Things In A Box: A Random Table

Boxes. Adventurers frequently come across boxes while exploring, and think nothing of opening them to see what is inside. Frequently, the answer to “What’s in the box?” is “Treasure!” or "Trap!", although sometimes it’s just mundane stuff like supplies or trade goods, and yes, there is the occasional monster. Who leaves those boxes full of stuff lying around all the time for characters to rummage through? I don’t recall very many times in my life when I walked into a room, saw a box, dug through it until I found something I wanted, and took it (well, except for my toy box as a kid, but that was MY toy box). Even if it’s not a usual occurrence in the real world, there seem to be lots of boxes for characters to dig through as they tramp around the dungeon (or tower, castle, inn, cave, extra-dimensional lair, etc.) Below is my random “Things In A Box” table, inspired by the great random tables found at Beyond The Black Gate, Carjacked Seraphim, and The Society of Torch, Pole, and Rope, among others.

Things In A Box

A Random Table (d100)

1. 1d10 pp, 1d100 gp, 1d1000 sp, 1d20 ep, 1d12 cp
2. a very fine 6” glass sphere, cool to the touch, resting in a velvet “nest”. Any application of heat (including body heat) will cause it to explode in 1d4 minutes into thousands of tiny shards causing 1d6 damage, + 1 additional point due to shards buried in flesh every turn of movement until healed. If transported without damage, sphere is worth 600 gp.
3. an 18” lump of lodestone, adheres to nearest iron or steel object, can be removed with strength check. If stuck to armor, -2 to armor class until removed due to awkward size & weight.
4. 1d6 random books, non-magical
5. a 12” wax figure of the person opening the box, perfect in all details
6. a monocle on a 24” silver chain
7. a severed medusa head, person opening box must make saving throw or be petrified
8. 1d4 random potions in correctly labeled metal flasks
9. a slightly smaller box, same construction as the original box. Roll again for contents.
10. small leather bag filled with sand
11. a well used hand of glory (non-magical) and a braid of long blond hair
12. hornet’s nest, swarm of hornets immediately attack all within 30’ radius
13. 10 iron spikes, a metal hammer, and 100’ of silk rope
14. 14 copper discs, 6” across, with text written on one side in an undecipherable script
15. an imp dressed in motley, on opening box he jumps out, yells “BOO!”, then flies away. If caught, he answers to the name Jack.
16. a cloud of purple dust puffs out, causing all in 10’ radius to save vs breath attack or sneeze violently for 1d3 turns. make a random monster check due to noise
17. large leather-bound book in an unknown language
18. bones of a small human child
19. large bundle of dried leaves from a rare medicinal plant, heals 1d6 damage if burned and smoke is inhaled
20. small gold plated goblet studded with semi precious stones
21. silver hand mirror with monogram “L.C.“ on the back
22. burlap sack containing strips of salted meat (2d4 days rations)
23. a portal to elsewhere in the dungeon, appears as a miniature staircase inside the box leading down into darkness
24. a hand drawn treasure map on a 3’ square piece of sheepskin
25. small carved stone idol of a many armed, winged humanoid with a horse head
26. copper torc with a small ruby set on each end, resting on a stone slab. If worn around the neck it will immediately adhere to the wearer’s skin and the rubies begin to heat up, doing 1d2 damage the 1st round, 1d4 the 2nd, 1d6 the 3rd, 1d8 the 4th, 1d10 the 5th, 1d12 the 6th, and 1d20 the 7th. After 7 rounds it will immediately cool down and can be worn with no further damage to that person. If removed and worn again later or worn by a different person it will once again adhere and heat up.
27. a smooth egg shaped stone, with a blue 8 pointed star painted on it. If touched it will cause 1d10 points of electrical damage
28. a pair of silver dueling daggers wrapped in very soft leather and tied with a braided cord, worth 200 gp each or 500 gp as a matched pair
29. 6 white candles, 6 brass candlesticks, and silver tinder box
30. a folded tapestry depicting the first meeting between the king of the lizard people and the queen of the troglodytes
31. pair of lightweight blue crystals, 6” long and radiating very slight magic. If placed in water and allowed to float, one crystal will always point towards the location of the other crystal, regardless of distance.
32. small, simple platinum hoop earring. If worn in right ear will allow the wearer to hear soft sounds as if they were at a normal volume. if worn in left ear it will amplify all sounds to a painful volume causing 1d3 damage per minute, if not removed it will cause permanent deafness in left ear in 4 minutes.
33. a pair of well made black leather boots with 3 shiny steel buttons on the back, 2 pair of bright purple socks
34. green woolen cloak with carved wooden clasp in shape of a star
35. sack of smooth, fist sized river stones
36. 36 bloody teeth, freshly pulled
37. small red cloth-bound book, “Rites and Sacrifices of the Lost Children of the Crow”
38. 4 random holy symbols, all crudely carved from wood
39. femur and tibia tied together in the shape of a cross, wrapped in red velvet
40. set of 96 wooden building blocks in a variety of shapes
41. 8 plain but sturdy clay mugs, matching decanter with wax stopper (full of sweet wine)
42. a package wrapped in fancy paper, labeled “For Victoria”, containing a variety of ladies undergarments
43. ogre sized loincloth, heavily soiled. if handled save vs poison or become ill, lose 1d4 points of Con for 1d4 days
44. large sack of glass marbles. There is a weak seam on the sack, 15% chance per round of splitting open if roughly handled (ie. combat, running, strenuous movement)
45. 15 scrolls, all containing the same random 1st level wizard spell
46. poorly made wand of healing. Recipient must be wacked hard on the forehead, causing 1 point of damage then healing 1d6 points, 2d10 charges remaining
47. a paralyzed goblin, regains movement 1d6 turns after opening box
48. a large metal bucket with a padlocked lid, contains an ochre jelly which bursts free if the lock is opened
49. 14 twigs tied together in a bundle with rotted cord
50. a mummified hawk
51. a trapped wraith bursts forth and immediately attacks when the box is opened (automatic surprise). Inside the lid is a painted rune of undead entrapment.
52. 4 random gems in a silk pouch
53. 7 dwarven made hoods (2 yellow, 2 green, 1 purple, 1 tan, 1 brown) and 1 shiny red apple
54. 3 small wooden boxes, identical except for a number branded into the top (1, 2, 3), and a scroll tied with blue string. Scroll reads “Will you fly, will you fall, will you go through the walls? Choose carefully, you cannot choose again”. When a box is opened the contents of the others immediately disappear forever. #1 contains a ring that immediately teleports wearer to random location in the dungeon before crumbling to dust, #2 contains three potions of flying, #3 contains a 6” steel orb, if touched a 10’x10’, 20’ deep extra-dimensional pit opens directly beneath it, containing 3 skeletons that immediately animate and attack any who fall in. Pit will close in 5 rounds.
55. A desiccated dwarven corpse, arms and legs have been cut from torso to fit in box
56. Box full of mirror shards, a mirror inside of the lid reflects a distorted image of the opener. Mirror shatters in 1d4 rounds (even if lid is closed) and a duplicate of the opening character, identical in all respects but of the opposite alignment, appears directly in front of the box and immediately attacks the opener, ignoring all others. If either the duplicate or the opening character is killed, the duplicate and all it’s possessions disintegrate into black dust. Closing the lid will reset the sequence, and it is possible to have multiple duplicates of the same (or different) characters at the same time if the box is opened again. Under the mirror shards in the box is a 3” high crystal pyramid pulsing with a faint white light. If removed from the box the pyramid will cease to light.
57. heavy leather sack with 12 caltrops
58. 18” iron cauldron full of live frogs
59. Black metal, open faced helmet with a chrome spike on top
60. 40’ of heavy iron chain
61. wooden bucket with cover, full of 3” iron nails, 2 wooden mallets
62. 3 old wool blankets
63. 6 vials of oil, bundle of rags, 2 torches
64. 8 animal skulls-2 dog, 2 monkey, 1 bear, 1 snake, 1 cow, 1 tortoise
65. a finely woven black cape, wrapped around a pair of men’s black leather shoes
66. box is ½ full of dirt, 2 garden trowels and a small bag of pumpkin seeds are lying on top
67. 12 arrows with dried black liquid on the tips (poison, save or vomit for 2d6 rounds) in a leather quiver
68. 5 hand towels, a hair brush, 2 combs, and a bar of flowery smelling soap
69. 2 magical cloaks of protection +1, infested with disease. save vs poison or suffer severe internal pain and bleeding beginning in 1d3 days, lasts 2d4 days, causes 2d6 damage per day, all damage heals at ¼ normal rate, contagious to any who come in contact with infected character(s)
70. 14 decks of cheap playing cards and a pair of silver dice
71. 3 shrunken heads (2 elf and 1 gnome)
72. rats nest made of clothing, 5 rats, hole chewed through rear of box
73. hand drum, 3 tambourines, and a pair of silver hand bells, all with symbols of chaos crudely painted on them in purple paint
74. 3 dried gourds on a bed of straw
75. 6 pots of paint, wooden pallet, 2 large paint brushes
76. black doctors bag containing 4 vials of holy water, 6 wooden stakes, a wooden mallet, 5 dried garlic bulbs, and a note-”I waited as long as I could but they were trying to break down the door. I’ll try to lead them away. Sorry. -J”
77. large glass jar full of iron shavings
78. padlock and 97 keys (none of which match the lock)
79. empty saddlebag, bit & bridle, and riding crop
80. carved wooden toys-2 boats, 1 horse & wagon, 4 soldiers, 1 dog
81. well used mandolin with broken neck
82. 2 small oil lamps and a flask of highly explosive oil. if oil is used in any lamp it will explode for 2d6 damage to person lighting lamp
83. charred human skull with a large quartz crystal in it’s mouth
84. well used set of alchemical tools, 2 glass beakers, and 4 empty glass bottles with corks
85. sack of dried apples, in bottom of sack is a severed human fist
86. four 10” stone statues of minotaurs and a wooden model of a maze
87. 2 red candles and a 2’ wooden wand topped with a halfling skull. If both candles are lit and the wand is held there is a 10% chance of Orcus taking notice
88. basket full of dried mushrooms
89. set of well made men’s clothing, folded and neatly stacked
90. helmet shaped like a fish, the inside is always cool and clammy to the touch
91. pair of 6’ white feathered wings on a shoulder harness, folded and wrapped in white silk
92. miniature pick and shovel, 30 rocks painted gold
93. opening box causes a vacuum, if room has doors they immediately slam shut and characters will suffocate in 2d6 rounds unless box is forced shut (strength check)
94. stuffed porcupine
95. bundle of sheet music composed by Vin of Telarine, tin flute, brass kazoo
96. severed human head, will open eyes and attempt to speak but makes no sounds
97. plague doctors mask, wide brimmed black felt hat
98. roll twice and combine results, ignoring rolls of 98-100
99. roll three times and combine results, ignoring rolls of 98-100
100. roll four times and combine results, ignoring rolls of 98-100

I want to thank Professor Pope and Roberius Rex for giving the table a read through and for providing me with feedback and a few corrections.

Images courtesy of http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/

Wraith Revisited

In the comments to my post from last Thursday, I was asked by Kiltedyaksman (of Discourse & Dragons) to give some more detail on the method used to paint the Wraith miniature, particularly what paints and inks I used. I don't recall where I first saw a similar method of painting ghosts, and I played around with a couple different things that I wasn't happy with, until things all seemed to come together on this one. Unfortunately, I did not take any notes for this miniature. Fortunately, I do remember the technique I used and many of the paints are standard colors that I use all the time, so recreating the “recipe” isn’t very difficult. So while I can’t swear that this is EXACTLY what I used and how I painted the miniature, it’s a damn close approximation!

As a refresher, here is the miniature in question:

This is the Crypt Wraith from Reaper Miniatures, sculpted by Bob Ridolfi. Or as my wife calls it, the Statue of Liberty Ghost. 


Paints used:
White spray primer (Krylon)
Neutral Gray (Model Master Acryl)
Flat White (Model Master Acryl)
Titanium White (Liquitex)
Green Ink (Games Workshop)-I don’t think this is available any longer from GW
Gloss coat spray lacquer (Testors)
Dull coat spray lacquer (Testors)
acrylic thinner
“Magic Wash” (Future acrylic floor polish & water)

After priming, I put on a base coat of Neutral Gray, then a dry brushing of Flat White, enough to hit all the raised surfaces while leaving gray showing through on the deep parts and the flat surfaces (shield, armor, helmet). Then a very light dry brushing with Titanium White (thinned quite a bit), just touching the highest points. For the inking, I used Green Ink mixed with “Magic Wash”. I believe I first used a mix of 50/50 ink/wash, then a second coat of 70/30 ink/wash to darken the deeper spots. I may have touched up a few spots with an even heavier mix of ink to wash, as it seems there are a few spots that are darker than the rest. 2 coats of gloss coat and 2 coats of dull coat finish the mini, aside from basing.

If you’ve not used or heard of “Magic Wash”, a quick search online will bring up many, many hits with different ratios of floor polish to water. From straight polish to mostly water, everyone has a mix that they like best. Truthfully, I don’t remember exactly the ratio I used last time I mixed a batch up, I think it was 1:4 but it may have been 2:3 (wax:water). I’ve got a good sized bottle of it mixed, so I won’t need to figure it out any time soon.

For the base, the mini was glued to a 1” washer, then coated the washer with crazy glue and dipped in Woodland Scenics Buff Fine Ballast. This was painted dark brown (not sure of the exact color) and dry brushed with 2-3 lighter shades of brown. The final details on the base are from Galeforce Nine. Basing Grit: Rocky (which I believe is actually crushed walnut shells) and Winter/Dead Static Grass (a mix of greys and browns).

I hope that is a satisfactory explanation! I've played around with this a bit on a few other minis, using different color inks and different paint colors, some worked well, some not so well. I hope to have some of those minis posted soon. Give it a try, it's really a simple technique, and I'd love to see what kind of results others have with it, or other similar methods for painting incorporeal undead.

A Few Miniatures (Fighters)

As a follow up to my post yesterday, here are a couple of fighter miniatures that I painted about a year ago. 

Elf Great Swordmaster (Target Games, Chronopia)

The Elf Great Swordmaster has wings that are supposed to go on the sides of his helmet, but I found them to be far too large. Otherwise, I really like the sculpt on this mini. Chronopia had some really interesting figures scattered among it's armies, especially the orcs. It also had some really bad ones as well. I have a few more that I picked up on clearance, but this is the only one I've painted.

Fighter (WotC, Chainmail)

When WotC was blowing out their stock of Chainmail miniatures after the game was canceled, I bought a lot of them for what seemed to be a great deal at the time. Looking back, based on the number I've actually painted, it wasn't quite the deal I thought it was. There were some great miniatures in the line, though, and I've got a number of them assembled and primed, waiting for their paint job. I'm not sure what I was thinking with some of the colors I used here. I like the yellow and green, but I don't know what possessed me to give him a blue helmet. I guess I thought he needed something to match his pants. His sword also took on a little bit of a rusty tint during the final shading wash that he received.

A Few Miniatures (Some Bad Guys)

*Updated on 2/18/2011 with a bit of info for each miniature. 

Since it's been a little while since my last post, here's a quick one with a few pictures of miniatures I've painted over the past year or so. These are all monsters of some sort, I'll get a post with some character miniatures up soon.

Wood Golem (Reaper)

While I've never used a wood golem in any of my D&D games, this miniature was just too neat to pass up when I spotted him among all the other Reaper minis at a game shop. Unlike most of the minis that I have purchased in the past, this guy immediately went to the top of the painting pile, and he came out pretty much as I wanted him too.

Mummy (Grenadier, Folklore Creatures of the Night box set)

This is actually the second time I have painted this miniature. I received the set he came with (Folklore Creatures of the Night) as a gift when I was in middle school, sometime in the early-mid 1980s. All the figures in the set were painted at the time with Testor's oil based model paints, which were the only paints that I had access to at the time. It was a pretty poor paint job, although the color scheme I used back then is basically the same as what I used this time, but he now has shading and highlights and the paint isn't slopped on nearly as heavily. Stripping 20+ year old oil paints off these old minis isn't nearly as difficult as it sounds, just a long soak in PineSol and a good scrub with a toothbrush.

Hellhound (WotC, Chainmail)

Not one of my favorite miniature sculpts, but I needed a hellhound and I had him in my unpainted miniatures among the WotC Chainmail minis I had purchased in an overstock blowout sale. He came out pretty well, although he was a lot simpler looking when I used him in the game. After using him I went back, touched up some paint, gave him a quick shading with Minwax polyurethane stain, and painted the base as "fire".

Crypt Wraith (Reaper)

I really like how this wraith came out, even though it's a very simple paint job. Gray base coat, white highlights, then finished with a couple washes of green ink. Glued to a washer for a base with some gravel and grey/brown static grass and he's done.


I enjoy painting miniatures, but it takes me a long time to finish one. After my son was born this past June, I only managed to pull the paints out once, back in December. I keep telling myself I'm going to pull them out again "this week", but it never seems to happen. Maybe by posting these pictures I'll have a bit more enthusiasm to do so one night after work. 

Tome of Horrors Complete

Over on the Frog God Games website, Bill Webb has announced that this year will see the release of Tome of Horrors Complete, a single hardcover volume containing all the monsters from Tome of Horrors v.1-3, originally released for d20 by Necromancer Games, and it will have editions for both Swords & Wizardry and Pathfinder. Here's the full announcement:

January 3, 2011
Frog God games is pleased to announce Tome of Horrors Complete

This book will be released in 2 formats; Swords and Wizardry and Pathfinder. It will consist of a huge volume encompassing all three Necromancer Games Tome of Horror volumes. Release date is Summer 2011, and retail price is TBD. This will be hardcover release. This massive Tome will contain almost 1000 monsters retstatted and reworked for both game systems, all in one place.

This is the largest, most comprehensive monster book ever released. Each monster is individually illustrated.

Let the discussion begin!
Happy New Year (almost) !

I'm a big fan of the 3 original volumes, and always found them to be the most useful of the many monster volumes that were released for d20. This looks like it'll be a great addition to any Pathfinder or Swords & Wizardry collection, but I'm curious what the cost will be. 1000 monsters with an illustration for each one is going to end up being a huge book. There is a bit of discussion going on at the Necromancer Games forums, with a little more information on the book.

Robin Hood: Books and Movies and Miniatures, Oh My!

Illustration by Howard Pyle

Over the past few weeks I've been on a bit of a Robin Hood kick. I reread some of Howard Pyle's stories from The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, checked a few history and folklore books on the legends of Robin Hood out from the library, read the graphic novel Outlaw: The Legend of Robin Hood, and saw The Adventures of Robin Hood, the 1938 film staring Errol Flynn, which (in a fantastic coincidence of timing) was screened at the Paramount Theater here in Charlottesville earlier this month. I highly recommend the film, it's a great swashbuckling adventure with one of the best sword fights in film, between Errol Flynn's Robin Hood and Basil Rathbone's Sir Guy of Gisbourne.

Along with all of these things, I managed to finally finish painting a miniature I started way back in the fall of 2009, but never got around to finishing. It's an old Games Workshop miniature I picked up in a clearance bin a few years ago. In the Warhammer world he's known as Bertrand the Brigand, but it doesn't matter what Games Workshop calls him, it's obvious that this is supposed to be Robin Hood.

The base was entirely made from scratch, the figure just didn't look right on a flat base. I found an appropriately sized stick of wood in the yard, cut and painted a small piece of it to look like a log, and added some other basing material. The lighting in the pictures is not very good, there are some bad shadows and the colors aren't showing up very well. The skin tone looks far more orange here than it is on the actual figure. 

The post-Christmas post

We had a wonderful Christmas this year, it was especially nice to have almost the whole family in one place. It was my son's first Christmas, and he definitely won the Most Loot prize. It'll be a while before he can take full advantage of most of what he got, though, as he's still in the "grab it and stick in mouth" stage. Not quite big enough to use the building blocks or toy truck just yet. It certainly was fun watching him tear paper, examine things, laugh, and occasionally try to eat the wrapping paper.

I made out pretty well myself: a new iPod Touch, a Le Creuset dutch oven (I've been wanting one for several years but never expected to actually get one), some socks, Epic Mickey, and a few books I was not expecting (but really wanted)-The Lego Book, The Secret History of Star Wars, The Making of Star Wars, and Prince Valiant, Volume 1: 1937-1938. I actually gave a copy of the Prince Valiant book to a friend this year, and was planning on getting it for myself at some point soon. What goes around, comes around!

Lord of the Rings? Not in this class!

My well loved boxed set of The Lord of the Rings

Over at Professor Pope, the good Professor is facilitating a reading and discussion of The Hobbit, a few chapters at a time. Rereading the book and thinking about both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings has me thinking of my first encounters with J.R.R. Tolkien's world.

In 1978 I was 6 years old. The film version of The Lord of the Rings by director Ralph Bakshi was released. A few of my aunts and uncles were Tolkien fanatics, and they organized a big party to go see the film (on what I suspect was opening weekend). I found myself with several of my cousins, aunts, uncles, and their friends, in a packed movie theater, watching an animated film that didn't make much sense to me but I loved it anyway. There were cool monsters, elves, dwarves, some little people called hobbits, and lots of sword fighting. For a long time afterwords, my cousin and I spent many days playing in the woods behind our houses, pretending we were Strider and Legolas, out hunting orcs and Ringwraiths.

At some point in the next year or so, I came across a boxed set of the novels at the house of some of my parents friends. This was a revelation, as I didn't realize that there were books that the movie was based upon. Now I could find out what happened to Frodo and Sam! Somewhere in all of this, I saw the animated version of The Hobbit, which I seem to remember watching on TV every year around Thanksgiving, just before the Christmas cartoon specials began airing. For my 8th birthday I was given the very same set of books I had found (apparently, I talked about it quite a bit to the owners of the books, and read a few pages of them whenever I was at their house), a well read set that I still own, in a great gold foil covered box. I immediately read The Hobbit that summer, and to this day it remains my favorite of Tolkien's works. While I love the fantastic and complex story of The Lord of the Rings, the intimacy of The Hobbit has always appealed to me more.

But the rest of this post isn't about The Hobbit. It's about the next one in that set of 4 books, and a particular event that can recall with clarity 30 years later...

So here I was, an 8 year old kid who was reading anything and everything he could get his hands on. I had just been given the 4 books that were the source of the movie that had captivated me a few years earlier (the only other movie to captivate me to this degree was Star Wars).  School started in the fall, 3rd grade. I used to get dropped off in the morning by my dad and I would sit outside the classroom and read until the teacher arrived. At some point I started reading The Fellowship of the Ring. Quite a massive book for a 3rd grader, right? It was slow going but I was making my way through it, trading it off with other, more typical, reading for a kid my age whenever I got bogged down with it and wanted to read something else.

One morning I was sitting in the hallway reading The Fellowship when the teacher arrived, about 30 minutes before the school day started. I recall this very clearly, as what happened next was at that point the biggest shock of my life. My teacher, Ms. Kohlman (a tall, wiry, gray hair in a bun lady who didn't seem to like kids very much), asked what I was reading. I proudly held the book up, smiling, expecting to be complemented for reading a book that was above my reading level. She looked at it, scowled, and took the book out of my hand, telling me "You aren't old enough to be reading that." She disappeared into the classroom with my book, leaving me standing in the hall, stunned with disbelief at what just happened. I went into the classroom, almost in tears, and asked when I could have my book back. Her response? "You won't. You aren't old enough." This was supposed to encourage me to read? A teacher punishing a kid for wanting to read something difficult, something that he obviously loved?

That night I told my parents, and I remember them being mad. Mad because she had taken it away and told me I wasn't getting it back, and even madder that she told me I couldn't read the book. My parents were always encouraging me to read, and the more challenging the book, the better. My mom, an elementary school teacher, was quite upset, as this was not just some random teacher telling a kid he couldn't read a book, but her kid's teacher telling him he couldn't read a book. I don't remember exactly what happened the next day, but I do know my mom went in and had a long talk with my teacher, and I got my book back that night. I was allowed to keep reading the book at school, and never heard another word from the teacher about what I was reading. Eventually, after quite a few weeks, I finished The Fellowship of the Ring. And even if I didn't understand some of it, or thought parts of it were boring, I loved it.

Over on this shelf of the library...

Deep in the recesses of Cthulhu's library in R'lyeh, I'm sure these 4 books are sitting on the graphic novel shelf.

Take a look at artist Murray Groat's other work as well, he has some great stuff!

Thanks to Gamer-X over at Howling In The Dark for sending me an article from Comics Alliance with these images.

listening to: Bolt Thrower-...For Victory

Desert Island Fantasy Books

A few weeks ago,  Risus Monkey posted the "10 Works of Fantasy Literature to have on a Deserted Island" meme. I thought it would be an easy post to knock out in an hour or so, but choosing only 10 books is quite difficult and I've spent more time than I should have swapping things in and out. Some were very easy to pick, but after the first few I had a very hard time deciding how to fill out the list.

So, in no particular order, here are the 10 books, limited to 1 volume per author (I did include a few omnibus volumes), that I would want to have with me if I was deserted on an island:

• The Annotated Alice: The Definitive Edition-Louis Carroll
• contains both Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass
• H. P. Lovecraft: Tales (Library of America)-H.P. Lovecraft
  
• Bradbury Stories: 100 of His Most Celebrated Tales-Ray Bradbury 
• Very difficult to choose between this and Dandelion Wine
• The Annotated Hobbit-J.R.R. Tolkien 
• Yes, The Hobbit, not LotR. A tough call, but I enjoy The Hobbit more.
• The Anubis Gates-Tim Powers
• The Phantom Tollbooth-Norton Juster
• The Complete Chronicles of Conan-Robert E. Howard
• All the Conan stories by REH, in order of publication
• Bone: The One Volume Edition-Jeff Smith
• Face In The Frost-John Bellairs
• The Chronicles of Narnia (one volume omnibus)-C.S. Lewis

Listening to: Kreator-Enemy of God

Introducing a Kid to Role Playing Games (part 1)

I've been a volunteer for Big Brothers Big Sisters for 3 years, all with the same boy (now 10 years old), whom I'm going to call E. In general, E and I have quite different interests. While at first this might seem to be a poor match, it has led to eye opening experiences for both of us. He's very different than I was at 10, but we stumble upon things that both of us really enjoy with increasing frequency.

I have been waiting for the right time to try introducing him to RPGs, and have tried to laying some groundwork over time, seeing what other activities he liked that I could use as an introduction. We have played out big battles on the floor with my gaming miniatures, making up rules as we went along, randomly using dice for movement and combat. E refers to this as "our game"; it's sort of a wargamer version of CalvinBall. Last year for Christmas I bought Nerf swords, and we and ran around in the woodsattacking trees, bushes, each other, basically anything that was slow enough not to get out of our way as we fought off hordes of goblins and dragons. He's has a passion for reading, and both of us love taking trips to the library where we go home with more than we can reasonably read in the 2 week loan period.

Other things have not gone quite so well-the copy of The Hobbit I bought for his 9th birthday is still unread, and various fantasy movies have been turned off in the middle in favor of Rock Band or other games on the Wii. A day trip to one of the caves in the area turned into a painful experience when he realized the tour group was, literally, a captive audience for his antics.

But back to the more recent past. We were in a used book shop on a rainy day a few weeks ago, I was looking at graphic novels and sf novels, he was looking at the young adult books. E says to me out of the blue "Hey, when can we go out in the park and fight monsters again? Like in the myths?" referring to a book of Greek mythology he was reading. I smiled inside, seeing my chance to introduce him to RPGs. "Well, I think I know what we can do... Let's go home and I'll show you." 30 minutes later (after lots of "What are we going to do? Huh? Tell me!"), we were at my dining room table, with pencils, graph paper, dice, a copy of Labyrinth Lord, Stonehell Dungeon, my old copy of the D&D Moldvey Basic set, and we were creating his first character.

To be continued...

Listening to: Candlemass

15 Games in 15 Minutes

This is as good a post as any to restart the blog. Let's see how long it lasts this time. Ha. Ha. Ha. Sigh.

To follow on the meme that's going around on blogs like Risus Monkey, Grognardia, Huge Ruined Pile, etc., listed below are the first 15 games that come to mind in 15 minutes.

The rules: Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen games you've played that will always stick with you. List the first 15 you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.

1. D&D (rpg, all editions)
2. Marvel Super Heroes (rpg)
3. Civilization/Advanced Civilization (board game)
4. Call of Cthulhu (rpg)
5. Gammarauders (board game)
6. Car Wars (board/miniatures game)
7. Savage Worlds (rpg/miniatures game)
8. Star Frontiers (rpg)
9. GURPS (rpg)
10. D&D: Pool of Radiance (computer rpg)
11. INFOCOM text computer games (Zork, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Planetfall, etc)
12. Ticket to Ride (board game)
13. Fluxx (card game)
14. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (computer rpg)
15. Stop Thief (board game)

Yes, I'm cheating a little on #11, but I played a bunch of the INFOCOM games all at the same time, switching back and forth as I got stuck in different spots in each one. It's sort of my "text based computer game period", rather than a single one of them. As for the other games, wow, there are some pretty big games that I loved that are missing, and some odd ones that came to mind first-Gammarauders? Yeah, I liked Gammarauders, but didn't play it all that much, although the concept was pretty neat. Others, particularly computer games like Bard's Tale and Kings Quest, didn't come to mind until a while after I completed this list. and I'm sure a few others will come to mind later tonight and I'll wish I had them on the list.

50 books. Where do I stand?

At the last check in for my 50 Books in 2010 goal, I was at 3. That was on January 16. Today, on February 8, I'm at 7. Not bad, I'm slightly ahead of the minimum average I want to keep (1 book each week) to meet the goal by the end of the year. This is good, as I know that my reading will drop once the baby arrives in June.

Since my last update, I've read the following: The Pine Barrens by John McPhee, a history and memoir of the New Jersey Pine Barrens; The 13 Clocks by James Thurber, a childrens book that is part fairy tale and part complex poetry for adults; The Curse of the Blue Figurine by John Bellairs, an author I read another book by recently (The Face in the Frost) but didn't realize he was the same person who wrote one of my favorite books from when I was a kid; and Dark Entries by Ian Rankin, a John Constantine (Hellblazer)graphic novel set in a haunted house that was somewhat curiously published in the Vertigo Crime series for no reason I can figure other than the author is primarily a mystery writer.

Next up: a new take on vampires in The Strain by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan (thanks to Tim for the recommendation!)

listening: nothing at the moment

Manhood for Amateurs

I completed the first book of my "50 in 2010" on New Years Day-Manhood for Amateurs: The Pleasures and Regrets of a Fathr, Husband, and Son by Michael Chabon. I actually started it a while ago, getting about 1/3 of the way in, but it was a library book and was recalled before I had a chance to finish it. I checked it back out a couple weeks ago, and decided to kick off the new year by finishing it. I've read some of Chabon's work before-a few short stories, a couple essays, and his fantastic tribute to the pulp adventure stories of Fritz Leiber and Robert E. Howard, Gentlemen of the Road.  

Manhood for Amateurs is a collection of essays about being male, and the roles in life that men play-son, husband, father, brother, son-in-law, and so on. Chabon is definitely a geek-comics, sword & sorcery, science fiction, to name a few typically geeky things that had (and continue to have) a major impact on his life. Between the writings about being male and those about interests that I share with him, I found myself relating to almost all the essays one way or another.

Reading these essays made me think a lot about who I was growing up, where I came from, who the male figures were that influenced my life, and where my life is now. As I read about his life as a father, especially the birth of his first child, I was thinking to the future. Who will my child be? What will they be like, and what will their influences be? I am looking forward to sharing the things I liked as a kid-Lego bricks, Star Wars, comics, playing in the woods, and so on. Will my son enjoy the same things I did? Or will we be strangers to each other, not able to comprehend what/why we are different?

So, as not to stray too far from the original point of this post, I highly recommend Manhood for Amateurs. Knowing a number of people who read my blog, I have a feeling they will relate to, and enjoy, Chabon's essays in many of the same ways I did.

3 Down, 47 to Go

Just a quick update on my reading goal for the year. I've finished 3 books so far. Not a bad start. I'll be posting my thoughts some of the books I read, but not all.

I've got a post on the first, Manhood for Amateurs, coming up shortly. Second was The Eyes of the Dragon, and third Lyra's Oxford. Lyra's Oxford was really only a short story with a very nice woodcut map (and some other random items) that fleshes out the world of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, but I'm counting it anyway, as it's a stand alone book. I've also read a comic collection that I'm not counting towards the total, Invincible volume 11: Happy Days.

Up next? I'm not sure, but I think I'm going to go for some non-fiction.

Listening: Dark Ages by Soulfly

What To Read?

In my previous post, I mentioned one of my goals for 2010 was to read 50 books. 50 doesn't really sound like all that many books, but I don't think I've read 50 books (not counting graphic novels) in a single year for quite a while. I got the idea for this goal over on LibraryThing, where there are a variety of book challenges going on: 50, 75, 10 books in each of 10 different subjects, books you already own but haven't read, and so on.

I've set a few limits and guidelines for myself, in order to help me focus and keep on target for making my goal this year.

1. Only 20 graphic novels count towards the 50 books: This is to keep me from choosing the easy way out, and finishing early. I tend to read at least 2-3 graphic novels or comic book collections a week, sometimes many more than that. Since I read them both for pleasure and for work (I'm the graphic novel subject librarian for the library where I work), I'll quickly hit 50 books without reading anything but graphic novels.
2. Graphic novels that do count must be complete, stand alone stories: A large percentage of the graphic novels I read are simply compilations of a run of comics. In order to count, the book must be a stand alone story. Titles like Batman: Year One or Mouse Guard: Fall 1152 would count, but Invincible Volume 11 would not. 
3. Focus on books I own, have checked out from the library, or have wanted to read for a long time: I have a very long "To Be Read" list, and it grows longer each week. Instead of reading from this list, I just add to it, and never seem to read what I have already put on the list. Instead I read whatever I saw most recently that struck me as worth adding to the list, so the longer a book is on the list the less likely I'll read it. By trying to read mostly books that I already want to read or own instead of whatever I come across new, I hope to make a small dent in the pile. I'm sure I will not stick to this 100%, but that's fine. 
4. Mix up genres a little: I tend to read the same genres over and over-fantasy, science fiction, horror, and similar. I'm going to make an effort to occasionally read something different, just to make my list a bit more rounded. I'm sure the bulk of titles will be in these areas, though.
   

With those ideas in mind, here is a quick starter list of potential books, taken from my book shelves at home and in my office at the library. A few of these I've owned since high school, yet have never read. Others I've picked up in the last year or so. Any could be next, so could something not on this short list. As of this writing, I've actually completed one (Manhood for Amateurs) and started another (Eyes of the Dragon) from my list.

See anything that I should read right away?

A Feast for Crows	George R.R. Martin
Abarat	Clive Barker
Anno Dracula	Kim Newman
Declare	Tim Powers
Everyday Life in Early America	David Freeman Hawke
Expiration Date	Tim Powers
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix	J.K. Rowling
Into the Heart of Borneo	Redmond O'Hanlon
Magician: Apprentice	Raymond E. Feist
Manhood for Amateurs	Michael Chabon
Moving Pictures	Terry Pratchett
Neverwhere	Neil Gaiman
Orchid Fever	Eric Hansen
Return to Lankhmar	Fritz Leiber
The Amazing Adventures of Cavalier & Clay	Michael Chabon
The Blade Itself	Joe Abercrombie
The Bloody Chamber	Angela Carter
The Bridge of San Luis Rey	Thornton Wilder
The Children of Hurin	J.R.R. Tolkien
The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian	Robert E. Howard
The Crystal World	J.G. Ballard
The Elric Saga: Part I	Michael Moorcock
The Eyes of the Dragon	Stephen King
The Good Life	Helen and Scott Nearing
The Jungle Books	Rudyard Kipling
The Land that Time Forgot	Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Pine Barrens	John McPhee
The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane	Robert E. Howard
The Scar	China Mieville
The Traveling Vampire Show	Richard Laymon
The Truth	Terry Pratchett
Voice of the Mountain	Manly Wade Wellman
Witches Abroad	Terry Pratchett
Wizard and Glass	Stephen King

Listening:  Muse-Origin of Symmetry

Goodbye 2009, Hello 2010

2010-Another year down, and the start of a new one

2009 was a pretty big year for me: 10 years living in Charlottesville, 5 years married to Laura, and the biggest event (for me, at least) that began in 2009 is still yet to come-we are starting a family! (If you haven't heard this news yet, it's because we only began telling people outside our immediate families over the past 2 weeks) This still several months down the road, in June, but it's a big event that is taking up a fair amount of my thoughts lately.

2009 also brought the first of what is hopefully the start of an annual event, a "guys only" trip with two of my closest friends, Nakia and Tim. This year we spent a long weekend camping.
I began taking pottery classes at the McGuffey Art Center, which I'm enjoying quite a bit and plan on continuing in the future.
An attempt at guitar lessons wasn't quite as successful-I enjoyed them but found that I don't have the determination to practice on a regular basis. When a gap of a few weeks between lessons hit, I stopped practicing and never started again. Maybe I'll find the drive in the coming year (I hope that I will).
I saw a number of concerts this past year-Metallica, U2, Municipal Waste, Bruce Springsteen, Phish, and several others, all of which brings my list of bands I can remember seeing to 233 (many of them multiple times).
I lost 25 pounds, then gained 10 back.
I didn't do all that much gaming this year-a fair amount of Rock Band/Guitar Hero, several board game nights with friends and coworkers, but only a few rpg sessions.
I started using Twitter, then stopped. I didn't post a single blog post. I spent a lot of time on Facebook in the first half of the year then trailed off over the summer, never really going back to it with the same determination to keep up. I lost track of some friends (online and IRL), hopefully we'll reconnect in the new year.
We went on a big vacation this year-a cruise to the Greek Islands, Croatia,  and Venice, Italy. A trip I'll remember for a long time to come, as we saw some amazing things I never expected to see in person.
I cut my comic book pull list down quite a bit, but I still find that I'm not really enjoying reading comics as much as I used to. I still enjoy them, but I'm finding that I'd rather read them in big chunks, full stories instead of 32 pages at a time in the monthly format.

So, 2009. Lots of positive, some negative, and a little neutral. I call it a positive year overall.

What does 2010 bring? Change, for sure. I'll be a new father, which I am very excited about, and very scared as well. More live music, hopefully. Maybe some more gaming, at least in the first half of the year. Increased communication with people I lost touch with over the past year. Bigger projects at work. A new start at the gym, and hopefully lose some more weight. More pottery to bring home and find places for around the house. Maybe I'll stop buying monthly comics and go over to all trades and collected volumes? I hope to make blogging a more regular thing (if I can find a theme that keeps me coming back to it). I want to read more, especially books that have been in my "to be read" pile for a long time. I'd like to spend more time outside-hiking, gardening, whatever.

Here's a short list of goals for 2010, something I can refer back to in the coming year and measure myself against. Am I just optimistic right now, or can I actually meet most of these? 

• Read 50 Books: only 20 graphic novels count towards the 50, focus on my "to be read" pile, not on new books
• Loose Weight: 15 pounds will put me at 185, my goal from last year
• Prepare for fatherhood: Lots of things here-combining the office and guest room, taking stock of what we have vs. what we need, deciding what I can get rid of to make more room, etc.
  
• Spend more time outside: hiking, walking, gardening, biking, whatever
• Pottery classes: Make more useful things, and less random bowls, flowerpots, and boxes
• Blog: find a theme? I need something that makes me want to come and write more-games, books, music, maybe reviews of the things I am reading/listening to/playing?
• Game more: I love playing and running RPGs, why don't I play them more?
• Paint 26 miniatures: finishing 1 miniature every 2 weeks should be doable
• Movies with Laura: I enjoy movies, Laura loves movies, yet we seldom watch the same ones. I'd like to make more of an effort to watch them together
  

That's 9 goals (so far) for 2010. Let's see how I do.


Currently listening to: the dog snoring on the floor next to me