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!
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Fear of the dark
No, not the the Iron maiden song, although that's pretty cool too. I'm talking about actual fear of the dark. There has been quite a bit of discussion lately around Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition and what people want to see left in, taken out, or added back from previous editions, so I figured that I would weigh in with one small removal, that would please me. Glow sticks, or sun rods as they are known in the game. These things seems to have become ubiquitous items for dungeon explorers. No one takes a torch or a lantern anywhere anymore. Dark tunnel? Just break out a sun rod and we're off to the rave...um I mean dungeon. While these are no doubt handy items for the players, they lessen the game master's ability to use darkness to his or her advantage. Gone are the days when a gust of wind could blow out the party's torches just as a swarm of giant spiders descended upon them. Gone are the days of dropping the players into a pit filled with icy water, extinguishing their torches and lanterns, right before one of their legs is brushed by a slimy tentacle... Now I'm not advocating that D&D should be some sore of psychodrama, where the game master exploits the real world fears of their players, but fear of the darkness is a primal fear that can go a long way in creating atmosphere in a game, especially considering that a large portion of D&D adventures take place in a lightless, or at best dimly lit underworld.
Monday, January 9, 2012
Taking Five...
Soooooo, WotC has announced yet another version of what they call Dungeons & Dragons. In truth, I'm not sure how I feel about that. D&D long ago ceased to be relevant to me from a regular gaming perspective. I switched to the Hero System in 1988, and have moved on to other games since. But still Dungeons & Dragons, in name at least, holds a special place in my heart, conjuring up magical memories of games long past. I want to see D&D survive and flourish, whether I play it or not. It's a part of my history, and I can't easily turn my back on that and wish for it to fail as many of my contemporaries do. So, here's hoping that what they do is good for the hobby in general and good or Dungeons and Dragons in particular.
Monday, January 2, 2012
Miniatures Monday
Miniatures Monday returns with a wise and well armed wizard exploring a mysterious forest.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Monday, April 18, 2011
Miniatures Monday
A stealthy assassin lurks in the shadows waiting for weakened delvers to cross his path!
Monday, April 11, 2011
Miniatures Monday
An inexperienced delver or a nameless hireling? How long will he survive in the depths?
Monday, April 4, 2011
Miniatures Monday
This amorphous terror will bring a swift end to the career of any delver unlucky enough to feel its slimy embrace.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Terrible Troll Thursday!
A bog troll has wandered far from his swamp for a meal of "Delver Surprise"!
Monday, March 28, 2011
Tunnels & Trolls!
Tonight one of our regulars wasn't able to make it for our regular Monday night game, so I broke out my old 5th Edition Tunnels & Trolls rulebook, and we rolled up some characters. In the blink of an eye we were done and off to Trollstone Caverns, the short adventure in the back of the rulebook.
Our mighty heroes were:
Chris as: Trojan the Worn a mighty odd Wizard
Phil as: Terrible the Horrible a badly gimped Rogue
Dan as: Stonard the Stoner a stout but not very bright Warrior
The party quickly bribed their was past the magical door and were on their way. Their next challenge was the dark pool, which Terrible the Horrible fell into causing his trebutje sword to began to rust, much to his dismay. On the other side of the pool, the party encountered some greedy Red Orcs and a battle ensued. In the end the party triumphed over the orcs and looted their bodies of 18 gold coins. Flush with their recent victory, the party proceeded deeper into the caverns, where they were confronted by a sphinx who refused to let them pass without each of them answering a riddle. After much thinking, all three of the party had answered a riddle and were allowed in to face the Guardian Troll of Trollstone Caverns. The poor troll was beaten soundly and offered to surrender in exchange for providing information on the sphinx's cache of jewels. The party readily agreed and the wounded troll divulged the secret. Everything seemed to be going well, when Stonard decided to finish off the troll, thus triggering the curse which transformed him into a troll, making Stonard into the new Guardian Troll of Trollstone Caverns. Trojan and Terrible decided, after they had finished laughing at the new troll, to try their luck at relieving the sphinx of her treasure. Sadly for them the sphinx was too tough for the now weakened band of adventurers and Trojan and Terrible were slain. So it goes.
Our mighty heroes were:
Chris as: Trojan the Worn a mighty odd Wizard
Phil as: Terrible the Horrible a badly gimped Rogue
Dan as: Stonard the Stoner a stout but not very bright Warrior
The party quickly bribed their was past the magical door and were on their way. Their next challenge was the dark pool, which Terrible the Horrible fell into causing his trebutje sword to began to rust, much to his dismay. On the other side of the pool, the party encountered some greedy Red Orcs and a battle ensued. In the end the party triumphed over the orcs and looted their bodies of 18 gold coins. Flush with their recent victory, the party proceeded deeper into the caverns, where they were confronted by a sphinx who refused to let them pass without each of them answering a riddle. After much thinking, all three of the party had answered a riddle and were allowed in to face the Guardian Troll of Trollstone Caverns. The poor troll was beaten soundly and offered to surrender in exchange for providing information on the sphinx's cache of jewels. The party readily agreed and the wounded troll divulged the secret. Everything seemed to be going well, when Stonard decided to finish off the troll, thus triggering the curse which transformed him into a troll, making Stonard into the new Guardian Troll of Trollstone Caverns. Trojan and Terrible decided, after they had finished laughing at the new troll, to try their luck at relieving the sphinx of her treasure. Sadly for them the sphinx was too tough for the now weakened band of adventurers and Trojan and Terrible were slain. So it goes.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
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