End-of-Year Easley (12/31/18): Verminaard

Ah, the villainous Verminaard, as depicted by the great Jeff Easley, a contemporary of Larry Elmore. Also shown is Fewmaster Toede, the disgusting hobgoblin, and Ember the red dragon.

End-of-Year Lockwood (12/31/18): The Warriors

Another Dragonlance illo, this one by Todd Lockwood, a more recent D&D artist. I tend to like his work a lot. Not sure who these mugs are, but they're probably not as tough as they're trying to look.

End-of-Year Stawicki (12/31/18): In Chains

I'm closing out 2018 with a selection of Dragonlance illos from various artists. First up is Matt Stawicki. I'm not a huge fan of his work, but this piece really speaks to me!

End-of-Week Elmore (12/22/18): Dragon Headdress

End-of-Week Elmore (12/7/18): WTF? (Caption This)

Um...I honestly don't know what to say about this one.

I've been doing my End-of-Week Elmore art posts for about SIX YEARS now (YIKES!), and besides the one where some human skins were used as saddles (DOUBLE YIKES!) I haven't seen a more bizarre illo from this Old Master of fantasy art.

So, I need your help to caption this sucker, and together maybe we'll make some sort of sense out of the madness depicted! Please leave a caption in the comment field for this post. The contest will run until next Friday (i.e. the next EoWE post).

What's the prize for the caption I deem the most creative and/or hilarious? Internet immortality and the praise of yours truly! There's never been a better no-prize in the history of the world!

Honestly, I forgot how long I've been doing these posts. I really need to go back and do some sort of retrospective. I'm not sure if I should be proud of myself or maybe embarrassed. Perhaps a bit of both should be in order? Mostly, I just feel the usual shock and awe that so much time has passed so quickly.

Anyway, looking forward to your captions!

P.S. Come to think of it, when I consider the "people skins as saddles" illo, the one featured in this post is probably the prequel to that one.. The guys jumped out and scared the buffalo, for which they were skinned and used as buffalo saddles! Damn, Larry, what were you smoking at the time?

Do You Dare Become A Thousand Year Old Vampire?

So, I discovered a cool little solo RPG called Thousand Year Old Vampire. I backed it on Kickstarter (go check it out...the campaign is over but there's an option for late backers available).

I was so damned intrigued by the game that I also created a blog for people to post about their gameplay experiences. I decided to call the blog Thousand Year Old Tales. Yes, I didn't stray far from the title of the game. Anyway, also take some time to check out the blog, because I've posted my own playtesting experiences there.

Speaking of playtesting...there's a playtest PDF available on the game's Kickstarter page for you to download and try it out. I'd highly recommend it! Heck, if you want, run through a game and send me an email at tyotales@yahoo.com about your experience playtesting, and I'll post it over at Thousand Year Old Tales!

By the way, the game's creator, Tim Hutchings, is a super-cool dude! I've been communicating with him via Kickstarter and he's all for fans like me raving about the game. He definitely didn't shy away from my rabidly positive response, that's for sure!

Anyway, check out Thousand Year Old Vampire. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Salton Seekers - Session 2: Back to the Barrowmaze!

It's been months since my Old Friends Gaming Group had our D&DBQ, but we finally gathered for session 2 of our Salton Seekers campaign. Damn you, adult responsibility! 

ANYway, since all the undead shenanigans in the barrowlands south of the city are presumably being caused by a divine conflict between Nergal (god of death) and the evil deities Orcus and Set, the cleric Nikolas reported to his superiors at the temple of the One True God. 

Access to Salton's archpriest, Paulus, is restricted, however. The journeyman clerics report to the order of deacons, lead by Prime Deacon Teos, a disagreeable fellow who generally reserves lots of disdain for his flock. He responds to Nikolas's report with cool aloofness, and instructs him to delve further into the situation in the barrowlands. 

The group went on a shopping spree after earning their reward from the adventurer's guild (50 gp apiece). Then, they decided to head back to the infamous Barrowmaze. Back among the barrows, they encountered no undead on the daylit surface. After considering breaking open some of the sealed barrows and balking at the prospect of such mundane work, they decided to head back down into the Barrowmaze.

They group explored the tunnels, encountering several more of the mongrelmen. But this time, the twisted creatures were bound hand and foot. They were being led by three bald, pierced, and scarred shirtless men with teeth filed to points, and wearing black breeches. The bizarre bald men attacked with short axes and whips. The party overwhelmed them. One of the men, still clinging to life after the battle, screamed out the name of Orcus before splitting open his own head with his ax.

Suffice to say, the party found more evidence of something very wrong afoot beneath the barrowlands!

As the session was winding down, the group went a bit deeper into the Barrowmaze. The party's cleric, Nikolaus, was attacked by some sort of specter as they were inspecting a corridor lined with crypts. Then, we packed things in for the night. On to the next session!