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Old wizard of randomness
Another clue that the Temple of Elemental Evil was suppose to have a more Drow Lolth connection is I believe the bottom level of the temple was suppose to be in the shape of a spider with a human face, like Lolth is depicted in Q1 Queen of the Demonweb Pits.
I have mentioned before that I have a theory that the Temple of Elemental Evil was originally suppose to be more about Drow and Tharizdun. I was reading ToEE again, and in the clue passage, the players are given a rhyme in a dream.
"The Two united, in the past,
a Place to build, and spells to cast.
Their power grew, and took the land
and people round, as they had planned.
A key without a lock they made
of gold and gems, and overlaid"
"Many now have gone to die
in water, flame, in earth, or sky.
They did not bear the key of old
that must be found-the orb of gold."
And if you read through D3 the Vault of the Drow, there is this curious passage.
"If Lolth flees, or is slain in her current form, a silvery (platinum) egg will be revealed."
"In the egg are an iron pyramid, a silver sphere, a bronze star of eight points, and a cube of pale blue crystal."
This is a similar description in ToEE
"These corridors lead to permanent magical gates, each marked by a corresponding shape already seen in the upper dungeon levels -- a circle for air, triangle for earth, square for water, and the eight-pointed fire symbol."
What is the best D&D introductory module for new players?
Feel free to comment with options not listed.
I was trying to get a handle on Howard Hughes claim that the USAAC stole his idea of a twin boom airplane (the D-2) when they made the P-38. Both planes were started in 1937. I found a picture of a model of the D-2. The model exists at the Planes of Fame Air Museum in Chino California.
Model of D-2 (Image 1)
Actual P-38 flying (Image 2)
Note that the P-38 uses Allison V-1710 liquid cool engines, and the D-2 is using air cooled radial engines (possibly Pratt & Whitney R-2800 wasp engines).
There is an interesting technical history story about liquid cooled versus radial engines and developments discovered during ww2, but that is a topic for another day.
Howard Hughes had a new innovative plane (the H-1 Racer) built in 1935. Many groundbreaking technologies were developed during construction to aid in streamlining.
H-1 Racer below a traditional bi-plane(Image 1)
Flying the H-1, on Sept 13th, 1935, Hughes set a new landplane record of 352.39 mph.
He expected the USAAC to buy the plane and make a new generation of fighter airplanes based on the design. The USAAC turned him down.
Howard Hughes claimed, "it was quite apparent to everyone that the Mitsubishi A6M Zero had been copied from the Hughes H-1 Racer."
Mitsubishi A6M Zero (Image 2)
Aviation writer William Wraga asserts that the H-1 Racer inspired later radial engine fighter airplanes.
P-47 Thunderbolt (Image 3)
Focke-Wulf Fw 190 (Image 4)
Picture of Howard Hughes by the XF-11 experimental aircraft.
It is strange to me now, looking at the picture. Having played Fallout New Vegas, and watched off hand references to Howard Hughes, and now that we have AI, the picture makes me think it is made up! Fake in some way.
But you can find the picture in this article about Howard Hughes famous crash while test flying the plane here at the LA Times.
Howard Hughes wanted to make a wooden aircraft twin engine fighter in 1937. It would have used Duramold which is a composite material process where birch or poplar plies are impregnated with phenolic resin and laminated together in a mold under heat. The general idea is similar to what the British started thinking of making in 1937 and led to the Mosquito (Image 1) Hughes D-2 would have been more smooth and used twin booms. There are not many images of the D-2 (Image 2).
The US army airforce were not enthused about using wood in aircraft. The role of fast twin engine fighter made out of metal was filled by the Lockheed P-38 (Image 3).
Hughes gave up making the D-2 out of wood, and started working on a metal twin engine designated XF-11. There are photographs of Hughes testing the XF-11(Image 4).
In senate hearing testimony, Hughes claimed that the USAAF stole his idea for a twin engine boom aircraft.
In 1942, the allies did some preliminary planning to land in western France (operation SLEDGEHAMMER).
In 1943, the allies did even more planning to land in western France (operation ROUNDUP).
There is quite a bit of declassified material concerning ROUNDUP, mostly expected troop numbers and equipment.
Mitch Williamson, a war buff, put together a hypothetical map where the invasion plan involved separating the US and UK invade in different areas.
From my casual reading, I do not think that was the plan!
So I edited the map to show the US and UK forces landing halfway between Boulogne and Le Havre.
Still a fascinating "What if?".
Most up to date genetic study on viking graves. From my reading of it, it does not really reveal anything other sources have not already stated.
I have often said that I think the best real world historical analog to the implied D&D setting is the age of viking expansion, 700 to 1000.
Attention Media ≠ Social Networks
Sort of what I have been describing. But, I would go even further. Too many people want attention, not discourse.
Wow. Looks like Michael Tamelander helped in the research of a book. Normandy, 1944: German Military Organization, Combat Power and Organizational Effectiveness
Only $10 for a used copy or...
$150 for a brand new copy (yikes).
https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=32322822527
The wayback machine is such a great resource. I was able to dig up this old fan made hex map of the disposition of German forces right before D-day.
Made by Michael Tamelander and hosted with the old style ~username folders that old time unix machines would do for hosting people's webpages.
Got sidetracked while working on old WW2 situation maps. If you read up on history, there were real talks between the United Sates and the UK about the possibility of landing a force in France in 1942 (2 years before the real D-day). There was worry that the Soviet Union would fall and then all of the German division on the Eastern Front would return. The problem in 1942 is that the UK would have fielded most of the troops for the invasion. I took the situation map used on June 6 1944 and then tried to figure out where a much smaller invasion force would try to land.
Note there would be no attempt to break out and take a town like Caen. The goal was to just hold the Cotentin peninsula.
Question if anyone out there read this and has the time. Do any of the map links on this map index work for you?
I have been trying to find WW2 era maps that a very bare bones looking.
UPDATE: Others have alerted that the links DO NOT work. Also, see replies for a couple of alternatives.
https://library.mcmaster.ca/maps/index-wwii-europe-1500000-scale-maps
For my possible Top Secret RPG but set in WW2 game I was thinking of running. I got interested on what troop movements were like during and after D-day. I found day to day situation maps drawn as the war was happening over at the Library of Congress website. But, I wanted a blankish rendition of the area so I started slowly combining and image editing the maps to make the more plain.
Sadly, this is something AI LLM would be good at, but I have not tried. Back to my hours and hours of image editing.
Green Ronin offers a free quickplay version of the Expanse RPG on their website. Worth checking out if you are into a slightly more grounded sci-fi setting.
https://greenroninstore.com/products/the-expanse-transport-union-edition-quickstart-pdf