Expanding "Army Men" Into Other Genres

For folks who haven't heard, a lot of my content is currently on-sale over on Drive Thru RPG thanks to the GM's Day Sale going on right now! While 144 of my titles are on-sale right now, today I wanted to talk about Army Men: A Game of Tactical Plastic. Because while the first supplement Army Men: Threat Assessments is already out, and I'm hard at work on Medals of Honor (which should be ready for release this spring), I do have some longer-term goals for this game... goals that will be much easier to reach if I can get some of you fine folks all aboard the bus in order to help me keep putting together new stuff for this RPG!

I can see the next objective from here!

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Lastly, for hundreds of extra articles on gaming, weird history, and for more free fiction, check out my Vocal archive, too!

Mercenaries, Gangsters, Psychics, and Spies!

While Army Men: A Game of Tactical Plastic is a fully functional RPG base book that one can grab and use as it stands, it was always meant to be a spring board to jump out to other genres of play. Because while the base game is meant for squad-based play where you and your fellow troopers are given missions and assigned objectives to complete, I know that isn't the game for everyone out there.

However, it was never intended to be the only style of game play supported by this RPG... I just couldn't fit all the options into the base game!

I've got plans... just need a little help to make them happen...

So what does the future hold, assuming I can find enough rope to play out for this game? Well, in addition to more gear, guns, vehicles, classes, monsters, and mission packs, I'd also like to expand the genre to some of the following areas:

- Army Men: Soldiers of Fortune- Rather than being regular members of the military, the party operates as hired guns. A more traditional "adventuring" route, this would come with new classes and subclasses, and a Reputation metric to replace the load out typically given to soldiers by the military they serve. This would, ideally, have a kind of A-Team vibe, where players could come from anywhere, and get involved in nearly anything!

- Army Men: Game of Shadows- The intelligence services of the Plastos Federation, and all of its member nations, fight their wars in alleys and backrooms, using whispers, rumors, poisons, seduction, and other tools of the espionage trade to complete their missions. Whether you want to do something wild and crazy like James Bond or Mission: Impossible, or you'd rather stay grounded and serious, taking inspiration from WWII and the Cold War, this book would expand your toolset, and likely delve deeply into the shadow warriors, paramilitary forces, and other aspects of the setting to give them even more teeth.

- Army Men: Gangsters and Gumshoes- The streets of the Federation may seem clean, but every town has its dirty business. From back alley runners to street corner dealers, everybody answers to someone. Whether your squad are an up and coming group of hoods looking to break into the big leagues with a heavy score, or you're a pack of private eyes who are out there doing what the cops can't (or just won't), this particular game would have a smaller focus than the grand wars seen in the previous two. Players would be solving cases, getting into mysteries, pulling jobs, and trying to make heads or tails of what's happening while trying to stay out of jail, and avoiding floating face down in the river.

- Army Men: Weird War- While we have a couple of very sci-fi additions in Threat Assessments, those are just an appetizer for the nonsense I'd love to add in with Weird War. This book would get into the strange implications of what the vespoids truly are, where they came from, and what some of the other forces operating behind the scenes are who may have instigated this whole conflict for their own benefit. Who built the bizarre Mekanauts that have wiped out entire regiments before finally being destroyed? What are those strange lights in the sky some airmen have reported? What kinds of experiments go on in the backrooms of government laboratories? From psychic classes and advanced weaponry, to the implications of aliens, intelligent machines, and more, this one will cover a wide variety of sci fi nonsense that would greatly expand antagonists, as well as resources for players.

What Do You Want To See Most?

If you read this far in this week's entry, I want to know from you... what do you want to see in Army Men going forward? Do you have a particular genre of the four above that really speaks to you? Or is there one I didn't mention (such as the Old West for folks who want to use those plastic cowboy toys)? Alternatively, would you rather see mission packs so you could run your players through some preplanned battles, NPC lists to fill out the roster, or just more interesting locations to beef up what's on the map?

It's still early enough in the game that we can go in all sorts of directions, but we need to hear what you want before we can pick the proper direction! So please leave your thoughts in the comments below, or reach out to us on social media. Lastly, don't forget to pick up your copy of Army Men: A Game of Tactical Plastic and Army Men: Threat Assessments while they're still on-sale this week!

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the Azukail Games YouTube channel, or my Rumble channel The Literary Mercenary! Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my dystopian sci-fi thriller Old Soldiers, my hardboiled gangland noir series starring a bruiser of a Maine Coon with Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

Ever Hear of "Weird Detective Mystery Adventures"? Well, Neither Had I!

One of the fun things about going to conventions is that it allows you to discover unique things you would never come across in your day-to-day experience. Even though I spend most of any given day up to my elbows in RPG content, I never would have come across Weird Detective Mystery Adventures, and I feel confident in saying the same for all my readers out there.

So if you've been looking for a game with gangsters, gun mals, masked vigilantes, super heroes, mad scientists, and more, this is a game you could use to scratch that itch.

An offer that might be tough to refuse.

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron!

Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!

Let's Start With The Good

The best part of any proposal.

Right off the bat, what is Weird Detective Mystery Adventures? Well, it's an RPG that uses 2d6 and a lot of charts to help you tell stories that are just what it says on the tin. If a story can be found in the canon of weird or pulp fiction, then you could emulate it with this RPG. Whether you want to do gritty private eyes digging into gangland deals, masked vigilantes stopping bank robbers, or superheroes fighting supernatural cultists and their dark gods, all of that is possible within this system.

Aside from power scaling, which is quite important for any game, the rule book is pretty thorough when it comes to all your options. Everything from contacts you can call on, to a superhuman accuracy with firearms, to mastery of disguises, to being filthy rich, or being bulletproof and able to fly is covered in here. And while there are sequels and extra content planned for future installments, the core book is all you need to play the game.

As to the system itself, it has a decidedly old-school feel to it. A single chart is used to determine success or failure for a majority of actions, ranging from stunts and tricks with metahuman abilities, to standard punch-ups with goons in a bar. The base stats all have their own unique names one needs to get used to, but once you get in the groove figuring out success, failure, and your odds of either, the game becomes pretty easy to manage.

Now Onto The Bad

You didn't see nuthin', got it smart guy?

Nothing is perfect, and I wouldn't want anyone tracking this game down without making them aware of the flaws it has, as well as its benefits.

First and foremost, if you came into gaming via d20 games, this is going to be like learning a whole new language for you. While I've seen games with similar systems before, if you're more used to various editions of DND, or even the World of Darkness, this will be something of a rough start for you. Additionally, this book is thick... we're talking old-fashioned Yellow Pages thick. While you may not need to read all of it depending on the game you want to play, there's a lot of material in there, which will not be to a lot of players' tastes. Particularly in this age of short rulebooks and minimal mechanics gaming. Lastly, for all of the material the book does give you, this game isn't meant to take place in a particular setting or world; details like that are left largely up to the storyteller to figure out for themselves. So while you have a big skeleton with a lot of moving parts, everything from the era, to the lore, to the world is on you to figure out.

Lastly, and this is the one that struck me strange, this book is damn near impossible to come across. To get yourself a copy you must go to the Weird Detective Mystery Adventures website and buy one, or come across the game's booth at a convention. You can't find copies of it on DTRPG, nor can you locate it on Amazon. Even stranger, there is no PDF version of the game available at time of writing, and the physical copy is rather large at just under $50 for a paperback version. For someone who hasn't played the game themselves and is only curious to check it out, that is a rather large risk to take.

The Ugly

You knew this was coming.

I want to start this section by making one thing clear; I didn't dislike my read-through of this game system. While it's certainly a heavy game in terms of options, it has a certain nostalgic quality that will draw you in a bit, and it presents a lot of interesting ideas that would be fun to play with.

However, this game is definitely not going to be for everyone. Worse, though, it feels like this game is attempting to re-invent the wheel in a lot of ways.

As a for instance, everything I mentioned about different game styles, scaling power, power sets and abilities, etc., could also be said of Mutants & Masterminds. Also, while not a simple game, M&M was far easier for me to grasp when I was presented with it, and it has a great deal of supporting material one can choose to use if they want, like the Player's Guide To Emerald City, Hero High, or the Supernatural Handbook, depending on the needs of your game. And if one wanted a simpler game with easier-to-digest mechanics, but which still boasted all of those positive aspects already mentioned, then Savage Worlds Adventurer Edition would work just as well. Especially since one could add in all the other material they want for their game piecemeal, such as hunting monsters with the Rippers Resurrected player guide, Weird War I player's guide, Arcana and Mysticism, or any of a dozen other books and supplements that are available to customize one's playing experience.

Both of these other options are available as digital copies, they're easier to learn, and they're easier on your wallet if you're looking for a game of pulpy adventure that's all over the board in terms of what you can bring to the table.

Again, WDMA isn't a bad game. But if you're interested in giving it a closer look, I would definitely recommend looking through the homepage to make sure it's going to appeal to you and your play style. Because as of this moment there isn't a free sample or a starter's guide to let you try before you buy, and it's got a pretty hefty price tag attached to it.

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the Azukail Games YouTube channel. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

Hoardreach is The Place For All Those "Too Weird" Characters To Come From

There are, generally speaking, two kinds of GMs when it comes to fantasy RPGs. There's GMs who want to embrace the full scale and spectrum of possibility within the setting as it exists, and there's GMs who want to limit as many player options as possible when it comes to how weird, wild, or strange they get.

You can usually identify the latter because they'll tell players to stop trying to make "special snowflake" characters.

Now, I talked about all the issues I have with this line of thinking back in It Only Has To Happen Once (Weird PCs and The "Special Snowflake" Argument). In brief, though, if something is allowed by the rules of the game, and is possible within the setting, then players should be allowed to choose those options. Whether it's an orc paladin, a goblin wizard, a dwarven sorcerer, or any other basic combination of species and class that isn't expressly banned by the rules.

Because sure, it might be weird. It might be unconventional. But it's fantasy... stretch your imagination, because that's the name of the game!

Frost Fang approves of snowflakes of all kinds!

It is for this purpose that I created Hoardreach for my Sundara: Dawn of a New Age setting. So if you want the freedom to get weird, wild, and bizarre with your characters, this is going to be right up your alley!

For folks who want to stay on top of all my latest releases, sign up for my weekly newsletter! Also, if you enjoy my work, my latest novel Painted Cats just dropped this month. So if you want to check out a noir mystery with a Maine coon cat as the protagonist, this one is a wild ride!

Hoardreach is Where The Weirdness Lives

For folks who haven't been tuning in, one thing that I threw out the window with Sundara as a setting was the alignment system. While that means you no longer have alignment requirements for classes in Pathfinder, it also means there's no such thing as species-based alignments, or culture-based ones. Everything has to be evaluated on its own, rather than always having that Good, Neutral, or Evil label hanging over it to color your perspective of what you're looking at.

Oh don't you worry... there's still plenty of initiative that needs rolling.

However, while Sundara as a setting is about progress, discovery, and finding creative solutions to existing problems, several readers have mistakenly thought that makes it a world without conflict. There are plenty of conflicts for adventurers to get involved in, from protecting trade secrets, to dealing with outbreaks of undead, to trying to soothe tensions between two powers that might go to war... but what Sundara lacks is the idea that you can just kill certain creatures because they're evil without thinking twice about doing so.

And that, my friends, is where Hoardreach comes in.

Hoardreach is a sky island (a unique mountain location with drastically different conditions due to its height, as opposed to an island that floats in the sky... don't worry, we'll get to that later), and it was the strangeness of this location that drew the Founders. 5 dragons, rather than battling over the territory, agreed to each allow the others the part of the mountain they wanted for their lairs, and to act in the defense of all. While fairly young dragons individually, all 5 working in concert wielded far more power than anything short of a great wyrm could have managed.

After negotiations with one another, and meeting with a representative of the Adeptus Draconis (an order of knights tasked with keeping peace between dragons and non-dragons that was first mentioned back in 100 Knightly Orders), the Cooperation reached out to their neighbors. In exchange for tribute, they would extend their protection to surrounding areas, and assist with dangers they faced. While many were reluctant at first, the benefits of the dragons' aid far outweighed the cost asked.

As word of Hoardreach spread, people started coming to see it for themselves. While there were explorers and merchants, along with scholars, the city also drew outcasts who'd been forced away from their own homes. Goblin tribes that had been hunted, harpies who were unwanted, the remnants of orc mercenary bands who found no welcome, and dozens of others all sought places within Hoardreach. As the city grew it drew still more (and stranger) inhabitants who were able to lend their unique skills and abilities to make the city run smoothly. Soon the Founders were able to conserve their energies only for dire emergencies, while the various corps throughout the city took over the day-to-day labors.

Now Hoardreach is known far and wide. For in addition to being the City of Wyrms, it is also the place where the fledgling industry of air travel has been born. Ships shingled in the cast-off scales of the founders, and carefully constructed for form and function, have opened the possibilities of new types of trade and travel... as well as warfare, for those who would consider making the dragons of Hoardreach their enemies.

When Weird Becomes Normal

Everything in Hoardreach is utterly bonkers and bizarre... which means that to those who live there, this is completely normal.

It's not unusual to have different seasons going on in different districts, the very elements influenced by the presence of one of the Founder's Wyrm Marks. Flying ships are an everyday occurrence, as are pseudodragons, fey dragons, kobolds, and others. Sorcerers with draconic heritage are fairly common, many coming to the city hoping to learn at the feet of powerful dragons who might (albeit distantly) share their bloodlines. Ogres catch lines to help anchor ships, goblins and orcs sell soup in bowls around one of the main squares, and a frost giant is one of the head shipwrights who designs the unique sky ships of Hoardreach.

This is the Fantastical Mundane in action. If there's a monstrous species players have access to in the setting, chances are there's at least a handful of them in Hoardreach. If there's an unusual magical specialty, a strange family history, or just an odd magic item, it's a safe bet you could find it there. If you wanted to play a goblin who grew up in a major city surrounded by their family instead of being hunted like vermin, or a gnoll who was raised by an adopted halfling family, or a sorcerer who learned magic in the lair of a dragon, or an ogrekin looking to make their own way in the world... that's just Tuesday in Hoardreach.

So if any of that sounds like something you want to add to your game (as each of the Cities of Sundara can be enfolded into a different setting, or played as part of Sundara), get your copy of either the Pathfinder Edition of Hoardreach, or the DND 5th Edition of Hoardreach today!

Don't Forget The Rest of Sundara as Well!

If Hoardreach sounds like your cup of tea, remember that it's the 4th installment in the Sundara setting thus far! Not only that, but the others all have their own weird, wild, and unusual goodies to offer as well. So take a moment to check out:

- Ironfire: The City of Steel (Pathfinder and 5E): Built around the Dragon Forge, Ironfire is where the secret to dragon steel was first cracked. The center of the mercenary trade in the region, as well as boasting some of the finest schools for teaching practical sciences, Ironfire is a place where discovery and danger walk hand in hand!

- Moüd: The City of Bones (Pathfinder and 5E): An ancient center of trade and magic, Moüd was lost to a cataclysm, and then buried in myth. Reclaimed by the necromantic arts of the Silver Wraiths guild, this city has once again become a place teeming with life. Despite the burgeoning population, though, it is the continued presence of the undead that helps keep the city running, ensuring that Moüd is not swallowed up once more.

- Silkgift: The City of Sails (Pathfinder and 5E): Built on the cottage industry of Archer cloth (an extremely durable material used for sails, windmills, etc.), Silkgift is a place that prizes invention and discovery. From gravity batteries that store the potential of the wind, to unique irrigation systems, to aether weapons, the city positively churns out discoveries... and then there's the canal they cut through the mountains that makes them a major center of trade across the region.

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my cat noir thriller Marked Territory, its sequel Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

Everything is Weird in Fantasy RPGs (But That's Not How You Make a Character Stand Out)

Many years ago I got invited to play an RPG with a group I'd never met before. It was pretty large, and the general gist of things was that it was a high-fantasy world with a lot of magic and some rapidly advancing technology. The party, as I was introduced to them, included the following;

- A powerful psychic warrior who'd escaped from a brutal, repressive nation
- A halfling paladin who literally shown with a halo of light.
- A half-elf alchemist smart enough to understand the very fabric of the cosmos.
- A cyborg mercenary with a gambling problem wielding a sword that had slain a powerful lich.

There was one guy who was standing off in the shadows and playing it coy, though. Rather than just introduce his PC, the way the others did, he made a big deal about how there was this tall figure in a black robe that obscured his features. And he was carrying this huge scythe. Then he pulled back the cloth, revealing... well, basically exactly what you're expecting with that lead up.

Hey man, you got any twos?

The player had gotten super special permission from the DM to play a pseudo-undead race, and he had chosen to make this living skeleton a cleric of the god of death. It was, of course, then completely necessary to walk around in a ragged robe that really did very little to conceal what he was for long, and while carrying a big, obvious weapon. The loud kind of mysterious that is not, in fact, mysterious at all.

This player continually expected to get a big reaction out of this character, and he never did. And that's something I'd like to talk about today, because there are a lot of players (and DMs as well) who seem to forget that when everything is weird, the flip side of that is that nothing is weird.

The Fantastical Mundane

I talked about this over on The Literary Mercenary in Making Use of The Fantastical Mundane in Sci-Fi and Fantasy, but if you didn't catch that when it first came out, the concept is pretty simple. In short, the world you are in decides when something is or isn't unique, strange, or special. If you're in a setting where, for example, magic is rare and wondrous, then just the act of being a magical creature, much less a wizard or a sorcerer, would immediately make you a target of fear and awe. In a setting where magic is everywhere, though, it ceases to be a spectacle. In that sort of setting, sorcerers might be casting spells on street corners for pocket change, and levitating trains might run between cities on the power of ancient runes.

In New York, this is terrifying. In hell, this is Tuesday.

This is something a lot of players sort of forget about when making their characters. Base races, even the notably inhuman ones, aren't some impossible creature that only exists in stories. People have heard of them before, and in more cosmopolitan areas there may be entire neighborhoods of them. Whether you're a six-and-a-half-foot-tall cat person with a massive crossbow over your back, or you're a fuschia-haired, jade-eyed gnome riding around on a floating pink cloud instead of a mount, you might be unusual, but you're still mundane by the standards of the world.

Which is to say that you might get a, "Huh, haven't seen that before," or perhaps some curious questions or funny looks out in the hinterlands, but you're probably not going to cause riots simply by existing the way you would in a low-magic world.

Interesting Characters Are More Than Skin Deep

And we need to explore them over time.

A common mistake that lots of players make is to assume that making a character look weird, frightening, or unusual is the same as making that character interesting. It isn't. A standard human fighter can be the most interesting character in the party, and the drow wizard/assassin might be the most boring... it all depends on what's going on beneath the skin, and how you lead the rest of the party down that path to figure it out.

Let's go back to the overly-grim reaper for a moment.

To add some context to that introduction scene, it was the new PC being introduced to the squad he was going to work with through the adventurer's guild. They were in the middle of a major city, so even though the new guy had never seen a sentient undead before, there were dozens of possible explanations for what this thing was, and why it was here. It was unique, but it was far from unheard of just in the context of what one might see walking down the street in the high magic district.

But the character displayed no unique personality after that initial reveal.

As a cleric who seemed to be the party healer, the player missed a golden opportunity for the others to call him Bones (the age-old nickname for the sawbones). The character, post-reveal, could have offered a bony hand and apologized for the state of himself, but he was in the middle of conducting a service when he got the call to come in and thus was still in his "official" robes/costume rather than something a little more casual. Even something as simple as asking for alignment, deity of choice, and funerary rite preference should the new guy meet a terrible end while on a mission, as disposing of his earthly remains would likely fall to the cleric would have added some personality.

Any of those simple quirks would have instantly made the leper in the room into one of the most interesting characters at the table. Alternatively, if there had been some effort put into genuinely disguising what he was (say, being under a constant illusion spell that he never risked someone seeing through by avoiding physical touch whenever possible, or wearing actual concealing robes, veil, etc. that would have genuinely shrouded him), then it would have been a big surprise when the party realized they'd been traveling with a living skeleton this whole time. Combined with an interesting personality, that sort of long-term reveal could have been really interesting as well. But, alas, it's not what happened.

Solid concept for this game, by the by, so go check it out!

Get Weird (And Go Deep)

To address the other side of this coin, though, there are also a lot of players who claim that by picking a big, loud, colorful, or bizarre class or race that you are inherently less interesting as a character. This comes back to the Stormwind Fallacy (the idea that a mechanically optimized character cannot be roleplayed well, and vice versa), except that this time it's players arguing that the weirder, more unusual, or more inhuman a character is, the less roleplaying there will be as a result of that choice.

I would, instead, argue that the more inhuman, weird, or bizarre a concept or character is, the more opportunities you have to really embrace the things that make them strange and unique as characters.

Don't mind fluffy, he gets me where I'm going, and he's a friendly sort.

From the bizarre habits and comforts that inhuman characters have (such as a tiefling putting hot coals in his mouth to think, or an orc or goblin eating things that would never be acceptable to a human palate), to the bigger implications of their cultures, background, upbringing, and even their age, I fully endorse players getting as weird as a setting will allow and really stretching out into those roles.

As long as you're aware that what makes you interesting isn't the race on your sheet, or the levels you have in a given class. It's what you do with your character's personality, and how you make them stand out in meaningful ways that also bring the characters around them deeper into their orbit, and their story.

For more recommended reading and inspiration, check out some of the following:

- Reveal Details About Your Character Through Flavor-Based Skill Checks A unique strategy for bringing across your character's details, and getting other PCs involved in the process.

- 100 Random Mercenary Companies: If you are, of have been, a mercenary, then you likely carry some specific gear, linguistic quirks, etc. from that life that could make other folks curious about who you served with. Other entries that might provide similar background information include 100 Knightly Orders as well as 100 Gangs For Your Urban Campaigns.

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Fluff post! If you've used this in your games, share a story down in the comments!

For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my recent short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

Your Fantasy Armor May Be More Historically Accurate Than You Think

While it shows up in The 5 Totally Useless Statements You See in Every RPG Discussion, we still can't seem to stop ourselves from talking about historical accuracy. Hell, I've fallen prey to those moments, like when I wrote articles about how the word swashbuckler referred to an unskilled, brutish swordsman, or about how rapiers were made popular partially because of guns becoming more common.

Don't get me wrong, these conversations can sometimes go to interesting places. The discussion of how useless armor that bares your mid-rift is, for example, is one that I never get tired of joining in on. However, the next time someone tries to tell you that your spiked plate mail, engraved with skulls and howling demons, would never have been worn in battle, you might want to direct them here.

i09 Puts Elaborate Helmets Front and Center

The folks over at i09 have never been shy about bringing up unusual, mostly forgotten facts about history. This article about The Weirdest and Fiercest Helmets From The Age of Armored Combat is just what you'd expect them to come up with.

Look at this goddamn thing!

That helmet is called the Toothface Helm, and it was made by an unknown Italian artist in the 17th century. Sure, it looks like something you'd wear in a tournament, but the point is this wasn't a decorative piece of equipment. Someone actually strapped that thing on, mounted up, and bore down on an opponent with their head inside that terrifying steel visage.

The Toothface isn't the only example in the collection i09 dug up, either. There are helmet shells (which were meant to be worn over a plain helmet to make them look fierce or frightening, but which would likely smash under an attack) in the shape of lion head, a sallet helm oil painted with the face of a toothed beast, and half a dozen other unusual, bizarre pieces.

So, the next time you're debating whether or not to go into the elaborate description of your fighter's helm, which bears the roaring beast of his family's noble crest, don't worry that you're breaking some unspoken rule. First of all, if it fits your fantasy world, there's nothing wrong. Second, if you need reassurance that actual history wore similarly elaborate head cases to mark out wearers and terrify enemies, then i09 has your back.

Also, check out this rapier hidden inside a snake bracelet, or this actual iron hand worn by a Renaissance-era German mercenary, if you want more cool ideas for your next game plucked from the pages of history!

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