Artists Creates Floating Worlds In Test Tubes – Rosa de Jong creates tiny models of buildings, trees, and geographic features that float on sculpted, rocky islands in a test tube. Think Avatar’s floating islands meets the traditional ship-in-a-bottle models.
Greyhawk CY 576 by Anna B. Myers – Thanks to funding from her Patreon, cartographer Anna B. Myers released a refreshed version of her lovingly detailed World of Greyawk map set in the Common Year 576. This is the starting year for many old school Greyhawk campaigns and its the time period my own Ghosts of Saltmarsh campaign is set in. The updated maps were adjusted to reflect the latest changes from Wizards of the Coast’s publications and well as knowledge gained of the last few years working on her original Greyhawk maps.
Tome of Beasts II on Kickstarter – Kobold Publishing’s Tome of Beasts and Creature Codex are my go-to monster books when I’m looking to add something new and unexpected to my campaign. They are effectively the equivalent of the Fiend Folio from 1st edition – the ominous book that players look at with curiosity and a little fear when they see it laying on the gaming table The first book, Tome of Beasts, was released in the early days of D&D 5e and as such not all the monsters follow the precedents set in the official Monster Manual (particularly regarding not getting per-round saving throws for monstrous effects) but it’s still a solid book. Creature Codex improved on it with better, more consistent stat blocks and I expect their latest offering, Tome of Beasts II to be just as good.
Data detox: Five ways to reset your relationship with your phone – Suggestions on how to make better – and more mindful – use of your phone including taking a look at your default settings, changing its name, getting rid of apps, using grayscale to de-emphasize your phones attention-getting features, and setting usage goals.
Savage Star Frontiers – Long-time readers know I love Star Frontiers, the old science fiction setting published by TSR back in the 1980s. I never got to run a campaign, but I spent hours building out my imaginary megacorp, Astro Mining and Freighting, and its home system of Starrior. This fan mod adapts Star Frontiers for Savage Worlds, my preferred generic role-playing game. I’m sorely tempted to throw together a Savage Star Frontiers for my local role-playing game convention.
How to Cure and Prevent Butt Chafing on Backpacking Trips – the Trail to Philmont is long. While a lot of our preparation is exercise-related, there’s also a lot to learn about backpacking itself … including dealing with that most terrible of threats: butt chafing. It may not seem like a big thing, but chafing of any kind can (and has) ruin backpacking trips. It can make every step agony, and that’s the last thing you want if you’re seven days into a two-week hike. This post offers some strategies for avoiding it.
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A close-up view of Anna B. Meyer’s new Greyhawk CY 576. Credit: Anna B. Meyers