So… here I am blogging about it… yeah, ulterior motives for this post, definitely. But, it is also a great opportunity for people who are wary of 4E or just have never played it before to get in on the action. I’m one of those people, actually. I’m interested in the D&D Essentials stuff, but can’t justify forking out the gold for it yet. However, if I win the games, then that’s excellent! If I happen to be the lucky winner, I’ll be sure to post my thoughts on the games here once I play them.

Also, it’s always great to find out about a new (or old, but new-to-me) roleplaying forum, like Gamer’s Haven. I think this contest is a great way to get people to check out the forum and those that like it will stick around. It seems like a nice new little community. I’ll have to poke around some more and see what they’re up to.

So, that’s it for this post. I’ve entered the contest, and you should too. Don’t forget to check out Gamer’s Haven and all the frequent articles and competitions at Troll in the Corner.

Nevermet Press’ Monster MashUp Contest involved checking out an illustration of a new monster and writing a backstory, narrative or description to go with it. Public voting has now begun on the entries – and there’s a lot of great ones! So get your votes in before May 7th. After that, the top three entries will be judged by a panel and prizes will be awarded. I had a crack at it, producing the following entry (Entry #25).

EDIT: Sadly, the voting has been temporarily closed due to “widespread voting fraud”. Read the post on Nevermet Press’ website for more information. I will about this again when voting starts back up.

Flanked by four small maws filled with needle sharp teeth, eight unblinking orange eyes encircle a ninth central eye in the crinkled face of this dark wiry creature. Clawed limbs and sinewy tentacles protrude from the muscular trunk of its lower body like a mass of writhing roots and vines. About the size of a large dog, this radial creature skitters about unnaturally, quickly changing directions and scaling any surface with disturbing grace.

Such is its ease of movement that time and space prove no barrier to this creature. It easily tears through the fabric of reality and its nine eyes see countless timelines and futures at once. It acts based on these stimuli and is highly unpredictable as it performs seemingly random acts – usually of violence – as it attempts to steer the world towards some unknowable fate.

Often sighted during disasters, wars and assassinations, many believe this creature appears at such times to ensure that these history-shaping events unfold as it wishes. Some claim that the creature does not just sway the outcome of these events, but meticulously influences smaller related events and key moments in the past to set up these eventual catastrophes.

Moderately capable in combat, this creature prefers to wait in the shadows or in time itself for just the right second to pounce. When overwhelmed, this creature will often come to its own aid – suddenly dozens of future versions of this otherwise unique creature emerge from tears in space to devastate their attackers before promptly returning to their own times leaving volatile gobs of warped reality in their wake. This corruption of space-time can lead to spontaneous changes of history, bringing long-dead villains back to life or even pulling ancient wars, plagues or other threats into the present.

I’m pretty proud of my entry, but there are a lot of great ones in the running. Head over to Nevermet’s website to vote on your favourite entry.