Happy Halloween!

Don't eat all your candy at once!

Getting it out of my system.

I've got lots of things I need to get drawn. This was not one of them, but I've had this Barsoom thing floating around in my head lately, and sometimes the best way to get rid of something is just to draw it.

So, here we are. You'll notice the gunner has interesting proportions; it might be the gravity on the Red Planet, or an overexposure to the 8th ray or something...

Relics of the Past

So I was reading Grognardia last night, and James is talking about maps and mapping. When I was a young pup (15 or 16 years old, which was awhile ago) I seemed to have endless patience for making dungeon maps; spending hours on them to the exclusion of homework or sleep.

This is, sadly, the only remaining artifact of my obsessive mapping days: a single level of a Martian Palace. This was put together using the tables from the Dragon magazine article " Deserted Cities of Mars" by Jim Ward, and you can spot some of the notes scrawled on the map confirming that this was supposed to have had four floors with 5 towers for egg incubation. I'm particularly fond of the ramp going to the next level in the center, with the secret passage to a ramp leading into the lower levels, obviously lit by eternal radium bulbs.

Obviously.

Bugbear with pants

I've always liked the somewhat comical bugbears that Erol Otus would draw, and I saw no reason not to follow suit. There are plenty of terrifying, horrific monsters in gaming; I can do a funny one.

This was inspired by Otherworlds Miniatures Bugbears, which are so awesome, but could use some pants.

Anyone here read Portugese?

I have a piece appearing in Old Dragon Fast Play Test, a free RPG in Portuguese by Antonio Sá Neto, Daniel Ramos and Fabiano Neme.

The book itself looks pretty cool, and I can figure out a few things here and there (things like "Paralisia ou petrificação" in the saving throw spots). I'm proud to be sort of in another language in another part of the world.

Some people will tell you the "Golden Age" of RPGs was in the late 70's and early 80's. I'm telling you, with the amazing variety of games and ideas from all over the world that surround us everyday, THIS is the Golden Age of the RPG. And it's really pretty cool.

I think I can post this now...

This year I came in 3rd in the B&W illustration section of Fight On's Erol Otus Challenge and won some cool minis. This was my entry, which I owe thanks not only to S. John Ross' Encounter Critical for not minding me dropping Thrazar's name, but also to one of my readers here.

I forget who, but someone commented that my stuff reminded them of comic panels, and asked if I did that kind of work. (I usually don't) This got me thinking of some of the cheap b&w sci-fi comics I used to read when I was a kid. In particular, this issue of this magazine.



I remember some fairly tacky stories in here, but very gritty and well drawn. And it did cast me back to do something about Thrazar, whom I believe could have appeared in this magazine without problem. Hence, our post today. Thanks, readers!