From the smoking ruins of The Silent Sorcerer's tower, Skullsword sends forth nonsensical artwork and useless gaming tools. He also likes to discuss RPGs, boardgames, miniatures painting, writing, movies, books, and whatever else strikes his fancy. Mostly though, his goal is to provide fun and goofy things to inspire others in their games. Enjoy!
Monday, April 5, 2010
Sunday, April 4, 2010
An Improbable Revelation
For the past three weeks I have been playing in the Wednesday night D&D Encounters game at my local gaming store. I'm not sure why I even decided to play. Quite possibly it was just that I needed my fantasy with swords fix as most of my recent gaming has been fantasy with guns. Now, I had no small amount of reservation about playing in a random pickup group. My fourth edition experience up to this point had been limited to a one-shot when 4e was released and a couple of WOTC Game Days. The one-shot was fun and I didn't hate the system, but the Game Day games were iffy at best. At Games Days, I've had a tendency tend to wind up at tables with people who know the rules far better than me and are more interested in optimizing their play rather than just having fun. Now anyone who knows me knows that I'm not much of a rules guy. I like to know enough about the rules to get by, but I'm far and a way more interested in playing and having fun and having people tell me that I'm playing my character wrong doesn't do much for my enjoyment level. In any case I decided to try it, and I'm certainly glad that I did. I sat down at a table with a GM four other players that I'd never met and had an absolute blast. I knew early on that it was going to be a good games when one of the players, who just might be nearly half my age said that we wanted to go any buy some equipment. And what did he want to buy? A ten foot pole! Yes, a ten foot pole. Now, I can't remember the last time that I saw someone buy one of those, but it just may have been in the 1980s. In any case, that little event made me think, "This is going to be good."
So we were off and running. Our group, known unofficially as the Band of the Naked Minotaur set forth in search of fame and glory. These guys knew the rules, but everyone was there to have fun, and the more I have been playing, the more that the 4e rules have come to grow on me. No, this isn't MY D&D. My D&D will always be rooted in randomly rolled stats, save or die poison and rust monsters that eat your normal armor with no saving throw, But that doesn't mean that I can't enjoy 4e as well. A lot of people have complained that 4e is more about roll-playing than role-playing and that the game has borrowed too much from MMOs. To the first point, almost any game can be a role-playing game. I've played games of Nuclear War where people played roles. If people want to role-play, they will, if they don't, they won't regardless of the rules. As for borrowing from MMOs, sure, there are plenty of things in 4e that remind me of World of Warcraft, but it's still a tabletop game and we're all still sitting around telling stupid jokes and rolling dice rather than sitting hunkered down in front of our PCs all alone.
As with all of my posts, there is no grand and powerful point here. I'm not trying to sell anyone on anything. I ramble on about whatever strikes my fancy. I've found that I can enjoy 4e, and in the end having fun is what games are all about for me.
Addendum: I've actually been reading the 4e rules. Yes, Virginia, I've been reading a rulebook, and I may just have to give 4e a try form the GM side of the table one of these days.
So we were off and running. Our group, known unofficially as the Band of the Naked Minotaur set forth in search of fame and glory. These guys knew the rules, but everyone was there to have fun, and the more I have been playing, the more that the 4e rules have come to grow on me. No, this isn't MY D&D. My D&D will always be rooted in randomly rolled stats, save or die poison and rust monsters that eat your normal armor with no saving throw, But that doesn't mean that I can't enjoy 4e as well. A lot of people have complained that 4e is more about roll-playing than role-playing and that the game has borrowed too much from MMOs. To the first point, almost any game can be a role-playing game. I've played games of Nuclear War where people played roles. If people want to role-play, they will, if they don't, they won't regardless of the rules. As for borrowing from MMOs, sure, there are plenty of things in 4e that remind me of World of Warcraft, but it's still a tabletop game and we're all still sitting around telling stupid jokes and rolling dice rather than sitting hunkered down in front of our PCs all alone.
As with all of my posts, there is no grand and powerful point here. I'm not trying to sell anyone on anything. I ramble on about whatever strikes my fancy. I've found that I can enjoy 4e, and in the end having fun is what games are all about for me.
Addendum: I've actually been reading the 4e rules. Yes, Virginia, I've been reading a rulebook, and I may just have to give 4e a try form the GM side of the table one of these days.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
Miniatures Monday
From dark catacombs, far beneath the earth, comes the dreaded wraith. Spooky...No seriously. Spoooooky!
Monday, March 15, 2010
Monday, March 8, 2010
Monday, March 1, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Inspriational Imagery
This is so awesome it hurts! Is it a trap, or just an interesting doorway? A gateway to another dimension, or the maw of a gigantic demon? Who can say?
Check out more of his art here.
Check out more of his art here.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Monday, February 8, 2010
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Inspirational Imagery
This image from the old Grenadier "Dungeon Explorers" set, really captures what I think of as an old-school dungeon in a way that graph paper maps rarely do. Note the winding stairs and the multiple dark passageways leading to parts unknown. What dangers lurk in the shadows just out of sight? And who are the two people at the bottom of the steps? Advanced scouts or rival adventurers seeking to snatch the treasure from our intrepid heroes?
Monday, February 1, 2010
Miniatures Monday
He is the baddest hombre in the west. He is.....Manchego, the cheesiest gun in the west.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Imagination Gaming
Back in the day, much of gaming happened in our minds. Tabletop RPGs we to a great extent designed this way. We had thin rulebooks with poor artwork, some dice and maybe a few poorly cast miniature figures. There wasn't much else to have early on, so we had to imagine, based on our GMs descriptions and our own imaginations, what the dungeon looked like, what the orcs looked like, etc. Sure, most everyone had some common basis for things like orcs and dragons, but everyone "saw" things in their own particular way. The game happened in our minds and to some extent was a personalized experience.
Things were much the same with early computer games. Due to the limitations of computer graphics in the late 1970's and early 1980's, imagination played an important role in the enjoyment of early computer games for many of us. We weren't a square on the screen, we were and adventurer! Those weren't badly designed ducks on the screen, they were dragons! The dungeons of Wernda weren't glowing static lines, they were dank stone chambers. The computer presented representations of the world. It was up to our imaginations to flesh them out and add life to them. It was a grand time. But of course, times changed. Things "improved" in the computer world, and I'll admit that going from being a square to a 30x30 pixel vaguely humanoid shape was pretty nice. Even in the tabletop world, things got "better". Better sculpting gave us more detailed miniatures. Artwork in our rulebooks improved and we got color! Things were great.
But the computers didn't stop. Graphics kept getting better, games kept getting bigger and more involved. As things got more realistic, the need for imagination lessened. When a dragon looks like a dragon, there isn't much need to imagine that it looks any different from the way that it is presented on the screen. tabletop games were falling behind.
So tabletop games worked to keep up. Rules became more detailed, artwork became even more realistic and polished. Combat became more tactical and terrain came into more common use. Tabletop roleplaying games tried to look more impressive, but there was still a lot of imagination required for the tabletop experience.
Computer games are fairly ubiquitous these days. Tabletop roleplaying games are not. Kids these days don't need to imagine what their fantasy worlds look like, they already know, and those worlds look the same to everyone.
Things were much the same with early computer games. Due to the limitations of computer graphics in the late 1970's and early 1980's, imagination played an important role in the enjoyment of early computer games for many of us. We weren't a square on the screen, we were and adventurer! Those weren't badly designed ducks on the screen, they were dragons! The dungeons of Wernda weren't glowing static lines, they were dank stone chambers. The computer presented representations of the world. It was up to our imaginations to flesh them out and add life to them. It was a grand time. But of course, times changed. Things "improved" in the computer world, and I'll admit that going from being a square to a 30x30 pixel vaguely humanoid shape was pretty nice. Even in the tabletop world, things got "better". Better sculpting gave us more detailed miniatures. Artwork in our rulebooks improved and we got color! Things were great.
But the computers didn't stop. Graphics kept getting better, games kept getting bigger and more involved. As things got more realistic, the need for imagination lessened. When a dragon looks like a dragon, there isn't much need to imagine that it looks any different from the way that it is presented on the screen. tabletop games were falling behind.
So tabletop games worked to keep up. Rules became more detailed, artwork became even more realistic and polished. Combat became more tactical and terrain came into more common use. Tabletop roleplaying games tried to look more impressive, but there was still a lot of imagination required for the tabletop experience.
Computer games are fairly ubiquitous these days. Tabletop roleplaying games are not. Kids these days don't need to imagine what their fantasy worlds look like, they already know, and those worlds look the same to everyone.
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