Ways to Reboot a Setting

A recent article at Cracked.com denoted "7 Horrible Ways The Universe Can Destroy Us Without Warning."  Included are such classics as rogue stars and black holes plus a few more esoteric endings.  Take a look if you're finally fed up with your current game setting and are looking for a spectacular way to stick a fork in it.

"Top 10 Bizarre Prehistoric Animals" from TopTenz.net

There's a cool little article on TopTenz.net that highlight ten of the ost bizarre prehistoric creatures known.  It includes some excellent photos, pictures and graphics.  Check it out here!

Brinicle

Gizmodo has run an excellent story on the "brinicles," a phenomenon which "are columns of ice that form under very calm ocean conditions, when there's a big differential between the water temperature (around -1.9C) and the air temperature about the sea ice (below -20C)."  Read more here!

"Whales In The Desert"

There's an interesting article recently published called Whales In The Desert: Fossil Bonanza Poses Mystery that got me thinking about the fossil record of campaign settings.  Many games have "ruins" of various kinds but how many include some hints of pre-history?

Geeky Alignment Charts

Whether you agree in whole or in part with the following assessments, RPG alignment arguments are as old as the game itself.  The following compilation of geeky alignment charts are potentially inspirational toward getting GMs to consider the subject or, at the least, good for a laugh.  Enjoy!

Photos of Extinct Species

Michael Tresca has clued me into a series of photos of extinct species that might help others to re-envision some animals in their own campaign settings.  Enjoy and check them out here!

Medieval Pouches

I did a quick Google search the other day to get a mental image of the many types of pouches that might be in use in a Medieval Fantasy setting and was amazed by the variety that came up.  Here's some of my favorites . . .

"Message for You, Sir!"

I recently saw that there is an art installation called Letters to the Ocean where the artist began sending letters to the Pacific Ocean only to have it returned stamped as "no such place exists."  Of course, it prompted him to begin sending daily correspondence and collecting the returned mail for display.

Funny and ironically sad, of course, but it got me thinking about messages, couriers, and postal systems in tabletop roleplaying game settings.  Typical Medieval Fantasy settings will include heralds and bards who will spread the news and history well enough but also will host couriers for nobles and governments.  Sir Terry Pratchett does a neat job of show a postal service in servere decline and how it gets revitalized in his excellent Discworld novel, Going Postal, to humorous affect, of course.  Naturally, there are all sorts of ways in between, utilizing magic and manpower to create systems of information tranismission and retrieval for your own setting.  At the least, it is something that should be addressed as surely as any other aspect of your setting, so get to it!

Free Early and Renaissance Music - Classical Guitar Recordings

If you're looking for some music to play in the background of your Medieval Fantasy RPGs, particularly in tavern situations where a bard might be performing, have a look at the Musical Selections section of jsayles.com.  While much of it is from the Renaissance period, one might argue that many Medieval Fantasy games border on the tail end of that period and that much of this music borders on the front end of the Renaissance.  Certainly, many of the instruments in use crossover well enough.  Enjoy!

Can You Spot the Horse?

A recent article on the BBC website in the Science and Environment area of their News section discussed recent findings regarding how ancient cave art depicting spotted horses has helped steer scientists to look closely at DNA of ancient horses.  Past research had shown only brown and black colored horse coats but more recently they have discovered that dappled horses may have also been fairly common, as cave artistry might suggest.  Read more here!

"Berlin Researchers Crack the Ptolemy Code"

This news is about a year old but I've just discovered it for myself and thought I would share it with others.  Apparently, a research group has managed to make some sense of the long-frustrating maps of Ptolemy and, in doing so, have added about 1,000 years of history to many Germanic population centers.  Just a little something to think about before giving players handout maps; they don't need to be perfectly accurate.  Maybe you don't want them to take 2,000 years to decode them, but they can be a little off.  Read more about it here!

Insect Identification Guide

Although this one is only for North America, I thought it was such a neat little application that I'd better share it with veryone.  Check it out!

Lunar Cycles Explained

If you're planning on having a world with similar tides and weather to our own, you might want to know a bit more about our moon and it's affect on the planet.  To learn more, check out this website here!

"Creating Fantasy and Science Fiction Worlds" on Elfwood.com

There's a very detailed series of articles on Elfwood.com called Creating Fantasy and Science Fiction Worlds that should be well worth your time to read.  Check it out!

A Little Fiction on the Monsters of British Columbia

Over on the moonwillowpress.com for Halloween was a particularly fun piece of writing on The Legendary Creatures of British Columbia I wanted to share.  It includes some lore on Ogopoga Monster, thought to be either a Basilosaurus or a plesiosaur, depending on who you ask, as well as some other folkloric creatures.  I hope everyone had a Happy Hallloween and Enjoy!