Mystic Realms

Mystic Realms is a Live Action Fantasy Role-Playing Game based in southern New Jersey. Players pay a small fee and show up in antiquated and elaborate costumes to scout camps for a weekend of fighting mythical beasts and committing heroic acts of valor all in the name of good fun. The Cast at these events arranges for the placement of wicked plots involving monsters, villains, and other interesting characters for the "heroes" to interact with. Careful rules are written to deal with things like combat and the working of magic spells.

Since this game is based in a fantasy world, costumes and props must be made to represent these nasty creatures of the untamed wilderness. Some are more believable than others are, but at the root of this game is the imagination of the individual. Many of these sketches here were made to go in an eventual bestiary for the game, giving a graphic image to these real life costumes. Some have already been used in the early editions of the rulebook. They were all done in a small spiral bounded sketchbook no more than 4"x 5" sized pages.

Creatures of the Wild

Bat, Giant This flying rodent was a quick rendering done while sitting in the back row of Art History class (with no disrespect intended to my professor at the time). I wanted to give the bat the impression of coming down hard on your head, and it being the last thing one would want to see there. It was really a quick sketch; I may go back and redo this one at a later date with more detail.

Beast Man The typical "wild man of the woods". I gave him a maniacal look in his eyes to convey the savageness of its beastily. Teeth bared and hair wild, he's ready for a fight. Eat your heart out Tarzan.

Bee, Giant My merry crew also introduced these flying menaces of life and limb to Mystic Realms. They have the distinction of being one of the most hated monsters in the realm. Their flying combined with a poisonous attack make them a royal pain in the rear. For the drawing I wanted a way to show their relative size so I added the startled hawk onto the scene off to the side.

Beetle, Giant These nasty insects were given birth by hard working seamstresses in my own dining room with sweat, thread and fabric. The costuming was really top notch. I tried to give credit to this feat of sewing ingenuity while still illustrating what the creature "would actually look like".

Deadly Vermin Large rubber "vermin" represents these highly poisonous pests (snakes, rats, spiders, etc). If they are at all touched it causes the instant death of the character. This amounts to sometimes rather humorous (and quick) deaths when folks are not paying attention. I just wanted to show the rather nasty effect of these rubber creatures on your generic Mystic Realms character.

Flame Hound This wicked puppy was a challenge. The costuming for this creature is far too cute and fuzzy considering how nasty they can be. I wanted to base a rendering off of that costume and still make him look frightening. I enjoyed the use of positive and negative space here as shown through the use of flames. Scary imagery here.
Frog, Giant I had a cartoon greeting card of a frog near my desk at work, which was the extent of a physical reference for this illustration. Still, it turned out better than I had thought it would. I kept coming back to it over the course of a night and adding details. It was that, or I do real work at my job.
Gorilla Yep. A large angry monkey. That's what we have here. I really did not enjoy this piece all this much but it was part of the series so it had to be done.
Mushroom, Giant These stationary fungi are low on personality, but big on fun. They traditionally produce spores that cause hallucinations to the unwary. Overall, I thought this a neat way to show off this group of gigantic fungus.
Praying Mantis Part of our "big bug series" of MR monsteres, this nasty critter was spawned from a much tamer looking costume design. If only the costume looked as scary as the rendering, then we'd be cooking with gas.
Rat, Giant This nasty rodent was done without any real visual references. Due to its monstrous nature I didn't want to just render a big rat. I wanted a creature to be feared by mighty heroes, and not just a large house pest captured on paper. So I made what I thought a dangerous rat monster should look like. I exaggerated the features greatly and added the human remains for a subtle size reference.
Shambling Mound This beastie turned out resembling more of a traditional "Green Man" than a living mound of flesh eating vegetation. Still. I was very pleased with the positive and negative space effects as granted by the lighting. The little details made by the leaves are another nice touch. He has a lot of character to him, which was what I really wanted.
Spider, Giant I was pleased with this piece, the illustration conveyed the feeling I wanted to show with this huge and hairy arachnid. The webbed body provided a nice size-framing device.

Creatures from other Realms

Alpha Shaggothe This nasty aquatic thing is based loosely its prop costume with a healthy dose of imagination thrown in. It's so hideously alien but it has a very human look of superiority and annoyance on its "face" that I am pleased with. People often tell me its nothing like what they imagined one would look like, but that's why we all think a little differently.
Beta Shaggothe Again, this image is a combination of real costuming and artistic license. I tried to convey the sheer strength of this massively tentacle water-dwelling menace. It ended up with an almost contemplative look to it on its "face" that I handed intended on putting there.
Medusa I was working on several thoughts when I did this rendering. It was a quick sketch to get the image out of my head, but I think I captured the spirit of it well. This fanged hag is enough of a nightmare to turn any man to stone.

Monster Societies

Cyclops These monsters were designed and introduced by my friends and I. We have described them as being "dangerously helpful". They tend not to be malicious, just alien in their thinking. For example, when first introduced they were making common folks "perfect like them" by poking out one of their eyes and attempting to "readjust their faces".
Goblin This fierce little bugger is a favorite of mine out of this series. I had a firm grasp on how he was going to turn out from start to finish. A certain symmetry and balance was achieved with anatomy of the creature with its battle ready stance and its wide, flat face. He also has an almost loveably grim expression on his face that lends a lot to his character.
Goblin 2 Another view of these wicked creatures, this time not so loveable. This goblin takes a more animalistic stance and is partially concealed in shadow. His fangs glisten and his tools are at the ready, proving that even the little monsters are not to be underestimated.
Kravynn When I first read about this species of beastie I got the impression that these rat-like monsters were vicious scavengers of the dead, however in game practice they are sometimes treated as almost being comical. Players forget how nasty these monsters are supposed to be so I wanted to remind them of that fact and capture that feeling of it being a cunningly dangerous opponent. They may be cute sometimes, but they are more than willing to chew your leg off if given the chance.
Ogre Big as an oak, dumb as a rock. That sums up this nasty fellow. The face was loosely based on costuming props and certain unnamed Cast members of the game.

Tibbyr These frogmen were the brainchildren of a group of friends of mine for use in Mystic Realms. They are a species of rather wretched aquatic scavengers. They are not the mightiest of opponents but they do have their advantages. My rendering reflects their watery nature and rather frail stature.

Troll I went with something different with the Troll, a plain head shot. Big and ugly, but not nearly as dumb as the Ogre, I gave him a spark of intelligence in his eyes. With only the head to work with I concentrated the image on the brutally exaggerated look of the monster's features.

Summoned Creatures

Earth Elemental I've been accused of basing this image on the character of "Clayface" from the "Batman Animated Series". It really wasn't intentional. Just goes to show how the media can influence us without us noticing until someone else points it out.
Fire Elemental I wanted to do something different from the traditional view of these monsters as being an amorphous creature made of flame. Since, in Mystic Realms, these things are made from the spirits of heroes; I wanted to make him look like a fiery wraith of some sort. The use of lighting really makes his serious features pop out.

Lesser Undead

Skeleton The ragged, pathetic skeleton left on the bottom of the undead totem pole. To be fair I gave this poor soul a jingled belt, arm bangles, and slightly decorative skirt in reference to the race of Gypsies in Mystic Realms, to which my own Player Character belongs to. Don't want people thinking I was biased.
Zombie Keeping in mind that lesser undead in Mystic Realms mostly come from fallen player heroes themselves, for the sketch of the Zombie I took the image of the typical knightly hero and withered it into a mindless monster. The sad inverted eyes and jaw hanging open were some of my favorite features of this rendering.

Greater Undead

Ghoul This flesh eating undead turned out well to my thinking. The inverted eyes and hungry look are what I like about this one. The look for the eyes was repeated in all the other undead. Scary stuff.
Shadow Contrary to any belief, this image has nothing to do with the serial killer from the "Scream" movies. The costuming for this whispering undead calls for black robes, white claws, and white face make up for any cast member playing one. With some imagination thrown in, this vicious nightmare came to mind. The hungry stare and silent scream are my favorite additions. The limbs were elongated to give it an alien appearance. One would imagine that it could easily rend a hero with its claws without ever changing the vacant look in its eyes.
Wraith An angry & dreaded wispy undead, the Wraith is one of the pinnacles of necromantic creation. I wanted to convey outrage and pain wrapped in this ragged death shroud while maintaining the look of a fierce and strong opponent.

Accursed Undead

Banshee This howling mistress came out of plans I was trying to articulate for a module back in October of '98. Thus we have the bare branches and scattered dead leaves. I tried to convey that haunted, lonely look to her; still angry in death. The plaid is a hint at a Celtic theme to the concept I was working on. Even the long hair was both for dramatic effect in the rendering and a hint towards the cast member set to play the banshee in my story.
Hollowed One A grand storytelling idea, this non-combative restless spirit simply shambles about the world carrying its own bones in an attempt to complete some unfinished task that is left undone. I gave it an odd stance and a forlorned look. This piece came rather easily.

True Undead

Litch I love this guy. The towering view makes this undead sorcerer appear to be glaring down at the viewer with disdain. I hid most of his features and left the rest up to the imagination. I was very pleased with the results.
Mummy I wanted to get away from the bandaged, lumbering dead image with this one. I borrowed a book on Egypt from the school library where I did my student teaching to get the burial mask right. The thought was to contrast the passively beautiful face of the golden mask with the ragged decayed body underneath. As with the Litch, the viewer can only imagine what the monster looks like under that mask.
Vampire I went with a traditional fictional view of the vampire with this rendering. I gave him the elegant look of Count Dracula with a few exaggerated features put in such as the claw-like upturned collar.

personalities

Altar Shariz The sometimes helpful Bedouin follower of the fire deity Karthis, Altar sometimes comes to the aide of Mystic Realms heroes in times of troubles (though is help is sometimes worse than the trouble you are confronting). Played by Tony Kukal, creator of M.R., this dramatic pose just sort of came to mind one night while at work. From there it did not take long to place on paper.
Pic Another self-portrait, Pic is a member of the Comedy of the Damned that I sometimes play when I am a cast member at Mystic Realms. A vicious Rogue, this fast moving villain strikes from the nowhere and then swiftly returns to the shadows. He was originally designed to be paired with his brother, Sir Gore, in order to make a deadly combination of strength and speed. I tried many earlier renditions of this piece before finally settling on this more stylized rendering of this pitiless Comedian.
Sir Gore Spawned from the mind of my dear friend Greg Curley, Sir Gore is a member of the Comedy of the Damned and founder of the Order of the Onyx Crown. Greg had such a blast the first night he played Sir Gore that he went on to develop the depth of the character far beyond its original purpose. This image dramatically captures the malignant soul of this wicked black knight. A testament to Mr. Curley's role-playing skill, Sir Gore is not only a threat to the body of heroes, but to their very minds and souls as well.
The Spectre of Grey Another self-portrait of sorts, I created Grey as the villain of choice for the last two Mystic Realms events that fell on Halloween. Back from the dead to claim revenge on the ancestors of those who betrayed him ages before, Grey wrecked some scary havoc upon the Mystic Realms community. For this rendering I took advantage of the positive and negative spaces created by the enlarged moon to make a stark and dramatic view of this ghostly menace. I was very pleased with the end result of this image.
Suetek Kaman Ra For the Mystic Realms October weekend '99 I created the tale of this ferocious creature. An ancient Mummy spawned from the race of cat people (Rakarrins), he and his loyal pride of hunters wreaked some Halloween havoc on poor Evermoore. The rendering is an idealized view of my costuming as the undead xenophobic feline monster. After it was all over I literally had to cut myself out of all those rags of cloth with a pocketknife.

organizations

Comedy of the Damned This rendering epitomizes the malevolent glee of these vile villains. Part jester, and part assassin, these ill-humored clowns can be savage opponents despite their gaudy clothing. I tried to best illustrate that contrast in this image.
The Forsaken This piece shows the tyrannical Dark Elves of the Forsaken. Cast out from their sunless home they now raid the surface realm, plundering supplies from all towns and villages in their path. As a sign of their devotion to their new life, they have mutilated off their tell tale elven ears. The rumor as I heard was that there wasn't enough fake ears for all the cast members who were playing the Forsaken, so they just put red make up on their ears and came up with the story to explain away the costuming discrepancy.
Villains of October '99 When banging out plans for MR it helps me to draw out my impressions on paper. Here we have a sketch of the trio my main ideas for the October weekend. On the left is a Goblin with his carved pumpkin lantern (used to introduce "Halloween" to MR). In the middle is one of Suetek Kaman Ra's fanatically loyal Rakarrin followers. On the right is the Giant Beetle, introduced with much success for the first time that weekend. It was a rough drawing but I loved the look of it enough to have added it here.

[Main] [Portfolio] [Changeling] [Sketchbooks] [The Endless]

Bat, Giant	This flying rodent was a quick rendering done while sitting in the back row of Art History class (with no disrespect intended to my professor at the time). I wanted to give the bat the impression of coming down hard on your head, and it being the last thing one would want to see there. It was really a quick sketch; I may go back and redo this one at a later date with more detail.
Beast Man	The typical "wild man of the woods". I gave him a maniacal look in his eyes to convey the savageness of its beastily. Teeth bared and hair wild, he's ready for a fight. Eat your heart out Tarzan.
Bee, Giant	My merry crew also introduced these flying menaces of life and limb to Mystic Realms. They have the distinction of being one of the most hated monsters in the realm. Their flying combined with a poisonous attack make them a royal pain in the rear. For the drawing I wanted a way to show their relative size so I added the startled hawk onto the scene off to the side.
Beetle, Giant	These nasty insects were given birth by hard working seamstresses in my own dining room with sweat, thread and fabric. The costuming was really top notch. I tried to give credit to this feat of sewing ingenuity while still illustrating what the creature "would actually look like".
Deadly Vermin	Large rubber "vermin" represents these highly poisonous pests (snakes, rats, spiders, etc). If they are at all touched it causes the instant death of the character. This amounts to sometimes rather humorous (and quick) deaths when folks are not paying attention. I just wanted to show the rather nasty effect of these rubber creatures on your generic Mystic Realms character.
Flame Hound	This wicked puppy was a challenge. The costuming for this creature is far too cute and fuzzy considering how nasty they can be. I wanted to base a rendering off of that costume and still make him look frightening. I enjoyed the use of positive and negative space here as shown through the use of flames. Scary imagery here.
Frog, Giant	I had a cartoon greeting card of a frog near my desk at work, which was the extent of a physical reference for this illustration. Still, it turned out better than I had thought it would. I kept coming back to it over the course of a night and adding details. It was that, or I do real work at my job.
Gorilla	Yep. A large angry monkey. That's what we have here. I really did not enjoy this piece all this much but it was part of the series so it had to be done.
Mushroom, Giant	These stationary fungi are low on personality, but big on fun. They traditionally produce spores that cause hallucinations to the unwary. Overall, I thought this a neat way to show off this group of gigantic fungus.
Praying Mantis	Part of our "big bug series" of MR monsteres, this nasty critter was spawned from a much tamer looking costume design. If only the costume looked as scary as the rendering, then we'd be cooking with gas.
Rat, Giant	This nasty rodent was done without any real visual references. Due to its monstrous nature I didn't want to just render a big rat. I wanted a creature to be feared by mighty heroes, and not just a large house pest captured on paper. So I made what I thought a dangerous rat monster should look like. I exaggerated the features greatly and added the human remains for a subtle size reference.
Shambling Mound	This beastie turned out resembling more of a traditional "Green Man" than a living mound of flesh eating vegetation. Still. I was very pleased with the positive and negative space effects as granted by the lighting. The little details made by the leaves are another nice touch. He has a lot of character to him, which was what I really wanted.
Spider, Giant	I was pleased with this piece, the illustration conveyed the feeling I wanted to show with this huge and hairy arachnid. The webbed body provided a nice size-framing device.

Alpha Shaggothe	This nasty aquatic thing is based loosely its prop costume with a healthy dose of imagination thrown in. It's so hideously alien but it has a very human look of superiority and annoyance on its "face" that I am pleased with. People often tell me its nothing like what they imagined one would look like, but that's why we all think a little differently.
Beta Shaggothe	Again, this image is a combination of real costuming and artistic license. I tried to convey the sheer strength of this massively tentacle water-dwelling menace. It ended up with an almost contemplative look to it on its "face" that I handed intended on putting there.
Medusa	I was working on several thoughts when I did this rendering. It was a quick sketch to get the image out of my head, but I think I captured the spirit of it well. This fanged hag is enough of a nightmare to turn any man to stone.

Cyclops	These monsters were designed and introduced by my friends and I. We have described them as being "dangerously helpful". They tend not to be malicious, just alien in their thinking. For example, when first introduced they were making common folks "perfect like them" by poking out one of their eyes and attempting to "readjust their faces".
Goblin	This fierce little bugger is a favorite of mine out of this series. I had a firm grasp on how he was going to turn out from start to finish. A certain symmetry and balance was achieved with anatomy of the creature with its battle ready stance and its wide, flat face. He also has an almost loveably grim expression on his face that lends a lot to his character.
Goblin 2	Another view of these wicked creatures, this time not so loveable. This goblin takes a more animalistic stance and is partially concealed in shadow. His fangs glisten and his tools are at the ready, proving that even the little monsters are not to be underestimated.
Kravynn	When I first read about this species of beastie I got the impression that these rat-like monsters were vicious scavengers of the dead, however in game practice they are sometimes treated as almost being comical. Players forget how nasty these monsters are supposed to be so I wanted to remind them of that fact and capture that feeling of it being a cunningly dangerous opponent. They may be cute sometimes, but they are more than willing to chew your leg off if given the chance.
Ogre	Big as an oak, dumb as a rock. That sums up this nasty fellow. The face was loosely based on costuming props and certain unnamed Cast members of the game.
Tibbyr	These frogmen were the brainchildren of a group of friends of mine for use in Mystic Realms. They are a species of rather wretched aquatic scavengers. They are not the mightiest of opponents but they do have their advantages. My rendering reflects their watery nature and rather frail stature.
Troll	I went with something different with the Troll, a plain head shot. Big and ugly, but not nearly as dumb as the Ogre, I gave him a spark of intelligence in his eyes. With only the head to work with I concentrated the image on the brutally exaggerated look of the monster's features.

Earth Elemental	I've been accused of basing this image on the character of "Clayface" from the "Batman Animated Series". It really wasn't intentional. Just goes to show how the media can influence us without us noticing until someone else points it out.
Fire Elemental	I wanted to do something different from the traditional view of these monsters as being an amorphous creature made of flame. Since, in Mystic Realms, these things are made from the spirits of heroes; I wanted to make him look like a fiery wraith of some sort. The use of lighting really makes his serious features pop out.

Skeleton	The ragged, pathetic skeleton left on the bottom of the undead totem pole. To be fair I gave this poor soul a jingled belt, arm bangles, and slightly decorative skirt in reference to the race of Gypsies in Mystic Realms, to which my own Player Character belongs to. Don't want people thinking I was biased.
Zombie	Keeping in mind that lesser undead in Mystic Realms mostly come from fallen player heroes themselves, for the sketch of the Zombie I took the image of the typical knightly hero and withered it into a mindless monster. The sad inverted eyes and jaw hanging open were some of my favorite features of this rendering.

Ghoul	This flesh eating undead turned out well to my thinking. The inverted eyes and hungry look are what I like about this one. The look for the eyes was repeated in all the other undead. Scary stuff.
Shadow	Contrary to any belief, this image has nothing to do with the serial killer from the "Scream" movies. The costuming for this whispering undead calls for black robes, white claws, and white face make up for any cast member playing one. With some imagination thrown in, this vicious nightmare came to mind. The hungry stare and silent scream are my favorite additions. The limbs were elongated to give it an alien appearance. One would imagine that it could easily rend a hero with its claws without ever changing the vacant look in its eyes.
Wraith	An angry & dreaded wispy undead, the Wraith is one of the pinnacles of necromantic creation. I wanted to convey outrage and pain wrapped in this ragged death shroud while maintaining the look of a fierce and strong opponent.

Litch	I love this guy. The towering view makes this undead sorcerer appear to be glaring down at the viewer with disdain. I hid most of his features and left the rest up to the imagination. I was very pleased with the results.
Mummy	I wanted to get away from the bandaged, lumbering dead image with this one. I borrowed a book on Egypt from the school library where I did my student teaching to get the burial mask right. The thought was to contrast the passively beautiful face of the golden mask with the ragged decayed body underneath. As with the Litch, the viewer can only imagine what the monster looks like under that mask.
Vampire	I went with a traditional fictional view of the vampire with this rendering. I gave him the elegant look of Count Dracula with a few exaggerated features put in such as the claw-like upturned collar.

Altar Shariz	The sometimes helpful Bedouin follower of the fire deity Karthis, Altar sometimes comes to the aide of Mystic Realms heroes in times of troubles (though is help is sometimes worse than the trouble you are confronting). Played by Tony Kukal, creator of M.R., this dramatic pose just sort of came to mind one night while at work. From there it did not take long to place on paper.
Pic	Another self-portrait, Pic is a member of the Comedy of the Damned that I sometimes play when I am a cast member at Mystic Realms. A vicious Rogue, this fast moving villain strikes from the nowhere and then swiftly returns to the shadows. He was originally designed to be paired with his brother, Sir Gore, in order to make a deadly combination of strength and speed. I tried many earlier renditions of this piece before finally settling on this more stylized rendering of this pitiless Comedian.
Sir Gore	Spawned from the mind of my dear friend Greg Curley, Sir Gore is a member of the Comedy of the Damned and founder of the Order of the Onyx Crown. Greg had such a blast the first night he played Sir Gore that he went on to develop the depth of the character far beyond its original purpose. This image dramatically captures the malignant soul of this wicked black knight. A testament to Mr. Curley's role-playing skill, Sir Gore is not only a threat to the body of heroes, but to their very minds and souls as well.
The Spectre of Grey	Another self-portrait of sorts, I created Grey as the villain of choice for the last two Mystic Realms events that fell on Halloween. Back from the dead to claim revenge on the ancestors of those who betrayed him ages before, Grey wrecked some scary havoc upon the Mystic Realms community. For this rendering I took advantage of the positive and negative spaces created by the enlarged moon to make a stark and dramatic view of this ghostly menace. I was very pleased with the end result of this image.
Suetek Kaman Ra	For the Mystic Realms October weekend '99 I created the tale of this ferocious creature. An ancient Mummy spawned from the race of cat people (Rakarrins), he and his loyal pride of hunters wreaked some Halloween havoc on poor Evermoore. The rendering is an idealized view of my costuming as the undead xenophobic feline monster. After it was all over I literally had to cut myself out of all those rags of cloth with a pocketknife.

Comedy of the Damned	This rendering epitomizes the malevolent glee of these vile villains. Part jester, and part assassin, these ill-humored clowns can be savage opponents despite their gaudy clothing. I tried to best illustrate that contrast in this image.
The Forsaken	This piece shows the tyrannical Dark Elves of the Forsaken. Cast out from their sunless home they now raid the surface realm, plundering supplies from all towns and villages in their path. As a sign of their devotion to their new life, they have mutilated off their tell tale elven ears. The rumor as I heard was that there wasn't enough fake ears for all the cast members who were playing the Forsaken, so they just put red make up on their ears and came up with the story to explain away the costuming discrepancy.
Villains of October '99	When banging out plans for MR it helps me to draw out my impressions on paper. Here we have a sketch of the trio my main ideas for the October weekend. On the left is a Goblin with his carved pumpkin lantern (used to introduce "Halloween" to MR). In the middle is one of Suetek Kaman Ra's fanatically loyal Rakarrin followers. On the right is the Giant Beetle, introduced with much success for the first time that weekend. It was a rough drawing but I loved the look of it enough to have added it here.