This is Almost Over!

This month I hung 95 pieces of my artwork at Cupcake Royale Capitol Hill:

95 pieces is a lot, by the way. Between drawing, framing, hanging, and (this Tuesday morning) taking them down, that's a significant time investment. I'm also kind of proud of these big panels. I did a lot of things wrong, but these are only the first run of this idea, so I'm pretty happy about them.

This was also the maiden voyage for some much bigger dungeons:

This is all coming down in a few days, so if you're in the neighborhood, this is your last chance to visit

Megabot 101's Space Dungeon

There's this online strategy game called Ultracorps that I used to play a lot. The original version came out in the 90's and was pretty revolutionary at the time. The game was based on an online comic called "Megabot" by Stan James and Brandon Gillam. The thing is, almost everybody was on dialup in those days, and even if you had DSL, the download times for the comic were murder, so hardly anyone read it. I did, though. Megabot 206 was the hero of the comic. Or maybe it was Megabot 6. This dungeon is my homage to that story.

You can buy prints and customizations of Megabot 101's Space Dungeon on Etsy.

Wizard's Tower

Wizards prefer to live in towers as a rule. Nobody is quite sure why this is, least of all the wizards. A necromancer often lives in a black tower, which might be made of corrugated iron. An ice wizard can make her tower of ice. A fire wizard's tower is visible for miles. An air wizard's tower might not be visible at all.

And of course there are all sorts of wizard's who don't bother with such displays,though they are nevertheless very powerful. This wizard is a library wizard, though he also does arcane surgeries, mostly to make ends meet in this rotten economy. You might find almost anything in a Wizard's basement.

You can buy prints of the Wizard's Tower on Etsy.

There is a mathematical law that determines the rate at which the Internet spawns new social networking tools. There is a new social bookmarking site called Pinterest. You should not care about this, except for the dungeons.

Basically Pinterest is a temple to the deities who governs art and design and that thrift store bike you repurposed as a wash basin stand for your off bath.

Clearly it needs more dungeons.

The Art of Dungeoncraft board on Pinterest represents the love of dungeons and art in the world of pinterest. Would love for you to check it out. Also, if you happen to be obsessed by dungeons (and/or art, possibly), you could become a contributor too.

Trezbian Dungeon

Trezbian Dungeon, a photo by Marasmusine on Flickr.

A little blast from the past, some really great How to Host a Dungeon art by Marasmusine on Flickr.

Frankly

It's funny. Looking at my art alongside the many excellent artists exhibiting in the Capitol Hill Art Walk, I realize my stuff looks kind of crappy by comparison (like this is pretty cool, and this show is chock full of awesome). But you know what? I don't give a damn! Yay, me!

Tossing out the Grid

Listening to The Walking Eye Podcast actual play recordings of Dungeon World lately. I love AP recordings of old-style D&D games. Dave's game gives me a very vivid impression of the landscape of the Grundloch dungeon that comes in the Dungeon World Red Book which is nevertheless really different from how I imagine the same space. I think part of this is a benefit of tossing out the grid and using more freeform dungeon maps (disclaimer: I drew the map for the adventure, hence I'm inclined to interpret it as pure awesome). Without the grid, you're free to imagine the dungeon space more thoroughly. Does anybody have similar experiences that back up or contradict that observation?

So toss out the grid already?