Fantasy Friday

What can I say about Jeff Jones. His fantasy art speaks for itself.

Starting with his black and white illustrations for the likes of Creepy and other black and white horror comics, he later moved on to the paperback book cover market, even rivaling Frazetta's savage fantasy.

In the mid-seventies he founded the Studio along with Berni Wrightson, Barry Windsor-Smith and Michael Kaluta.





And just 'cuz....


Check out more of Jeff Jones' Sci Fi and Fantasy art visit his website www.jeffreyjones-art.com

Reflections on Session VI

Though we have finished the 6th session of our campaign, I felt that I was a little off of my DMing game. The pacing of the game, to me anyway, seemed more erratic than usual and though I try to stay loose and improvise as much possible, I also feel that that aspect was off as well. On paper (the recap) it sounds fine, and maybe it actually was, but, in practice, it seemed to me to be a bit rough. As we all know, the game experience is much different for each player as well as for the DM.

Now, am I just being over critical as a DM? Was I seeing boredom in some of the players eyes or was that just paranoia? I felt that I didn't engage all the players as much as I think I may have in past sessions. Room for improvement there? Yes, no doubt.

Upon reflection, a big part of my impressions at the table was that I felt that I, as DM, was moving the story along more so than letting my players command the game. I think that came down to having more of an agenda than in the previous sessions. Dare I say I railroaded the session a bit? I always have some idea of what might happen within a session, but I have tended to let things flow where they may.

Also, once the characters step out of the dungeon and into the city or wilderness the game tends to spread out a bit. PCs head their separate ways to accomplish their own tasks and goals. Sometimes it's a challenge to handle that aspect of the campaign. I think, when I was younger, that was my biggest fear of DMing, loosing control of the game. When you think about it, DMing is all about a controlled chaos, an improvisation at the table where nobody knows what the next turn of the page will hold for the characters.

Now there wasn't as much action or battles in that session, and there were a lot more hooks and pieces of story. Perhaps I overdone that a bit. In my zeal to give a broad-stroke of a larger campaign picture, perhaps I bogged the game down a bit.

Whether this is all true or just in my head, I can at least take what I felt were slow points or errors at the table, examine them and try to improve my skills as a game master to avoid those 'mistakes' in the future.

As I've always said, everyone at the table should be having fun and getting what they want and need out the the gaming experience and that goes for the DM as well. But players and DM should be open to improvements if something misses the mark.

Session VI: The Road To Brakken and the Tomb of the Iron God

SPOILER NOTE: This portion of the campaign deals with the adventure module The Tomb of the Iron God and will contain spoilers. If you are planning on being a player of this module, avoid reading at all costs. Your DM will know if you are cheating and will not hesitate to deal out the most harsh and painful circumstances for your characters. Ahead lies doom. You have been warned. My players and all others, please read on.

Our party headed back to the city of Caladan with the body of Arvin Ardmore, acolyte of Mithra, along with their prisoners Sgt. Morak, a city watch-guard and a pirate. Escorting the mourning Lady Lemunda, they also carried back the body of Capt. Conik . Upon entering the city they were escorted to the Merchant Guild quarter and Lord Osric.

As the news traveled through the Merchant Guild, a servant was found murdered and one of the guild members, Uthari, could not be found. Osric believed that Uthari may have been behind the overall kidnapping plot and is believed to be allied with Kushanna, the Stygian Witch of the Southern Empire who's ambitions are to gain influence in Caladan.

Father Halford of Mithra is called to tend to the body of the fallen cleric. He is accompanied by a good friend of Arvin's, Gnarly Blunderbrush. They will bury Arvin Ardmore within the Crypt of St. Vergan beneath the temple of Mithra.

Morak and the conspirators were imprisoned in the dungeon. A grateful Lord Osric rewarded our heroes and asked if they would accompany him and Lemunda to the town of Brakken to lay to rest the body of Captain Conik within the Tomb of the Iron God.

The party returned to the Cloven Hoof Tavern and spent the next two days recovering. Joined by Gnarly, they all toast Arvin's bravery. Gedleesmote is approached by a number of rough looking characters who were seeking repayment of the Dwarf's gambling debt. The confrontation is taken outside where the largest thug, Moar who is sporting a tattoo of a black hand on his shoulder, and Gedleesmote prepare to duke it out. Slick Vinny, down from studying his magic books, enchanted the gang leader who then proceeded to buy the party a round of drinks. Needless to say, after the evening of drinking, both parties broke into a brawl after Tibag tried to pick the pocket of one of the thugs.

The next morning the party sets out with Lord Osric, Lemunda, and Tero and escorts Capt. Conik's body south along the Great Coast Road towards the city of Brakken. Along the way they meet a couple of travelers, Barnabas and his mother Anna. They are bearing the body of Artemas, Barnabas' uncle who fell in battle while exploring the Endless Tunnels of Enlandan near the town of Nibblet, to the Tomb of the Iron God as well.

They all decided to travel together and, at dusk, arrived before the gates of Brakken. There they learned that the Tomb of the Iron God, which has stood for thousands of years, is no more. It was destroyed by a violent storm, with some thinking it was the wrath of the Iron God himself.

After checking into the Chalice and Bucket, Geedlessmote and Tibag head over to the Shrine of the Iron God and find that it has been abandoned. They opened the sacred doors that lead through a tunnel and to the steps that switchback up the mountainside towards the temple itself.

Meanwhile, Slick Vinny, Gnarly and Wolfheir sought out the old Gypsy woman hoping to buy some magic items. They didn't find any items for sale but the Gypsy read Slick Vinny's fortune. She reveals that he will speak directly to the Iron God himself and she gave them a warning about a fountain that can protect oneself if they are pure and good and to not harm the Guardian in the Darkness.

They all met back at the Inn and discussed their findings. They were interrupted by Father Harris, a follower of St. Mellon. He says that some of the priests may have been corrupt and that the temple was obliterated, but the priest's chambers, where they embalmed the bodies, and the catacombs themselves were below ground and possibly intact.

The party decided to head up to the Tomb the next morning. Father Harris asked to accompany them as well.

They wound their way up the ancient steps to the top of the steep hillside and into the Iron Hills. By midday they approached the ruins of the Temple of the Iron God. There was nothing left but blasted stone and ruin. The party discovered a shuffle of tiny booted footprints leading down to an opening below the ruins. Descending the stairs they enter the Tomb of the Iron God.

SPOILER ALERT: You have been warned

Upon entering the large dim hall, they observed an object in the center of the room that rose up off the floor and warned the party that they enter their doom. Ignoring the warning, like a good party of adventurers would, they crossed the chamber and stood before the statue of the Iron God who was depicted holding an axe and a large bowl. Placing various objects into the large bowl in the hopes of triggering something, it is the dwarf Geedleesmote that placed himself into the bowl. The bottom of the bowl opened and dropped the startled dwarf below. Calling down to him, the party discovered that he was alright and proceeded to follow him down.

In the chamber below, they find what appears to be an embalming room. After going through a couple of storerooms they came across a library where they found a book which talks about animating the dead. The party began to figure out that the Priests of the Iron God were selling the offerings of the dead for silver and gold as well as other dark happenings.

Avatar, Superman and Mars

It looks like I've got a busy couple of weeks ahead of me so posting might be a bit light. I've got a session this evening and I'm preparing for my first public DMing session at the Tucson RPG guild (more on that a bit later). I'm finishing up some illustrations for a classic fantasy adventure module and real life is getting busy with work and a leaky roof at home as well so I've got a lot on my plate right now.

There's an interesting post over at The Secret Sun about the synchromysticism of Avatar, Superman and Burroughs' Mars and Venus stories. Check it out.

Speaking of which, that planet Mars is at it's closest point to earth this week in our two year long infinite dance.

Fantasy Friday

UPDATED
With the shambles that Hollywood is making of Howard's brooding barbarian I thought I'd go this route today for our Fantasy Friday feature.

What is pulp fantasy?



Hollywood doesn't seem to have a clue.

The images are cover paintings by Jeff Jones whom I'll be talking about a bit more next week.

Role Up, Unplug, and Step Out

"The analogy I make is that pen-and-paper role-playing is live theater and computer games are television"
-Gary Gygax in a 2006 interview

To Mini Or Not To Mini

A question indeed!

A couple of recent posts at Chgowiz Old Guy's RPG Blog have got me really thinking about using minis in my game. I haven't yet used minis in our sessions and in fact, I rarely used minis back in the day once I figured out how to play the game correctly. In a practical sense, they always seemed to get in the way of playing, I felt that they became a focal point and distracted one away from the imagination of the game. But, on the other hand, they do look good on the table! But is this a rabbit hole that I really want to go down?

Miniatures in the RPGs that we played disappeared quickly. Some of the players who moved on to wargames continued with miniatures but only in their wargames games, be it fantasy or historical and not the RPGs. It sort of came down to really not needing them to play. Dealing with minis always put a pause in the game action while they needed to be manipulated and placed. This was all before battle mats so even using miniatures, the game was still abstract enough, but a distraction nonetheless. In many instances the original rules mentioned that miniatures were just an optional game aid but for some reason, they have always stuck around.

From Men & Magic (pages 3 & 5)
It is relatively simple to set up a fantasy campaign, and better still, it will cost almost nothing. In fact you will not even need miniature figures, although their occasional employment is recommended for real spectacle when battles are fought.

The use of paper, pencil and map boards are standard. Miniature figures can be added if the players have them available and so desire, but miniatures are not required, only esthetically pleasing; similarly, unit counters can be employed ― with or without figures ― although by themselves the bits of cardboard lack the eye-appeal of the varied and brightly painted miniature figures.

In our current game sessions, we've had some pretty small combats that we were able to just talk through without much of a problem. Our final combat in session 5 was a bit different. It took place in a very large cavern, and PCs and NPCs were scattered all over the place. Once combat began, I think it was a bit hard keeping everything in everybody's heads; what characters were heading in what direction, how far everyone was from what target, speed and distance, etc. I had sketched a map of where everyone was at first, but it was still pretty abstract. Don't get me wrong, the battle moved along nicely and there wasn't much complaint or anything. I think that this would have been an instance where miniatures would have enhanced that portion of the game.

Now if I go that route, I don't want the game to devolve into battle-mats and constant manipulation of the figures. I guess I'm seeing it as just a gaming aid to be used only when needed. But if that's the case, is it worth the effort? The money? The time to paint them? I mean, I do love minis. I love the way they look when they are painted. I love them standing there on the table ready for action but how will this affect the gameplay which I feel has been going pretty well?

I'm still going to mull this over in my head. I've already picked out a handful to purchase and paint but I haven't yet made up my mind. Though I might add that my wife is a bit wary of me going down that path even though she would enjoy painting them as well. Who knows, it may even get her into a game or two?