Halloween

So outside of working today, I managed to drive home, finish off some miniatures and ponder what, if anything, I could speak of on my blog.

For example, today is Halloween. I'm not expert on the roots of the holiday or where its origins are or even some of the more interesting things that series like Ghostbusters with Samhain.

And that in and of itself was my idea.

Today's populace isn't versed in the origins and roots of the holidays. In a fantasy setting or in a setting that's old and incredibly ancient, this can be a dangerous hubris. It may be during these holidays that the dances and celebrations and rituals are designed to keep things our or to keep things the way they've always been. They may be times when things from outside push against the boundries of reality in terms of being ready willing and able to serve.

For example, in Warhammer, demons are pure magic. The reason they don't dominate the world is that the world is magic poor. During certain holidays, perhaps that's no longer true and on those times, the demons are out.

There could be visitations by ancient entities from those origin points. If something dark and horrible and cyclopean staggered through time into our era, in America, would it be pleased to see how commercialized it's all become? Would it ponder why another holiday is already in mid celebration even though another holiday is before that? Or would it simply shrug it's shoulders and go looking for some candy?

Anyway, when thinking about the holidays in your campaign, don't forget their real origins for your campaign and what the current people think those holidays mean. The two aren't necessarily one and the same.

Darkside of Aquarius

Music provides an interesting type of stimulus for me. On one hand, lyrics are key. On the other, if I don't like the music going with the lyrics, well, the lyrics are really going to have to pull at me in some fashion.

Fortunately for me, Bruce Dickinson, the lead singer of Iron Maiden, has quite a lot of solo work I enjoy and much of it mired in fantasy imagery. One such song, Darkside of Aquarius from Accident of Birth.

The first hellrider came


On wings a-plenty in the dark

Hauled out his poison

And he blew away his mark

The fascist from the east is coming

Mothers, hide your sons

The second hellrider came

From flaming seas and molten sands

Half his play in Hell's commands

Hauled out his poison

With his promises of promised lands

Glad, good times of lying leaders

Here come the riders

As the wheel of time's running out of time

Here come the riders

As the wheel of time's running out of time

The third hellrider came

Teaching brothers to kill brother man

And the fourth hellrider waits

On an acid trail for an acid world

Walls of old religions' fools and superstitious men

Throws some scary Tarot cards and...

Here come the riders

As the wheel of time's running out of time

Here come the riders

As the weird illusion's stepping out to light

The Darkside of Aquarius

Has robbed us of our souls and minds

Here come the riders

As the wheel of time's running out of time

From the star-lit sky on a silver sea

A lonely silver surfer comes to push the wheel for me

A lonely silver surfer comes to push the wheel for me

Gotta move, gotta move

Gotta move that wheel right 'round

Gotta move, gotta move

Gotta move that wheel right 'round

Gotta move, gotta move

Gotta move that wheel around

Gotta push the wheel of time around

Push the wheel of time around

Push the wheel of time around

Push the wheel right 'round, right now, yeah

I've gotta move the wheel of time, I've

Gotta move the wheel of time, I've

Gotta move the wheel of time, oh

Move that wheel right around



Lots of great visual inspiration there.
 
The hellriders for example. This oculd be an organization or a tightly knit group, like the Four Horsemen of  the Apocalypse or a Traid or a Trinity. Each one with its own powers and abilities.
 
Some of these could be more insideous than merely leading the battle. When one of the lines speaks of teaching brother man to kill brother man, that is a far more dangerous threat than some giant standing on a hill throwing boulders at you. You know how to wonder, has everyone gone mad? What is the underlying source of this animosity? Can it be stopped?
 
The more subtle foe there, reminds me of other things, like Nurgle. Oh sure, you killed the plaguebearers, but hey, is it just you or do you feel a little sick here? Is everyone else a little pale around the face? A little unsteady on their feet?
 
That's the nature of good inspiration. One thing bounches off another in the mind until something, hopefully something useful, creeps and oozes along.

Berserk Illustrations file

It's difficult to tell from the tiny cover, linked from Amazon.com, but Kentarou Miura is a fantastic artist. I was hooked into Berserk through the anime. It ends in a... bad spot so to speak, and I wanted to know what the hell happened after the event.

The manga is where I decieded I'd find out. Thankfully, by this time, Dark Horse has picked up the license and was zipping them out fairly quickly.

For several years, I lived in Mount Prospect and we had a Mitsuwa market there. One of the asian stores was a bookstore that had manga and other bits in the original language, region free DVD players, and a ton of anime soundtracks.

Among those treasures was the Berserk Illustratons file. It's a large table sized book, larger than the Warriors and Warlords of Angus Mcbride, but in softcover. I can't remember how much I paid for it, but I was fascinated by it. Kentarou's art, much like George Perez of comic book fame, is meant for large screen viewing. He has a great sense of motion, of detail, and of control.

While many of the illustrations within are the same as the covers of the individual books, having them in the expanded size is nice. Some of them are also new to me and I'd never seen them before.

When I'm in the mood for something of the fantastic and the macarbe, if it's seeing the monstrous Zod in all his transformed glory looking like a fallen angel of beastial might, or sseing the evolution of Guts from a child soldier to a soldier to a slayer of evil, the Berserk Illustrations file is never far from my bookshelf.

Warriors & Warlords: The Art of Angus Mcbride

Art has always been a powerful motivator for me in terms of creative thinking. It has served as a shared medium among friends when I use an illustration to show something instead of explaining what something looks like.

Among those artists whose skills I find to tweak my particular taste, Angus McBride is right up there. I probably first saw his work, as many fantasy role players might have, in I.C.E.'s old Middle Earth line. Angus seemed to do a lot of work for I.C.E. back in the day, even covering their Rolemaster line with a series of great illustrations using the same characters for each cover.

The strength of the art, for me, is that it looks 'real'. While some artist like Wayne Reynolds are popular today, and they do pieces I enjoy, don't mistake that, I find that sometimes the art is so far from the subject matter that it makes it actually harder to relate to the art and the subject as opposed to easier.

When Angus illustrates two miles, the Latin term for warrior, and shows two French miles with mail hauberks and large Norman shield with spear and sword, he also includes a peasant on the side with an axe whose son is arming a hunting crossbow. In the background a bird flies easily while out at sea, gulls swarm around a boat. Some might find it too mundane, too earthly. However, perhaps due to some of my own roots as a fan of older sword and sorcery material, ranging from Conan and Fafrd, I'm okay with not every illustration being some crazy horned woman whose body couldn't exist in the real world due to the exaggerated pose.

The art of Angus is well worth a look, especially if you can find his fantasy based material. The only problem you might have though is that it appears some of it goes in and out of print. The Warriors and Warlords book for example? It's out of print. While it's not deep on details, it does have enough to speak the imagination as well. When players come up with terrible sounding names, a quick look through the historical section shows that we have such naming conventions as Alexander the Great, El Cid, Sala al Din Yusif ibn Ayyub known as The Victorious,  pr Sa;adom.  'Arthurian Age', the ship names Long Serpent or Iron Beard... these are real names. If they can exist, how silly is Rus the Red or something along those lines?

Anyway, if you're looking for inspiration or how things might have been and how they might have looked, The Art of Angus Mcbride should be right up there on your reading list.

If You Listen To Fools...

Another look at some of the elements of the Wolfman.

When the prodigal son arrives into town, one of the first things he does is to visit the local tavern. Here the small minded folk speak of the recent rash of murders. One man blames it on a trained bear of the gypsy camp, another on a madman. A third speaks of ancient tales and of silver bullets and not leaving his house at night. Of course there are some insults, inadvertantly thrown the way of the Talbot heir but those just showcase the small minded nature of the town.

Rather, it's the bit about the silver bullets and not going out on a full moon that are of more interest. I've seen some Game Masters trying to ignite the original passion that burned in their imagination when they first started playing by trying to describe everything and avoid naming everything if at all possible. The old D&D setting Ravenloft often used this tactic to avoid naming things and to try and instill a sense of fear of the unknown in the players.

But if the uneducated masses know what a werewolf is, and in parts of Dracula if Van Helsing knows what he's doing, and other examples I'm sure could spring to mind, in a fantasy setting, try and keep in mind that chances are the normal day to day townsfolk know what an orc, orgre, goblin or other typical maruding humanoid is. They've probably heard about various types of 'famous' monsters.

I can appreciate a GM trying to expand his game through detailed descriptions. These can be vital clues in the foundations of a certain type of orc culture or a certain style the GM is trying to bring to it. At my age though, what I can't stand is the GM trying to force ME, the player, back into that babe in the woods shell that I haven't had for over twenty years. My first time learning what an ogre was is done. Surge, describe the beast in all its glory but if my character knows what it is, don't get surly about it.

After all, as one man says to another here, "I didn't know you hunted monsters. "Sometimes monsters hunt you." If you're an adventurer and going out and fighting for your life on a daily basis and the GM wants to bust on your meta gaming that you know what a goblin is, well, we all have different tolerance points for gaming styles we don't like.

The Wolfman aka Talbot Hall

Talbot Hall


Say what you will about the originality or strength of the plot of the reimagined Wolf Man movie but the scenery involving Talbot Hall was amazing. This magnificent manor had all the trappings of a haunted house or a chateau that has seen better days.

Prior to arriving on the property proper, the prodigal son passes through a gate acting as a way marker for the Hall. These gates are designed to act as a shield to the outside world, to indicate that you are now passing into the Talbot grounds. The land ownership involved here is immense. There are herd animals being taken care of and various buildings where the employees live.

There are ruins dotting the country side; ancient buildings that have collapsed due to misuse and the relentless weight of time pressing down on them. Here, the elements having taken their toll leaving only a few stone walls and windows empty of glass and woodwork allowing the wind and rain to pass through with no resistance. The grounds broken up and dangerous as sub levels are covered by years of fallen leaves and decay but not solid enough to hold dup a grown man running.

These grounds are heavily wooded with clearings only around the manor hall itself and by the mausoleum. The manor proper itself surrounded by more stone work and on higher ground than the surrounding. Due to this, there are numerous stairwells and bridges giving the grounds a near maze like appearance and providing potential chase scenes.

Imagine if the characters are riding their horses up and above them is a bridge where some creature waits to pounce on them. Or if going the high action route, while chasing a foeman through the manor grounds, their enemy leaps down atop of a moving carriage and the players have to make some Dexterity and Skill Checks to follow through.

Other aspects included by the size of the grounds include a river running through it. Another instance of more bridge work. Other streams created from waterfalls creating a divide between two sections of land where players or monsters may fall into the rushing river.

Another area is a nearby large body of water either an enormous pond or a small lake. On the borders of the lake are numerous small stones perfect for skipping, but signs of decay are also abundant here. There is a crypt partially sunken into the wetlands bordering the pond with only the roof and the surrounding statues poking out of the water, victims of relentless time marching on and the eroding of the nearby land to marsh.

Also present is the garden with the greenery carved to resemble various animals. Although I did not see it, a shrub maze would not be out of place in the decadent splendor of the massive manor grounds.

And in all of this wilderlands and all of this savergy, is the mist and the fog and the clouds and the moon. They cast a phyhsical presence over the entirety of the movie and definately over the landscape here.
Before even getting to the hall, the outside of the manor is one of vanity with statues and a fountain surrounded by clean cut hedges, the fountain itself also a piece of art. The interior of the manor is massive. When Del Toro walks into the main greeting hall, there are a wide variety of sights for him to take in. First off is the massive central stairwell that appears large enough for three men to walk abreast of. There are massive chandeliers with candles shedding their flicking lights.

On the walls, those leading to the exterior are heavily laden with windows. Those on the interior either have murals, paintings, or mirrors. In front of the walls is no different with either stuffed animals, parts of animals, like massive tusks of ivory wrapped in gold. These stuffed animals can be used either as decoration or in a game like Rolemaster, as defenders of the manor. Under the right circumstances they gain new life acting as the guardians of the interior to protect it from thieves.

In a story telling manner though, the types of animals and monsters stuffed around the manor can provide clues and details as to the patterns and habits of the owners. If in their youth or in the founding of the wealth of the manor lords, they were renown gentlemen adventurers, having dinosaurs that were hunted and brought back for stuffing from the lands of the Isle of Dread speak more volumes than having a bear, even a dire bear, stuffed along the wall.

Some of the objects are weapon racks from ancient civilizations, next to the most modern and sleek weapons of the home society. These weapons could tell their own story if the GM wants to introduce a new weapon to the campaign or a player has a particular desire to use a different weapon. Alternatively, if the players are lacking a specific type of weapon, they may wind it here.

For example, if the players are in a hunt for werewolves, perhaps some of these weapons on display are of the silver variety. If hunting fey, perhaps of the cold iron variety.

Other things that would be out of place in most homes save for the rice? Games and toys. Fully painted wooden toys and perhaps even some famous game like chess but with pieces carved out of exotic materials.  Other even more expensive 'toys' might be like the telescope or in some editions of Dungeons and Dragons, the old Waterclock. If the game has a massive piece of equipment that is often out of range for dungeon crawling due to its size and cost, it may be found here with a room dedicated to its purpose.
The display of wealth lies heavily upon every object in the manor. The chairs are not merely chairs, but carved works of wooden art. The tables, massive things where even three people sitting cannot easily converse with one another or pass food back and forth requiring some sort of intermediary man servant to do such. The centerpieces of the table massive and view blocking. The fireplace in the dinning hall, massive enough to warm the entire room but also sending out waves of oppressing heat where comfort is stifled for all save the most comfortable in a warm climate environment.

The floors are either tiled and patterned or covered in ornamental rugs with foreign designs or draped over with some type of animal rug. In a fantasy setting, instead of a bear, it could be an owlbear.

The hallways in the manor are large enough to accommodate chairs and couches on one side and tables adorned with urns and vases on the other while still allowing people to walk through them. This doesn’t count the various candle holders and chandeliers placed throughout the manor nor did the massive windows spread thought or the murals and paintings placed about on various walls.

These wide areas and numerous objects could easily make for dramatic fighting hall and location. Priceless artifacts and objects de art being potentially smashed and ruined cutting into the treasure values that the players may loot at a later date.

Despite the abundant wealth obvious in every room, the weight of age sits upon the manor like a gauntleted fist crushing the life out of the inhabitants with relentless pressure. The manor is huge and vast, but so old that it appears in need of repair. Perhaps not an appropriate quote, but one that links itself to the terrors of the past, "The past is a wilderness of horrors."

The weight of the manor also comes through in the small things. The imagined chattering of children that are not there when a door is opened. The many rooms where once guests and dignitaries might have spent their time now covered in thick dust covered cloth.

The paintings are fantastical and priceless, but peeling and in need of being touched up and cleaned. The chairs covered with fantastic materials, are worn through and need to be reupholstered. The weapons, wither the latest fashions from the nearby lands or ancient and forgotten relics of a bygone era, are covered in grime and soot, requiring hours of painful maintenance in order to bring up to use again. Some of them so old and worn that to use them in combat might be the use of a one hit weapon where the steel is no longer any good and the weapon breaks under the stress of actual combat.

Light is generated either through the use of the windows allowing in the natural sunlight or the reflective moonlight. For those times when this natural lighting is not enough, there are hordes of candles shedding both flame and light. In the movie, those flames come to pass for their purpose of destruction showcasing that age is not proof against fire.

The crypts, separate from the main estate, had locations above ground that had winding stairwells leading down. The sarcophagi decorated with the finest carvings where the robes of the dead almost seem to flutter with the wind with the deepest crypts being so far below ground that they are carved out of the earth instead of being worked stone. Pushing through the ceiling, the roots and winding branches of the above trees poke through.

While not on the manor grounds proper in the movie, in a fantasy setting, the ‘asylum’ that the son goes to would make for some excellent torture chambers that could be hidden out of the way below the manor grounds proper, further explaining why the building itself it build off the main ground.

These chambers could include the room of elemental ice where servants use gears and cranks to dip an individual strapped down to a chain into water filled with frost. Another room where the character is electrocuted methodolicaly to make him numb.

Other rooms designed to hold individuals in their straight jackets while drugs are administered to them.  Of course once you've started adding these types of chambers, the 'traditional' ones with the Iron Maiden and other instruements of torture become easier to place.



The set screams out potential and if you watch the Wolf Man and come away with nothing else, the Talbot Hall alone makes it worth the price of the viewing.

The Conditions of Roads

One of the things I thought interesting about the default 4e assumption in its points of light approach, is that things were better. This isn't necessarily something unique mind you. Even in it's glory publishing days, the Forgotten Realms hailed a things were better approach but usually that only came through in the spells, magic items, and sizes of the empires.

But the first 4e module noted how in need the roads were. When reading King of the North, the importance of roads reminded me of that with the following dialog;

"Pity you can't keep the Elabon Way repaired up to the way it used to be," van said, "but I suppose I should be greateful there's any road at all."

Gerin shrugged. "I haven't the masons to keep it the way it was, or the artisans to build the deep strong bed that holds up to traffic and weather both. Cobbles and gravel keep it open in the rain and mud, even if they are hard on a man's insides and a horse's hooves."

"To say nothing of the wheels," Van added as they jounced over a couple of particularly large, particularly rough cobbles. "Good thing we have psare axle poles and some extra spokes in case we break' em."

"This isn't even a particularly bad stretch," Gerin said. "Those places farther south where Balamug wrecked the roadway, those are the ones that haven't been the same since in spite of all the effort I've had the peasants put into them." (p.121 paperback edition.)

Those little bits right there give the reader an insight into the setting. It has nothing to do with fight. It has nothing to do with magic. It has nothing to do with potential raiders on the side or the road, choke points or ambush spots. It's just that the roads aren't as good as they could be due to the scarcity of resrouces, in this case, trained manpower to handle the delicate tasks of the road.

Living in and about Chicago my whole life, let me tell you, it's not just some fantasy concern either. The rain, heavy traffic, and the snow, have lead many an auto parts dealer to riches when replacing ruined tires, rims, and cars that have shattered vulnerable parts thanks to massive holes in the street, and this is an age where we have the technology, just apparently, not the funds or the brains to know when the roads are in such dire need of repair.

The next time the players are heading out as caravan guards, give 'em a little jostle and let 'em know that there's more to the road than bandit attacks.