Posts Tagged ‘swashbucklers of the 7 skies’

Yesterday on the Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies Yahoo group, a guy named Jim Pacek posted a direct link to a draft image of a map of Barathi that I have stored here on the Monkey, and in going through my archives, it looks like I never actually posted that image, so he must have found it in a search result or something – which is fine, but I figured I’d correct my oversight and share the image here.

However, I want to point out that I really don’t consider it finished. I made it in Photoshop as part of my prep for the Firedrake campaign, but before I actually finished detailing it and putting in more names and locations, I jumped on to other projects, as I tend to do, and then stored the draft with the intent of writing up a big post about it being unfinished, etc. The map is of course in no way official. I based it on my interpretation of Chad’s description of the cloud island of Barathi, but it also takes a few liberties. Anyhow, without further ado:

Barathi Map: Early Draft Concept

I’m back to do a MERP! Yay. I missed last Friday because I was actually socializing. See the “ENJOYING” paragraph below.

MAKING:

Obviously, I’m not blogging as much these days. Mostly this is due to the fact that I’m busy fairly actively searching for new freelance clients, along with trying to spend some time teaching myself some of the latest design techniques so that I’m more marketable. But I’m also happy to report that some of my non-blogging time is being spent doing something I haven’t done in years – preparing to run an rpg campaign. Specifically, I’m running Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies. So in terms of “making”, I can share with you the following Website that I’ve added as a sub-site to Canon Puncture that will be a log and resource area for our S7S campaign: http://www.canonpuncture.com/swashbucklers

ENJOYING:

Last Friday I was in St. Louis for a family reunion that was capped off on Friday night by a Cardinals ball game at the new Busch Stadium. It was my first time in the new stadium and my first time ever in a “party box” – a half-inside/half-outside section with its own bar and snack counter all served up as part of the ticket price, which I did not have to pay. The Cardinals won, the nachos, hot dogs and BBQ chicken were quite good (I think I ate 7 cheese-dogs), and the beer was … well it’s Busch Stadium, so the beer was all Bud products i.e. watered-down American barley-piss, so I was having none of that. But still, it was a very nifty evening with about 12 members of Leah’s family and a night off from parental responsibilities (the kids were all back at the hotel supervised by Leah’s teenage nieces).

Not much going on TV-wise since many of the shows I enjoy are done for the summer. I’m very glad Chuck is coming back, I hope Castle does as well, and I’m looking forward to new Burn Notice episodes coming soon. Other than that, I think it’ll be a light summer for television viewing in our house.

I saw Wolverine while in St. Louis. I actually liked it better than the reviews of my peers led me to expect, but it was entirely on the performances of the actors and not because the action or story were all that compelling. I definitely would pay to see more of Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool and Taylor Kitsch was awesome in the few minutes he clocked in as Gambit.

READING:

I’m waiting for my library to receive two books I’ve got on reserve – one of them being the new Dresden Files novel – so while I wait for that I decided to augment my S7S prep by re-reading one of my all-time favorites – Bard by Keith Taylor. It is semi-historical fantasy written in the 1980s that hews closer to R.E. Howard than J.R.R. Tolkien, and although I won’t claim it is stellar literature, it still clings to my story-loving heart even though this is now the fourth time I will have read it. It is not well known – Taylor is an Australian author and the series of five Bard novels apparently never really took off here in the States, but I really love books 1-4 and highly recommend them to anyone who might enjoy a sweeping series of yarns about an Irish Bard named Felemid mac Fal who starts off his adventures in post-Roman Britain and then ventures on to become the companion of a female Jutish pirate-queen for the next three books in the series. Yes, that’s right: an Irish bard and a woman pirate adventuring in a magic-is-real version of Northwest Europe in the 6th Century. The writing would have to be pure shit for me not to like that. But it is actually pretty good writing, in a pulpy-fantasy sort of way. Even after four readings, it holds up.

PLAYING:

Tonight Rich and I finish up Burning Wheel: Rome with Ogre Whiteside. Honestly, it is really a shame and a kinda big ball-drop for me not to have blogged about last week’s session already, because it was one of the best nights of roleplaying I’ve had in a long while. Rich wrote some stuff about it over on Canon Puncture but I really ought to have elaborated on it myself by now, I just haven’t taken the time.  Maybe a big overall wrap-up post is in order after tonight’s game brings the series to it’s conclusion. I’ll try. I’ve got lots to share about it.

Next Wednesday, we begin Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies, our long-awaited and much-anticipated campaign. As I mentioned above, I’ve added a swashbuckling sub-site to Canon Puncture to act as a campaign log and you are all invited to follow along as we move through pre-play planni ng and into actual play over the next several days.

I’m also playing in a Spirit of the Century game with Mark Kinney, Clay Karwan, and Andrew Black. We had one meeting and it went really well. Unfortunately, we had to cancel the Thursday night game this week but we’re planning on getting back to it next week.

Really Cool Illustrations of Pirates | Abduzeedo | Graphic Design Inspiration and Photoshop Tutorials.

I have been enjoying the art and tutorials on the Abduzeedo site for a long time but this article was one I really felt I needed to share. The timing is uncanny, too. I was in the thick of watching Master and Commander on DVD while making up some stuff for our upcoming Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies campaign. And this pops into my Google Reader.

Wow.

I skipped MERP last week because I was playing catch-up from my trip to Chicago. Also, I’ve been a busy juggling bee, I’ve had several family/school/life issues jump up to the forefront of my deal-with list, and I’ve found my creativity quelled a bit. I knew there was no way I’d be able to keep up the blogging pace I had going a few weeks ago, but I didn’t expect I’d go completely dark, either.

Hey, it’s the same story we often hear from many of the blog/podcast personalities we follow. Life happens.

But hey, I’m going to try to get in a MERP entry before I go run errands… Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s my Making, Enjoying, Reading, Playing entry for the week ending May 1st, 2009. Use the comments to share your own MERP, if you’re of a mind.

Read the rest of this entry »

As a man who conducts a goodly portion of his dealings and interests via a portable computing device, I certainly appreciate the many conveniences of owning and perusing the PDF version of a written text. And certes, my appetite and imagination has been whet during my recent days of perusing the digital edition of Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies. Nevertheless, there is nothing quite so satisfying as interacting with the visceral, tactile work of art that is the printed book. Particularly when the work is so definitively “of art”.

My copy arrived today.

This book is a world of wonder and crackling potential contained within beautifully-rendered covers. It is among the truest of treasures to be found in this worlds-realm.

Now, plans and schemes will formulate. Soon, boon companions will be enlisted to share in the coming adventure.

Soon, the Monkey Buccaneer will fly.

Yep. I’m pimping Chad’s new game again. Deal with it.

If you can’t afford the limited-edition harcover that comes bundled with a PDF copy, and don’t want to wait for the $30 softcover print edition, you can now purchase and download the Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies in PDF format from either Indie Press Revolution or  Drive-Thru RPG. Choose your poison.

Of course the hardcover/PDF bundle at IPR is still a sweet deal, so go for that if you can.