#gridmark

[theoutcastrogue]

Rogues in fantasy TTRPGs that aren't Dungeons & Dragons

Sometimes it's called Rogue, sometimes it's called Thief. It can be a class, or a template, or a sample build for a classless system. It can be pigeonholed to a couple of roles and specialties, or wide open to interpretations and extensive customisation.

But any self-respecting fantasy game, chock-full as it may be with mighty warriors and powerful wizards, needs a disreputable little shit: the rogue, the thief, the scoundrel, the one who strays. And it's a truly universal archetype. The people in the margins are the salt of the earth, and a setting without them is just… unseasoned.

"The thief gives us a chance to play someone closer to heart, someone who's not strong or possessed of magical talents, someone who has to rely on wit and stealth to survive. Someone, we can imagine, who might very well be just like us. And in being more like us, it's clear that the thief is not just a column of percentile chances to pick locks and disarm traps; she is blessed with as many different skills and appearances as there are crimes to be committed. And that's quite a lot." [x]

So here's a sneak peek at the Thief/Rogue in:

Shadowdark (2023) - gridmark and rules-light dungeoncrawl

Tales of the Valiant (2024) - a D&D 5e variant

Rolemaster Unified (2022) - famously crunchy and customisable

GURPS 4e Dungeon Fantasy (2007) - classic classless system

Ars Magica 5th Edition (2004) - the historically grounded one (in Europe 1200 AD), very customisable

Four Against Darkness (2017) - solo dungeoncrawl

Blades in the Dark (2017) - where everyone's a rogue!

Pathfinder 2e (2024) - a million rules and it's all 3.5's fault

Lankhmar: City of Thieves (2015) - the Fafhrd and Gray Mouser setting, with the Savage Worlds system

Daggerheart (2025) – a more narrative, D12-based system

[thepseudowoodo]

Hoodcraft: Part 1

Hey hi hello how are you all doing, staring hard directly at you, KCD fandom, yes this is a post about how to draft your own pattern for your own medieval hood. It will go up in 2 parts, and this first part is for the basic hood. Nothing fancy, just a basic garment. Please note that this post assumes a base level of sewing competence. It is for people who have sewn before. I will of course answer any questions that come up to the best of my ability, but this post isn't intended to teach you the basics of sewing. Directions follow the cut.

For this project, you will need:

paper for taking notes and something to take notes with

graph paper

measuring tape

A straight edge or flat ruler (I prefer the ruler)

Optional but recommended:

a roll of wrapping paper, bonus if you get the kind with the grid printed on the back

To begin, let's talk about the anatomy of a hood. While the entire garment is called a hood, the upper portion which encompasses the head, is the hood "proper". The part that joins at the neck and falls over the shoulders is generally called a cape or capelet. The tail you see on some hoods is called a liripipe, and the decorative edging at the hem is called dagging. Most hoods you see in KCD don't have dagging or liripipes, and that's because those features of a hood were considered expensive and fashionable. Indeed, at one point people were getting so ridiculous with their liripipe size and length (big liripipe = big wallet) that sumptuary laws were passed to limit their size. We'll talk about them more in the next post.

In order to begin your journey to hoodness, you will first have to take some measurements. I like to advise people to round up to the nearest half or whole inch with all of these, because not only does it make your patterning life easier, it gives you a little wiggle room to work with later.

Measure your head circumference (A) at the widest point of your head, usually just above your eyebrows. If you have an especially large nose or hate pulling clothing too tightly over your head and face, you may wish to add an extra half an inch to an inch to this measurement.

Measure your face length (B) from the forward center of your head (around your hairline) to the lowest point of your chin.

Measure your head depth (C) from the center-ish of your forehead to slightly below that point on the back of your head.

Measure your hem circumference (D) by figuring out how far down your shoulders or arms you want the hood to fall, and measuring around your body (arms included) at that level. You may need to get a little help keeping the measuring tape straight with this one.

Measure your desired cape length (E) by measuring from your jaw to the level you measured your hem at. Do not pull the measuring tape taught when you do this; let it hang so that it follows down your neck and along your shoulder.

Now that we have all those numbers, we're going to take a quick look at the geometry of a hood. At its most basic form, a hood is just a rectangle on top of a trapezoid. But that's not the most comfortable or attractive garment to wear, so let's look at the advanced version. The advanced hood has more curves and slopes to it, allowing it to fit our heads and necks more comfortably. The back of the head curves inward, reducing bulk at the back of the neck. It also curves in under the chin, keeping the face from being completely engulfed in fabric and reducing the limitations on peripheral vision. We like being able to see our enemies charging at us from the side, after all.

Now, this is where you want graph or grid paper. Trust me, this part of the process is so much easier if you use gridmarked paper. What we're doing now is taking those measurements and drawing a miniature version of our pattern. We'll start by forming the rectangle of our hood. Measure out the top of the hood using measurement (C). (NOTE: I mislabeled the images here as 1/2 A; disregard that. I'm just an idiot) From that, measure the length of the face opening (B). Once you have those two lines drawn, complete the rectangle.

Now we draw our trapezoid. From the center of the bottom line, measure down for your desired hood length (E). Then, from each of the lower corners, measure out on a rough diagonal the same length (a ruler helps with this). Typically you won't need to go more than about 45 degrees with this angle, unless you are very broad in the shoulder. Connect these three points with a gently curved line to shape your hem. Ideally, you want this line to end up being no less than 1/2 D - it has to fit around your body, remember. If you're in doubt, angle your lines out a little more and redraw the line.

Now we have our basic hood geometry, it's time to make it a little more advanced. I recommend doing this in a different pen or marker than you used to draw the basic shape. You can make these changes however you want, based on what you think will be most comfortable for you. My personal changes are as follows:

1) I curved the point on the back top of the hood; this is aesthetic, I'm not a big fan of the little pointy tail when I wear the hood

2) I curved the back of the neck in near the base of my head

3) I extended the front of the hood outward and upward an inch at the top. This serves the main purpose of giving me a peak on the hood that will add more shade to the front of my face when I wear it.

4) I curved in the neck beneath the chin; This will help keep the hood from getting in the way if I look down, and it sits more attractively on my front

Now we're going to transfer our miniature pattern onto a correctly scaled pattern. This is where I really highly recommend the grid-printed wrapping paper, because it makes measuring and drawing patterns SO MUCH EASIER. If all you have is taped together printer paper, though, that's cool too. Because you've basically done this step already once. We're just redoing the patterning process in actual size now. If you aren't doing this on gridded paper, make sure you're careful about keeping your lines straight. This is also a perfect time to check and make sure that this pattern will fit you. For example, when I was measuring this pattern, I realized that in adding shaping around the neck, I had made the opening there too small. The most narrow point in the hood should be no smaller than 1/2 A. After all, you have to get your head through it. You can see here that I redrew the back of the hood, bringing it out an inch but keeping the same slope that I had drawn originally. If you do have to make changes, make sure you mark the old line somehow so that you don't accidentally use it; I double-slash along the length of the line.

And there you go! You have a hood pattern. Now, standard sewing disclaimers apply here: make a mock-up to make sure it fits before you cut into your actual fabric; remember this pattern doesn't include seam allowances so you should either add them onto the pattern yourself or allow for them when you trace and cut the fabric, etc.

Today or tomorrow I'll get the second post up going into detail about how to make your hood fancy. For now, go forth! Make hoods! Frolic in them! They are seriously such good accessories.

[blowfliesorangeeyes]

i fear i may be the first person in the world to Ever compare lighthearted fantasy romp Good Guys and grimy dark urban fantasy the Dresden Files, but there is something here to be poked at Perchance.

They both have a core theme of community, of Dresden learning how to stop being a brooding sad lonely little wizard freak and actually form a community. learns how to rely on and trust the people around him as well as allowing himself comfort with them. And of Montana building his little miracle dukedom with nothing but a grouchy solider and a bunch of refugees. its Montana learning how to be a leader; to be independent, and Dresden learning how to be in a support system; to be reliant. certainly not the same goals as people, execpt another key detail is that both of these stories contain fantasy.

Good Guys being a full fantasy and the Dresden Files being urban fantasy, the way they treat people from this side of things is where they differ.

quick preface with the note that i understand these are in a large part genre differences, i am more so talking through the lense of the stories themselves; yes the Dresden Files being more gridmark means it will be more depressing and conflicted about everything, but yes i will be talking about how that differs from attitudes in the Good Guys.

In the Dresden Files it is Dresden keeping his humanity; a good comendable thing. but to do it he contrasts himself against the Monsters. Dresden is a good human not because he is a good person but because he is not a Monster. Because he does not differ from the status quo but rather upholds it. he does not have green scales, or gnashing teeth, or red eyes, his appearence is that of the most average Tall Guy you could possibly imagine. He is good because he is not one of them, one of the bad folk. the bad folk of course meaning anything not abiding by his standards of normalcy. obviously there are exceptions every now and then and he gets better about it as the books progress, but for a wizard he sure does hate anyone not enough like him. The Dresden Files is about exclusionary community; everyone allowed in so long as. the fae and the vamps and the other folk going bump in the night are, whatever the fantasy equivelent of humanized is, yet they still get lumped in as the bad evil monsters as a whole. you're allowed to like them when theyre normal like me, but when theyre weird thats when you can kill them. Again, he gets better about acceptence later in the series but there is still such a brick wall of limitation on who is allowed to be seen as good. so what i'm trying to say is 'Gentleman' Johnny Marcone did nothing wro-

On the other hand, the Good Guys is almost detrimentally inclusive. Montana, despite his big scary apperence and fuck off kill count, genuinely tries to understand and be kind to everyone; bandits and monsters and races deemed somehow lesser or below others are immediately loved overwhelmingly. he takes the time to understand the Monsters not so he can better kill them, but so he can show them customs and courtisies he feels they should be given. time and time again he finds himself faced with something the world has deemed to be dangerous and uneeded and he tries a shot at kindness. he has been betrayed, bitten, had a few limbs torn off, melted into nothing but black bones, inside a wyrm, there was that time he was like half bathed in the blood of children? point is, the world is cruel and mean and ugly, but he will not let that happen to him too. he's seen as naieve and innocent by his right hand Nikolai, and this is, not necissarily disproven, but, countered by the idea that it is not ignorance which makes Montana so accepting; but just straight up openmindedness and an urge to learn. he sees a beast with big gnashing teeth and asks if they hurt it's gums before he is eaten.

Dresden, when given strength, uses it to lash out in defense against the Monsters. every step towards them is unwilling and terrible.; Montana, when given strength, uses it to build a better home for the Monsters so they no longer feel the need to encroach on his home. something about their attitudes; the way in both worlds there are entire communities and societies outside of humans: terrifying, dangerous, beautiful, and the way they decide to either uphold or break common ideas.

i swear there was a point in here somewhere. sorry folks I got derailed posts cancelled

[marietheran]

Am I the only person who keeps pronouncing it 'gridmark' xd?

[hakuna-machete]

So, with the live action avatar trailer out a lot of people are saying they’re really hoping it’s not just another gridmark remake, and that there is still the humor and whimsy that the cartoon had. And while I absolutely agree, we can’t forget that, even though Avatar the Last Airbender is a cartoon made for children it’s a pretty brutal show. And because it’s a cartoon, the characters’ ages are not really salient, but in a live action, we can see how obviously young all of the characters are. And that throughout the series these are all child soldiers actively fighting in a very brutal conflict.

I thought I had saved the post, but I couldn’t find it, and it was a post about how when Katara was fighting Pakku in the northern water tribe he was shocked when he had to doge ice discs that would’ve decapitated him when he thought they were just sparring.  And it was because Katara had never been in a fight that wasn’t a fight to the death. Even if the Gaang managed to escape before it got to that point, they were all fighting just to stay alive every time. Sokka, who is 16, matter-of-factly tells Aang, who is 12, that he has to kill another person for the good of the world because the inescapable fate of fighting and killing in a war is the reality that Sokka has lived in his entire life. 

There is so much fun and humor in the show, and it would be a serious loss and disservice if that was taken out. It’s a show with central themes of hope and resistance and redemption and family and love and acceptance. But it’s also about war and imperialism and genocide and our main hero is 12 years old and now in the live action remake really looks 12 years old. Even if they just did a one to one exactly as it was in the cartoon remake just because we can now see that these are 12-year-olds and 14 year olds and 16-year-olds waging war and fighting these battles and going through all of the things that these characters went through in the animated series, it would still make it seem darker.

Just my thoughts, I am looking forward to it, regardless of what happens. Yip yip!

[cliveguy]

this is insane. but for literal years i thought people were saying gridmark and it was some technical term for dark / edgy media... but it isn't. it's grimdark.

[hackercult]

girls the armor is losing integrity im being overmatched constantly please drop smoke gridmark F 6 9 8

[words-cannot-describe-this-blog]

gridmarked:

fyeahspectravision:

nerdmeetworld:

plumsandapocketwatch:

merlinstolethetardisfrombakerst:

I always thought this.

Mordor.

The Wizard of Mordor!

ONE DOES NOT SIMPLY FOLLOW THE RED BRICK ROAD INTO MORDOR

akjxhfkdsjhgfmg

[red-winters]

Is it just me or is Goodreads actually making me NOT want to read books

[thesmollestsnek]

Eye spy the Sanders Sides 👀

[thebibliosphere]

I got into a “debate” with someone over how “it’s impossible to complete Frostpunk without it turning into a dictatorship and that’s why the game sucks because gridmark is boring” so then because I have appropriately zero chill I went out of my way to beat the game with zero authoritarian rules in place (including no emergency shifts), and get the “golden path” achievement, just to show that you can.

It’s only the last 15 minutes of the scenario cause that shit is long, and it’s a bit potato in terms of quality cause I was having to use my left hand to play and also had none of my usual recording software set up, but for anyone that’s interested, you can absolutely beat the game without having to resort to religious zealotry/fascist regime measures. It just takes a little more forward planning and perspective. You can’t stumble from crisis to crisis and expect the “good” ending. You need to build with the intent to thrive and outlive the storm, no matter how slim those odds may seem. If you’re only ever doing the bare minimum to keep yourself in power, it’s not enough. You need to invest in more sustainable resources rather than the quick fixes, invest in infrastructure, technology rather than child labor, and also invest heavily in hope and community, which ultimately means making sure everyone has adequate housing, access to food, schools for the children to keep them out the cold during the day, medical care, and even enough wiggle room to survive a bunch of refugees showing up on your doorstep because hell is freezing over and the alternative is too horrifying to imagine. You can, of course, turn them away. You can leave them to die in the frozen tundra. That’s your choice to make. But Frostpunk is not a game intended to be played solely as a dictatorship.

It gives you the choice, it gives you the means by which you may survive in such a world. But it also gives you the choice to find another way. It’s harder, sure, but it is doable.

[theoutcastrogue]

I'm solving this like the Gordian Knot: I simply refuse to use the term "gridmark". At all, ever. It doesn't mean anything any more. It was made completely useless by the sheer amount of people who define it as "anything that's not 100% wholesome and uwu".

[flatstarcarcosa]

i don’t normally do callout posts but like :\

@dadbodsandbots is a bad influence bc this bitch got me thinkin’ bout vanilla ass soft uwu scenarios and it’s ruining my brand :\ 

[atheistj]

No offense but Game of Thrones is literally the opposite of everything Star Wars is supposed to be. Why would anyone think hiring those writers is a good idea?

[matthewjamesartist]

Marvel Family Villains! I like this little sketchbook. The paper feels nice (and it's pretty thick). Plus it has gridmarks. I got it at wm. #marvelfamily #captainmarvel #shazam #mrmind #mratom #blackadam #sabbac #ibac #sivana #fawcettcomics #dccomics #ink #sketch #sketchbook #cartoonist #cartoon #instatoon #instaart #instaartist #matthewjamescartoonist https://www.instagram.com/p/Cki8YFMvuLE/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[grimmssnarl]

grimmsnarl gets stabbed, his blood looks a bit like milky water. just kinda makes his hair shine. throws the fairy hunter hard into a tree, 

ooohhh imagines a fairy hunter with a net laced with iron(/silver/steel) 

reminds me of the predators nets, and how they slice through their opponents yknow.  IMAGINES A GRIMMSNARL WITH A GRIDMARK FROM IT . very cool. 

im thinking a lot about stupid action movie shots and fighting scenes, but also just fairy hunters in general. maybe when the poke-romans invadded what became galar they took the gaels knowledge of the fae and wanted to dominate them rather than coexist and defend themselves.

although im sure there are plenty of fairy hunters who are such becuase fairies are simply assholes