"Rant, Rant Against the Dying of the Light..."

I lack scottsz's skill with the snark, but he's taking the day off so you'll have to put up with what I've got for you.

DEVIL'S IN THE DETAILS: Mr. Maliszewski put out the call after Mr. Curtis gave us his gnomes. And shortly after that, he gave us his orcs. I'm fairly certain there are more, but I'm not finding them right now, so if you did one of these, let me know and I'll add you to this list.

Update: Here are David's kobolds. (Can't believe I forgot this one.) I love that some of his kobolds "feel a compulsion to fix things that adventurers break."

And Bigfella gives us his jann (a race of half-genies) and kedai ("cat people in Arabian Nights gear").

Mikemonaco has half-orcs, for when you don't need a full orc. While you're over there, check out his great-looking minis.

Thanks for cluing me in, guys. :D

My players are excellent at building their own backgrounds, but I'm always in the need for NPC details. The tables in the back of the 1e DMG are a godsend, of course, but I decided to put together my own for slaves purchased from the priests of Shkeen.

And if you think this sort of cross-blog inspiration is fun, Erin's got an idea for something along those lines. Now I just need to figure out what "Brian's Satirical Poetry" is. ;p

And here's wishing a happy birthday to both Erin and Beyond the Black Gate.

INFAMOUS MOULDERING TOMES OF LOST SORCEROUS KNOWLEDGE: Blair gives us a great idea for making magic tomes a lot more atmospheric. To give you a head start on using this sort of thing in your games, here are a bunch of tomes, ready-made to drop into your campaign today. And a killer book to keep your players on their toes.

Further Updateage: Blair just pointed me to more awesomeness from David, He of the Kobolds: a random name generator for your eldritch tomes. I love the way inspiration arcs from blogger-to-blogger in the OSR.

And speaking of eldritch tomes of mind-warping knowledge, Oddysey flips through her new copy of the 1e Fiend Folio and doesn't have to go very far before finding something blog-worthy.

ADDICTIVE SUBSTANCES: Badmike takes another hit before discussing the link between gaming and dopamine.

Finally, Nick at Carto Cacography passes on a favorite link to maps of ancient Egyptian ruins, tombs, and the like:

What they have done there is incredible: Complete and detailed maps of real world "dungeons" that are scaleable, zoomable, measureable, accurately detailed, and verbally described.

Be warned, however, that the dopamine flush from the site may induce you to "spend the rest of your day there."

Have a great one, folks. :D

Art by Frederic Remington.