A Pirate's Life For Me!

Tenkar had a contest to give away a free copy of the S&W version of the Razor Coast and all you had to do was come up with a pirate ship and it's captain, and post it on his blog.

I did a little more than that, and it payed off, since I won! I'm pretty sure it's only because I wrote (and then recorded) a shanty. For those who missed it, my entry is below. I'd also suggest you check out the other entries on Tenkar's post.

Along the shipwrecked shores of the Razor Coast
Sails the Bloody Haar and her dread captain
Under red-dark skies and Pele’s eyes
Sails the Bloody Haar and her dread captain

For he’s faced the worst the waves can bring
Wreck and ruin and hurricane
Pitch black flag and scarlet sails
Sink their hearts and lips a’ wail

With orkish blood and a pirates ire
Sails the Bloody Haar and her dread captain
Cults and Curse of ancient times
Sails the Bloody Haar and her dread captain

He’ll take your silver, gold, n’ magic things
If you get in his way, you’ll be a blood stain
from the isle of Haht to the great Port Shaw
Ruthless Jack’s will plunder them all

Rum and gold and a wind steady
Sails the Bloody Haar and her dread captain
Treasure or tempest upon the sea
Sails the Bloody Haar and her dread captain

Listen to the shanty here... if you dare!

The Bloody Haar is a two masted schooner, with a red stripe running the length of her black hull. Her sails are a sun and salt faded scarlet, and she flies a pitch black pennant. While a relatively small ship, she’s one of the nimblest and fastest that prowls the Razor Coast.

The Bloody Haar’s crew consists of the following:
SkarJak “Ruthless Jack” Urzok (Captain, Black Orc male fighter)
Lady d’Rath (1st Officer, blond human female fighter)
Masked Mage (quartermaster, ??)
Reed & Finnan (riggers and knifers, halfling brothers)
4-8 other pirates (Crew, varies - orcs and humans)

Prior to a raid, the Masked Mage will wreath the area in fog, allowing the Blood Haar to close upon her prey unseen. The rest of the crew will then board their target, eliminating any resistance with extreme prejudice, but not needlessly slaughtering anyone who doesn't get in their way. Their goal is always the loot.

“Ruthless Jack” is a large, broad shouldered bald orc with sun darkened olive green skin and a wiry black beard. He is covered with bright tattoos across his chest and down his arms, and fights with a magical harpoon in one hand, and a hand ax in the other. He’s been a pirate nearly his whole life, sailed the length and breadth of the Razor Coast, and when the Masked Mage offered him command of the Bloody Haar, he lept at the chance. The last 5 years have proven the wisdom of the Masked Mage’s choice.

The Lady d’Rath was the 1st officer under the Bloody Haar’s previous captain, and was initially pissed that the Masked Mage passed her up for the position. SkarJak’s success only infuriated her more. Eventually she challenged him to a duel, and lost, though it was a close thing. SkarJak asked her to remain on the ship as his first officer. Their relationship remains tense.

The Masked Mage is an unknown to all. Clad from head to toe in flowing embroidered robes, with an elaborate facemask that lacks any holes, his voice is low and raspy. Over his robes he wears The Medallion of the 9 Winds, the item which allows him to both call forth the fog, but also to influence the wind, further assisting the Bloody Haar in being one of the fastest vessels upon the sea.

---

I guess this just goes to show that you sometimes get rewarded for embarrassing yourself in public!

Review: Empires of the Shining Sea (Part I)

A while ago (I honestly don’t remember exactly when) picked up the Empires of the Shining Sea boxed set. Seeing as I have a stack of stuff I've managed to collect, and haven't really read yet, I decided to pull this one from the pile, and have a go, based solely on the cover.

Summoning a genie to fight a dragon? Awesome!

It’s a fairly typical 2nd edition forgotten realms setting boxed set. Here’s the text from the back of the box:

Calimshan and the Lake of Steam Revealed!

The dusty trails from the North have brought you to the warm and welcoming coasts of the Shining Sea and the Lake of Steam. Here is history spanning millennia, not just centuries; passion, profit and danger; dreams of power and conquest; and wonders mysteries centuries older than any hedge realm north of Dalagar's Road and the Snowflake Mountains.

Empires of the Shining Sea goes farther and deeper into the southern reaches of the FORGOTTEN REALMS campaign setting, providing a breadth of scope and a level of detail never before published. This boxed set includes a 192-page book filled with information on these topics:

History The Empires of the Shining Sea hold tales and legends passed down by word of mouth across the years. The myriad mysteries and dramas of more than 300 rulers across four empires - including the infamous Shoon Imperium - reveal themselves in the history and timeline spanning more than 8,000 years.

Calimshan The long-fallen empire of Calimshan rises yet again, as a new ruler and new power groups take control of the former land of the genies. Updated and expanded by more than 100 pages since its first appearance in FR3, Empires of the Sands, Calimshan shows itself to be a land bent on returning to its former greatness - at any and all costs!

The Land of the Lions This rugged land sandwiched between the Deepwash and the Lake of Steam seems empty, but many surprises lurk among its plains and woods - nomads and raiders astride giant lynxes, elder orbs, ruined cities, lost cultures, and more!

The Lake of Steam This steaming bay of the Shining Sea unveils its secrets, proving that it holds more than easy trade routes to the Inner Sea. Scarlet pearls the size of a human fist or the smoking majesty of the volcanic Arnrock tempt those who dare test its deceptively calm waters.

Also inside are two full-color poster maps showing Calimshan and the Lake of Steam region at 30-mile-per-inch scale.

Everything you need to adventure in the conspiracy-laden Empires of the Shining Sea is here!

I’d like to point out that bit right in the middle there, the over 8,000 years of history. You don’t actually get the timeline until you’ve gotten all the way past the 30 pages of history.

Seriously, 30 pages covering 8,000 years?? How much of that is even vaguely relevant to anything 99.9% of players are ever going to deal with? And we’re not looking at nice easy to read 30 pages, we’re talking serious textbook small type. The level of verbosity is just astounding, and the amount of useful info is vanishingly small.

I’ll grant you that I’m spoiled, living in an age of video info graphics and supplemental web pages to expand on material presented elsewhere, but even granting the technological limitations of 1998, this is really user unfriendly, but typical of a Forgotten Realms product from the end of the TSR era.

If you’re going to attempt reading this, I’d strongly suggest keeping a copy of the maps handy, especially if you aren’t all that familiar with the region to begin with.

One thing that doesn’t really stand out, is what’s the point of having this particular area? The predominant themes I’ve noticed are Genies, Dragons, Beholders, Angry Sea Goddess, Volcanoes, Slaves, etc. Now, it seems very like Al Quadim thus far. Flipping ahead I can see it’s a bit more africa themed, rather than arabia, but it isn’t obvious. We’ll see how it goes as I get past the 8,000 years of history.

Chainmail Gnolls

Like I said in my last post, I've been working on old minis while waiting on my Bones.

Sunday night I based up my Chainmail Gnolls.

I'm really pleased with this red guy. The demonic aspect really isn't subtle...

Pair of archers.

It's really hard to see in this picture, but these guys have one clawed foot and one with a hoof!

This pic shows how his face is half ripped off.

The ax gnoll in the middle, and the flail on the left were painted together years ago. The rest of them were started back in March.

They are rather flat minis, but I'm pleased with how they came out.

Wargaming Girl Giveaway

Want some free minis?

Head on over to Wargaming Girl and check out her 100K Prize Draws!

Day 5 - Spartans
Day 4 - Bones
Day 3 - Royalist Infantry
Day 2 - GZG Gift Certificate
Day 1 - British Infantry

Enter quickly and good luck!

Sunday Inspirational Image: Monastery

This looks like something you'd find deep in a dungeon...



Image Source: Monastery by By Iñaki Matilla

‘dem Bones

With Reaper’s latest updates on their kickstarter, I think it’s safe to say that I probably won’t be seeing my minis until the end of June/early July. This isn’t terrible, though a bit disappointing, especially for the paints and cases. While I have both paints and cases already, the paints are old and drying out, and the cases are pretty much full. But, I still have enough paint and more than enough unpainted minis that I really don't have anything to complain about.

Of course I still keep checking for more updates, hoping for good news on that slow boat from China.

What’s really disappointing though, is the response online from some backers to the delay. I know, idiots online acting like trolls, big shock, but they just act so entitled, it makes me want to smack them and say "you're getting a $75 dragon mini for $10! It's coming from CHINA. Chill!"

Not that it would help even a little, but I'd feel better.

While it’s been a couple of weeks since I picked up a paintbrush, I’m currently playing with skin tones. These three minis are each done with a different skin tone, and all are works in progress. The two fantasy minis are vaguely celtic, so I’m going for a very pale on one and sort of pale but with lots of sun on the other. The sci-fi lady I’m going for a Martian red.

In addition to trying to get skin tones that look good, I’m also practicing faces. It’s probably one of the hardest things to do on such small figures, especially the eyes. While I’ve done pretty good jobs of it in the past, there’s lots of room for improvement, and I’m out of practice.

Campaigns I'd Like to Run: RPG Blog Carnival for May

This month's RPG Blog Carnival topic is: Campaigns I'd Like to Run, and is being hosted by Lowell Francis of Age of Ravens

There are of course several different campaigns that I’d like to run, and on any given the day, the list changes. Right now there’s a pretty small number.

1) 4e Orcus Campaign - This would be a continuation of the game that’s currently on hiatus with my cousins. They’ve just been sucked into the Pyramid of Darkness, and I really want to see the game continue, and I know they do too. It tends to be a more marathon type event, with us getting together and playing for a whole day at a time.

2) Stonehell Megadungeon Campaign - I’d like this to be a semi-regular G+ flailsnails event, probably on either Wednesdays (morning or early afternoon) or Friday evenings. Depending on how things run, and how consistent a crew I’d get, I could see this branching out, but to start with, I’d like to stick with Stonehell.

3) Starships & Spacemen 2nd Edition - I have never gotten to play a Star Trek RPG (that involved dice) and I think the rules here are really designed to allow some fun, campy action, and I’d really like to try them out.

4) Star Wars d6 - Post Episode 4 or during the Knights of the Old Republic era. I’ve played both d6 and d20 SW before, and had a blast using both systems, but the d6 is just less complicated.