Doug's Art and Games Blog

Monster of the Week, February 25 Another week, another system-agnostic monster. Tumor Leech The Tumor Leech was first summoned by the Witch Kings of Ylum, and is still mostly found as a trap in Ylumi ruins. The Witch Kings were known for their pacts with the Abyss, the Hells, and all lower planes between as with the entities of the Far Realms. These pacts made their society a powerful empire,  but also led to the collapse of their empire in flames. A Tumor Leech is a cat-sized, tan, fleshy creature with eight tubular limbs and a long tail. It is covered with a slick slime, it lacks eyes or a mouth, sensing vibrations with its entire body. Most are kept in suspended animation in containers as a trap to prevent the raiding of Ylumi treasures and are awakened when they are disturbed. They launch themselves at the first creature they encounter, grappling their target and trying to force their tubular tails into the throat of the target to release a payload of its alchemical...

What I Like in RPG Art Tony DiTerlizzi Probably best known for his work on Planescape in the 90s, his use of exaggerated anatomy, DeTerlizzi has gone on to his own post-DnD career, illustrating a ton of books that don't have game rules in them. Jez Gordon Dynamic, heavy scratchboard illustrations with both a strong sense of mass and motion. Jez is one of the newer artists I have noticed. Not to mention his work as a cartographer and a designer of great-looking books. Russ Nicholson I encountered Russ Nicholson's art both in the Fiend Folio and in pages of White Dwarf back in the 1980s. Russ' intense line work, dark and moody texture and generally grungy feel struck me deeply as hitting an aesthetic that better reflected the sword and sorcery (e.g., Robert E. Howard) and the dark fantasy (e.g. Micheal Moorcock) I liked in my teens. As my tastes have evolved, grungy, dirty and complicated still has been part of my favored art aesthetic. Erol Otus What initiall...

My Rostengrad campaign document is still evolving, but I have nailed down the races or, as Index Card RPG calls them, bio-forms, of Rostengrad. I did some quick, cartoony sketches to illustrate the bio-forms for the campaign to include in the campaign guide. Many of these will have some definite forebears. The Elves of Rostengrad are inspired by the elves from Vornheim (though socially, I think of them as like angrier cousins of the elves from Elfquest ). There are forms inspired by China Mieville's Bas-Lag, and some more standard fantasy tropes from Dungeons and Dragons, too. Bu'oh, Carneigian, Dwarf, Elf Goblin, Hellborn, Human, Myrynh Small Folk, Unliving, Vespid

Monster of the Week, February 18, 2020 Weekly, system-agnostic monster. Fish Wife Appearing as ordinary women with pale, clammy skin and the heads of fish, fishwives appear in seaside villages and approach single men seeking to woo them as husbands. As disgusting as they appear, they promise to care for their husbands by cooking, caring for the home, and even bearing children as ordinary wives, and it is said that they are loyal and dedicated wives. That said, their great fishy heads and great fishy smell are overwhelming, and they will never live far from the water. If a man denies a fishwife marriage, she may curse him for a moon and during that time he will suffer minor calamities. If a man marries a fishwife and is disloyal, the see will disgorge a school of strange fish with the legs of beasts or men and huge teet, and the fish will pursue the man until they or he are dead, then those that survive will return to the sea. The weeping fishwife will then haunt the city wi...

While thinking about the Dungeons and Dragons campaign I am now running, I did a lot of collages and thinking about a steampunk aesthetic. The Steampunk-y collage series reflects this background world-building.

While thinking about the Dungeons and Dragons campaign I am now running, I did a lot of collages and thinking about a steampunk aesthetic. The Steampunk-y collage series reflects this background world-building.

Monster of the Week, February 11, 2020 A weekly, system-agnostic monster. Dream Eater The dreams and hopes of children attract the feeding of the Dream Eater. A shadowy, indistinct, and immaterial being, the Dream Eater feeds on hope, imagination, and wonder. In its wake, children are left with resignation, complacency, and a desire for conformity. Adults are often unaware of the dream eater's work. Instead, it works quietly in the shadows of schools, orphanages, and homes where adults confuse the diminishing magic in the eyes and minds of children as maturation. Instead, the Dream Eater is siphoning off the creative spirit, rebellion, and individuality of children for its own needs. It is not clear why the Dream Eater does what it does. It may use the spirit it drains from children as food, to procreate, or to gather as a sacrifice to a shadowy lord. When confronted, the dream eater does not fight. Rather, it flees. Lacking substance, the dream eater can flit fro sha...

While thinking about the Dungeons and Dragons campaign I am now running, I did a lot of collages and thinking about a steampunk aesthetic. The Steampunk-y collage series reflects this background world-building.

Monster of the Week for February 4, 2020 Once a week a system-agnostic monster. Crawling Horror When a cultist of Orcus dies with the flesh of a human in their stomach and the name of Orcos on their lips, it is said that Orcus himself may turn its attention on that cultist and give hem new life as a Crawling Horror. A Crawling Horror appears as a hairless, livid humanoid head with red eyes, no ears, a gaping hole for a nose, and ending not in a jaw or neck, but in fleshy, crab-like multi-jointed limbs and sharp, fang-like palps. These creatures often seek revenge on the mobs, judges, or magistrates responsible for their initial death. They also seek to devour the flesh of the living as they did when they were alive.  Where a crawling horror is found, the place smells of damp earth, which gets more intense as they come closer. Crawling horrors are intelligent, cunning, and ruthless. They prefer to avoid conflict, striking single targets by surprise rather t...