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
- XCOM in the mirror – Phoenix Point
- Learning from XCOM, 5: the bit that would be better as a TTRPG
- Maps of classic dungeons 4: the rats in the walls of the Opera Garnier
- an addendum to a really old post on Cha-based magic
- Learning from XCOM, 4: look how far we’ve come
- Epic inconveniences
- Learning from XCOM, 3: classes, advancement, and special moves
- Learning from XCOM, 2: a philosophy of cheating and balancing
- Learning from XCOM, 1: the rules that matter
- Art and Bitterness
- Learning from James Bond 4: Conclusions
- Learning from James Bond 3: Post-Soviet Chaos and the Age of Rage
- Learning from James Bond 2: 70s, 80s, the War on Drugs
- Learning from James Bond, 1: the 60s
- thoughts toward a flat earth campaign
- The PCs are a faction
- Have you tried ANT? A response to Marcia’s “OSR is Dead” post
- The Ritual
- An addendum to the previous post on magic and technology
- On the difference between magic and technology
- Let’s play pirates!
- On the regular hell that is the improved Spanish Prisoner con
- On the special hell that is the Spanish Prisoner con
- Brexotica
- Fallen London: French Vanilla chef kiss
- On tactics and surprise
- Interlude: on cinematography and interior design in Ratched and The New Pope
- On history
- Some Basic Anthropology Texts For DMs
- Maps of some classic dungeons, 3: Ramses’s linear psychopomp
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Telecanter
- Abiørn's Satchel October 13, 2021This weathered leather satchel is tooled in nautical designs and is full of rose-colored salt. Rubbing the salt on a sea creature will dry it out and shrink it to a tiny size without harming it (an hour of drying for each ton). When placed in water again the creature will revitalize and grow back to original size. It is said this was how the narwhals came […]
Rients
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Warriors of the Red Planet
- Sketches August 13, 2021
Akratic
- Into the Unknown vs 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons March 12, 2023
9&30 Kingdoms
- Drop Wolves Art December 11, 2021
Lich house
- Favorite DM Advice of the Week March 20, 2022