Sometimes you get lucky

I am currently in Des Moines for work, and going back home tomorrow.  Instead of taking myself out to the nice-but-pricey restaurant I had been considering, I went to Half-Price Books in West Des Moines to see what they might have.

I found THIS:                                              
 

...for THIS price:


Made of win, I tell you.  Definitely.

Elves and their natures

So to speak.

I mean, so I ran across this essay about elves and Tolkien and sex and stuff.  While I know that Gary was not terribly keen about Tolkien elves, ever since the Lord of the Rings hit it big, it's far too easy to fall into the assumption that elves in D&D are, well, what Tolkien thought they were.  Which is unfortunate, since we've got very different elves out there as potential models for our games, including those from The Broken Sword by Poul Anderson.

What do YOU do with elves?  Assume they're all Tolkienesque?  (Let's not get started on differences between the books and the movies...).

The Tekumel Foundation...

As some of you know, I'm the current chairman of the Tékumel Foundation. The foundation was formally incorporated in 2008, with Prof. Barker's blessing. When he passed away earlier this year, we became the guardians of the world of Tékumel. It's not something I take lightly, and as a result, I've been devoting more time to Tékumel and the foundation.

Well, some of that work is about to pay off: the Foundation has a blog.  Additionally, we're moving into a studio space where it will be possible to delve deeply into the vast array of material left to us by Prof. Barker.  Much of it has never been published before.  Frankly, I'm excited.