Number one in an occasional series on museums and galleries in my native London. Unknown may be hyperboly, but they are less well known than the big ones like the British Museum
Willam Morris Gallery, Walthamstow
The first of these is my most local gallery as I as born not too far away from here in sunny Walthamstow. The gallery is fairly small and is unsurprisingly devoted to William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement. The pieces that I like the most are often the furniture which is unsurprisingly made with excellent craftsmanship as I find some of Morris' textile design in particular to be rather densely patterned for my tastes. There are also various personal belongings of Morris which does help to build a picture of him as a man as well as an artist.
The exhibits include a bequest from Sir Frank Brangwyn RA of paintings, sketches and drawings. This does include some excellent pieces and I probably enjoy these more than most of Morris' work.
My most recent visit was prompted by an exhibition of drawings and paintings of Epping Forest, which runs close to the gallery and at one time extended over much of where Waltham Forest and the other North East London boroughs are.
I'd recommend this gallery to anyone with an interest in Morris and the Arts & Crafts movement or Frank Brangwyn. Otherwise it may not be so high up the list of places to visit, but if you have seen most or all of the major galleries in London it can be worth a visit. Like many local authority supported museums and galleries it is free, but visitors should try and buy postcards or other mementoes to help support these.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Podcast Review H.P. Lovecraft Literary Podcast
The H.P. Lovecraft Literary Podcast is a fairly new podcast concentrating on discussing H.P. Lovecraft's stories. The show is weekly and coming out on a regular basis at the moment. The regular hosts are Chris Lackey and Chad Fifer, who I believe are assoicated with the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society.
Content
Each week the presenters discuss one or more Lovecraft stories, with the stories being taken in chronological order. There are excerpts from the stories read by a variety of readers. The discussion is by Chad and Chris with occasional guest presenters, taking a light hearted look at the material and Lovecraft's approach. They do take into account the context of the period and mention the influences upon HPL and his circle. The most recent episode at time of writing is no 15 on "From Beyond" and there is a great enthusiasm for the story and HPL in the discussion.
Technical
The sound quality is good as the presenters are professionals in the media industry and downloads from the podcast's own website or iTunes are reliable and fast. There is good use made of sound effects and music in the episodes as well.
Overall
I recommend this podcast highly with the only caveat being the presenters do not take Lovecraft's output entirely seriously which is an approach that makes sense to me as like most horror fiction there is a tendency to absurdity. This is particularly true of the weaker earlier works discussed to date. If you want to hear straight readings of H.P. Lovecraft stories then some are available free at Yog-Sothoth dot com or the Cthulhu podcast
Content
Each week the presenters discuss one or more Lovecraft stories, with the stories being taken in chronological order. There are excerpts from the stories read by a variety of readers. The discussion is by Chad and Chris with occasional guest presenters, taking a light hearted look at the material and Lovecraft's approach. They do take into account the context of the period and mention the influences upon HPL and his circle. The most recent episode at time of writing is no 15 on "From Beyond" and there is a great enthusiasm for the story and HPL in the discussion.
Technical
The sound quality is good as the presenters are professionals in the media industry and downloads from the podcast's own website or iTunes are reliable and fast. There is good use made of sound effects and music in the episodes as well.
Overall
I recommend this podcast highly with the only caveat being the presenters do not take Lovecraft's output entirely seriously which is an approach that makes sense to me as like most horror fiction there is a tendency to absurdity. This is particularly true of the weaker earlier works discussed to date. If you want to hear straight readings of H.P. Lovecraft stories then some are available free at Yog-Sothoth dot com or the Cthulhu podcast
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Swords & Wizardry Character
This character was created for the excellent Swords & Wizardry retro roleplaying game, with the old school method of taking the dice as they fell. Feel free to use him as an NPC in your games like the other example characters that I have created. This was with the core set rather than the white box rules.
Erwin the Unwell
3d6=12, 3d6=12, 3d6=4, 3d6=7, 3d6=11, 3d6=8
Human Fighter Level: 1
HP: 7 (1d6+2-1) AC: 14
XP: 0
Strength 12
Dexterity 12
Constitution 4
Intelligence 7
Wisdom 11
Charisma 8
Current gold: 36gp 8sp
Starting gold 130 not too bad.
3d6*10=130
Hirelings:
Ranwald Torchbearer 1gp
Brill Swordsman 2gp
Vandred Swordsman 2gp
Spent 93 GP 2sp
Erwin is a hypochondriac, forever complaining about feeling unwell and blowing his nose in a large spotted handkerchief. Otherwise he is a strong fighter with black hair roughly cut short to avoid catching in his mail, wearing a helmet and a black cloak over his mail. On his shield there is only a blank green frontage with no symbols as yet as an independent adventurer.
Erwin the Unwell
3d6=12, 3d6=12, 3d6=4, 3d6=7, 3d6=11, 3d6=8
Human Fighter Level: 1
HP: 7 (1d6+2-1) AC: 14
XP: 0
Strength 12
Dexterity 12
Constitution 4
Intelligence 7
Wisdom 11
Charisma 8
Current gold: 36gp 8sp
Starting gold 130 not too bad.
3d6*10=130
| Equipment: | Wgt | Cost | Total wgt/cost |
| Battle Axe | 15 | 5 | 15/5 |
| Dagger | 2 | 2 | 17/7 |
| Short Bow | 5 | 15 | 22/22 |
| 20 Arrows | 1 | 2 | 23/24 |
| Ring mail | 40 | 30 | 63/54 |
| Shield | 10 | 15 | 73/69 |
| Backpack | 5 | 73/74 | |
| Bedroll | 2sp | 73/74.2 | |
| Waterskin | 1 | 73/75.2 | |
| 10 Iron spikes | 5sp | 73/75.7 | |
| Hammer | 5sp | 73/76.2 | |
| Dried rations 5 days | 5 | 73/81.2 | |
| 50 ft Hemp rope | 1 | 73/82.2 | |
| Block and tackle | 5 | 73/87.2 | |
| Flint & steel | 1 | 73/88.2 |
Hirelings:
Ranwald Torchbearer 1gp
Brill Swordsman 2gp
Vandred Swordsman 2gp
Spent 93 GP 2sp
Erwin is a hypochondriac, forever complaining about feeling unwell and blowing his nose in a large spotted handkerchief. Otherwise he is a strong fighter with black hair roughly cut short to avoid catching in his mail, wearing a helmet and a black cloak over his mail. On his shield there is only a blank green frontage with no symbols as yet as an independent adventurer.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Economics of RPG publishing
James Mishler has a blog post on the economics of RPG publishing which does make for grim reading in many ways. Funnily enough I think that pen and paper RPG could grow in popularity due to the recession as the cost per hour of gaming is low if just a set of rules and dice need to be bought, but it is tough for publishers as the price that their products will sell it is low and unlikely to grow. I suspect that most publishing will become pdf only with consumers needing to get their own copies printed rather than any rebirth of print products.
The companies that I do see surviving, apart from Wizards of the Coast with its big corporate parent of Hasbro, are Mongoose Publishing, the Chaosium, Fantasy Flight Games, Steve Jackson Games, White Wolf and Goodman games. I don't claim any special insight, but these are all larger established companies many with diversified product ranges that will help support their RPG publishing activities by sharing of corporate costs like accounting, offices, warehousing and advertising. There will undoubtedly be others but without knowing information that many companies tend to keep under their hat it would be difficult to predict.
It is true to say that the success of D&D in the early 1980s was due to a combination of factors that are not that likely to reoccur with less competition for leisure time as computer games were a small niche then compared to the current widespread of games consoles like the X-Box, Wii and PlayStation and higher disposable incomes than the current period even though the economy did have a rocky patch in the early 1980s. For any roleplayer or wargamer for that matter the main aims would have to be keep recruiting new players so that the hobby survives in some form even if the industry side of it reverts to the cottage industry model that existed in the mid 1970s.
The companies that I do see surviving, apart from Wizards of the Coast with its big corporate parent of Hasbro, are Mongoose Publishing, the Chaosium, Fantasy Flight Games, Steve Jackson Games, White Wolf and Goodman games. I don't claim any special insight, but these are all larger established companies many with diversified product ranges that will help support their RPG publishing activities by sharing of corporate costs like accounting, offices, warehousing and advertising. There will undoubtedly be others but without knowing information that many companies tend to keep under their hat it would be difficult to predict.
It is true to say that the success of D&D in the early 1980s was due to a combination of factors that are not that likely to reoccur with less competition for leisure time as computer games were a small niche then compared to the current widespread of games consoles like the X-Box, Wii and PlayStation and higher disposable incomes than the current period even though the economy did have a rocky patch in the early 1980s. For any roleplayer or wargamer for that matter the main aims would have to be keep recruiting new players so that the hobby survives in some form even if the industry side of it reverts to the cottage industry model that existed in the mid 1970s.
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