Archive
catch of the day: L D Phillips’ application for patent 15,898 (14 oct. 1856):
catch of the day: L D Phillips’ application for patent 15,898 (14 oct. 1856):
a design for submarine armor.
Justified my trip to the Chicago Maritime Museum
Once the Dutch got in it proved impossible to dislodge them
Once the Dutch got in it proved impossible to dislodge them – and after they’d put up the psychic resonators around their perimeter you couldn’t even get in to negotiate with them unless you had a Calvin badge.
The city had no choice but to build its skyscrapers across the road.
carefully-made flint tools that don’t fit any known function.
Along with the usual axes and arrowheads, archaeologists sometimes dig up carefully-made flint tools that don’t fit any known function.
These “eccentrics” tend to get ignored in the literature because nobody can think of any plausible theories regarding their use – in fact, most of them aren’t even fitted for human hands.
#Tekumel
#Ancientinternetofthings
#Mayanarmyknife
it’s a mistake to ignore the more modest roadside shrines
People flock to the big, flashy stone temples but it’s a mistake to ignore the more modest roadside shrines – those minor gods often pay more attention to the supplicant’s particular needs.
And size is no guarantee of quality – charlatans are everywhere, good grottoes go bad, priesthoods change with time. Signs of seriousness here: the sacrifices are burnt out in the open and there’s a temple guardian in the form of a mastiff that can smell wrong intentions.
“assassin’s teapot” with two chambers for different liquids
A clever little device: An “assassin’s teapot,” containing two chambers which can hold different liquids. Depending on where you put your fingers as you pour (to cover different holes, and thus create a vacuum which would hold one liquid or the other in place) you can cause either to come out. The perfect tool with which to serve yourself and your enemy.
Unless, of course, you don’t get that seal perfectly right. But to cope with such cases, it’s always wise to have been building up an immunity to the iocaine powder ahead of time anyway.
You’ll probably see this reposted a dozen times today because Yonatan Zunger’s reach is long and he often has interesting things to say.
You’ll probably see this reposted a dozen times today because Yonatan Zunger’s reach is long and he often has interesting things to say.
If you ever write RPG material then it’s definitely worth your time – an analysis of how political and economic influences shape religions. I expect it’s of special interest to Jeff Rients as a companion piece for his Mormon game noodlings.
Recent Posts
- An ill-considered paddle in political literary commentary, or: whither the SAT essay?
- Rationalist vs Empiricist Cartographies
- The implicit game in original Traveller’s ship loan rules
- we apologize for the explosion of posts
- “First, eliminate the impossible.”
- A fascinating little biography of the creator of the Theremin
- A “hotspot” is melting the base of the Antarctic Ice Sheet at the South Pole. The area affected is three times that of Greater London. Scientists suspect a combination of unusually radioactive rocks and geothermal springs may be responsible.
- one for Paolo Greco: #itsMageblade!time
- All games are theories about the world
- Now that g+ is officially closing down, I have adopted the following alter egos:
- Wandering Netsuke-carver
- Time is a flat circle, extinction inevitable
- My wife just beat all the game ideas I’ve ever had.
- so a while ago Shoe Skogen mentioned that she needed a skellyman character class and it set me thinking 2 things:
- The legendary art thief, smuggler and dealer-to-the-greats Michel van Rijn deserves a place in your game research, whether you believe in him or not.
- When we got in, the mind flayer database was just one huge denormalized table. The wizard wanted to scribe out the column names.
- Research for two projects at once: loading pipes onto a rabelo, some time before 1960.
- Multitool magic item: look through the lens to detect ethereal radiances, swing by the base to inflict spike-and-fire damage, tilt the head and use as a cup-rest to detect poisons.
- The most effective binding spells are the ones people choose for themselves.
- Or you can simply bind a wizard, Han-style, into your grimoire.
- Some spellbooks come pre-loaded with trap spells, either to keep the unlearned out or to defend the owner in a pinch. This one has Entanglement, Bleeding Pelican (cure serious wounds), and Suit of Knives.
- Ah, Cornwall.
- https://belowthesurface.amsterdam/en/vondsten Digging out the Noord Zuid Lijn and finding stuff.
- (I presume this also applies to the minimum size of an interstellar colony)
- This won’t be news to anyone I expect, but there is no effective upper limit to how complex you can make a historical trading system if you want to.
- I guess this is my first really OSR post…
- #callofcthulhu
- Gallery of engraved handguns
- A Thousand Thousand Islands: a review of #1-4 by Zedeck Siew and Mun Kao
- The Weird Adventures of Tintin, by H. P. Lovecraft!
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Telecanter
- Crossword Spell Research October 11, 2017I've always loved playing magic-users, loved finding and searching for books in D&D, and the open-ended possibilities that being allowed to make your own spells gives the game. Here's an idea for making player spell research interesting and engaging itself, by making it a mini-game. I haven't tried it yet (I plan to offer it, but my play […]
Quickly, quietly, carefully
- My new blog: devilghost.com October 17, 2018
Roles, rules and rolls
- Some Odd Experiences October 16, 2019
Dungeons & Digressions
- The Player's Handbook IPA September 8, 2019
Mule Abides
- 0-Level ACKS Alices January 1, 2015
Algol
- [chapter 2] April 11, 2019
JOESKY
- W HAT DO TO DO WHEN A THIEF FALL HAPPENED April 10, 2019
Akratic
- Eye of Vecna coming to the big screen? November 30, 2019
9&30 Kingdoms
- Astrology as s Magical Power Source December 9, 2019
Jovial Priest
- My FIVE favourite house rules January 1, 2014