Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone!  Our heroes have defeated 2015.  Here's hoping that everyone conquers 2016 as well!

R.I.P. Lemmy

1945 - 2015

Lemmy has finally been killed by Death. :-(

Happy Holidays!

Our fearless duo Long Neck and No Face are having nothing even approaching a silent night!  Maybe they need to go back to the dungeon.  Here's wishing everyone health, happiness, and great gaming in the new year!

Happy Birthday Fritz Leiber!

He would have been 105 years old today.  Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser remain two of my all-time favorite sword and sorcery characters.  December is quite the month for sword and sorcery author birthdays, with Wagner, Moorcock, and Leiber all falling in a 2 week window.  So today, take a moment to remember (and maybe drink a toast to) one of the giants of science fiction and fantasy.

Happy Festivus!

Prepare for the airing of the grievances and the feats of strength!

Star Wars

So, last night my wife and I saw The Force Awakens which I've been looking forward to for a very long time.  I remember quite clearly the melancholy that I felt during the opening crawl of Revenge of the Sith, thinking that it was the last time in my life that I would ever see a new Star Wars movie.  All that I will say is that the new film did not disappoint.  It's not high cinema, it's not Empire (nothing really ever could be), but it's fun and it's Star Wars, and that's quite good enough for me. :-)

It's that time of year again (Dark Tower Time!)

It's the time of year where I find myself reflecting on Christmases long past, and it's also time to break out Dark Tower and give it a play.  No other game from my childhood evokes such fond memories as this little gem from 1981.  That was a good Christmas!  :-)

Happy Birthday Michael Moorcock

Michael Moorcock turns 76 today!  The last of the great Sword and Sorcery writers.  December is quite the month for Sword and Sorcery writer birthdays.  May Arioch grant him many more.

Karl Edward Wagner would have been 70

Karl Edward Wagner, fantasy/horror writer, psychiatrist, and hard drinker would have been 70 years old on December 12th.  I first discovered Wagner in a book shop in florida in 1984, when I picked up a paperback copy of Darkness Weaves.  Attracted by the Frank Frazetta cover, there was no way I could resist.  Darker and grimmer than Howard's Conan, Kane was an antihero in the vein of Moorcock's Elric.  No noble savage, Kane was a Machiavellian swordsman, who also dabbled in sorcery to further his frequent goals of world conquest.  I was hooked, and quickly sought out the rest of Wagner's Kane stories.  The novels are a bit of a mixed bag, but I think it's in the short stories where Wagner's writing really shined.  Sadly, Wagner died at 48.  I should very much liked to see where his writing would have gone.

The Fish Slide Chamber

Back in the early spring of this year, I ran a Dungeon Crawl Classics funnel adventure of my own design.  The crux of the adventure was a treasure hunt in the tower of a long dead wizard.  The tower was on a small island just offshore, and a motley collection of candle makers, cobblers, and gong farmers braved its mysterious depths.  One of my favorite rooms was the fish slide chamber, which I've tried to represent here with only a modest level of success.  I'll leave it up to your imagination where the slides lead...

Glückliche Sankt Nikolaus Tag!

Happy Saint Nicholas Day.  Here's hoping that everyone finds their shoes filled with candy and that Knecht Ruprecht doesn't come for you instead!

Weird Adventure Idea Wednesday

This week's weird adventure idea:

On a rainy afternoon you are hailed by a charismatic boatman at a river crossing.  The boatman tells you a tale that 8 days ride to the southwest, deep beneath the ruins of the Bone Chilling City of Rotting Flesh, can be found the Menacing Maze of Madness.  It is said that there is hidden the Shameful Incense of the Ebony Thaumaturge.  But beware, for the boatman warns you that the Shining Skeleton of Contamination haunts that place!

If you enjoy Weird Adventure Idea Wednesday, be sure to check out these free resources:

1,001 Weird and Wacky Adventure Ideas

and

1,001 More Weird and Wacky Adventure Ideas

The cover for a new 0 level funnel adventure that I'm working on for DCC.

Although, it's not something that I'd ever publish, I still felt the need to have a cover picture. :-)  The last Dungeon Crawl Classics funnel that I wrote was a bit long and would probably have worked better as a level 1 adventure.  This time around I'm looking to create a tighter adventure involving a group of foolish peasants seeking revenge on the Sorcerer who destroyed their village.  Not a terribly original concept,  I'll admit, but I'm hoping that it will be fun in any case.  Out of curiosity, how many encounters (including monsters, tricks and traps) do folks generally put in their 0 level adventures?

The Evolution of Long Neck and No Face

My Two favorite adventurers, Long Neck the Warrior, and No Face the Wizard, have fced many dangerous situations this year.  I've think I've actually done more drawing this year than miniature painting.  You can get a lot done when you don't worry about things like perspective, anatomy, reasonable color palates, or talent.  :-)  It's good to see that Long Neck has bulked up a bit, but he's still only a Vorpal blade away from disaster with that neck...

Man, that guy needs a sandwich...

Straight legged sweat pants were all the rage...

May need to make the jump to pleated sweats...

It took three milk shakes a day to get here...

Looking buff, smelling bad....

Happy Thanksgiving!

This might just make our fearless adventurers into vegetarians...or dinner!