Hand Drawn Maps are the Best

As much as I love what digital tools can do for us, there is nothing more compelling to me than a map hand drawn from the imagination of some artist or designer or other creative type.

In an era where we see more fantasy maps than we can shake a stick at, it is always refreshing to see a hand drawn map. Especially when they are as well done as these maps by Mike posted on his Sword +1 blog.

Inspirational Image of the Week: Esteban Maroto

If you're reading this blog you probably have an affinity for what some would consider really bad amateur art. The art by Greg Bell in the original D&D books fill you with warm fuzzy feelings. The art by artists such as Sutherland, McLean, and La Force send a thrill up your leg like Chris Matthews watching an Obama speech. Yeah, I know how you feel, I get the same thrill. That warm feeling is called nostalgia, it's a wonderful thing.

Well, interestingly, I only recently discovered Esteban Maroto - the ridiculously talented artist who Greg Bell unapologetically lifted from. Maroto really was a very skilled artist, and I'm surprised it took so long for me to discover his work. This artist has molded my aesthetic more than I knew. Comparing his art to contemporary fantasy artists I'd say he was ahead of his time in many ways, and holds his own quite well. Even in this digital age that has allowed artists to be more prolific than ever.

James Purefoy on "John Carter of Mars"

James Purefoy plays Kantos Kan in Andrew Stanton's John Carter of Mars, He drops a couple of interesting tidbits in this interview for Ironclad (which looks like a pretty cool movie itself). His comments on JCoM is towards the end of the lengthy interview if you want to just skip down.

The Rise of ePublishing

I was really disappointed when Hasbro discontinued PDF sales. It never occurred to me that they would do something so stupid, unfortunately the only PDF I bought was the 1st edition DMG. I had planned to buy more, but TOO LATE!

There is money in my bank account that would be in Hasbro's bank account now. Thanks Hasbro!

Every product ever published by TSR/Wizards should be for sale as a PDF on Kindle, iBooks, Smashwords, RPGnow, wherever! Each title may not mean a lot of money, but cumulatively that's hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars not flowing to Hasbro.

I guess I can't be too hard on them, many traditional publishers are having a hard time coming to terms with the new market. Random House is only just now starting to get a clue. The Kindle is cheaper than ever, the iPad is ridiculously popular and represents the future of computing for most people, and we RPG fans would just be happy to have all of our precious little books all on our devices of choice for instant viewing and enjoyment.

I have my old-school collection on my iPad, and that's the only rulebook I need to bring to the game table, with some paper, pencil, and dice and I'm ready to go.

If anyone doubts the power of epublishing they only need to look at new and upcoming authors. Amanda Hocking makes more than most of us will in a lifetime, and she's never been published by a "real" publishing company. All she does is sell her novels on kindle for 99 cents a copy.

What I am saying my friends is the OSR has a future. And it is ePublishing.

Petty Gods Cover

By now most of you have probably already seen the preview of the Petty Gods cover over at Grognardia. I appreciate that most people seem to like it.

When starting this cover I was trying to choose between three different ideas. Should I do a bunch of petty gods front and center? Or perhaps I could show Azwa (the petty god I illustrated for the interior) turning a fighter into stone? Or should I show some intrepid adventurers in a world filled with petty gods?

As you can see, the third idea is the one I chose. There is still an homage to Azwa in the great stone head in the background. But, if you look carefully you may notice lots of faces of petty gods hidden amid the things of the world. The story is quite simple, I hope you enjoy it.