MIXED BAG. TABLETOP TALES! HOMEBREW: GROOKI & THE GRIPPLI!

PATHFINDER HOMEBREW: 

GRIPPLIS

 A couple weeks ago, I previewed some of my very favorite homebrew content that I cooked up for my newest Pathfinder game; specifically, I previewed the Dragon-Touched races (Dragonborn, Kobolds, Guivre). This week we're looking at another strange race that has a long history in Dungeons & Dragons-- Gripplis.

Originally created by Brian Pitzer for the first set of TSR's Monster Cards in 1982, before making their first official book appearance in Monster Manual II (1983), and coming up in several books over the years, Gripplis are a neutral race of frog-like humanoids that live in simple tribes in the jungles and swamps of fantasy worlds. They use nets, blow guns, poisons and the like to overcome large prey like giant insects and to defend their territory from mortal enemies like bullywugs, giants snakes, and giant spiders.

The first time I used these frog folk in one of my games was in the form of "neutral bullywugs" that I introduced in the first module I wrote for my 4th Edition game. They caught a small yellow and black spotted frog person trying to steal from them, who later warned them about bad bullywugs, and, wanting to escape the swamp, took the creature as their prisoner/friend. They came to know the rather Gollum-like character as "Grooki" and he was quite popular with the heroes. He cemented his place in the pantheon of my most memorable NPCs when he served as a deus ex machina to save the heroes from the White Spider Queen and Mother of Chitine, Empress Kytix. He sacrificed his own life to kill an aspect of Kytix and saved the heroes. This sort of sacrifice instantly endeared him to the heroes. So much so, that I had his spirit bonded to a special druid item for Lorifain of the Action Society.

He was a fun character and, when I discovered that he had parallels to Gripplis, I realized I wanted to feature this race in one of my settings. Also, while Pathfinder already has an official Grippli race, I decided to give it my own spin to give the race a unique and useful appeal.

After the jump, will take a look at my homebrew for the Grippli race.

WORD OF THE DAY! 7/24/14!

MIKE MIGNOLA'S THE AMAZING SCREW-ON HEAD PILOT!!

screw-on [skroo-on]
adjective
1. Attached, connected, or closed by screwing onto another part of a container or receptacle.

EX. What do you get when you turn a one-shot Dark Horse comic by Hellboy's creator/writer/artist Mike Mignola into an animated pilot for the Sci-Fi Channel (now known as the idiotic nomer of "Syfy"), back in 2006, featuring the voice talents of Paul Giamatti and David Hyde Pierce? 

You get The Amazing Screw-On Head!

Set during the Lincoln Administration, the pilot follows government robotic agent The Amazing Screw-On Head (Paul Giamatti) in a manhunt for a academic who was kidnapped by a she-werewolf and a talking chimp with a gun and leads him down a path of painful memories when he discovers his former employee, now known as Emperor Zombie (David Hyde Pierce), is planning something nefarious involving the release of a primordial demigod from its turnipy lair.

It is weird, wonderful, and Sci-Fi skipped out on producing a full series. We quietly weep, the world keeps turning, and we have solace in the fact that Mike Mignola, the man who created the design of Mr. Freeze in Batman the Animated Series, is still making comics.

On a depressing side note, Del Toro said Hellboy 3 is unlikely to be picked up by Hollywood thanks to the poor box office performance of Hellboy 2.

WTF WED! COPS, ROBOT CHICKEN, STAR TREK, AND FROZEN IS THE NEW BLACK!

ONEY: COPPER KIDS!

OneyNG has been doing these delightful, short, and twisted little toons on his channel, lately, and Copper Kids is my favorite. Sure... it might be more predictable than some of the other cartoons's twists, but the delivery and scenario make such a sweet piece of scenario that I can't help but share it!

ROBOT CHICKEN-  

STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION'S NIGHT CREW!

Robot Chicken is one of the best sketch shows on TV.

Star Trek: The Next Generation is one of the best science fiction programs of all time.

Together? Now, that's a perfect match made in nerd heaven! Especially with Patrick Stewart's involvement!

FROZEN IS THE NEW BLACK!

Lastly, two female driven fictions that blew up recently were Disney's tales of two sisters, Frozen and Netflix's hit series, Orange is the New Black. Combining the two? You've got Disney Princesses, violence, and enough female driven scenes to ace the Bechdel Test!

WORD OF THE DAY! 7/22/14!

LEAGUE OF LEGENDS: A NEW DAWN!

half-light [half-lahyt]
noun
1. Dim light, as at dawn or dusk.

EX. Riot Games just debuted an awesome new cinematic trailer for League of Legends and...

...IT WAS AWESOME!

The whole thing takes place in the half-light of the Summoner's Rift jungle and seeks to show off what one of the game's team fights might play out in a more three-dimensional and in-real-time sort of setting. There are a couple of surprises and twists, but it really shows that the studio can produce some awesome animation.

Now.... if only they could release a few more champs and VUs this year. Cough.

If you wanna see how they made the cinematic, check out the making of below...
  

 A NEW DAWN: BEHIND THE SCENES

MUSIC MON! EVERYBODY (ESPECIALLY THE ILLUMINATI, REPTILLIANS, & WEIRD AL) WANT TO RULE THE WORLD!

WEIRD AL YANKOVIC: FOIL! (Parody of Lorde's "Royals")

Weird Al Yankovic's newest album, Mandatory Fun, has taken the internet (which, at this point, pretty much represents the world, I suppose) by storm in the most potent parody blitzkrieg since, well, the last time that Weird Al delivered the goods!

As part of the campaign to get people hyped and entertained the masses, Weird Al has released about a half-dozen music videos that, with a little google searching, you can find on the various sites he debuted them on. There are a lot of solid videos that show that Weird Al is as good as ever, as if there were any doubt, but my favorite has to be his parody of Lorde's "Royals".

This video starts off in kind of a predictable way but, brilliantly, takes quite a dark and clever turn about halfway in. I love it.

Speaking of things I love, how does a Game of Thrones bonus video sound for my fellow up-to-date GoT fans? How about a montage of the series set to Lorde's cover of Tears for Fears "Everybody Wants to Rule the World"? Are you not entertained?

BONUS: SPOILER WARNING!! GAME OF THRONES: EVERYBODY WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD! (Lorde) SPOILER WARNING!!