Games of the Mighty And Powerful

Dračí Doupě II: Hry mocných (Dragon's Lair II: Games of the Mighty) is a supplement rulebook for the Dračí Doupě II roleplaying game, which I worked on and which was released in June 2011.
http://janpospisil.blogspot.cz/2011/07/draci-doupe-2nd-edition-with-cream-done.html

I've done all the illustrations for classes back then and I got to paint all the class illustrations for this "advanced" rulebook.

DrDII comes with a low fantasy setting you can use for the game (but the rules don't depend on it). Its inspiration comes mainly from Slavic myths and much of it is fairly closely based on early medieval times. It's all hills, rivers, fields, forgotten ravines and decaying bronze age hillforts. Bands of steppe people roaming vast plains, rich merchants travelling between walled cities by rivers under heavy guard. It's about adventuring in small villages full of ordinary characters as well as facing supernatural threats in complex cities.
If you've played any of The Witcher games, it's quite similar.

                                  (concept art for The Witcher, NOT painted by me, (c) CD Projekt RED)

It's quite possible to play with western-style-fantasy flying ships, paladins in shining plate armour worshipping their angry gods and dark elves living in the Underdark. We just like our own semi-Slavic flavour better. :)
(another example of such regional RPG flavour would be Drakar och Demoner in Sweden)

What I enjoy about this work is mainly the low key aspect. This advanced book is aimed at players at high levels, who want to lead armies, build cities and defeat godlike creatures. Still, while I had to show these classes are very powerful and that they have abilities far beyond what the basic classes can do, they had to stay believable and...plain? Simple?

Here's all 10 of them (painted in ArtRage 4):

                       
                          

                              
                                                                

1st row: Kroll** Warlock is carried by his company of diseased cultists./ Dwarven Inquisitor is using her seer ability to investigate a murder./ Elven Wonderdoer (super skilled wizards) walks a path in Between the Worlds and wards off hostile elder beings
2nd row: Human Avenger is quite smug about her ability to sneak up on a heavily protected villain. / Kroll Destroyer in her half-dragon form is wrestling a hydra./ Human Palatine is receiving a blessing to fight an undead wolf demon.
3rd row: Hobbit Shadow carrying a bag of precious loot escapes a guard./ Elven Leader rouses a crowd./ Dwarven Elementalist uses his affinity with the earth to ambush a travelling army.
4th row: Female hobbit Zhretz*** receives tribute from devoted villagers.

** - krolls are a DrD specific race, similar to half orcs in their strength. They also have bat like ears and hearing.
*** - Žrec was a name for Slavic priests, we used it for a class of shaman/druid like super priests of Nature.

Dračí Doupě II - Bestiary

What an imaginative title!
I was asked to paint the cover image for the new Bestiary for Dračí Doupě 2. (an RPG I've worked on before)

A bestiary is a book full of beasts. Oh, wait! It's like the Monster Manual. There. Now you know.

The scene was supposed to depict a battle of two ancient creatures - Kostěj the Immortal and the Spideress. Kostěj is a bit like a lich, only Slavic and with his own style. He maintains an illusion of a handsome knight, but if you touch him, or break his spell some other way, you see his true rotting form. He rides a magical steed.
The Spideress is an ancient spider demi-goddess, awoken from her Cthulhu-like slumber, possessing cultists and building a lair in an abandoned underground temple.

And they fight.

You can see the front in a larger version on my DeviantArt here:

http://merlkir.deviantart.com/art/Battle-of-the-Ancients-337716550

And this is what the wrap-around looks like.

As usual it's painted mainly in ArtRage, some bits were added in PS. The cave is inspired heavily by the Macocha chasm:

https://www.google.cz/search?hl=cs&safe=off&q=macocha&bpcl=38626820&ion=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.&biw=1680&bih=961&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=36ajUKbtD8TtsgbtkoAw

Return to Cooldahar

With the Kickstarter for Project Eternity (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/obsidian/project-eternity) almost over, I've been thinking about the previous Infinity Engine games and the wonderful nostalgia I associate with them.

And by accident, I came across this piece of concept art for Icewind Dale 1, which I believe was painted by Jason Manley.
http://theartdepartment.org/faculty/jason-manley

And it hit me. I used this as reference, completely without realizing it at the moment. Icewind Dale, released in 2000, me painting a halfling druid in 2010. Ten years later, this image was firmly embedded in my brain.

It's not even a good copy! :D

Not a very deep or inspiring blog post, just something art related I noticed. Here, have some Jeremy Soule and his wonderful music for IWD!

Draci Doupe 2nd edition with cream, DONE!

Dračí Doupě 2 ("dragon's lair", no relation to the cartoony PC games of old) is finally done and will be properly christened with champaigne (ok, Bohemia sekt is more likely :D) on Saturday.

DrD2 website (Czech only)

Here's a full lineup of art I've done for the book. I'm told the first books arrived from the printers and that they look amazing. You may notice (if you follow me that closely, I should probably consider a restraining order!) I revisited some of the older pieces.

Alchemist - a creator of artificial beings, explosives and miraculous potions.

Fighter - a breaker of bones, a crusher of livers, a jolly good chap all in all.

Wizard - a master of flames and winds, tamer of salamanders.

Druid - a friend to nature, shaper of plants, water and earth.

Ranger - a hunter of monsters, maker of traps, protector of men.

Hrun the Barbarian - wounded and grumpy.

Tumbler - a master of disguise, trickery, juggling and good judge of character.

Hunter - a...ehm, hunter. Hunts stuff, befriends dogs.

Thief - another quite self-explanatory one. ;)

Mage - a master over the minds of feeble mortals, weaver of illusions.

Medicus - a brewer of smelly potions, healer and a negotiator.

Equipment load - three categories of stuff you can carry.

Shaman - a dream world walker, drug user and overall a pretty weird guy.

Warrior - a tactician, horse rider and overall a kick ass dude.

Witcher - what do you call a female witcher? :D (she fights the undead btw)

Conjurer - a wild mage, possessor of talents, sage of the weird and magical.

Zhira - a badass spy lady.

Scout - a horse archer, master of traps, admiral Ackbar's worst nightmare.

And that's all. :) All of these were painted entirely in ArtRage Studio Pro.

Hangin' around

Please, do forgive the pun! It's Sunday and I'm visiting my parents, so I'm in a punny mood.

Here's a "Lupička", a class portrait for DrD2. This class is a nice alternative for thieves, rogues and assassins.
(all ArtRage as always)

Dealing with the fauna

Today I'm showing some art again! \o/

Wild animals and beasts can be difficult to deal with. Both classes I've painted for DrD2 handle animals differently - a Ranger prefers to shoot anything moving with his bow, skewer it with a spear, or catch it in a trap. Large beasts and monsters like basilisks and wyverns are his specialty.
A Shaman prefers to be friendly and talk to animals. Or fly with them in his dreams. After he smokes a bowl or drinks some shroom brew. Yes.

(both done in ArtRage again.)

Cheesy Whizard

New art, yay! It will probably change a bit before the book is out, I've got some good critique from the team.

Meet a "Wizard".("čaroděj" = magic+doer )
Wizards in DrD2 are masters of fire and wind. This one is pretty pissed and his salamander pets aren't happy either.
DrD is a multiclass system, so it's interesting to see how varied characters you can create - Wizard itself is a class you can take only if your combined levels in Fighter and Invoker give you 6 or more.

(Wizards do kinda focus on battle magic, hence the fighter levels. Invokers are your intuitive magic adepts - various fortune tellers, talent wielders, illusionists and so on.)

We'll be releasing examples of wizard characters and I really like them, so I translated the text:

Master Hanush
(Invoker 5, Fighter 1)

Master Hanush is a spellwright - he makes clouds of sparks float through the darkness and take shapes of ships or mythical creatures, for amusement of friends and children.
When the time comes to face the forces of darkness, his eyes erupt with flames, he flings enemies with a wave of the hand and burns their war machines with lightning inferno. And while he usually leans onto his walking staff to rest, he's able to use it in combat quite fiercely.

Mad Lavrisha
(Invoker 3, Fighter 3)

Lavrisha was born into a noble family, but her father drove her out because of her magical abilities. She had to learn to fight her way through life alone, because she hasn't yet found a man, who wouldn't be intimidated by her magic and fiery temper.
In battle she moves like a dancer - she uses two elegant bladed fans to hurl whirlwinds and fire tornadoes at her enemies.

BrotherTaran, Bane of Heretics
(Invoker 1, Fighter 5)

Born into slavery, Taran had to work with other kroll children in the quarry. His life changed when a commander of a religious order bought him from the slavers.
He became a devoted follower of the god who broke his shackles. The order's master of the sword trained him to become a paladin. Taran travels through the land, defends the weak and faithful and slays abominations and heretics.
His lance burns with the heavenly flame in battle with the hordes of evil and his warcry is a thunderstorm.

The Ladies

Here's an art update, yaaay! :)
They're illustrations for Draci Doupe II - a halfling druid and a lady spy - Žira. (Zheerah - for our English speaking friends)

Enjoy the prese...eeech Christmas! :D