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Post by swordnut on Jun 9, 2016 10:32:58 GMT
This symbol is found all over europe, africa and the middle east. It has been found less commonly in the americas and asia. Often carved into wooden tables, beams in attics, stone building blocks etc. The oldest known example was found at the top of a huge stone column at the temple of thebes and in the roof slabs of the temple of kurna in egypt  Spoiler: This is Nine mens morris, mill, merrels and a dozen other names. You have played it.
Its a game board. You place pieces down to try to make rows of 3 (a mill), allowing you to remove an opposing piece of your choice. The play gets more complicated, but the smaller version is tic tac toe.
I like the idea of having a temple where this sort of symbol appears all over the place in secret places, but its a red herring. Its the doodling of construction workers on their breaks. Maybe the same 2 folks over and over. Perhaps the result is recorded with different sigils over the central square.
Your players are one perception check away from constructing their own conspiracy theory |
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Post by swordnut on Jun 9, 2016 10:50:20 GMT
These are practice swords, used in medieval europe  In steel, its called a Federschwert (feather sword). They hit hard, but the mass is shiffed back off the blade and the tip can bend on a thrust. The weight and balance are right for a sharp steel sword, so these are really useful. but expensive This is a wooden sword, called a waster its much cheaper, but handles not at all like a sword and isnt as safe a you might think (I made these for a living any moons ago)     |
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Post by swordnut on Jun 9, 2016 10:51:29 GMT
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Post by joatmoniac on Jun 11, 2016 18:09:01 GMT
How much could the wooden practice swords stand up to? I would envision there is a decently short lifespan on them when in decent use. Then again using a hard enough wood and treating correctly, could make ... a really nice looking club to pummel someone with? Haha.
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Post by swordnut on Jun 11, 2016 22:26:40 GMT
How much could the wooden practice swords stand up to? I would envision there is a decently short lifespan on them when in decent use. Then again using a hard enough wood and treating correctly, could make ... a really nice looking club to pummel someone with? Haha. It really varies based on the individual piece of wood and there's no way to know other than in broad strokes. Ash was the favoured material historically, but nowadays a lot of people use hickory. it also depends how hard you are hitting and what you are hitting. The most common form of pell, for example is a withy planted in the ground or a sapling denuded of branches. Both things that would give rather than resist a strike. You could also make the waster bulky, but then it wouldn't handle like a sword at all. I could go on for days. Weeks. |
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Post by catcharlie on Jun 16, 2016 20:20:20 GMT
This is Avebury, Britains largest stone circle and one of its largest henges (the henge is the ditch) The village is around 3000 years younger than the stone circle, but is still over 1500 years old. The henge itself started as a ditch with concentric timber circles inside, gradually added to and replaced with stone. It was arguably more important than stonehenge for a very long time. Now, avebury is a sleepy (if expensive) village where nothing happens. At least until the spaceship emerges Oh, I've been there, very nice, some of the oak trees (bottom right hand corner) have some awesome roots that come out of the ground and are really twisty and turn-y. |
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Post by showerbear on Jun 17, 2016 23:17:52 GMT
I don't know that this is necessarily in the same vein but here goes...
When our group decided to pick back up playing after a seven month hiatus I knew that since two of our party, my sisters-in-law, are barely 14 years old and I'd noticed how hard it had been to maintain their attention the first time around, I wanted it to be in a more interesting setting than the standard High Fantasy world I'd set up for them the first time and I felt like part of that was to have more things that were analogous with things they'd be familiar with, or at least aware of, in their day to day lives. Eventually I settled on, among other things, a highly addictive and popular drug (derived from the fermented blood of evil dragons no less) called drakul. And where would this drug be available and consumed? Why, prohibition era speakeasies of course! I spent the better part of a month on Google and in my local library looking at photos and schematics of real speakeasies and reading books about how they operated (predominantly in the Chicago area) and used them as the templates for the various inns and taverns serving the city in which they'd start their campaign. Inevitably, or at least it seems so in hindsight, that month of work would influence the overall world, lending it a pre-WWI era feel with gangs of dwarves running illegal substances, underground halfling jazz clubs, and robberies galore (most of which seem to target high end apothecaries).
Long story short: Speakeasies can be a pretty rewarding world building/story element
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Post by swordnut on Jun 18, 2016 8:28:13 GMT
I don't know that this is necessarily in the same vein but here goes... When our group decided to pick back up playing after a seven month hiatus I knew that since two of our party, my sisters-in-law, are barely 14 years old and I'd noticed how hard it had been to maintain their attention the first time around, I wanted it to be in a more interesting setting than the standard High Fantasy world I'd set up for them the first time and I felt like part of that was to have more things that were analogous with things they'd be familiar with, or at least aware of, in their day to day lives. Eventually I settled on, among other things, a highly addictive and popular drug (derived from the fermented blood of evil dragons no less) called drakul. And where would this drug be available and consumed? Why, prohibition era speakeasies of course! I spent the better part of a month on Google and in my local library looking at photos and schematics of real speakeasies and reading books about how they operated (predominantly in the Chicago area) and used them as the templates for the various inns and taverns serving the city in which they'd start their campaign. Inevitably, or at least it seems so in hindsight, that month of work would influence the overall world, lending it a pre-WWI era feel with gangs of dwarves running illegal substances, underground halfling jazz clubs, and robberies galore (most of which seem to target high end apothecaries). Long story short: Speakeasies can be a pretty rewarding world building/story element I'd love to see your plans and photos posted here |
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Post by swordnut on Jul 11, 2016 15:06:15 GMT
If you want an "Ancient Fortress". Here is a change of pace from a ruined castle This is an iron age Hill Fort. They are usually on isolated hills or on promontories with steep drop-offs. There are several banks and ditches that follow the contours, and a palisade wall at the top. The ditches may have traps/spikes or water in them. There are often large areas that can be used to house huge food stores and livestock to endure long periods of uncertainty, siege and to rebuild from once the main settlements have been destroyed. Often, they became the only settlement, with the outlying villages abandoned during times of extended uncertainty. The odd stuff at the back of this one (Old Oswestry) is stone and earth structures. No-one has a clue what they are for.  |
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Post by swordnut on Jul 11, 2016 15:34:27 GMT
I know what this is, but you tell me, what is it in your world? There is a reasonable sized wood to the right and in the distance. Over the rise to the left is an open field. There is no door to the tower, no windows and no identifying marks of any kind. It is completely free of vegetation. To the right in the foreground is a patch of very boggy ground.  |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 11, 2016 16:45:45 GMT
The tower is ... Strange. No entrance, no windows... If this appeared in my world, I'd say it's a type of tomb. Built to commemorate the life and deeds of a member of a road guard paladin order (think Kind Wayfarers in Pillars of eternity). What is it in reality, swordnut? |
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Post by swordnut on Jul 14, 2016 10:54:31 GMT
The tower is ... Strange. No entrance, no windows... If this appeared in my world, I'd say it's a type of tomb. Built to commemorate the life and deeds of a member of a road guard paladin order (think Kind Wayfarers in Pillars of eternity). What is it in reality, swordnut ? I like it being a portal to another realm that is really really bad. Sealed and forgotten ages ago. Nothing will grow on it, the stones will not erode. it stands as a sentinel to our folly. there is a ancient folk tale that singing the right song at the right time can alow you to pass though solid walls. is there a connection? it is a chimney for a mill (wool or cotton I think). The mill building was in a little hollow in the woods on the right. the wet aground on the right foreground is the old mill pond that drove part of the machinery. The flue gasses reached the chimney by a buried tunnel/pipe that is not there anymore. |
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