Tag Archives: drawing

May 23, 2014 · 12:56 am

The Grizzled Wizard

One of the secrets of the successful dungeon master in Dungeons and Dragons is the ability to provide the right amount of help with impossible quests so that the players can succeed, arrive at the story’s goal and feel like they accomplished the miracle themselves. One of the ways I did this was by using a powerful wizard as a patron. Gristhane the Grizzled Wizard, also known as the Green Wizard of Gorthanc Grotto, was the character I used to do this.

This powerful, mysterious, and possibly evil wizard set the adventurers on quests that led them to the orc-besieged city of Gansdorf to help the human wizard Ganser, the wizard Merlini, and the elves of the Northeastern Forest defend the city. He also set them the task of finding the lost prince of Starnor. Once they found him, they were given the task of locating Ancient Starnor and magically rebuilding the kingdom. They also were charged with defeating the Black Wizard, a task that led them to the Black Wizard’s master, Lord Frakkus, the Lich King known as Nightmare.We had epic battles. Of the four adventurers pictured here, only Sir Hogan and Asduel survived the fighting.

Always the Grizzled Wizard provided the critical clue or the appropriate magic to win the day and achieve the quest. Sir Hogan asked him to bring the thief Clarissa back from the dead. This he did, and the noble knight married her, making her the Lady of Castle Tol Arriseah. He was an essential part of many adventures, and though he never had the starring role in the story, he was always a crucial part of it.

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The Enchanted Barbarian

This Paffooney is more Dungeons and Dragons nonsense. Back in the early eighties, when elves swarmed over the free lands of Castle Gansdorf, one of the most intriguing adventurers there was the barbarian warrior with no name. He never spoke. He was apparently mute, but that was never proven. He bailed the adventurers out of trouble after trouble, helping to defeat the Black Wizard… Assisting Sir Hogan the noble knight in the conquest and settlement of Castle Tol Arriseah… Locating the hidden ruins of Starnor and revealing the werebear prince who was destined to rule there when the ancient kingdom was reborn… As it turned out, he was not even human. He was an enchanted great sword named “Ral K’uth Fey” and given man-like form by the grizzled wizard Gristhane. Oh, I could spin a yarn back then. We slaughtered armies, conquered castles, and built kingdoms all on the living room floor. I have to admit, though, I sometimes had to cheat on the dice rolls in favor of the story turning out right.

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May 22, 2014 · 11:28 pm

May 21, 2014 · 10:48 pm

Who Fans

Back in about 1979 I discovered Dr. Who from the BBC on PBS. It soon became my all-time favorite Sci-Fi series, ahead of Battlestar Galactica, the Twilight Zone, Land of the Giants, Lost in Space, and Land of the Lost. I started watching with Jon Pertwee, the Third Doctor. I didn’t even realize that doctors came before, or that regeneration was even possible. I watched the good Doctor, aided by U.N.I.T. battle Cybermen, Silurians, Daleks, Sontarans, and Ice Warriors from Mars. I saw London attacked by Daleks. I saw the Doctor driving about saving the world in his goofy yellow car. I loved it with all my heart.

Naturally I chose to Paffooney the Second Doctor, Patrick Troughton. Makes a lot of sense, huh? I watched all the episodes I could manage with the 3rd, 4th, and 5th Doctors before I even knew about the First and Second. Then I got a chance to see the very first episode with William Hartnell as the Doctor. I was thoroughly enchanted. I’m not like today’s kids who can’t be bothered to watch anything in Black and White. I watched every episode PBS could air. At that time many of the first episodes were lost or seriously misplaced. But I grew a special fondness for Doctor number Two because that character is so much like me; bubbling over with useless facts, bumbling good intentions, and thinking by playing his recorder (though my thought-instrument is actually a harmonica).

I still crave more Doctor Who adventures. I loved Doctor Seven, Sylvester McCoy, too. Even more because he’s also now a part of The Hobbit movies. And I really appreciate the new Doctors, especially David Tennant. Doctor Who lives again! And maybe we will even learn his actual name! He’s Doctor Who?

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Tagged as colored pencil, Dr. Who, drawing, favorite shows, goofiness, paffooney, pen and ink, television memories

May 20, 2014 · 9:34 pm

Warrior Elves

One of the most interesting parts of the old-time Dungeons & Dragons campaign were the elves and the part they played in sweeping adventures and war. Elves, who revere magic and live closer to nature than humans, were a popular part of our game. Nobody wanted to play an elf, however. They just wanted to recruit them as NPC hired help. I was able, though, to create a few with character. The elf Fernando was a thief and an illusionist. When a Minotaur killed him, the players worked hard to bring him back from the dead. Of course, he was named after one of the players, one of the reasons they were fond of him. The elf Apollo was inspired by the Elfquest characters of Wendy and Richard Pini. Those comics were read and reread till they started to come apart at the staples. I still have them. The Paffooney pictures one of Apollo’s sons who was among the elven legions that defended Castle Gansdorf from the armies of the Red Dragon and the Black Wizard. Most of the elves died in that battle (which completely covered my living room floor in miniatures and cardboard castle parts). I don’t remember this elf’s name, but he survived the battle and the castle defenders won, holding the walls of the inner courts.

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Tagged as drawing, Dungeons and Dragons, elf, fantasy games, old stories, paffooney, pen and ink

May 19, 2014 · 11:35 pm

Comic Book Fever

I have long wanted to tell my stories in comic book form, a thing that causes no little difficulty. Problem one, my arthritis makes 64-page stories difficult, let alone the hundreds of pages needed for a graphic novel.

I do have a couple of things that I have worked on over the years, though. Here are a couple of things;

Sorcerer’s Duel is a tale of Dungeons and Dragons players, while Hidden Kingdom is a sword and sorcery tale set in the tiny world of fairies and mythical creatures (made small over the centuries by the disbelief of most humans). Both are graphic novels that will probably never see publication. I can expose them on this blog, however, and maybe generate interest in my fiction.

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May 18, 2014 · 9:17 pm

Danse Macabre

Every good writer writes about love… Well, not love exactly… Love. Every theme, every idea, every character basically boils down to that one very human emotion. You know that every religion says that God is Love… at least they say the good God is. But love has many facets, and leads to many other essential ideas. Life and Death, Sex and Birth, Love and Hate… all are part of the great dance… Camille Saint-Saens called it the Danse Macabre, the Dance of Death, and wrote about it in symphonic music. I reached a time in my youth where I had to confront the fact that people live and people die and I was no exception.

I have never believed in Hell. The God I know does not punish His creations with eternal torment… especially for reasons like having the wrong religion or making the wrong choices. I have to admit that once I rejected the notion of eternal punishments, I also began to doubt eternal rewards. Looking forward to a time after life is just as foolish and just as much a waste of time as fearing it. We do have to look carefully into the darkness, however, because in the unknown are concealed many traps and terrors. Fear is a real thing, and it does an important job warning us and making us prepare for the worst.

We always seem to associate innocence with goodness and purity. But as important as grappling with the idea of our own death is, is grappling with the loss of our own innocence. There comes a moment that we are confronted with the awful truth. It came for me when I was ten and was sexually abused by a neighbor. Feelings of guilt and humiliation were not totally new to me, but they dropped on me then like a landslide of granite and lava. That which is child-like and trusting is replaced distrust, fear, and loathing.

Where do we find the answer? Where do we find release from suffering and pain? Where do we find peace of mind? Religion can fuel love and forgiveness. It does it well. But it also fuels guilt and self-loathing. Unfortunately it does that well too. Psychiatry is an inexact science and needs a lot of further research. So what is the conclusion to this philosophical quest? What is the answer? What are the last steps of the Dance? I tried to sum it up the best that I could in the final panel of my cartoon Danse Macabre.

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Melodrama

This old colored pencil Paffooney once won a blue ribbon at the Art Contest at the Wright County Fair in Eagle Grove, Iowa… back in the 1970’s. Sergeant Peppercorn and his Native American sidekick, Wampum Boy, have tracked down the evil Handsome Harry Hardtack to save Blondie Goodnight from being tied to a railroad track. Don’t heroes always arrive in the nick of time to save the day?

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May 18, 2014 · 2:22 am

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Creepy Times, the Second Chapter

As a teacher, you always have to wonder who is pulling your strings, who is the puppet master? It is usually a principal, but today I think it was a colleague. She dumped another monster assignment on me. Individual test score conferences with all our ESL 10th and 11th grade students. They are taking my classroom away from me tomorrow, so I have no place to do the work, nor sufficient time. I apparently get half of the ninth graders too. Then I will called on the carpet if I don’t get this done soon… preferably tomorrow. This from a woman who has no classes to teach and no job beyond paperwork. Why can’t she do all of this extra work? She has the time and an available office. Another of the many reasons I am retiring in June. I love teaching, but nobody lets me do it any more… at least, not the right way.

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May 15, 2014 · 1:54 am

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Yawn!

Today was an incredibly hard work day. I haven’t slept now since 8:00 a.m. yesterday. Almost 36 hours of achy wakefulness. Thunderstorms are making my arthritis ache and keeping me from actually falling asleep. I stumble now in five directions at once… forward, backward, to the left, to the right, and straight down. Soon this old clown will tumble down and roll around on the ground and finally fall to sleeeee….zzzzzzzzzzzzz

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May 13, 2014 · 12:31 am

May 10, 2014 · 12:07 am

The Book of Old Art

I have notebooks full of old drawings of many sorts. Some novel-related, most not. Let’s start with my first novel… one not published yet. I call it Superchicken after the central character.

And here are supporting characters in various stages of drawing…

The story-teller character is, of course, the younger version of me. This story is more than thirty years old.

I have many other drawings of various weird things. You may notice the signature says Leah Cim Reyeb. That goofy old etruscan so-and-so is actually me, my name spelled backwards… err… sdrawkcab.