Saturday in Space - Orion's Return, Emailed Wrench, & Venusian Cloud City

This week saw the return of the NASA's Orion spacecraft, so read more here.

The ISS has a 3D printer recently used to fashion a needed tool.  See more here.

On io9.com, they recently speculated over "How NASA Could Build A Cloud City Over Venus" here.

Saturday in Space on GRYMVALD.com
What's happening in Space and

what can it mean for our tabletop RPGing?

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Flora & Fauna Friday - Dragonflies, Hybrids, & the Oldest Onion

Over on the National Geographic YouTube channel is a wonderful video called "The Secret World of Dragonflies."  Enjoy.

Also, over on girlsvineus.com, "These 25 animal hybrids are incredibly cool" here.

Finally, on the Medievalist.net website, they tell us about "The oldest Onion in Denmark" here.

Flora & Fauna Friday on GRYMVALD.com

Examining animals, plants, and the

environments we use for our tabletop RPGing.

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Historical Thursday - Arms and Armour, Famous Gladiators, & Tolkien's Norse Influences

Starting on page 167 of a paper on academia.edu is a section titled "Arms and Armour: a Farewell to Persistant Myths and Misconceptions" by Dirk H. Breiding here.

Also, check out this feature from August on the Medievalist.net website on "Famous Gladiators of Ancient Rome" here.

Finally, also on the Medievalist.net website, there is a featured article from earlier this week on "Norse Elements in the work of J.R.R. Tolkien" here.

Historical Thursday on GRYMVALD.com

Sifting through History to
enhance our tabletop RPGing.

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Worldbuilding Wednesday - Brú na Bóinne: Newgrange, Knowth, & Dowth

Not far north of Dublin City lies a prehistoric site in Ireland "dominated by the three well-known large passage tombs, Knowth, Newgrange and Dowth, built some 5,000 years ago in the Neolithic or Late Stone Age. An additional ninety monuments have been recorded in the area giving rise to one of the most significant archaeological complexes in terms of scale and density of monuments and the material evidence that accompanies them. The Brú na Bóinne tombs, in particular Knowth, contain the largest assemblage of megalithic art in Western Europe."  Learn much, much more here.

Worldbuilding Wednesday on GRYMVALD.com
The nuts and bolts of Worldbuilding
for our tabletop RPGing.

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The Tuesday Sundries - Using MERP's/Tolkien's Setting

For those who don't have time to create their own Tabletop RPG Setting or simply have a hankering to allow players to explore Middle-earth, one of the easiest ways to do so is to get hold of some old Middle-earth Role Playing (MERP) games books.  Licensed by Iron Crown Enterprises (I.C.E.) from 1984 through 1999 from Tolkien Enterprises, the setting detailed by I.C.E. spans much of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit works.  If you go this route, just look for some of the (admittedly expensive) out of print books on eBay.  The I.C.E. website has some alternate suggestions for resource materials here.  There is a good guide to the products and what is in them over on waynesbooks.com here.  One eBay auction I saw here seems to be offering much more than what is supposed to come in the basic boxed set.  I'd send a question to that seller before committing to buy it though.

The Tuesday Sundries on GRYMVALD.com
Essentially, a clearinghouse for topics on GRYMVALD.com
not covered elsewhere or wanting a particular focus.

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RPG Media Monday - Fantasy Heroines, Lioness In Winter, & Hild

Over on the Medievalist.net website, they recently featured an article from the Journal of Gender Studies titled "Medievalism and the Fantasy Heroine" by Jane Marianna Tolmie here.

Also, on that same site last month, they featured a Master's Thesis titled "An actress’ approach to the role of Eleanor of Aquitaine in The Lion In Winter by James Goldman" by Roxanna Prosser here.

Finally, last month on NPR they had a review of Nicola Griffith's Hild here.

RPG Media Monday on GRYMVALD.com

What can be gleaned from Media

and used in our tabletop RPGing?

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Setting & Society Sunday - Middle Ages Hygiene, Medieval Clothing, & a Secret Ballroom

Over on Life Buzz, they expound on "20 Reasons Why You Would Not Have Kissed Shakespeare (Or Anyone Else In The Middle Ages)" here.

Over on the Medievalists.net website, a recent feature discusses "Fashioning the Middle Ages: Teaching Medieval Culture Through Clothing" here.

Finally, Sunny Skyz tells us in a pictorial article of "A Secret Ballroom Built In The 1800s Lies Under A Lake, Guarded By Neptune" here.

Setting & Society Sunday on GRYMVALD.com

Looking closer at Setting and Society

as a part of what is presented by GMs.

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