Tenkar's Tavern: Going Down the Sidney Sime Rabbit Hole (Public Domain Art)

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Going Down the Sidney Sime Rabbit Hole (Public Domain Art)

Strange how something can just grab you from behind and choke the shit out of you. Such it is with Sidney Sime's art.

I'm going to blame +Eric Diaz and his post over at the Methods & Madness blog which in turn links to the Monster Brains blog which led me to +Aeron Alfrey 's Flickr collection of Sidney Sime art.

Holy shit.

I've been in a creative "black hole" of sorts recently. My work hours have literally changed around the clock (overnight shift is the latest and I hope it sticks until retirement in March.) I owe pieces of creative work not just to readers of this blog but to others but the well has been dry this summer. I suspect the well is no longer going to be as dry as it was.

I'm not quite sure what is going on above, but I suspect the d30 Sandbox Companion will tell me - this just screams for use of the Cult Generation table.

There is so much going on in this piece the adventure nearly can write itself. Color me inspired. I may print a piece or three out to throw in my work bag and reference during downtime for creative productivity :)

1 comment:

UnknownJanuary 28, 2016 at 11:44 PM
Where is the second image from. I dig it
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Why "Swords & Wizardry?"

Believe me when I say I have them all in dead tree format. I have OSRIC in full size, trade paperback and the Player's Guide. I have LL and the AEC (and somewhere OEC, but I can't find it at the moment). Obviously I have Basic Fantasy RPG. Actually, I have the whole available line in print. Way too much Castles & Crusades. We all know my love for the DCC RPG. I even have Dark Dungeons in print, the Delving Deeper boxed set, Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. BOTH editions of LotFP's Weird Fantasy and some dead tree copies of the Greyhawk Grognards Adventures Dark & Deep

I am so deep in the OSR when I come up for breath it's for the OSR's cousin, Tunnels & Trolls

So, out of all that, why Swords & Wizardry? Why, when I have been running a AD&D 1e / OSRIC campaign in Rappan Athuk am I using Swords & Wizardry and it's variant, Crypts & Things, for the second campaign? (Actually, now running a S&W Complete campaign, soon to be with multiple groups)

Because the shit works.

It's easy for lapsed gamers to pick up and feel like they haven't lost a step. I can house rule it and it doesn't break. It plays so close to the AD&D of my youth and college years (S&W Complete especially) that it continually surprises me. Just much less rules hopping than I remember. (my God but I can run it nearly without the book)

I grab and pick and steal from just about all OSR and Original resources. They seem to fit into S&W with little fuss. It may be the same with LL and the rest, but for me the ease of use fit's my expectations with S&W.

Even the single saving throw. That took me longer to adjust to, but even that seems like a natural to me now. Don't ask me why, it just does. Maybe it's the simplicity of it. At 45 52, simplicity and flexibility while remaining true to the feel of the original is an OSR hat trick for me ;)

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Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Going Down the Sidney Sime Rabbit Hole (Public Domain Art)

1 comment:

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