tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post5383532953632258865..comments2024-03-29T00:32:33.920-04:00Comments on GROGNARDIA: A Matter of ScaleJames Maliszewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comBlogger32125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-36787891538691584442021-06-07T10:40:13.903-04:002021-06-07T10:40:13.903-04:00Speaking of Dee, Villains & Vigilantes counter...Speaking of Dee, Villains & Vigilantes counters were pretty great for their day. I used them for years in multiple different supers games, and I'd still be doing so if the collection hadn't drowned in a flood.<br /><br />Which loss led to me painting almost everything in Old Glory's Supefigs range, so some silver lining there.Dick McGeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14521293874696659063noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-64723927061677293042021-06-06T12:35:10.152-04:002021-06-06T12:35:10.152-04:00Agree. The same with Jeff Dee's superhero set...Agree. The same with Jeff Dee's superhero set!Etrimynhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12412524174369676893noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-65856934297508579442021-06-06T08:48:58.064-04:002021-06-06T08:48:58.064-04:00Much as I love my minis, there is a lot to be set ...Much as I love my minis, there is a lot to be set for tokesn/counters/standees and similar options. They've gotten a lot prettier over the years (as have the maps and tiles they live on) but even some of teh early ones were very nice. Denis Loubet's art on Cardboard Heroes from Steve Jackson Games remains a nostalgic fave of mine.Dick McGeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14521293874696659063noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-70535694983001012502021-06-06T08:45:55.104-04:002021-06-06T08:45:55.104-04:00Agreed. Of course, I'm a time traveler from a...Agreed. Of course, I'm a time traveler from a post-mortality future of universal peace and love doing some historical research into what's generally regarded as the absolute worst three millenia of human existence. The temporal natives around here would make me pity them if they didn't do it all to themselves.Dick McGeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14521293874696659063noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-26854173126089500882021-06-06T08:40:49.564-04:002021-06-06T08:40:49.564-04:00Dogs, plural. There are two of them.
I mean, you...Dogs, plural. There are two of them.<br /><br />I mean, you wouldn't dare tackle a dragon with only one dog to help. Might as well just cut your own throat. :)Dick McGeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14521293874696659063noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-73730316655901304662021-06-05T11:18:45.557-04:002021-06-05T11:18:45.557-04:00Kids today! Everything was better when I was a ki...Kids today! Everything was better when I was a kid. :)Etrimynhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12412524174369676893noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-43465280290899505902021-06-05T11:06:59.950-04:002021-06-05T11:06:59.950-04:00His dog must be very important too!His dog must be very important too!Etrimynhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12412524174369676893noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-86210901282269786512021-06-05T06:38:29.829-04:002021-06-05T06:38:29.829-04:00When you visit a natural history museum, and see o...When you visit a natural history museum, and see one of those restored dinosaur skeletons, it strikes home how ridiculous it is to attack such a beast armed with a handweapon and a shield.Phil Dutréhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13607941040736764291noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-78978925863104971262021-06-04T22:12:40.620-04:002021-06-04T22:12:40.620-04:00Two thoughts:
(1) the ginormous monsters ‘work’ i...Two thoughts:<br /><br />(1) the ginormous monsters ‘work’ if you think of the characters (at high levels) as superhumanly heroic— like, able to punch though a palace wall, lift a mountain, etc. You could call it “anime” but this kind of stuff is also found throughout tall tales and legends — from Paul Bunyan to mythological heroes.<br /><br />(2) IMHO most D&D mini monsters look *really* small! >_< The dragons aren’t nearly big enough! It’s one area where I feel ‘realism’ clashes with the feel.Jason & Jayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08382538007150266805noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-70880814485943158972021-06-04T16:58:54.923-04:002021-06-04T16:58:54.923-04:00I go back and forth about minis. I do love them, b...I go back and forth about minis. I do love them, but having a sufficient collection for the types of games I run is a pain. Of course it's also moot these days since I've been gaming on Roll20 for the past several years...<br /><br />When I started with D&D we didn't have minis (even though I had originally rejected D&D for not being a miniatures game...) but by 1979 I was using minis. In college I switched to counters at one point because they were easier to manage, then back to minis for PCs (with counters for opponents). In the 2000s my D&D 3.x gaming started with counters then I collected enough of the D&D Miniatures Game minis...<br /><br />Maybe the minis will come back out if I end up gaming with my kids.Frankhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15855679156477779666noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-12538249630259036892021-06-04T12:31:20.415-04:002021-06-04T12:31:20.415-04:00Dennis, how do you figure it's St. George?Dennis, how do you figure it's St. George?DominusCaveaVulpeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16317537974568062563noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-82256422146386939962021-06-04T09:28:50.202-04:002021-06-04T09:28:50.202-04:00"Why are dwarves small you ask? So them damn ..."Why are dwarves small you ask? So them damn ogres can't fit in our cave. Its an evolutionary defense mechanism. The best part is they keep getting bigger and we stay the same size."sevenbastardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11961009160456478009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-28706348522833021312021-06-04T09:08:33.817-04:002021-06-04T09:08:33.817-04:00You could explain part of that trend by changes in...You could explain part of that trend by changes in the market. <br /><br />Early D&D players got their ideas of what fantasy should look like from book (and album, if you listened to the right bands) covers, movie and tv media from an era before CGI, and often some degree of historical knowledge. The actual art in OD&D is also pretty crude and leaves a lot of room for interpretation and imaginations to take over.<br /><br />Today's players come from multiple generations who grew up with different influences. CGI has largely replaced practical effects in video, and that's freed it from the relatively realistic restrictions of doing things with makeup and models. Video games have become a common "first exposure" to fantasy tropes, and for better or worse they tend to be very over-the-top and "heroic" - and modern fantasy genre books often imitate that style now. Some of that grows out of the relative crudeness of early game graphics, which made realistic creature sprites difficult to pull off without exaggerated features - which stuck around to some degree even as graphics improved. <br /><br />The style change in D&D really took off with 3.0, and some of that can be traced to Magic. WotC quite sensibly used many artists from the CCG for the RPG, and their styles (and their art direction) often followed video game influences. And it sold, and sold very well, so they leaned into it even more with 4e. It's a slight exaggeration that 4e looks just like World of Warcraft did in its day, but there's certainly some truth to it.<br /><br />The general gaming community has become much more demanding about artwork over the years too. Outside of a few OSR products and indie games that are trying to make a stylistic statement, companies can't and don't skimp on art budget, components quality, and general polish the way they could in the 80s. There's less room for player imaginations to work now than the old days when the visuals were rougher. Dick McGeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14521293874696659063noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-74869309027054758412021-06-04T08:39:37.952-04:002021-06-04T08:39:37.952-04:00Storage space remains an issue, but modern plastic...Storage space remains an issue, but modern plastics are easier somewhat easier to store and much easier to transport than lead or resin figs are. Also (assuming you aren't buying Games Workshop figs) far more economical, especially for larger minis than metal or resin.<br /><br />Plenty of paint-for-pay services out there if you don't want to do the brushwork yourself, as well as various ranges of prepaints. Dick McGeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14521293874696659063noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-63809074328139738132021-06-04T08:23:17.014-04:002021-06-04T08:23:17.014-04:00This is St. George slaying the dragon. Considering...This is St. George slaying the dragon. Considering how he became the patron saint of England, I'd say some people consider him to be pretty important!Dennis Laffeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03053699552003336733noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-972183827573883622021-06-04T08:08:30.382-04:002021-06-04T08:08:30.382-04:00And the fourth: the fighter (or whatever it was be...And the fourth: the fighter (or whatever it was before it got crushed) in its maw ;)<br /><br />Also note: it's set the rock itself on fire (or, it's a napalm-like thing - but a flourine fire is neater concept).Jens Falkesgaardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05569093311781826721noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-46004777806265244362021-06-04T06:43:10.900-04:002021-06-04T06:43:10.900-04:00That clears things up, thanks! I'm more shocke...That clears things up, thanks! I'm more shocked that I actually remembered something correctly!Lance of Countersonghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17572628311538950632noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-18395114033374351542021-06-03T19:27:55.335-04:002021-06-03T19:27:55.335-04:00Was pretty sure it wasn't a medieval drawing a...Was pretty sure it wasn't a medieval drawing and looked around. Seems it's from an early- to late-18th century edition of Caspar Schott's Physica Curiosa:<br /><br />https://www.strangescience.net/stdino2.htm<br /><br />Either the artist simply wasn't a good one or was broadly copying an earlier picture (and medieval illustrations, by and large, aren't concerned with realistic depictions, especially those involving perspective, but rather size as a symbol for importance eg the horseman in the original might have been someone of some importance so was depicted as being larger than his horse as well as the dragon).DominusCaveaVulpeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16317537974568062563noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-55671844310349347012021-06-03T19:05:46.153-04:002021-06-03T19:05:46.153-04:00Lance, it's not a theory:
https://www.dragons...Lance, it's not a theory:<br /><br />https://www.dragonsfoot.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=42201DominusCaveaVulpeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16317537974568062563noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-52295780754022515892021-06-03T16:28:50.844-04:002021-06-03T16:28:50.844-04:00Great post,thanks. I hadn't thought about this...Great post,thanks. I hadn't thought about this aspect of the inflationary and narcissistic trends in rpgs. Relates to those goofy, enotmous-bladed swords characters are portrayed carrying in later editions too, I guess.<br /><br />I hope you'll do a post at some point (if you haven't already) on the increasingly impractical, absurd, and haute couture / urban shaman armor and costuming in the art. (Though Dee and Otus were sometimes guilty of this too.)Michael Weingradhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08223004946662052526noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-63939506919494283152021-06-03T14:50:12.099-04:002021-06-03T14:50:12.099-04:00Is the horse weirdly small in the medieval drawing...Is the horse weirdly small in the medieval drawing? Or the knight a giant?Lance of Countersonghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17572628311538950632noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-51389298004558548912021-06-03T14:48:29.827-04:002021-06-03T14:48:29.827-04:00Oh yeah, there are theories out there that falling...Oh yeah, there are theories out there that falling damage is not the total, but should be summed.Lance of Countersonghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17572628311538950632noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-30603386757500279942021-06-03T14:30:39.964-04:002021-06-03T14:30:39.964-04:00I agree. I wish I had the space and resources (and...I agree. I wish I had the space and resources (and painting skills) to make good use of miniatures.James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-59761049675678510382021-06-03T14:27:49.207-04:002021-06-03T14:27:49.207-04:00I rarely play RPGs without minis these days, and I...I rarely play RPGs without minis these days, and I find having suitably sized monster figs leads to the players suddenly becoming much more cautious about what they're willing to fight. Even something the size of that "smallish" dragon would have folks looking for ways to avoid a "fair" fight, and I've got a few stupidly huge models that are mostly indications that it's time to run away.<br /><br />So...if getting people to think about scale is important, try minis. Dick McGeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14521293874696659063noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-26326007431627129282021-06-03T14:22:01.330-04:002021-06-03T14:22:01.330-04:00I was thinking it had melted the missing bits of r...I was thinking it had melted the missing bits of rock, which raises some other questions about how squishy little humanoids are supposed to survive one of its attacks. Granite melts at over 1200 degrees Celsius, which is quite a bit hotter than a crematorium's ovens.Dick McGeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14521293874696659063noreply@blogger.com