#d&d roper

[ratgraphic]

Ijotober Day 8: Roper

This harrowing kapnograph was taken by a documentarian accompanying a dwarven survey team on an expedition. It shows the surveyors and their loyal hellhound being ambushed by a Roper, a subterranean creature that mimics stalagmites to hide from unsuspecting prey before dragging them into its toothy maw using tendrils it keeps hidden in hidden tunnels it bores in the ground. Thanks to the quick thinking of the survey team, they were able to keep the roper distracted for long enough to safely flee, with the only casualties suffered being the loss of some of the teams's equipment and most of their rations.

[ttrpg-smash-pass-vs]

You might look at the peryton on the left and think it looks like a 5 ft (1.5 m) tall deer-bird that wants to eat your heart. That's because it's an accurate statement, but look at that grin!

On the right, the Roper! A 9 ft (2.7 m) monster with 50 foot (15.2 m) tentacles strong enough to pull a full grown orc half that distance in seconds. It also gets 6 at a time, and can infinitely regrow them almost instantly.

[vintagerpg]

Good books feed brains! This week on the Vintage RPG Podcast, we’re looking at some cool books that came out in 2023. Perhaps in a novel twist on frequency bias, Stu noticed a bunch of books hitting shelves that, like steak and red wine, seem to pair well with his own Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground in a variety of ways. So here we are, chatting about Adam Rowe’s Worlds Beyond Time, Astral Eyes’ Spell Bound, Aaron A. Reed’s 50 Years of Text Games, the two-volume Talking Miniatures from Shaggy Dog Publishing and the truly astounding Arik Roper retrospective, Vision of the Hawk. Call it a holiday gift guide - if you like our work, we bet you’ll like theirs!

[bad-star]

I like the Idea of a Zombie analogue that has all the slow, swarming mindless brutality of the undead, but is just a little guy.

Do you like Alien Roper or Vegetable Roper better?

[self-loving-vampire]

Reaper in Ultima Underworld 2.

Reaper in King's Field.

Look who's back in Lunacid.

[preciouspatriots]

missy was really HER and i won’t keep acting like she wasn’t

[adndmonsteraday]

Ropers were ambush hunters that evolved in the underworld. They were favored by the drow god Ghaunadaur.

“You see, stalac-tites grow down from the ceiling, while stalag-mites reach — AAHHHHHHHHH —” — An explanation is cut short by a roper attack.

They took the appearance of stalagmites and would wait for a living creature to draw close.

When this happened, the roper quickly lashed out with tendrils extruded from its body that wrapped around its target, sapping the creature's strength. The roper then drew its prey into its fang-filled mouth to consume. As a roper never knew when its next meal was coming, it often slew and ate more than it could possibly consume at once.

The larval forms of ropers were called piercers, (not to be confused with the mollusks of the same name and similar behaviors.)

Source: https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Roper

[greatrunner]

'Stay the fuck away from him. He's no right, Caz.'

Listening to different player encounters with Gibbo. If the player lingers long enough, he says more than once, "Addair's seen to it" or that Addair told him to "go down and fix it ye bastard".

Then there's the line, "Fetch my ciggies... there's a good lad," and that he (Gibbo) is "a good lad... good lad... good lad" (IIRC).

Gibbo might've been changed by the entity because of Addair while they were both in engineering? They might've both been infected at the same time.

(O'Connor going quiet while in engineering during his convo with Caz makes me think he, Bruce, and Fergus might've been attacked by Addair as well.)

Gibbo's dialog in general is unsettling to listen to. "I've seen strange beasties in the water at night" and "I don't like the water tanks", "I've seen terrible things. Terrible, terrible things".

Gibbo had the wherewithal to flee, but not enough control over himself to not attack Finlay, or kill Douglas.

When Caz 'follows' him through the water tanks to reach accommodations as he loses more and more control, he attempts to warn him off several times:

"No! Get back, Caz!"

"I don't want to hurt you!"

"You'll not wanna do that."

"Don't come in here!"

"Don't come any closer!"

It makes Addair's and Rennick's clarity (regarding their aggression toward Caz) terrifying after being radically changed. They're no more or less aware of what's happened to them, but compared to Gibbo, whose reactions sound like someone becoming a passenger in their own body ("You know I'd never... I'd never!"), they're suited to the entity's self-preservation.

And of all the characters changed by the entity - specifically Trots, Muir, O'Connor, and Roper - Gibbo retains a (decaying) self-awareness that none display, even in his growing aggression toward his crewmates and loss of control.

As far as tone-setters go, Gibbo is a great one. He establishes the unfairness of their situation, and what Beria D crew ultimately loses in the end ("Tell me mom... tell her.... I'll be hame soon... tell her...").

[videogamesincolor]

Brodie and the role of determination in "Still Wakes the Deep"

From the start, Still Wakes the Deep depicts Brodie as one of the more clear-headed characters after the Beria D is, effectively, attacked by the entity. Granted, if you're working on an oil rig, you (probably) have to be a certain person to work under high-stress conditions. As the apparent diver on the Beria (and senior figure, after Roper, Innes, Trots, Finlay, and Rennick) Brodie is probably accustomed to working under pressure (literally and figuratively).

Brodie operates under the pretense of what my former supervisor called, "positive reinforcement". Highlight a person's strengths, and address their weaknesses as "areas for improvement". Hence why he gets annoyed with Caz when he heightens Rafferty's anxieties about going down in the diving bell with his own personal fears.

Folks like Douglas and Rafferty look to him to know what to do, so Brodie takes it as a personal failing when someone is harmed under his charge. When Gregor and Caz fall into the water, he's the one who goes in after them. And given the height both fell from, by the time he was prepared to dive, he shouldn't have been able to find either, but he gets lucky with Caz.

Of the survivors, Brodie is together enough to send Finlay down to restart the generators as they're cutting out and sends Caz to reach the surviving radios (initially). Even when preoccupied with another situation, Brodie was forward-thinking enough to consider mitigating the broader damage on the Rig.

When a panicky Caz, probably to his surprise, completes what he sent Finlay to do, he reorients Caz (by hyping him up a little) and asks him to help with tension wenches in the Pontoons. Whatever reservations he might have about Caz's anxieties, Brodie appreciates that he's willing to throw himself into certain danger to help.

Brodie's determination to save the Rig, perhaps to save themselves (because there was no way to physically leave the rig without transportation) was such a gripping story beat to watch play out between himself and Finlay.

Way before Caz gets himself out of the pontoons and encounters a mutated O'Connor, they're talking to (or at) each other in notes. Brodie operates like the situation is another high-stakes circumstance that he (as a diver) must be accustomed to. Process of elimination.

He is pushing to save the Rig, but only long enough for rescue. But his initial plans fail. The surviving radios don't work, so they can't reach the support ship. Most of the Rig is collapsing and flooding from the damage. Stabilizing the tension wenches leaves the Rig vulnerable to sinking. The tone of Finlay's notes suggests they should focus more on leaving the Rig altogether, instead of hailing the support ship. (Again, the issue with that being, of course, that there's nothing sea-worthy left on the Rig to even float on.)

And she's already speculating at the entity's intentions after seeing so many of their coworkers die, transform, or become gore on the walls. Brodie, however, isn't particularly curious about the entity beyond seeing it as an (environmental) obstacle. Stabilizing the flare stack prevents explosion, but he initially believes it was at the expense of Caz's life.

Brodie could be motivated by what happened to Raffs in the diving bell. I can't imagine seeing someone under your charge explode into a hostile lump of tentacles and inhumanity would leave you anything but determined to save as many people as you can, bad odds be damned.

And in that dynamic, the person delaying what's inevitable really can't stop the person who's decided about what they'll do. And, for me, that's interesting, as Brodie and Finlay were both kinda positioned in the story to be 'dependable' and 'pragmatic' in the face of terror.

Both of them try to sway Caz from going after Roy, but relent, knowing he won't be any good to them with his mind elsewhere except in the priority situation (the tension wenches).

(One of the last bits of advice he gives to Caz when they're face-to-face is to make his every move count, and not panic when he goes underwater.)

In most circumstances, I would've expected Finlay and Brodie's roles to be reversed. So, that Finlay was the one to just accept that they were all doomed after a certain point, was nice.

Brodie's willingness to venture into certain danger and death ultimately seals fates and is catalyst enough to push Finlay to do what she'd been thinking about since their exchanges. Caz is convinced of Brodie's own "jamminess", that he believes he can get out of the oil-flooded pontoon to return to them, and if he can't, he has him to rely on. Brodie knows otherwise, and, so, home (Isle of Skye) is the last thing he thinks of before imploring the others to escape.

I don't know if the Isle of Skye is considered a "harbor town", but Brodie's apparent comfort in and underwater struck me as a connection to his home. That he dies, drowning in oil, feels like a cruel irony of circumstances.

On a more personal level, given that Scottish / English / Irish narratives trend towards whiteness (and are often loaded with weird "racial purity" undertones), I wasn't expecting Still Wakes the Deep to have any significant characters of color in the game. That Brodie is the only Black character in the game with a major speaking and narrative role within the narrative (and voiced by a Black actor, thankfully) is a double-edged sword.

It's a) par for the course (and disappointing), but also b) nice to see a predominantly white narrative acknowledge Black Scotsmen exist. Sunil (Scottish) and Dobbie (Irish) are two other Black/Brown characters with lines, but they're minor characters (both killed by a mutated Muir on the Derrick).

Throughout the multiple playthroughs I've watched since SWTD was released, I've always found it extremely baffling that most (white) players assumed malice on Brodie's part when he's surprised to see Caz survive the collapse of the skywalk connecting to the stack.

He's clearly relieved to see his friend alive, but most were like, "Was he trying to kill Caz?" And it's like, how the hell did y'all come to that conclusion?

And if I were to speculate about the entity's intentions, it wouldn't be much interested in going anywhere except back down below. The potential threat that was the Rig, is no longer a danger to its existence. Hence why everything it pulled apart and invaded, was gradually sinking under the water.

[strawberfolk]

SWTD Plot Part 1

That insane moment where you decide to write a play by play plot list of the entirety of still wakes the deep for fanfics you may or may not even write....

Story notes 

The Start 

Starts with Suze sending him a letter talking about divorce on Christmas in the 3rd deck 

Trots comes gets Caz and tells him Rennicks looking for him 

Kelly and Douglas room 

Caz finds Finlay down the hall she asks for a light before telling him he's in deep shit with Rennick because he got some letters from the mainland 

She complains about Cadel and Rennick being cheap 

Caz goes to get breakfast  

Gibbo rooms with Dobbie 

Addier signed up for double portions Roy caught him 

Canteen (accommodation) 

Conversation between trots, O’Connor and gibbo 

Trots talking about unions, industrial actions and Cadel making cuts to get more rigs going 

Gibbo thinks he's being ridiculous  

O’Connor agrees with him stating they're down to a skeleton crew in the pontoons 

Conversation between brodie and Raffs 

Raffs going for his first solo dive 

Brodie is looking out for him and chides Caz when he mentions he would never do a solo dive 

Raffs is nervous 

Addier is eating alone 

He antagonizes Caz saying it'll be his last day and pokes fun at his lack of ‘good’ work 

Caz bites back with how he couldn't hold a light when doing his job. 

Cracks a joke and everyone laughs (you wouldnt know a spark plug from a fucking hairdryer) 

Conversation with Roy 

Rennick immediately buzzes the announcer calling Caz to his office 

Caz tells Roy about Suze whose thinking about divorce 

Roy tells him not to worry about it too much and to next time think before battering in Billy chamberlains head next time (not dead but certainly injured) 

Apparently, he made some unclean comments criticizing Suze and Caz swung on him 

Roy reassures that the lord loves Caz and so does Suze 

Dobbie passes by the kitchen door and lets Roy know that trots left roys insulin in his cabin 

Trots is Russian??? Maybe German 

The Deck 

Innes and Muir are bantering on the lower deck 

Muir makes a comment about Innes's head being hard to miss 

Innes chides him saying the Rennick is just itching to give someone a kicking 

Banky is working on the stairs making Caz go around 

Yellow sign says Cadel Beira D 2/23 (February 23rd?) 

Rennick again announces to us questioning why were not in his office, this happens multiple times with different phrasing throughout this area.  

Caz askes Innes and Muir if they need a hand 

Muir lets them know that they're alright 

To which Innes adds on that if he wants to transfer to the deck, he should give him less lip/backtalk 

Muir buts in saying not to mind Innes he loves it 

Another announcement, they assure Caz that he'll be alright and to try not to punch him 

Conversation between Sunil and Alex 

Sounds like they're trying to fit metal parts 

Alex says they've got gaps to will Sunil comments that the drill crew will love that 

Alex reply's that Rennick will love it even more and that Sunil's telling him 

Sunil replies that he told him last time and its Alex's turn 

Sunil is on top deck, Alex lower 

Conversation with roper 

Roper is usually in marine control but came down as the drill is acting up, has everybody scrambling to figure out the problem thought they can't. 

He’s hoping they won't get behind schedule, most likely to avoid Rennicks outbursts 

Roper and un-named are in the derrick 

Conversation between McClurg and Bruce 

Talking about shipments that won't be coming in for a few weeks 

McClurg says he can patch it but might want to say some prayers 

Bruce seems exasperated as they've been needing a lot of those lately  

Dalgliesh warns Caz to stere clear of the lift as to not get crushed 

Scooby startles Caz (calls him Mcleary) 

Asks Caz to quickly fix the fuse box while he's down there and toss down a screwdriver 

Scooby is on the upper deck 

Administration 

Rennick in installation manager office, above administration 

Conversation with Rennick 

He is pissed, really pissed. Rennick is upset about the letter he got from the police and yells at Caz about how he runs a tight ship and there is no excuse for how he's a liability. 

Revealed that Caz was a pro boxer, however no matter how popular he is on shore on the rig Rennick is the ‘fucking king’. 

Caz tries to explain how he can sort this with some time, but Renick cuts him off 

Rennick gets a phone call from gibbo presumably telling him that the drill hit something, and he thinks they should stop and investigate before continuing. 

Despite gibbo and roper advising against it Rennick orders them to continue drilling or he’ll come down there himself 

The call ends and Caz makes a comment causing Rennick to tell him he's fired and to get off his rig. 

Helipad 

3 people on helipad, Gregor, archie and someone else 

Something explodes causing Gregor to fall off the edge, Caz notices and runs after him while archie screams at him to get away from the edge 

Gregor begs for Caz to help him, to not let him die 

A second small explosion causes Gregor's hands to slip from the railing. Sending him plummeting into the sea 

This is followed by a third, larger explosion the sends Caz over the edge after him 

Caz falls into the ocean cutting his vision 

Screen flashes with flesh like tones akin to an injurie matched with flashing distorted images and memories. 

This is where the story will start 

The true Beginning  

There is a memory sequence with Roy, Caz and Suze 

They're talking about Caz working on the rig, Suze is against the idea and goes back a fourth with Roy 

It's brought up how Roy forgot their wedding cake on a bench 

Roy promises to take care of Caz 

Caz was going to be stationed for four months on the rig 

The Dive Deck 

Caz fades in and out of consciousness where we hear Douglus and Brodie pulling him out of the see 

They both fuss over him with brodie focused on getting them to safety while Douglus panics if he's still alive, they both fuss over him while rushing to cover, most likely to avoid getting tossed off themselves 

Caz passes out again after coughing up water and wakes up alone 

Stepping outside brodie immediately, yells out for Caz to help him,  

we can already see the rig falling apart with things popping off the sides and plummeting into the ocean 

Caz asks if he was able to get Gregor out too, with brodie replying that he couldn't find him and that he's not the only on they lost 

His attention is then grabbed by what we can assume to be raffs who's stuck in the bell. 

Raffs is tossing inside the bell screaming his head off much to Brodies horror and confusion as ‘decompression shouldn't be this bad’ 

The current running theory is that the drill hit something, a gas leak or air pocket, that caused an explosion 

Douglus went off to find out more about what happened and if the Beira’s even safe anymore 

Brodie tries to comfort raffs saying he’ll get him out real soon, brodie regrets letting him go down there, stating he was supposed to take care of raffs 

 

 

The under rig, Catwalks 

On first observation the rig itself is falling apart, the catwalks are mangled and bent 

When we pass the drill there's glowing blue light with an undertone of red that reflects onto the tin undercarriage of the rig like water. 

In the center of it is a web of winding rope like pieces of perhaps flesh, if its pulsing and breathing has anything to say about it. 

It looks to be coming from inside the drill, having probably winding up and around it before bursting out and latching onto the under carriage 

It has a bubbling effect on one's vision, gathering on the part of the eye that is closest to it 

Caz’s reaction to this is a mix of awe and horror, cause what the fuck 

He starts to hear someone or something, almost like music that is until Douglas breaks his temporary fog by telling him to get the fuck away from that and come back inside before the Catwalk falls apart and dumps his ass back into the ocean. 

He then tells Caz to meet up with him inside  

There is a lock Caz breaks with the screwdriver that blocks the way 

Balancing across a board mixed with some jumps and monkey bars Caz ends up around leg b before transitioning to leg c to get to engineering access 

Leg C 

Looking down over the railing the flesh from before seems to have penetrated Leg C 

Using the walls to form and grow in spiral patterns and drape onto the surrounding walkways 

Thankfully it seems to have only made it about halfway up the inside of the leg, rapid growth 

Rennick comes on the announcement declaring that there has been a minor drill issue, and that work is suspended until it is fixed.  

He continues to press that it is a ‘temporary issue’ much to Caz's exasperation and disbelief 

Continuing down we notice that the inside of the leg is almost as twisted into scrap metal as the catwalks outside, roundabout jumping and walkways continue 

The Beira shakes rumbles periodically, causing more pieces of metal to fall further into the leg and in turn the mass of flesh 

Caz continues to make his way around to the entrance for engineering and finds a head lamp, thank God, shit was dark 

Engineering  

stepping inside the left and most direct path to engineering ops is closed off by rubble, making us take the right path that will lead us to gas separation 

Once going down the stairs the path’s floor is covered in maybe 5 inches of water and gas (if the rainbow reflection tells much) 

Entering an open room a pipe bursts, making a loud pop sound that is replied to by a even louder gargle/shriek much to Caz’s horror as he rushes up a set of stairs to the next room 

There he finds a vent which he quickly pries open and climbs into 

Coming out the other end however he is met with smeared blood and a white hardhat 

The ominous noises continue mixed with what sounds like sobbing, snorting, and more gurgles  

Finlay 

Following the hall Caz opens the door and gets startled by Finlay who beckons him to come closer 

Caz asks what's making that noise, commenting that Finlay looks like She’s seen a ghost. 

He’s shocked when she’s says its gibbo making all that racket and says they should go find and help him 

Though Finlay is against that idea, going on to say that he's not right in the head. 

Apparently, the explosion caused an unknown substance that looked like oil to splatter all over him causing him to go crazy and lunge at Finlay 

She tells Caz that Gibbo’s out there with him, much to his displeasure, and to be careful, really fucking careful 

Caz asks if she’s seen anybody else to which she replies that she just got here. Most likely missing Douglas by a hair 

Finlay continues and tells Caz that he needs to go through the water tanks to get to accommodation, she warns him to be quiet and to stay the fuck away from gibbo, has not right 

Walking through gas separation Caz climbs a ladder and comes face to face with a scene right out of horror movie, taking place in Engineering OPS 

This would be our first close look at Wisps (that's what I'll call the ropes and curtains of flesh from now on) 

It looks to originate from the top panels, most likely growing and spreading through the crevices between the roof and ceiling.  

It then would have shot down, probably enveloping the people closes to it and infecting them, causing rapid growth and likely death (perhaps they weren't infected with the right type of shape, therefor causing them to be used as energy rather than gatherers. Perhaps 2-3 people caught 

Continuing through the room Caz goes up the ladder to level 2 jumping over a hole in the loft before entering the water tanks 

A few water tanks seem to have burst, partially flooding the room up to Caz’s hip 

Water tank section 

Stepping down into the water immediately sets Gibbo off, we can hear him heaving as he bangs between water tanks, his voice echoing of the metal. This makes it hard to tell where he is 

He seems partly conscious, pleading with Caz through strained breaths to not come any closer and to stay away. 

Though conscious he’s hardly coherent, he mentions addier telling him to go down here, most likely with Finlay to do something with the drill 

At times he’s comforting himself, saying he's a good lad 

Caz makes his way through the water tank almost shitting his pants when he gets to a hatch 

It's only a few steps down the hatch that what gibbo now is barrels overhead, slamming the hatch closed and sending Caz to the flooded ground, gibbo continues to stomp and bang on top of the tank,  

Caz slip through a tight hallway connecting the tanks and to his horror finds Douglas hunched over the ladder, 

It looks like he fell, probably the same way Caz did except he hit his head, hard. Though gibbo probably had a hand in that as he states. 

As we go up the stairs gibbo screams apologies, he didn't want to hurt him, just stop him from looking, he keeps seeing his face, don't leave him alone down here, he's confused, what's happening, and tell his mom he’ll be home soon 

If you hang around a bit longer, you'll hear sobbing, he'll say he’d never you'd know I'd never, what do I do, I don't know what to do 

Take the exit to accommodation 

Accommodation 

Step in to the utility floor in accommodation and Caz will find a heater, thank God since he's fucking freezing. Caz tells himself not to think about it 

Turn right and Caz finds a phone and answers it, on the other end is O’Connor 

O’Connor has Bruce and Fergus with him, he asks Caz what the hell's going on 

To which Caz replies that the drill hit something, and O’Connor needs to get the fuck out of there, and O’Connor doesn't disagree 

O’Connor tells Caz that something is wrong in Engineering (I'm assuming his on level 3 since we just passed through 1 and 2) he says they’re 

Going to go through the leg and come up the under rig, he swears that Rennick better set up evacuation and fast. Then he cuts off 

Caz tries to tell him he must come up through accommodation, but the call has already ended by the time he gets too 

Caz goes back into the hallway, the only way to move forward is to go up since the laundry room is blocked  

Going up the stairs Caz notices the way to the cabin floor has been blocked, the way to the deck is covered by whisps and the canteen door is barricaded 

Entering the crew lounge we hear trots struggling with something in what i think is the bathroom  

Refracting blue light flashes the room leaving water like shadows on the floor and ceiling 

Inside trots is screaming to get ‘it’ off him, repeating the phrase in a shrill panic as Caz tries to get inside asking him if he's ok and to let him in 

Caz gets increasingly panicked as trots screams turn from panicked to pain filled, ending with a strained and gurgling scream before silence. 

After a few more attempts to get the door open Caz is forced to give up in favor of finding Roy, taking the other exit to try and get into the canteen 

Roy 

Walking into the canteen it’s in complete disarray, the ceiling panels are falling off and chairs, tables and a trashcan was used to block the main entrance, that and the metal cover has been pulled down over the serving windows. 

Opening the door Caz scares the shift to out Roy, before Roy Tells him to get the fuck in here 

Roy seems panicked and out of breath as he asks Caz what the fuck is going on out there, Caz tells him that people are dying much to roys horror as he asks who and how. 

Caz struggles to explain what's been happening saying he doesn't know what to believe 

Roy agrees, stating he saw something outside and thought he doesn't know what it was it scared the shit out of him, he wants to barricade the door, but Caz disagrees, they must get off the rig, they can't just hide 

And that's all I've got so far which is, granted, a fuckton...

[oldschoolfrp]

Unlike the barely-alluded-to talking ropers, the talking intelligent mimics were described clearly in the 1977 AD&D Monster Manual. About half of mimics are multilingual, friendly, and willing to trade their knowledge of the dungeon in exchange for food. Only the largest mimics are hungry brutes who try to eat everything that moves within reach. (David Sutherland illus)

[ttrpg-smash-pass-vs]

On the left, Otyugh! About 8 feet (2.4 meters) wide with tentacles to restrain! They're also telepathic garbage disposals that live in sewers and landfills by cities in a mutually beneficial relationship. So bring some disease prevention and you're in for a unique experience!

On the right, the Roper! A 9 ft (2.7 m) monster with 50 foot (15.2 m) tentacles strong enough to pull a full grown orc half that distance in seconds. It also gets 6 at a time, and can infinitely regrow them almost instantly.

[vintagerpg]

Ekphrastic Beasts (2021) is a beautiful experiment. Ekphrasis means “description” in Greek, but it has come to mean a sort of vivid writing penned in reaction to a piece of art. “Ode to a Grecian Urn,” by John Keats, is maybe the most famous example. Janaka Stucky isn’t reacting to pottery, though — rather, he is describing, and parsing into 5E D&D game terms — monsters painted by a group of artists. They include primarily Ellie Jo Livingston, Jeremy Hush, Joe Keinberger and Nathan Reidt, with single bonus contributions by Arik Roper and Skinner. Its a compelling body of visual work as a whole, but I find myself particularly engaged by Ellie Jo, who manages to filter very modern ideas through a style that keeps pulling me back to a much earlier Golden Age of Illustration style that I have trouble identifying. Dulac, maybe? Nathan Reidt’s work is also very striking, like a collection of horrible, squishy flesh toys. They’re loathsome in the best possible way.

Stucky’s writings aren’t overshadowed by the amazing art. He ping-pongs back and forth as dictated by the illustrations, fleshing out conventionally folkloric creatures like owl harpies then wringing interesting lore from hard-to-fathom beasts like, well, all of Reidt’s work. Roper and Skinner’s works are paired up ever-battling twin titans. Sometimes the stories seem familiar, sometimes deeply weird, but all the time, Stucky is trying to deconstruct or recontextualize accepted monster tropes in the new creatures he is portraying. It isn’t structured as such, but the end effect of Ekphrastic Beasts is very similar to The Monster Overhaul in pushing the GM’s mind to question preconceptions about monster and push against their cliches.

Same is good. But different is good, too, and often more rare. I want more books to push this way.

[teenagedirtstache]

i-D April 2003 photos Barnaby Roper styling David Lamb

[20th-century-railroading]

Super Duty SD9s by James Belmont Via Flickr: A pair of Rio Grande SD9s have been serviced and await assignment at Roper Yard in South Salt Lake on April 30, 1976. D&RGW's fleet of 10 SD9s were built by EMD in July 1957, and were assigned to transfers and branch line service in Utah.

[ace-paints-minis]

Painted up a Roper, some dungeon tiles, and a D&D adventuring party.