Middle Earth Role Playing

The Great Nerd Archaeological Dig of Sitiawan

Earlier this month, we went back to my hometown of Sitiawan where I dug up my old stuff in my cupboard and wardrobe, then posted them on Google+. Here is a compilation of the posts, along with further elaboration, as well as a new photo near the end. Ancient cache of geekery unearthed at my parents’ house included a single Bill Mantlo / Gil Kane’s Micronauts comic. I’m sure there was another where the ‘Nauts battled a gentleman by the name of Professor Prometheus – at least on the cover. I don’t remember much of what’s inside.   I found a pair of old Dazzler comics – featuring the mutant disco performer who transduced sound to light – still readable with their pages still intact. Several years later, she would be a member of the X-Men. I bought the West End Games’ Star Wars RPG module titled Crisis on Cloud […]

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Anchorhead skirmish

SWD6: The Rancid Putrefaction of a Cosmic Caterwauling Cabal

Last Sunday, I ran a Star Wars RPG D6 game for the GOKL group. It started out as a one-shot, but who knows; the tale might continue another time. The Rancid Putrefaction of a Cosmic Caterwauling Cabal Episode 312: All Heaven Broke Loose Long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, aboard the space station Kwenn that served as deep space commerce and transport hub, there was a Rebel cell, who sat all day for days in a spacer’s cantina named The Drunken Dewback, waiting for their first mission. Then one day the young bartender gestured them to the bar. She told them to go to Anchorhead on Tatooine where they will be given an important mission briefing. Chapter One – We’re So Starving The Rebel cell consisted of Avril Mantessa, Pew Pew and Tyvokka. Avril was a young Jedi who had been cloistered away and trained by her […]

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bare-bones-cover-05

Bare Bones Cover Process

The Bare Bones Game System published by DwD Studios – the rules-lite, role-playing game featured in the previous post – also required a cover art. I was commissioned to produce a comic-style scene of the characters in the fantasy template cards appropriating loot. Here is the step-by-step process of how the cover came to be. I start with a rough sketch of the cover in black and white, overlaid with the margin and bleed marks. The previous sketch is used as a rough pencils layout by reducing the transparency. Inks are applied on top of the pencils. In this case, I do not pencil with a lot of detail. Colours are applied under the inks. Actually by this time I’ve coloured the background, but I’ve blocked it out with a white layer so you could see the foreground colours. What does the background look like? The background looks like this – originally. […]

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A thief of some sort

Bare Bones

The Bare Bones Game System – to be published by DwD Studios – is a rules-lite, multi-genre role-playing game formatted onto playing card-sized cards. Here are artwork for players that will be printed on card-sized character sheets for a standard fantasy-type world with the usual suspects: Human, Elf, Halfling and Dwarf.

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It’s hunting… for a fire hydrant

Azamar: Owog

Owogs – feral, ferocious creatures that leaked through into Azamar from the Inferium and domesticated into tracking hounds by Orcs – are generally unpleasant little things. Also, keep an eye out for their Strength+18 bite and Strength+12 foreclaws. Because they frickin’ hurt. Artwork for Wicked North Games’ Azamar fantasy role-playing game.

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Mithius Cragmoore

Mithius Cragmoore

Commissioned by the guys at Wicked North Games for their Star Wars RPG game group, Mithius Cragmoore was born on Coruscant to an Imperial Admiral and is now a bounty hunter with the House Benelex. He wields a pulse rifle, a blade and wears a stun cloak. Inked and painted on paper, the original artwork was mailed to them, a first for me as a freelance illustrator. Thanks for the commission, guys. It was great to have illustrated this character. Click here for a larger image on DeviantArt.

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Guradiin Ithural v2

Revisions of Azamar

Here are revisions of several illustrations that was made for Wicked North Games’ Azamar RPG. Click here for a bigger image of this flaming skeletal monster on DeviantArt. Click here for a bigger image of a Shrave administering first aid to an injured Immyr. My first Azamar art redone! Click here for a bigger image of the Immyr city.

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Mike thinks this is some sort of marriage counselling program

D6 Magazine: Issue Two Artwork

I have been illustrating for an article for a new issue of the D6 Magazine. This hilarious entry by Mike Fraley, entitled “Graiv’s Magical Curiosities”, is a marketing drive by the eponymous business owner trying to sell off some strange and unconventional magical artefacts that seem utterly useless at first glance. Would you purchase… Using the razor would cause an inhumanly quick hair growth where blade touches the skin. The flame from this torch cannot be easily doused by water… but human voice will cause it to go out. This dagger will slice through everything except living matter. The Blue Ring just turns the wearer’s skin blue. Also depicted here are the Trackless Shoes, the Ever Empty Tankard, the Nevertied Rope and the Compass of Impeding Doom. Read about these magical gear and more in the upcoming issue of D6 Magazine. Click here to download the previous issue. Check out […]

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Syndia

Azamar Deities Part Three

Herein are two more illustration for Wicked North Games’ Azamar RPG. Syndia of the Cliffs, the Goddess of the Moon, the Enlightened One, the Shining Lady… enemy of the Ash Lord and the thwarter of Mo’s mischief. She vigilantly protects her charges on Azamar from otherworldly threats.   Balmaritch is the deity of truth behind illusion, with an abundance of disguises among others, clockwise from top left – Hanath the crone, Vankoln the warrior, Naalateth the magician, Marvanock the miser and Parkoxina the thief. (The final artwork has a few modifications done to it compared to this version.)  Click on the links to see Parts One and Two of the Azamar Deities illustrations.

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Shrave Archer

Azamar – Template Art Part One

Over the last couple of weeks I was working on and are now finished with the character template artwork for Wicked North Games’ Azamar RPG. The playable races of Azamar are numerous: Human, Urbane, Tre’uoall, Wyvine, Immyr, Enfri and Shrave. Here are four playable character templates, right here in this post:

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Xujof

Azamar Deities Part Two

More powerful beings – reality-changing and inter-dimensional – that has made their mark on the world of Azamar. Mo is the deity of laughter, change, and trickery, and manifests in the form of a jester with a dazzling outfit of ever-changing colours – though he rarely ever manifests. Nooks and Crannies are factions of a powerful type of beings from a world which was devastated by a war between the factions. They have travelled to Azamar using their magicks and set themselves as deities, sowing chaos and demanding sacrifices and tributes from their followers. The war between Nooks and Crannies have now come to Azamar. Xujof is a deity also known as the grim, a deity of death, life, and the delicate balance between them, often referred to as the equilibrium. Xujof normally manifests as an elderly Human, typically wearing contemporary apparel, mingling quietly within the various societies of Azamar.

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Sychorax

Azamar Deities Part One

The Ash Lord, also known as the Eater of Souls, sends dark beings who manifest as Humans, who make deals to grant the wishes of others, who soon bargain to relinquish their souls in trade for these deals. Shilutozenon is the deity of nature and of the natural order and make attempts to repair and restore the natural order of Azamar. Sychorax is the deity of beauty, compassion, desire, and persuasion which manifests typically as a blazing ball of light. Xaraxamarath is the deity of creation and destruction, often worshipped by a small faction of wizards known as Conjurers, who devote themselves to understanding the magic of creation and destruction within Azamar.

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Azamar Sea View

Azamar – A View of the Sea

Here’s a damage seagoing vessel – anchored off an Azamar coast – undergoing repairs at dawn. What happened to it? What was it carrying? Who or what shot at it? Were there survivors? What repercussions would there be for characters that relied on this ship for transport or defence? What bearing did this event have on the legacy of the Fracturing in Azamar? Give the Azamar fantasy roleplaying game a try when it’s released later this year, and create your own storylines with your friends as you run the game! This interior artwork was created for Wicked North Games with a black and white printing in mind. The colours are an afterthought for this blog.

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