Dead Horse

Dead Horse
poor dead horsey

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

The last of Sculpity

These are the last few sculpity figs i have... Fungus, Screamer and a Trapper.
Yes i gave the screamer a mouth ala HackMaster. I always thought it was funny so it lives on.
The Trapper is mainly failed atempt at a base for a Purple wurm.

Gelatinous cube... thats glue gun glue i filled a small cube with...didnt quite come out how i wanted.
However i do think it works well enough.

The basement game area at another angle. Thats Cody on the computer cart and Philby on the stool in the bottum left. Both are bengals, the cat breed that is an adventure not just a pet.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

You're all wet!

Water elementals ala Sculpity! and Fire elementals.

Side note when using Sculpity once cooked it weighs next to nothing so a good base...or a penny in a pinch is needed.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Visions of Mega-Dungeons dance in my head.

I started my very own mega-dungeon a few years ago. Inspired by all the threads about them on Dragonsfoot. I have the first two levels complete, while slowly (very slowly) adding to the third.

This is my back story for the place...

The Core

Seven thousand or so years ago a demon lord and a deity of good battled on the spot of the core.
The loser a powerful demon lord named Pang’Graas.
When Pang’Graas died his corpse putrefied and turned vicious nearly instantly.
The resulting goo burned and sizzled and like acid through steel it melted into the land.
The earth began to tremble and quake.
Less than an hour after its death a volcano erupted.
Spitting lava ash and rock chunks as it grew to immense size in a matter of days.

The town of Raagan on the same island soon became a site of pilgrimage for followers of
Deity.
Over time it grew to become a large city and important trading port.
Some what recently the Island of Raagan succeeded from the Senchan Empire.
A dal'Cova order of trained battlemages aided Raaga in succeeding.
The order of the Star as they were called has since vanished. Their academy and headquarters located on the Volcanoes slopes exploded.
Over time the volcano has come to be called the Core.

The Core seems to radiate power and has over the years attracted vile and cruel beasts, monsters, and men.
The Core has become riddled with warrens, hovels, temples, and dens of various evil beings.
As the Core became more and more over run, a cottage industry has grown around it.
Adventuring into its deepest reaches has given rise to powerful heroes.
Many have gained fabulous fortunes by delving its dangerous dungeons and caves.

Over the centuries there have been seven major strongholds built into and on the Core.
The great Hylderwynn first King of Raaga built a castle and many subterranean levels. The upper works stand in ruins on the western slopes.
The Orkan Citadel of Domination from the unification of empire was leveled during the brethren of the Star rebellion. It was rumored to have twelve below ground levels.
The Brethren of the Star had a tower and school on the northwestern slope. Before it exploded it was whispered to have over twenty levels of secrets and magical goodies.
The God Kings grand palatial stronghold vanished in a torrent of flames one night leaving a crater on the south slope.
The Maw was a temple dedicated to demonic powers before being cleared by adventurers. The "Core Crusaders" claimed the Maw had eight levels. The Maw is now the main entrance to the Core for adventurers and a wonderful Inn sits near it.
The Mystic Forge was a Dwarven armor and arms manufactory buried deep in the core. It was over run by humanoids and the entrance tunnel collapsed, it had 5 levels.
A great Many tiered (nine) prison complex existed in the core until its entrances suddenly caved in.

Currently the Core is believed to have upwards of forty separate levels inside it with at least a dozen entrances. Those that survive bring wonderful riches from its depths. The list of those who never return seems to grow by the day. Recently it has become vogue for young lords to show bravery by entering the core. Most don’t pass far beyond No Return.
And lastly 2 sculpity fig that didnt turn out so well... Bullette and a stone golem.
They cant all be awesome = (.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Omens at the rollof a D30

Made this awhile back and just stumbled on it again.
Useful tool for messing with the players heads.

Omens and Occurrences

1 Single coin in odd place
2 Red sky
3 Dead animal
4 Pack animal/ mount ill
5 Rations spoil
6 Bad dream
7 Voices heard on the wind
8 Owl flies past during day
9 Flock of crows following group
10 Still-born babies (Village or town)
11 Horse throws two shoes at once
12 Hireling takes ill
13 Scabbard breaks
14 Fallen tree blocks path
15 Two headed cow born
16 Thunder heard
17 Abandoned baby found
18 Pixie rings found close by
19 Water skin springs a leak
20 Rodent found in back pack
21 Step on a rusty nail
22 Strap on a pack breaks
23 Hit by bird droppings
24 Dead skunk in path
25 Hilt wrapping comes unwound
26 Stray dog barks at party incessantly
27 Dead bird found in camp/bed
28 Musical instrument breaks a string
29 Boot heel comes off
30 coin pouch seam breaks

One purple wurm is never enough so sculpity to the rescue and we now have three!
I am particularly proud of the one bursting out of the groud. I did not sculpt the 2 new ones, my buddy Michael did.

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Even more Sculpity figs

Earth elementals ....the one on the far right is my favorite. Get a load of those whammers!

A fiend Folio fav of mine the wicked Grell!


Finaly the much maligned Gorbel!  I love these little pests. There is a rather large area of my Mega-Dungeon infested with these exploding little ambushers!

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Simplifing the system

I am changing my earlier 10 gagues of alinement to 2.

The new system is quicker, and simpler.

Good / Evil is one scale  rated 1 to 10 ..... 1,2,3 good 4,5,6,7 neutral 8,9,10 evil
Law / Chaos is a second scale.                  1,2,3 law 4,5,6,7 neutral 8,9,10 chaos
Every character will write their starting alinement down as  (example) Good 1     Law 1  (this is an example of a Paladins ideal/starting alinement.
When the character preforms an action the Game Master deems out of alinement they move one point on a scale of 1 to 10. Over time their actions will dictate their alinement.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

More sculpity pics

Worlds greatest old school beholder fig!
My nephew sculpted it,I painted it.

For comparison

I made this one because Zak S. @ Playing D&D with porn stars likes Flail snails. I have always liked them myself, but one of his posts got me thinking. I needed a mini for the trust worthy escargot assailant so walah!

I had shown the guy on the left in an earlier post. The Neo-Otyough was made using bread sack twist ties inside the arm tentacles. Pictured together for comparison

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

A Less Confusing Alinement System

Posting on the Troll Lord games forums i hit upon an idea for alinement.

A series of values the player sets for his character.
Classes would then have a guide for alinements.

Examples all rated 1 low 10 high.
How good 1 to 10  1 being pure evil and 10 being saintly.
How group oriented are you  1 to 10  high being the many out weights the one low being the one and only me.
How law abiding  1 to 10
How loyal  ....
How pious....
How honorable ...
Barvery ... (subjective i know but classes like knight should require less running from things)

The list could also add the 7 virtues of chrisendom
Chastity
Patience
Temperance
Charity
Kindness
Humility
Diligence

Though on second thought i think i would not use all of those as a few seem to over lap..
So i will say my system uses ten moral guides for character alinement. Each rated from one to ten. with ten being high

1Good (thinking of others before you, righting wrongs being a helpful fellow)
2 Law abiding (Robin Hood was maybe a 5 but he had a high charity)
3 Loyal (how far will go for a friend?)
4 Pious (knowing Gods exsist doesnt mean you go to church and pray)
5 Honorable (follow your word?)
6 Team (society group etc)
7 Charitable (some would say a sign of good, but even villians can have a soft spot)
8 Humility ( a bard should never be low in this)
9 Restraint ( hot heads low, patient calculating types high)
10 Morals (covers everything from chastity to curseing)

Classes can be given alinement guides such as
Paladin requires a 8 or higher in Good, law,loyal, and pious. suggested a 7+ in honor, restrant and morals.
Bard humilty 3 or less.
Rogues law of 4 or less
Knight 7+ honor
Cleric pious 8+
Etc...

Durring play when ever the the character acts out side of its stated norm, the Gamemaster tells the player to adjust the number up or down by a point.
Over time the character can change and you guidelines for classes like paladins that arent totaly subject.

Monday, September 12, 2011

Sculpity, minis on the cheap.

Fantastic little product sold through craft stores and some hobby shops... Sculpity!
Its a modeling clay that you mold then bake it to harden it. Its great for making those odd figures you can not find or afford. A large brick of the stuff costs less then ten dollars. You can make an amazing ammount of minis out of a single brick.
Some time ago we had a mini making night. Everyone made some figs from sculpity and we baked them. I am no artist, but i am the only one with fig painting experiance so i painted them all. Had some help on the easier figs with base coating. The results are i think pretty fantastic for a bunch people with little artistic skill.

Here are some examples....

thats a Roper, 2 carrion crawlers with out legs... (legs are hard) and an Otyough. All unpainted, after baking.

And here they are after painting.

Here is a purple wurm , with a painted mini for scale. the fig is a Reaper model.

Finaly i think this is the last of the unique weapons...

Gnort fralick, ogre for kidney tickler. Adds one extra die of damage on back stabs.
Life drinker, sword of limited vampiric regeneration. On a successfully damaging strike the weapon will heal its wielder 1d6 points.
Bile Spew, blade of torture. A successful strike forces a save vs con or victim vomits for two rounds -4 to hit and ac is 2 lowered.
Arcanus, the spell blade. Can hold a single spell of 1st to 3rd level, as a ring of spell storing. Energy stored in the blade will dissipate harmlessly after a week.
Spark Shower, hammer on a natural roll of 20 causes a spark shower to strike the foe hit causing an extra 1d6 damage.

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Picute of my basement game space.

Time flies

Over a month has snuck by since i last posted. To those who are paying attention...
I graduated, studied and passed both A+ tests, and failed my CCNA test.. (sigh) Job seeking in full swing now.

Pondering the dynamics of high level play for awhile now. The fact that the fantasy exploration genre was based on limited resources, and that at high levels the problem pretty much go's away.
This makes high level play more an exercise in who can trick or gain surprise over who. Most foes can be completely dominated in a single round by a well rounded party. Even dragons become xp/treasure grab bags. The game master has to create convuluted encounters or design groups that make little sense.

Can the problem be fixed?
Ryan Stoughton came up with an idea called E6. Where levels stop at 6th and beyond that the players can only gain "feats" (idea was developed for 3E).
Giving this some thought i rather like his idea. The challenge is how to translate this to a game based on C&C.

More of the unique weapons list...

Thompson, throwing dagger. On a successful hit a duplicate will appear in its owners hand to be thrown next round, this cloning will continue until the thrower misses. Duplicate knives vanish after the combat.
Heel Jack, sword with a spiked pommel. On command it will dance and fight foes as directed by its owner.
No, cursed dagger. Anyone holding this weapon and preparing to strike from surprise will cause the blade to yell out “NO you will not stab them in the back in such a cowardly fashion!”
Day Bringer, Bow shoots arrows of light, bane vs undead +1d6 damage.