Spiderman and his amazing pals vs. evil wizard and demon horde!

This episode of Spider-man and His Amazing Friends (1981) was among my favorites of any show of that era. It had everything:

No reason is given for why BK's regular non-bucket helm is replaced with this.

• Spider-man and superhero buddies!
• Probably the first animated LARP session!
• The courageous (if not, somewhat socially awkward) Black Knight crusading against evil!
• The diabolical, demon-conjuring wizard Mordred!
• Firestar!
• BK holds a mystical amulet that shoots mystical stuff!
• A scary-ass skull planet! Seriously, how big does that skull have to be? HUGE! 
• An aerial showdown at Mordred's castle with BK on a pegasus and Mordred on a demon-dragon thing!
• Folks standing around at Stonehenge!

Mordred's castle somehow doesn't melt into pyroclastic goo. The HSA fees must be killer.

It hit all the geekboy buttons back then. In fact, this would make for one heck of a superheroes in D&D-land adventure. Hmmmm....

What episode of anything can't be improved by a giant floating head. The answer is NONE.

More about "Knights and Demons" episode

Incredible walk-through maps of DnD modules!

Wizards of the Coast has been posting these for a few months, but if you haven't seen them, they're astounding. Artist Jason Thompson has rendered in fantastic detail, each encounter as it might play out along multiple adventure paths (so...spoilers!). Below are the maps posted to date.

Links will take you to more resources for each location. Click the images embiggen and enjoy!

Castle Ravenloft

Isle of Dread

Slave Pits of the Undercity

Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth

White Plume Mountain

Tomb of Horrors

Final chapter of Clandestinauts web comic comes to a close...

Minneapolis-based comic artist and dungeoneering raconteur Tim Sievert announced earlier this week that his beloved Clandestinauts web comic would be wrapping up this week. If you've not read it, or it's predecessor The Intrepideers mini comic (which I believe was only in print) you're in for a treat. Update: I was able to track down Intrepideers online, thanks mwschmeer!

Clandestinauts is about as wild, wooly, weird, and bawdy as it gets when it comes to killing monsters and taking their stuff. It began as a tale of made-up adventures using the PCs from his circle of friends' D&D group.

I've crossed paths with Tim over the last several years and picked up the print copies when available. Tim's truly a great guy and one of the most original young illustrators working in indie comics today. I'm excited for him to be finishing an epic adventure that's run since 2010.

I'm also looking forward to his upcoming project (which I can't recall if he's made widely public yet, but you likely could figure it out if you visit his website). It's been another labor of love, years in the making and all I can say is bring it on Tim!

Stop by his site and get caught up for the big finale which is coming this Thursday!



Post also posted to Exonauts.

FREE: Encyclopedia of Fantasy now online!

Yes, that's right, there's an Encyclopedia of Fantasy that's both free and searchable. Your worldbuilding and reference citing and just got a lot easier! So did wasting massive amounts of time on the interwebs!

Get started!

Via io9

New trailer for The Hobbit!

This looks really exciting!

Trailer #2

Inspiration: Caves of Nottingham

Boing Boing mentions a post over at BLDGBLOG on the caves of Nottingham, which are being mapped as part of the Nottingham Caves Survey. They are, in many respects, similar to those at Cappadocia (manmade, cut into sandstone bedrock and cliffsides).

The storied history of the caves which inlcudes ties to Robin of Locksley--has long been the spark of tall tales. From the article:

Incredibly, there are more than 450 artificial caves excavated from the sandstone beneath the streets and buildings of Nottingham, England—including, legendarily, the old dungeon that once held Robin Hood—and not all of them are known even today, let alone mapped or studied. The city sits atop a labyrinth of human-carved spaces—some of them huge—and it will quite simply never be certain if archaeologists and historians have found them all.

"Even back in Saxon times, Nottingham was known for its caves," local historian Tony Waltham writes in his helpful guide Sandstone Caves of Nottingham, "though the great majority of those which survive today were cut much more recently." From malt kilns to pub cellars, "gentlemen's lounges" to jails, and wells to cisterns, these caves form an almost entirely privately-owned lacework of voids beneath the city.

Here's a look at the map they've created:

Nice inspiration for the Caves of Chaos, yes?

Images: Nottingham Cave Survey and BLDG BLOG

Science Fantasy Inspiration: Eternia 2.0

If I ever do get around to actually doing something about my long-pined for, but languishing Masters of the Universe setting ideas for Marvel Supes, I've found a few places to go for creative ebullience. My original thought was to go all Kirby-esque (which still greatly appeals to me) but I can't help but consider these dark and wild aesthetics:

This first one is by the legendary space exploration illustrator Chesley Bonestell. He did the film posters for War of the Worlds and Destination Moon. I like his NASA-era stuff, but I love this one that strays from his usual material. I love the idea of Castle Greyskull as a pyramid.

Following that train of thought, here's a nifty take on the Sorceress, sort of like Marvel's Eternity meets Nefertiti:

I believe that's a t-shirt design, FYI.

Next are a few Skelator concepts, I apologize I'm not sure who the illustrators are:

Or maybe we pump Skely up so he can stand big toe-to-big-toe with He-man...

This cover by Mike Hoffman, for me, defines Evil-Lyn. She should totally be a slinky, remorseless space sorceress. And is that Skelator in the corner? Et tu Brute!

And perhaps Teela became the Serpent Goddess from doing away with the last one:

Doesn't seem quite sci-fi enough, hmm...

That's better.

MoTU needs more ladies and I like the idea of swapping roles. I give you Duncanna, Lady-At-Arms:

Merman on the other hand can only go one direction--slimy:

Actually, I rather like the Monster Squad rendition:

Can't quite picture He-Man yet. I want something more sci-fi. Blonde Conan isn't quite enough. I'm going to have to go with the original space barbarian:

There's plenty more in the Frazetta tribute I did. A few that I think put me in the right frame-of-mind. These guys make for great snakemen and He-Man in a space helmet with a ray gun would be pretty nifty:

Even Carter's origin still works--super strength, leaping, and endurance granted due to the stronger gravity on his home planet. The sword of Greyskull is sort like that crystal chamber in Superman II that took away Kal-el's powers, switching him back and forth from Prince Adam to He-dude.

Just some thoughts....

Three great projects you should know about!

I'm always impressed by creative passion projects in the geekscape. Here's a few links to a few wonderful efforts...

Yog-Blogsoth!
Some of you are already aware of Michael Bukowski and his quest to illustrate every single monstrosity in the Lovecraftian pantheon. But just in case you were itching for some weird horror beasties in your next game and needed inspiration, have a gander. Hat tip to Boing Boing.


Kids Dungeon Adventure!

Here's another fun one by Ben Garvey who's created a dungeon-crawling game using blocks and paper minis for his pre-schoolers to learn the art of the delve. He's also got a great blog named for the game called Kids Dungeon Adventure. Wired did a fine article on it back in March. FTA:

The game’s adventure framework, which is heavy on reward and achievement, is well thought out and allows plenty of room for creativity. Garvey has some wonderful suggestions for treasure and how it affects gameplay. The monsters on the cards he has created are very kid appropriate and, with a little Photoshop work, could be customized to reflect your home and family.

Though not a wargame, it has at least ancestral ties perhaps to H.G. Wells' Floor Games. I think there's a minimal cost associated with the game, but it might be enough to give you ideas of your own.

UPDATE: here's a few other case studies about getting kids interested in RPGs: Simplifying D&D (You know, for kids?) and How to Introduce a Kid to D&D Before He Goes Into Surgery both great articles from Wired's Geekdad blog.

Age of Fable Dungeon Generator!
Finally, if you're looking to stock a dungeon in a hurry, here's a nicely done auto-generator for a campaign (?) called Age of Fable. I can't recall where I found this (somebody remind me in the comments if it was you) but it's got some great resources for pen+paper games. Not only can you generate maps, but also stock and stats plus adventure hooks. Comes in two flavors: one for Tunnels & Trolls and another Labyrinth Lord/Mutant Future. Find additional resources as well.

Enjoy!

Fantastic Masters of the Universe Art!

Monster Brains has posted a He-sized gallery of Masters of the Universe paintings from the "classic era" of He-man and co. that were used over the years to promote the toys and TV show. Here's a few of the more sword and sorcery-esque pieces (or just stuff I prefer out of the batch!). Click to embiggen.

Good inspiration for space wizards and far future barbarians!

Free D&D Dark Sun Comic Book!

IDW Comics and Wizards of the Coast have published a free preview of their new D&D Dark Sun comic series. Whether you're a fan of the original setting or the current one, its pretty cool to see Athas getting some love. You get about 10 pages which include several versions of the cover.

Oh, they encourage you to ask your FLGS/FLCS about "A rare playable Module Edition", which I have to hand it to them, sounds like an awesome idea. I wish all comics came with stats!

"Creature" blogs are a Monster-lover's delight!

If you're looking for the next beastie to stat or just want some visual inspiration to jump start your brain, then you need to check out these two blogs.

Creature Spot, cops to being "the spot for creature art, artists, and fans" and boy is it ever! There's dozens of artists (illustrators, sculptors, and more) who post their latest and greatest. Check out a few choice selections:

Here's a piece by Weta Workshop designer Greg Broadmore who illustrates one of my favorite books.

Emily Fiegenschuh is one of my favorite newer artitsts. She's got a real whimsical style and does a great job giving her creatures a heaping of character. 

I first learned of her work on A Practical Guide to Monsters, a really wonderfully illustrated introduction to D&D creatures for youngsters. She's done art for several books in the series.

Oh, and Eli--this one by Brynn Methany's for you!

Next up is RPG Creatures, which...okay, self explanatory. The site is home to illustrator Nicholas Cloister, who posts on Creature Spot, but he's got plenty of his own creepy crawlies to keep his dungeon--er, site, stocked. On his blog, he's even provided stats, so you can stock your own personal dungeons too!

Man, those are some beautiful beasties! Wonderfully moody presentation too. I tried to make sure the artists names were credited in the files names. (Please respect their work and play nice. ;)

DO swing by and check out these two incredible blogs and show them some love!