I Tell You. You Decide If You Care.

So, this is sort of a follow-up to my earlier post on Fantasy RPG Armor for women . This is about Martina at  Nerdforge , and all the awesome shit she makes. Specifically, here are her videos where she makes her own armor and then she makes a shield. She also has videos where she makes tomes, wizard staffs, and all kinds of awesome shit. Frankly, I get a kick out of trying to picture her workshop. She's got some serious and expensive power tools :-) Here are more links about them We're the Nerdforge couple Martina & Hansi! instagram & twitter: @thenerdforge discord: discord.io/nerdforge https://www.patreon.com/nerdforge

HeroForge has amazing tools for creating custom figures for tabletop gaming.  Basically, you can build your own 1" figure for your D&D games... ...or Savage Rifts ... ...or, fuck it, just lose your damn mind and have fun... These screenshots were chosen to show off some of the tool features available in HeroForge "Cat Angel" there was created by a 7-year-old girl, who was just having fun one day playing around with her dad's account.  That's how easy and fun the interface is. And different potential - like D&D , or Rifts, or Supers (I got introduced to Mighty Protectors , which is multi-genre a toolkit game like GURPS   or Hero System ). All of these were created by a friend of mine. He's been using HeroForge for years, and backed a few of the KickStarters , so has free access to some of the advanced tools.  (He was showing me the tools, so I asked if I could grab some screenshots for my blog.) Note, that my friend hasn't actually bought  any o...

Women in armor .  Well, realistic medieval type of armor, anyway, as opposed to modern body armor, but you can find those, too Model unknown. Image source on Pinterest.

Some vids detailing historical use of slings.  Again, in most version of D&D, this is a Simple Weapon that anyone can use. Halflings usually get some nice bonuses with slings, and some editions of D&D go absolutely bonkers with halfling-only sling feats that produce some damage potential to easily compete with longbows and crossbows.  (I can't find the character sheet, but I had a 4e halfling ranger/rogue who, in natural terrain, take  5 foot step at the start of her turn, then use her sling to cause 5d6+4 damage. That was awesome.)

Here is a pretty cool treatise on longbow arrows. I like his style. Very calm, very well-stated. Useful information and perspective, without a lot of hype, and just a touch of snark. Now, I mean, this is most useful to people who like history, or who play a lot of Dungeons & Dragons .  Or Warhammer FRP , or Talislanta , or want to play Hawkeye in your favorite SHRPG, like, say Mighty Protectors .  :-) Personally, I always loved archers.  I was never particularly enamored of the crossbow in 3e, except maybe as the occassional ranged utility weapon for my low-level clerics.  Then came 5e, when I started monkeying with it. The slow reload rate was always a buzzkill, but the Crossbow Expert Feat provided some definite advantages over the Longbow, so I built a Fighter around the Heavy Crossbow, and actually had a lot of fun.

Elisa Mac aka Cap Anneke Jackson , cosplayer and Freelance Graphic Designer from Rome, Italy. ( source )

There are a lot of great artists on social media. One is Karl Stjernberg Karl does a lot of RPG  art.  Mostly maps, but also some character sheets.  This one is apparently a Level 1 Kobold Thief. I love the "mind map" free form creativity Karl shows. ( source ) And, Pink! of course :-) (Helllooooo, I'm a girl.  Yes, it turns out that pink is hardwired into us.  We grow out of it... eventually.  Haha.) ( source ) ( source )

model is Genevieve , who was just at the Seattle Steamposium  (and I've just made a note on my calendar for next year, so i don't miss it again... grrrr ) Her FB page, Alternate History Designs & Photography And I made a Mighty Protectors character, using this image, which is how I found out about her, and so now you know about: My character ; Mighty Protectors ; Seattle Steamposium Genevieve at Seattle Steamposium Alternate History Designs & Photography

Dungeon Cultist Mug by Nate McD  (Zazzle) or Nate McD (G+) Because, you know, we make a fuss about advertising our lives on our coffee mugs - let's advertise we love dungeon crawling on the weekends, with friends.  I so need at least one of these in my house. It would  make a good birthday gift for your gamer, too.  Or a Christmas party "white elephant" gift.  Hell, I just think it's adorable :-) "Dungeon Cultist" - it could be like the "secret dress-up" used to identify your fellow cultists.  Only those "in the know," understand the meaning, and it's an advert to others of the club that you're a gamer, and ready to roll :-)

You ever flip through a book, and find that one thing that sells it to you?  Yeah, I so need a copy of Fantastic Heroes & Witchery , entirely based on this image.  Well, okay, this image and the fact that Mark Craddock uses it.  Mark manages a game store, so he is kind of a guru on all the new games, so if he considers it worth his time to mock up blog posts using a system , I'm immediately open to it. Then this sample art found in the online sampler  (Ladies, you  so  know what I'm talking about, right?)   ( buy FHW from RPGnow.com ) Hey, for $7.50, if the authors have this kind of sense of humor, I'm totally willing to try it.  If it helps, the online reviews for it are favorable, too.   Personally, I prefer hardcopy, because I like BOOKS - I like being able to handle a physical object, not have to squint, and not have to worry about battery life.

Is it wrong that I'm turned on by Alyson's incredible skill level and passion for cosplay? I love cosplay. I've dabbled a bit, but I'm a rank amateur. Mostly, I'm a gamer by day, and dabble with a bit of convention cosplay in the evenings when it's dark, I've had a drink or two, and no one really cares, anyway. (And yah, I've still got a male friend not far away, because .) Anyway, ran across  Alyison Tabitha  when looking for Final Fantasy cosplay, just because. Check out her incredible work at her gallery. And gender-bending!  And she nails Jack Sparrow's body language! Freaky  Wow !

Simon and Garfunkel's "Scarborough Fair" - is probably the most famous of the modern versions.  It's certainly the one I think of whenever I hear the line "parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme." It's interesting to see that they used a  vocal counter-point borrowed from an earlier anti-war song by Simon. This vid shows the lyrics. The "anti-war" counter-point is almost impossible to hear, even if you know to listen for it.  It makes a beautiful sound, the background lyrics, and perhaps is a subliminal message, too. This version, by the Gothard sisters (who are not triplets), is just for fun.

Okay, you just know anything called " IcarusPedia " is going to pop-up on my radar, right? ;-) Actually, the site is about the Kid Icarus video game series from Nintendo. I've never owned a Nintendo, and never played the game, but I've fallen in love with this website. The goddess Viridi , from Kid Icarus. I love anime and manga.  I love comic books.  I lost track of how much time I wasted wiki-walking on this site, but it was worth it ;-)

Catgirl artist does gorgeous art.  Go on, tell me you're not tempted. Syreene Studios (image swiped from Syreene Studios website)

OMG, I could totally waste hours - and hundreds of dollars - at Hero Forge creating custom tabletop minis. This is 3D printing meets gamer wet dreams. You can do durable plastic (especially if you want it really 4" action figure size), or high detail plastic (for painting just right), or steel or bronze.  (Seriously, your own custom bronze statue!) And you can make your human/alien hybrid look just so. And save it for later, when you get that next paycheck.  I could totally see myself building a collection at about one per month. And then totally see what your character might look like as a buff cat girl. OMG, yeah, I could spend a bloody fortune in no time.

We've got Mickey the Mouse, and Smokey the Bear and The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, so why not Mecki the Hedgehog (who, apparently, might actually pre-date the lot of those pretenders).

Doug Kovacs does some beautiful art, especially fantasy art.