I don’t know exactly where this painting is from, or what it is called, but I do know that the artist is the impressive Jason Rainville.

There’s so much to like about this piece, I hardly know where to begin.

My first impression is one of danger. Those ceramic totem-snakes are menacing as fuck, and I have the distinct impression that the character is angry about the viewers presence. She appears violently insane. Even turning to run would likely provoke an attack. All I can think to do is hold up my hands and back away slowly, and hope she calms down.

Speaking of those serpent creatures, have you ever seen anything so cool in your life?

I’m also quite fond of her nudity. This isn’t nudity as you often see it in fantasy art. This woman is not attractive at the moment. She is, as I mentioned previously, terrifying. My eyes are not drawn to her breasts  or her ass, despite both being shapely and pleasant. Her nakedness is not sensual. It’s a sign of her madness and her desperation. It is the nudity of a screaming newborn. It is feral.

Fucking fantastic. Absolutely fucking fantastic.

A photograph of Reschensee, an artificial lake with a 14th century church mostly submerged within it.

I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anything in real life which was a better hook for an adventure than this.

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If you aren’t in love with this image, you’re bad and wrong and we should probably not play games together.

In seriousness, there’s a lot I love about this image. The greens and blues are both colorfully eye catching, but also muted and somber. I can easily imagine this place shrouded mist. The vast amount of empty space surrounding the two figures makes me think of an eerie silence. The forest would be oddly quiet here, I think, with only the faint rustling of branches to let them know they haven’t gone deaf. And then there’s the dungeon entrance. I don’t know what’s down there, but it’s giving off a blue light. And that’s creepy.

Check out Sebastian Wagner’s DeviantArt for more!

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What in the world are they doing to that ogre?! Perhaps an evil wizard is replacing his blood with magma as part of a dark ritual to transform the brute into an unstoppable killing machine?

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According to the artist of this piece, it took about an hour. Try not to feel as jealous as I do about that.

I normally don’t go in for character portrait type pictures, but I always love this kind of messy, speed painting style. And I love the red beneath the eyes. It’s such an interesting detail on an otherwise very stereotypical looking wizard. Is it blood from catching a glimpse of fundamental threads of reality, or is it the warpaint of a bush wizard preparing to slaughter the enemies of his people?

You may have noticed posting has dropped off rather suddenly here. Some large issues, and larger questions, have popped up in my personal life. Resolving them may require most of my free time for a little while. I considered putting the blog on a month-long hiatus, and I haven’t discounted that option entirely yet, but for now I think I’ll stick to a “post when I have a moment” schedule. Hopefully I can get back to games soon!

SO, this image.

Resurrection is a tricky concept in games. If a character can be brought back to life, then what is the danger of death? It’s a question as old as gaming, and one with a lot of potential answers. The question, and the various answers to it, are all very interesting. I’ll write about them another time.

For now, look at this picture of Orpheus bringing his dead wife Eurydice back from the underworld. The image is terrifying to behold. The juxtaposed affection and lifelessness depicted here are disturbing. And while “you must charm the god of death with your music” is perhaps too high a bar for character resurrection in a game, this painting expresses something I like to see in character resurrection.

It is a herculean task to accomplish, and even when it is done, the resurrected person is never quite the same.

I feel the urgent need to set a game in this location.
Sometimes browsing imgur for embarrassingly large amounts of time produces useful inspiration.

The best monsters are fresh monsters. Not only because familiarity breeds contempt (which is true), but also because the GM is forced to describe the monster without the crutch of shared understanding. If I tell my players they encounter orcs, then they will understand what I’m telling them, but the inherent “otherness” of orcs won’t impact them. They probably won’t even take the time to imagine what the orcs look like. But if the monster the players encounter is one they’ve never heard of before, the GM is forced to do a little more descriptive work, which ultimately makes the game better I think.

There will always be room for the classics, though. In my mind, the natural progression of monsters is to start out as terrifying creatures. As we become more used to seeing those monsters, they become a little less scary and a little more relatable. The minotaur is a good example of this, I think.

While still able to pull its weight as a monster (and they are one of my favorite classic monsters), I more often use minotaurs as exotic NPCs these days. This painting by Paul Reid gives the viewer a look at the minotaur when it’s not menacing Athenians. It looks almost normal.

I’d absolutely recommend looking at Paul Reid’s gallery, linked above. He works in a classical style which I think is significantly underrated by modern artists. And he’s done a lot of work with classical mythology, including several different takes on the piece above.

Before anything else, I apologize for not being able to find the artist for this piece. The only source I can find for it is an audio essay on the BBC’s website. For all I know it could be 1000 years old, or it could have been created specifically for this particular broadcast.

I’ve been on a bit of an English History kick lately. I started reading up on Edward Longshanks, continued forward through history until I got bored with the Tudors, then skipped back to read up on Aethlestan, William the Conqueror, etc. It’s fascinating stuff, and I’m hoping a better understanding of the realities of that period will make me a better GM to boot. Alfred the Great’s life, in particular, might make an interesting campaign. During his darkest days his resources weren’t too far off from what a mid-level adventuring party would be able to call upon.

While there is some fantastic art of Alfred, as well as some really cool statues, I think this is the most inspiring piece I’ve seen. The bright colors and energetic posing makes it seem very pulp-y, which in turn is evocative of oldschool RPGs for me.