When Great Cthulhu Rises...

from Goblin Punch. As a campaign idea goes, I find it curiously appealing.

Demon-slaying after-effects — a visual aid

This demonstrates admirably one of the sorts of special effects I was imagining when I did my table of demon-slaying results.

I have no idea where this scene comes from, but I'm guessing one of the Nightmare on Elm Street movies, maybe? Because of the overalls.

Terrific idea

Check out this idea over at Underworld Kingdoms for building megadungeon maps by overlaying a whole bunch of building plans — castles and so forth.

This is the sort of thing that computers and the internet have made trivially easy. It could have been done back in Ye Olden Tymes with overlay cels and what-not, but it would definitely NOT have been easy or straightforward.

This sort of layout looks a lot more like real building than most megadungeon mapping. Structures that accrete over ages don't tend to have any overarching design, and they don't generally conform to a convenient grid, having been tacked on to and built over existing construction.

This would probably drive any obsessively accurate mappers up the wall. Muahahahahahahaaaaa!!!!!

Sweeeeeeeeeet!

Xmas goodies for FREE! Go here, where you can find your way to this spectacularly well produced hundred-and-a-bit pages of adventures, locations, tables and what-not, all produced from the fecund brain-meats of people just like you and me and offered up FREE (did I mention that it's free?) to people just like you and me.

I'm impressed. Also grateful. Thanks, people-less-lazy-than-me! Thanks a bunch!

Hirelings from Planet Algol

Read this.

It's the first time I've seen anything written from the point of view of the hirelings. It's great.

More creativity from somebody else

Zak, from over at Playing D&D With Porn Stars, came up with this excellent rationalization of a D&D-style multiplanar milieu. I do believe I may steal it in its entirety and run off sniggering into the night, with a muah-ha-ha-haaaa and a twirling of my dastardly moustachios.

Monsters and Manuals: Yes I Just Collated Loads Of Stuff From Other Blog Entries

Monsters and Manuals: Yes I Just Collated Loads Of Stuff From Other Blog Entries

Oh, the irony. Sort of. Of just publishing a link to a collation. I don't necessarily agree with 100% of what noisms has to say, but he does often stir up my brain-meats.

The Genius of Zak Makes Me Weak at the Knees

Zak, of Playing D&D With PornStars and Vornheim fame, suggested this initiative sysytem:

Each side rolls initiative (one die for all the PCs, one die for the GM).

• The winning side has one character go (if it's the PCs, they just choose among themselves who'll go first)
• Then the losing side has one character go
• Then the winning side has one character go...

etc. etc. the side with more characters has the leftovers all go at the end.

This is an idea of sublime genius, and I want to try it IMMEDIATELY.

Great Geomorphic Genesis, Batman!

THIS IS FANTASTIC! 

(The link goes to Stonewerks blog).  I'd just like to second the plea for an automated geomorphic mapper to pump out pseudo-3d maps like this.

It would not only make me happy, it would also align the stars and bring peace and happiness on earth.





(NOTE: I am not a programmer, so I have absolutely no clue how difficult such a thing would be to create.)

Best wargaming terrain board ever?

Over at his "Dressing The Lines" blog, Roly showcases a superb 19th century western/colonial skirmish board. It's amazing work; I've seen museum dioramas that weren't up to the standard of workmanship displayed here.

There are a bunch more photos on Roly's blog; get over there and check them out. I'm gobsmacked.

Mythmere's Adventure Design Deskbook

I just downloaded Volume 1 of Mythmere's (Matt Finch's) Adventure Design Deskbook. He's reduced the price for this PDF volume (available for download from Lulu for $3.50 USD) as it's going to be folded, along with the other three volumes, into a single hardcover book.

He  says:

"This is a book of tables for the "context" phase of creating an adventure; it contains table for generating fantastic locations, missions, patrons, villainous plans, and unusual minions. "

I really like it. I've only played about with it a little bit, but already I can see its great potential for making my life easier.

My experience largely mirrors that of James Smith over at The Underdark Gazette, so rather than repeat him pretty much verbatim, I'd suggest you go and see what he has to say about it. (He also has lots of other good stuff over there; if you haven't encountered his blog yet I recommend that you give him a read).

MADD (Volume 1) is basically a collection of interconnected random generation tables designed to give the overburdened DM's imagination a shunt, rather than to churn out a complete adventure with every T crossed and every i dotted, and it succeeds in that aim admirably. Not having seen any of the other volumes, I don't know how well they succeed in continuing the process, but on the basis of this first one I'm optimistic.