christmas:


She and I have been slowly putting it together since Christmas.  It has made for some really nice father-daughter time.

She and I are also reading the Harry Potter series at bedtime.  Before now, I had only ever read the first book.  Together, we are 15 pages from the end of Book 2 and about to start Book 3.  We are really enjoying it.  The reading is making for some really nice father-daughter time as well.

Tonight, as I was browsing the interwebs before dinner, I came across this photo:

                                 

To see more, go to this Flickr page and look through all of the photos.  How absolutely amazing is that Hogwarts LEGO creation?  I wish that I had that kind of free time on my hands--or the disposable income to buy all those bricks.  Of course, I flipped through those photos with my kids oohing and aahing the whole way.  Pretty impressive.

Then we came to this picture.  I asked, "What is a thestral?"  Keep in mind that my daughter has NOT seen any of the Harry Potter movies yet, and that we haven't gotten to any thestrals in the Harry Potter books.  (Frankly, I wouldn't have been able to tell you that there was such a thing as a thestral in the HP books until I came to that photo.)  My daughter answered, "It's kinda like a ghost horse." "Oh, well, how do you know that?"   Because, seriously, I was curious to know where she had heard of them.  She replied, "Dad, when you read as many fantasy books as I have, you just come to learn these things."  I LOVE IT.  My daughter is a huge fan of fantasy, and I didn't even have to try.

If you want to read more about that LEGO Hogwarts, go over to The Brothers Brick to read an interview with the woman who built that thing.

PDF Sales

Here is an interesting post from Tori Bergquist over at Realms of Chirak about the pricing of pdfs and the market for rpgs today.

I find it interesting because of the points that he makes.

I also find it interesting because a long time ago, when Tori was putting out some material for 4E, I produced a product that was a tie-in to one of his.

Photographic Inspiration for Your Game

Subterranean Design.  Build a Dungeon from Me.  Dungeon Inspiration.  All websites that provide ample material to amaze and inspire you.  All three of them are fantastic.

A few days ago, I came across 500px, another photo sharing site.  Lot's of really nice images there.  Then I came across this guy.  Wow.  Flip through the several pages of his gallery.  I guarantee that at least ten of his photos will spark some bit of creativity in your cranium.

Landscapes.  Locations for adventures.  NPCs.  Great stuff.

I want to sit down and write an adventure for at least ten of his photos.

Quag Keep - A to Z

Back here, I said that I once thought that the Dragonlance saga of novels were based on play reports of the AD&D Dragonlance modules.  Various commenters pointed out that there have been some novels that came about as the result of playing D&D--or at least were heavily influenced by it.

One commenter, Restless, mentioned Andre Norton's "Quag Keep"--a novel that I still have not made the time to read, but that was based on Norton's playing a game of D&D.  Perhaps I won't read it, because I won't need to!  Paul over at the Blog of Holding is doing a series of posts about Quag Keep.  Thanks, Paul!

Here they are:

He starts.
He writes about treasure.
He talks about magic and monsters.
More magic and monsters!

I have a feeling that Paul will write more posts about Quag Keep.  If he does, I may need to link to them at some point in the future.  Oh well.

Paul--thanks!

RPGs, Problem Players, and Parenting

So Dave over at The Concierge posted last night about a situation that he experienced at his gaming table.  Technically, it wasn't at his table, because he was playing in a game DM'ed by his highschool-aged son.  I found it to be an interesting post, and dilemma, from a number of perspectives.

I say go take a look at it, and then stop back here.  (If you decided not to, here's the gist: Dave is at the table DM'ed by his son.  Two players (his son's age) prove to be 'difficult'.  Dave reacts as a parent, perhaps instead of as a fellow player.  Interesting thoughts and a few questions ensue.)

First off, while I know many bloggers out there (here?) write about getting their children into gaming and/or DM'ing for their children and children's friends, I don't believe that I've ever come across a blogger talk about playing in his or her kid's game.  I'm sure it's happened--I just haven't encountered it.  So, in my mind, the first question becomes, how many people out there play in their kids' world?  Based on relative ages and mathematics, I'm sure that there are plenty.  What's it like?

Second, if you aren't the DM and therefore not "responsible" for play at the table, how far do you let an awkward situation go before you step in and attempt to "fix" it?  Are there ever situations where you just decide to let the DM go down with his ship?

I've some other thoughts, but my bed is calling out to me,

If you've come across this situation or similar ones, drop over there and leave a comment or two for Dave.