Tutorial: Headless corpse

The white tarp doesn't give much in the way
of contrast, now does it?

This Halloween we will have a serial killer haunt in our garage, the centrepiece of which will be the headless guy. Here's how he got made.

Materials:
Three old pool noodles
A few days worth of old newspaper
Two rolls of cheap duct tape (CAD 1.50 a pop)
Half a roll of masking tape (CAD 3.50 for a roll)
Shirt and pants from Value Village (CAD 15)
Severed hand props (CAD 7.50 total)
A pair of my wife's old shoes
Blood (buy it or make it)

Fellowship of the Backstreet

I found this in my internets the other day, and I've had no choice but to watch it again and again. Go ahead, watch it and tell me it didn't make you chuckle at least once. I dare you.

A new blog

As I have gone from living alone to married with kids recently, I have not had as much time as before to produce lengthy posts about roleplaying on a daily basis. One of the things I've decided to take seriously after these changes is the safety of my family. To keep focussed, as well as to keep track of the necessary preparations, I've started a new blog. If you have similar concerns, pop over and see if it's something you'd like to keep an eye on. Oh, and don't expect zombies over there -- I'll keep them contained here on the BoW.

Just a thought

Roleplayer holds seat in government

"I guess I’m Neutral Good. I mean that. But every person deviates from their alignment from time to time."

Heikki Holmås is living proof that geeks have now infiltrated the very fundament of civilization, as he is currently serving as Minister of Development in the Norwegian Government. Holmås started playing back in 1988, starting with Fighting Fantasy and progressing to Red Box D&D. In '89 he became Norwegian Champion of D&D, winning a trip to GenCon. He was a founding member of RegnCon [tr: RainCon], a gaming club/annual con in Bergen, Norway, that's still around today.


He also took part in the legendary LARP 1942 -- Noen å stole på [tr: Someone to trust]. The premise of this game was to recreate the life in a small coastal community under German occupation, and those who were fortunate enough to be there still talk about it.


The source for this post is the Norwegian RPG and game magazine Imagonem, and you can read the full interview here: [LINK]


A somewhat related article about Norwegian LARP-culture here: [LINK]


[Picture source: Imagonem]

Marvel 1602

While I'm busy not writing the session report post, here's a very short mini-review of a comic. The LFG/used book store has closed down, and in that process they sold out everything in the store for a buck a piece. I came late to the party, but I still managed to snatch a few treasures. Among them the eight periodicals that make up the first part of Neil Gaiman's take on a 17th century Marvel Universe well into alien space bat territory.

Old Stuff Day

NPC, the Game Master's Mouthpiece

Hindering game-flow or providing depth?

March 2 is Old Stuff Day, and this is my contribution. Here you can find the comments to the original post.


This is one of those post I just have to write. Tenkar posted a question a few days ago about whether NPCs should be used as a a GM's mouthpiece or not [edit: for future reference, Tenkar's second post on the matter]. In the comments a few people were rather unequivocal about how using such NPC's was sloppy game-mastering. I have to admit that that riled me a little. Since I have a soapbox available, I'll now climb up on it.

Player of the game

Last Friday we played a session of our ongoing campaign. Jessie sat in on most of it, and she was very much focussed on the game. While she's not that into the deep roleplaying aspect of the game, she likes rolling dice, and she is good at supporting the actions of the other players.

Full session report to come.

Iron Sky Trailer

I've mentioned this movie before, but it bears repeating. It premiers on March 4, 2012, but it's already received outstanding reviews at the Berlinale. To quote one critic, "it's like a heavy metal band just arrived at the Berlin Philharmonic in the middle of Verdi's Requiem and stole all the applause."


You should also read this article on The Daily Mail. It talks about both Iron Sky as well as WWII UFO conspiracies. Oh, and Bradgelina.

Got mail

Obi Wan approves.

Today I received my copy of Trey's Weird Adventures. To sum up my first impression in a word: goddammitawesomesauce! My second thought was, "how can I use this in a game?" I haven't done more than leaf through it a couple of times yet, reading the odd snippet of cool, so I haven't quite answered that question yet. Thoughts of an interdimensional gate between my ongoing setting, or somesuch, have crossed my mind, but we'll see where I end up.

That's all for now, but I expect I'll be posting on Weird Adventures again before long.

Well, done, sir!

*tips hat

Featured Artist: Matthias Grünewald

It's been a while since the last one of these, and this time I have something truly twisted for you. Matthias Grünewald (1470- 1526) is a bit special, in that he bridges the Renaissance realism that was all the rage back then, and the balls-to-the-wall, scaring-the-shit-out-of-you-to-make-you-pray mentality of the Medieval painters[1].


As has become the form of these posts, I'll skip any further pontification on the topic and show you some of the artist's work. Note that all of these images are sections of altar-pieces, not named or linked to due to good old laziness.

Screening process

Its been years and years since I've had a screen at the table, but now that I'm running LL, it only seems proper to erect a barrier between me and "them." Also, there are some practical considerations to take into account *cough/tables/cough*. Since my old, and highly customised, AD&D 2E screen is in Norway still, I had to start a new one from scratch.

Wizards to give 1st Ed some love

In case you haven't heard yet, on April 17 this year, WotC is planning to release a reprint of the 1st Edition Dungeons & Dragons DMG, PHB and MM. This Premium Edition will, according to the WotC website, be "lovingly reprinted with the original art and content, but feature an attractive new cover design commemorating this re-release." Furthermore, parts of the proceeds will go to the Gary Gygax Memorial Fund. It also looks like these books will only be released through selected game stores across North America.

Now, if I was a cynic, or engaging in the Edition Wars, I'd say this is part of a plot to win back some of the respect they lost during the days of the ignominious 4E. I'm neither, so I wont. I do think it is an attempt to get in on the OSR action, though.

The original Wizards article.

How to bury a witch

So, you've got a certified witch on your hands, and after you've hung her, you start to worry she'll come back from the dead and wreak havoc on you and yours. Fear not, the guys who did this professionally back when there was still a business in witch hunting came up with a safe way to bury one of Satan's chosen. Here's what you do: You drive 7 nails through her jaw-bone, and place 17 dice in her grave.


As it happens, that's exactly what someone did in Piombino, Italy, some 800 years ago. A corpse found with nails in it's skull, with dice surrounding it has led experts on the field believe this to come to this very conclusion. Most often witches were not buried in hallowed ground, and hence their graves will often have been destroyed by construction, or simply lost and forgotten. This particular woman most likely came from a wealthy family, and her folks probably donated liberally to the church to give her a chance of getting into Heaven.


Source

Disclaimer: This blog does not advocate torture, burning, hanging, or any other form of witch-abuse. If you are in need of a non-harmful way of verifying your suspicions of witchcraft, you should compare your suspect's weight to that of a duck. If you happen to be right, their weight will match, and you should take care not to injure her in any way. Remember that witches have been all but hunted to extinction by past generations. You wouldn't burn a giant panda, would you?

[Picture source: National Geographic]

Norway, a nation of naïve hippies?

Tonight I was in Oslo for the first time after the bomb. The first thing that struck me was the number of people in the streets. Most of them had come to partake in the grassrot-organized memorial, but I couldn't help thinking about the safety-aspect -- after all, only four days ago, Norway was hit by a gruesome act of terror. It didn't take me long before I abandoned my anxieties. It felt safe, or rather, I chose to feel safe.


Does that make me naïve? No one else looked afraid either, does that make all of us naïve?

The attacks

"Our answer is more democracy, more openness, more humanity, but without naivety."

-Jens Stoltenberg, Norwegian PM

Norway is a small country, and Friday's atrocities touched us all. We all know someone who were touched by this attack on the basic values of our society. 


The terrorist claims to be part of an international group, unified in their hatred against Islam and socialism. His goal was to force the hand of our government to take actions against what he sees as a threat against the Western Christian civilization. He failed. Norway of today is a nation without dividing lines; religion, politics and colour does not define us. Solidarity and humanity does.


Instead of seeding his own hatred in our souls, the terrorist has brought us all together. When I heard that he was of Norwegian ethnicity, and a Christian, I was relieved. How would Norway have looked today had he been a Muslim? It also made me realise that Christian terrorism hurts just as much as Muslim terrorism. We cannot fight intolerance with more intolerance. 


I have been reminded of one of our poets, Nordahl Grieg:


Here is your battle plan,
Here is your shield
Faith in this life of ours,
The common weal


For all our children’s sake,
Save it, defend it,
Pay any price you must,
They shall not end it


Please read the whole poem on Wikipedia.


I have never been as proud of my country as I am now.






[Picture source: NRK]

The day after 22 July

Boldly going...

I've now packed all my earthly belongings. Today'll be all about cleaning the gaff, plus readying my stuff for transport. Tomorrow I leave for a week with my folks, and when we hit August, I'll be crossing the ocean. Blogwise this means I may or may not be posting for the next few weeks. It all depends on factors I do not necessarily control, or am able to see at the moment.


I'll also take this opportunity to let you know that I've made a few adjustments on this here ol' blog o'mine. If you scroll down, you'll now find two new sections on the right-hand bar. One is called Featured blog, and I plan on changing that one semi-regularly. What ends up there will be blogs I think you aught to read. The other is called Podcasts, and... yeah, exactly. If you have any suggestions regarding 'casts, please let me know in the comment field. Oh, and it looks like the crowd likes the partial post-view, so that's staying.


Before I get crackin', here are a few posts on a game-relevant topic:


Rather Gamey 
["Cold Steel's Great Sword"]


the only successful one
["Science explains why running around in plate mail all day was not a good idea"]


Realm of Zhu 
["Animal Armour"]


Curse of the GM
["The spear is king."]


I'd Rather Be Killing Monsters
["This Is What I'm Talking About..."]


CoastConFan Blog 
["APACHES... IN PARIS?"]


Lastly, courtesy of Monte Cook's G+ feed, the Internet Movie Firearms Database.


For now, enjoy your summer (if applicable), and for the love of dice, get some gaming done.

A Thief and Thirteen Fighters

Bilbo Baggins

These are the lead characters of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, all put together in one post, for consistency and your viewing pleasure. Instead of editorialising, I'll just say that I'm looking forward to seeing what Jackson can come up with this time.

A good place to lurk...

...these days, is this thread over in the Yog-Sothoth forum.