Friday, December 20, 2013

Wilds - Downtime

I haven't posted anything new from my Labyrinth Lord PBEM Wilds game in a while, because we're on a bit of a break. With the holidays approaching participation was down, and a couple players have lost interest in continuing. Right now the plan is to pick back up after January 1 and see where we stand.

As for Locky and Mordikarr, the PCs of those who have bowed out, well, I expect they'll end up something like this...


We just passed turn 100 in the game, which means 50+ weeks of two per week turns. That's a long time to play at the glacial pace of PBEM, so some losses are not surprising. We'll have to see if we have enough momentum / interest to keep going, or if we'll move on to something new.

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Minecraft: The New Era - Walls and Traps

A few more days have passed (OK, several more days), and there is progress! Last time I mentioned finding a spider spawner in my mine. I've now turned that into an infinite string supply, which means I can finally get some sleep! If you're unfamiliar with Minecraft, string combines into wool, and wool and wood combine to make a bed. A bed lets you sleep through the night, skipping past a lot of cowering in the dark or fighting monsters.
Home Ugly Home

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Minecraft: The New Era - A Few Days Later

Some time has passed, work has been done, and improvements made. Nothing spectacular yet, but my little desert base is starting to take shape. I've spent several days in and around my original mine, finishing off the greenhouse, starting some security measures, and doing some harvesting and digging.

Monday, December 16, 2013

Minecraft: The New Era - Decisions (Day Eight / Nine)

After a night of mining, that extended into the morning of day eight, I've come to a decision: I'll make this desert wasteland a solid base of operations. I've already started a mine shaft, there's ocean right outside the door, and trees that are close enough to harvest. With that in mind, I spent the day, poking around the area right next to my base, discovering a tiny patch of grass, which yielded one wheat seed; a small partially underground pool, which I'll turn into my indoor fishing pond; and a variety of dead shrubs, which are useless.
Indoor Fishing is the Future!

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Minecraft: The New Era - Day Six & Seven

After a couple false starts, getting lost in the desert, dying to a zombie horde, things are looking up! I spent the night doing some minor mining and found a couple nice pockets of iron, so I have some raw materials to work with now. My little hovel on the beach is nothing special, but it'll serve for now.

Saturday, December 14, 2013

Minecraft: The New Era - Day Three-Five (Ah, Death!)

Yep, it only took three days to die. After spending the night in the village I stumbled over, I ran outside a bit too quickly for someone with one life left. A skeleton put an end to me, and we know what that means... respawn!

Friday, December 13, 2013

Minecraft: The New Era (Day Two)

Another day, another aaah, run away! After spending the night huddled in my little hole in the wall, I ran outside, hoping to find something useful. Instead I found several zombies, a giant spider, and a couple creepers. I managed to defeat the horde and gained a bit of string and some rotten meat for my troubles. At least I won't die of starvation.

PBE Games - Catching Up

I failed Marketing 101 last week, because I didn't announce the new stuff. Here's the list from this week and last:

I'm working on rounding out the terrain-based tables over the holidays. Mountains and hills are done, with arctic, wetlands, and jungle in the works. I also have two dungeon-based One Pages plus the next three Dungeons in Blue Small Dungeons almost ready to roll out.

Lastly, I'm working on a quick set of Dungeons in Blue tiles that are simple corridors and intersections. One of my customers noted a distinct lack of plain connections, so I thought I'd pull together a quick set to fill the void. This should be done later today.

Edit: aaaand done! Corridors and Intersections is now available as pay what you want.

That's it for today. Have a good weekend!

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Minecraft: The New Era (Day One)

I haven't played Minecraft in quite a while. I went through a period of messing with mods, including some huge mod-packs full of technology and such, but got tired of keeping them up to date with core changes. Since things have changed a lot since the last time I really delved into the game, I decided to start from scratch with a vanilla world and check out what's new. Day one begins...

The Wilds - The Trail Goes Cold

Last time the party was quasi-pursuing a group of troglodytes through the dungeon, hoping to finish off the pack before the creatures set an ambush or doubled back. The group got sidetracked when they rescued a human... slave? prisoner? food-source? from a pit in one of the nearby chambers. Carrying on...

Friday, December 6, 2013

Firefall - Battleframe Progression

I got tired of digging through the wiki for this stuff, so... tables!

Note that this information is now completely out of date. Retained for posterity.

Frame Constraint Resource Item 1x45 Accord Merit Point 3x10 Accord Merit Point
Accord Assault Methine Assault Accumulators Weapons Grade Crystite Hardened CPU
Firecat Nitrine Firecat Thermocouples Tactical Firmware Milspec Actuator
Tigerclaw Octine Tigerclaw Transducers Weapons Grade Crystite Classified Energizer
Accord Biotech Xenografts Biotech Nano-Manipulators Tactical Firmware Hardened CPU
Dragonfly Biopolymer Dragonfly Bio-Diffusors Weapons Grade Crystite Milspec Actuator
Recluse Petrochemical Recluse Nano-Toxins Tactical Firmware Classified Energizer
Accord Dreadnaught Ceramics Dreadnaught Dampeners Weapons Grade Crystite Hardened CPU
Arsenal Radine Arsenal Magnetic Accelerators Weapon Grade Crystite Classified Energizers
Mammoth Silicate Mammoth ArcNodes Weapon Grade Crystite Classified Energizers
Rhino Carbon Rhino Energizers Tactical Firmware Milspec Actuator
Accord Engineer Toxins Engineer Arrays Tactical Firmware Hardened CPU
Bastion Regenics Bastion Dielectrics Weapons Grade Crystite Milspec Actuator
Electron Anabolics Electron Accelerators Tactical Firmware Classified Energizer
Accord Recon Iron Recon SIN Configuration Module Weapons Grade Crystite Hardened CPU
Nighthawk Copper Nighthawk Target Acquisition Unit Weapons Grade Crystite Classified Energizer
Raptor Aluminum Raptor Electroconductors Tactical Firmware Milspec Actuator

Item Thump Dump Copacabana Trans-Hub Command Sunken Harbor
Classified Energizer x x x
Hardened CPU x x
Milspec Actuator x x x
Tactical Firmware x x
Weapon Grade Crystite x x

Wilds - Follow that Trog!

Last post the party was finishing off several trogs in a brief battle. Some of the party had spotted more creatures fleeing the scene, and the group was slightly split by room configuration. What could possibly go wrong?

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

PBE Games - New Releases

New Dungeons in Blue geomorphs. Lots of new geomorphs. Here's the list:

  • Set G - Twelve tiles in assorted sizes.
  • Set H - Nine 100x100 foot tiles.
  • Set I - Twenty tiles, 50x50 foot and 50x100 foot.
  • Triple Pack Three - All the above in a discounted bundle.

Here are a few preview images at one-third scale:
Set G

Set H

Set I

The Master List has also been updated to include all available Dungeons in Blue products.

That's it! This is probably the last post until next week due to the Thanksgiving holiday. My Wilds game is on hold, and I'll be in food coma anyhow. Enjoy the holiday if you celebrate it!

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Wilds - Aggressive Exploration

Last turn the party found a room with a weird mechanism and a couple levers inside, this turn they move on to some more aggressive door-bashing, with the usual results. What follows is actually two turns combined.

Friday, November 22, 2013

PBE Games - New One Pages

I guess I neglected to post an announcement last week about the lone product I published, so let me quickly catch things up:

All One Page products are designed for use with any fantasy role-playing game. Each includes twenty ready-to-roll table entries based on a single idea or category.

Next week I'll be publishing three more Dungeons in Blue tile sets, available individually or as a triple pack bundle. I'll also be updating the Master List index to reflect all the latest Dungeons in Blue products.

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Firefall - First Impressions


Two of my regular video-gaming friends started playing Firefall by Red 5 Studios a while back, and the game is now in open beta, so I thought I'd give it a try, mostly to shut up my friends, as shooters are not really my thing these days, old-gamer reflexes being old-gamer reflexes. Here are some quick first impressions based on 15-20 hours of play.

Friday, November 15, 2013

Wilds - A Brief Interlude

After the chaotic fight with the trogs, the party was pretty well beaten up and out of healing spells. They decided to fall back to camp and rest up for a day or so. It turns out this was a Good Thing (TM), as the next morning Maro suffered a bout of fever, and was weak and listless all day. He asked Durego for his opinion, and a brief check revealed a major rash on the elf's back and leg. After checking with the others (no one else has similar symptoms), Locky remembered the giant ticks. One of them had bitten Maro, and he'd had these fever fits since. Durego decided to use the party's cure disease scroll on the elf, and shortly thereafter the rash and major symptoms disappeared. This was a good thing, tick fever is deadly over time, and Maro was already down two strength and two constitution. After full recovery the party made an early start back to the Maze, and headed in after scouting the surface...

Friday, November 8, 2013

PBE Games - Small Dungeons #3 / Map Pack Now Available

Pretty much what it says in the title. The third Dungeons in Blue Small Dungeons map is now available on DriveThruRPG, as is a bundle deal featuring all three maps in this series. Small Dungeons are dual-purpose virtual tabletop maps: each contains stand-alone and geomorph-ready versions of, well, a small dungeon. Player and GM versions of each map are provided. All maps are drawn in the classic blue style at 100px per five-foot square, and are fully compatible with Dungeons in Blue geomorphs. Here are the links:

Of course you can see all the PBE Games products right here.

Here's the preview image from Small Dungeons #3, which shows the player version of both maps. As you can see this is a cave complex, with some rather disjoint caverns. Luckily the GM version of the map shows some secret details.



Thanks for reading, have a great weekend!

Thursday, November 7, 2013

I Have Powers - Minor Powers

One of the things I've done in my current Labyrinth Lord game, is give each main character a small perk power that matches up with their character concept. These are simple bits that may or may not be useful in play, but give each player a little something to call their own. Some of these were adapted from other systems, some adapted from spells, some were just made up.

Here they are...

Monday, November 4, 2013

Wilds - Divided We Fall

The last few turns of my Wilds play-by-email Labyrinth Lord game have involved a rather convoluted series of split-party actions (always a good thing in the dungeon -- not!). One of the nice things about PBEM games is that you can deal with split up scenes fairly well. Typically I mail out a global turn to our main mailing list, with occasional side notes to individuals as needed. When the party splits up, the main turn gets boiled down to a summary of time and locale, and each sub-group gets a tailored message. In this case, some of the sub-groups were one character.

Friday, November 1, 2013

PBE Games Q3 - 2013 / New Releases

I was looking at my product spreadsheet this morning, and was surprised to see I'm up to 30 published products so far this year, not counting free / bundle items. When I started this project up in February, I expected to put out a title a month, but when I started doing maps, the pace really picked up. Of those 30 products, 19 are virtual maps.

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Sandlings

These creatures were created for one of my old campaign worlds, which featured a vast, magically-corrupted desert known as the Burning. This thousand-mile wide waste was created by the dying curse of a demi-god, and served as a backdrop for much of the campaign. The Sandlings were a constant threat to those entering the Burning.

Friday, October 25, 2013

The Wilds - To the Chaos!

When we left our adventurers, they'd started to explore the area at the end of the stairs down they'd found, ending up in a room with a big reptilian statue. They'd also heard noises of some kind beyond the north door, so...

Thursday, October 24, 2013

PBE Games - Three is Better than Two

I managed to get out three new products this week, though one is kind of a cheat, being a bundle of Dungeons in Blue stuff.

First up is One Page #4 - Curious Mundane Objects, the latest One Page, which contains twenty strange objects you can use to confuse or baffle your players! Place them in a local curio shop, a mage's laboratory, or a treasure vault to add a touch of weirdness to your game.

Entries & Exits Two one-third scale preview
Then it's on to Dungeons in Blue with two new releases, Entries and Exits Set Two, which contains a dozen geomorphs featuring dungeon entrances, exits, and level transitions. This is also the final product in the big Parts and Pieces Pack, which includes all the assorted special tile and icon pack products I've released to date (at a discount of course).

I'll be spending the rest of the morning updating the Dungeons in Blue Master List with the latest product listings and projected new product releases. November / December should see three new tile sets and an accompanying bundle deal. Of course there are already two more Small Dungeons on the schedule to go with Small Dungeons #1, and I'll likely add a three-map bundle to the lineup as well.

That's about it for news today. Thanks for reading, happy gaming!

Monday, October 21, 2013

Dungeon by Table

I posted this quick table in the G+ Map-Making in Games group, and people seemed to like it, so I thought I'd preserve it here for easier reference.

These tables are a very loose mechanism for laying out a dungeon map. Roll the General Space table for an initial what's here, then roll other tables as needed to fill out / inspire details. I've been using this method for Dungeons in Blue geomorphs, making one or two rolls per tile when I need a bit of inspiration.

Friday, October 18, 2013

PBE Games - New Releases

Two new releases this week:

Small Dungeons #1 is now available. The Small Dungeons series adds stand-alone maps to the Dungeons in Blue collection! Every Small Dungeons product contains a ready-to-fill dungeon map drawn in the classic blue style. Each map includes assorted tricks, traps, and features, but leaves plenty of room for the GM's own additions. In addition to player and GM stand-alone maps, every Small Dungeons product also includes a geomorph-ready version of both maps, adding the doors, rooms, and corridors required to connect the dungeon to other Dungeons in Blue tiles.

I've also released One Page #3 : Fabulous Jewelry, which contains twenty unique pieces of jewelry, ready for your treasure trove! Each entry includes a brief description of the piece, plus a suggested gold piece value. Many pieces also include a bit of lore or a minor hook that can provide inspiration for further adventure.

That's it for this week, thanks for reading!

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Reading is Fundamental

That's what this post is all about. One of my best friends and long-term gaming buddies (seriously, since high-school, and we're old), Micah R. Sisk, has published his first two ebooks in the science fiction genre. The listings on Amazon/Goodreads include a longer blurb, but here's the short and sweet:

NightBird Calling tells the tale of Y'Goth, privateer captain of the NightBird, and his cloned brothers. Their plan seemed a bit crazy: rob the human-on-a-bio-gaseous-computer Nesters. But as is always the case, things get complicated. NightBird Calling is a novella-length story, the first in a series of works exploring the history, cultures, and societies of the posthuman diaspora: the Posthuman Cycle.

NightBird Calling is available for Kindle via Amazon, and Goodreads.
PleshaCore is quest-for-identity, gender-bending action/ thriller set on the anything-goes pleasure planet, PleshaCore. Captain Jacobs finds himself in an unfamiliar body after being restored from his vessel's digital mind-locker. He, now she, also seems to have gotten married to his first mate. With the ship's A.I. on the accountancy warpath, and assorted kidnappers and assassins in pursuit, Jacobs must discover what's behind the web of conspiracy and obfuscation.

PleshaCore is also available for Kindle via Amazon, and Goodreads.

Go forth, and READ!

Monday, October 14, 2013

Blackpool Maze - Tomb & Tunnel

After checking out the stairs up and the length and breadth of the new hallway, the party decides to try the north door, a heavy, iron slab with a broken lock, first. After a check for traps, Ingvild steps back to let Raúguey do his thing, and once again the door opens into the hallway beyond, swirling dust up from the floor. The short hall turns west, then forks to the north, and as the front ranks advance, they note alcoves on either side of the passages, and another split to the north. "It's a crypt," whispers Raúguey with a shiver as he eyes the tipped-over casket in the first alcove, the bones, flesh long-gone, scattered about haphazardly.

Thursday, October 10, 2013

PBE Games - Double-header Two! Two is Better than One, Right?

Well I managed to find a bug in the file-update mailing system on DriveThruRPG today (I really can break anything). Seems when you put URLs in the customized portion of an email  message for a product file update, the URLs get turned to useless goo, as the process strips off the http header and host name. Doh!

Right, so new stuff this week. First up is One Page #2 : Outdoor Oddities and Landmarks. This is a table of twenty strange landmarks, terrain features, and odd constructs ready to plug into any outdoor adventure. Each includes a brief description of the oddity and many include features that can be leveraged into clues or hints by the GM. As promised, this product is up as pay what you want for a limited time.

The second new release is Edges and Alcoves Two, which contains a dozen more Dungeons in Blue geomorphs. All these tiles have entry / exit points on one edge only, so you can bring your dungeon to a sensible close.

I also updated The Master List with links to all available products and projected release dates for the next five or six tile sets (see above note for broken-link warning - sorry if you received one of those). It includes the first mention of...

Small Dungeons

Sometime before Halloween I'll be releasing the first Small Dungeons product for Dungeons in Blue. Small Dungeons are 100x200 foot ready-to-fill maps that come in two flavors, stand-alone, and geomorph-ready. You can use them by themselves as a one-shot dungeon, or combine them with other geomorphs for a full megadungeon experience. Here's a one-third scale peek at the first Small Dungeons map, showing both the stand-alone and geomorph-ready versions.

Click to embiggen

Have I typed 'dungeon' enough in this post?

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Photo of the Week - From the Archives

I haven't had much time outside over the last week or so, so I haven't taken many photos. I had to go digging in my old photos for these two shots. Both are from a trip to Swallow Falls State Park in Maryland. As I recall, it was a chilly, gray weekend, and there'd been quite a bit of rain the week before, so the water was high. These were taken with my old Nikon Coolpix.

Falls!

Easy to Cross, Right?
If you've never been to Swallow Falls, and you're in the area, it's well worth a visit. There's a network of trails, and a campground available, though energetic walkers could see most of the sights in a day-trip.

Images copyright Mark A. Thomas
Creative Commons CC BY-NC 3.0

Monday, October 7, 2013

The Wilds - Splish Splash!

After a brief fight with the bugs, which resulted in a few minor wounds to party members, and one bug escaping down a hole, the rear-guard noticed some hefty splashing noises coming from the big hall to the north that they'd just vacated. Rather than face whatever it was, they decided to avoid it....

Friday, October 4, 2013

Path of Exile Release Date Announced!

Path of Exile by Grinding Gear Games, is an action RPG that's been in open beta for quite a while now. I've written about it before, so I'm not going to spend time describing the game. The thing I will talk about is the October 23rd launch date for Release 1.0.

Thursday, October 3, 2013

PBE Games - New Release Double-header

I'm happy to announce two new PBE Games products out this week. First up is the next Dungeons in Blue geomorph pack, Tunnels and Passages, which includes twenty-four classic blue dungeon tiles designed for use with your favorite virtual tabletop. This set is focused on getting from point A to point B in the dungeon. Most tiles are heavy on corridors and passages, light on rooms and chambers. There are still plenty of interesting and dangerous places to visit though!

The second release is the first product in the One Page series. Number One : Minor Treasures is a single page treasure table containing twenty unique, ready-to-use treasures, suitable for any fantasy campaign. Every entry includes a brief description of the item and an estimated value in gold pieces. Many also include a minor hook or bit of information to inspire further adventure.

The One Page series is brand new, but the next four products are mostly done. I'll probably be pushing out one per week for the month of October. I'll also be setting up Number Two : Outdoor Oddities and Landmarks as a pay-what-you-want product, so you can try before you buy if that's your thing.

Final note, the quarter is done, so that means I'll be publishing a new quarterly report on title sales. Stay tuned.

(And if you're a Wilds reader, never fear, the next post will be up sometime tomorrow).

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

The Wilds - One Stone Unturned

Prudence overcomes aggression, and the party elects to leave the scraping noises beneath the rock alone, for now. As Durego said, "It's not like whatever it is is going anywhere." The party retreats out of the cave into the jail, taking a careful look around as they fall back, and closing doors behind them as best they can. The two forced doors no longer close completely, but Durego and Raúguey use some of the manacles hanging on the walls to fasten the doors shut, sort of.

Friday, September 27, 2013

Dungeons in Blue - Entries and Exits Set One Released

The mapping streak continues this week, with Dungeons in Blue Entries and Exits Set One. These geomorphs are focused on getting into the dungeon and delving deeper into the depths. Each tile contains either a surface access point or stairs leading to the depths, plus connections to the current level, of course.

This set rendered at 100px per five-foot square and fully compatible with the rest of the Dungeons in Blue line. It includes twelve tiles (EE1-EE12):

  • Six 50x50 foot tiles.
  • Six 50x100 foot tiles.
  • A map legend image detailing all map markup.
  • A one-third scale summary map showing all tiles.
  • A short readme PDF.
All maps are ready-to-use PNG-format files compatible with most virtual tabletops. Use them as-is, or combine them into larger maps using your favorite image processing software.

I've also updated the free Dungeons in Blue Master List with information on the latest releases, a new map legend, plus a preview of the next few Dungeons in Blue releases. The Master List includes preview images of all Dungeons in Blue products plus a small set of free sample geomorphs, so it's well worth grabbing. Upcoming products include:

  • Edges and Alcoves Set Two - more side and edge geomorphs.
  • Entries and Exits Set Two - the companion collection for the current release.
  • Tunnels and Passages - a big set of connection tiles with lots of corridors, caves, and passages.
  • Parts and Pieces Pack - a bundle deal that includes all the above-mentioned stuff, plus the previously released Icon Pack One and Icon Pack Two (all at a discount of course).

And speaking of discounts, it's been over six months since the release of Deadly Blows and Koslac's Crossing, so I've dropped the list price on both these products. You can see all these and more on PBE Games' publisher page.

Thanks for reading, happy dungeons!

Thursday, September 26, 2013

The Wilds - Black Water in Blackpool

"Stand back, just in case," says Raúguey, hefting the crowbar and eyeing the bar-lined door at the end of the water-filled hall. When the others nod their ready state, he jams the bar into the gap by the lock, and heaves. There's a creak, and then a sudden SCREE-SNAP as the lock mechanism twists, then breaks in the rusted frame. The door sloooshes inward then grinds to a stop against the submerged floor.

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Photo of the Week - Mantis Makeover!

Today's photos were taken in my back yard. The first is about a month old; the second I took just a couple days ago. I'm fairly sure both these shots are of the same praying mantis (it's not like my yard has a ton of hiding places for big insects.
Young Mantis on Sage
Older and Wiser Mantis on Basil
Images copyright Mark A. Thomas
Creative Commons CC BY-NC 3.0

Monday, September 23, 2013

Wilds - Back to the Dungeon!

With a clear course of action in front of them, the party, at the urging of Saurabh and Raúguey, elect to spend a day exploring the area around the current camp to see if they can find a better site for the mules and guards. The old fire pit and trails in the ruins have made folk cautious. Leaving the camp in place and guarded by the usual suspects, the main party heads out to explore, using the old road as a guide, but diverting off the rough path to investigate anything interesting.

Thursday, September 19, 2013

The Wilds - Blackpool at Last?

Last turn the party found a ruin beside a vast lake, about where Vukota told them they'd find it. Could it actually be Blackpool Maze?

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Photo of the Week - See?

I told you Indiana was kind of flat.


I took this on the drive out to one of my favorite little nature preserves, Weiler-Leopold / Black Rock Barrens, part of the Niches Land Trust. It's obvious Autumn is on the way. Lots of old and dying flower heads around.

But not everyone has given up on summer yet.


Images copyright Mark A. Thomas
Creative Commons CC BY-NC 3.0

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Wilds - Hey Look! Ruins!

A few turns have passed, and not without incident. After discovering the skull on a stick and some other signs of activity, the party decided to attempt contact with whoever / whatever was encamped in the fortified cave they'd found. Leaving the bulk of the group at the camp near the little clearing, Maro, Mordikarr, Ingvild, and Dagmarten retraced the trail north to spy out the cave and see who they were dealing with, hopefully without being seen...

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Dungeons in Blue - Edges and Alcoves Set One Released


I've been on a mapping tear lately, so here's another set of virtual tabletop geomorph tiles ready to roll! Dungeons in Blue Edges and Alcoves Set One contains twelve unique map tiles rendered at 100px per five-foot square (now with magma!). It includes two versions of each tile, one for players and one for GMs. The GM's version shows additional features, tricks, and traps. This set includes (EA1-EA12):

  • Six 50x50 foot tiles, all with a single entry side.
  • Six 50x100 foot tiles, all with a single entry side.
  • A map legend image detailing all map markup.
  • A one-third scale summary map showing all tiles.
  • A short readme PDF.
These tiles are all edge pieces, meaning the standard entry and exit points appear only on one side of the tile. All geomorph dungeons need to end eventually, don't they? Here's the one-third scale summary sheet of all geomorphs in this set.


And don't forget, you can still get Dungeons in Blue Icon Pack One at a 25% discount right here. This offer expires September 15th.

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Photo of the Week - Weeds

It's been hot, humid, and generally not very good for walking about with a camera weather the last couple days, so I had to dig into the archives to find a couple shots for today's post. The theme is weeds, which are everywhere. These shots were taken at Fort Ouiatenon Park, at the same time as last week's shots.

Monday, September 9, 2013

Wilds - Out and a Scout!

After the fight with the giant ticks, the party decided to head back to the spire, south to the road, and then east along its more clearly marked path in hopes of finding known terrain. This plan leads them east northeast for just over a day, where they find vault hill, the place they found the weird shapes and the key that unlocked the spire. Emboldened by this discovery, they head out northwest, along the other fork of the road that leads away from the hill. After passing through the ruins of what might have been stone-walled huts or a farm with several outbuildings, the road ends. Undeterred, the group continues northwest, hoping to reacquire the trail. Instead they find a grisly skull, probably a kobold or goblin, stuck on a post next to a narrow trail.

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Dungeons in Blue - Icon Pack One Released

The first icon pack for Dungeons in Blue virtual tabletop geomorph tiles is now available!

This product contains over 75 map icons designed for use with Dungeons in Blue geomorph tiles and your favorite virtual tabletop software. Icons are drawn using the same style and scale (100px per five foot square) as the original maps, allowing you to quickly and easily customize your map. The icons in this pack include:

  • Trees, altars, statues, and pillars
  • Boulders, individual and arranged in piles and markers
  • Slime patches and stalagmites
  • Grates, curtains, and cages
  • Pits, wells, stairs, and pools
  • Normal, trap, and false doors
  • Wall and floor tiles to cover unwanted features

This product also includes a copy of the latest map key. You can check it out right here, right now, and if you're an impulse buyer, you can use this link to pick up the product for $1.29 between now and September 15th, 2013, a 25% discount off the regular price.

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Photo of the Week - The Birdhouse

Almost forgot to post something today. This is a really crusty birdhouse I found along the edge of an open field at Fort Ouiatenon Park. It's seen better days. Perhaps it's occupied by undead birds?


Also, a happy little butterfly.


Images copyright Mark A. Thomas
Creative Commons CC BY-NC 3.0

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Path of Exile

I first played (and wrote about) Path of Exile (PoE) about a year ago during the early phases of the beta process. Recently I stuck my toe back in to test the waters. One of the nice things about free-to-play games is that it's easy to jump back in after a hiatus. After a big client patch, I was back in and running. My original characters were all there, but wiped back to level one, not surprising given then were created during a beta weekend. I wrote up a long list of info for my friends to see if I could incite some of them to give the game another try, and after rereading it, I realized it was a pretty good summary of the starting experience, so, here it is:

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Photo of the Week

I took today's photos at Celery Bog, a wetland preserve in West Lafayette. It's a great little park with a variety of terrain. Most of the time you think of Indiana as flat and open, but there's surprising variety in this little park. Aside from the obvious wetland area, which despite the name is actually a marsh, there's wooded area (Indiana used to be mostly forested believe it or not), and a section that's been allowed to revert to prairie grasses. This is what the bog looks like right now. This is why wilderness exploration is slow!
Celery Bog in August
Most photographers that visit the site focus on waterfowl. I've seen the usual geese and ducks, plus bald eagles, osprey, assorted herons, kingfishers, woodpeckers, and a host of others, but without a long lens most bird photos turn out pretty bad. I tend to go smaller, like this little dude. Found him in a small stand of milkweed just at the edge of the marsh. Sadly he was all alone.
Monarch Butterfly Caterpillar
Finally I decided to play around with Gimp and G'MIC again, using the bog image above. This is the result of applying pencil sketch to the image above.
Sketch Mode
Images copyright Mark A. Thomas
Creative Commons CC BY-NC 3.0

Monday, August 26, 2013

Wilds - Mule, Applied Directly to the Forehead!

So how does one level up a mule?

The party continues their fight against the blood-sucking giant ticks that invaded their camp at nightfall.

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Wilds - Tick TOCK!

Last turn, the party was ambushed by some multi-legged creatures that had been lurking in the trees above their camp. Let's see how that works out... Who lives? Who dies?