Spock's Pickled Brain

1. Necromancer's lair lantern Lots of Halloween décor could easily be used for pieces to recreate a necromancer's or other dark magic-user's lair. These surplus skull-and-crow lanterns were found in a thrift store for about $10, but you can likely buy these very cheaply close to or after Halloween. The lantern has a LED light, but this object can benefit from additional lights in the orbital sockets of the skull, or additional weathering and aging done to the skull. 2. Royal storage container This started out life as metal-plated ice bucket, and was found in a thrift store for $2. Unaltered this works pretty well as a themed storage container for food or other objects. But you could also using ageing techniques to tone down the newness, add faux jewels, etc. 3. Pedestal for magical artifact I'm not sure what this started out as, but I found this wooden stand-like object for about $2. It could be used as the base or pedestal for a crystal ball, creature, m

First let’s get one thing straight. Although bracers and vambraces are worn on the forearm, they are not the same. A vambrace is a piece of leather or metal armor meant to protect the outside of the forearm and deflecting hacking blows. Sometime they encase both the outer and inner arm, and sometimes just the outer arm. They are generally part of a medium- to heavily-armored melee fighter on foot or horseback. A bracer is worn to protect the inside of the arm from the slap of a bowstring, and to keep long sleeves from interfering with the draw of the bow. An archer may only wear one to protect the arm holding the bowstave, or wear two to secure the sleeves. Bracers can be made of leather or cloth, and have no real value as melee armor. Which is fine, because archers don’t intend to let an enemy to get close enough for that to matter. Since the character I’m building relies on stealth, agility, and long-ranged weaponry, I opted to make bracers rather than vambraces. But certainly you co

Starbat's Favorite High Fantasy Books (that aren't Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones ) Not that we don't love those. But when you're done... Note: This is not an extensive list of the best fantasy books, or even necessarily of my favorite fantasy books. But it is an awesome group of books, and it's the list that come to mind when I think of "high fantasy." The Obsidian Trilogy by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory This is a classic high fantasy trilogy, rife with magic, elves, demons, and more magic. However, it manages to break out of the Lord of the Rings knock-off bin by including a likeable and distinct protagonist with realistic (and some fantastical) character growth and beautifully detailed worldbuilding (although Lackey can get bogged down in the little details, it works in these books). Also there are elven knights who ride unicorns, where the elves are super stoic, but the unicorns are super sassy, which is just the best.

All right, so to exercise my rudimentary sewing skills I have challenged myself to make a medieval hood. Before committing myself to making a more complicated design with my better fabrics, I decided to play around with basics with some fabric that won't matter if it goes all to hell. So I experimented with some old cloth napkins and it worked out pretty well. Obviously the rougher design is not all that useful for cosplaying as nobility, but could easily work for a basic outlaw, forester, or Robin Hood type costume. Forgive the stare of death, I needed a dramatic photo... Materials -4 decorative table napkins -Antler or other medieval-type button Tools -Scissors -Needle/thread -Superglue -Measuring tape 1. Gather the materials The materials list is pretty simple. The key part here is finding a set of four cloth napkins that have a believably medieval look to them. Given the roughshod approach, this is a hood better suited to a lower-status medieval person, so

Objectively, it looks downright silly. Arriving in the parking lot, you see a motley collection of knights, elves, monks, high-born ladies, fairies, pirates, and more emerging from their cars, making last-minute adjustments, and then setting off in search of an admission ticket and a pint of ale. The costuming is varied, unregulated as to time period or source. You are just as likely to find a Celtic warrior in woad war paint as you are to see Legolas striding through the crowd. Many of the costumes are intricate, authentic in material and fabrication, the result of months of proud work or expensive acquisition. Some are clearly the polyester pieces and plastic shields from Halloween costumes. And large contingent of revelers don’t dress up at all, or only in their best “I destroyed the One Ring at Mount Doom and all I got was this lousy t-shirt”. So why do grown humans living in the modern age apparently take leave of their senses for a day or weekend to join other weirdos in the wo

The Lich King Dark, thick, and sweet, but hiding fangs beneath its beauty. Everything the dark side should be. The recipe for this cocktail was rediscovered in an ancient tome by Starbat. One must have great fortitude to withstand the double hit of this concoction's tequila and moonshine. The unearthly color and sweetness of the hibiscus syrup and blue curacao are countered with the edge from the ginger lime shrub. The final bit of sorcery is inflicted by the mango habanero sugar rim, a parting shot of a potent mixture. 0.5oz hibiscus syrup 0.5oz blue curacao 1oz silver tequila 1 oz Moonshine 0.25 tsp ginger lime shrub Mango Habanero sugar to rim the glass Instructions: Once you have all the ingredients (see below for pointers on the weirder ingredients), it's really just a matter of sugaring the rim, adding all the other ingredients, and packing in as much ice as possible (for this cocktail, the cold is key to counteract the sweetness of the syrup and complem