Tuesday, April 30, 2019

Stonehell: Mummies everywhere...

Session 93 was played on 3/23

Eiric, wizard 7 (Kat)
Brie, wizard 4 (Apprentice to Eiric)
A-A-Ron, Thief 6 (Henchman) (stayed in town)
Orpheus, Human Fighter 6 (Henchman)
Darryl, Cleric 6 (Henchman)
Linkman (Lolmox)
Karl, Dwarf 7 (Julia)
Lex the Cheeseman, Fighter 4 (Henchman)
Men at Arms (Rawin)
Koltic, Cleric 3 (Chris)
Jurda, wizard 1 (henchman)
Kili, Dwarf Cleric 3 (Matt)
Lucrecia Thief 2 (Henchman)

After learning of what Koltic and Kili did, the party discussed what next. Sadly a visit by the priest from the temple of the black sun informed them that Ka’Nefer was not as dead as they’d like, and was now actively pissed. After he left they talked about maybe burning down the temple, but the size of it, and the construction meant that doing so might burn down the whole town. Better to tackle Ka’Nefer in his lair…

So heading into the dungeon, they first go to the main entrance, but it’s still swarming with bugs, so out and around to the hobgoblin caves. They run through the disco room, avoiding any ill effects, They encounter a troop of skeletons, which are quickly dusted, then 6 mummy wardens. Brie, Jurga, Lucrecia and a hireling all run in terror, while Karl, Koltic, Orpheus, and Lex wade in. They collect some jewelry from the corpses, and then collect their members who ran.

Around to the elevator, they run into some kobolds with a pack beetle. They grumble about how unsafe the dungeon has become. The party takes the elevator to the third level, heading for the greenhouse. Just off the elevator, 6 heartless wait for the party. Eiric lightning bolts those that Kili and Darryl fail to turn. Inspecting them after, Eiric realizes these heartless were bugbears…

Eiric wants to see if any of the bugbears were still around, and so search the surrounding area. The discovered only more heartless. The party locks themselves in the slightly stuffy proto-matter chamber. The warded door keeps them safe while they rest.

Gains: 800gp in jewelry
Kills: Heartless, Mummy Wardens
Losses:

Monday, April 29, 2019

Review: Avengers Endgame

This is a spoiler free review!



It did not go like I thought it was going to go. It did tie up a lot of loose ends, and paved the way for the next Phase of the MCU. Having 5 years go by made for some really interesting storytelling, and I wonder how some of the MCU shows are going to handle it.

I kinda hate that we're not going to get to see those 5 years play out with the Defenders. 

There was a bit of ugly crying, shocking deaths, and good laughs.

I'm excited to see where they're going to go from here. I'm curious how they're going to handle certain movies that are supposed to be coming up in light of the events of Endgame.

Sunday, April 28, 2019

Sunday Inspirational Image: Seize the Day






Seize the Day was a calendar program made by in 1994 by Buena Vista software. It features graphics that at the time, were revolutionary because of the way they handled color cycling. These images were static bitmaps, but by changing color values, they appear animated. What is also impressive about these images is that they had full day night cycles built in, rendered also through color cycling.

A few years ago, a html5 version was made. A copy was uncovered online and there is a way to use the program through DOSbox. As well, one of the original programmers for the project, Iam Gilman, has thought of the idea of remaking it, open sourced, for modern machines.

Thursday, April 25, 2019

New Spell: Terracotta Warrior

"We need a distraction." Nimble muttered.

"What sort of distraction." Feris asked.

"A quiet one. Something that'll focus the guards so that we can get up and over the wall. Something that won't immediately draw their attention to us, so... not a fireball."

"I think this'll work..." Feris dropped his satchel, and started rummaging through it. Down near the bottom was a long thin box. Removing the ties that held it shut revealed a reddish brown figure. "Ready?"

"I guess so... work your magic."

Feris mumbled a few arcane sounds, and the statue grew turning and running toward the guard post, spinning it's glave toward the nearest guard. The shouts of pain and surprise were enough, and Nimble and Feris made for the wall.




Magic User Spell, Level 3

Terracotta Warrior
Range: 0
Duration: 1 Round/level
Effect: Animates a terracotta warrior

To utilize this spell, a wizard must prepare a 6" tall terracotta warrior worth at least 100gp. This small statue is fragile, and can be easily broken if roughly handled. When enchanted by the spell, the statue will immediately grow to 6' tall, and for the duration of the spell act as the wizard wills it. At the end of the spell, the statue will shrink back to it's 6" tall form, instantly healing any damage it suffered. Should the statue be destroyed while enchanted, it will not revert to its smaller form, and a new statue will need to be made. Every wizards statue will be tied to them, and no other wizard may use another's statue.



Image by anderpeich

Spell inspired by one from Oriental Adventures from D&D 3.0

Tuesday, April 23, 2019

Bones 4 has arrived!

My Bones IV kickstarter has arrived a week ago. There's so much in this order that I've only just finished going through everything...



The box is as big as a corgi, and weighs as much as one too!



Really solidly packed too!



Okay, I guess you could fit 2 corgis in here...




The smallest of the expansion packs was Chronoscape. It's Reaper's Sci-Fi line. I started with this one because I really wanted to see the quality of their new Bones Black with standard sized minis. I'm impressed. These are some great figures!


Dreadmere expansion...


Fan Favorites is a hodgepodge of... well, fan favorites.


Darkreach is their underdark set.


The Lost Valley aka Dinosaurs and cavemen


The core set was the one set that didn't come mostly assembled, so I don't have a good shot of everything all laid out.

And this isn't even everything I ordered... Basically I've got enough minis to keep me busy for the next 8 years or so... plus everything I already own!

Monday, April 22, 2019

Bugbears part 2

I showed off 3/4 of the conversions in my last post. For the final guy, I decided to give him a sword. Well, it’s really more of a really big jungle blade than a propper sword. Originally I was going for something a little more fantastic looking, but my plasticard skills are not that good. Once I’d glued the blade into the handle, it was time to start painting. But first, bases!







I actually struggled a bit on what bases to use for these guys. I’ve got a lot of different bases, but I’m actually out of the 40mm square bases I used for the first guy. I tried them out on 32mm bases that they were a little too big for. It would have worked, but not looked as good. I ended up using a small stash of GW round 40mm bases that I’m pretty sure were supposed to be for some Riders of Rohan. Ah well, they’ll need something else if/when I get back to them.

Now, I’d already done a bit of color matching, but there was a fair bit of rubbed off paint, so everything that needed it got more Brown Liner. I then used pumpkin orange on their exposed skin. It isn’t a color that covers well by itself, certainly not in one layer, but it’s the shade I’m looking for so… I also painted the eyes, noses, and mouths with Walnut Brown, and then painted the eyeballs and teeth with Linen White. The irises were painted with Forest Green.



More Pumpkin Orange, mixed with some Tanned Flesh, and then Rosy Flesh for the skin. The armor and weapons were painted with Scorched Metal as the base color.



I was originally think of going more blond with the hair, kinda like the old Chainmail Bugbear, but Reaper’s are a little less lion-esk, and I like how my original Bones Bugbear looks, so I went darker, using a tiny bit of Walnut Brown mixed with a couple drops of Pumpkin Orange.



The leather straps and belt were painted first with Walnut Brown, then with Tanned Leather. The loincloths, shin and forearm coverings were painted with a mix of Cloudy Grey and Blue, as close as I could get to whatever GW grey I used on the original bugbear. I also used Forest Green on their coin pouches.

There are going to be some remarkably uniform bugbears. Whoever equipped them was remarkably consistent!



Their skin could use a little more highlight after the wash, so Tanned Skin plus a bit of Pumpkin Orange was used for that.



Next up will be finishing the weapons and armor, maybe one more highlight on the skin, and then the bases.

Sunday, April 21, 2019

Sunday Inspirational Image: Discovery over Earth

This week the final episode of season 2 of Star Trek Discovery aired... and... well, I'm ready to go back to season 1 and watch it all, all over again.
by Cannikin1701

Monday, April 15, 2019

Stonehell: Death of Ka'Nefer... or not...

Session 92 was played on 3/9

Koltic, Cleric 3 (Chris)
Jurda, wizard 1 (henchman)
Kili, Dwarf Cleric 3 (Matt)
Brie, wizard 4 (Apprentice to Eiric)
Darryl, Cleric 6 (Henchman)
Lucrecia Thief 2 (Henchman)
Lex the Cheeseman, Fighter 4 (Henchman)


Stayed in Town:
Eiric, wizard 7 (Kat)
A-A-Ron, Thief 6 (Henchman) (stayed in town)
Orpheus, Human Fighter 6 (Henchman)
Linkman (Lolmox)
Karl, Dwarf 7 (Julia)
Men at Arms (Rawin)

While Eiric worked on various arcane tasks, and Karl got drunk, Koltic and Kili decided to head into Stonehell, taking most of the NPCs with them. Orpheus and A-A-Ron opted not to join in.

Heading in the back way, they encounter 8 heartless. Lex and Darryl flee the way they’d come back toward the hobgoblin tunnel. Kili and Koltic manage to turn 3 of them. Two are set on fire, Brie blasts another with magic missiles, then summons a demon into herself, and stabs it to death, while the remaining 2 are cut down. Over the course of the battle Koltic ends up paralyzed, Brie injured, Koltic paralized again… but the party survives without any fatalities.

Retrieving their comrades, the party presses deeper into level 2, and are attacked by 3 giant oil beetles, which are quickly cut down before their caustic spray can do much.

Feeling their injuries, the party decides to head back to town for the night. Kili is wracked with nightmares and wakes with a new spell in his head… Esratsept Lens of the Mind! Like a worm burrowing deep, it sits, waiting to be called upon by some-thing other than the Lord of the Seven Pointed Star...

The next day they return to the dungeon, and head from the hobgoblin tunnels to the stairs up to the quiet halls. On the stairs, 4 stirges attack the party, Lex suffering the worst for it.

In the Quiet Halls things seem initially quiet. The party makes it through several rooms without incident, but as soon as they make it to the corridor with the teleport chamber, a cold purple flame springs up, burning Lex before flashing off…

And then around the corner a troop of Mummy Wardens and Ka’ Nefer come walking! Kili, Koltic, Jurda, and Brie are all frozen at the sight of them, but Darryl manages to turn the wardens. Lex charges Ka’Nefer, but the mummy lord is surprisingly nimble and avoids the mummy-slaying blade. Darryl removes the fear from Kili and Koltic, and Kili uses his new spell desperately hoping it’ll work…

Ka’Nefer… is knocked dumb, and Lex hacks his dry form apart. The party quickly collects the jewelry draped on Ka’Nefer, and flees the dungeon.

Gains: 3,000gp in jewelry
Kills: Fire Beetles, Heartless, Ka’Nefer (sort of...)
Losses:

Tuesday, April 9, 2019

Shazam!

Good Goofy Fun!

This post will contain spoilers



My cousin took my out to see Shazam for my birthday. I’ve been iffy on DC superhero movies, since they can’t seem to find the right balance between silly and… not even serious but EMO!!!!

Shazam nails it. Orphan Billy Batson, lost in a fair at 3 years old, is looking for his mom, ends up with a cool foster family (seriously, I wish they were all like this) and gains the powers of the wizard Shazam!

Before Billy though, there were other children… children who failed… and one spends his life hunting down a way to get the power he was denied. Dr. Sivana made for a really sympathetic villain, and also you could tell Mark Strong had a blast playing the part.



Honestly, the story exactly what it appears to be in the previews, but the way it’s handled is so perfectly done, and with just enough twist to make it memorable. Especially when Billy finally does find his mom, and it turns out she was just a scared teenager who made a bad choice, and has apparently made more bad choices going forward. I didn’t expect that they were going to go that way with the story.

I also appreciated how important family was in this movie. And it didn’t matter that it wasn’t family by blood, but rather family by choice. Found family, collected family, family that’s a little broken, but still good. Yes, I’m thinking of Lilo and Stitch here.



DC has finally managed to make a movie that should be the template for their cinematic universe. Now, obviously there isn’t going to be anything quite so silly as “Big, but with Super Powers” but they need to step away from the GRIM DARK EMO MY PARENTS ARE DEAD schtick, and make it FUN.

And stay for the scene at the end of the credits. Totally worth it.

Monday, April 8, 2019

Bugbear Conversions

When Bones 3 arrived, it came with a whole bunch of bugbears and gnolls. Now I don't really need 5 identical bugbears all armed with floppy maces. So...


The first 2 got simple weapon swaps. One got an ax from the Reaper weapon spew, the other got a kebab skewer.



The third one I decided to try to get a little more creative, so out came the xacto... and the greenstuff.







It may not be professional quality, but no one will notice on the table when there are a bunch of them on the table.



Dude with the kebab skewer got a GW Beastmen spiked ball on the end, and the gent with the 2 handed weapon got a plasticard blade. I'm thinking of adding a spike on the reverse...



Of course I have no idea how I painted the first bugbear... not helping things is that I painted him with GW paints, and now I'm using Reaper paints...

Friday, April 5, 2019

Wednesday, April 3, 2019

Elquin part 2

I’m really not thrilled with this mini, but I’m making some progress. He’s just so very busy, and the details didn’t all translate over to Bones well. In the next step of progress I darkened the shadows, and added some much needed defining black lining. That helped...



I also worked more on the face, adding in more Rosy Flesh, and a teeny tiny bit of Rusty Red. That doesn’t really match the “tanned” look my player was looking for though…

You ever have a mini you don’t just want to drop in the simple green, but maybe in a vat of acid?



So here’s the plan:
I’m going to try to use a heavy sepia wash to darken the skin more, while trying not to mess up the eyes.



I’m going to work on the Peacock Green coat by adding in some sun yellow to lighten it up. I don’t want to go with my usual linen white, because… I don’t want to ramp up the lightness that quickly, and I want to introduce a slightly different shade to the green, and using yellow rather than blue makes more sense to me for this guy.

Also I need to find out how he wants it based.

In case you missed Part 1.

Monday, April 1, 2019

March in Review

Gaming
I got to play Frostgrave! Okay, so I was only playing the monster, but I got to play!! And we’re starting a league/campaign!! Woohoo!!

Stonehell is rolling right along. I think, finally, things are going to come to an end with Ka’Nefer. And then I’ll get to share the sublevel with the wide world. Finally…

Fucking finally…

Curse of Strahd is creepy. It’s interesting how much we’re doing our level best to avoid combat. The difference between milestone XP and standard XP? It feels very old school either way, even though we’re rather low on cash for 4th level.

Miniatures
About the only thing I finished this month was the scarecrows. I got a lot of work done on Elquin,and poked at a bunch of other minis, but little finished.

Bones IV is shipping, and I expect my order sometime in the middle of April.

And it looks like I’ll be off to ReaperCon this year!!

Total Minis Painted: 14

Media

Books
I’ve been plowing through Marko Kloos’s Frontlines series. Military sci-fi series that i’m really enjoying.
Zoo, Nebraska: The Dismantling of an American Dream by Carson Vaughan

Movies/TV Watched
Roma
Captain Marvel
Season 11 of Supernatural

Goals
Finish Elquin
Beyond that? Don’t know…