Istrilonius is the patient far-seeing god of planning and strategy. He is slow to anger and slow to act. He takes stock of the situation at hand and considers all possible outcomes and futures before putting the first stages of a detailed plan into action. Istrilonius’ followers pride themselves on always being a few steps ahead of the game, and always having one or more contingency plans.

It is difficult to catch one of the Great Strategist’s followers off-guard. While they are not adept at reacting quickly to unexpected situations, the number of these they encounter are few, as they learn to expect the unexpected. They may be seen to react quickly, but in truth, this is simply the enacting of a plan they have prepared earlier.

Hearing and deftly catching an unexpected projectile, responding spontaneously with a perfect witty retort, making a split-second decision and running with it to success – these are all times when Swift is with us. God of the Moment, Swift favours those who live and act in the now, not fretting, second-guessing and missing opportunities due to hesitation. It is Swift’s followers who most often make literal leaps of faith.

Swift has a simple outlook and discourages over thinking. His followers espouse the belief that the simplest answer is often the correct one. His doctrine is not lengthy or rambling; it is to the point like all of his teachings. Known as The Only Rules, the doctrine of the God of the Moment says to ‘trust your gut’, ‘seize the moment’ and ‘live in the now’. He asks little more of his worshipers than to follow and live by these rules, thanking him with spontaneous gifts when doing so benefits them.

Aruneus is a campaign setting being developed by Ben over at Troll in the Corner and using the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game rules. It’s a high fantasy world 100 years after the zombie apocalypse. Sounds like a great combination to me! Ben’s using Kickstarter to fund the creation of his setting through Kickstarter but he needs your help.

Congratulations to fellow Australian Matt Goddall for his winning proposal for the 2010 RPG Superstar contest, held annually by Paizo. Check the Paizo blog for the official announcement. Matt’s proposal beat out the very tough competition and he will now go on to write his module, entitled Cult of the Ebon Destroyers, to be published by Paizo under the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game system in January 2011.

I’ve recently been thinking about threshold or liminal gods. It’s a strange concept to have an entire god – or several – dedicated to doorways. However, liminality also refers to being “between” places, times or states. I have created Tarsis – Goddess at the Gate – as an attempt to create a coherent threshold deity for use in roleplaying games. I’ve also included rules for using Tarsis with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and with Savage Worlds. If you find this article interesting, I suggest reading up about Hecate, who Tarsis is heavily based upon.

I recently had an NPC ask a PC if he’d like to gamble, but I hadn’t thought of the game they would play. Before I knew it I was saying in character as the NPC: “So, have you ever played… knifey-dicey?” On the spot, we came up with some quick rules for this two player minigame.

Australia is basically a fantasy roleplaying setting come to life. Australia is beautiful, deadly and a great source of inspiration for gamemasters. So, to celebrate Australia Day I’ve collected Australia-related roleplaying links and inspirational links from around the webosphere for your perusal.

I have been called a monster and worse, but you may call me Vam. It is true that I keep company with the creatures that cause Man to fear the dark, however, my freedom to do as I wish is limited, as I unwilling share a body with a male human who goes by the moniker “Mockingbard”.