Space Ork Food Trukk

 Much like the Killa Kan I made a bit ago, I got an idea in my head to make an ork food truck based on this comic. 

I have exactly zero need for an ork food truck. Or an ork trukk of any kind... and yet the idea would not let me alone. And so, I got to work. I wanted to keep it simple and relatively small, and so I based the body of the truck on the sprue of an ork tire. I used graph paper to make sure that it would be about the right scale for Warhammer or Space Gits or Stargrave minis (no reason it can't serve as scatter terrain in a game). 

I don't always sketch out these bashes (the killa kan for example, or the first couple of cardboard spaceships) but it does help me to conceptualize the whole thing sometimes, and it's worth doing, even if you don't stick to the plan. I never do, why should you? 

 

The undercarrage was spare sprue, and the truck was built on top of it. One thing I didn't realize with this old credit card is that there's a thin layer of plastic on top of it. This peeled off easily enough once I started cutting the card to fit over the wheel sprue base. 

Building the trukk cab was easy enough, basically just a box for the engine and a bigger open topped box for the driver. The wheel was set in place, and then the wheel cover bent and glued around it. This was all done with cardboard, mostly from a Trader Joe's pumpkin waffle mix box. 
 

The body of the box was a single strip of cardboard measured out and the window cut out of it. I used a second wheel sprue to create the frame for the top of the truck. It conveniently matched the one I used on the bottom for the floor. doing it this way also meant I didn't need any other interior supports to hold it all together and probably more evenly than most orc builds. 

I added a piece of cardboard to serve as a counter for the window, and then some copper wire to make the roll cage for the cab. 

It's hard to see, but the smokestack poking out of the truck hints at the oven/stove inside it. I also added in a set of shelves to the back wall.  On the back I added a door. You can't really see ot get to the door because of the stove and shelves, but that's ok. The boxy thing next to the door is a pair of zip tie locks and some cardboard around them. 

Then it was rivet time. I ordered an obscene amount (30,000) of flat backed beads off of the big river site for the killa kan, and have so many left. I'm still on the first of 60 bags. 

Then it was prime time. A coat of black spray primer and then onto the craft paint base. 

I went with a reddish orange for the truck and a blue for the box, but didn't like either color, and so made the orange-ish red more red, and the blue shifted to grey. Then I got to thinking about what should be on the non-window side of the truck. Clearly it needed a mural. "Grub on da run" with a squig running was the best idea I came up with 

Not a bad start... 

 

Of course I also need a chef and a driver. For the driver I went with a goblin wolf rider and sculpted some goggles onto his face, and then a steering handle into his hands. 

For the ork chef, I took an old warhammer fantasy archer, shaved down the body, re-positioned the arms, and sculpted a cute little chef's hat onto him. 

Also needed were some small squigs and other things to populate the shelves inside the truck. I used greenstuff to attempt to sculpt tiny squigs. I was semi successful. The rest of the stuff in the truck was made from bits of sprue, a teddy bear bead, and a worm monster I was sculpting for something else. I even put together a shoota and a choppa to hang on the wall next to the chef. You can't really see much of any of this inside the truck with the roof on, but I know it's there. Also, I haven't glued on the roof, so people can peek inside... and maybe I can add in a LED? 

 

 The lettering for "Grub on da run" was painted on with paint pens.  The other writing was just done by brush. 

  This was a really fun project and I'm very pleased with how it turned out!  

Crafting Tombstones for the yard

 Every year for halloween I try to make something new for the yard. When I first moved into the house it was some cardboard box tombstones. i made covered them in some homemade monstermud and painted cute sayings on them. For 5 years they've served me well, but after 5 years they're showing their age... There's only so much one can do with a cardboard box that gets left outside for a month at a time every year...

After the tombstones, I made a scarecrow, and then a coffin made from a stack of pallets, and last year I made a giant spider. With each of these projects I've learned something new, and also managed to make something unique. The other neighbors who put out halloween decorations are putting out the things that you can buy at Home Depot, Lowe's, or Spirit Halloween. My stuff is unique. It isn't as polished as theirs but it's mine, and I love it. 

Also, I can't believe I never posted about making any of these before... 

This year, I wanted to replace, or at least add some fancier sturdier tombstones. I had a bunch of scrap pink foam insulation leftover from insulating the attic, and so went to work. I had one big piece of foam in particular, and chopped it into 6 relatively large slabs. These would form the basis of the tombstones. 

 

Then I carved out channels on them for PVC pipe that would be used to secure them in place on the lawn, though not deep enough, and I had to go back to make them deeper.  

 

Of course I didn't want to add a bunch of rectangular slabs to the yard since I already had 8 of the cardboard boxes serving that purpose. Using some scrap cardboard I measured out the slab size onto it and then sketched out some ideas. 

 

A little late into the project I decided that I wanted to scribe the tombstones with... something. I settled on authors and actors important to Halloween. So I figured out who I wanted, and some good quotes from them (or their characters, or about their characters) wrote them all up and printed it out at the library. Of course I also needed a tool to do it. I could have just used my exacto, but time was running short. I really should have started this early in September... so I ordered a rotary tool. 

 

Thankfully the kid has some weekend activities that keep him busy, giving me time to try to knock these out. Not that the weather was super cooperative. It was cold, but at least it wasn't raining. And really it was a wonderful sort of autumn cold. Bracing, invigorating even. 

 

Not bad, but too small... 

 

After scribing the first one, I decided that I needed to reprint the papers with a bigger font. So I biked back to the library and took care of that, and then came back to finish them.  

 
I didn't expect the foam to melt and make the paper stick to them, but it did. Not a big problem, as the paper came off easily enough with a wet wash cloth. 

 At this point it was time to glue in the pipes and back supports, and for the 2 author stones, the frames. Something I didn't know was that different calk guns are rated for different materials, and the one I had was NOT rated for adhesive. Turns out you can break a calk gun squeezing it too hard.. So I had to make an emergency trip to Lowe's... Which actually worked out for the best. The craft gods blessed me with a gallon of weather seal premixed dark grey paint which normally goes for about $63... for $15!!

Originally I was planning on using scrap foam to make the backing to help hold the pipes in place, but I decided that the old scrap pallet wood  could do the job, and help add some needed extra weight to the stones. 

 Then of course it was time to paint! 

I find myself wondering if someone else asked for this, didn't pick it up, and was hoping to get it discounted in a day or 3? Whatever the cause, this was a fantastic find for me. 

 Please ignore the messy garage... The final step was to paint the inscriptions with black paint to make them more readable. 

I would love to get these more weathered, more decorated, but for this year, with less than 2 weeks to Halloween, I felt it was more important to get them out into the yard. There's always next year to add to the pile, and then weather them all together. Also I still have a LOT of the paint left over which will be great for more yard decorations, or regular gaming terrain. 

 And here they are all set up in the yard with the old ones. 

 

Mini Thoughts: When the sculpt starts to bug you

Have you ever found yourself working on a mini, and there’s something about it that just… isn’t right? Some aspect of the sculpt that just feels wrong? Last fall I had 2 minis that I felt that way about, both from Reaper’s Brinewind box. The first was the squeezebox player. Something about the head felt off. The forehead was too far back, or the face protruded too far out. It reminded me of a howler monkey. It looked better once the mini was painted, but as I was working on it, it bugged me the whole time.

The other mini that recently had this issue was the Powder Monkey pirate. The left arm holding the barrel is notably shorter than the right arm with the pistol. I measured. Her elbow should be closer to where her wrist is. The more I work on her, the more I see it, the more it bugs me. I was strongly debating trying to sculpt the arm longer, but decided the cheap plastic mini wasn't worth it. 

Sometimes you've just got to press on, especially when you know no one else will ever notice it. 

Warriors of the Dead Games Workshop Minis

 I got a box of the old metal warriors of the dead for more than I'd have paid for the plastic kit... but it came with the king of the dead. I haven't painted him yet because he was the only mini in the set that was already painted, so he spent a few days having his original paint stripped off. He will however be painted basically the same way these fine fellows were painted. 

These minis from Games Workshop's Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game are perhaps some of the easiest minis to paint. After giving each my customary hot soapy water toothbrush scrub, they were cleaned up to remove any flashing, and then glued to their slotta bases and added my ground up used coffee grounds for basing. I primed them white, and used one of the few bottles of Games Workshop paints I have, Aethermatic Blue contrast paint to base coat them with. 

I then dry brushed them with a few shades of cream colors, and a final highlight with a very pale greenish white Ghostly White. 

I picked out their weapons and mail to paint with gunmetal and highlight with shaded steel. 

Their bases were base coated with Walnut brown, with dry brushed Desert Stone and Desert Sand, and the rims painted with Pure Black. All in all, one of the fastest set of minis I've ever painted.

Stonehell: A Prisim... a pause

 Session 332 was played on 8/16/26

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 crystal chamber seems to require the doubling of something, but Morgana’s understanding of the runes is iffy at best, and so Morgana and a couple of the meatsticks head back up to talk to Rocky, leaving the rest of the party within the Crucible to keep the doors from closing on them. 

Because it’s been less than a day since they last visited Rocky, they just chat, and camp out with him until the clock resets and he can answer questions again. Inquiring about the Crucible, Rocky tells them that they must mirror image someone within the crystal chamber, and that future rooms within the crucible will require more magics to unlock, and that Morgana will need to do something with the power from the crown.

Thanking Rocky, they head back down to the Crucible and see about unlocking the crystal chamber. 

---

This was our final session of Stonehell before the passing of Rob... the story will continue.

 Someday.

September ‘26 In Review

It sucked. I lost my friend Rob, and it sucked. It still sucks. I miss him. 

While that was the thing that overshadowed everything else, it wasn’t all that happened because life goes on… The start of September means the start of school, and the kid is now officially in 1st grade! Of course there’s been like 3 fundraisers already, and multiple school events to attend… and it’s only the first month. The timing of the start of school and labor day means that I missed Reapercon again this year. I will make it back, but I’m not sure when. I haven’t bothered to pick up any of the minis from the con yet… not sure when I will. 

This month was the 60th Anniversary of Star Trek, and… well I had some feelings about that. And also the 17th blogiversary of Tower of the Archmage. It still blows my mind that I’ve kept this going for as long as I have. 

I also got a nasty case of food poisoning, got the flu and COVID vaccines, gave a double unit of blood, had a doctor's appointment a bit after where they spilled a bunch of blood they were collecting to test, and to top it off one of my aunts died… 

I’m so very glad that September is over. While I don’t dare suggest that October couldn’t be worse, I’m hoping for better. 

Miniatures
Decently productive month. With the kid back at school, including his weekend language school meant I got more hobby time. Some of that was spent working on my yard decorations for Halloween, and the rest was spent painting and building. I got really focused on the food truck, and banged out the basic structure over 2 evenings, and then got right to painting. It’s amazing how quickly something can come together when you’re avoiding something else…like crushing grief. 

Of course with the focus on the food truck, I wasn’t nearly as productive on the rest of the minis I wanted to work on this month. Knowing the end of the month was coming, I put the truck aside and banged out everything I planned on.  

 

Gaming
Ha! Hahahaha…. No. 


Media 
Star Trek Strange New Worlds season 4
Resident Alien season 4
Letterkenny
Game Changer
Make Some Noise
My Octopus Teacher

Books
Star Trek Lower Decks graphic novels 1 & 2
Some West End Games Star Wars books

Loot
Minis! A friend was moving cross country and they sent me a box of minis that were going to be tossed. 

I've got more on the way too... A little retail therapy to attempt to sooth the soul.

Goals for October
Build new Tombstones
Play the next Hope Eternal scenario

Stonehell: Door problems

 Session 331 was played on 8/9/26

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)

Moving on past the smouldering bodies of the plated apes, the party heads into the strange chambers on the edge of the map. First up into a room filled with pillars topped with lenses, and a door that repels any attempt to go near it. 

Many attempts are made. Lor’Koth gets closest, and it’s only when his thoughts turn to opening the door that he found himself walking away from it. Various shenanigans are shenanned, but nothing from ropes and hooks, throwing people, or magical enchantments succeeded. Finally Morgana used a powerful Dispel Magic on the door, and for a brief moment the repel effect was paused, and the party rushed through into a blood stained circular room.

The basin and blade in the middle of the room, and the 3 sets of locked doors The meatshields play rock paper scissors to decide who’s going to bleed. Lor’Koth “wins” and takes the knife to his hand and starts to bleed into the bowl. Sooner than expected, there’s a trio of clicks, and the doors swing open. From behind the party, the lenses on the pillars also shift their focus. 

Moving forward, the party checks the next rooms. These are also circular, but have different contents. The ones to the south east and south west have summoning circles, while the central one has a large crystal emerging from the floor. Each chamber is also covered in magical runes.  

A pause: Stonehell & Rappan

We've decided to put the campaign on hold with the passing of our friend. No one feels like delving in those dark halls at the moment. I hope one day to return, but not now, and until we decide we're ready, we're going to play some other games. 

It's funny, it was never meant to run this long. What started out as a filler campaign has stretched on for more than a decade, 332 sessions... and now... 

Not ending. 

A pause. 

To be continued...

 

How? When? I don't know yet. We'll figure it out when we're ready. 

Death of a player

Countless articles, blog posts, tweets, etc., have been written about what to do when a character in your game dies.

Far fewer have been written about what to do when a player dies, and now I need to figure out what to do.

Rob, my friend, the man who ran Morgana and Sonra, and who was my co-DM running the Rappan side of things, passed away this week. It wasn't a surprise, he'd been battling cancer for all the years I've known him. But it still hits like a ton of bricks. You always think there's going to be more time, another game session, another chance to hang out, to laugh, to enjoy the company of your friend. But time ran out, and there won't be any more chances. 

I'm not prepared for this. And there's nothing I can do. It's happened, and now I have to keep going. I have to go to work, and take care of the dog, and get the oil changed on the car, and... 

And I've lost my friend. So have my fellow players. It sucks so much, in so many ways. 

I'm going to miss Rob. I mourn his passing. I mourn the games we won't play, the campaign that we haven't finished, and the times we won't get to share. I grieve that I won't get to see what he had in store for us. That I won't get to hear his delight and his laugh as he tricks us, or as he overcomes one of my tricks. We won't get to play Stargrave together again, or Space Gitz, or anything else we'd planned on, talked about, looked forward to. 

I miss my friend. 

 

There is always less time than you think, fewer chances to grab a moment of happiness. Seize them when you can. Roll your dice, share your stories, and have fun, because you never know when it'll be the last time you do.  

Stonehell: Hair raising apes

 Session 330 was played on 7/26/26

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 getting Nick’s eyes taken care of, the party gears up and heads to Stonehell, straight for Rocky. As usual, the inhabitants of the top level of the dungeon gave the party a wide berth… almost as if there was an early warning system set up. 

Rocky was happy to see the party, and enjoyed his snack. Once the pleasantries were out of the way, the party asked their questions, trying to get as much info on the Crucible as possible. Rocky confirmed that it is on the 3rd floor, and was made by the Plated Mage, and should be able to disenchant the crown. This was mostly confirmation of what Boris told the party, but confirmation is always a good thing. 

Thanking Rocky, the party decides to head to the Quiet Halls, down to level 2, and take the elevator to 3. Things go smoothly until the elevator arrives on the 3rd floor, and they were greeted by half a dozen baboons augmented by the plated mage with a variety of magi-tech components. They were ready and charged, and blasts of electricity zapped the party. Morgana responded with a fireball that left 6 smoldering corpses in place of the augments. Koltic shared around touches from his staff as everyone worked on getting their hair to stop standing on end. 

Stonehell: Tears of the Mother

 Session 329 was played on 7/19/26

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)

Traveling down the mountain the party stumbles upon a family of ornery mountain goats. “It’s never just goats” Blotto warns… 

And he was right. While the party bypassed the grumpy goats without injury, shortly after the sounds of battle were heard around the bend. A troop of dwarves were getting into it with a group of kobolds 3 times their size. It was fairly evenly matched. The focus of the fight was a cart laden with silvery ore. 

“What seems to be the fuck my fine fellows” Blotto yells at the assembled mobs with Morgana boosting his volume. 

The fighting paused, and the assembled hosts looked up at the party. In return the party looked at them with annoyance, and Nick, remembering the dwarves who just recently visited his castle, stomped down to get some answers. The dwarves, of the Silver Moon clan, thinking a party with a dwarf in it would be more on their side (Ha!) went on about how the silver was cursed and dangerous and their claim to the ore was one that went back generations and they’re just trying to keep everyone safe.

The kobolds, on their turn explained that their god gifted them the tears of the mother from deep within the earth, and their task was to share the ore with the world.

The bickering went on and on. 

“Okay, we’re in the middle of this… do we really want to go down into the mine and figure out what’s the deal? Or should we see if we can talk to the god by touching the ore?”

No one really wanted the dungeon route, so Nick and Blotto and Borumar agree to touch the ore at the same time. Borumar wears gloves, so it didn’t have any effect on him. Nick saw a flash of thousands of eyes peering out of the darkness deep into his soul, before the darkness consumed him, and he was left blind. 

Blotto had a vision of swimming under dark waters and being consumed by a massive maw. 

“Boris can fucking handle this!” Nick yells. “Koltic, get me home, and fix my eyes!”

Meanwhile Morgana noticed that the ore seemed to be attracted to the vial of Gloom Crown Goblin Pee, and when brought close together, the ore reshaped itself around the vial, completely sealing it in… oops?

Stonehell: The Gloom Crown

 Session 328 was played on 7/12/26

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)

While the A and B team spend some down time engaged in various activities, including making an asparagus beer (Blotto and Koltic), a note arrives from Boris requesting Morgana’s presence. Of course everyone makes the trip out to his fortress monastery. It sits solidly to the northwest, on the side of one of the mountains, and while there’s a “road” to get to it, the path isn’t easy or always safe. Nevertheless the party arrives without complication. After sharing drinks and catching up on the gossip, Boris reveals that since the Gloom Crown has been in his possession, he’s had to increase the protections on it twice, and has fended off multiple attempts to breach his vault. 

The current chest is a steel, salt, and lead lined box with several enchantments forged into it. He takes it out to show the party. While discussing things the Gloom Crown attempts to whisper to Blotto to once again take it, and bring an era of goblin control upon the world. Blotto is unimpressed, and generally ignoring what Boris, Morgana and Koltic are talking about, and he and Borumar discuss the possibilities of infusing some goblin pee with the dark magic of the crown. This of course leads to trying to find out. 

“Let’s let it marinate.” 

No one really wanted to get near enough to dump it out anyway, though Morgana does take an initial sample before closing the box.

What Blotto and Borumar missed was that Boris’ research and prayers have revealed that there exists within Stonehell a tool called the crucible made by the Plated Mage locked away somewhere in the upper levels of the dungeon and it should have the power to destroy the crown. In reviewing the maps that Boris has, slightly out of date, the only section of the upper levels that hasn’t fully been mapped, to the best of their knowledge is the round connected rooms between the eastern quarters of level 3. 

After a hearty dinner and a good night's rest, head out for the manse. 

---

The Edge of 17

17 years and going strong. 

 

I don't know what the next year is going to bring... I never do, but on this blogiversary I feel it more keenly than I usually do. Change is coming, and I'm fearful for what that change will bring. I'm worried, and on a day I should be celebrating, I'm mourning. 

But until it doesn't, life goes on, and I expect so will the blog. So whatever the future brings, I expect to continue this silly little record of my games, my hobbies, and my random thoughts. 

Thanks for joining me on this journey. More to come!

60 Years!

 Today marks the 60th anniversary of Boldly Going! 

 

I wish I felt that drive, that hope that Trek has embodied for so much of my life.  It seems the people in charge of Trek don't feel it either, and have canceled Academy, and Strange New Worlds, and there's no sign of anything else coming once the final seasons that are in the can air. It's frankly embarrassing how CBS has fumbled Trek so badly. The focus now seems to be on the branding and lifestyle merch. Don't get me wrong, I love the LEGO sets I've seen (and haven't bought) but this isn't Boldly Going, it's trading in on the fans for an easy buck. These last years have beaten down that hope in the brighter future... 

But I'm not Hopeless. 

 However CBS fumbles Trek, the fans, my friends, will continue to embody what makes Trek great, and different from all the other shows, movies, and books out there. We're going to make the world a better place for everyone, a kinder world that embraces Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations, even as our leaders rage bait the population into fearing the other, and encourage the building of walls rather than bridges. Fuck that, and fuck them. We can do better. We can build a better world. The promise of Trek isn't that it will get better, but that it can. 

If we put in the work.  

Let's make it so.  

August ‘26 In Review

Heat, humidity, thunderstorms… typical August. We took a long weekend to go enjoy Mystic seaport with some friends early in the month, and then popped into NYC late in the month for a Broadway show. In a lot of ways it was a good month… It’s been a crappy summer for a lot of my friends though. Deaths in the family, a fire, a fallen tree, health issues… It just seems like a crappy time all around, and of course all of them are all too far away for me to be able to help, to be able to hug. 

The kid has mostly been out of camp this month, which has meant more interruptions during the day while I work. Honestly this isn’t the worst thing. Sometimes frustrating, but it’s giving us the chance to work on knocking before entering a room.  

Miniatures
Once again, it was a slow start to the month. I didn’t even touch a paint brush till the 2nd week of the month, and even then it was a lot of back and forth on some stargrave minis without a lot of real progress. Sometimes things just come together, and other times it’s a fight to find something that makes me happy. In the end I got there, but it was a struggle. There was a big rush at the end to get some stuff wrapped up, and I’m a little worried about next month, as I’m starting to think about Halloween and this year’s yard project. 

 

I also got back to the cardboard transport and got it primed, and even started putting some paint on it!

 

 And because you can never have too many projects, I started working on an orc food truck inspired by this pic. 

Gaming
The above mentioned health issues have impacted our Stonehell game and limited progress. Between that and the condensing of 2 months of Beetle Knight games into a single report, I’m all caught up on my session reports. 

Summer doldrums also continue to conspire against my work game… 


Media 
Star Trek Strange New Worlds season 4
Resident Alien season 4
Letterkenny
Your Name

Books
The Painted Wastelands Empire of Bones
Alternity Tangents

Loot
Reaper Master Series 2 paints

Goals for September
Finish painting the cardboard transport ship
Play the next scenario of Hope Eternal
Build the food truck

Rappan: Stone Doors and Fairy Monarchs

Session 327 was played on 4/26/26

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)

Borumar chats briefly with Tink before he turns his attention back to the door, opening it, and ushering the party though. Tink explains that they find themselves in the realm of King Almander and Queen Kazsha… the fairy court across the river from Nick’s castle!

Sorting through the loot the party has on them, it’s decided that the emerald they’d collected would make a reasonable gift to offer when they ask for ongoing permission to use the stone door to enter Rappan. Tink bounds off to the court to let them know of the parties arrival through the door, and Nick and Co. follow at a more leisurely pace. 

Queen Kazsha is enchanted by the gift, though the king seems less pleased. Perhaps it was too nice a gift? Nevertheless the graceful monarchs grant Nick’s request, and not only that, but over the course of a single day and night craft an enchanted path under the river that only the party (and those the fey allow) can use! A passage big enough for horses even! 

With that, the party makes their way back to the castle, and makes plans for their next adventure.

Rappan: Doors

Session 327 was played on 4/26/26

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 6 figures reach toward the party. Koltic holds up his holy symbol, and the meat sticks charge forward. They’re tough like jerky, but the juju zombies go down easily enough. The pool in the center of the room… flows. Borumar, reluctantly, takes a dip in and has a look. A long tunnel, maybe 80 or 90 feet stretches off to another chamber. There are forms moving about, but he doesn’t get a good look before deciding to come back and report. 

Rather than risk a swim, the party heads east down a winding tunnel that emerges into a room with 4 doors facing each other. Of note is the fact that the doors are not against the walls, but stand freely about 5’ from the walls. 

Clearly this is something for Morgana to investigate, and everyone else hangs back. The doors, and the frames holding them are of oak, and well made. Otherwise nothing particularly interesting about their construction can be seen. They are not locked, nor trapped, but are absolutely magical. Starting with the south door and going clockwise, this is what they see when the doors are opened.
S - Swirling portal
W - familiar shadowy cavern with a large squat ziggurat. 
N - A meadow, day time, butterflies and other bugs can be seen. The smell of spring and sunshine wafts through. Maybe near the keep?
E - A blast of heat as a desert is revealed. A pair of statues flank the door, and beyond a pack of lions feast on something… someone?

Borumar is volunteered to go through the north door. “To the keep, to the keep” he whispers as he steps through. On the far side of the door, he finds himself in the meadow, Behind him is a stone ruin, maybe an old cabin? And yes, there’s a door. With a shrug he closes it, steps back, and… waits. Back in the dungeon, the party watches as he closes the door, and they wait. Eventually Borumar gets bored of waiting and goes to open the door, but it’s locked. The hair on the back of his neck prickles, and he looks around, feeling watched. Not seeing anyone he picks the pock on the old door… and then out of the corner of his eye he sees it. A giant badger in the grass.

“Hello! My name is Tink” the badger growls politely. 

Cardboard Starship #4: Transport part 2

Detailing a build can take what is essentially a cardboard box, and turn it into something else, something special. My strategy for this, for the interior was that the detailing needed to be such that it didn't interfere with game play. I used a couple of covid tests for the walls above the benches, and used some screen material for the hatches. The rest of the detailing is either cardstock or plasticard

In the above pic you can see the hatch to the cockpit along with the panels for accessing it. I haven't added the ladder up to the hatch yet, but it's coming. Below you can see the hatch for the engine compartment framed out with some additional panels and detailing. While working on this, I was doing my best to remember that this is a gaming piece of terrain, not a diorama, not a show piece... it's literally cardboard and trash, so I tried to keep from going overboard or over stressing about things not lining up perfectly. 

 What I think is more important to the look of the ship are the external panels. Once again, everything here is made of card stock and platicard (largely from old expired and used up gift cards). The basic goal is to make the card board not look like cardboard. I experimented with a variety of different shapes, some of which were more successful than others. Again, frequently reminding myself that it didn't need to be perfect, and that once painted many of the sins committed in its construction would be hidden, and largely I would be the only one to be able to see them. 

One feature that needed to be clear on the ships were the cargo hatches. To ensure they were easily identifiable each is framed by those blue straws that came from the 100 water balloons in a minute sets you can get during the summer. Personally I hate water balloons, and balloons in general for the waste they create. This is my tiny bit of effort to reduce the waste. That and the reusable ones I got for my kid instead.

One thing I didn't consider when I was doing this is that because of the shape, on the table, the panels that slope down will be largely unseen. Unless you're looking at it from the side directly, this ends up being a lot of wasted effort... ah well. It was good practice. 

You might notice the cockpit looks a lot different... I decided I hated the cardboard version, and repurposed the one I built for the cargo hauler. I still need to do a bit more work with the cockpit, but after that I think the outside of the ship is done. 

The prow of the ship was the last bit I worked on, and by this point I felt like I had the process down. So much so that I actually took a bunch of WIP pics to show how I did it. 

and finally the details!