Getting Back On The Horse...

As my next stint behind the Gamesmaster's Shield for The Tuesday Knights is now definitely going to be a return to fantasy RPGs, I've begun work on the adventure/setting.

As I've already said, this time Tekralh will start small: one community/one dungeon and then, if it takes off (as I, obviously, hope) I will allow the game world to grow organically from that starting point, rather than presenting the players with an entire world and trying to force them to "blend in".

To that end, while I'm working on the tent city that has grown up around the mountain where the dungeon has been found (think Deadwood or Hell On Wheels, but in a fantasy setting), I've also started on the first "quest" for the player-characters.

This will be a hunt for The Maid Stone, a magical stone fragment of great power. Their "patron" will present them with the document above to clue them in to the gem's worth.

Yes, last night, I was, once again, getting all arts and crafts-y!

I'd taken the picture of The Maid Stone from this very blog and run it through a photo-effects program before writing some text and putting it in a fancy font underneath.

Having printed the document out, I screwed up the paper and dropped it into a bowl of warm water with four tea bags. While in there I carefully unfolded the paper and let the stained water wash over it.

Then I lifted it out and flattened it on a sheet of greaseproof paper. Next I dabbed a couple of the tea bags across the paper - to give it that faux parchment look - and, while it was still wet, I carefully tore strips off the side of the page to give it that authentic "frayed" look.

I'm very pleased with the results. It certainly came out better than my previous attempt several years ago - and didn't even need to resort to "drying" it in the oven. I just left the paper over night and allowed it to dry in its own time.

Of course, this is all just procrastination to keep me from working on the actual dungeon...