Darran Sims

Here is the third sword in a series of three.
It is a short Lunar Army scimitar with the Lunar rune at the base of the blade. This is smallest of the three.

Here is the second sword in a series of three.
It is a Lunar Army scimitar with Lunar Imperial runes at the base of the blade. This is smaller than the first one.
The pommel is a crescent moon shape with sharp tips and mirrors the hand guards that are crescent shaped also.

Here is the cover for the Furnace 2009 Con Book, not the one I wanted to use as that got taken up elsewhere.



I am still doing the layout for the con book as I only got the Games Programme yesterday - not had any sleep last night and will no doubt not get any tonight as well.
Hopefully it will be printed and ready for the con!

Here is one sword in a series of three.
It is a Lunar Army scimitar with Lunar Imperial runes at the base of the blade. The pommel is a crescent moon shape with sharp tips and mirrors the hand guards that are crescent shaped also.

I didn't post last week due to being away on holiday.
This week's sword is a broadsword with a single edge on the curved blade.
It has a long hilt with a heavy pommel for a double handed grip and a 'Y' shaped guard.
In a way it resembles a Katana.

This week's sword isn't really a sword but evolved from an axe.
It is also the ancestor to the Falcata I have featured in the last few weeks.

This sword is so cool looking, called a sickle-sword or khopesh, it has featured as the weapon of choice for many an Egyptian Pharaoh.

This is another falcata, a more elegant one with a lion's head pommel as part of the handle. Certainly an officer's weapon.

This falcata has a straighter blade but maintains its curved cutting edge. Falcatas are know as 'limb loppers' as they are very good at cutting off limbs. The curved edge encourages the cutting action but if you can't cut the limb off first time the sword gets struck.

So another elegant Falcata. This one has less of a curve in its blade and has a bird motif handle.

Here is my favourite type of sword a Falcata!
If I was ever have to fight hand-to-hand this would be the sword I would use. Its elegance is belied by its simplicity.
The curve of the blade assists the cutting action of the edge and the shape of the blade distributes the mass in such a way that the falcata is capable of delivering a blow with the momentum of an axe, while maintaining the cutting edge of a sword.
The hilt is cool as well as it is stylised in the shape of a horse yet it guards the hand well.
Beautiful!

So I have designed some character sheets for my up coming Supernatural HeroQuest game.
I went for a police report look, finding a real letterhead for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation plus Georgia court stamps on the web was good.
The mug-shots were hard to do as I had to make up the ones for Bobby, Ruby and Bela, photoshopping the height chart behind them.
Getting the information for the police report was hard as well - date of births for the two main characters of the show was available but it was harder to get info on the others. Some I just had to make up but most info was from the actors themselves.
I then added some more polaroids of items tied to the characters for more genre flavour.

The final touch was using a pentagram symbol in place of the mastery rune - again very genre specific that I thinks adds to the game.


Sam Winchester




( See more Supernatural Character sheets... )

So here is another scimitar, this one is a short cutlas. It has a leather bound handle with a slight pommel and an extended thumb guard.

Here is a standard fair scimitar. A sharp curved blade with a solid hilt.

This sword has a nicely balanced curved blade yet is slim and light as well. A simple ring guard, a curved handle and a shapely pommel are the main details.
This is for a skilled swordsman with no ostentatious demands.

Here is a longer cutlas with a good bucket guard and a killer curve to the blade.

I was asked to come up with a logo for the new HeroQuest core rules and other future products by Moon Designs.
I did several designs that used the Gloranthan runic writing font of the old logo as well as other lettering styles.
None of them really worked that well though I was happy with the different textures and colours I came up with for the letter fill.

Then I looked back at the lettering styles of the old Chaosium boxsets for 'Pavis' and the 'Big Rubble'.

I did like that font style though I didn't have it myself.
So I decided to design my own from scratch, using the old font as a starting point but changing the style somewhat. I added a slight curve to the base of the serifs and fattened the letters more.
I added a metal trim to the edge of each letter to give it a 'classy look' and used the textured fills I had come up with earlier to solidify the lettering. A white highlight was added to give them a shiny look and I added a shadow to give it a solid dimension.

To finish it off I did a line of runes across the top to give it a retro look. This design has half Gloranthan runes and the other half symbols drawn from other possible genres and settings [The new HeroQuest rules are genric now, not just tied to Glorantha].

I have done variations to the main design so any colour can be used. The red does suit the jonhodgson cover for the core rules but other cover art may need a different colour to set off the logo. We have several different marble like textures and colours as well as some metal textures that will suit other works better.
Also for solely Gloranthan products the line of runes will be purely Gloranthan ones.





The new HeroQuest logo

This week's scimitar is a short cutlas!

So this week's scimitar is in fact a Falchion type sword. It has a single-edged broad blade with a single fuller and though it has a sharp stabbing point this is a slashing weapon. Most of the blade is straight with only the tip being curved to allow a better slash attack.
The crossguard is a large, simple bar with an elegant curve to it. The hilt is bound in leather and pommel is heavy and allows for a two-handed grip if necessary. Though this weapon looks crude it is in fact a very efficient sword and suits being used against armoured foes.

So missed last week's as I was away in Germany for Tentacles but we'll have another now.
This one is another fantasy sabre with moon-curved handguards and an inverted cresent moon as a prommel.
An excellent example of a Lunar Trooper's sword.

So I haven't posted a Sunday Scimitar picture for a while due to being away on holiday so here is another one.
This one is another Chinese sword with a curved handle, a board blade with a wide tip and a single deep fuller.

So this is a fantasy scimitar, a Lunar one judging by the Moon rune on the hand guard.
This is a solid sword with one cutting edge. The majority of the blade is straight with only the blade tip curved.

I have done some work on this map having done the western hills and finished off the mountains.
I am working on a few samples of the swamp that I'll post up soon.


 

( See the map... )

Dragon Lands of Glorantha - isometric sketch-02 Thmbnail

 

Another slender blade with a round curve that makes it good at slashing. This also has a sharp double edged point that is great for stabbing with, that is directly matched to the handle.
There is a knuckle guard and the pommel is claw shaped to enable to do a backhand swipe or stab.

So here is a map I did a while back.
It is of the Dragon Lands of Dragon Pass in Glorantha and is the setting for my HeroQuest campaign.

I was fairly happy with it but it still unfinished and doesn't quite convey the combination of flat lands, swamp, peaks and craggy hills.


( See the maps... )



Dragon Lands of Glorantha - isometric sketch -01 Thumbnail.

The labels are just temporary at the moment just to give an idea for comparison of the two maps.

I still have quite a bit to do to finish it off.

One thing I may struggle with is doing the large swamp as I haven't got a clue how to represent it.
Any ideas?

This scimitar is a Saif [ سيف], a curved Arabian sword. Double edged and slender it is a deadly weapon.

Here is an Orlanthi steadhouse in cut-away form that I have been working on. The Orlanthi are the barbarian culture in Glorantha.

This one is a small farm house type structure with half the stead given over to animal stalls with a stone water trough. The younger family members sleep in the 'attic' above the animals while the more important family members sleep in the rooms at the back on beds. The main living room has a central fire pit for cooking, a large communal table and the walls are adorned with weapons and winter survival gear.

Hand drawn with ink in an isometric view.


The Orlanthi Steadhouse


The cut-away of the Orlanthi Steadhouse


More to follow.

So here is another scimitar drawing I have done.
A simple curved widening blade with a solid guard and heavy pommel.

A nice Chinese ring sword next.
A leather bound hilt with sword-catcher guards and the large curved blade with two fullers to give more flexibility.

Here is another scimitar!
Nice fancy handle.

Another drawing of a scimitar.

So here is another scimitar- this one is more of the Arabian Nights or Sinbad style one.
This is one of my favourites!

So here is another Scimitar.

So every Sunday I'll post up a drawing of a scimitar that I have drawn.

I must have drawn over 100 different scimitars [though a few are similar]. They were used as white space filler in a few HeroQuest supplements.

Here is the home settlement of the White Rams Clan, called Swiny, the player characters home base.



It is quite unusual, as it has round houses based of the Storm Rune instead of the common square or rectangle long-houses the Orlanthi normally have. Only the Loom House, the main domain of the clan's women is built the more common way.
The large roundhouse is the chief's hall and in the centre is a local spring, the main source of water for the settlement.
The defences are the cliff on the western side, eight foot high dry stone walls, a steep walkway, gate tower and watch tower. Earthworks are raised further out from the settlement in two rings, the inner ring protects the settlement itself and the outer ring protects the farmland and is topped by a palisade wall.

Here are the Guests of Honour. 
French illustrator Rolland Barthelemy has done these beautiful cartoons of the Guests of Honour at Continuum 2008.



Greg 

 

As promised here are the rest of the Continuum Committee! 
French illustrator Rolland Barthelemy has done these fine caricatures of the Continuum committee.



Loz 
 

So I have set myself a little art project to do.

Produce colour pictures of the different people in the setting of Glorantha in the style of the Osprey Soldier type paintings.

This one is my first, a Yelmalion warrior in Dragon Pass.

Based on a Greek hoplite with Sun and Yelmalio runes on his armour and shield. Out of the people in Dragon Pass the Yelmalions as a group are going to be the most heavily armed and armoured.

The painting itself was coloured in Adobe Photoshop but I am not quite happy with it. 
I may do it again with ArtRage once I get more time after Continuum.
This is in the SOLAR Book that will be sold at Continuum 2008.

The next one?

Probably the player characters in my home HeroQuest game so Orlanthi or Yinkini.

So I have been playing around with ArtRage 2.5, an excellent paint and art style programme that allows you to use actual painting and drawing techniques instead of point and click as other programmes do.


The next stage is to use the sketch to do a painting of the troll and maybe add armour and more details.
This sketch is also in the first edition of 'Hearts in Glorantha'.

So this is the cover I have done for Newt for the first issue of 'Hearts In Glorantha'.

I am pleased with it, especially the letters in the main title as they are my own design from many years ago. I hope to make them into a proper font once I have found a font making software package for the mac.



I am by the way the un-official Art Director for HiG so I will be producing more artwork and trying to source new artists for the future issues.

0 Tentacles Deja Vu. Castle Stahleck, Bacharach, Germany.
Friday 9th - Monday 12th May 2008.
http://www.tentacles-convention.de/

Well, I just got back from my holiday in Spain today and received delivery of the Freeform books, player booklets and playing cards for the 'Masters of Luck and Death' freeform.



They all look fantastic, so thanks goes to my brother for getting them printed.

I am happy with the artwork for the front cover as well. A real team effort.
The map of the Holy Country in the background was drawn by Dario Corallo and aged by Simon Bray to look old and worn. The compass rose part was put together by myself with each metal texture getting put together to form the whole.
The metals and runes as well as the stones represent each of the six different areas that make up the Holy Country. From the top we have lead, obsidian and the darkness rune for the Troll lands of the Shadow Plateau; tin, calcite and air rune for Heortland; cold iron, granite and fate rune for the atheistic people of God Forgot; the bottom section we have for the sea people of the Rightarm Islands mercury, malachite and the water rune; the volcano worshipping Caladralanders have gold, amber and fire rune; and finally we have copper, red jasper and earth rune for the Esrolians [or Land of a 1,000 Goddesses]. The centre cartouche represents the God-King or Pharaoh of the Holy Country, Belintar.

I am just finishing off the name badges, the stat packs and the cutting out of many little bits of handouts for the players.

Simon Bray has done such a great job of writing this freeform and getting it ready. I was reading the player character sheets while sitting in the hot Spainish sun by the pool sipping Sangria and trying not to laugh too loudly. It should be a blast to play.

Just have to finish packing [after I finish cutting] and then heading off on Thursday on the first part of my trip to Germany. I can't wait!