Conan

Instead of the Monday's imagination quote, I thought to share with you a product of the imagination of who is considered the father of the sword and sorcery literary genre, Robert E. Howard.

Last week arrived what is the latest addition to the fantasy section of our library. I must confess that I've never read anything of Robert E. Howard's work (yes, beleive it or not). My wife have always wanted me to and she wanted to re-read them but never found a good compilation of all the Conan stories. Until she found this edition that contains the complete collection of all the original adventures in the order they were written.

This edition is also profusely and superbly illustrated by artist Mark Schultz and it even contains maps of the Hyborian Age drawn by REH himself.

I'm already enjoying reading the first book "The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian" and I hope to find in the pages of all three books inspiration and ideas for present and future campaigns.

2010 World Cup - Uruguay in semi-finals

The quality of the players and lucky, very lucky dices, even at times against the Dungeon Master, made it possible to a dream come true. To be, for the first time since 1970, among the four best. A truly epic victory. Thank you for this guys, you were lions in the field, giving everything regardless how tired you were, thank you so much! Congratulations!

¡Arriba URUGUAY!

Imagination quotes

Today's quote belongs to the most gifted artist (sculptor, painter, architect and poet) of the Renaissance, Michelangelo:

“A man paints with his brains and not with his hands.”

I think it summarizes what a Dungeon Master does as he prepares an adventure, or when, already around the gaming table, describes the scene as a group of weary adventurers arrives at a merry tavern, or sets the atmosphere as the party takes the first steps exploring some ominous ruins. Dungeonmastering it's like painting on an empty canvas.

2010 World Cup - Uruguay among the 8 best

Still drunk of happyness! Last Saturday and for the first time since 1970 we reached the last eight. With an early strike the "Charruas" took control of first half the encounter. In the second half the "Asian Tigers" forced the Sky-blue to fall back, a tactic that proved disastrous, for the Koreans managed to land a blow. But, that hit took the "Charruas" out of their doze and they charged forward regaining control of the match. Almost at the end, with an unbelievable shot, "La Celeste" emerged victorious over a worthy rival.

Next encounter will be against the only African team still standing, the "Black Stars" from Ghana. It'll be a tough one for both sides, but I'm confident we're going to make to the next stage.

¡Vamos URUGUAY!

2010 World Cup - Uruguay undefeated

I'm very very happy about Uruguay having qualified for the next stage on top of the group. The last time we did it was in 1954. The all-time captains Jose "The Great Marshall" Nasazzi (gold medal in 1924 and 1928 Olymnpic Games, and 1930 World Cup champion) and Obdulio "The Black Chief" Varela (1950 World Cup champion) would have been proud of the performance shown by the team so far.

It's been fun to try to comment the World Cup games in an encounter format, but I can't keep up with all the games, so I'll stick only to Uruguay's matches as long as they have a chance. The next encounter of the "Charruas" will be against the South Korean "Taegeuk Warriors".

¡Vamos Uruguay!