Quantcast
Channel: The Forbidden Mazes of the Jennerak
Viewing all 155 articles
Browse latest View live
↧

Blueholme Prentice Rules Review

January 18, 2015, 8:35 am
$
0
0


Dreamscape Designs has produced their first instalment of a series of "retro-

 clone" rules and supplements designed to recall the flavor and gaming style of

 one of the oldest of Dungeons and Dragons editions, the Eric Holmes"Bluebook"

Basic Dungeons and Dragons  Rules, circa 1978. And from what I can see,

Michael Thomas, Blueholme's creator and the pilot of Dreamscape Designs, has

done a fantastic job!



For those who don't know what a retroclone is, it is essentially a reproduction or

 imitation of an old D&D edition that is no longer being printed and exists largely

 as a relic of the gaming past. Retroclone editions represent a tribute to the old

game on the part of the authors and an attempt to connect new generations of

gamers with "old school" game styles---a style or feel that often (but not always)

 gets lost amid newer games which, according to the feelings of many old school

gamers, are more akin to D&D inspired modern video games than to the original

 table top Dungeons and Dragons experience concieved of by the creators of

D&D, Dave Arneson,Gary Gygax, and the players who took part in those

original campaigns.



The gaming community is wide and diverse, and times change, so it should not

be construed as an insult to say that new games aren't old school.


That said, the Holmes Bluebook D&D rules are mana to the minds of those who

came of age playing D&D in the late seventies and early eighties, and Blueholme

successfully distills Dr. Holmes' game essences into a very well crafted

retroclone that you can get started playing quickly without weeks of laborious

rules studies. This is a game designed to throw players old and and new into the

arena of fantasy action and drama quick as a flash!


 

Blueholme Prentice rules are designed to introduce characters of levels 1-3 to

the fantasy world of your own making. One can play the part of Fighter, Cleric,

Thief, Magic User, Dwarf, Elf, or Halfling. The book is filled with pages of magic

spells, enchanted relics, mythical monsters, and dice tables and rules to cobble

it all together into exciting hours of dungeon exploration amid realms of ice and

fire!



The game is very well designed and formatted. The rules are easy to read and

understand. The art inside consists black and white fairy tale illustrations that

go back a century or more. The copy I received was "perfectbound" and well

constructed with the very attractive  painting you see pictured above as the

cover.



Blueholme Prentice rules is designed as an introduction to the Blueholme

Compleat Rules which will take characters to the highest levels, accompanied by

 a line of published fantasy adventures which are in production and soon to be

released. The material in Blueholme will allow you months of play without these

other supplements, however. When you are ready for the other supplements,

there is enough material on the presses to ensure that a Dunegon Master can

run a full campaign for his or her players using Dreamscape Design's published

adventures.


And being priced right at five dollars as of this writing, the game can be

ordered with shipping and handling for under ten dollars, a bargain to say the

least.



And how does Blueholme measure up to re-creating the 1978 Bluebook D&D

game? As someone who ran games with the Bluebook for a few years, there is

virtually no difference. Michael Thomas has innovated the odd magic item,

monster or magic spell, and the art is different, but Blueholme Prentice is a very

faithful reproduction of the the sort of campaign and games that Eric Holmes

would have played and refereed.





In conclusion, I highly recommend it for people  who desire D&D without

entire chapters of rules--quick start up, quick play, and still plenty of room to

navigate the fantasy genre for endless games of the imagination.



Good job, Michael!
↧
Search

Sunday 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons Game: Encountering With the Wights in an Ancient Torture Chamber!

January 18, 2015, 3:55 pm
$
0
0




 ...and no, the title doesn't refer to your high school reunion, but rather to the ruins of an ancient castle known only as...the Keep.

The party has been searching the ruins for answers to the mysterious nature of a powerful man who has retained their services in times past...a man who floats about in a strange metal chair since losing his power to walk to an encounter with an ancient red dragon upon another plane. Hmmm....

After battling Serpent Men and Quogoth, the heroes (?) discovered a secret door in one of the chambers which led them to an ancient torture room replete with a wrack, an iron maiden, and a gibbet.



Jonathan the DM, filled with glee at the party's dire predicament!
Upon entering and sensing a malevolent presence; Sally's cleric, Blessing, decided to use her Turn Undead power to force out any restless spirits who might be hiding.....


Three nasty wights materialized and proceeded to punish the trespassers!


 Highlights of the battle included the wights phasing in and out of invisibility and picking up characters and throwing them into walls.

My halfling Rogue, Jabijah, did better than ever with his +1 magic rapier, with me having the unusual luck of rolling three 20's almost in a row.

Our half orc bard attacked with his magic sword while our druid cast a Moonbeam spell. Our Monk, Meriel, had a Water Whip which she used to great effect. Our Gnome Magic User got picked up and thrown around by the angry wights and ended up prone for quite some time.

At last the wights were dispatched and as we searched the horrid place, opening the iron maiden revealed the skeletal remains of some inhuman creature which met it's pitiful fate here ages past. Someone had secreted a rapier here--investigation revealed it to be a strange technological artifact; it can function both as a light casting item as well as a sort of low grade light sabre....our Gnome came in handy in ascertaining the nature of the weird sword.

"You just got hit by a wight--make a saving throw!"


Sally ponders who Blessing should heal during the fracas...


Would you mess with these guys? Our bard leads a charge, behind him our wizard prepares a spell! The blonde in the purple cloak is our monk and behind her you can see the nasty wight!






 All in all, a very good time was had by everyone and we have lived to fight another day...but what is the origin of the strange technology? It radiated no magick! Was the weird skeleton in the iron maiden a being from beyond the stars??? I guess we'll have to find out next time!


Toby ponders his wizards next move as Gwen, playing the druid with the staff behind him, eyes the approaching Wight with dread and horror








Knock knock...who's there.....?

↧
↧

Serious Blog Update

January 30, 2015, 7:49 pm
↧

Article 2

March 17, 2015, 2:25 pm
$
0
0
Greetings OSR gamers!


In spite of best intentions the blog remains static.


I would like to revive it and pay a lot more attention to it.


I have not been remiss in my pursuits of game design, but due to very large and positive life changes, I have been somewhat busy.


Getting married tends to take some focus....!


Anyway, I will be updating and trying to provide content that will encourage commenting by those who visit the Mazes, since a weblog is much more fun to work on when people are involved.


So that means I've got to get some content up worth commenting about!


I predict 2015 will be a great year for games!


If anyone is out there paying attention, please send me your e-mails or comments as to what you would like to see!! More dungeons? New game systems? Obscure relics of the Deep Age?


Reviews? Stories?


Let's build cool stuff!!!


Good gaming to you all.


J.B.
↧

New Playing System in the Works

March 22, 2015, 1:50 pm
$
0
0






Having always favored ultra simple rules systems for table top role play gaming, it comes as a bit of a surprise to myself that a good friend and I have begun collaborating on a decidedly more simulation-oriented rules system for a new game we are forging.

We are  borrowing extensively from the underlying strata of some rules systems of days gone by. Brent is working on the combat system at the moment while I undertake the magic section, and the way its shaping up, it will be a different kind of game experience for me.

I have always favored low-level adventures for D&D games, meaning that I enjoy playing games with characters from 1st level on up to about 5th or perhaps 6th.

I've realized that one major reason for this is simply because as DM, its easier to keep track of things in the game at lower levels. Its also much easier to run combats. I really do not like the way that combat gets longer and longer the higher the levels of the characters and hit die of monsters involved.

With that in mind, we are trying to get the best of both worlds with regards to realism and ease of play. It is skill based and uses a twenty sided die for most resolutions.  It is not, however, the open d20 system prevalent today and probably favors some of the old aspects of some of the Fantasy Games Unlimited systems of old.

The spell system is nearly done--it does not consist of prepared lists of spell by level but rather the mage begins with a certain chosen skills relating to the particular type of magic he or she most wants to practice, be it Necromancy, Divination, Conjuration, Sorcery or what have you.

Instead of choosing from a spell list the player informs the DM of the desired magic effect.

Player and DM select the skills which are needed to perform the magic and a skill check is made for each one--usually there will never be more than about four.

Only a critical failure in using any of these skills negates the spell at this point.

After determining the skills to be used, the spell is set against a codified but brief list of spell criteria/effects including but not limited to, say number of wills involved, area of effect, spell distance, amount of elemental matter to be manipulated, damage effects, whether or not the spell is creative in nature, time in preparation, and so on.

Modifiers are assigned based on these factors, the more difficult spells having tougher mods.

Once all of this is done, a final roll is made using the Mage's Intuition attribute score as a modifier as well. It should be noted that at this stage, only a critical failure negates the spell...however, less spectacular rolls could diminish the spell result, like, for example, cutting down duration, etc.

There will be a mana or magic power reservoir stat from which spell casting is drawn, no more magicks being available when it is depleted.

There are no backlash effects  for critically failed spells other than the fact that you lose the mana in a crit fail but get no magic effects. However, if one has conjured or summoned an other planar being or is maintaining control over a mind or will and critically fails, the backlash is quite evident.....

One unique feature of this system and somewhat of a departure from D&D is that most spells are not cast on the fly because the skill of Ritual is a requirement in casting most powerful magicks, certainly those which require summoning, necromancy, displays of elemental power, etc.

Incantation is also a Mage skill and magicks which require only Incantation can be cast on the go.  Magicks of this nature would be spells of illusion, suggestion and command, and very minor elemental manipulation of materials close at hand.

The key to making use of more powerful spells during an adventure is casting them before hand in a a place of magick making and binding or storing the spell in talismans, amulets, or the most likely, wands. The spell can then be cast from the item using a word of command.

Any level mage can craft enchanted items to store such spell effects--however, the item is limited by what magic it can hold by the amount of magic that went into crafting the item.

Spells of ritual can be cast during an adventure but only if time, atmosphere, peace and space permit.

Physical components are required for all spells.

An obvious side effect to this sort of system is that Mages of even the lowest order MUST have a place to perform magick, a base of operations. And their physical talismans and wand are vital. However, by means of binding magicks to such items, although they expend mana in the making of the spell, they do not expend mana during the adventure, allowing them to use their mana for Incantation spells or in resisting other magicks cast against themselves.

Another thing gone bye bye...and I apologize in advance for saying this, I know it is a time honored ritual...is the silly business of "We drive a spike under the door and spend the night in the dungeon room so the mage can regain spells....".

Uh, no...not gonna happen.

The aspects of that entire situation completely preclude any effective magic building in such a dire locale. The state of mind of the Mage, the opposing influences in the ethereal realm, the history of that place, everything.  Because although in our system mages will certainly want to own grimoires and magic books, the magic comes from ritual and not memorizing spells which you forget once cast.

What I like about our system is that it means a player should really only construct from the skill tables a character they are personally really suited to play.

If you have a mage, for instance, you will be creating your own spells and customizing your own talismans and items. Sky is the limit on the subtle variations a player can introduce to the game.

The combat system that Brent is working on is the same in this respect in that it is suited for those who favor warrior characters.

It's not a matter of "Here, roll this number on this dice, if you hit, roll again to see damage."

You actually tell the DM what you want to do in the way of moves, desired strike effect, etc. You have a number of defensive moves available to you in a round as well. Use them or hold them, up to you. So in playing a warrior, you will use your imagination.  Warriors use their Prowess attribute in battle in a manner similar to how mages use Intuition in spell casting.

We are discussing religion and healing magic at the moment and how the Priest type character fits into this scheme.

But that is a foretaste of the coming system, which is yet unnamed.

We will be self publishing it, probably in large part for free! So stay tuned to the Mazes!


↧
↧

The Amazing, Stupendous and Utterly Diabolical "Dagger of Intrigue"....

April 3, 2015, 6:06 am
$
0
0


At a game recently, resuming the campaign from a nearly two month break, a player trotted out a list of treasures and magic items from the last time we had played and started asking questions about a "Dagger of Intrigue".

Him: So what does this Dagger of Intrigue do?

Me: Dagger of Intrigue?

Him: Yes, you told us we found a Dagger of Intrigue.

Me: Really? Hmm. I seem to have misplaced my list. I specifically stated to you that it was a Dagger of Intrigue?

Him: Yes, you did. You said it was called a Dagger of Intrigue.

Me: Oh. Perhaps I said you found a dagger which intrigues you...

Him, smiling and shaking his head: Ah no--you specifically stated that Vattic (his thief) found among the treasures a Dagger of Intrigue.

So, after admitting that I had forgotten but seeing how the player had been fascinated by the Dagger of Intrigue and he, as yet being only second level, almost third, but without any magical items, I invented the Dagger of Intrigue upon the spot.

Me: Yes, Vattic has indeed found a most wondrous relic, for the Dagger is not only a +2 to hit and damage magic weapon, it is also imbued with an a power most useful to one of your profession. For the enchantment of the blade is such that when at your will you consciously conceal it upon your person, it cannot be found by the most diligent searcher out of weapons. Be it a bandit robbing you, a castle guard patting you down, or a captor relieving you of your arms, a Dagger of Intrigue can never be found by normal means. In fact, you could be bare-a** naked to the mortal eye, shivering in a snowbank, but no one will see the dagger or find it. And don't ask me where it goes either....


Anyway, I thought it a decent magic item! He was very thrilled with it and his companions gleefully recommended it for assassination and other bits of skullduggery.

As I write this, my thoughts run to the question of how many daggers of this nature had been invented, who fashioned them and for what specific purpose...interested to hear ideas on this in the comments section!


↧

Photo Experimentation

April 12, 2015, 9:12 pm
$
0
0
"Goblin"
"Druid"
"Revenant"
Proposed Zine Cover

"Wizard of the Wood"



These are a few images I captured in the woods near my home using a mask I constructed for a Christmas costume party the year before last.

I went to the party as the Green Man.

It struck me as a good prop for photographs as studies for paintings or other art.

"Goblin" is my favorite, being simple and having some good colors. I like "Druid" as well, but the final photo strikes me as being a bit sickly in hue.

This was an experimental foray--I have a much larger project in mind which I am gathering materials for right now.

I will admit to liking scary and creepy things, but I would also love to try and produce some images of beautiful fantasy subjects as well.

Hope you like them. These images are copyrighted and  may not be used without permission of Justin Becker, thank you!


↧

Halfling Thieves of the Pacific Northwest, or, the Summer of D&D

April 12, 2015, 10:06 pm
$
0
0

Author's Note: This is LONG---apology in advance, as brevity is the thing for this blog! If you are bored, please skip down and check out my creepy pics instead....!

It was the cusp of summer, circa 1984.

I was thirteen years old and a bit unruly, to put it mildly. 

 Behavior trouble was beginning to become more frequent for me at school and around our neighborhood in Oklahoma City, and this state of affairs, coupled with the volatile chemistry between my step father and I, led my mother to decide that a sojourn with my grandparents in Klammath Falls, Oregon might be a positive change that would help me make a fresh start of a new school year.

 Old time discipline, Grandma's very special love and rural living , it was hoped, would sow seeds for a new pattern.

And, in fact, this year would prove to be one of the most memorable and exciting of my life.

My grandparents have passed on many years ago, but scarcely a day passes but that I think of them and recall the lessons and life experiences that I learned from them  that year.  Often I let my mind wander the trails and streams of those beautiful woods and meadows.

 And among the many memories I made there, one I remember with particular fondness is being introduced to Dungeons and Dragons.

Grandma and Grandpa lived on a two acre spread with a gravel driveway, a garage and preserves pantry my grandfather had built, a double wide mobile home with a wood stove, and a half acre garden that supplied these hardy folks with perhaps a quarter or more of their vegetables, herbs, berries, and fruit.

During our infrequent trips into the city, groceries were sparingly selected from the most no-nonsense budget one has ever seen and supplemented with extensive fishing, crawdad trawling and  Grandpa's hunting. They  also cut their own wood as well- this when they were in their early seventies. In fact, timber was the one concrete skill I actually learned there in Oregon.

If I had a chainsaw and truck today and I needed firewood, thanks to my grandparents I could select and safely fall the trees to feed a wood stove.

 I wish I had learned everything they wanted to teach me but being a boy I wanted to roam the woods and live in the realms of imagination that had always given me refuge from the sometimes painful environs of real life.

  My abiding love for the fantastic only elicited from my Grandfather a bemusement that bordered on scorn--no mind could have been as far removed from fantasy or science fiction concepts as that of this gruff, grizzled WW2 and law enforcement veteran who had been reared in the most hardscrabble of conditions and who had raised a family of six children in rural Arkansas. The myriad comic book realms which constituted the borders of my mythical kingdom were complete foolishness to him.

 My unabashed re-enactments of all that I read in those comics as as I played in the front yard or at the edge of the woods would have him shaking his head with sardonic smile.

 But that was simply who he was. The decade of the seventies into which I had been born was, for kids like me, a totally different world than that of his boyhood. And I, of course, was a weird kid even without a generation gap, and my grandfather had never had much patience with children.

Grandma seemed to understand, though, and always encouraged my cartooning, my reading of strange books, and my somewhat fervid flights of imagination. She felt it her mission to provide me with her own individualistic and unconventional spiritual insights and a great deal of time was spent being made to listen to short readings from the Bible, making prayers, and going on walks in the woods, wherein she would talk of God and the importance of right living at length...she was her own sort of Christian, one who had no time for church but who seemed to live daily in an unseen Presence whose communion filled her with an organic joy that fairly lit her face.

 I frankly confess that the religious duties which she tried to enjoin upon me seemd tedious and a great imposition upon time better spent at play or reading comics, but this was more than made up for by the fact that she sewed me a ninja costume, bought me a wooden katana, and packed me lunches of homemeade bread and the best cheeses and jugs of sweet tea or lemonade to carry into the woods, where I pretended to be  questing upon epic journeys.

 She was also forever showering hugs and kisses on me and treating to me to the best cooking one has ever tasted or can hope to taste in the afterlife. Not even a week ago, I realized with a pang of sadness that I would never taste biscuits and gravy like hers again, and that in all of the years since that I have ordered that dish in various cafes or diners in the hopes I might find the sort she made I have been on a futile quest.

But getting to D&D...it wasn't long after I had arrived and explored the edges of the rural and widely separated mobile home community they lived in that I was walking down a road and met the first friend I was to have in Oregon, and who also was the person who would introduce me to an influence which remains a part of my head and heart even to this day.

Richard was short, frail, and somewhat unkempt with shaggy, thin dark hair that fell over heavy rimmed black glasses held together with a band of tape on the nose bridge and fraying collared and buttoned shirt, ragged jeans, and old sneakers. His Klammath Indian heritage was very evident (he was in fact half blooded from that tribe) and his eyes shone with the proverbial glint of obvious intelligence. He held up a hand in greeting as we drew near eachother and grinned at me good naturedly. Having seldom met a stranger, even to this day, I returned his salute, intrigued and thrilled that another boy my age lived in the area.

"Haven't seen you before," Richard said.

"I'm not from here," I replied. "I'm from Oklahoma."

"Oklahoma? What are you doing so far away from home?"

"Just staying with my grandparents, you know," I said, pointing back up the road from whence I came.

"Oh, you mean Mr. and Mrs. Jones," he said. "I know them. My folks know them. Mrs. Jones is the nicest woman I know."

"Yeah. I'll be going to school here this year."

"Good," he said. "I can show you around. I grew up here."

"Yeah? Not much to do, is there."

"There's a ton of stuff to do," Richard said. " We have horses. And atv's. We go fishing and camping in the woods and build forts. Me and my two sisters...my brother is away at college. There's one other boy who lives in the area, that's Carl. With you here, that'd give us one more person to play Dungeons and Dragons with."

"You play Dungeons and Dragons?" I asked.

The name was familiar to me only because I had come across a strange book at a mall once which was entitled Monster Manual. I had convinced my mother to buy it for me because I had been spellbound by the engaging illustrations and descriptions of multitudes of mythical beasts. I had realized it was a component to a very elaborate game called D&D but had not the slightest conception as to what that meant. The one time I met some D&D players a year before at my school, I had asked them to let me play when I saw their obvious delight at recess as they shared the books, but they had turned me down, though one of them did pay me five dollars for a pencil reproduction of a ki-rin I had drawn at home from the MM.

"Oh yeah," he said. "Sometimes everyday after school. Long time on Saturdays and Sundays too. My brother taught me to play. He left all his books here when he went to school and as long as I take care of them, I can use them whenever I want."

"How do you play?' I asked. "I never understood it."

"It's a game of imagination," he explained. "You make up fantasy characters, like wizards or warriors, and send them on fantastic quests in a make believe world. You play the part of your character. When you fight things, like monsters, you roll dice to see who wins."

"Really?" I said, fascinated. "What...you like, talk like you're the character? How do you make up the world?"

"Like from books and stuff," he said. "Lord of the Rings and the Wheel of Time and stuff like that. And yeah, you talk like your character. You have to stay alive. The Dungeon Master controls the game and tells you what you see and what all you can do, but you can make things up."

"Wow," I said. "That sounds cool."

My only other notion of D&D was that many grownups, especially religious ones, did not like it and that it was supposed to be of Satan. That Satan would choose the route of a game to damn the souls of hapless kids had seemed a somewhat dubious concept to me, but D&D did carried a whiff of the occult ...there were, after all, scads of demons and devils in the MM. I mentioned this to Richard and he waved it aside.

"Those people have never even played the game," he said. "Actually, you usually end up fighting evil in the game, killing evil monsters and such."

"Sounds fun," I ventured.

"Yeah. C'mon, we'll go get Carl. He and I are supposed to play today. We'll create a character for you and you can join us."

In short order, we had gone by Carl's, made our introductions, walked to Richard's house and after filling glasses of Kool-Aid and grabbing some snacks, we were cloistered in Richard's bedroom with the door closed, and paper and pencil and funny looking dice set out on the table. A stack of books were brought out...mysterious, glossy covered tomes with forbidding looking monsters and mighty heroes adorning their faces. 1st Edition Advanced D&D hardcover rule books, a complete set for that era, all in immaculate condition. Richard handled them as if they were archeological relics.

"These are my brother's books," Richard said. "He said  if anything happens to them I am to be skinned alive. The only book you're allowed to look in is the Player's Handbook anyway, but don't get anything on it."

"Geez," I said, opening the book and seeing neatly piled columns of tiny black font filling every page from top to bottom except where separated by striking black and white fantastic illustrations. "These are the rules? Looks complicated..."

"Nah, it's easy," Richard said.

And we then proceeded to roll up my character...a halfling thief with the highly original name Shadow. When he was done, he, Ricahrd's fighter/magic user Mension Leif, and Carl's Dwarf fighter, Snipper, set out upon a forest road in search of adventure. Richard sat and described the spooky forest, the feeling of foreboding we felt as we wandered the path, and then the surprise of seeing cloaked and hooded travelers upon the road coming toward us.

"What do you do...?" he asked, smiling.

"We approach them in greeting," said Carl. "But Snipper has his hand ready upon his magic axe."

"What about you?" Richard said to me.

"I will talk to one of them," I said, curious and excited.

Richard smiled.

"As you begin to speak to the mysterious travelers," he said, "they pull back their hoods to reveal their faces--they are skeletons! And with clicking noises they draw ancient long knives and attack you!"

Living skeletons!! A world of danger and magic!  I was hooked. We battled the skeletons and after being wounded vanquished them. Among their treasures was a ring which when Shadow placed it upon his finger he became invisible! Thrilled, I listened eagerly as the story continued, embellished with a witch, bandits, a thriving village where we got in a tavern brawl, Shadow tried to pick a pocket and failed, and heard tales of a mountain nearby wherein lay a fierce dragon upon a hoard of gold! I felt as though I could see clearly every fantastic image that Richard described.

By the time the game ended, the shadows were long and dark as I hurried up the road to my grandparents home. I could easily imagine the skeleton troop in the moonlight ahead...upon getting home I excitedly related the entire tale to my grandmother who had not the slightest idea what to make of it.


For the next year we played D&D every chance we got, raising our characters in level and encountering every creature in the Monster Manual just about--from Bahamut to Trolls and Ettins, Sea Hags and Elementals to Leprecauns and Owlbears....monsters to delight a boy's heart. Richard even taught me to DM and was glad to play Mension Lief in the many scenarios I devised to try and test his mettle and that of Snipper.


When I left Oregon and returned to my home, I took many great memories of my Grandma and Grandpa with me.


I also embarked on years of D&D playing that led to many good friendships, lots of awesome campaigns, and a love of the mythical and fantastic which is still with me to this day. I contacted Richard once about five years ago through Facebook. We didn't talk much, it was friendly, but he informed me that he had quit playing D&D years ago and was into World of Warcraft instead. That made me a bit wistful, but I will never forget the amazing world of imagination that D&D opened for me when I was needing exactly that....


Thank you Gary Gygax, Dave Arneson and crew!
↧
Search

More Original Spooky Images

April 13, 2015, 9:57 pm
$
0
0


Here are a few more of the Green Man mask pics--forgive me for posting some of the same images but you will note I experimented with different colors in some of them.

I did not actually wear the mask...just set it up in various locations and draped an old black tee shirt over it like a cowl.

It is somewhat creepy to me how you can take the same mask and photograph it from different angles and it will seem in each case to wear a different expression...angles change so much.

At times the pics look sinister, at times comical, and a few are even noble looking in their own way.

One or two of them remind me very much of the mask sequences of one of my favorite movies...The Wicker Man...original version of course!



















↧
↧

Proposed Combat System for New RPG System

April 17, 2015, 5:33 am
$
0
0
As I stated in a previous post, my friend Brent K. Davis and I are attempting to create a new roleplaying rules set incorporating some non-D&D game theories.

I wrote an earlier article detailing the mechanics of spellcasting in this yet unnamed system.

While I've been working on the magic system, Brent was tasked with formulating a narrative combat system.

I was very impressed at this one!

There are several factors I like about it. 

First, although it incorporates realism it doesn't sacrifice streamlined mechanics.

It also permits a player to narrate combat objectives as simply or as creatively as the individual player wants...for each specific blow...and resolves it quite fairly by being based upon the number difference between your needed hit roll and what you actually cast on the die...Combat Effects are in steps according to this difference.

I also love the initiative system-- if you lose initiative, you state to the DM your actions and those who win get to tailor their response to your action and resolve theirs first! This works both ways and the players must take the black eye in this fashion if they lose to NPC combatants or monsters!

There are several other unique and creative aspects involved and I look forward to playtesting it, which we have yet to do.

We welcome your comments and input!






1. Determine encounter distance

2. Determine Surprise a. Stealth vs Perception b. Perception vs Whatever the Other party is doing and how immersed they are in it

3. Determine Initiative a. Dexterity/Perception/Intuition (?) Bonus +d10, higher is better. b. A Character that is Engaged by a Character with a higher Initiative total may only defend, not attack. C. Characters with LOWEST Initiative Scores state actions FIRST. Characters with HIGHER Initiative Scores may then react to the Characters with low Initiative.

4. Statement of intent. What do you intend to do? Move in, charge? Circle warily? Describe your intended action with as much detail as possible. All attacks are called shots. State your intended target.

 5. Determine Reach

a. Close Range weapons- Dagger, Hand-Axe, Fist, Cestus, Shield, broken bottle, etc. (A shield isn't a weapon? Get hit with the rim one time...)

b. Me-lee Range weapons- Swords, Axes, Cudgel, Mace, War Hammer, Flail, Staff, Spear in close mode, Short Pole-arm in close mode. (Lets face it folks, the spear is one of the most efficient hand weapons we as a race have ever devised.)

c. Far Range weapons- Spear, Pole-arm, Staff, Two Handed Sword

d. Far+ Range weapons- Pike, Lance if mounted

 e. If a Character with a shorter Reach weapon engages a Character with a longer Reach weapon, the shorter Reach cannot attack the longer Reach possessing Character. Regardless of Initiative. The shorter Reach may attack the weapon, or attempt to get inside the Reach of the opponent. The Character with the longer Reach may hold the shorter Reach opponent At Bay. Once inside the Reach of your opponent, they may only dodge, ignore or shield block. A parry with a longer weapon is no longer possible. Natural weapons MAY be used. They may attempt to increase the distance with a Combat Effect.

f. Larger or smaller opponents treat Reach as one or more steps higher for Larger opponents and one or more steps shorter for smaller.

 For example a Dwarf with a spear is at Me-Lee Reach versus a Human with a sword, and at Close Reach versus an Ogre with a club. In either case the Dwarf is at a serious disadvantage.

However, the disadvantage shifts if the smaller opponent gets inside the Reach of the larger. Once this occurs, any +1 or more complication on the Larger size
character may result in a hit on themselves. g. Mounted Characters use the size class of the mount to determine reach. 4. Roll Attacks and Defense a. The attacking character attempts to follow through with his stated action.

The defending Character may 1. Dodge the attack, or duck, or in some way not be in the place the attacker is trying to hit. 2. Parry the attack with a weapon. Unarmed and unarmored Defenders must pass a Will check in order to Parry an armed attack.


3. Block the Attack with a shield. b. Roll d20 +Weapon or Technique Skill Level +/-any Modifiers due to magick or circumstances (darkness, unstable footing, etc) for the Attack c. Roll d20 +Weapon or Technique Skill Level +/-any Modifiers due to magick or circumstances for the Defense d The Defense total rolled is the Target number the attacker must roll higher than for the attack to succeed. e. How MUCH the attacker rolls above or below the defender determines the effects of the attack. Each 4 above gains a Combat Effect for the higher rolling Character.






+12 +8 +4 +3 to -3 -4 -8 -12
+12 +8 +4 +3 to -3 -4 -8 -12

















↧

Saan'seriat; Temple of the Winds

April 26, 2015, 9:09 pm
$
0
0

This open air platform is the remains of the antechamber that leads to the interior of the mountain and the forgotten sanctuary of Saan'seriat.....



Here are pics of a wargame model I am beginning which I intend to use in a D&D game using the Chainmail combat system.

 I will be uploading progress pics here at the blog from this humble beginning to...hopefully...a very realistically painted 3D model for D&D miniatures.

I was very inspired by one of the mountain top temple ruins in the Skyrim video game by Bethesda Works...what a lush gaming engine!

Anyway, I have for some time wanted to construct an open air, mountain top "dungeon" consisting of a series of stonework platforms and temple works connected by dizzying bridges, spiral staircases and crumbling spires.

I subsequently saw a styrofoam cooler in the trash and decided that it needed to live forever as a D&D terrain setting....

Saan'seriat will consist of several encounter areas of various elevations, nestled in a forbidding mountain range.

I will be adding these models to papermache mountain footings which should provide for two to three game sessions of dungeon exploration, skirmishes with various Temple guardians, and untold mysteries of the forgotten ruin of a once powerful religion.

I will be locating appropriate plastic figurines and toys such as are suitable for painting the same color and texture as the stone works so as to look like grotesque or elegant statuary. These will be affixed to the temple ruins for flavor, and carved faces will adorn the doors and passages of the ancient monument.

Aside from whatever weird (and patient) guardians remain at Saan'seriat, there will be the danger of falling and unsteady stone works to give any dwarf nightmares....but of course with treasures that cannot be resisted by brave heroes!

I have long wanted to run a D&D game that consisted of 3D models and miniatures that were centered in encounters and skirmishes. My reasoning is that in such a game, where lead-up to the dungeon is summarized to the players and every session of play ends up right at the adventure locale (be it a city, a ruin, or a wilderness), play will progress more quickly, breaks between games will not cause the usual annoying amnesia, and the DM need not focus on anything but the adventure itself.

Roleplaying things like character development, buying equipment and leveling will then be handled in a narrative turn that takes place before or after each game session.

To me, this would be the perfect game for people who love D&D but find life happening between sessions.....

Anyhow, I will continue working on the Temple of the Winds and upload pics in case anyone feels inspired to construct their own ruin....and who knows..once Saan'seriat is mapped and keyed it may end up on the Mazes as a complete adventure for other DM's to use to test the mettle of their players....:)



Another open air plaza nestled high in the windswept peaks of a forbidding mountain range that is the lost locale of the Temple of the Winds...I have it in mind to either fill in the cup impressions or turn them into ancient fountains or pools. The large resin figure is a stand in for whatever I decide to convert into a huge stone idol, beneath whose gaze the mighty heroes shall do battle with the Temple Guardians.....

Everything I needed I found in a single styrofoam cooler, though I will most likely add to it. The mountains will consist of piles of thickly wadded newspapers shaped with masking tape to provide a paper mache frame. The modular platforms will be staged upon these precipices and the highest point will be perhaps three feet off the table when I am finished. The beauty of it all is that this is how I relax after work come nights...it has been a blast so far to build, and I discovered that the grooves built into the cooler provided perfect architectural flavor for Saan'seriat.






↧

7 Rules to Allow Chainmail Style D&D Games

April 28, 2015, 8:46 pm
$
0
0
I have never gotten to play CHAINMAIL, the original fantasy wargame rules that launched Dungeons and Dragons, but that's not because I have not wanted to...have few people to play it with and although I have a decent collection of minis, don't know that I could field whole armies.

CHAINMAIL being wargame and skirmish rules, the rules are much simpler and less involved than in a roleplaying game

There are no various levels of characters or progression of skill as with D&D, only fantastic and military archetypes with set powers, attacks, and movement rates that never change.

I have long wanted to use the CHAINMAIL combat rules for D&D gaming because of the flavor and the cool tables, but the Fantasy Combat Table  in CHAINMAIL presented a problem because for one thing, using that table as a 6 sided die hit system, a D&D Fighting Man would not be able to fight any creature on the matrix until attaining 4th level, and besides that, there would not be much chance of an ongoing campaign with the same characters when a figure is killed by a single hit. And while a D&D Fighting Man would have to wait until 4th level to use the table, other characters must wait even longer, making them fairly useless in melees with fantastic creatures.

So I think I may try a different take.

1. All humanoid, demihuman, and human combatants will use the Man to Man skirmish tables and rules, except those humanoid types which are listed on the Fantasy Combat Matrix.

2. Any character with a magical weapon may fight on the Fantasy Combat Matrix as a Hero. A Fighting Man of lower than 4th level can fight as a Hero on the Fantasy Combat Matrix without a magical weapon but will not fight as a Hero against foes faced on the Man to Man skirmish tables until he actually attains fourth level and Hero status. Fighting as a Hero or Superhero against foes on the Man to Man table means that you get the number of attacks listed in the Hero and Superhero description.

3.A hit by any creature against any creature does only 1 point of damage, plus any adjustments for magic weapons. Magic is somewhat different..where a spell does damage and mentions a number of hit dice of for the damage, convert that to points of damage instead. So a spell that does two dice of damage will instead do two points.

4. Monsters can take as many hits as their hit die. So a dragon in D&D which has 12 H.D. can take 12 hits. At the DM's option a d6 may be rolled and added to this for tougher versions of the same monster.

5. Characters will begin the game with the maximum number of hit points possible for their class at 1st level and gain 2 points with every new level.

6. The movement rates of fantasy creatures will be as per CHAINMAIL. All special powers from CHAINMAIL will be retained for fantasy creatures, including demi-humans, in addition to any additional ones later developed in D&D. If the players encounter fantastic creatures from D&D not listed on the Fantasy Combat Matrix in CHAINMAIL simply use the closest equivalent.

7. The CHAINMAIL rules for Mages casting counter spells against spellcasters of a lower level than themselves will be retained. I may work out spell complexity numbers for every D&D spell.


The rest of the D&D books will be used as normally for purposes of treasures, magic items, and the like.

So this is the model I intend to use. Some would say why? It's less involved. While I love heavily involved games, I go through seasons where I don't want that at all. The narrative rules system I am working on with Brent will be great fun but I will always love a simple game.

As I have mentioned in previous posts I am wanting to run a game with new or open minded players that is figure, terrain, and story based all at once. I want it to have the tactical elements of a wargame with the development of characters found only in roleplaying.

I'm sure I have missed something in this alchemy but I will wing it.

Will playtest soon!





↧

The Rysanthian Chronicle; An OD&D and CHAINMAIL Campaign Idea

April 30, 2015, 9:14 pm
$
0
0
Note: I apologize for the length of this post..nearly half of it gets into CHAINMAIL and D&D rules and history, so if you are familiar with all of that, you can skip down to the part entitled "The Rysanthian Chronicle; CHAINMAIL and OD&D" Thanks for reading, comments welcome.


As you may or may not know, Dungeons and Dragons was developed as a game by expanding upon the concepts of it's predecessor, the TSR miniatures wargaming rules named CHAINMAIL.

The big difference between CHAINMAIL and D&D is that the former is strictly a game of warfare and unconcerned with the individual character development one finds in a role playing game.

There are, arguably, three different combat systems in the single volume rulebook of CHAINMAIL.

The first is for large scale wargames involving historical period troops and where a single figure on the game table represented  unit of twenty soldiers.

The second is called the Man to Man rules--these were designed for smaller scale skirmishes where each figures represents a single combatant.

The third system was  to be the precursor of fantasy roleplaying as we know it today--this was the Fantasy Supplement of CHAINMAIL, which was included to be used in conjunction with the mass troop warfare rules for wargamers who wanted to recreate the epic battles found in the works of authors like Tolkien, Moorcock or Robert E. Howard.

The Fantasy Supplement charts and tables seem less compatible with the Man to Man skirmish rules, which seem to be mainly for historical and non fantastic figures.

The CHAINMAIL volume included separate combat matrices for each of these three systems: the troop Combat Tables, the Man to Man Melee Table (plus the Individual Fires with Missles Table) and the Fantasy Combat Table. Each of these tables used old fashioned six sided dice to determine results and in most instances (excepting fantastic monsters and super heroic types) a hit resulted in an instant kill.

I will discuss these tables briefly to  acquaint the player with their purpose so that you will understand their use in the Rysanthian game.

The Troop Combat Matrix

The troop Combat Table is broken down into attacker and defender troop types such as Light Foot, Armored Foot, Heavy Horse, Light Horse, and other designations based upon historical soldiers, arms and armor, and combat styles. One simply looks at the designation for the troop type attacking, finds the troop type being attacked, and is told the number of dice  to roll and the necessary result for a successful hit. You would roll a six sided die for every man in the attacking unit, sometimes two dice for very tough troops, and however many dice came up at or above the target number was how many men would perish in the defending unit...remember that with this table, a single figure stood in for twenty soldiers.  You kept track of these kills on paper and when all twenty men were dead or routed the figure was removed from the board.

The Man to Man Melee Table

This matrix was formulated in a manner that made the initiative (who attacks first) and the chance to hit a matter of the attackers type of weapon versus the armor type (or lack of armor) of the defender. You cross index these two factors to arrive at the number you must roll on a pair of six sided dice to strike your opponent and kill his figure instantly. It does not appear that this table was meant to be used with the Fantasy Supplement but it did become the basis for the later armor class and to-hit tables of D&D. There is also an Individual Fires With Missle Table for missle weapons .

The Fantasy Combat Table

This matrix is just fun! It was used to facilitate combat between Heroes, Superheroes, Wizards and all sorts of different fantasy monsters. All of these were listed on a vertical and horizontal column and you simply cross referenced the two engaging combatants to find the number that the attacker needed to  hit the opponent. Although the Fantasy Supplement was intended for use with the troop Combat Tables, no normal troops lower than a Hero could even roll on the Fantasy Combat Table, because in CHAINMAIL, most fantastic creatures were impervious to any sort of foe except other fantastic monsters or heroes. It should be noted that some creatures that could certainly to be considered mythical or fantastic also could not melee with the fantastic creatures specifically listed on the Fantasy Combat Table (the creatures on the table are the Big Boys) and instead used the normal troop Combat Tables. Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, Goblins and most humanoid or demi human troops fall into this category, though each of these have certain unique abilities and limitations that made them differ greatly from the human troops they might melee with or against.

With these combat systems and attack tables, endless historical period or fantastic wargames could be devised or recreated from history or fantasy and science fiction literature.

Aside from the Fantasy Combat Table, the Fantasy Supplement in the CHAINMAIL volume consisted of a codified collection of archetypical monsters and hero type figures, all with designated rates of movement, morale factors, limitations, abilities and powers...not at all unlike chess where one becomes acquainted with the personal powers and limitations of each individual playing piece and builds one's strategies from the characteristic strengths and weaknesses of that piece. The seasonings of the works of many fantasy authors can be tasted in this brew, as well as mythology, making the Fantasy Supplement in CHAINMAIL the certain ancestor of modern roleplaying games.

To the Dungeon

Some points of history are debated among gamers, but it is my understanding that it was Dave Arneson who was to use the CHAINMAIL Fantasy Supplement rules to forge a new kind of game for the Castles and Crusades wargaming society, one where the individual Hero, Superhero, Elf or Wizard (or whatever) was to become a recurring character in an ongoing fantasy campaign setting.

Arneson devised a fantasy world for his games, the world of Blackmoor, and the CHAINMAIL figures who adventured there (and the cults and entities they faced) became personalities that were somewhat larger than just a playing piece in a wargame. I don't know how much Arneson's Blackmoor campaign resembled the one described in the Blackmoor Supplement later published with the D&D books, but Blackmoor was evidently a place of crypts, temples, dungeons and treasures with a character that was unlike the wargames of old. Word of Blackmoor reached Gary Gygax, and soon Gygax and Arneson were working together on what would become the rules to an entirely new sort of game which  reflected the possibilities and potential of the sort of game Arneson had been running...the game of Dungeons and Dragons.

In D&D, the most intriguing and exciting concepts of the Fantasy Supplement in CHAINMAIL were set out in more fully developed and more widely accessible forms. The "character class" was created, as were individual physical and mental attributes for a character. The concept of level progression and character advancement were outlined. Wilderness, dungeon and town settings were detailed, monster and magical item lists were expanded, and treasure tables were introduced. A system of Hit Dice and Hit Points replaced the old "instant kill" system from CHAINMAIL so that your D&D character could have a reasonable chance of continuing in one piece (relatively) from game to game.

The result of the introduction of D&D was that the evolution of CHAINMAIL was largely finished. It would forever remain solidly a wargame while D&D would be a "roleplaying game". Although it is probable that most of the people who initially played D&D were familiar with the older game, D&D soon became popular with an entirely new class of gamers who did not come from a wargaming background and accepted the novel game entirely on its own merits. And from this beginning sprang an entire hobby, new lines of games, and all kinds of evolutions and innovations that continue to the present!

The Rysanthian Chronicle; CHAINMAIL and OD&D

I have delved into the history of D&D and the Combat systems of CHAINMAIL to provide a basis for players who might participate in my games set in the world of Rysanthis.

The Rysanthian Chronicle represents an effort on my part to do a little "reverse engineering" from D&D as I learned it in the 80's to try to arrive at a game that is closer in spirit to those earlier games, streamlining combat and record keeping and fleshing out the wargaming aspects but retaining the essential elements of the "roleplaying game".

The game that I envision will revolve around the figures on the table and the environment of the adventure. 3D terrain will be used for each adventure. Dungeons and other adventure settings will hold all the traps, tricks, wonders and treasures as in D&D, and indeed, the D&D books will be used as sources for magic items, spells, and treasure, but the player characters will be figures drawn from CHAINMAIL and magical and melee encounters will be conducted using the CHAINMAIL rules instead of the D&D d20 Hit Tables.

The process for an individual player creating a character (or characters) will consist not of rolling up attributes or choosing a character class but of selecting troops and/or fantasy figures from those contained in the CHAINMAIL descriptions. All of those figures have a point value based upon their strength...each player is given an initial pool of 100 points with which to select from them. The player will do more than select generic figures, however...he or she will imbue them with names, personalities, loyalties, aims and ambitions that will be centered in the backdrop of the kingdoms and histories of the world of Rysanthis. The figures can then be employed by the player to pursue those aims against the larger backdrop of the game world or to simply adventure in search of plunder, guts and glory...the involvement of the figure in the bigger picture is completely dependent on the personality and traits created for the figure by the player. You can have a zealous knight in the service of a religious order, a dangerous freebooter, or a Wizard who cares only about seeking out lost arcana or even taking over the entire world.

Using the point system a player can choose to begin the game with a very powerful figure, like a Wizard, or a slightly less powerful character such as a Hero but with a magic sword and a few loyal normal warriors as his companions. Or one could opt to create a company of Elves. Players who have a favorite D&D character can bring them in as whatever figure the character's level is equivalent with. It would also be possible for players to select different figures for different games, so that one could run a Lawful Paladin through one game and the next have an evil Wizard with Orc henchmen...and occasional games where the players are pitted against one another are not an unlikely prospect! A little cooperation with the DM  and some forethought is all that is needed.

Each player will be given the campaign world book and can hatch whatever schemes they desire in the game for the cause of Law, Chaos or pure self interest!

The Actual Game Mechanics

The basic rules of engagement will be as follows:

In the Rysanthian Chronicle, the troop Combat Tables of CHAINMAIL will be used strictly for mass combats.

The Man to Man Melee Table and Missle Table will be used to facilitate warfare between all demi-human, humanoid, and human combatants, the exception being humanoid monsters specifically listed on the Fantasy Combat Table such as Trolls, Giants and Lycanthropes. Heroes and Superheroes will melee with men or manlike combatants on these tables as well, as will Wizards.

The Fantasy Combat Table will be used for warfare with or between fantastic beings listed therein. No figure below the level of Wizard, Hero or Superhero will be able to fight on the Fantasy Combat Table unless that figure either has a magic weapon (you then fight as a Hero) or is of a level which permits them to attack thereon with minus's--this means that normal troops are of limited or no use against the kind of monsters listed on that table! So in D&D, a 3rd level Swordsman can fight as a Hero -1, a 4th Level Enchanter can fight as a Hero -1, and so on.

The Instant Kill system is done away with and a limited Hit Point system is instituted; a figure in CHAINMAIL has a number of hit points equal to it's HD plus any bonuses as listed in the D&D books.  So, if a dragon in D&D has 12 HD, instead of rolling twelve dice to determine the dragons hit points, the dragon is considered to be able to withstand twelve hits. A Super Hero in the D&D Fighting Man tables is said to have a HD of 8+2; so that figure can withstand 10 hits. DM's have the prerogative of adding a d6 or a d3 to the hit point total of exceptionally tough monsters.

All hits do only one point of damage, with the exception of magical weapons. A magic sword will add 1 extra point of damage, certain rare relics may be so powerful as to add two.

Magic and Miracles

The Wizard is run exactly as described in CHAINMAIL with the exception that he melees with the appropriate combatants on the Man to Man Table and his fireballs or lightening bolts are conducted on the Missle Table. Whether or not he is impervious to normal missle fire in close encounters is a matter of debate--in the CHAINMAIL rules it seems more reasonable in a mass combat setting.

Any spells from the D&D books can be employed and have a Complexity Level equal to their Spell Level.

I am including a new figure, that  of the High Priest or Priestess, who functions as a Wizard in all respects except that he or she uses clerical spells and has the Cleric ability to Turn Undead. In addition, the cleric has a Holy Smiting power useable once per turn which calls down a thunderous blast from the divine realms (or infernal, depending on the alignment of the Priest) which is equal to the Wizard's Lightening Bolt.


This concludes my post for this evening...I was not able to address everything yet and I am sure that I am missing something but I am going to move ahead with the game and I will report the results of this strange alchemy after we have run a few games with it.

I will not be creating a new post for more rules, so be sure to check this post again if you are interested in any additional house rules for running OD&D and CHAINMAIL together.

Thanks and Acknowledgements to Jason Vey for his Forbidden Lore OSR CHAINMAIL supplement; it was very helpful to me in formulating these house rules.

Good night!










↧
↧

Temple of the Winds Images Part 2. Inner Sanctuary

May 6, 2015, 6:16 pm
$
0
0





So...although in the midst of preparing to move and working on musical projects with friends, I am working almost nightly on the models of the Temple Complex.

Went to get moving boxes and I know lots of places that toss boxes with interesting styrofoam
forms--this one was almost nearly the perfect shape and architecture for a dungeon room as is.

I have decided this room will be the Sanctuary or Chapel of the Temple of the Winds.

The ancient altars of Illuvion have been desecrated and Dragon Cult images have been erected.

I am waiting to paint until I bevel some of the pillars, add some embossed faces and cornices, and
get statues in place. Wooden Knights from a very stylized wooden chess set work great for carved
dragon heads.

In the encounter pictured below, heroes storm the sanctuary to try and rescue their companion from
the sacrificial rites of a Lich...undead attempt to defend the desecrated Temple.


I do find in sculpting the model and seeing it in 3D and placing figures that it is helping immensely to
plan the encounter. I will not be using the one pictured and that will all be kept under wraps until I
run the Temple as an adventure. I just placed the figures to get a feel for the scale of battle that could
take place in the Chapel.


I am debating if I want to try and sculpt a dragon head for the central  altar or saw one off a toy...the
dollar store and garage sales sometimes supply the neatest little figurines and statues that would lend
themselves so well to a dungeon model.

I'm thinking of using Cheerios for the column decorations....

I am getting anxious to paint but I am making myself wait until it's constructed!















↧

Temple of the Winds Part 3

May 11, 2015, 5:26 am
$
0
0

This weekend was busy as it was Mother's Day. Besides my wonderful wife and my awesome mother, I have a very nice new mom-in-law as well, so it was a full day. Also had time to work on a zine of song lyrics for the band.

I worked for an hour and a half on the Temple, and I'm getting excited because the inner sanctuary is almost ready to paint.

I have a huge bag of old game pieces and little toys and decided to sacrifice a couple of my knight figurines to provide statues of the Temple guardians flanking the arch.

I also glued down my "dragon head" statues by the main altar, carved some wall reliefs with a pop bottle lid and a marker pen cap, and used joint compound to fill in the circular impressions in the chamber floor. I added cornices to the pillars by carving them and then using the compound to fill in the gouges and round the pillars out. They have a slight rough appearance but its fine because this is after all an ancient ruined temple.

I decided to leave one impression in the corner near the arch as an ancient sacred pool of Illuvion which will likely be made into a fountain. I realize that the compound will have a different texture than the rest of the walls and floor but again, being a ruin, even this might not compromise the realism when I paint, though if any experts out there have suggestions on a step before painting or with paint to unify the texture, I would love to hear from you.

I will be spraypainting the model completely matte black and then a somewhat heavy dry brushing of a gray over this (black will leave shadows in the cracks and crevices) and then mottle it a bit with an even lighter gray.

I must also cannibalize a suitable dragon head from a toy or carve one for the altar-part of the Quest is that the Dragon Cult has set up their images upon the altar of the Ineffable Flame, so the head must be removable should the heroes complete their mission!

Hopefully will have a pic of the painted and finished sanctuary to show soon, though I still have to construct my mountains for the exterior ruins.






A thief stands in the mystic arch, perhaps frustrated at the ancient locks and wards within the sanctuary, as the impassive stone sentinels keep their ancient watch.

In the Second Age, the age of the Jennerak, San'seriaat's main altar held a perpetual fire and the dragonhead statues were not present. Illuvion has no carven image and is not depicted as anything but a circle of flame. When the Dragon Reign began in the Third Age, and the elves abandoned Rysanthis, San'Seriaat was the first place to fall because it was the sacred site of Illuvion. An image of Gehennos the Dragon Lord was set up there after the priests were slaughtered. It should be noted that the Temple Keepers at this time were not Jennerak, as that culture had long vanished by the time of the Third Age. The stone altar was also added by the Dragon Cult to honor Gehennos with the unspeakable rites that transferred the Dragon Magic to men.

↧
Search

Temple of the Winds Part 4

May 12, 2015, 7:40 pm
$
0
0

Some painted Temple sections.  I rushed things a bit, and as a result I did not get the realism I envisioned for this model. There were a few serendipitous accidents though, and overall, I am happy with the pieces for table top gaming. My errors will be obvious to anyone--let's just say I did not plan for such a weathered and pitted look, but fortunately I am pleased with it for the purpose hand. Hope to finish the remaining pieces as quickly and run some Chainmail battles in this desolate and forlorn ruin...










↧

The Rysanthian Chronicle; Environs of the Mistwater

May 15, 2015, 12:13 am
$
0
0

 Here are portions of a map I fashioned of the locale of the campaign we ran for about a year and a half. The map is one portion of a wilderness, town and dungeon expanse within the greater world of Rysanthis. Its strange how the stories of the gaming table remain--I have so many good memories of the hours spent with my friends exploring the shores and depths of the Mistwater.

Our first party was Thaddeus, a fighter who became a Paladin of Illuvion, Phantom Fireborn, a thief who was raised from the dead after being burned by dragon's fire, Gerta the Priestess of Illuvion who was basically Joan of Arc, Perseus, a warrior from the Merling sea people who joined Thaddeus in the Order of Illuvion, a hill giantess of the Tol Myr race, and a one handed warrior NPC named Daag Mahn. There was also a cowardly retainer named Gort who will forever be infamous to the players for his acts of treachery and his untimely end....

The campaign ended with the party at 10th and 11th levels using 1st Edition AD&D. It has been over a year since we held that game--the party had solved many secrets of the locale and was right at the epic conclusion with a war brewing when life intervened...I still hope to run that battle with the group as a Chainmail wargame!

I am taking other friends through the Mistwater, and yes, I am running the exact same campaign and encounters. They are at fourth level now and are taking an entirely different course...and they have agreed to help playtest the Chainmail OD&D system I want to try.

I am in the process of hammering out a module and campaign setting based upon the Mistwater games and promise it will be available soon!

When I can, I want to share some of the funny, touching, tragic and scary tales that happened along the way. You know you've done an NPC right when the party mourns his death--Daag Mahn died bravely and became a song of the heroes. I will get some of these tales on the blog.

The green portions of the Map are of course deep coniferous forests with some deciduous growth--this is the Forest of Wyr, also known as the Wraithwood. Once an elven kingdom, since the Elves abandoned Rysanthis it has become a haunt of ghosts, goblins, and unsavory men...except for the portions of the King's Road which are kept up by the lords of Carrhoene.  











Brandyburg is a good sized town on the North Shore of the Great Lake and the Rushwater River. The folk there enjoy the favor of the Temple of Illuvion and this gives them some autonomy though they are tributary to Carrohoene. Smith's Ferry takes supplies and pilgrims to the eastern shores of the lake where lies Whiterose Abbey and the Sisterhood of the White Lady. The Abbey is not pictured but I have constructed a model of it scaled to miniatures and will upload pics. Near Smiths Ferry is a settlement of the friendly and peaceful Bog Folk. A bell on either side of the Rushwater summons the Ferry. It is not a pleasant duty to be stationed at night on the Eastern Shores...

Pictured here is the Southern reaches of the Mistwater which peters out into boggy fens and marshes. There is of course another populous Bogfolk settlement here, but the primary concern to the inhabitants of the Mistwater environs is Arnforth, the Citadel. The Citadel serves as the southern defense against the perils of the vast wilderness and also as the training grounds for the soldiers of the Great City. Citizenship in Carrohoene can be granted to any willing and able soul who serves three years in the Citadel's forces-but acceptance in the ranks is based on the strictest standards of General Felhaus, the grimfaced warlord who answers directly to the House of Vhulkas in Carrohoene. Felhaus is reputed to be unbeatable in single combat and known for his severity in dealing with criminals, rebels and derelict soldiers.

The Mistwater is a massive freshwater lake filled with abundant fish and useful crops and mollusks. Many fishing boats are always to be seen in the waters between Carrohoene and Brandyburg. Military boats are to be seen as well ferrying soldiers to and from the Citadel. The presence of water sprites and other mysterious creatures are generally accepted as fact by the superstitious folk but no one who grew up on the Mistwater doubts--fishermen see things while at their nets. There are documented cases of people vanishing near or in the waters in olden days, and it is accepted that a few live now who were the wife or husband of a water sprite for a year and a day beneath the waves before reappearing to live as a legend the rest of their days....

The Bog Folk are to be found in three different locations on the Mistwater. They dwelt here long before Men, perhaps even during the First Age of the Elves or the Second Age of the Jennerak. They survived the Dragon Age; Perhaps it is because few among Men, Dwarves or other races think them much more than walking frogs, and the Dragons were probably no different in that respect. They speak with chirps and croaks that are impossible to mimic or understand, and communicate with Men by means of a simple sign language they have used with the people of the Mistwater for time immemorial. They dwell in mud waddle domed huts on the shores among reed and fern. They will fight at need with their simple spears but prefer to dive into the waters and vanish at sign of danger. They resemble a cross between a frog and a salamander, the tallest among them being well under five feet. They dress in only trinkets and leather belts, travel in reed canoes, and are sought after occasionally as guides.Almost no one in Rysanthis pays them any mind at all--they are treated rather contemptuously by city dwellers, considered nuisances because of their curiosity and chirping voices. Rural folk regard them somewhat more highly--they have knowledge of medicinal plants and trade these for baubles and trinkets when they do not simply give them away. The Bogfolk revere the great Horned Serpent that is found in the Southern Marshes. They display the bones and skulls of these creatures as if religious symbols. The Horned Serpents are not numerous and scholars think they are dying out, but they appear to have once been the greatest predator against the Bogfolk, who will unite to slay the beast when it appears to wreak havoc. Travelers who have seen the aftermath of such a battle have reported seeing the Bogfolk prostrate themselves before the dead beast and sing in chirps and trills as though imploring forgiveness...

It is rumored that an Elf Lord named Thingon lives in the Wraithwood in a protected enclave where he is attended by sylvan guardians. Elves are a lost race in Rysanthis. You've more chance of meeting the Man in the Moon than ever crossing paths with one of the few Elves who remained after the Jennerak Kingdoms fell and the Dragons ruled Rysanthis. That people fled in ships across the seas of Rysanthis, never to be seen again. Many elven ruins were left behind, and somewhere in the vicinity of the Wraithwood a great elven stronghold once stood.

So these are a few highlights of the Mistwater region. I will post more this weekend about Carrohoene, Brandyburg, White Rose Abbey, the ruined town of Barrow on the South Eastern shores, and the Isle of Kazamir. Kazamir is a ruined castle on an island off the shores of Barrow. Its spires can be seen on a clear day all the way from the Great City. It is forbidden by the House of Vulkhos for anyone to go near it, even if they were stupid enough to want to since it is known to be one of the Old Places of the Jennerak, now a haunt of evil spirits and trolls...Barrow was once a thriving town named Thuvial whose people tampered with the Isle and were destroyed by its guardians or some evil they awakened there. Only foolhardy adventurers would even dream of visiting Kazamir...






↧
↧

Relics of Gaming Glory; Little Brown OD&D Books and Greyhawk Supplement

May 18, 2015, 5:48 am
$
0
0

Last night I was privileged to make a photocopy of the Greyhawk Supplement from my father-in-laws OD&D books.

I already have the LuLu reprint of the LBB's. I also have a Chainmail reprint and a photocopy of the original Chainmail rules.

The books pictured here are not Scott's original set which has long been lost--they are copies picked up as a yard sale in Tulsa Oklahoma for thirty dollars about five years ago.

Scott was a longtime gamer and all five of his kids, incluing my lovely wife, are avid gamers along with their spouses and a few wargamers to boot.

He bought Chainmail new at the store when it came out and said they always played with paper chits because none of them owned miniatures!

When the White Box D&D game was released, Scott and his brothers bought it and became D&D freaks for  long, long time. It's one of the activities my mother-in-law did with him when they started dating. I've met Scott's mother and she related to me how she would come home and find a throng of young men encamped in the living room floor or at the kitchen table playing D&D for hours.

Those early games apparently were full of the same humorous streak hinted at in the original books--my wife told me how when they were kids and played D&D with the family every dungeon came equipped with a magic item vending machine that hd every magic item in the book if you had the gold. There were also Land Sharks....and they tried to fool you bu knocking politely at dungeon doors hoping you would open so they could eat you.

The Greyhawk Supplement has some water stain and a bit of mold damage and is unatached from the cover but otherwise sound, all pages legible. The LBB's are in lieterally perfect condition. Lisa has said she might sell them if Scot doesn't care, so if anyone wants to make an offer, message me.

I told her she ought to hang onto them, though. I would buy them if I had the chance, as it is, I get a little thrill each time I thumb through them!

As a side note, one illustrious member of their gaming group who later achieved fame as a writer was none other than Luara K. Hamilton, who my wife remembers being at the gaming table at her house and having played a Cleric with a powerful warhammer!

Good times!








↧

Pyschotic Flying Stuffed Animals, Cigar Chomping Buddhist Gods, and Dungeons and Dragons/Video Game Trope Lampoonage; "The Hero Yoshihiko"

May 18, 2015, 9:01 pm
$
0
0
Well, file this one under "I am extremely bored and in the mood to watch Japanese comedy which does not border on absurdity but exists in a vacuum sealed universe of it."

I was recently introduced to this nutty but somewhat amusing "Low Budget Gamer Fantasy Drama" (this description of the show is actually contained in the opening credits) by a family member who likes to watch Asian cinema and television.

Video gamer and table top role playing culture are the mine from which this show's writers (????) draw enough satire, absurd gags, and goofy LARP like action to give any seasoned gaming nut a few chuckles and the occasional outright belly laugh.

The plot is simple: the old trope of the questing party sent on a mission by a god to defeat monsters, gather relics, save towns and indeed the world in an ongoing campaign which, of course, never ends because, well, it's D&D. Or something like it.

The main hero is a hapless, naive and totally sincere knucklehead named Yoshihiko who is on a quest to bring peace to the world equipped with a magic sword which does not kill it's victims but sleeps them instead. He is accompanied by an old grizzled fighter named Danjou who seems to be a parody of the samurai trilogy hero, a strange silly wizard who is part charlatan, part real magic user named Merebu always inventing really cornball spells, and a female fighter/rogue/druid of some sort named Murasuki who is always discovering dumb skills she has like Big Eye, where she stares at her opponents with a vacant goofball stare that is sufficiently dumb enough to throw them off their guard so she can attack them.

Together they encounter paper mache monsters animated by strings or stop motion, goofy bandits who usually end up doing themselves in in one stupid fashion or another, crazy spirits, buxom celestial maidens, and live video game characters who don't know they are in a video game...

It's not ingenious by any means but if you can appreciate Japanese humor its free on the Internet.

Look, the less you know about this one going into the better, so I'm not going to comment on anymore of the show, except to say that every DM who has ever BullShat his way through explaining his game devices or why a quest hasn't really ended will get a kick out of Hokote, the god who is forever sending them on missions that are supposedly life and death world struggles but which sound as if he is making them up as he goes...

You can watch the series at www.gooddrama.net .....

Here are a couple of scenes uploaded to You Tube that should tell you right away whether or not this kind of comedy is for you. I am not responsible for any loss of productivity that results from watching this show...but I will state that it was worth watching just to see the episode wit the scene where they fight a  proud bandit who slips as he is about to deliver his death blow because he steps in....never mind.







↧

Temple of the Winds Model Part Five

May 23, 2015, 9:54 pm
$
0
0




Greetings from the Mazes! We are currently getting pounded here in Oklahoma with record rainfall, flooding, and even a few tornadoes today but as yet we have not floated away!

 I am pleased with the way this section of my model turned out.

The figures pictured are actually twice the scale of standard D&D minis (I really like these figures and wish I had an entire collection of such pieces for gaming) so this platform actually has plenty or room for a good sized battle with many combatants.

I found out that if you prime a styrofoam model with cheap black spraypaint the solvent will erode and pit the material, giving it a much more ruinous and weathered look.

You can then drybrush on gray acrylic and repeat the process a few times.

I use joint compound to fill in any unwanted depressions and this actually ends up lending a nice variation of texture as well which is random but looks planned in the final appearance.

A couple coats of clear, brush on varnish has yet to be applied, but when this is done it will seal the piece and also make it a little sturdier.

I may carve a flight of steps going up to the crumbling arch--this piece will be embedded in paper mache mountain side with some perilous walkways and ledges leading to it.

Now I need a story as to why this European swordsman has come to this forlorn ruin and how he came to encounter Pegasus....












↧
Viewing all 155 articles
Browse latest View live
Search