Two Harpers Harping

Here, listen to the dulcet tones of the Harp Twins, as they stand on the "ransom hand-off" beach of Meeting Rock in my book. (How did you even get there???)

Click to view

Four Kittens Squirming
Once you're done with that, check out this video of InkyGirl and her brothers, on the first or second night they stayed with us, almost exactly two ( Read more... )

So in the rare moments I haven't been writing my brains out (~64,000 words and in the middle of the final big action sequence) I've been binge-watching Avatar: The Last Airbender. This is a series I heard praised to the stars and back again, but in my mind it has always more-or-less served as a prequel for Legend of Korra rather than an end to ( Read more... )

Okay, okay, it’s not a monster writeup. But it has a monster in it, and it’s Monday. So deal with it!


My Little Monster Studies: Displacer Beast by the-gneech on DeviantArt

Commission for Miertam, possibly the start of a new series, of Twilight learning all about monsters… the hard way. This episode’s entry is that adorable little six-legged ( Read more... )

I may be projecting, but I’m fairly sure I see some Savage Worlds influence in 5E, particularly around inspiration (which acts something like SW bennies) and around the organization of the Lost Mine of Phandelver adventure in the Starter Set, which has an uncanny resemblance to a smallish Plot Point Campaign.

Plot Point Campaigns (or PPCs), for ( Read more... )

One of my big complaints about the Peter Jackson Middle-earth films is that the elves never sing. Elvish singing is not just in the books because Tolkien likes to write poetry (although that's certainly true), it's a major worldbuilding element. Eru "sang" the universe into creation: by singing, elves are effectively continuing the work of "making ( Read more... )

Do you suppose Lo Pan's eye-guardian creature was his familiar? Telepathic link etc., and when Wang Chi kills it, Lo Pan sure acts like he just lost a level on the spot.

Just something that popped into my head this morning.

-The Gneech

The setting of my new campaign, as an easy reference for my players, as well as just for the enjoyment of anyone else who may be interested. It's pretty derivative, I know, but it's not meant to win any awards, just be a viable setting for my campaign ( Read more... )

Just a note: if you are fond of the various dwarves of Thorin's company, you may want to skip film #3. Just sayin'.

Click to view

-The Gneech

PS: Also skip Fellowship of the Ring, considering what happened to Balin.

So the general opinion is that the “necro” in “necromancer” refers to death- traditionally necromancy is the ability to speak with dead spirits, for the purpose of lifting curses, busting ghosts, whatever. This has led to the image in popular fantasy of necromancers being gothy types who hang around in cemetaries raising zombies and the like. Which ( Read more... )

laurie_robey and I just spent the morning combing through and putting aside for disposal years worth of Starlog and similar magazines, dating as far back as the late 1970s. It was a surreal trip through time, watching everything become slicker, more sophisticated-- and more popular ( Read more... )