Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Together. Again.

These are oldies but goodies.

Red Dragon Inn.com

Red Dragon Inn is always useful, whether you're needing character/town/tavern names, a dice roll when you find yourself without any, and especially if you're heading out on a quest, but need to do a bit of shopping first at Sal's Outfitters. I especially like "window shopping". I just hope Sal doesn't mind that I'm always in there perusing and handling the merchandise, but never putting down the coins for anything. I also frequently nerd out with the dwarven name generator since I've created my own runic alphabet and I love "translating" the names. It's got the great feature of being able to choose realistic or fantasy names. And you can get clan/surnames too. The elven name generator is great too, but I get confused with the gender option. How can you tell by a name if one of those pointy-eared, limb-skippers is a guy or girl? Ain't they kinda known for being androgynous-ish?

Greywolf Doodles

Greywolf's gallery is great for picturing the merchandise from Sal's Outfitters (since there aren't pics, only descriptions). I've cruised the gallery many times and never do I leave uninspired. The drawings are imaginative, simple, and I absolutely love the rough pencil work. I can imagine the items on a table/shelf, armor on a mannequin, or miscellany piled in some slain dragons hoard. Rummage to your heart's content, but remember, Thorin II Oakenshield will hold a grudge if you pilfer the Arkenstone.

Friday, July 20, 2012

A Way With Worlds

I can't say enough about this column by Steven Savage. It is jam packed with great advice and tips for worldbuilders. Whether you're new to it or have been at it for a while, it's a must. Sadly it has been defunct for some time now, but a big thank you to Seventh Sanctum.com for hosting such a wonderful compendium on top of an already great generator.

Without further ado, have at it:

A Way With Worlds

Friday, July 6, 2012

BEWARE! Enter at Your Own Risk

Not like this blog gets a lot of traffic, but you may have noticed that several posts/images have been removed. That is thanks to the cautionary, well-intentioned advice of my friends.

While I did not know, and certainly did not mean any harm, I was infringing upon others' copyrighted works. It's not like I was served with papers to appear in court for art theft, but in an extreme case it could happen.

To hopefully help others avoid from stepping in the same mess, READ THIS:

How To Avoid Copyright Infringement

As it points out, just because you found it on the internet does not grant you a free for all to take it and post it elsewhere - even if you do give credit where it's due. Simply saying "Look at this, Joe made it" is not enough. You have to have Joe's expressed permission.

You might not think it's a big deal, but it is to someone. If the internet teaches us anything it's that someone, somewhere, sometime will have something to say about it.