Thursday, June 23, 2011

Pictures of New Pathfinder Minis Released

Pictures of the four prepainted miniatures representing the pregenerated characters in the new Pathfinder Beginner Box have been released. The detail on these prepaints is absolutely stunning. Unfortunately the anime-influenced stylings of the minis are not much to my personal liking. Wizards that look like steroid-injecting professional wrestlers just don't quite fit into my world. I'll stick to my old lead for now... I dig magic users with pointy hats, thieves with lanterns, and hobbits with hash pipes.

Pathfinder Minis:


Old school Grenadier wizards with magic beards and cool hats (from DnDLead.com):

Friday, June 17, 2011

What Real Clerical Spell Scrolls Look Like. Ge'ez and Amharic Examples.

Here are some fascinating examples of real Ge'ez clerical scrolls from Ethiopia. They are currently on display at Elizabeth Street Fine Arts gallery in New York City. The gallery website has pictures and descriptions of several scrolls dating to the 19th century, although some extant scrolls date back to the 16th century. Most of the scrolls described on the website contain multiple spells related to protection and healing. It's striking to me how many of these spells are recognizable from our favorite fantasy roleplaying games. It's also interesting how many Ge'ez spells fit onto a single scroll.

Historical background from the website:
So called “Magic Scrolls” are long rolls of parchment, illuminated by talismanic and figurative images and texts, usually in Ge’ez (Ethiopian liturgical language), of protective prayers, invocations of secret names of God, or sometimes demons. They are produced and used for varied purposes, healing, protection from spells, exorcisms etc. Scrolls are referred to as “ya’ branna kitab”, “written on skin” in Amharic, “asmat” or “names” in Ge’ez or “ta’lsam”, “talisman” in Tigrinya.

Scrolls are made for a specific individual by  “dabtara” (an unordained “priest” who studied scriptures, singing and poetry, a practitioner of traditional medicine, magician) and are carried and used by that person extensively. They rarely survive through a few generations of use. The oldest known scroll is recently dated to16th century, while majority of great surviving scrolls date between late 18th to early 20th century, as do the scrolls in this exhibit.
Here are some magic scroll pictures. More thorough details, which I paraphrase here, are available at the original website:


Tigre magic scroll. Three sets of incantations: (1) "The Prayer or Legend of Susenyos, used for the protection of children and infants from illness, followed by an invocation of magical names for the protection of the scroll owner from demons.", (2) "prayers for protection from the demon Shätolay, blacksmiths, buda, etc.", (3) prayers against rheumatism and stomach ache.



Magic scroll contains: (1) Prayer of Susenyos, (2) Prayer for the “expulsion” of disease and the demon Shotalay", (3) prayer against the evil eye, (4) prayer against rheumatism and sciatica, (5) prayers against haemorrhage, (5) another prayer against demon Shotalay, (6) prayer against Zar Wellaj.



Gorgon scroll of Wälättä-Gabriel contains: (1) An invocation against unclean spirits, (2) prayer of saint Susenyos for keeping away sickness from babies sucking the breast of their mothers, story of Susenyos killing Werzelya, (3) names of God against Shotelay (4) names of God said by Mary against devils. ‘Yosamer, Armosadekél…’, (5) speech of Moses against barya, devils, people of Legion, (6) prayer of Susenyos, (7) prayer against belly pain, (8) prayer against side pain, (9) prayer for undoing bewitching, (10) prayer against the eye of Mejer and Tegrida, (11) prayer against the Evil eye, (12) salutation to Fanuel expeller of devils.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Fastest Growing OSR Blogs of April and May: GAIA GAMMA and GROGNARDIA

Here's a ranked list of 245 old schoolish roleplaying blogs ranked by the number of followers they gained between April 1st and June 6th. I rank blogs using this system - as opposed to raw follower number - in order to determine which blogs are "hottest" without being biased by how long a blog has been around. My main motivation for making this list is to highlight the blogs that are currently attracting the most reader attention regardless of the blogs' age. Out of respect, I DO NOT list blogs with zero or negative growth.

My usual blogometric caveats apply: (1) This list only has blogger.com blogs because follower numbers are not publicly available for WordPress blogs. (2) Yes, I know some blogs are missing. If I am following your RPG blog as of today it should be in the next ranking. If your blog is not on my list and you want to be included, please email me the link through my profile. If I made a mistake please let me know - I am not consciously trying to exclude anyone.

Tied for first we have Grognardia and newcomer Gaia Gamma! I assume that I don't need to describe Grognardia to anyone - it's consistently one of the biggest, fastest growing, and most influential blogs in town. Gaia Gamma, on the other hand, is a new blog focused primarily on creative content related to propietor Thomas Biskup's post-apocalyptic RPG design. Fans of games like Gamma World and Metamorphosis Alpha should love this blog. Great great stuff!

In second place we have another newcomer: Grognardling! This blog is all about straight up old school D&D and is remarkable because it is one of the few blogs written by a younger gamer who didn't actually grow up playing the game.

In third place is Strange Magic, one of a very small number of blogs focusing on Weird West gaming. This blog features frequent well written posts and lots of cool YouTube links. Nice work, Stuart!

In fourth and fifth place we have the venerable and widely-read blogs Playing D&D With Porn Stars and LotFP: RPG, respectively, which, like Grognardia, need no introduction.

Here's the whole list. You can link to any blog by clicking on its name:

Blog Name
6-Jun
1-Apr
Change
76
0
76
924
848
76
65
3
62
116
55
61
737
684
53
420
371
49
120
77
43
190
150
40
193
153
40
213
174
39
486
448
38
299
263
36
151
115
36
537
502
35
300
265
35
127
92
35
112
77
35
144
111
33
121
91
30
79
49
30
129
100
29
293
264
29
282
254
28
291
264
27
186
161
25
96
71
25
134
109
25
25
0
25
102
77
25
169
145
24
187
163
24
198
174
24
71
47
24
347
324
23
224
201
23
56
33
23
51
29
22
53
32
21
131
111
20
250
230
20
170
150
20
127
108
19
151
132
19
199
180
19
208
190
18
143
126
17
64
47
17
60
43
17
71
54
17
79
62
17
75
58
17
173
156
17
122
105
17
37
20
17
49
33
16
65
49
16
123
107
16
74
58
16
92
76
16
76
60
16
104
89
15
196
181
15
137
122
15
188
173
15
101
86
15
48
34
14
68
54
14
210
196
14
52
38
14
14
0
14
286
272
14
56
42
14
95
81
14
121
108
13
50
37
13
67
54
13
124
111
13
77
64
13
62
49
13
48
36
12
194
182
12
131
119
12
68
56
12
90
78
12
37
25
12
22
10
12
122
110
12
55
44
11
91
80
11
88
77
11
44
33
11
246
235
11
92
81
11
58
47
11
100
89
11
60
50
10
105
95
10
100
90
10
96
86
10
164
154
10
28
18
10
45
35
10
139
129
10
63
53
10
226
216
10
60
50
10
76
66
10
56
47
9
70
61
9
169
160
9
68
59
9
Newschool RPG
9
0
9
35
26
9
136
127
9
85
76
9
17
8
9
58
49
9
85
76
9
10
1
9
19
10
9
181
172
9
42
33
9
143
134
9
30
22
8
Cimorra
16
8
8
103
95
8
47
39
8
152
144
8
41
33
8
63
55
8
10
2
8
40
32
8
9
1
8
133
125
8
111
103
8
103
96
7
71
64
7
58
51
7
GAMMA WORLD WAR!
7
0
7
29
22
7
209
202
7
48
41
7
37
30
7
110
103
7
87
80
7
17
10
7
213
206
7
130
123
7
123
117
6
125
119
6
25
19
6
65
59
6
26
20
6
150
144
6
154
148
6
47
41
6
33
27
6
71
65
6
54
49
5
15
10
5
49
44
5
5
0
5
63
58
5
34
29
5
34
29
5
29
24
5
53
48
5
83
78
5
38
33
5
37
32
5
28
23
5
112
107
5
148
143
5
99
94
5
25
20
5
85
80
5
59
55
4
180
176
4
40
36
4
63
59
4
66
62
4
25
21
4
40
36
4
66
62
4
132
128
4
28
24
4
4
0
4
133
129
4
34
30
4
58
54
4
36
32
4
57
53
4
56
52
4
12
9
3
33
30
3
32
29
3
71
68
3
145
142
3
78
75
3
69
66
3
128
125
3
17
14
3
15
12
3
56
53
3
206
203
3
29
26
3
51
48
3
67
64
3
18
15
3
44
41
3
92
89
3
44
41
3
32
29
3
41
38
3
14
11
3
54
51
3
67
64
3
17
15
2
59
57
2
40
38
2
22
20
2
29
27
2
67
65
2
14
12
2
44
42
2
147
145
2
68
66
2
11
9
2
The Evil GM
18
16
2
30
28
2
17
15
2
29
28
1
50
49
1
49
48
1
12
11
1
47
46
1
27
26
1
26
25
1
32
31
1
27
26
1
56
55
1
48
47
1
25
24
1
42
41
1
73
72
1
63
62
1