Rappan: What's in the bags?!?

 Session 323 part 1 was played on 3/15/26

Morgana, wizard 10 (Rob)
Borumar, Triton Thief 11 (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter 8 (Lanse)
Nick, Fighter 8 (Me)
Koltic, Cleric 9 (Cindy)
Aroon, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 8 (NPC)

The 10’ down (to the next level?) was not far physically, but the sense of dread that pervaded the hallway at the bottom of the ladder was heavy enough to crush a lesser party. The hallway continued before coming to a stair, leading to another hall, a room full of junk, a portcullis and black ooze trap (fireball and oil took care of that), the smell of old body odor, a room full of mud with bubbles stinking of farts. Finding no other path, the party carefully crosses the mud to a crevice in the wall. 

Beyond the crack the party discovered 8 ogres. They failed to land a blow upon the party due in large part to their recently discovered ability to deflect hits! Each of the ogres had a bag, and they had the following within:

1. 3 dead giant rats, a wheel of cheese, 140gp, 3 flasks of oil, large shiny rock
2. Body of an elf with elven chain and sword, 200gp, 6 silver tipped arrows
3. Pot of grease, only kinda sealed
4. 2’ square silver mirror, ring, 30gp, “The wanderings of Helman Hairfoot”
5. Ivory scrollcase w/ 10gp and a map, silver helm, 44gp
6. Body of a wizard, silver dagger, 4 rocks, chewed up spellbook, 60gp
7. Body of a halfling, 3 vials of holy water, 12 xbox bolts, 120gp
8. Cloak, earring, 6 iron spikes, 10 fresh oranges

The bodies were all at least a week old, if not more… where did they get fresh oranges??

Using speak with the dead, they chat with the elf, and decide to bring the elf, halfling, and wizard back to life. Morgana teleports everyone back home and Koltic gets to raising the dead. This took a couple of days, and everyone would be bedridden for a couple of weeks. The wizard was talkative, the elf ready to return home, and the halfling decided to hang out and serve as scribe for the party. Of course they all needed weeks of time resting, so the party teleported back to the dungeon once they were all safely tucked in bed with a host of kobolds at hand to help take care of them.

Upon teleporting back, it turned out the smell of the ogre’s chamber had not improved, and their bodies were crawling with vermin. 

The party pressed on…

Trash Bash Killa Kan

 Do I play 40K? 

 Not anymore

Do I have space orc minis? 

Nope

Is there a single reason I should be working on a Killa Kan for a game I don't play, to go with minis I don't have? 

Yes, Gork and/or Mork inspired me. 

 

And with that, I grabbed an old GW paint pot, and my boxes of trash crafting supplies, and got to work.

I sawed off the threads of the lid, and cut out a cardboard disk to close up the hole. 

Then I used more cardboard, the clasp of a zip tie, and some tubing to make the face. Nothing was measured beyond holding it up and seeing if it looked good. 

Next I had to decide how I wanted to make the legs. I started with a 2" base, and dug through my bits. For one foot I used the inside of a cheap toy car (the interior bit that makes up the windows) that I found on the ground at the playground parking lot, and for the other, a random bit of plastic that was used to secure a toy to a box. Add in some tubing, and you've got some legs!

 

At least the lower half of them. Then it was time for MOAR BITS! and attaching the body to the legs. This did involve some pinning, super glue and hot glue. 

Arms! We need some arms for this bad boy... One side was going to be a shoota of some sort, the other a claw. 

The claw was probably the most work of the whole build. I had to double up the thickness of the card I was using to make it, and figuring out how to make it look like it could actually move involved a lot of looking at reference pics of both miniatures and actual robotic arms. 

As for the gun, it is mostly the corner protector piece from.... something. It was plastic and boxy, and had several holes in it. The shoota barrel is the tip of a marker. The only actual piece from a miniature is the red bit on top from a Reaper Miniature CAV mini. 

What makes an orky vehicle really orky? Rivets! I ordered these flat bottom beads from amazon, and got to gluing... 

Then it was Prime Time! 

This was followed by craft smart "metallic brown" then the real painting began!  It's sloppy, and I sarted it with paint markers, but overall I'm pleased with how it came out. 

I might go back and clean up a few details, but this is good enough to post, and more than good enough to put on the table, if I had any reason to. 

Rappan: Back to the dungeon

Session 322 part 3 was played on 3/14/26

Morgana, wizard 10 (Rob)
Borumar, Triton Thief 11 (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter 8 (Lanse)
Nick, Fighter 8 (Me)
Koltic, Cleric 9 (Cindy)
Aroon, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 8 (NPC)

A week after the dwarves departed, the party gears up and heads off to the mausoleum. With no gargoyles in sight, the party heads in and down, encountering a pair of black skeletons. Most of the party falls under their fear effect, and runs. After regrouping they try again, and take them down. Down on level 2 they head to the ghoul and ghast tunnels, and stick Koltic up toward the front, and he destroys them with waves of his hand, while the meatsticks keep him safe. The party then loots their lair, collecting a decent selection of treasure, including some very fancy dwarven plate mail. If only the local dwarves weren’t such dicks. 

Descending to level 3 they encounter some orcs who warn the party to “Go Back!” Needless to say, the party did not go back, but they did collect $200 their treasure. Pushing on, the party reaches the doorway to the Orcus temple complex. The dwarves want the party to take care of it, and they will…. Exploring around some of the rooms only briefly explored, the party finds a trap door in the floor, with a ladder leading down… a mere 10’. 

“Okay, who’s first?”

---

Once again, we were playing together in person, and our game session ran very late the first night, hence why I split this up into 3 parts. Expect the same for the next couple of posts.

Rappan: Dwarven Uselessness

Session 322 part 2 was played on 3/14/26

Morgana, wizard 10 (Rob)
Borumar, Triton Thief 11 (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter 8 (Lanse)
Nick, Fighter 8 (Me)
Koltic, Cleric 9 (Cindy)
Aroon, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 8 (NPC)

Blotto, somehow, ends up being the one to go out and meet with the dwarves as they arrive and immediately begin to erect a number of tents. Riding upon Esmerelda the Rust Monster, the dwarves keep a wary eye on the goblin as he approaches, but otherwise remain silent. 

“Excuse me my good bitches, what seems to be the fuck?”

The dwarves faces sour at the goblin’s words, but they remain silent, and continue their work. More residents of the keep emerge to watch the dwarves, but it’s a full day before any speak to a non-dwarf. “You have caused issues for the Davin Clan, and we will summon you when we are good and ready!” Is all Nick gets when he goes to check on them the next day.

Another day passes, and then another before they finally deign to “summon” the party to talk. By this point Nick is feeling insulted nearly beyond words. In full armor he leads the party to the main tent of the dwarves. Within is a raised platform with a long table upon it. 6 dwarves sit in fine chairs on the far side of the table. There are no chairs on the other side. They stare at the party in uncomfortable silence. 10 minutes pass. 

“No, I’m not doing this.” Nick turns and tries to leave, but the tent is magically sealed. “So help me, you will let me out or I will cut my way out through you” Morgana teleports Nick out before he can cause any bodily harm. 

Eventually the dwarves speak, and tell the remaining members of the party in the tent that the armies of Orcus are on the rise, and that it’s because of our meddling in Rappan. As such they demand that the party fix it. 

With that the party is dismissed. The dwarves pack up their camp, and march back off into the woods. “Of all the bloody useless…” Nick could be heard to yell as Morgana told him what they said. 

June ‘26 In Review

Summer has well and truly arrived. School is out for the kid, my FiL is here to help take care of him for the break, and temperatures are supposed to hit 100 this week. I can only hope the high temps and the potential thunderstorms keep the neighborhood artillery blasts to a minimum for the 4th of July weekend, but I doubt it. 

Trek Long Island was this month, and I brought the kid with me. He had a blast. I… mostly got to watch him have a blast. I suppose this is the only real way to introduce him to the Con life. Next year will be better. 

Miniatures
You ever get one of those bees in your bonnet? An idea you just can’t get out of your head, and if you don’t make it happen NOW your brain won’t let you do anything else? I got 2 of them this month. The first was building the cardboard space transport, and the other was turning an old GW paint pot into a Killa Kan. I actually finished building the Killa Kan, and have made good progress on the ship. 

 

On the paint desk, I wrapped up a bunch of wolves, a couple of trolls, the BFG Dhows, and a few other minis, and started on another set of Noble Armada ships, a Frostgrave mini, and am continuing to slowly work on converting some Space Gitz. 

Gaming
We continue bumbling our way through Old Oak city and the crazed wasps and white ants in our Beetle Knight game. While I’m enjoying it, I’m looking forward to getting back to Stonehell, though I do kinda feel an itch to play some sci-fi… something.

The Dolmenwood work game managed a couple sessions this month, and it’s delightful how players can make things just a little more complicated than they need to be. Need to shine some light on something? No, lets not just try lighting a torch, let’s go back to town, buy a dozen mirrors, and set them up to shine the sunlight in the spot we want! 

Media 
Hacks - They really stuck the landing with this one! 
Spider-Noir - Loved it!
Starship Troopers - Rewatch while scratch bashing Dana Meyers… Mmm
Sorceress - So cheesy, so bad… 

Books
Dungeon Crawler Carl Books 5, 6, 7 & 8 - I’m not sure how many tens of hundreds of pages that was, but I couldn’t put them down. 

Loot
Star Trek Lower Decks art book & 3 graphic novels
Reaper minis order
Free RPG Day: 
From Here to There, an old-school hexcrawl
Dungeons & Kittens
Level 1: indy RPG anthology

Goals for July
Play rescue  scenario of Stargrave Hope Eternal
Finish March & April session reports

Rappan: Vomited Up from the Mouth of Doom

 Session 322 was played on 3/14/26

Morgana, wizard 10 (Rob)
Borumar, Triton Thief 11 (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter 8 (Lanse)
Nick, Fighter 8 (Me)
Koltic, Cleric 9 (Cindy)
Aroon, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 8 (NPC)

After returning from Rappan, Morgana and Koltic spend some time removing the curse that Jameth had fallen under, then began working on a ring of featherfall for herself. The meatsticks trained on the cleave special attack together. Koltic spent his off time making potions and also communing with his god. In his drunken stupors holy trances he was warned that a great danger was threatening all around Rappan, and would descend upon them in a matter of weeks. Using his Commune spell, he learned over several weeks that the danger wasn’t from the dragons, but would come from the Temple of Orcus within Rappan. 

Around this same time kobolds from the Mouth of Doom showed up. Things were emerging from the depths… undead and demons. They fled and reluctantly came to Nick’s keep for help. Shortly thereafter Drusilla showed up at the keep to complain about an excess of orcs and skeletons and things from the pits (demons) suddenly being all over the woods, and blaming our actions for stirring things up.

Morgana used her magic eye to check out things at the Mouth of Doom and found a full military camp set up in the field outside the mouth. Mostly skeletons, with orc command, and several frog demons over the orcs, including one on a big floating golden throne.  A total of about 200 troops… While the skeletons weren’t a big concern, at least for the party, the demons, and potentially the orcs as well. On the other hand, letting a swarm of skeletons overwhelm even the best fighter isn’t a good idea. 

Knowing the lay of the land, the party planned a quick strike against the small army. Morgana obviously serving as artillery, while the melee members of the party would close in after to mop up.  

The battle was messy. Starting things off with some fireballs worked extremely well for the mooks, and even the orcs, but the demons had the advantage of being both resistant to magic and fire damage… So Morgana tried a lightning bolt. It was moderately more effective. Unfortunately the demons chucked some fireballs back at the party, and summoned more demon friends to help them. Lor’Koth took the fireball hard, and dropped, Jameth nearly joining him. The sight of the fighters charging toward the remaining demons got the demons to charge right on back. This resulted in the demons finally clumping up just enough for Morgana to drop an ice storm on them. What that doesn’t take out, Nick, Blotto, Borumar, and Aroon finish off. 

From the various corpses a large pile of loot is recovered, including the (no longer floating) golden throne. 

Checking out the entrance of the Mouth of Doom, glowing red eyes can be seen within. Morgana chucks a pair of fireballs into the Mouth, setting them to go off one near the entrance, and the next one deeper down the main hall. 

They take the loot back to the keep. The next day kobolds rush to inform the group that a troop of 2 dozen dwarves is marching on the keep and is only a short distance away!

Cardboard Starship #4: Transport part 1

If you look back at the "cardboard starship" tag, you'll see there have been a couple of previous builds... and #3 was never updated. That's because I never finished it. I was unhappy with the foam I'd used to make it, and decided to scrap it. 

That was 5 years ago. 

Now that I'm actually playing Stargrave again, and the next official scenario requires a crashed ship with a 10x4 cargo area that the crew can go into, it's time to build my next cardboard spaceship!

The only requirement for the scenario is the cargo bay, and while I absolutely could just put a box on the table, that's just not my style. I want a full ship that I can use over and over! On the other hand I don't want to go too overboard and make something so big it'll take up the whole table. Grabbing my trusty graph paper, I got to sketching.

 

Here you can see what I came up with. To avoid it looking like a box, I decided it should be, overall, hexagonal. 45 degree angles are easy enough, right? Plus I could make some simple benches running down the length of the cargo bay. At the front, there would be an elevated cockpit, and at the rear an engineering area and the engines. 

With everything all sketched out, I grabbed some cardboard from the recycling bin in the garage, and got measuring. I wanted to minimize the number of cuts I'd need to do and so made sure the cardboard grain was running front to back to make it easier to bend the cardboard to make the 45 degree angle that I'd planned. In hindsight it was maybe not the best decision, but it worked ok. 

 As it felt a little weak, I decided that it could use some bulkheads in the cargo bay, and so added them in as you can see above. Later I found that single thickness cardboard, cut thin like this is also kind of weak, and it buckled on me. 

 

Next I added the flooring to the cargo bay, which was simply the molded plastic of a food tray that had previously contained some peppers from the grocery store. This was hot glued in place. You can't really see it, but a couple of the spots on the trays have writing molded onto them. At this point I decided not to worry about it. I've also begin to block in the engineering compartment, and glued the ship onto a scrap piece of foam for a little extra strength and to give the engines somewhere to sit. 

 

The cockpit and the benches were added next. The middle section of the cargo bay is where the ramps/doors will be, so no benches there. The cockpit was glued together from some cut off bits of cardboard from earlier in the build. Annoyingly it's not quite level, but I doubt anyone else will notice, plus for this scenario at least it's supposed to be a crashed ship anyway. 

The engines came together quickly, largely made from paint and Yukult bottles, embellished with bottle caps and toothpaste caps. The central area is made from a beer can 6 pack ring and a pizza box support, as well as a few other scrap bits from my junk bins. 

More detailing in the next post!