DMs- have you ever pored through pinterest and google images looking for that one picture that’s close enough to capture the rich world you’ve tried so hard to build for your players, but nothing’s quite good enough?
Players, you know what your character looks like, but that miniature doesn’t quite do them justice and you want everybody to see how cool and absolutely ripped your soft-hearted Orc Bard really is!
I’m offering DnD commissions for really any visual aspect of your campaign or character, from portraits to NPCs to monsters to locations or mood paintings.
WHAT I’LL DO
Characters:
A fully-colored, shaded character will run you what you see above. This is my own character so she’s a bit sloppier in a lot of places than what I’d do for a commissioner, but you get the idea.
Sketches would be $25ish- whether that’s full-body or just the face- but depends on the amount of detail you’re wanting. Flat colors would be the above prices -$10.
I’m happiest doing really any classes or types! Reference is helpful, whether past drawings or through text.
Other than characters I’m happy to do NPCs, villains, monsters, really anything or anyone- prices may vary for monster designs if they’re a bit more involved.
Environments:
The above is a bit old and simplistic, and most of the newer environments I’ve done are for work and can’t be shown, but I’m happy to paint backgrounds or mood paintings for any environments you’d like! Your party’s warm, familiar tavern; the cold, sprawling necropolis where a memorable boss fight happened (or is about to happen)- anything. This is a bit more of a complicated thing than just characters, so I can’t say for sure what prices will look like, but send me a message and I’d be happy to talk details.
Anything Else:
Along with places and people, I’d also be happy to paint maps, items, weapons- whatever you’d need to add a bit of visual shine your campaign.
Regular commissions of non-rpg stuff or characters are of course welcome too!
The main things I won’t draw are sexual nudity beyond pin-up levels, disturbing content, or really anything that would be considered distasteful or illegal or gross besides good ol’ fantasy rpg violence.
If you’re interested or have any questions, shoot me an email at txepvi@gmail.com!
We made a series of cards that contain all of the items from the equipment packs you start the game with (eg, when you pick warlock, you can choose from the scholar’s or dungeoneer’s pack) and little themed boxes for the items to be kept in!
It started because at the end of every session, I would hold all the treasure cards the DM had given to me with a paperclip on my stack of character sheets, and by the time the next session rolled around, everyone’s stuff was all over the pile. We’d have to sift through to figure out who owned what, so I made little boxes for everyone’s items, then started making item cards, and here we are!
So You Want to Name a Sino: A Guide to Not Making a Fucking Fool of Yourself
Note: this will be long and very, very extensive because god I am so sick of this shit 2k16 I just want absolution and I don’t think that’s too much to ask, and even if it is I’m asking it, I’m not asking it emptyhanded I’m asking it with a WHOLE GUIDE FOR YOUR PERUSAL, because I’ve found that Wiki’s great if you want to know why and how we use names and not really great for when you actually want a name.
A theme of this blog seems to be my long suffering, and I want it known, recorded, carved in stone that as of almost 1:00AM on Thursday, December 22nd, 2016, I am officially Fed Up with the way Sino characters are named in fiction.
Let us be clear: this is first and foremost An Attack™* on all the white authors whose imaginations can only extend so far to provide us with a glut of Lings and Linglings and Ailings (not that those aren’t beautiful names) and Peonies and Pearls and, god forbid they start getting creative with their Sachas and their Wai-maes, but this is also for the Sino authors who can’t seem to do it either. And like, I get it. It’s not easy. Sinos are a disparate bunch with varying degrees of fluency in varying dialects of Chinese. Romanisation and naming customs are weird.
But also can we leave the idea of the inscrutable mysterious unknowable East in the 20th century please? There are resources. This is one of them. Let’s start before I steep for too long in my own bitterness and annoyance.
If anyone has any recs for King Arthur-related films/shows, I’ll be grateful!
I already watched Excalibur 1981, Merlin 1998 miniseries, and King Arthur Legend of the Sword (2017).
Monty Python and the Holy Grail is the best (the one and only) arthurian movie ever made!
About other fun arthurian tv series:
Legend of King Arthur (1979 tv show) is one of the best arthurian series, in my opinion. The quality of costumes is not great, but the characterization is on point especially for Morgana and Mordred.
Camelot (starz) is also an… interesting show. The plot is a bit all over the place and Arthur is not great, but Morgana is the real star. Also, Sir Kay, Igraine and Merlin are quite interesting too.
Kaamelott (the French one) is THE BEST. The first three seasons are just comedic sketches (and no English subtitles) but season 5 and 6 are really dramatic and well written (also the dvds have English subtitles). I started watching this show from season 4, and I didn’t really need to go back to season 1-3 to understand the plot.
Mists of Avalon miniseries. While I am not a fan of the book, the miniseries is a softer version that I really enjoy.
and some arthurian movies (especially if you don’t mind some trashy fun ones):
I love Connecticut Yankee movies, but my favourite ones are A Knight in Camelot, the 1989 Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court and A young Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s court (just for how Morgana is written!).
Camelot (1967) is my favourite arthurian movie alongside Monty Python. This is the movie version of the musical and it is the movie that actually made me love Lancelot. It focuses on Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot.
Sword of Lancelot is somehow one of my favourite movies. It might be the fact that Mordred is adorable and has a cute hawk always on his shoulder.
Merlin and the Sword is also a fun cheesy movie. It has basically everything: evil Morgana and Mordred plotting, Gawain and Ragnelle, Arthur Lancelot and Guinevere, Merlin and Nimue.
Let me know if you really don’t mind… the trashier ones. I have more!
Thank you so much for those recs! I don’t mind trashy, as long as it’s fun to watch. (I didn’t like Legend of the Sword because it was so incoherent and badly cut, so there are limits.)
Sword of Lancelot and Merlin and the Sword (and Young Connecticut) are pretty trashy already!
Other trashy fun ones are (in my opinion):
Dragons of Camelot. The 100% bad acting, BAD movie, trash, but so so fun.
Excalibur Kid. This is actually one of my favourite ones because it has a lovely teen Morgause that uses her magic to transport into Camelot a random modern day teenager able to get the sword from the stone, because he is easier to manipulate than Arthur himself.
Guinevere 1994 and First Knight are more on the “meh” side than tun trashy (they take themselves too seriously), but I actually enjoyed them. They are both about the Guinevere-Arthur-Lancelot triangle focusing on the true love between Guinevere and Lancelot. First Knight in particular has a lovely Guinevere.
Merlin and King Arthur the Lion King is like SO RANDOM. Arthur is a lion, Mordred is a kitten, Morgana is the evil cat.
Spamalot (the Monty Python and the Holy Grail’s musical)
The Adventures of Sir Lancelot (tv) is a lovely series of self contained episodes focusing on Lancelot. It’s more random adventures than actual arthurian themes, but there is a lot of Merlin and Guinevere too.
La Legende du Roi Arthur (musical) is… something. The music is very catchy, and it’s definitely fun (a bit overdramatic)
Oh hey– here’s a list ranked by Writing With Color’s most popular posts since opening in 2014 up till now, the start of 2017. Pulled together for the interest and usefulness for readers like you. Thank you.
Top 7 Popular Original Posts
Words for Skin Tone– This two part guide offers an array of words for describing skin color. Part I focuses on the problems with food descriptors. Part II provides alternatives. (68k+ Notes)
can randomly generate just about ANYTHING. awesome for dms
Tabletop Audio: background music and sound effects for the ambience.
PCGen – a character creation program that handles all the tricky and tedious parts of building characters, including NPCs.
d20pfsrd.com – all the free information you would ever need to play Pathfinder, an alternative to D&D
DiceCloud: Interactive character sheet that can be edit and shared with yourself or others easily. Pulled up anywhere with internet connection on PC, Mac, or mobile device. Use it to also mark down health, death saving throws, spell slots, experience, and more on the fly.
DnDMagic: List all spells currently available from Player’s Handbook and Elemental Evil.
5th Edition Spellbook app: Make spellbooks for all your characters, manage spells, prepare spells. Keep track of Spell Save DC, and Spell Attack bonus on your mobile device.
Squire – Another character creation and management app. Contains most of the basic info and spells already, with options to create spells, items, classes/subclasses, etc. This is the free version, but pro has more options for DMs, including initiative order control.
Heck yeah, let’s get this list done for the whole series!
Tried to keep the descriptions as spoiler-free as possible so people can just jump in wherever, but I’d skip this if you’re really worried. Every link leads to the exact timestamp, some of which are obviously very spoilery. Here we go!
Episode 3: Vex and Keyleth say “fuck it”. (Note: early episode means v. loud at times and sound quality is pretty rough.)
Episode 4: Laura gets to the episode a bit late, just in time for an elaborate and extremely well-thought-out plan to go into play.
This is literally the most bomb-ass D&D story I’ve ever read in my life oh my god.
Holy shit ._.
Some RP sessions have better stories than actual fiction. I mean, goddamn.
For those having trouble reading the text:
We had a campaign in D&D where we assembled a steampunk-ish time machine. After many sessions travelling through time, uncovering mysteries and learning harsh lessons about changing history, we had to stop a time-travelling cult from destroying the gods, and therefore the world. We failed.
Our machine crashed, we were stranded earlier than we had ever been able to travel. We found the Gods, but only a few of them were present – it was as if some had never existed. Then we realised – we had to become those Gods. Our party was entirely divine (Cleric, Paladin, Avenger, Invoker), and each of us was a worshipper of a god who had been unmade – and we were the only people in existence with enough knowledge of the forgotten deities to assume their roles.
But two of the players were worshippers of Io (in his twin forms of Tiamat and Bahamut, who would of course form later after Io’s ‘death’), and only one could become Io. The other would have to be the un-created Asmodeus.
So the most just, honourable and dedicated Lawful Good paladin I’ve ever seen roleplayed became the god of tyranny and evil. If he hadn’t, the gods would never have defeated the primordials, and the world would never have been completed.
In our setting, Asmodeus is every bit the epitome of evil you would expect him to be. Nobody but the gods who abide his presence know him as otherwise. He adheres to his role because he knows he has to – and that in doing so, the world can exist. He can never tell anyone his duty, and no-one who knows can ever discuss it.
In the farthest recesses of the Nine Hells, in a chamber sealed tighter than any other in existence is a pocketwatch of finest gnome craft with a photo of his family in it – his wife, son, and little baby girl.
They were killed by an orc army marching under the orders and banner of Asmodeus. Their deaths are what drove him to become an adventurer.
Lesetoilesfous 