Granuaile: Ireland's Pirate Queen Grace O'Malley c.1530-1603 by Anne Chambers

I was looking for the SteelBonnets, the story of Anglo-Scottish Border Reivers in the Half-Price in Skokie. I was fortunate and found it.

But in addition, I found Granuaile, Ireland’s Pirate Queen, Grace O’Malley c. 1530-1603, written by Anne Chambers.

For others more familiar with history and the women who shaped it, Grace O'Malley is probably old hat but for me?

As the old James Brown song goes, “It’s a Man’s World.” So when I see something that says, “Hey, in a time and era where women were not expected to be pirate queen’s, here we go!”, I was intrigued to say the least.

I’d never read any work by Anne Chambers before. This one read easy. It’s broken up into chunks of Grace’s life, her family’s life and history, and more importantly, the context of the time.

Grace’s family motto was “powerful by land and sea”. They were “lords of the seas around Ireland.” This included ‘the right to levy tolls for safe passage and the right to sell fishing rights to foreign fleets.”

Anne notes that “unlike most coastal families, the O’Malleys were themselves intrepid seafarers, whose seafaring was not confined to Ireland.” By having this skill set, the O’Malleys are already a step above many others who only use their coastal rights to set charges. They are in the action.

Being so in the action, the “plundered as far as Spain and Scotland.” Being so far afield from home sets a precedent that comes into play later. If one can get to Spain and Scotland from Ireland, one’s reach and grasp are further than those lords who only know Ireland itself.

I like books like this when the author gives the reader a bit of an idea of what people were doing. Here we see “Herring was the principal species caught, with hake, cod, ling, turbot, salmon, and shellfish. The fish was usually salted, sometimes dried and packed in wooden barrels for export. Hides, tallow, freize cloth, deer and sheepskins, furs such as pinemarten, considered a highly fashionable accessory in the sixteenth century, coney, fox and otter were other important commodities from the west of Ireland which found a ready market abroad.”

That’s a lot to take in, but provides a huge swatch of information at the same time. It was no simple thing that the O’Malleys did.

The tone of the book, in its era, in its time, reminds me of another time and another place.

In the late 14^th century, Italy was no whole country. It was a collection of independent city-states. This made the country easy pickings for Spain and France, among others, who sought to conquer Italy and even sacked the Holy City of Rome.

The Ireland that Granuaile inhabits, is much the same. There is no collective so powerful that it rules the country entire. Being a pirate queen, one who’s known to have visited Spain and Scotland, she is reputed to have sought out mercenaries and allies from those places. Dangerous charges indeed.

Due to Ireland having no central government capable of fully resisting the might of England, the country falls over the course of Grace’s life. She goes from suffering mightily under the hands of one of England’s lords, one Richard Bingham, to eventually serving Queen Elizabeth.

Anne Chambers wastes few words in discussing the similarities and differences between the two. Granuaile physically taller, but not possessing the same level of sophistication as Elizabeth.

Elizabeth, proud queen and ruler, but no husband. The ‘Virgin’ Queen. Grace? Two husbands and children.

Both women in an era and time that did not allow women to seize such destiny unless they were of bold nature and cunning wit.

Both proved to have it.

In Grace's case though, Anne argues that the Pirate Queen hasn't received her due for numerous reasons. The first of which, is she was not a 'patriot' of Ireland. In a time where only very recently have relations between England and Ireland been 'civil', to capitulate to England during the start of the takeover must have seemed traitorous at best.

Folklore and mythology mixed with oral history didn't let that tradition or information die out though.

Anne also makes a comparison between Grace and her ancient ancestors, suggesting that women had a much larger and more prominent role in Ireland, indeed, in much of the world, before the spread of Roman civilization which brought with it Christianity. 

And Christianity pushed those other goddesses to the back along with the leadership roles that women had.

I'm not a historian, not even an armchair one, but that's an idea that on its surface, seems to have merit and is well worth looking into (as I'm sure many have already done.)

In addition to the text, Anne includes numerous aids for the reader. These include the following:

·          a map of Ireland circa 1530 broekn up by principal lordships,

·         a O’Mally Coat of Arms,

·         an image of a regular galley, as well of one of Granuaile’s,

·         a map of Ireland 1609.

·         Map of Galway City 1611

·         Numerous black and white paintings

·         Photographs including Clare Island Castle, Kildawnet Castle, Howth Castle, Carraigahowle Castle, 

a     among others.

The appendixes are full of great tools to immerse the reader into the time of Grace including poems, paperwork, and other bits that provide a unique look into the life of someone who lived from 1530-1603.

Anyone looking for an example of how even in ‘history’, one can push against the tides and accomplish great deeds needs look no further than Granuaile.

Numenera: Session One

We get xp for recapping the sessions so I subject you poor bastiches to my take of the game Numenera:

Johnah Hammer wondered anew what he was doing in Finnegan’s. The tavern was loud. Even for a tavern in Qi, one of the largest if not the largest cities of the Steadfast. The celebration was not one he expected to fall into. All about him people in green tinted clothing often decorated with a four leaf clover.

It was madness.

Johnah idly wondered if perhaps he should have worn his armor after all but such worthless musings were worthless. He knew as did most others that in the city of Qi, it was… discouraged form wearing anything over say a leather jerkin. Something about looking to invite trouble.

Thankfully those thoughts did not transfer over to his weapons. Indeed, without his great maul and heavy crossbow, the ‘Hammer’ would have felt naked.

Johnah slowly sipped his beer. It was a heavy dark dry stout that resembled oil more than a good beer. Still, in his early years training in the monastery, he learned to not waste and so nursed it.

More disturbing to Johnah were those he sat with. He could not recall how they had all gathered at this particular tavern in Qi, at this particular table at Finnegan’s, but there they were.

To his right sat Dameris ‘the Immortal’. She was a pale white beauty but there was something rotten about that beauty. Despite her appearance, no one asked that ivory statuette to dance. Something about her manner unnerved even the most resolute individuals.

Next to her say Drugah Voss. He remained fairly ‘normal’ in terms of some of the things the Hammer had seen. Johnah knew that such apperances could be deceiving though.

Across from him sat Hugo Hall. Johnah shuddered. The man was more machine than meat. The eyes always searching out new pieces of Numenera either to visually fuck or to dreamily lust after. The unnaturalness about it brought a shudder to the Hammer who had to control himself from downing his dark stout.

Next to Hall sat Luselm. She moreso than Drugah was unremarkable in the loudness of Finnegan’s.

A thick mustached man with red hair pointed to us across the room. His face as red as his beard.

Next to eh man was a smaller one.

“You’re at our table. Leave!”

Johnah looked to the ivory one. “I didn’t understand him.”

“Nor I. Perhaps if he spoke normally?”

The red haired one introduced himself as Angus and demanded we leave.

The Hammer looked Angus dead in the eyes rolling his huge shoulders. “We need no anus at this table.”

The little one smirked but Angus swelled like a balloon being blown up. “What? What?”

“No anus here friend. It’s not needed.”

The little one stepped in. “What my friend means is that we would like to join you. I be Smith, Roger Smith.”

The Hammer nodded to the two who pulled up some seats and wondered again at what he was doing here. Some second hand information brought him here to seek out new work. Things had been different for the Hammer since his time at the Monastery.

Roger pulled forth a clockwork bird and began winding it up. It was gold and brass and its movements were fluid.

Hugo’s eyes glossed over and his hand reached out towards the bird. The bird lifted a leg and emitted some dark based liquid, darker than the stout Hammer drank.

Hugo stuck one finger into the vicious liquid and tasted it.

The Hammer laughed. “The bird craps and you would taste of it? This is why I often think people of the city are dirty.”

Hugo didn’t smile but the others at the table did. Hugo didn’t seem insulted by such words. Indeed, the look on Hugo’s face was almost one of scanty as if he looked past the physical nature of the waste and was determining what it was on a larger scale of things.

The tavern increased in tempo. A bard played with Numenera white gloves that left notes visible in the air that the bard then played with the white gloves as if the music were a physical entity.

The commotion became louder still. Then panic. People ran into the room screaming that “It’s Happening again!” Robots had gone mad for some reason. These security droids designed to keep the peace gone mad. Wires twisted all around a metal skeleton.

“Are you going to put that in your mouth next?” The Hammer sneered at Hugo.

“No. We should be leaving.” Hugo replied in a matter of fact manner.

Drugah disagreed. “We need to take this thing out!”

Hammer wasted no further time on talk and with Roger, the two flipped the table over to act as cover. While it looked like mere wood, the material was far stronger. People drunkenly brawled had cracked bone with the steins which shared the wood look, but also shared the far stronger durability.

Having taken shelter behind the flipped over table, The Hammer smiled. This reminded him of the many caravan trips he had made since leaving the Monastery. His skills had proven invaluable on many of this trips, saving lives and exploring the wilds.

The pulled out the heavy crossbow and fired a shot but was over.

The white one did something, but it appeared to have no effect. No, that wasn’t quite true. Something flicked around the metal skeleton and the barbed wire slashed it to pieces.

Drugah looked at one of the tables and it rose and flew towards the metal menace. The table flew into different directions.

Luselm seemed possessed of madness running towards it with a dagger. She evaded the razor wire around it and struck the creature, but it was no deer to be skinned with a mere dagger. She rolled back and avoided the thing’s wires again.

Hugo threw a mug at the creature. The mug was hit so many times by the barbed wire that it ceased to exist.

The thing looked at our group. It raised a rod with red glowing light that aimed at Roger. Angus stepped in front of the blast and smirked.

The rest of the group looked on in horror. What Angus didn’t realize at first was that a hole had formed in his chest large enough for even the barrel chested Hammer to put his arm through.

Angus twitched and fell.

This time, the Hammer paused for a moment as he aimed. The heavy bolt struck true this time into the creature’s skull. The barbed wire danced about the creature cutting those foolish enough to be near in two save for Luselm who easily dodge the wires.

“Another is coming!” A person yelled.

The Hammer wasted no time on pondering and instead loaded his heavy crossbow with another bolt.

Luselm began looking over the metal corpse. The rod it used to kill Angus shattered into powdered metallic glass that dissipated into the floor.

Dameris, the white beauty stood over Angus. She placed hand on neck and the Hammer wondered, “What the hell was she doing?” Clearly Angus was dead. Past all hope.

Drugah looked over the creature with Luselm. His intention seemed more investigative. His eyes more interested in what was happening behind the scenes. “Perhaps they have been hacked? This would seem to be a mode designed to repel intruders.” He said what many of us though.

Hugo examined the fallen creature as well. Was he seeking to incorporate it into his own man machine frame?

Hugo unlike the other two investigators, became one with the machine. The Hammer could see numbers and data actually flashing over Hugo’s eyes. It was a terrifying change of man from machine.

The screams became more audible. Another of the metallic skeletons were approaching. Hugo went to one side of the door and Luselm to the other.

Before it entered though, Drugah’s pop’s a pill. His face took on a look of effort and outside, one of the poles housing a glow globe smashed down upon the metal enforcer.

Dameris walked outside ignoring the hysteria of the ‘common’ people. She straddled one of the corpses outside and injected it in the neck with a needle while kissing the dead forehead.

The thing that was once dead screamed. A final breath shot out of its lungs. It began to rise, picking up a piece of debris as a club. It then moved onto the machine.

The Hammer took a moment to aim and smiled. Be a shame if he hit the newly created zombie but firing into combat was a risk he was willing to take. Undead and machines? Either one would make a good target.

But his aim was true. The bolt smashed through the skull casing again.

The Hammer went outside. It was chaos.

The machines fought each other. Those that were in ‘red’ mode were easily defeating those in ‘blue’ mode. People were losing limbs and others were exploding.

The Hammer pondered the end of Qi.

Hugo looked at us. “We need to find a hub. At this hub, there is something infecting these creatures.”

Luselm has a look of confidence on her face. “I know exactly where we can find this local hub.”

The people in Finnegan’s barricade up. They failed to appreciate that one had come in through the roof. The sounds of their slaughter is not pleasing but there is no time to waste.

Luselm’s mastery of Qi is unprecedented as she leads the group through the city. Through alleys and under spires. Through quick underground passages and abandoned buildings. Most of the group walked like mere mortals but Drugah? He rides a disk of mental energy his arms folded across his chest.

After a few moments, all of us are lost. Hugo cries out, “You’re lost aren’t you. You’ve doomed us!”

Luselm’s smile reveals that we are not lost as she leads us into an elevator shaft. “We’re here.” The elevator leads us down and ahead we know that there are guards.

Dameris sends the undead thing forward and the guards obligingly follow it.

Drugah summons a extra hand that grabs a baton from the walkway.

And the cause of all this madness?

A preteen wearing a uniform of the Aeon Priests. His mad laughter is directed towards a holographic series of images ahead of him. Plugs and jacks go from his shaved skull into a variety of machines under him. He doesn’t sit but rather floats above the chair.

Hugo pays these things no mind and instead tries to seize the boy’s head and electricity crackles from his hand. The two engage in something not quite a battle of wills but neither moves for a brief few seconds which stretch into eternity but it does reveal that the child is surrounded by something. Some sort of barrier.

“You would stop the Doom Ladden? Prepared to taste pain!” The voice that comes from the child? It’s not child’s voice. It is one of cold and metal. Worse still, when it speaks, red lights spill forth from its mouth.

Luselm moves so stealthily that even as the others watch the scene in front of them, she disappears for a moment and then appears again and brings down her dagger into the seeming child. It does not take the stabbing as the field that protected it from Hugo’s hand of death, easily deflects the dagger.

Drugah commands his extra hand wielding the truncheon to smash the youth and with his own power, pulls forth a piece of stone. Both attacks seek to smash the youth. Some of the ports and cables are knocked loose from the child’s skull but it does not fall.

The Immortal smiles and looks deeply into the youth’s eyes. “How dare you!” The child cries out. “You think to best me?!?” And the Immortal’s perfect smile cracks and blood seeps from her nose.

Johnah tries to avoid shooting his comrades and gets the right angle, the right position and the right time. The heavy crossbow fires true but the thing grabs the bolt from the air and flicks it away.

Between Hugo and the child, the air weavers. Hugo cries out “No!” and apparently isn’t consumed by whatever the child was doing. Hugo pauses for a second, catching his breath. And without warning, reaches forward, ignoring the child for a second, and pulls at something behind the child, a cord leading into it’s back.

Then the field surrounding the child, the wavering energy flux, fades.

Luselm’s smile is not friendly as she realizes that the child’s defenses are gone and she doesn’t hesitate as the knife comes down.

Drugah continues to focus his dual efforts, the truncheon and the sheer force of his will, against the child. The concrete slab smashes against the child knocking more wiring lose and almost crushing the child’s skull.

The child falls from the air unto the floor. Metal plating revealed under the torn skin. One eye looking to the right seeing nothing.

But it still lived.

The Immortal sneered at the child seeing it weakened. She raises a hand and energy crackles at the tip of her finger.

The child laughs and Dameris’ finger explodes in blood.

The Hammer walks forward past the white one.

The child looks up. It’s one good eye focusing on the heavy crossbow.

“Free me!” It begs and for the first time, it’s in a human voice.

The Hammer does.

Prepping Dem Bones: Bones 2 Kickstarter in De House!

I backed the Reaper Miniatures Bones 2 Kickstarter.

My goods arrived a few weeks ago. I have however been so busy that I wasn't in a hurry to open up the package.

Finally broken down and realized that I may a pretty big omission to my order and working with Reaper to see if I can fix my mistake.

But with all of these miniatures in house, I thought I'd take a moment to share some ideas on HOW to paint them.

There are a few things that can be taken into account and some of them are entirely optional.

For example, you can take it out of the bag and paint it. Use 'thick' paints for that first layer, something like Privateer Press, Games Workshop Base Coats or Reaper's HD paints. This will work. It may not be the best method and may lead to some frustration as paint can bead on the Bones material if it's just the slightest bit too thin.

Instead, I recommend having a list of supplies and deciding what you want to do ahead of time. Some of it may vary.

For example, if you're just using the Bones as stand in figures for your role playing games, then you might just take an unpainted figure and throw it on the table as a physical object to represent something in the game. No different than say using a Lego or Marble.

Actual Prep: You may be interested in taking it a step further. Read on!

Xacto Knife: For under $17 bones, Amazon has a good starter set. The benefit of the Xacto Knife is that it will allow you to clean the mold lines on the figures. For those with more experience and patience, the Bones material is soft and the knife will allow you to easily cut the figures up.



A word of caution. Be careful. Even when cutting away from yourself, if you're working on say, a rounded object, the blade and find it's way back around. I'm sure many people have a horror story or two about it as I know I do. Blood for the Blood God indeed!

Having said that, an Xacto Knife and mold removal isn't necessary if you're not worried about it. The Bones material is nice. This batch seems a little... firmer and more quality control in place than the last one. But if you're throwing some zombies on the table and aren't worried about mold lines? Skip the prep with the Xacto.

Cleaning: I clean my figures with an old toothbrush, soap, and warm water. I'm sure some one has some recommendations on what type of soap to use, but I've never had a problem with it.

Hot Water: Here's the 'original' deal. I like tea and hate boiling water. So I bought a electric hot kettle. Then Coolminiornot has this stuff, Insta Mold or something. You heat it up and can use it like a miniature mold. I've never really got the full 'geist' of it. My bad on that. But it's also handy for Bones figures. While I stand by my statement that the quality this time around is better, there are still bent swords and spears. Having something to get water hot quickly allows you to dip the afflicted part of the figure into the hot water. Straighten it out, and quickly put it into cold water. I've heard that the colder the water, including water with ice, the better off you are.



I've actually been using my Keurig for this. Alas, since I bought my Keurig, the electric hot water kettle has gone unto the back porch never to be seen again.

Bases: Many of the figures are fine as is. Some have smaller bases. If you have some glue, you can glue them to a more sturdy base. For most role playing purposes, 1" bases are good for medium sized creatures. Amazon has a fair amount of objects that can be used. One I've seen is the bag of 100 1" wooden disks. Strangely enough, the 1.5" disks are like, half the price. Look around.



Stand: This one is very optional. I use a few different things with blue tack to hold the miniature in place so that I don't touch it with my own hands. This helps minimize paint on me and helps me to reach different areas of the miniature without worrying about touching a wet part of the miniature. For those on the thrifty side, use old pill bottles. For those who want something a little different, I use these wooden squares along with the pill bottle,s along with a few other things.



Primer: I've heard a few horror stories about people using primer on their Reaper Bones. Don't get it honestly. I've used Vallejo Primer, both with a brush and through an air brush, as well as Army Painter primer and a few other brush on primers including Game's Workshop and Reaper's own brush on primer.

A bigger question for me, is what COLOR primer to us.

The figures here are some of the "Rats" from an expansion on the Bones 2 pledge, and some 'Giants' on the bones two pledge. The rats I hit with Army Painter leader and the Giants with Flesh. Saves a ton of time putting that first layer down as well as acting as primer. Note you can also see one of those wooden bases under the giant to the right. That big boy didn't come with an integrated base as the one on the left did.

Black is the most common primer followed by white though. I went with black here because the Bones are white by default. You can see the minotaur lord in the back on the left hand side along with a few others. Priming white over white? Not necessarily a great idea because you can't see if the primer is on the figure.



Note that color primer seems to be a thing now. I've seen the Army Painter ones, as well as a return to color primer by Games Workshop. Note I personally have not tried the Games Workshop color primers on the figures so can't say if that causes any problems.

But Vallejo has been doing some military color primers for a while and they work great as well. Even better if you're comfortable with an airbrush. The nice thing about Vallejo? They often have several sizes for their primers. For example, a nice neutral gray 200ml is under $17 from Amazon right now.



Take a look around and see if there are some primer colors that you want to use.

Accessories: I mentioned blue tack. I use that to hold the miniatures to other things. Sometimes I'll use it to hold a shield to a miniature or a miniature to a base.



Glue: If you're new to painting, you might not have any glue. Depending on how detailed you're going to get with the miniatures, you can do anything from skipping the glue, and just going with the single piece figures, to buying the different types of glue that will help you out.

Superglue is useful for keeping the pieces together. A word on that. Some of the figures are better off being assembled at the end of the painting process. This allows you to easily access parts that may be more difficult to reach after the figures are assembled.

Another note is that you should test fit the figures before you glue them. This allows you to see if there are any obvious problems or if you need to break out the hot water and do some bending to make sure that everything fits well.

For the most part, I didn't have any problems with the Bones figures. Most of the larger figures have huge tabs and fit nicely and glue quickly. The minotaur demon lord was a bit of a PIA but that was only because he had so many pieces to him. Highly unusual for a Bones figure.

For those who hate waiting around? Get some super glue accelerant. It makes the glue bond quickly. Some will warn you that it weakens the bond. I personally haven't had a problem with it. Your mileage may vary.



The other type of glue you'll probably want, is if you're doing any 'flocking', putting fake sand, dirt, grass, and other bits on your base, you'll want white glue.



White glue is pretty cheap so you can buy a small bottle and see how that works for you.

In terms of painting tools and brushes?

That's going to vary tremendously.

For someone brand new to the hobby, I strongly suggest you watch some videos and talk to friends who may already be in the hobby. If you have a local hobby store, go there. This hobby store doesn't even necessarily have to be a gaming hobby store. Some hobby stores may primarily be train or other type of hobby, but still have material relevant for a new comer to the hobby. See if they have any paint days.

One of the reasons Games Workshop does so well is that they have these stores. They also have some huge bundles that make getting into the hobby easier. If you just want something to start that's not going to murder your wallet, I'd recommend checking out Army Painter.



The Mega Paint set (which is pretty good price here) has paints, inks, and a few brushes. That's a good start to see if it's something you want to continue with.

If you get paints, get a cleaner and clean your brushes after every use.



It's important to clean the brushes because it keeps them viable longer.

For the more experienced painter who already HAS paints but is intrigued by time saving with an air brush?

The Badger 105 Patriot is a 'starter' air brush. It will handle a bit of abuse and while I always recommend thinning your paint before putting it through the airbrush, the 105 handles it a little better.



The strange thing, and I honestly don't get this, is that the Sotar, another air brush, is a more 'advanced' model, and at this time, is less expensive than the 105. Both from the same company. Perfect for the Vallejo primers.



There are a few things I didn't mention like a pin vice. Useful for using say brass rod and pinning two separate pieces of a miniature together and using glue to hold it. The pin creates more support. Useful for small joins or very large ones.

I'm working on a ton of things myself at this time. Just finished running the second book of Kingmaker, looking over the next chapter, The Varnhold Vanishing, one of my friends is prepping to run some Numenera, and well, the dreaded realities of work and what not.

But I was thinking, "Hey, I'm painting Bones. Other people might not be as familiar with the Bones and how they work. Let me throw together a quick blog post on it."

If you're new to Bones and have any specific questions, let me know. If you have some resources you'd like to share on it, let me know.

Wizards of the Coast and Miniatures aka Bad Marketing 101

This is a screenshot of Wizkids site I took the other day.

The very first thing? Pathfinder Battles Iconic Miniatures.

The third thing? Not the second mind you. D&D with two brands, Attack Wing and Icons of the Realms. And those icons look way too crowded and way too busy. You can't see anything that's happening there except maybe you might think, is that Godzillia by the D&D brand?

I went to Wizkids because I was just at my FLSG, Games Plus.

While there, they had the NEW random collectable miniatures.

Usually WizKids is real good about providing a poster or some other means of, you know, KNOWING what the buyer can at least potentially get.

No such poster here.

So when I got home, I checked out Wizards of the Coast site. I knew that was probably going to be futile. For some reason, WoTC doesn't want people on their D&D section of the site as they didn't have a gallery of their previous release either.

And nope, at the time at least, no gallery. A few previews which is nice mind you but no actual gallery.

So I wandered over to Wizkids site.

Bam, Pathfinder at top.

That's gotta hurt.

I don't know if that's because Pathfinder is paying more, allowing Wizkids a bigger share of the cut, or just random weirdness but if I was WoTC, with a brand new set out, I'd want my brand on top.

I'd also want a gallery of what the miniatures people can buy look like.

But you aint' going to get that from Wizkids son. Last time I looked around the site, you could see some of the Attack Wing figures and the figures from the first set, Tyranny of Dragons.

That's not good marketing on WoTC site. It's not good marking on Wizkids site.

I've heard some people say, "Well, if you go to site X, you can see the full release."

And that's okay but it's certainly not what either of these companies should want to happen. If I have to rely on 3rd party sources to get information that should be gushing from your sites? You're doing it wrong.

But that's just me.

Anyone buy any of the new figures? I like some of the previews we've seen, but I'm also a miniature painter and I buy these things to either fill out gaps in my collection or because the miniatures are inexpensive. As the cost of the blind randoms have gone up, I've cut waaayy back. Part of that is my ownership of miniatures like Reaper's Bones or say, Mantic's Kickstarters. Other parts are that WoTC made D&D itself less reliant on miniatures.

I also can't help but notice that there are still no Dragonborn. Maybe I'm missing it. So WoTC makes Dragonborn a core race in two editions now, and we've got, including all the old ones, less than five I want to say? That's terrible. I assure you WoTC, we don't need elves, dwarves, or adventuring humans these days. But dragonborn and other IP that you own and few other people have touched? Might want to look at hitting that eh?

But some of them do look nice. I'd buy a few packs to take a chance on getting say a firesnake or an ettin.

In terms of what WoTC long term miniature plans are? Anyone have any guesses? I can't see the Gale Force 9 miniatures being a priority or long term way of handling things. It's not that the miniatures aren't solid. I've bought many of them myself.

At clearance prices.

From a "limited run".

Nice figures. Resin makes them brittle mind you but nice.

Nice and expensive.

I think WoTC needs to get Reaper on board with their miniature program. Put the well established brand of Reaper at work on their miniatures that are non-random and non-collectible.

Some may say that Pazio and Pathfinder are already established at Reaper.

Yeah, take a look at that Wizkids screenshot again. If Wizkids can't make a new set their priority on the web and have a gallery for it, and WoTC isn't on them like white on rice? WoTC can swallow whatever may pass for pride there and acknowledge that Reaper can do them justice without limited edition runs, without being made of brittle resin, and can capture the spirit of D&D.

But that's just me. I can't see either the Gale Force 9 miniatures lasting too much longer (which is a shame because they have a Red Dragon coming up that looks fantastic) nor can I see the random miniatures sticking around much longer when they can't even get top billing for a new release.

Others? Am I out of the water here? Is WizKids pushing WoTC IP into all new directions and all new fanbases? Let me know. I'm old and senile and keep telling these damn kids to get off my lawn!

Rivers Run Red Finale!

So when last I left off, the party had lost one member to a fey creature. Another had been cursed and another suffered from a magical trap.

This required magic of a higher level than they had so they went to the city! In this instance, Restov. There they meet with the mayor, hunted down some magic items, sold some of their current ones for cash, had a few social encounters as the mayor held a celebration to welcome the heroes of 'Murkwell', the name of their nation, and they meet a few people.

Now they also owe three quests in exchange for the magical services rendered. Ha! I can throw those in somewhere I'm sure.

They also burned through the last encounters of the adventure. Several of these were role playing in nature ranging from dealing with more fey, at least this time not assassin or poison using, to dealing with the enraged owlbear that attacked their town while they were hex exploring.

For the owlbear, I was super lazy. I just used a fire giant's stats and lowered the CR by 1 as I didn't give it a bite nor allow it to be immune to fire. Seemed to work out okay. Terrible damage, hits you easily, has a bucket load of hit points and little else.

But man, the party is sure tired of owlbears.

Bad new? they have a lot of Kingdom building to do. They did roughly five months.

The next adventure, The Varnhold Vanishing, assumes another one to two years of building.

And one of my friends is getting ready to run.

What?

He's a new dad. He's in school. He's getting out for a semester and is dying to try Numenera.He claims that it's easy to run, he loves the setting and art, and he's only got a limited window of opportunity to run it because once school starts back up, he'll probably be out of gaming for a while as he's got help on the child situation with grandparents, but they're only visiting for now too.

Hey, someone else wants to run? Can you say awesome? I don't mind running but I'm kind of flat on 5e. I'm too used to the rich resources that Pathfinder and 3.5 have and I keep wondering where the hell the new Monster Manual is.

On the other hand, I ain't buying Numenera. It's not an inexpensive book. He's only going to run it for a few months. I suspect I'll be getting there early and reading up on it or hoping for another Bundle of Holding or something.

Part of this is because another of my friends is talking about Dresend Files and the same guy is talking about the Fantasy Flight games like Deathwatch while another is running oWoD when I can't make it to run. That's a lot of money for games I'll probably never play on a regular basis.

I get that if you're playing a game long term, $50 bones isn't that much of an investment. That's like a ticket to a concert or 20 (or less!) drinks at Star Bucks. But I also paint miniatures which require a TON of things if you like experiementing like I do ranging from different paint from different companies, to different accessories like glaze medium, matt medium, brushes, pigments, etc...

So I'm curious to see how Numenera works out and will enjoy my break from running.

To be honest, I'm kind of surprised the group managed to make it through books one and two and even the starting adventure from the boxed set.

What's everyone else doing now? Still playing 5th edition? Waiting on Exalted 3rd edition? Sticking with the OSR?

Dungeons and Dragons: Why Official? Why Magazines?

I have previously mourned the passing of the magazines, Dungeon and Dragon. My blog post on such musings, as well as others about the lack of material for 5^th edition, has recently seen much activity thanks to a sharing of said blog post by +Charles Akins .

One responder, +Ricky Moore, asked “Why do we need the magazines? There’s so much stuff out there now that it’s not necessary.”

I don't want to say that’s always been true but to a certain extent, it has. In days gone by, there were people doing conversions of monsters from other game systems. Bringing magic items from myth and history into the game. People sharing notes and convention war stories. People making up things on the fly or inspired by comics and movies of their time.

The internet has made the sharing of such things even easier.

So in that sense, no, nothing new is needed. But in that sense, Dungeons and Dragons 5^th edition itself was not needed. People already HAD games. People already HAD characters. People already HAD something.

But we have 5^th edition nonetheless.

So are there any reasons outside of a product being sold?

Ed Greenwood. How much money has Ed made for first TSR then WoTC with his creation, the Forgotten Realms, his personal works printed for the Forgotten Realms in both fiction and gaming line?

Ed did not spring whole cloth from the mind of Gary Gygax. He made his bones if you will, in the pages of Dragon magazine.

Ed is not the only one. There were many comics that either started out in Dragon or had a signal boost from being in the official magazine of Dungeons and Dragons. These range from classic comics like Wormy (sadly never completed) to more modern contemporaries like Order of the Stick.

Here at least Wizards of the Coast has been wise enough to allow others, like Scott of PvP, to use their properties to have stories. Scott does a great job in his comic Table Titans of a group playing in the Forgotten Realms. But would you know about that comic from The WoTC site?

Dragon magazine proved to be a fertile ground for many in terms of creators, comics, and artists. 

Larry Elmore and others may not have made their bones in Dragon and Dungeon, but such magazines didn’t hurt in getting eyes on their art.

Again though, there is this whole internet thing where people can see each other’s work on a much broader scale than previously so while the legitimacy of being published by the official makers of Dungeons and Dragons has its appeal, it’s not necessary. It’s another “Nice” thing.

It’s so “Nice” that Paizo has yearly competitions to see who the next “Superstar” will be. These contest draw a lot of attention to Paizo’s site and get people involved in the game in a way that only playing it does not.

Content: This is the era of content and content is king. Comic readers have had thousands of issues of Batman, Superman, and Spiderman, among others, but those characters are still being published, still being put through the paces. New foes and allies arriving with regular frequency.

Look at it from another perspective if you can. If Dungeons and Dragons 5^th edition is your first role playing game, and as a player, you enjoy the barbarian, sorcerer, or warlock, among others as a player, you’re using “new” content. Such classes were not originally part of the game.

Do you enjoy tielflings or dragonborn as core races? Again, not something that was part of the core prior to 4^th edition.

By this whole theory of “let the players make it”, the Player’s Handbook should only have included human, elf, and dwarf for races, and only cleric, fighter, magic user, and rogue for classes. Some would say go back further and only have cleric, fighter, and magic user as the rogue wasn’t part of the “original” game.

Do you get my drift? Your favorite part of the game may be one that’s new to it. And in so being new to it, there may be those who’ve played and would like to see their favorite thing return to the game. For example, me? I’d love to see psioncs hit 5^th edition.  While I have not enjoyed every edition’s versions of psioncis, I like it as a concept and enjoyed a lot of what was done in 3^rd and 4^th edition with it. Not having psionics in this edition is a strange thing to me.

For me, this is where the vast resources of 3^rd edition and 4^th edition make those games feel more ‘complete’ to me.

But you’re the Dungeon Master! You care not for these player bits. You have hundreds of monsters in the Monster Manual.

But do you enjoy the chaotic Slaad or the lawful Modron? These were not creatures that were originally in the 1^st edition Monster Manual. I know, I’m stretching it going back that far.

But the point is there are so many monsters that are different people’s favorites that Dragon magazine would be a good way to bring them to the game. There are numerous types of dragons ranging from ferrous and drakes, to gem dragons. There are numerous types of outsiders including elemental variants and demons and devils that haven’t been updated. Many of them are someone’s favorite.

And magic items? Wow. With the cap on magic items at +3 (which I’m sure we’ll see broken officially at some time), and other changes to how magic items work, having Dragon would allow a Bizarre of the Bazaar to make a return and update some of them. Perhaps not even necessarily on a one per one basis but some game design articles talking about how you COULD update the items.

Content: What? Again? Yes. I mention content again because I don’t go to the official site of Wizards of the Coast that often. Paizo on the other hand… Paizo breaks their site up into many parts. They have upcoming previews for new material. They have short stories that are free to read. They have showcases of what other companies are doing that they think are cool. There is a lot of interaction with the fan base.

Wizards of the Coast? Maybe I'm just missing it, but I found the site so poorly organized that when I tried to find images of their miniatures, I’m directed to other sites. WTF WoTC. WTF. If your own site is so lacking in regular content to draw readers to it, you will wither on the vine.

Content, new content, on a regular basis, is needed to give people a reason to come to your site every day. Sometimes multiple times a day to see if they missed anything previously.

To me? WoTC site for Dungeons and Dragons seems designed to act as a coming soon page with an occasional dip into an article like Unearthed Arcana. Perhaps I’m wrong and I’m not looking at it enough? Are there some hidden gems I've missed?

Nostalgia: Okay, this one is a nonsense listing for the most part. It’s a “Because I want it!” portion. But… but… there are probably STILL people angry that WoTC cancelled the print versions of the magazine. There are probably people upset that WoTC cancelled the electronic versions of the magazine. Maybe I should retitle this one “good will” as opposed to “Nostalgia”.

But there MUST be value in Nostalgia or WoTC wouldn't keep going back to the well. Elemental Evil? Really? Again?

Tiamat? Really? Again? Wasn't one of the adventure paths for 4^th edition Tiamat? Wasn't that based on Red Hand of Doom? What?

Nostalgia has power. It’s been a force in 2^nd edition. In 3^rd edition. In 4^th edition. In 5^th edition. Using well known names, events, characters, and other bits, showcases continuity between editions. It allows new people to play with old ideas. It gives readers who have never seen any of it before, opportunity to go down the rabbit hole and see how far it goes.

Variety: I like a lot of esoteric things in Dungeons and Dragons. I like a touch of technology for example. I was very happy to see that in the Dungeon Master's Guide. I enjoyed the Sheen, a race of robotic invaders from back in 2nd edition. I enjoy Psionics. I enjoy Ferrous Dragons and Linnorms. 

Not everyone does. For example, some people LOVE the two hardcover adventurers WoTC put out. I thought the basic adventure in the starter boxed set shamed those two books. To me, their useless. They are no-gratis products.

By having products like Dragon and Dungeon out back in the day, you were able to have something that probably hit your fancy. Rare was it that a whole issue was useless. Not impossible mind you but rare.

Time: Perhaps role playing in and of itself is a younger man’s game. Unlike say comics, books, movies, or other forms of entertainment that you can enjoy by yourself at your leisure, role playing is a group activity. It is one that requires a further chunk of your life. What does that mean?

If you work more than 40 hours, raise you hand.

If you have outside obligations, like taking care of a diabetic mother, a special needs child, your crack habbit,  raise your hand.

If you have a S/O or children, raise your hand.

If you have all those and still find time to game, raise your hand.

Now having done that, it’s nice to be able to sit back, grab a professionally edited magazine with some appealing art and go, “Man, I’m going to put that in my campaign.”

The days of spending hours, days, weeks, or longer on crafting the perfect dungeon or setting, are gone for many of those who've been playing the game for years and having content created for busy people is a very handy thing to show people, “Hey, Dungeons and Dragons, it’s the game that’s well supported so you can sit back and enjoy it” as opposed to “Hey, Dungeons and Dragons. You finished our boxed set starting adventure and hated the two hardcovers adventurers so make up everything from scratch now.”

And this is part of the problem. It’s not necessarily JUST a lack of the magazines. It’s a lack of resources. There are no official conversion documents. There are no official electronic tools. When such tools are put up on a fan site, they are requested to be taken down. For the most part, the core content has been allowed to roam free and the owner has closed the gates to go check on their more promising, profitable children.

I cannot blame WoTC for that. WoTC is a company and a subsidy of Hasbro. They need to show profit and need to show continual profit.

But again, that’s why I'm concerned that this edition of Dungeons and Dragons, will be the last. If you're the biggest fish in a pond too small to interest the corporate masters, your value is equal to that of the smallest fish.

I enjoyed the spirited debate that popped up last post. Be curious to see if people think I'm just smoking that lovely crack pipe or a little from column A and a little from column B.

Savage Sword of Conan Volume Nine

Dark Horse comics did fantasy fans, as well as comic fans, a huge service when they brought the old Savage Sword of Conan back into print. The only thing I question, as I usually do, is the choice of cover. It's not that this is a bad cover but rather that this volume includes a cover by artist Joe Jusko.

If I was publishing this? Oh yeah, that cover full color straight on.

Volume Nine has over five hundred pages of bone crushing action. Ernie Chan and John Buscema bring the Hyborian age to life like few before of after them. John in particular renders wide scenes that bring the reader fully into Conan's world.

While last volume introduced readers to the Devourer of Souls, here he makes his return. He is a glutton for turning men into worms so that they are easier to devour. His insatiable lust for souls thought, isn't his primary motivation. Rather, he desires to bring his people, a whole race of soul eaters, into Conan's world. The world that the Devourer of Souls hails from is low on this precious resource.

It's a good trick. To showcase someone hoarding something that they don't normally have access to. To show people who might have once been poor to eke out ever copper piece they can. To do work that others might not, even though they can afford not to do that work.

In this volume, the Devourer does manage to bring several of his kin to Conan's world. But even then, the Devourer himself stands different. It is he that wears the armor. It is he who has the winged helm and cape. It is he who uses magics to turn men into worms that may be devoured by his people.

He even names himself as Wrarrl of the Demon Helmet.

But whereas in the previous fight, Conan won through luck, this time, even as Conan initially is beaten down again by the Devourer, this time Conan actually has a plan. This time Conan is able to use deception to make the Devourer lower his guard.

There are also a few other colorful characters. While we get no Red Sonja and Conan this volume, we do get the Snow Raven. While mainly a thief, she's also no slouch with sword or bola and manages to get the upper hand on Conan not once, but twice in matters of thievery. Still, the last and final laugh of the issue goes to Conan who switches a bag of gems for a bag of stones.

While many of the standards here here, Conan being stronger than any man has a right to be, lasses and lords aplenty, there is some amusing banter as well.


"Good steel is scarce here! Give us your sword!"

"You've a fine sense of hmor Kushite! I admire that in a man!"

Then there's this little gem.

There are also numerous bits where Conan is working for one person, and the other people working for that person, are working against Conan's new employee and so Conan winds up facing double and sometimes triple betrayal as the person he's working for, seeing him kill the traitors, doesn't know that those were traitors and so casts Conan out!

There are also some reminders that Conan's era is far from civilized.

"I am but a poor priest of the Zambolian mysteries... why kill me?"

"Why not? You are old and blind and of no use to anyone!"

Yeah....

Be that as it may though, it does bring up some interesting scenarios. In one, Conan is offered a job as a palace guard but must "displace" one of the current members. Sounds almost like some of the old 1st edition Monk or Druid bits where there can only be so many of each rank.

To do this, Conan and another guard fight with staff on a stone bridge over a pit of long spears. To fall into the pit, the "Well of Spears", is to die. Suffice it to say it's not Conan who is knocked into the pit.

John Buscema, as usual, brings us into the world of the barbarian in it's vast scope. For example, the Temple of the Lion. The people who come it as mere ants before it's epic size. Men astride horses far far away form the temple and still, the temple looms like a mountain off in the distance.

As usual, there are a few choice bits for adventuring seeds that I think I'll steal.

Conan brings a fence an item of some small worth. The fence needs light to see it and appraise it right? Turns out that light in the window is an alert to guards who come by to capture those that the fence sells out in exchange for turning a blind eye to other things the fence does. That whole candle in the window bit is classic but I'll be damned if I've used it more than a handful of times in 20+ years of role playing.

In another tale, Conan's and his shipmates are lost at sea and tossed onto land. Here they come across a wicked queen whose cruelty to her people inspire rebellion. In exchange for plunder, of course Conan and his men are all too happy to help.

On one hand, the queen indulges the worst aspects of her court. There are orgies, gladiatorial combat, both against man against man, and man against beast, as well as outright slayings of people to savage apes.

On the other, the queen isn't actually human and those who've supposedly laid with her, well, they've been turned into demons that were ready to turn the town into a bloodhouse before Conan gets there and seals them in the labyrinth.

The use of illusion and other magic to take the form of an appealing enemy is a simple one. It's one I've used quite frequently because I swear despite almost everyone in my group being 40+ years old they still think they're in high school.

That use of illusion though goes both ways. For example, in one story, when Conan is washed upon shore, he is asked to kill a sorcerer who is keeping Kiriandra, a sorceress prisoner. Turns out that sorceress thought, isn't a real woman, but rather, a thing that the sorcerer created so that when Conan kills the sorcerer, she returns to a state of inhumanity

The Savage Sword of Conan is always a nice visual feast. At it's 500 pages, it's a great bargain. It's inclusion of monsters from various parts of the world into its own mythology to craft monsters powerful enough to challenge Conan, entertaining. If you're a fan of fantasy and a role player, these classics may not all have aged well, but there's a lot to find enticing about them.