RPG Media Monday - Creepy, Hateful, & Surreal

Over on wired.com, the share "Tony DiTerlizzi's Top 10 Books for Creeping Out Kids" here.

Also, on cracked.com, they give us "5 Grimm Fairy Tales You Should Only Read to Kids You Hate" here.

Finally, on the Robert Morgan YouTube channel, we are treated to a video of a "Cat with Hands."  Enjoy!

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Historical Thursday - Vikings Money, Trade, Travel, & Sagas

Three this week from the Medievalists.net all about Vikings with the first being "Money and trade in Viking-Age Scandinavia" here.

Also, they take a look at "Viking Travellers of the Sagas" here.

Finally, they give some advice on "The Sagas of Icelanders as a Historical Source" here.

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RPG Media Monday - & Magazine #12, Archaeology, & Medieval Tales

Over on and-mag.com, & Magazine #12 has been released earlier this month here.

Also, on tor.com, they discuss "Getting the Archaeology Right in Fantasy Fiction" here.

Finally, on medievalists.net, they list "Five Medieval Tales Too Good to be True" here.

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The Tuesday Sundries - Jim Beam, Hangover Island, & Heroes

Over on dailymail.co.uk, they have some interesting footage from 2003 of a "firenado" seemingly caused by freak weather and a massive whiskey spill.  Learn more here.

Also, on privateislandsonline.com, check out Hangover Island for possible purchase at $200K here.

Finally, on the TED-Ed YouTube channel, Matthew Winkler discusses "What makes a hero?"  There's m mention of Jim Beam, but enjoy.

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RPG Media Monday - The Periodic Table of Storytelling

Over on James R. Harris's Design Through Storytelling website you can find the Periodic Table of Storytelling here.  Some of the entries are absolutely hilarious but there are some underlying truths to the structures of stories that tie it all together.

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The Tuesday Sundries - Will Bird and the Roman Gladius

There's a wonderful story of a Roman Gladius found by a WWI soldier titled "Will Bird and the Roman Gladius" which you can read here.

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RPG Media Monday - The 2014 National Geographic Geography Bee & New Muppet-esque Movie

Part of what makes our tabletop RPG cartographic efforts interesting goes beyond drawing hills and trees, more trees, and yet more trees.  The places that often intrigue players the most are the largest, longest, smallest, hottest, coldest, and other extreme examples of their respective types, as well as the unusual names of locations of which we were previously unaware.  Discovering these places in the real world can be fun and provide inspiration for our gaming efforts.  To that end, here is the 2014 National Geographic Geography Bee from the Nat Geo YouTube channel.  Enjoy!


Also something to watch as news develops is the broader release of Lessons Learned, a short film by Toby Froud, the guy who was cast as the baby in the movie Labyrinth.  He's been assisted by his folks, Brian and Wendy Froud who are Henson Company stalwarts, and Jim Henson's daughter, Heather.  If you found tabletop RPG inspiration in that movie or in The Dark Crystal, I'm guessing this new film will be a real treat.  I know I am looking forward to seeing it!

Furthermore, if you have never heard Shoggoth's Old Peculiar as read by the author, Neil Gaiman, then you should listen, via YouTube, to the three parts of it (about 27 minutes in total).  Enjoy!

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The Earliest Little Red Riding Hood Tale

Learn about "The Earliest Little Red Riding Hood Tale" over on Medievalists.net here!

Bardic Tellings of Beowulf

If you want to get an idea of how some bards might handle the stroytelling of Beowulf, check out the videos below.  Enjoy!

Weather Sound Effects

A little something to liven up any game are sound effects, if they can be non-intrusive to game play.  A Facebook Friend recently steered me to the PartnersInRhyme.com site which has a variety of sound files that you can use to really enhance your storytelling.  Hear more here!

Isaac Asimov: The Three Laws of Robotics

If you have never heard them before, or just might enjoy a refresher, here is Isaac Asimov explaining his Three Laws of Robotics.  It's the sort of thing he considered when creating settings for his stories.  Enjoy!

Naming Conventions - Disney Dwarfs

While it is always a struggle to come up with great names for the populace of any tabletop roleplaying setting, even coming up with a handful of names to fill out the crowd can be a challenge.  Read more about how the Disney folks named their famous Seven Dwarfs here!

12 Pixar Storytelling Rules Explained With Lego

A short time back, an article was circulating on 22 Pixar Storytelling Rules, and it was a useful read for tabletop roleplaying setting creators.  More recently, an article takes twelve of those ideas and explains them in Lego form.  See more here!

Epic Tale Characters

There is an interesting poster image I saw on Facebook from the Tor.com photo pages showing many of the characters one might find in epic tales.  Check it out here!

Storytelling Rules, According to Pixar

On io9.com, there's an article titled "The 22 rules of storytelling, according to Pixar" that might be of interest to setting creators.  Read more here!