From Kuroth's Quill -
grodog's AD&D blog

"From Kuroth’s Quill" is grodog's regular design column covering the elements of adventure design (and more-specifically dungeon design, given my interest in that topic). I will also wander through the design of spells and magic items; monsters, traps, tricks, and treasures; PC and NPC classes; planes and pantheons; and likely other topics as well. In the blog, I hope to provide practical examples that will be useful in campaign play, to show theory in action.

26 July 2020

Virtual Greyhawk Con: 2-4 October 2020

In case folks haven't heard about this virtual convention for Greyhawk fans yet, here's some info/details:

    I hope everyone is staying safe during these times! It is good to see things starting to open up once again!

    To continue with the online gaming momentum, I am organizing a brand new convention: Virtual Greyhawk Con 2020! This is a "Fan Content", not for profit convention, that will take place the first weekend of October, 2nd-4th.

    I have commitments from NINE of my Twitch Community Live Streamers, over two continents, to provide World of Greyhawk content for those wishing to experience some of the best ever made Campaign Setting for D&D. Also we will have fantastic seminars from the likes of the great Anna Meyer, and main Sponsorship from Troll Lord Games.

    For continuing information, please go to the following: https://tabletop.events/conventions/virtual-greyhawk-con-2020

    Our Virtual Greyhawk Con 2020 Discord Server is setup at: https://discord.gg/yHyG75

    More information during Twitch Live Streams: https://www.twitch.tv/lordgosumba

Events that are already registered can be searched at https://tabletop.events/conventions/virtual-greyhawk-con-2020/schedule#?query=

VGHC Key Dates

Registration and Event Submission............July 1st, 2020
Event Registration............August 1st, 2020
Last Day Event Submission............September 28th, 2020
Virtual Greyhawk Con............October 2nd to the 4th, 2020

I submitted events this evening, and will playtest a previously-unexplored section of my Iounic Caverns level in my version of Castle Greyhawk (on Friday and Sunday afternoons), and will submit another TBD iconic Greyhawk event for Saturday. I'll also participate in the wrap up seminar on Sunday night.

Here are details on my events, for those curious:

grodog's Castle Greyhawk - The Iounic Vaults - Friday afternoon 2-7pm EDT
Bottle City - Castle Greyhawk with grodog - Saturday morning 10am-2pm EDT
grodog's Castle Greyhawk - The Iounic Vaults - Sunday afternoon 2-7pm EDT
VGHC 2020 Ask the Experts & Wrap-up Show! - Sunday night 7-9pm EDT

I also will be playing in Carlos Lising's Reflections from a Smoking Mirror on Friday night.

More convention information is available at https://tabletop.events/conventions/virtual-greyhawk-con-2020

Allan.

02 July 2020

Jim Holloway - RPG Artist

Jim Holloway passed away on Sunday, 28 June 2020, per the note posted by his son Mike Holloway in The Art of Jim Holloway group on Facebook:

I feel like it’s necessary to post this because of all of the support everyone has given my dad over the course of this group. Earlier today, he passed away peacefully. My brother, uncle and I were there for him, holding his hand and telling him we loved him. To everyone who reached out or commented on my post about him being sick, thank you so much. It means a lot to us, and it meant a lot to him. Afterwards, I went to his house and looked at all of his old paintings. I wanted to share this one from the ‘70s with you all — a scene from The Hobbit, a book my dad forced me to read as a kid (I’m not complainin!) it’s a picture of the painting, not a scan, so I apologize for the unlit sections. But if everyone could please continue to share his art in this group and wherever else, my family would really appreciate you helping us keep his memory alive. He was a talented man, and I love seeing the stuff everyone shares.

Jim contributed to many RPG publications over the years, and I had the pleasure of working with him on a few different projects. Jim was always easy to work with and kind---a true professional who managed changes as requested and always delivered his work on time. I wish I'd have had the opportunity to work with him more.

I pulled a few of his pieces from those books, as well as some other personal favorites in the sampling below. In all of the captions I've described each work---they're not "official" titles in any way, either from Jim himself or from the respective publishers.

This is one of the full-page chapter pieces to the Black Blade/Usherwood Adventures edition of OSRIC, the AD&D 1e retroclone. It's the header for Chapter 6 Monsters, and depicts a wonderful (if brutal!) coup de grâce:

Dwarven Coup De Grâce - OSRIC -
Art by Jim Jolloway

Jim also provided the covers and most of the interior artwork for Rob Kuntz' first two modules from Pied Piper Publishing, Cairn of the Skeleton King and Tower of Blood. When we republished the two adventures with Black Blade, we were able to bring the two Tower of Blood pieces of color art together for the front and back covers. Here's Tower of Blood:

Tower of Blood front and back covers -
Art by Jim Holloway

Jim mentioned in email that he was planning to revise or update the Tower of Blood artwork to suit his own preferences, and as I consider these some of the best pieces of his work, I'd love to see those someday.

Two pieces from facing pages in the ICE/North Pole Productions RM2 The Shade of the Sinking Plain (1983):

The Shade -
Art by Jim Holloway

Orc Horde -
Art by Jim Holloway

Jim contributed many covers to Dragon Magazine over the years, but Dragon Magazine #74 (June 1983) remains one of my favorites, and is an excellent issue in its content, too!

Dragon Magazine #74 - June 1983 -
Art by Jim Holloway

In closing, Jim's artwork for TSR's 1982 S4 The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth are one of the many highlights to that classic adventure! In addition to his interior art, JIm provided the title page artwork, as well as the back cover art: