The Hobbit Trailer Screenshots

Over on cinemablend.com, they have posted 94 screenshots from the recent trailer for The Hobbit movie.  These images are a great inspiration toward descriptions of verious elements of any Medieval Fantasy campaign setting.  Check them all out here!

Middle Ages Timeline

Wondering how to flesh out your campaign setting?  Take a look at a Middle Ages Timeline to get a few idea on how to make the history of your setting as important as the present.  Enjoy!

Hidden Pool - Dungeon Flavor Manifests for Recreation

How many dungeon campaign settings have a room where the floor drops down and water (sometimes sand) starts filling up the room while the adventurers feverishly try to work out a puzzle?  Well, here's how that might look . . .

Mayans in the USA?

"Much more may still be hidden underground," says the article on rawstory.com regarding the discovery of Mayan ruins in the north of the state of Georgia in the USA.  Dating back 1,000 years ago or more, the site has been confirmed as a place where Mayans likely fled as their own Central American empire collapsed.  Read more here!

More on Coins

I recently wrote a blog post pointing out the "rediscovery of some silver coins in a Barvarian library."  For those looking to increase the tactile opportunities for thier players to immerse themselves in coinage during an RPG campaign, it has come to my attention that there is a Kickstarter program currently underway to produce coins for that very purpose.  Check it out here!

NOVA - 39 Seasons and Going

There are some fascinating and useful shows on the PBS.org website that will help you with setting details and world building.  NOVA, a show now in it's 39th season, is one of the most fun to explore.  Not all of the episodes are up but recently I watch The Pluto Files which details how it became a planet and how planetary status was then removed from it.  These are the sort of conflicts that should be going on in the history of everyone's game world, to be stumbled across during the course of other adventures.  Such conflicts can even be adventures in their own right if the stakes are high enough.

(A Pluto/Earth size comparison from the wiki.)

What is Sealed Beneath the Ice?

According to a recent article from The Independent, scientists have discovered that over one hundred plumes of methane gas are now being released from the ocean that was once concealed by the Arctic ice shelf.  It would appear that these huge levels of gas will perpetuate climate change at an even more accelerated rate than our own feeble efforts have thus far produced.  But what of your campaign world?  Are there more monstrous things hidden below the depths and held at bay by the frozen waters of the icy north?  Read more about the actual occurence here.

Coinage

A recent news article on the rediscovery of some silver coins in a Barvarian library got me thinking about coinage in Medieval Fantasy campaign settings.  I've always tried to include coins for each nation and make some determinations about the exchange rates, which coins can be used freely in which other locations, what it might say about someone who uses coins from one place or another and the impressions it might convey, and also make some provision for coins from ancient times in the game world.  Anyway, here's that article to check out.

It Ain't Heavy, It's a Dragon

In the Lambsuango Forest of Indonesia, you wil encounter a dragon, if you keep your eyes open.  Check it out here then add it to your campaign setting!

National Geographic YouTube Channel

If you GM and haven't been keeping an eye on the National Geographic YouTube Channel then you have been missing out on some very interesting videos.  Here's one on the egg production of a Termite Queen -

Underwater Phenomenon

To add a little flavor to the water in your games, consider the five underwater phenomenon mentioned in a recent Cracked.com article entitled The 5 Most Mind-Blowing Things That Can Be Found Underwater.  From bodies of water within bodies of water to birds and spiders, as well as forests and sinkholes, there's lots to explore.  Read more here!

How Big is a Big Insect?

io9.com has an article on the Giant Weta Bug, reported to be the world's largest insect.  Now it may be that all campaign settings have examples of giant insects like swarms of giant bees and colonies of very large ants, but how big do you make the normal instects in a campaign setting and still retain some credibility?  Well, the Giant Weta Bug has just raised the bar for all of us!

Release the Hounds!

According to an article on io9.com, a newly released study shows that all modern dogs originated from domestication that happened in southeast Asia.  Previous signs pointed to the Middle East as the location of original domestication of modern breeds but now scientists believe that though some crossbreeding probably occurred there and perhaps in other areas, southeast Asia shows the greatest levels of genetic diversity which speaks to its likelihood as the origin of modern dogs.  Just a little something to consider when deciding on how dogs began and spread through your own game world.  Read more here!

Oceanic Data for FREE!

If you are keen to collect way too much data from the real world as you develop the oceans of your world then you are in luck.  Liquid Robotics has launched a Pacific Ocean probing robot that will gather "huge amounts of data -- 2.25 million data points on on salinity, water temperature, waves, weather, fluorescence, and dissolved oxygen, to be exact -- and making it available in real time to anyone interested. Researchers and even kids in classrooms can follow along."  Check out more of the story at TerrHugger.com here!

Steampunk Setting Design

A hilarious new video on YouTube from Pikedeviant nicely sums up some error in thinking regarding Steampunk setting design.  Enjoy!