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D&D Classics in PDF
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Dundracon 2013
I'll be at Dundracon if you happen to be in the area and want to go to one of the best game conventions in the San Francisco Bay Area. Always lots of excellent gaming goes on. I will have my recent game Murder of Crows available for sale, as well as old classics like the entire line of Dungeoneer games. I should have some art prints, and if you want some Magic, Game of Thrones, or L5R cards signed that I've illustrated for I'll be happy to.
I'm trying to get together some art prints as well. Unfortunately I didn't get Warriors of the Red Planet completed, but I do have the latest version in PDF format on my iPad, and if you buy anything at my booth and ask for a sneak peek of WotRP you can see it and I'll give you a 10% discount.
I'm trying to get together some art prints as well. Unfortunately I didn't get Warriors of the Red Planet completed, but I do have the latest version in PDF format on my iPad, and if you buy anything at my booth and ask for a sneak peek of WotRP you can see it and I'll give you a 10% discount.
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D&D Premium Reprint
Wizards of the Coast is putting together a gorgeous reprint of the original D&D sets. When I first saw this image I thought it was some fan-made thing and my reaction was what a cool idea! I was pleasantly surprised when I saw it was Wizards that was actually putting this together. Well played Wizards, well played.
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The only other thing I have to add is just...
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The only other thing I have to add is just...
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Petty Gods
I'm really glad to hear that Gorgonmilk took up the responsibility of getting Petty Gods completed. I thought it was a great idea when I first heard about it, and I donated some art for the interior and the cover.
Looking at the direction it is taking I'm thinking it is a good thing that Gorgonmilk is taking on the job, because it sounds much more compelling as a resource book now!
Hard to believe it was almost two and a half years ago this project started. Damn things can move slow in the OSR. (hello WotRP!)
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Looking at the direction it is taking I'm thinking it is a good thing that Gorgonmilk is taking on the job, because it sounds much more compelling as a resource book now!
Hard to believe it was almost two and a half years ago this project started. Damn things can move slow in the OSR. (hello WotRP!)
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Against the Cult of the Reptile God
Wizards just made N1 Against the Cult of the Reptile God available in PDF.
I have fond memories of running this game back when it first came out. On the surface it follows a familiar formula: quaint village, nefarious goings on, and nearby adventure locals. The added twist is that there is enough going on in the village itself that several adventure sessions and deadly encounters can happen right in the character's home base.
Also I really like troglodytes and nagas, they just seem really sinister and nasty making for great villains. And I also admire Timothy Trumans evocative, dark art work that set the tone for this challenging novice adventure.
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I have fond memories of running this game back when it first came out. On the surface it follows a familiar formula: quaint village, nefarious goings on, and nearby adventure locals. The added twist is that there is enough going on in the village itself that several adventure sessions and deadly encounters can happen right in the character's home base.
Also I really like troglodytes and nagas, they just seem really sinister and nasty making for great villains. And I also admire Timothy Trumans evocative, dark art work that set the tone for this challenging novice adventure.
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Trampier Tuesday
Manticore from Monster & Treasure Assortment Set Three.
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Warlor - a sandbox world
1: the gods sang a song, and the lyrics created Warlor. One sour note created evil.
2: a shard of heaven fell and the crash created Warlor. One piece scarred the face of Hatok the most beautiful god, who was so incensed his anger created evil.
3: the lords of creation came together and palavered to create Warlor where they could test their faithful, one lord turned against the others and introduced darkness and deception to the world.
4. a rift was torn in the fabric of the multiverse and a god fell through, the shockwave where she fell created Warlor.
5. ancient aliens, seeking refuge from an enslaved homeworld, terraformed a rocky world and called it Warlor.
6. A god and a demon had an argument, they created Warlor to settle the issue.
How the Warlor map was created.
Step 1.
In Photoshop a blank file was created and the Clouds filter was used on a blank layer. Levels were used to reduce the image to black and white, adjusting slightly between how much black or white in order to create an interesting silhouette.
I found some interesting terrain textures by searching for satellite images. Then hand edited them to fit the contours of the map.
Generated some interesting fantasy names by finding a fantasy name generator (there are dozens out there, in this case I used http://rinkworks.com/namegen/ ). I chose the names I thought sounded cool, slightly modifying some of them.
There has been quite a bit of discussion about this font because of the recent Yahoo logo remake. So I decided to use this font. It is a strong stately font, very legible, and projects strength and class. I like its legibility.
Warlor! A new fantasy world is born.
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Kudos to Wizards - Original Edition D&D Premium Reprint is Well Done
There are some very interesting and surprising qualities to this reprint. It is really more than a reprint, remastered might be a better term as we'll see. The box is composed of high quality lacquered wood, inside are a full set of dice, the original 3 booklets, all 4 expansions, summary sheets, and some nice art prints. It is a nearly complete facsimile of original edition. All fairly densely packed with only a little air space. It comes across as a nice high quality collector's edition.
First thing I noticed when opening the box is how crisp the printing is. I got out my old original edition set for side by side comparison. Not only is the printing sharper, but the books are about a half inch wider and the same height.
Any criticisms I have are minor, and really more of a personal thing. For example it seems strange not to include Chainmail. I can see why Swords & Spells wasn't included, but that really was the mass combat system for the original edition so having it would have made the set more complete. The covers are a brilliant white, too contrasty to me. I'd like to have seen the covers be on off-white or cream paper. This also made me long for Wizards to go a step further and produce a hard bound single-volume, edited, version with redundancies removed, and making it complete by including all the official material from Strategic Review.
So what other piece of nostalgia can Wizards dredge up for us? I think the obvious answer is the D&D Rules Cyclopedia.
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RIP David Trampier 1954-2014
I've written here a few times how much I admired Dave Trampier. His passing drives home the fact we'll never see a new piece of art from his brilliant hand, unless (I hope) there is some secret stash of unpublished art somewhere that will someday be revealed.
He was a great one, perhaps the best artist of the early 1st edition era, and sadly his art career ended too soon. But I hope he found peace and happiness as a taxi driver. I can say from my own experience that being a delivery driver while in college was one of my favorite jobs, so I can kind of understand.
You can leave a message on his obituary to say how much his work meant to you:
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/thesouthern/obituary.aspx?n=david-trampier&pid=170356694&fhid=8429
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He was a great one, perhaps the best artist of the early 1st edition era, and sadly his art career ended too soon. But I hope he found peace and happiness as a taxi driver. I can say from my own experience that being a delivery driver while in college was one of my favorite jobs, so I can kind of understand.
You can leave a message on his obituary to say how much his work meant to you:
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/thesouthern/obituary.aspx?n=david-trampier&pid=170356694&fhid=8429
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This blog has moved
To here: Studio Denmark Blog
For a few years now I have been maintaining 3 blogs:
OEF: (this one) a general game design blog that talks mostly about classic games from the 70's and early 80's from a modern POV.
Dungeoneer: a game design blog dedicated to my first published game Dungeoneer which was published in 2003 and is still going strong.
Art Blog: a blog devoted to my sketches, work in progress, thoughts about art, illustration, and conceptual design and occasional finished art work. Not really a portfolio site (for that go to thomasdenmark.com), but you could get some insight into my work and process.
Well, I've decided to merge those 3 blogs into this one. Studio Denmark is my imprint from which I publish art books, games, and various other products mostly for trade shows, some for publishers, and hopefully some soon for retail. So it might seem eclectic as I talk about art in one post, game design in another, and who knows what in the next. But it will reflect my interests and hopefully be of some value to professionals, or aspiring artists and designers, interested in illustration, concept art, or game design.
For a few years now I have been maintaining 3 blogs:
OEF: (this one) a general game design blog that talks mostly about classic games from the 70's and early 80's from a modern POV.
Dungeoneer: a game design blog dedicated to my first published game Dungeoneer which was published in 2003 and is still going strong.
Art Blog: a blog devoted to my sketches, work in progress, thoughts about art, illustration, and conceptual design and occasional finished art work. Not really a portfolio site (for that go to thomasdenmark.com), but you could get some insight into my work and process.
Well, I've decided to merge those 3 blogs into this one. Studio Denmark is my imprint from which I publish art books, games, and various other products mostly for trade shows, some for publishers, and hopefully some soon for retail. So it might seem eclectic as I talk about art in one post, game design in another, and who knows what in the next. But it will reflect my interests and hopefully be of some value to professionals, or aspiring artists and designers, interested in illustration, concept art, or game design.
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Warriors of the Red Planet at last
I'll be at Kublacon Game Convention in Burlingame CA this weekend. I have Warriors of the Red Planet RPG (beta edition) available at my table, along with a limited edition portfolio of 5 paintings inspired by Princess of Mars and used in the WotRP RPG.
If you plan to attend or are in the area stop by and say hi.
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Cheers.
If you plan to attend or are in the area stop by and say hi.
Cheers.
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Post Kublacon Thoughts
Kublacon is my favorite gaming convention in the San Francisco bay area, and this year was no exception. The show, by all accounts, broke attendance records and there was a lot of activity at our booth all weekend.
Warriors of the Red Planet RPG did very well. For more details go to the Studio Denmark blog here.
Warriors of the Red Planet RPG did very well. For more details go to the Studio Denmark blog here.
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Warriors of the Red Planet update
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Warriors of the Red Planet RPG now available
-Whew-! That was a fair bit of work, but Warriors of the Red Planet RPG is now online ready for purchase. I decided to go with Lulu for now.
Remember this is a Beta edition, it has gone through multiple edits, still you may find occasional typos, some unclear passages, and some areas that could use a little more fleshing out. But it is at the point where it needs to be viewed and played by more people so we can get that feedback. (and please, discuss your experience with WotRP on our forum here: Platemail Forum)
While it may not yet be absolutely perfect, it is a damn fun read and I think you'll have a blast.
Right now it is only available as a print-on-demand book, but I verified the quality is very good. You will be happy to have this in your library.
For information on where to get it please visit the Studio Denmark blog.
Remember this is a Beta edition, it has gone through multiple edits, still you may find occasional typos, some unclear passages, and some areas that could use a little more fleshing out. But it is at the point where it needs to be viewed and played by more people so we can get that feedback. (and please, discuss your experience with WotRP on our forum here: Platemail Forum)
While it may not yet be absolutely perfect, it is a damn fun read and I think you'll have a blast.
Right now it is only available as a print-on-demand book, but I verified the quality is very good. You will be happy to have this in your library.
For information on where to get it please visit the Studio Denmark blog.
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Chainmail Reformatted - Revisiting an Old Friend
I was recently rereading Chainmail and realizing my copy is getting a little battered. I thought it would be a good idea to type it into a text document and lay it out so I could print a copy and that way keep the original safe. In same ways its a little like a parody of what Wizards has been doing lately with all their reprints and special editions of old out of print products. Except this is more useful, since Chainmail has been increasingly difficult to get a hold of, and it wasn't like it had the best printing quality to begin with.
This is what the final result turned out like:
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I've been posting the work in progress on the Original D&D discussion board here: http://odd74.proboards.com/thread/10407/reformatting-chainmail
This is what the final result turned out like:
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Running WotRP at Big Bad Con - After Action Report
The adventure was designed "sandbox" style, not as a railroad. So it is more like an adventure location, than a linear adventure. Though it does have a series of events that happen roughly in order. There are some Lovecraftian influences, quite a bit of Gygax (Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun to be exact), and of course plenty of Burroughs.
The player's managed to avoid the final encounter and the big aerial battle at the end I was planning on, so it ended about a half hour earlier then intended. I collected the playtest notes and am in the process of incorporating them, and tightening up the adventure all around. I'm considering making it available for sale if there is any interest in it.
Spoilers ahead (mouse over to read)
Set on Barsoom, though designed to be placed on any alien world, an ancient vault has been discovered where a mad scientist is creating mechanical soldiers and building an army to conquer Helium and beyond. The mad scientist is trying to awaken an ancient evil that could make his army unstoppable. The mechanical army is actually made of captives who are processed using bicmechanical weird science. K'Ral is an ancient scientist who first discovered this biomechanical technology, but he was overcome by enemies and imprisoned in permanent stasis within the vault. Inside the vault is a huge complex with slave pens, a laboratory, a factory, an arboretum, and a fleet of airships in a hanger, including a powerful battleship that is designed to be K'Ral's flagship when he is awakened.
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Beautiful Witch
Happy Halloween!
As a fun little exercise I went through the Original D&D books to look for an Halloween themed illustration to revisit. Appropriately I found the Beautiful Witch on page 27 of Men & Magic.
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Something I have been intending to do for some time is to use the old D&D illustrations as inspiration to create new 21st century versions. Just out of nostalgia, and also a good reason to force me to practice drawing. The danger in this, is of course, that nostalgia is a powerful thing and awful hard to compete with. There is a charm to that old art that you can't compete with, but to think of it as a jumping off point - something to inspire a new drawing is the intention.
Enjoy.
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And here are some stats so you can use her as an NPC in your old-school game.
As a fun little exercise I went through the Original D&D books to look for an Halloween themed illustration to revisit. Appropriately I found the Beautiful Witch on page 27 of Men & Magic.
Enjoy.
Beautiful Witch
Level 8 Chaotic Magic-User
23 hp
Fighting Capability: Hero
Spells
1: (4) Detect Magic, Read Magic, Charm Person, Sleep
2: (3) Detect Invisible, Levitate, Invisibility
3: (3) Fly, Hold Person, Clairvoyance
4: (2) Polymorph Others, Confusion, Charm Monster
Armor: ring of protection 5’ radius
Weapon: dagger +1, Staff of Commanding (25 charges)
Items: Potion of Invulnerability, 30 gold pieces
Str: 9, Int: 16, Wis: 12, Dex: 14, Con: 11, Chr: 17
Saving Throws
Poison: 11
Wands: 12
Stone: 11
Breath: 14
Spells: 12↧
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Crypt of Galsharak
I was experimenting with some ways to hand draw a map and then digitally age it with parchment textures, and adding some finesse.
And here is a little drawing of Galsharak, whom's crypt this is.
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Citadels of the Locust Gods
Megadungeons. Those monolithic, massive, dense labyrinths of adventure that exist to tempt characters to find untold riches or an ill fate. They are filled with horrific creatures, treacherous traps, and epic quantities of treasure. This is a work in progress of an idea for megadungeons I've been playing around with: Citadels of the Locust Gods. They swarm like locusts, flying across the darkened skies and setting down on wealthy, bountiful lands. Once on the ground they unload swarms of beasts to plunder the region, strip it and leave it barren. When their cargo holds are full, the creatures return. The citadels launch, darkening the skies once more and they move on to some other doomed land.
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This megadungeon has a lot of advantages for the game master, since she can place a citadel anywhere she likes in her game world and it has appeal to a wide variety of play groups. Those that just want to plunder dungeons for treasure can dare to enter, or those with a more heroic bent that want to save the land can attempt a more ambitious cleansing of the foul den.
It is very much a work in progress, and here is a first pass on a layout for one of the levels inside a citadel. I'm not sure how many levels it should have, maybe each one is different. This version has 3. The characters have to figure out how to get to the top where the entrance is, and work they way down to the heart of the citadel, perhaps one of the locust gods is awaiting them in the bowels of this dreadful and foreboding fortress of evil.
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Next up I'll have some stats and an illustration for one of the locust gods. Just putting the finishing touches on it now.
It is very much a work in progress, and here is a first pass on a layout for one of the levels inside a citadel. I'm not sure how many levels it should have, maybe each one is different. This version has 3. The characters have to figure out how to get to the top where the entrance is, and work they way down to the heart of the citadel, perhaps one of the locust gods is awaiting them in the bowels of this dreadful and foreboding fortress of evil.
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Transmogrify Tuesday - Giant Illustration
I had so much fun drawing the Beautiful Witch illustration for Halloween, I thought I'd continue with the theme of being inspired by some old RPG illustrations. Here is the giant from Underworld and Wilderness adventures. I'm not sure if he is supposed to be an early version of a fomorian giant, or a malformed hill giant. Anyways, he does have some personality and I wanted to capture something of the expression and attitude. And add a bit more storytelling. Here is the old one:
And here is a new drooling giant. Here he looks like he's about to squish a little fighter. Anyways, I hope you enjoy.
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