Tickleweed - Plants of Hot Springs Island
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Sleeping Ivy - Plants of Hot Springs Island
This woody, vine with golden, spade shaped leaves growing in fan shaped clusters of three or five is a true climber, often reaching 30' to 40'. The blooms of Sleeping Ivy are blue-violet colored tufts, or balls, which become covered in an extremely fine yellowish powder. A rash of tiny, fluid filled blisters will form on any skin 1-4 hours after contact. Despite its "angry" appearance, the inflamed area is not painful and does not itch, but instead will tingle numbly. After becoming exposed to Sleeping Ivy a victim will become more lethargic and harder to wake from sleep. At first the lethargy brought on by exposure may be so slight as to be unnoticeable, but it will increase in intensity each day it goes untreated. On the seventh day of untreated exposure the victim will fall asleep (quite peacefully) and never wake again. To treat Sleeping Ivy, the inflamed area must be bathed in alcohol. The higher the proof, the more rapid the recovery.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Quickweed - Plants of Hot Springs Island
Monday, January 28, 2013
Outer Gods - Indie Metal Monday
I've found it's pretty safe to assume that a group is going to be awesome when one member is "The Flail" and the other is "The Wrathe". Mael Medusa is two tracks of experimental, ambient, drone metal with enough touches of noise and psychadellica to keep things interesting throughout. The two tracks on this album add up to a whopping 38 minutes of goodness and make me wish I was writing a much more "traditional" adventure. You know... where the bowels of the castle descend so deeply into the ground that they open up into hell itself.
And if the music alone isn't enough to get your creative juices flowing, be sure to check out their tumblr, filled to the brim with all manner of black and white pictures of ruins and forgotten places.
Poznan's Chain - Plants of Hot Springs Island
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Juxi Root - Plants of Hot Springs Island
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Constrictor Vine - Plants of Hot Springs Island
Instead of growing
up to seek light, the Constrictor Vine spreads out across the ground as a thick
mat of small, glossy leaves. The plant blooms occasionally with unremarkable
clusters of small green flowers that give way to oblong yellow berries favored
by birds and small animals. While the leaf mat of the Constrictor Vine rarely
reaches more than 10' in diameter its root system can stretch as far as 50'.
The fibrous roots of a Constrictor Vine resemble the pale hair of a drowned
woman, are incredibly strong, and retain much of this strength even after being
harvested and dried. As the roots grow, they wrap themselves around rocks, root
systems, and anything else in their path. When the roots reach ~30' to ~50'
they begin to slowly, yet inexorably constrict back towards the core of the
plant. This constriction has been known to topple whole trees and move many ton
boulders.
Friday, January 25, 2013
Jelly Moss - Plants of Hot Springs Island
It is said that when
a representative of the Martel Company brought the first samples of Jelly Moss,
or Ogre Snot, back to Banuvo's College of Mysteries, it nearly caused a riot
among the academics. The resident sages were unable to conclusively determine
if this clump of grayish-purple tube-like structures, smelling a bit like
rotten pears was a plant or a fungus. The faculty became divided. Sides were
taken, venomous rhetoric was exchanged, and longstanding friendships were laid
to waste. Then, at the very peak of what became known as "The Semester of
Slime" Professor Smithwick inadvertently discovered a use for the stuff
when he sat down on a sample and his robe became fused to his wooden chair. It
was known that Jelly Moss, when crushed, becomes very messy and sticky, but
despite all the arguments and investigation, no one had realized this goo would
create and almost instant, permanent, bond of incredible strength with wood.
The battle of classification now transformed into a full blown war between the
Blacksmith's Guild and the Carpenter's over the future of nails.
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Rainbow Petals - Plants of Hot Springs Island
Rainbow Petals, or
Color Spikes, grow as a stout, relatively straight stem with triangular green
leaves, and reaches a height of 4' to 8'. Many four-petaled flowers appear at
the top of this stem forming a terminal spike of 12" to 16". The flowers
of the Rainbow Petal can appear as any color, including shades of blue and
green, and individual petals will even grow in different colors on the same
flower. The petals of these flowers are thick, fleshy, and surprisingly
nutritious. They are frequently boiled into a thick and flavorful porridge or
dried and used in place of bread crumbs or cornmeal on fried food. If eaten
raw, a single spike of Rainbow Petals can sustain a normal sized human for a
full day.
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Pygmy King Flower - Plants of Hot Springs Island
The Pygmy King
Flower, or Green Ribs, produces a conical, flower-like structure from a base of
8-10 fat, fluid filled leaves that resemble a broken rib cage. The flower is
usually 1' in diameter, 2' tall, and always brightly colored. While the color
can vary greatly, solid orange and blue with yellow spots are the most common
colors here on the Swordfish Islands. Nectar fills at least half of each basin
shaped flower and when exposed to sunlight this liquid releases a sweet, sugary
fragrance. Small creatures and large insects are attracted to this smell but
upon entering the flower they are trapped by its slippery walls and slowly
digested. When a Pygmy King Flower finishes digesting a meal, or becomes over
filled (such as after a heavy rain) the flower will tilt and dump its contents
onto the jungle floor before slowly righting itself once more. The tiny mold
men from the Isle of Blooms prize the Pygmy King Flower and seem to use these
brightly colored leaves as hats to denote some sort of crude, tribal, status.
The succulent, rib shaped leaves at the base of this plant can be mashed into a
salve that is an excellent treatment for major burns and minor lacerations.Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Flint Moss - Plants of Hot Springs Island
A dark grey moss,
dotted with small flecks of rust-brown, Flint Moss is commonly found in area of
thermal activity, or piles of scree. The moss requires fire to spread its
seeds, and will ignite from even the smallest sparks. A 3" cube of Flint
Moss will burn for 3 to 4 hours and put off flame comparable to a normal sized
camp fire. The moss growing on piles of rubble or loose rock is the most
dangerous as friction from shifting stones can cause the rust-colored flecks to
produce sparks, turning what was once a moss covered mound of debris into a
raging inferno.
Monday, January 21, 2013
Metmass - Indie Metal Monday
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| Metmass - Isolation |
My favorite tracks are Andromeda: Voyage and Andromeda: Spring Night Sky. If you're working on a blasted planet type setting, or playing around with aboleths in space ships, give this album a listen for a dose of fresh inspiration.
Ashvein Tree - Plants of Hot Springs Island
Standing between 6
and 8 feet high, with glossy leaves and twisting, contorted branches the
Ashvein Tree (or Assassin's Cloak) is most notable for its thin papery bark.
New growth on an Ashvein begins as a light blue-grey that slowly darkens into a
rich charcoal, giving the trees a distinctive pattern. After the bark reaches a
certain age it begins to crack and peel away from the trunk. If the dark grey
bark is boiled in water for three hours, then dried and crushed, it creates a
powder that completely neutralizes the flavor and odor of anything blended with
the bark as it is crushed. Wood from the Ashvein is exceptionally light weight
and releases large amounts of acrid smoke when burned.
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Wax Tree - Plants of Hot Springs Island
Wax Trees have
large, fuzzy, almost white leaves that grow in bunches at the ends of twisted,
dark brown, woody branches that are 1-3 inches thick. While most commonly
growing to a height of 2-3 feet, some Wax Trees have been known to grow as
large as 8 feet tall. A shallow and spreading root system robs nearby plants of
food and moisture causing these trees to be found with few neighbors, even in
areas of otherwise dense vegetation. The branches, if broken, ooze a
translucent purple, viscous fluid that smells vaguely of citrus. The wax burns
cleanly and evenly making it a good alternative to beeswax, and alchemists
often seek it out as a foundation for magical glues and thickeners.
Exceptionally skilled alchemists are able to use this wax to create a putty
that can *permanently* change the shape and structure of facial features. The
would-be master of disguise should be cautious however as minor, even
accidental, tweaks to this formula will create a putty that causes organic
matter (like faces) to dissolve and melt away in a matter of seconds.Saturday, January 19, 2013
Spiderbush - Plants of Hot Springs Island
One of the most
curious plants on the Swordfish Islands, the Spiderbush is a small shrub,
rarely growing larger than 2' in diameter, with waxy, light green leaves and an
exposed woody root system. Tiny blue and white flowers develop on the tips of
its branches, blooming year-round. If a Spiderbush does not receive sunlight
for a 24 hour period it will use its root system to waddle, or shuffle, across
the ground in search of light. Having stubby, makeshift legs and frequently
uneven jungle ground, Spiderbushes tend to lose their balance and tumble
through the jungle. Due to their ambulatory nature and need for direct
sunlight, Spiderbushes naturally cluster together in clearings or along the
tree line near the shore of an island. Periods of extended rainfall have been
known to trigger sizable migrations of hundreds, even thousands of Spiderbushes
shuffling and tumbling through the jungle in search of the sun.
Friday, January 18, 2013
Dripping Tree - Plants of Hot Springs Island
The Dripping Tree has
dark brown bark, large leathery leaves, and grows as tall as 30'. Its branches
only grow from the very top of the trunk and spread out almost horizontally,
much like the cap of a mushroom, to shade an area 10' to 20' in diameter. The
roots of a Dripping Tree spread and twist through the ground almost as far as
the branches above and are almost always covered in thick mats of other
vegetation like Ferns, Tickleweed, and Jellymoss. Numerous cream colored
spheres, 10" in diameter, cling to the branches are the source of the
tree's name. Special nodules on the roots of this tree detect movement, warmth
and pressure causing the globes directly above the triggered area to fall. The
globes are filled with a viscous, sticky mucus and burst on contact, causing
creatures hit with them to stick to the Dripping Tree's root clusters. When
pressure is constantly applied to an area of roots, the branches above it begin
to slowly drip a sticky, acidic, digestive mucus onto the area below. This
mucus melts through flesh and bones like butter. Smaller creatures, such as
lemurs and tabibari can be dissolved in as little as a day, while larger
creatures and humanoids may take up to 72 hours to be broken down into
nutrients.
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Cachuga Pepper - Plants of Hot Springs Island
Pronounced
Ka-hoo-gah, and sometimes called "Magma Bites" or "Lava
Bursters", Cachuga Peppers can only be found on Hot Springs Island.
Vaguely pyramidal shaped woody bushes with profuse foliage bear clusters of
small, fragrant yellow blooms which eventually give way to fiery peppers of a
marbled red-orange. The bushes bloom continually in the tropical climes of the
Swordfish Islands causing Cachuga bushes to produce peppers in profusion. The
peppers themselves are 2-4 inches long and hang from the bushes by thick,
green, vein-like structures. Cachuga Peppers are exceptionally spicy and
flavorful, rivaling the heat and potency of even the Blindfire Vine. The skin
of these peppers is leathery and can be mashed into a paste then shaped and
dried into chips or a flavorful yet non-spicy paper-like wrapping, pairing
nicely with raw fish. The peppers dry well, retaining their fire and flavor for
exceptional periods of time, and their seeds can be ground into a powder that
causes *severe* eye and skin irritation.
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Snapping Grass - Plants of Hot Springs Island
Snapping Grass grows
as a clump, or tuft of dark green, dagger shaped leaves, 4" to 6"
tall. Six to twelve stalks, each 8" to 10" high grow from the center
of this cluster. A pair of hinged, shovel shaped, bright fuchsia leaves, rimmed
in spikes sit at the top of each stalk. These stalks sway constantly, as if
moved by a gentle breeze. It is unclear how exactly Snapping Grass hunts, but
the moving stalks are able to bend, lunge and snap up small creatures with
exceptional accuracy. While this plant subsists almost entirely on a diet of
small vermin and birds, some adventurers have reported that some clumps of
Snapping Grass will lunge and shiny or sparkling objects like rings and gems.
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Redgold's Feathers - Plants of Hot Springs Island
Happy 100th post!We've created approximately 50 plants that are unique to the Swordfish Islands, twenty-five of which can be found on Hot Springs Island. Assuming I've figured out Blogger's post schedule setting correctly, for the next 25 days we'll be posting a plant's description and black and white sketch.
First up: Redgold's Feathers
Redgold's Feathers
grow as small, tight clusters of burnished, coppery colored, feather shaped
fronds near areas of thermal activity. The plant is impervious to heat, and
some claim to have even seen it undergo instantaneous growth when exposed to
direct flame. If the leaves of this plant are broken or crushed they give off
an acerbic odor potent enough to wake a person from unconsciousness (even
magical) or immediately recover from being dazed or disoriented. If the
feathers are crushed and combined with sulphur and the essence of a naturally
fiery creature, an alchemist can create a non-toxic mixture that will glow a
bright orange for 36-48 hours (even after being consumed and digested).
Monday, January 14, 2013
Indie Metal Monday, Some Scary Nature, and a Status Update
Apologies for the lack of scary nature stuff this past Friday. So here's a bunch of content to play catchup! I've said before that I should write these up in advance so I can publish them on a set schedule, but I enjoy the "day of" crunch too much, even if it can lead to missed deadlines when the inspiration fairy doesn't show up.If you're in need of scary nature stuff this video of a parasitic nematode that emerged from the corpse of a spider. Warning... it could easily be considered to be "a bit much", but click on this link if you want to say "WHOA HOLY SHIT!" a few times.
Interestingly, many of these parasitic worms appear to encourage their hosts to commit suicide so they can spread. Infected ants will waggle dance in front of birds, rats will charge cats, and kobolds will walk up to adventurers for hugs and cuddles. It's pretty bad.
Progress on Hot Springs Island continues at a pretty decent clip. We've been especially focused on the bestiary portion of the field guide. Striving to find that magical balance that makes the content evocative. Once we get them polished up some more we'll start posting them around, so keep watching this space if you want to learn more about Vyderac, Coppermane Prowlers and Crabs large enough to crush a ship.
We got some fresh art for the plants of Hot Springs, so I'll be scheduling a bit of rehash for the blog to show off the plant descriptions with the art. If you'd like to check out the previously posted descriptions you can read about the plants of the Swordfish Islands here (Part I and Part II).
We're about 40% done with getting our various dungeon maps into Dungeonographer. This should allow us to quickly scale and print them, as well as work up our own tile sets to make them super sexy. That's the plan at least!
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| Norska! |
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| Cerberus Norska Tshirt design by Martin Ontiveros |
I'm also a big fan of t-shirts and these guys have a badass one you can pick up for $15. Give 'em a listen!
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Wallpaper - The Bone Pile
And I quote:On a tropical island
underneath a molten lava moon
Hangin' with the hula dancers
asking questions 'cause they got all the answers
Puttin' on lotion
Sittin' by the ocean
Rubbin' it on my body
Rubbin' it on my body
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| The Boneyard - Hex - HS-02 |
Monday, January 7, 2013
Mendel - Indie Metal Monday
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Mendel Bij de Leij is making some pretty damn glorious solo progressive instrumental neo-classical metal up in die Niederlands, when he's not busy thrashing his guitar for Aborted, and I suspect divine involvement.
Shores, Pandora, Releasing Butterflies, Sumerian Sun are mindblowingly excellent and maybe I'm projecting, but they pair phenomenally well with the though of adventurers fleeing through crystal choked mines beneath the volcanoes of Hot Springs Island.
Need some inspiration? Put your headphones on.
Wallpapers - The Imps of Hot Springs Island
In recent years Hot Springs Island has inadvertently become one of the fiercest fronts in the eternal conflict between Fire and Water. The island had always been a place of exceptional elemental activity due to its abundant natural resources, large pristine aquifers, and the direct connection its gigantic magma chambers have to the very core of the world. Elementals of all types are unable to resist the allure of the constant turmoil caused by the growth of this volcanic island out of the sea, particularly elementals of a more... impish variety.Here are three quick desktop wallpapers [1920x1200] showing off our Fire Imps, Magma Imps and Steam Imps. When designing these guys we tried to capture the flavor of each type of imp in 2-4 words. Fire Imps = Fight Club. Magma Imps = Pit Crew. Steam Imps = Obsessive Gamblers. Hope you enjoy these little guys terrorizing your desktop. Oh, and if you'd like a wallpaper in a different size, just shout out in the comments and I'll see what I can do!
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| Fire Imp |
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| Magma Imp |
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| Steam Imp |
Friday, January 4, 2013
Damn Nature! - Oleander
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| Nerium Oleander. So pretty. So deadly. Picture from the Online plant guide an excellent visually browse-able guide. |
Oleanders are exceptionally aesthetically pleasing bushes. They have a good shape. Grow at a decent speed. Get very large (making them excellent dividers between highways). Have attractive flowers in a variety of colors (deep to pale pink, lilac, carmine, purple, salmon, apricot, copper, orange and white). They can grow all over the world, and are pretty dang drought resistant.
They also happen to be filled with virulent poison. In a vein similar to the Manchineel Tree, the whole damn bush is poisonous. The leaves are toxic, the sap is toxic, the flowers are toxic, if you burn the damn thing the smoke is toxic. A woman I once worked with had one growing in her back yard and got rid of it because it almost killed her dog. The dog slept under it every day, but unlike the Manchineel's white goo and vapors of doom, it seems like you've got to ingest oleander for it to really work its magic.
It has been reported that thoroughly chewing a single leaf of oleander can cause death, particularly in small children/creatures, and because they are a common sight where I grew up, I got plenty of lectures about being careful around them from my father.
So ok... oleanders are pretty and poisonous, whoopty crap, so was Alexander the Great's girlfriend and it seems more exciting to work a poisonous woman into a table top game than a damn flowery bush with glossy leaves. Why make a post on it? I blame Tenkar.
I've come to realize that being lectured about this bush, and learning about its effects on a person really shaped my personal concepts of poison. I've *never* thought of poison as a save or die type scenario because when I hear poison, I think plants, I don't think "snake bite".
To me, poison is a wasting thing. If you become exposed to it, you're probably going to die, but you've got time. It may be hours. It may be days. It may be weeks. Who knows?! Pure damage is just too limited and boring a concept to apply to something as awesome and varied as poison. Since jack-in-the-box "poison needle save or die" scenarios suck and seem to lead to all manner of blog posts and forum threads about making damage more... exciting? full of agency? let's look at oleanders and see what can be plucked from Mother Nature's thorny bosom and dropped straight into your game.
*Typically* oleander is going to be ingested. This will trigger your bodies gastrointestinal defense mechanisms of "get it the fuck out" (vomiting and diarrhea), but those probably aren't going to work, and after a while, they'll stop, but you won't be dead yet. You'll feel tired, you'll feel exhausted, and after going to sleep your heart will probably stop and that'll be that. See that time/wasting element? But this is only one possibility.
A quick list of oleander symptoms can be found here on MedicinePlus (from the US National Library of Medicine). Let's take the symptom list, remix Mother Nature just a little bit, and pair it with the following scenario:
DM: It's a heavy oaken door reinforced with iron bars and an iron lock cast to look like it's covered in berries or grapes.
Warrior: Thief!
Thief: Oooooo! I pick it!
DM: Ok, roll success.
Thief: *clatter clatter*
DM: Ok. Roll again.
Thief: FML
DM: The lock clicks open. Warrior, you notice that the thief's left hand is bleeding.
Thief: FML
... *10 real world minutes later* ...
DM: Thief. Your stomach doesn't feel very good.
... *10 real world minutes later* ... (in combat with some goblins)
DM: Thief. Roll 3d6 please
Thief: *clatter clatter* FML
DM:
3:You fall unconscious. 0 hp.
4: Diarrhea. It's bad. Very bad. You try and step back but slip in it and fall to the ground. (if in combat) next melee attack misses you. (henchman loyalty check time).
5: You drop your weapon and injure yourself (1/2 weapon damage)
6: Your [bodily appendage] begins itching and burning as if it is on fire. Large blisters appear over the next 10 minutes. (Effect on combat determined by appendage affected.)
7: You are exceptionally dizzy and misstep as you attack. (+ for enemies to hit you)
8: You begin shivering and shaking uncontrollably causing the contents of your pack to spill about all over the ground. (Environmental hazards dependent upon pack contents)
9: You blink and shake your head. Everything is blurry and duplicated (- to hit)
10: You begin projectile vomiting (stunned 1 minute, - to hit)
11: Diarrhea. It's bad. Very bad. (henchman loyalty check time)
12: Your tongue swells up to three times its normal size and turns a lurid color of puce. (cannot speak)
13: You feel woozy and fall down.
14: You drop your weapon.
15: Large purple blotches begin to appear on your skin. They itch like mad. (distracted, cannot attack, + to be hit, half movement speed)
16: You become despondent. Nothing matters any more. You're chilled and your stomach really hurts. (morale check, may drop weapon and attempt to leave the field of battle)
17: You begin projectile vomiting, but manage to maintain your focus and weaponize it (if in combat). Additionally, you've consumed nothing but red wine today. Morale checks for creatures with less HD than you.
18: You blink and shake your head. You see halos of light around *something*. (Can function as a plot device or reward (lead to treasure), or act as detect good/evil, detect alignment, detect magic, etc)
Save or Die? psh. Give me "Save or Suffer".
Finally, as detailed on The Poison Garden, even if you're in excellent medical care, and pumped full of anti-venom, the effects of an oleander can still linger. A dwarf cow that had eaten oleander had to have its heart started TWELVE times over the course of SEVEN days. Seems like Mother Nature is cool with multiple saving throws.
Thursday, January 3, 2013
The Elves of Swordfish Islands - A Preview
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| The elves of the Swordfish Islands. A preview. |
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
A Toast
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| Monkey Champagne Toast - Lorainne LeBer Rocha |
Here are just a few well wishes, as we begin this year:
May all the roads you travel down, run smooth, straight and clear
May your path traverse the heights, and not the valleys deep
Let love, laughter, and friendship be the company you keep!
