Cities

I love city-scapes like this. Just very cool.

http://targete.deviantart.com

Daily Cosplay

Trail of Tools

Some archeologists have posed the idea that early man wandered out of the horn of Africa and over to the southern tip of the Arabian pennisula. After that, they wandered north through a then lush region and came to the middle east where they ran into Neanderthals...who beat them up.

I made up that last part.

They say they are following the trail of tools like bread crumbs. 

Its an interesting theory. Read on over at National Geographic.

For my part I suspect they took many paths and not just one.

See these three knuckleheads are going in all different directions!

A Little Heat for your Cold Morning

What's A Thesaurus without a Dictionary? Kickstarter)

When we first conceived the Storyteller's Thesaurus it wasn't with just one book in mind. There was always a companion book, the Storyteller's Dictionary. Both books together were conceptualized to help the writer or game designer reference the language they need, quickly and easily.

Now that the ST is complete and shipped, it's time to begin work on the Dictionary and to do this, we've moved the project to Kickstarter, to get this ball rolling.

Like the Thesaurus, the Storyteller's Dictionary is specifically designed for writers, teachers, game designers, students and anyone who enjoys the creative output of fantasy, science fiction or horror tales! Broken up by subject matter, the Dictionary allows the end user quick reference material for the many challenges of writing and designing. From herbs to castles, from nebulae to pole arms, the Dictionary is a must have.

Pledge now and get in on the Early Bird specials!

Post College

I read this bit this morning, though I am a bit removed from the whole College thing, I do vaguely remember it having some impact on my life at some point . . . oh yeah, those student loans I pay every month.

But here's a nice little tongue in cheek piece.

Enjoy.

What Happens After College.

Movie Trailer ~ Northmen: A Viking Saga

Armor Up (Dagor Ape!)

Michael Proctor "Clever Crow"

Apparently There's a Dwarf Planet There

I want to say that I knew this, but I didn't know this. At least, if I did know this, its been lost in the jumble of a trainwreck of information that criss crosses my noodle pan and a 100 different junctions. 

But there is a dwarf planet between Mars and Jupiter. It hangs out in the asteroid belt and they have named it Ceres. 

But anyway, as the Dawn spacecraft approaches Ceres she has detected first one, then two, very bright lights glowing on the planet/asteroid/dwarf planet's surface. Astronomers aren't certain what is causing the lights.

But Scott Warring is! They are Bombay doors opening and closing. They guard a huge port facility that lies inside Ceres, housing an alien species!

“These are massive doors that open to allow ships in and out. Yes, I’m saying Ceres was turned into an alien space station… where they live inside… underground where it’s safe.

“Its surface covered in dust that protects the station below from attacks, meteorites and radiation. Death star comes to mind?”

Read the full article abotu Scott Warring over at Inquistr.

Regardless, we'll know more soon as Dawn turns it them to stone...wait, that's trolls in Middle Earth...as Dawn will have more photographs before long (or she'll get shot down and be the first causality in an intersolar war.

Word of the Day -- Nebula

A nebula is an interstellar cloud of dust, hydrogen, helium and other ionized gases. Originally, nebula was a name for any diffuse astronomical object, including galaxies beyond the Milky Way. The Andromeda Galaxy, for instance, was referred to as the Andromeda Nebula (and spiral galaxies in general as "spiral nebulae") before the true nature of galaxies was confirmed in the early 20th century by Vesto Slipher, Edwin Hubble and others.

Most nebulae are of vast size, reaching sizes of even hundreds of light years in diameter. Although denser than the space surrounding them, most nebulae are far less dense than any vacuum created in an Earthen environment - a nebular cloud the size of the Earth would weigh only a few kilograms.

Nebulae are often star-forming regions, such as in the Eagle Nebula. This nebula is depicted in one of NASA's most famous images, the "Pillars of Creation". In these regions the formations of gas, dust, and other materials "clump" together to form larger masses, which attract further matter, and eventually will become massive enough to form stars. The remaining materials are then believed to form planets, and other planetary system objects.

The Still of Quiet

Daily Cosplay

Mure Grass

In the Days before Days, before the coming of the sun, grasses grew beneath the shadow of the moon. There grew grasses tall and lean and these drank the silver light of Mailahm the moon. When her sister came to the world, the grasses withered in the light of the sun and largely vanished from the world. They are rare now, growing in lonely places where the light of the sun never touches. The grass is bluish-green, 12-14 inches tall when mature and as thin as paper. If boiled in water the moon's light passes from the grass to the water, giving the water a slight glow. It can light up a 10 foot square area. If ingested it gives one dusk vision for 1-4 hours.

~The Codex of Aihrde

What's Up Canada (Weird news)

Police unearthed a tunnel that was some 30 plus feet and was deep enough for a grown man to stand up in. No one knows who dug it, or why, though it appears to be an ongoing excercise. This was up in Toronto.

Well, it was. The police filled it in.

Read on.

Did They Have Any Idea?

What they were starting?

I love the third one down. Very cool.

Jungle

When we think of jungles we almost always think of Africa, particularly the Congo, or perhaps the Amazon. These are huge stretches of forest and extraordinarily dangerous. From poisonous plants to reptiles, and big predators, natural pit falls, they house a host of 'i'm going to die moments.' Even the weather can be tough. Torrential downpours, flash floods, burning heat that sucks the moisture from your body, all these add to joy of the jungle.

Now, throw in a few ancient ruins, covered in dead fall or strangled by giant trees and vines. Look beyond, into the darkness left hollow by the dying fall of long forgotten inhabitants.

And what do you have?

Adventure.

Movie Trailer ~ It Follows

I'm not much into horror movies, but for those who are, this looks like a classic in the making!

Armor Up (Hurons)

SergeyPopovichenko

Supergirl's Boss

Calista Flockhart has been cast as Supergirl's boss in the upcoming tv series Supergirl.

I remember her from her famed Ally McBeal days where she played a lawyer in a firm run by two guys. It was a good show with a good run and very 90s as I recall. If I remember correctly the actor from Dragonslayer played one of her bosses in the show.

Looking forward to this show.

The Beginning of a Wonderful Adventure

That's what this looks like . . . .

Daily Cosplay

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Herin, Wretched Plains

The herrin are small creatures, barely 3 feet high. They have featureless bodies, their skin, from head to to is smooth. They have no arms to speak of, and their legs are thin and twice again as long as their bodies. Their eyes are oval and dark with a pin point of white in the center. The tiny mouth of the herrin is length wise, running from its chin to where its nose should be. Their heads end in feathers, long, that lay back across their necks and backs, but stand upright when the creature is threatened. An double-jointed appendage set upon its lower abdomen ends in a wicked claw.

~Aufstrag, The Bone Pit

Leonard Nimoy

News trickled down that Leonard Nimoy was hospitalized this morning. We wish him a speedy recovery!

Of course he's best known as Spock, but he brought us this classic . . . it shall live through the ages:

Armor Up (Templar Bust)

Jason Zhou

Close Calls and Binary Star Systems

Those who make a living at such things have deteremined that a binary star system, a red dwarf and its burnt out companion skirted within one light year of our solar system some 70,000 years ago. Right now the Sholz Star is about 20 light years away and lingering in the Monoceras Constellation. It was discovered by Ralf-Deiter Scholz.

They've triangulated its movements and determined it slipped in past Centauri (which hangs out at 4 light years form us) and then wandered on.

Read more here.

Poor sad, lonely star system.

Art Credit: Michael Osadciw/University of Rochester

Movie Trailer ~ The Deadlands

I may have posted this, can't remember, but looks to be a good watch. Sometime this year.

I love movies about the primitive. Apocalypto is still one of the best movies ever made.

Word of the Day -- Frumentarii

Frumentarii were officials of the Roman Empire, originally wheat collectors, who also acted as the

secret service of the Roman Empire in the 2nd and 3rd centuries.

There are two main sources of information about the frumentarii, inscriptions on gravestones and anecdotes where the actions of individual frumentarii are mentioned by historians. From what is known of the Frumentarii, they always worked in uniform. The Empire was based on patronage, not an ideology (until Theodosius I). From inscriptions; one of the few things known about the frumentarii is that they were mostly attached to individual legions, except for a few centurion frumentarii. Attachment to individual legions suggests that their main function was, as the name suggests, to service those legions with supplies. Frumentarii appear to have spent a lot of time travelling and had a base in Rome at the Castra Peregrina. Frumentarii were obviously proud of their status if they put the rank on their gravestones. There are a number of inscriptions honouring the genie of the Castra Peregrina, this suggests that the frumentarii had high morale and social status.

A Maiden

I've never heard of the book, but this cover piece is astounding. The cloth, its wrinkles and folds, gives it a texture that is almost real.

Larry Rostant. Cover of "The Girl of Fire and Thorns" (French Edition) by Rae Carson

Daily Cosplay

Simple is Good

We got to play a great deal this weekend. We piled up to the mountains for Troll Moot 3 and gamed for three days. We did some playtesting on a multi-genre game, the core for Comrades, and ran a bunch of Castles & Crusades. Lots of fun.

The lesson for the day?

Simple is good. Everything just flew along, no rules discussions, no arguments, no nothing. Just alot of problem solving, monster slaying, and role playing.

It just punctuated the whole simple approach is the best approach concept. It actually plays into role playing perfectly. If you use the role playing to decide the outcome of certain events...rule in favor of the story, not the mechanic....then the game is far more fluid, more surprising, and in the end, more fun?

Why? Because its more challenging. You don't know what's goign to happen next, because the rules, or their interpretation, is more fluid. And the game is always a surprise.

Justice!

Dynamite has announced a few new comics this time around. Justice, Inc: The Avenger is written by Mark Waid and scheduled to roll off the presses this summer. This is a resurrection of a classic golden age hero of the same name.

Looks pretty cool. I'm definitely in!

Armor Up (Trollslayer)

Alfonso Giraldes "Banshee"

Back to the Arena

Now this is just cool. A firm in Australia has decided that it is time to bring back full contact combat in an arena setting...much like the Gladiators of old.

“For us it’s about honoring, preserving, and reigniting interest in weapons-based martial arts — arts that have sort of slowly drifted off of people’s radar since the invention of gunpowder and projectile weapons,” explains UWM co-founder and CEO David Pysden. “Since then, there’s been no forum in which to see weapons-based marital arts practiced, and we want to change that.”

To see how they plan to do it, check out this great article over at Digital Trends!

Very cool.