Neal Litherland
Bio
Neal Litherland is an author, freelance blogger, and RPG designer. A regular on the Chicago convention circuit, he works in a variety of genres.
Blog: Improved Initiative and The Literary Mercenary
Stories (338)
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The Silver Raven Chronicles Part Two: From The Ashes
The opera house sat silently, its beautiful windows gone dark, and its usually welcoming doors closed. It had been quiet before, but in the past it had felt like the peaceful sleep of a diva once her final notes had been sung for the night. Now with the bars on the doors and the closed shutters, as well as the dottari regulars in their black and red armor with weapons close to-hand standing on the steps, the opera looked like a noble lady who had been taken hostage, her lovely voice gagged into silence.
By Neal Litherland4 years ago in Fiction
Character Concepts: The Anti-Party
"Somebody want to tell me what just happened?" Isidora snarled, slamming her helm onto the table. The steel cap was dented from where the hulking brute had slammed his morning star into it. The quality of the steel was the only thing that had kept her skull from cracking like an egg.
By Neal Litherland4 years ago in Gamers
The Silver Raven Chronicles Part One: Devil's Night
There was no moon, and the flickering lights of Old Kintargo did little to hold the night at bay. Smoky street lamps leaked tallow tears, revealing barely more than a few steps in any direction before the darkness and the thick night fog closed in once more. Ships swayed in the currents of the Yolubilis River; bulky shapes looming out of the mist like mountains in a dream. Dark figures paced the decks, illumined by the storm lanterns, their heavy coats and high collars making them look like phantoms in the cold night air.
By Neal Litherland4 years ago in Fiction
That One Time My Bard Made The Dungeon Master's Girlfriend Jealous
It's time for another installment of my ongoing Table Talk series, where I share tales of my gaming tables past and present. This week, however, I wanted to tell a story about something that went on outside of the game itself. A comedy of errors that, by the time the drama was over, all I could do was shake my head at all the falling dominoes I had been completely oblivious to.
By Neal Litherland4 years ago in Gamers
The 5 Bothersome Bards You Meet in Your Gaming Career
All of us have personal horror stories about games we've been at, or players we've had to deal with. And while paladins might take the gold for sucking the fun out of the room, nobody beats bards when it comes to the sheer variety of ways they can make a game less enjoyable. From those who are here for a very different kind of roleplaying (suggestive tone of voice optional), to those who do their very best to steal the show, I thought I'd break down some of the most troublesome tropes you're likely to run into involving this particular character class.
By Neal Litherland4 years ago in Gamers
Could American Excrement Power Our Electricity Grid With Renewable Energy?
If you pay attention to the news, particularly to tech news, you likely came across the toilet that converts poop to cryptocurrency. Located on a campus in South Korea, the process for this system is fairly simple. Students log in with their ID in the bathroom (we've all got our phones in-hand anyway), do their business, and then a vacuum system sucks away their "donation" as it's called. The waste is deposited in a tank, and then allowed to break down, producing methane. The methane is burned to create power, helping keep the university sustainable.
By Neal Litherland4 years ago in Earth
Can Large-Scale Telecommuting Save The Environment?
It feels like 2020 was a year of unmitigated disaster, filled with nothing but doom and gloom. However, while the pandemic was terrible (and is far from over at time of writing), some of our efforts to mitigate it had further-reaching effects than we expected. All you had to do was scroll through social media some time in the past year to see posts of people marveling at clear-running waters usually choked with detritus, or posting pictures of clear skies in places like Los Angeles, to get a sense of the visible effects that everyone staying home for a while had on the environment.
By Neal Litherland4 years ago in Earth
How To Build The Catachan Jungle Fighters in The Pathfinder RPG
The Imperium of Man stretches across the galaxy, and it's said to contain a million inhabited worlds. Among that million, though, there is one that stands above the others for its cruelty, its viciousness, and horror. A place of fetid swamps, murderous heat, and where every piece of bizarre flora and unusual fauna has evolved perfectly to kill you.
By Neal Litherland5 years ago in Gamers
Waking Dogs- A World Eaters Tale
Crixus woke to the stench of blood, and the sound of screams. He stood on a battlefield, surrounded by smoking craters and the fragments of the army that had come out to meet them. Shattered tanks dotted the ground like broken teeth, and burning promethium turned the field into a scene of hell while black smoke choked the skies. Scattered across the field like chaff after a reaping were the bodies of the dead. Men, women, it was hard to tell after what had been done to them. They’d stood before the teeth of a war machine, and it had chewed them to pieces. Crixus took it in, bemused as the mists slowly cleared away from his head and he came back to himself. As the fog of battle frenzy departed, though, the pain it hid returned; the feeling of the butcher’s nails demanding to be fed. It was only a dull ache for now, but he knew the pain would grow teeth soon enough.
By Neal Litherland5 years ago in Futurism
How To Build The Death Korps of Krieg in The Pathfinder RPG
Among the Astra Militarum there are warriors of great courage and ruthless drive. There are soldiers without peer whose banners heave with accolades of past glories. But even among the regiments of renown, whose names and sigils are known across the Imperium, there is one that stands out from the others. A regiment spoken of in equal parts awe, and horror. A regiment that does not know fear, or pity, or remorse, and who absolutely will not stop until they or the foe are dead.
By Neal Litherland5 years ago in Gamers
Anti-Fascist Role Models: Bela Lugosi
When you think of Bela Lugosi, chances are you imagine the original Count Dracula. Though he appeared in over a hundred films, and countless stage performances (pun very much intended), the immortal Transylvanian monster defined Lugosi's legacy as much as Lugosi defined the Count in our pop culture.
By Neal Litherland5 years ago in The Swamp
5 Non-Vampire Movies You Should Watch Before Running a Vampire Game
The World of Darkness is a setting filled with deep shadows, where players are asked to gaze into the abyss and grapple with the questions about the line between the human and the monstrous. While there are numerous spheres of this setting, the flagship has always been Vampire, since it was the game that really launched the World of Darkness into the public eye.
By Neal Litherland5 years ago in Gamers
