Showing posts with label D and D. Show all posts
Showing posts with label D and D. Show all posts

Monday 12 February 2024

Jessie's Prints - Episode 34 - Teenage Mutant Sorceror Tortle

This week, I are mostly been printing... A Tortle!!

Epics N Stuff Tortle Sorceror - MyMiniFactory - 109539  

This week saw us return to The Rivenlands D&D Campaign at Dragons Keep Roleplay Club.  My clubmate and fellow founder Paul needed a mini to represent his Tortle Sorceror so he commissioned me to print and paint a supplied STL. 

Tortle Sorceror

He's a chunky boy and basically pyramidal in shape.  The mini came both pre-supported and unsupported, as is common these days.  However, he also came as a pair of pre-hollowed out variants for those wishing to not waste resin or just wanting a slightly lighter mini.  

This is the first time I've seen this done on a 35mm single piece character mini, so I printed a hollow one for shits and giggles.  The only issue I had is that the wall thickness just wasn't thick enough to prevent the odd hole appearing when I removed the supports. 

Painting

The customary zenithal priming was done and mounted to my base of choice (a two pence piece).  I said he was chunky and barely any base was visible under his girthy feet.

Paul supplied me with a photo of a make by Empire of Minis so I didn't even have to make any colour choice decisions. 

Base colours were a mix of Vallejo Acrylics, with midtones dry brushed on before picking out the highlights.

Tortle Sorceror

Serious Skin Problems

I really struggled with the skin on this model, in fact it was practically the last thing that got painted.  The sculpt had no texture and yet he is supposed to be a tortoise like humanoid.  Last time I looked they had pretty scaly lizard like skin and his was as smooth as a baby's bottom.  I have a small collection of greens and they were covering really horribly over the zenithal, particularly where areas of shadow were converned.

Tortle Sorceror

 

I persevered though and resorted to mixing in a bit of some Crafter's Choice acrylic that I found in a Wallington "Arkwrights" shop.  

Arkwrights Store - Open All Hours
G.. G.. G.. Granville! Fetch me that tube of G... G.. G... Green Paint!

This stuff is so random it doesn't even have a paint name, just a number (PNTA-134) but it's made by Royal & Langnickel and it did the job where my specialist miniature paints could not.  
 
This just goes to show that when you are painting don't just dismiss your art materials because they aren't Vallejo or Games Workshop.  Try out lots of different paints and you just might hit on some secret sauce.

Wednesday 17 June 2020

Jessie's Prints Episode 11 - Earth Elemental

This week, I are mostly been printing...


Schlossbauer is one of my favourite designers on Thingiverse.  He manages to make his prints just detailed enough and yet not too detailed that they print awesome on my budget FDM Printer.  If you are into RPGs, Fantasy Miniatures or just want something different to print then check him/her out.

Schlossbauer Earth Elemental - (Reaper Miniatures Hellborn Rogue for scale)

I printed my Earth Elemental at 200% scale as I wanted him to be double as both a large and a huge creature.  He came out at a nicely sized 85mm high with a 62mm diameter base.

The model prints in 4 parts (2 x arms, 1 x torso and 1 x legs) and I made sure that I laid the arms down on the print bed with the palms facing down so that any stubble left over from the support structures are on the inside and less visible.  The parts went together like a dream.  Schlossbauer's designs are well sliced and have simple keys so there gap filling is always minimal.


Wednesday 10 June 2020

Father's Day Gifts for the D&D Dad

Father's Day is on Sunday 21st June 2020 which is only 10 days away but there is still time to get that special something for your D&D Dad.

Here are 9 special gift ideas you can buy on Amazon.




Under £10


A Dice Rolling Tray

Frankly I think these are an essential accessory to keep your dice rolling under control. 

I have one of these and it folds flat for easy storage and carriage.  The larger size is especially welcome when you are rolling a fistfull of those damage dice.
A New Set of Dice

It doesn't matter how many dice us D&D Dads have we can always do with some more.  I particularly like the wild colours on this set which make it look like they are on fire with magical flames.

Which is basically how I roll...
A New Notebook

Every Dungeon Dad needs a new notebook so he can fill it with campaign ideas or adventure journal entries. 

£10 to £20


A New T-Shirt


What better way for your Dad to say it loud and proud with a classy new T-Shirt. 

I particularly like the Dragon's head artwork on this one and lets face it Dragons are always found at the heart of a Dungeon which is right where this gift will get your Dad.
A New Pint Glass

What better way for your Dad to celebrate a particularly fraught campaign but to toast to fallen heroes from the skulls of their enemy.

Also a great icebreaker at BBQs.

"Could you bring me a drink in the head of Alfredo Garcia darling?"
An Area of Effect Template

This is one of the best I've seen yet.  Made of transparent acrylic with clear marked areas of effect for all the popular spells.

With this your Dad can finally end the argument of exactly who is getting hit by his fireball.

I particularly like the additional random direction feature on the outer ring because there are just those times when a spell bounces and you don't want it to come towards you.

Over £20


A Big 3 Level Pirate Ship

I was gobsmacked when I saw this.  I have been running games for over 35 years and have never found anything quite as practical as this 3 level pirate ship. 

Made from laser cut plywood this is the perfect accessory for the Dungeon Dad who likes to make his players walk the plank.  It also doubles as an impressive display stand for the man cave.

I'm just hoping that my step daughter sees this page and buys me one... fingers crossed.
Acrylic Condition Rings 72 Piece Set

If your Dad is a dungeon master he has probably encountered this problem on many an occasion.  How to track the various states that your PCs and Monsters can get themselves into during the course of a frenetic xombat.

Look no further because this set of clear acrylic condition rings puts an end to all that.  Colour coded for every one of 18 different combat conditions (4 rings of each type), these rings will help your dearest dad keep up with the upkeep of even the biggest skirmishes.
A Dice Tower

Sometimes your Dad needs all the help he can get and that means taking the human element out of rolling those pesky polyhedrons.

This is one of the tallest towers on the market and will cast an impressive shadow on everyone around the table.  It is made of cool blue transparent acrylic and is sure to mesmerise and randomise to equal effect.
Priceless

What every dad really wants is to spend some quality time with their kids.  So why not sit your dad down at the table and ask him to play a game.  He'll have memories of that special father's day forever.


Help Support this Channel

Please consider supporting this channel by clicking on the affiliate links above.  It won't cost you any more but a small percentage goes to help fund this blog.  Thank You and Happy Father's Day.

Wednesday 6 May 2020

Jessie's Prints Episode 5 - Judge Dredd Movie Prop Badge

This week, I are mostly been printing... 

Judge Dredd's Badge - https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:114711

Judge Dredd Movie Badge 3D Print

This may seem a bit random, but I am also hard at work typing up my session reports from a Judge Dredd game I ran over 2 years ago. Never let it be said that I don't finish things. I just got to find all of my scribblings...

Saturday 25 April 2020

5 Free D&D Things I Bought on Wish.com - Part 1

Sometimes you do CRAZY things and today I ordered 5 random D&D things from Wish.com.


Leap of Faith

The Rules


Yes, there have to be rules, without rules there would be "Anarchy in your D&D".
  1. I can only buy items which list for the search term "D&D"
  2. I can only buy items with a list price of free, no limited availability items and shipping must cost no more than £3 per item.
  3. I can only buy 1 item of a type, so no buying 5 different sets of dice.
  4. No NSFW items please, we're British! 
Please wait 6 to 8 weeks for this post to conclude... 

Tuesday 21 April 2020

A Trick of the Light Part 2 - Lenticular Colour Shift Painting - Prismatic Wall

I am a big fan of optical illusions so when I saw RedbeardBoss's Prismatic Wall, I knew I had to have a go.



In the last episode we covered how I created the model, which is available for free at https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4292839.  If you like the model please consider leaving a like a comment or even a tip.

The Painting

Following RedBeardBoss's tutorial I primed the models in silver, just cheap automotive silver spray paint from my discount retailer of choice Poundland.

Once the silver was dry it was time to fire up the airbrush and christen the Big Box Project Mobile Miniature Painting Workstation.  My chosen colour combos were:

    To achieve this lenticular effect we are going to spray the wall head-on starting from the small end (Green).  Keep the angle of the airbrush to no more than 30 degrees left or right as you pass down each side of the miniature.

    Painting the Prismatic Wall

    The paint will hit only two sides of each hex as you pass down the miniature. Once your first colour has dried change to your second colour (Red) and spray in the opposite direction on both sides.

    There will be a bit of overspray on your second colour which will help to blend the effect and the faces which run parallel to the long side will end up a combination of both your silver base coat and your two chosen colours.

    A quick base coat in black and your mini should look like the one in the video above.


    Saturday 18 April 2020

    A Trick of The Light? Prismatic Wall - Part 1

    It's very rare when a paintjob blows my mind so thanks to the YouTube algorithm for suggesting this video from ReadBeardBoss's painting channel.



    I was so impressed that I wanted to do this myself but a search on the interwebs for a printable model drew a blank.  I guess I have to model my own then.

    The spell description describes two modes:

    A shimmering, multicolored plane of light forms a vertical opaque wall—up to 90 feet long, 30 feet high, and 1 inch thick—centered on a point you can see within range.

    Alternatively, you can shape the wall into a sphere up to 30 feet in diameter centered on a point you choose within range.

    This lenticular paint job won't work on a sphere (no straight lines to hide the colour shift) but six straight wall sections could be arranged into a 15 foot circle (ish) or a 30ft semi-circle (ish).  Two birds one stone... Job done.



    I design my models in Sketchup, which turns out is not the best software for printable models, but I love how easy it is to use.  It often creates STL (STereo Lithography) files which are a bit sloppy and not what is known as "Watertight" or solid.  In practice this means that they can often have faces missing, internal geometry and be unprintable.

    My workflow to getting a printable model is to export the STL from Sketchup and import it into Tinkercad.  Check that there are no holes, if there are go back to Sketchup and delete any faces which might be hiding inside solid areas of the model and repeat the process until Tinkercad is happy.

    I also use a fabhouse service called i.materialise.com where I can do a second pass check to see if the model can be printed.  This also allows those without a 3D printer to order a model in their material of choice.  The example above in Polyamide (Selective Laser Sintering) would cost £11.14 ($13.85) each and discounted to £55.68 ($69.23) for 6 copies in white.

    This model is free to download at: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4292839. If you like or make one click the heart, post a make photo and add a tip to the jar.

    Prismatic Wall DnD Spell Effect


    I will be painting my wall in Part 2 so stay tuned to see if I can master the lenticular paint effect.

    Wednesday 15 April 2020

    Jessie's Prints: Episode 2 - Alien Cube, The Awoken

    This week, I are mostly been printing... 

     An Alien Cubehttps://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1741021

    A great prop model and easily worked into any game.  Perhaps it is a magic item, a bomb or maybe the lines are a map or maybe, just maybe, it is a key to unlocking ancient secrets...




    The Awoken - https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1640837  

    Another great model for fantasy roleplayers.  The Awoken is labelled as being a 15mm scale miniature but he cuts quite the imposing figure at 30mm scale.  The base is 3inch in diameter so that makes him HUGE by D&D standards and IRL he is 120mm tall so that would make him 24 feet tall.

    Nice!

    Monday 6 April 2020

    Plastichunter - Adventures in the 3D Printing Zone

    Every GM should have one.  They are cheap to buy and run, they are readily available, don't take up a lot of space but can literally add an extra dimension to your games.

    What am I talking about?  3D Printers of course.  I've owned one for a couple of years and found a limitless amount of things to print and here are just a few ways they can help to bring that extra something to your games.

    From large to small there are plenty of great models which can be downloaded for free from 3D warehouses such as Thingiverse, Pinshape, MyMiniFactory etc.

    Scenery Items

    For those of us who still like to meet in meatspace every week, dressing your dungeon with scenic accessories is a great way to enhance your game and helps the players immerse themselves in your story.  It's much more satisfying for a player when they hide their mini behind a plastic pillar rather than a circle drawn on some lino.  Some items are functional in combat, other are just there for dramatic effect but they all make a huge difference to your game.

    D&D Idol Moloch Players Handbook

    D&D Demon Idol - DownloadDestroyed Colums - Download

    Monster Minis


    We all have a bunch of the common or garden minion miniatures (I'm looking at you orcs, goblins and skeletons) but who wants to spend a ton of cash collecting those speciality foes.  A quick search online and you are printing off your mid level minions in minutes at a fraction of the price you would normally pay.  Only need it once? No problem you've not invested that much and you can always give it to someone as a Christmas or birthday gift if you don't have the storage space.

    D&D Umber Hulk D&D Beholder 3D Printed
    Umber Hulk - DownloadBeholder - Download

    Unobtanium


    If you are playing a long dead unsupported game and you need minis, you can always make your own.  I touched on this in a previous article, when I ran a Judge Dredd game a few years ago.  I was using the 15mm scale because the Laserburn Lawmen from Alternative Armies are just about the best simulcrum out there.  Modeling and printing vehicles and scenery items for your game is easy using free software such as sketchup and tinkercad.  You are only limited by your imagination.

    Judge Dredd Hover Wagon H-Wagon


    H-Wagon Homemade Judge Dredd Spinner

    Gadgets and Accessories

    Probably one of the most useful objects whilst being entirely frivolous at the same time are the game accessories.  Who doesn't want a cool looking Castle Grayskull Dice Tower, a dice box or even some spell templates to enhance your enjoyment.

    Castle Grayskull Dice Tower D&D Spell Templates 3D Printed
    Castle Grayskull Dice Tower - DownloadD&D Spell Templates - Download



    Wednesday 8 February 2017

    Teaching D&D to Ten Year Olds

    Out of the blue a work colleague (and former D&D player) told me that they had bought the 5e Basic Set for their 10 year old daughter and asked me for advice on how to run their first game.  The problem is twofold being as much about teaching dad to be the DM and daughter how to play.



    Breaking it Down

    All RPGs have the same basic elements:

    • Character Generation -  Where players get to "roll up" their characterss and use their imagination and creative writing skills to put some background flesh on their barebones stats.
    • Mechanics - The rules of the game which are there not to constrain creativity or storytelling but to add a little consistency to the experience.  In this way a fireball or a sword strike do a consistent amount of damage every time.
    • Storytelling - The art of story writing, dungeon mastery and how to be a player.  This is not really contained in any rulebook and is a skill which you develop over time and exposure to roleplaying.

    Character Generation

    I remember my own experiences as a young roleplayer some 35 years ago when I unwrapped my christmas gift of a 2nd Edition Players Handbook and Dungeon Masters Guide.  Hundreds of hours were spend pouring through the pages and generating character after character who would never see a moment of play.  However, I know now that this was probably the wrong way of going about things.

    Looking at the Lost Mine of Phandelver there are no pre-generated characters designed specifically for the adventure but there are some starter characters in the box set which is a good place to start. 
    There are also a couple of great web resources if this is too limited a selection.
    • 1,000 Basic Pregens - has a huge array of different characters presented as short form stat blocks.  These take a bit of deciphering for the beginner but there is a key on page one to help you.

    • Digital Dungeonmaster Pregens - 1060 different pregens by class and level but strangely not by race so you have to go hunting round to find the right combination of race and class.
    Once your players have played a few sessions they will understand how the game works and will be able to use something like the ORCPUB D&D 5e Character Builder to generate their own.

    Mechanics

    Every D&D game involves a mix of combat (melee / missile) magic and skill or attribute checks.

    Melee and Missile combat boils down to finding the AC (Armour class of the target) and the player trying to beat it on a d20.  There are lots of modifiers (numbers which are added to the dice roll or subtracted from the AC) which as you grow as a DM and player you will learn to remember.  Once a successful hit is determined then the appropriate weapon damage is rolled and applied to the target.

    Spells in D&D when any type of magic is cast, it always works unless the spell says that a target gets a Save.  This usually negates or reduces the spells damage and can be cumbersome and tedious to implement, so for first games I would always leave this sort of thing out.  Mages are low powered at low level and the important thing is that the ten year old magic user gets to do a bit of damage now and then so make sure that they have magic missile in their arsenal of spells.

    Skill and Attribute Checks are used whenever a PC tries to do something which is not combat or magic related.  Searching for things, disabling or setting traps, scaling a cliff, these are all skill and attribute checks.  The D&D skills and attributes give bonuses to doing specific tasks, but they all require a roll (once again using the d20) to beat a target number.  For example climbing needs a dexterity check, so any DEX modifiers need to be added to the dice roll, but if a character has climb skill they will get additional modifiers.  The target number which needs to be beaten represents the difficulty of the task and starts at 15, a particularly easy task would be 10 and a difficult task 20.  

    Storytelling

    Visualisation is one of the toughest challenges when trying to get a group of people sitting round the table to all imagine the same thing.  A key tool is the Battle Map which represents a top down view of a location and has been a standard for decades.  This can be as simple as a sheet of paper on which you draw what the characters can see and interact with.

    Key Text / Player Descriptions are contained in most pre-written modules and highlight a piece of text to be read out to the players when they enter a new location describing what they first see.  Supplementary text will describe to the DM only what the room may contain (for example monsters, hidden doors, treasure etc).

    Feed the Players Excitement by putting them on the spot, adding tension when they are being cautious, make it theatrical, do voices, encourage them to do voices, make grandiose gestures and gory descriptions of monster death.  I always like to make my players to stand on the precipice throughout my games, they should never feel cosy and comfortable.

    Let Players Explore - The joy of roleplaying is about being able to explore.  In some cases it might be a dungeon, in others it might be your options, but whenever you play, you are always exploring your character.  There is no right or wrong thing to do, if a player chooses a path which will bring about conflict or adversity, warn them, but let them do it anyway.  When the situation turns bad they will have to deal with the consequences.

    Don't Be Scared to Fudge it, the rules are there to be ignore and modified as you see fit.  If a rule might prevent something heroic or cinematic happening just ignore it.  If a monster's die roll might inadvertently kill a PC then change it.  Need a new rule to get you out of a situation then make it up but always try to consistently apply the new rule when the situation reappears.

    Keep it Simple, Stupid is a good mantra and the The KISS Principle should always be in the forefront of your mind when DMing for a young group.  They will want to be at the heart of the action quickly and they won't be too concerned with deep complex storylines.  Define the Good and the Bad monsters early on as clearly black and white and they be able to quickly react to any challenges they face.

    Start Small by choosing a simple combat encounter for your first session.  Ambush your heroes in the woods with a small band of kobolds or goblins.  If the PCs kill half of them, the monsters will run away.  This immediately presents the players a plethora of choices, do they run after them? Do they run to town alert the authorities?  Do they loot the bodies? Do they track the fleeing monsters back to their hideout?  All have possibilities for the next installment.

    Guage your Success as a DM


    If all goes well your players should look like this:

    Stranger Things - D&D Success!!

    Monday 16 March 2015

    The Tale of Tynka Azolla - The Isle of Dread - Episode 1

    As I mentioned in an earlier post I am embarking on my first adventure using D&D 5th Edition and I'm going to chronicle my journey (and that of my character) as a series of blog posts.  The format will be character journal entry and then my take on the rules.

    This being the true and reasonably accurate account of the misadventures of Forest Gnome Barbarian Hermit Tynka Azolla.

    The tribe have left me to look after the old hermit Klandgnor and the egg of Khan Arge in the ruins of Montnorad

    He's insane but harmless and cries out in his sleep when troubled by the dreams of the 52 black birds and the missing Iles of Cruise, visions of the war between the hawk men of the Capitol and their enemies the Coh Mees of Uesesah.  He rambles prophetically about The End of Days when the high priest of Potus spoke to the the amureeckans and told them to go forth and shelter from the fall.

    I was out picking berries to make a poultice to calm his dream time when a great black shadow passed over the forest, followed by a raucous cawing.  When I got back to the ruin it was a shattered mess.  There was no sign of the old man or the egg, but in the sky I could see a great bird travelling South.

    I grabbed my travelling pack, glad that my father had trained me well to always be ready to move at a moments notice and headed South.  On the third day I found the hermits body among the flat rocks at the bottom of the waterfall.  He had been split open and his insides torn out, great claw scratches littered the rocks among the blood, feathers and viscera.  Whatever swooped down and snatched him up had decided to eat him.  The egg was nowhere to be seen, so I blessed the old man's corpse and continued South.  The hermit had taught me that a great evil resided in the egg and should it be released it would consume the world in destruction, my mission to find the giant bird and retrieve the egg.

    Eventually coming to a great coastal settlement I found many people who had seen the great bird always heading south.  Some said that it must be headed to the Isle of dread.  I found a merchant who was assembling a trade ship bound for the Isle.  I lied to him about my past but he believed me and I am now one of his bodyguards. 

    We set sail on board a ramshackle ship bound for the Isle.  10 days later we approached the archipelago when an ungodly storm came out of nowhere smashing our ship to pieces and I jumped overboard to save myself.  We woke up in the beach battered but alive, a heavy mist obscured the horizon so I went inland in search of fresh water, food and foliage.  It was then that the giant crabs attacked, I killed one with my javelin and almost killed two others who were attacking Kendrick the merchant and some of the other survivors and sailors.




    Giant Crabs attack the PCs (yes the pencil sharpener is a PC) and survivors on the sample file beach.
    When the mist cleared it was clear that we were on a sandbar and the ship had hit a reef a sort distance away.  It was heavily damaged but intact if we are to survive we must construct a raft from the flotsam washed up on the sandbar and make our way back to the ship to gather supplies.

    My Thoughts on Character Generation

    My character is a truly random creation.  Race & Class were randomly rolled and Attribute scores were determined from a best of three sets  (using 4D6 drop lowest method) then placed appropriately and Race/Class modifiers applied.  This resulted in above average STR, INT and DEX scores but a truly awful WIS.

    The use of predefined "packs" is an excellent answer to long complex equipment lists and gets you up and running in no time.  Similarly, I really liked the background aspects of the new character gen system (Personality Traits, Ideals, Bonds, Flaws) which will be of immense help to new players and create some really interesting combinations.

    I'm a big fan of the way Castles & Crusades / SIEGE system resolves Skill/Attribute checks so I feel quite at home with the new slimmed down skills list and proficiency modifier system.  Gone are all those horrible 4e Powers which made even a low level game sound like you were in an 80s anime and drove you nuts tracking Class Feature / Race Power / At Will / Encounter / Daily usage.

    In play

    Coming around after the shipwreck encounter, I received my first Disadvantage token, which was a real shock.  Although it only applied to skill checks it really had an adverse effect on my play.  I could not catch a break and I failed all subsequent skill rolls.  I'll reserve judgement on this until I've benefitted from Advantage but I'm leaning towards favouring a static positive/negative modifier as I feel it's effects might be too random.

    Combat seemed way more streamlined and faster than 3.5/4e with a return to the simpler bash/bash mechanics of earlier editions.  It may not be terribly realistic, but it gets the job done with the minimum of delay.

    Tuesday 22 October 2013

    Review: Dungeons & Dragons: Arena of War (iOS)

    Bob Dylan sang "Oh the times, they are a changing..." and never a truer word was said about how the advent of tablets has changed the fortunes of boardgame and RPG companies.  As a long time Mac user I'd long since accepted my platform as an afterthought from games companies like Wizards of the Coast when making e versions of their popular products so you can imagine my surprise when bumbling around on the App store I found a new official Dungeons & Dragons game!!  Minutes later the download was done and I was ready to get my dungeon bash on...

    D&D Arena of War


    NOT WHAT I WAS EXPECTING...

    I'll get this out there at the beginning of this review. If you want a like for like simulacrum of a D&D encounter, this app is not for you as once you're past the initial character generation screens and into your first "tutorial" adventure, your carefully imagined plans of strategic movement go out of the window when you realise that this is ANGRY BIRDS D&D!!. Yes that's right, the only way you interact with your character is by using a bizarre slingshot technique to fire yourself at random monsters dotted around an arena.  However, as this is WotC's first iOS release I'm going to give them the benefit of doubt and delve a little deeper. 

    CHARACTER BUILDING & DEVELOPMENT

    You get a nice selection of characters to begin with which cover the usual spectrum of races and classes with options to change clothing and gender.  The main thrust of character development is reserved for a system of powers much like 4th Edition D&D.  These powers can be enhanced to increase damage (and oddly HP) and you can swap powers between quests to take full advantage of each new ability or upgrade. 

    QUESTS

    There are 3 Quest Books to begin with (Baldur's Gate, The Trade Way and Northern Sword Coast) each of which you will unlock as you progress through the game.  You will be also be rewarded with Daily Quests for levels you've already cleared and for two days of the week you get to have a crack at the Undermountain quests (a sort of ranking tournament).  Each quest costs Quest Energy (QE) to join and you have 100 QE to begin with which recharges on a timer system.  You can also use Potions to recharge your QE instantly and each time you level up it automatically recharges to full.

    Each Quest is essentially an encounter in a single location comprising of a bunch of monsters which attack you in waves.  The locations are nicely rendered but a little monotonous and reflect the overall theme of the Quest level you are on, so dungeon quests are inside rooms and wilderness quests are in forest glades.  The edges of each location have features like walls, teleportation portals, gas vents or spring traps which you need to utilise (or avoid) in order to maximise your combat potential.

    The reward for completing quests varies but essentially is a combination of powers, enhancement scrolls or potions of Quest Energy.

    COMBAT

    As I mentioned earlier you use the slingshot interface to fire your character into monsters with a charging attack. As soon as you start to drag backwards (ie away from your intended target) a small power bar will start to extend from the circle to indicate how far you will charge. Whilst this is fine when your characters are in the middle of the screen, if they are close to a wall you can end up being restricted in the amount of power you can apply and coming up too short. When using Heroes with a missile attack you need to pull back only slightly, they will then move forward a small amount (or not at all if you're really good) and fire off an arrow, thereby stopping them charging across the room straight into danger.

    Although this is a weird (and to be honest a little random) interface it does force you to use a few interesting techniques:  

    Ricochet: When you charge (or shoot an opponent) they get pushed back into another hero, enemy or bomb. When it's pushed back into a hero, they suffer an attack of opportunity, if it's another enemy then they both take additional damage; if it's a bomb it explodes damaging anyone in it's blast radius.

    Rebound: A variation on the ricochet occurs when an enemy is pushed back into a wall and rebounds into the original attacker who then automatically attacks again.

    The real trick in the game is to strategically chain these two techniques together to clear each wave of monsters as efficiently as possible.  On occasion I've manged to wipe an entire waves of enemies with just one move, but it was more luck than any type of strategy.

    POWERS

    Each basic character comes with two power slots which you get to use during combat to cause effects or heavy damage, additional slots are unlocked as you progress through the game and unlock the Tier 2, 3 and 4 characters.

    Powers are ranked from Common (C, C+), Rare (R, R+), Ultra Rare (UR, UR+) to  Legendary (L, L+) and can be enhanced by fusing identical lower level cards to them with the Fuse Power option.  Scrolls or different powers can also be fused, but are less effective.

    You can then use the auto equip button to assign the strongest powers to your character and increase their Attack and HP values to take on tougher monsters in higher level quests.  Whilst this is a simple enough mechanism, it is a little obtuse and I have yet to understand how to get the best out of my upgrades.

    OVERVIEW

    The graphics, animations and interface are all flawlessly rendered and very reminiscent of other WotC products.  The quirky catapult mechanism is fun once you get the hang of it and whilst this will leave most experienced role players left wanting, it is quite a fun use of the D&D brand and has potential to bring younger players into the hobby.  It has some of the iconic elements of D&D such as monsters like the Gelatinous Cube and Beholder, a turn based combat system which feels like initiative and a simplistic system of character progression. 

    However, I still yearn for an experience closer to a simulation of an actual game, so come on WotC you've given me a taste of what you can do on iOS, I'm salivating to see some real D&D.

    8/10 - Can't wait to see what else you've got in store.

    VIDEO REVIEW OF ACTUAL PLAY

    You can also check out a video walk through showing some actual game play on my new You tube channel Roleplay Geek TV.

    Tuesday 7 May 2013

    Monster Mini Box - Level One

    DMG - Appendix C
    Random Monster Encounters
    I was originally going to post this on Thursday but the sad news of Ray Harryhausen's death (at the age of 92) has spurred me to post early.  Everyone who roleplays today owes a great debt to his pioneering work bringing some of movies greatest monsters to the silver screen.  For those abut to roll, we salute you.

    My recent DIY Gelatinous Cube post got me thinking "how much moolah would it take to put together a monster minis collection for each level of Random Monster Encounter (as per Appendix C of the Dungeon Masters Guide)? 

    For those who just want to slobber over pictures of old school minis I've put a pinterest board together showing all the options.

    Giant Ant - (Qty 1-4)

    Badger - (Qty 1-4)

    Dark Sword - Epic Honey Badgers

    Fire Beetle - (Qty 1-4)

    • Otherworld Miniatures has their DV4a Fire Beetles as a 3 pack (£9) or a 15 pack swarm (£37.50)
    • Reaper Miniatures do a metal 2 pack of Fire Beetles ($7.99) which they've recast in their Bone Material so should be available soon at a much lower price.

    Manes Demon - (Qty 1-4)

    Mega Miniatures Dwarves
    (Bob Olley)

    Dwarf -  (Qty 4-14)

    The DMG is not too specific about what types of Dwarves so I'm guessing it's a war party of some variety.  I have plenty of dwarves but if I didn't I would look no further than:
    • Mega Miniatures (via Hurlbat Games Ebay Store) have the old school Metal Magic Fantasy Dwarves range (24 minis) sculpted by master dwarfsmith Bob Olley (£15)

    Ear Seeker - (Qty 1)

    This creature is too small to be represented by a miniature.

    Elf - (Qty 3-11) 

    Again the DMG lets us down without going into any detail, so this will probably be a war party again, but why would you encounter a war party of elves in a dungeon, there's still gotta be some logic to it.  You could just assemble a group from player character miniatures, but it is nice to have a group all wearing the same sort of armour and having the same style.
    Mirliton SG - Wood Elf Swordsmen

    Gnome - (Qty 5-15)

    Help me out DMG!! what are these gnomes of which you speak.  I'm going for some sort of war party (if gnomes even have those).
    • Stonehaven Miniatures succsessfully Kickstarted an anime looking Gnomish Adventurers set which has stretched quite a ways expanding the range.  Sadly their webstore doesn't seem to include these new minis yet (If I can help throw some webskills at the problem, let me know guys!!) but you can still take advantage of the Kickstarter pricing
    • Reaper Miniatures do some nice gnome character figures, but I particularly like their nasty looking 06201: Bloodstone Gnome Pulgers 9 pack - but pricey ($39.99)

    Goblin - (Qty 6-15)

    At last we hit a proper dungeon bash monster, as so many companies do goblins it would be futile to list them all but I like:

    Halfling - (Qty 9-16)

    I'm beginning to hate you DMG.  Seriously why would Halflings be a wandering monster have we just wandered into their village?... in a dungeon!!

    Hobgoblin - (Qty 2-8)

    Otherworld Miniatures Hobgoblin Warriors

    Humans


    Random encounters with humans can be one of 4 different sub types

    Bandits - (Qty 5-15)

    Mega Miniatures - Thieves Guild
    Sculpted by Joseph Ochman
    • Mega Miniatures have their Metal Magic Thieves Guild range sculpted by Joseph Ochman. A Bargain at £15 via Hurlbat Games ebay store .

    Berserker - (Qty 3-9)

    Brigands - (Qty 5-15)

    •  Mega Miniatures Metal Magic Castle Guard range sculpted by Joseph Ochman.  I'm starting to sound like a stuck record (that's OSR!!) A bargain at £15 via Hurlbat Games ebay store.

    Character - (Qty 2-5)

    This is actually supposed to be an NPC adventure party.  Clearly dungeoneering is a competitive business, perhaps someone should form a Guild or something.

    Kobold - (Qty 6-18)

    Dragon or dog varieties, I'm not fussy either way.

    Orc - (Qty 7-12)

    Pig-faced orcs only, the GW slack jawed ones need not apply for this job.

    Piercer - (Qty 1-3)

    No commercially available miniatures, I guess I have to make my own then, this will be a fun project (stay tuned). 

    Giant Rat - (Qty 5-20)

    • Otherworld Miniatures do their beautiful 5 pack of DV3a Giant Rats (£11) sculpted by Jo Brumby.  A boxed set of 20 is also available for £32.50 saving you some money.

    • Lead Adventure do a 10 pack of really ferocious looking PA26 Giant Rats (€14.95) guaranteed to scare off any meatshields (and some PCs for that matter).

    • Nasty looking Giant Rats from Lead Adventure
    • Reaper Miniatures have recently recast their metal Giant Rats ($5.99) as a 6 pack of Bones Giant Rats ($3.49) but also do two scary looking Barrow Rats ($8.99) a 4 pack of Dire Rats ($6.99) and their 2 pack Rat Swarm ($5.99) which should meet all your rodent needs.

    Rot Grub - (Qty 1-3) 

    • Scibor do some Rot & Grub resin bases (€7.52) which would fit the bill, but honestly how hard can it be to model some grubs on a base out of modelling clay?

    Shrieker - (Qty 1-2)

    I already have these but I know many out there don't and no dungeon would be complete without fungi.
    • Otherworld Miniatures do their wicked 3 pack DM11 Shriekers and Violet Fungi (£11)
      Otherworld Miniatures - Shriekers and Violet Fungi
    • Centre Stage Miniatures have their Shrieker and Deadly Fungi (£7.25)
    • ScotiaGrendel still do their generic resin Fungi (£8) having a patch of fungi appearing as a piece of scenery which is a monster rather than a single miniature has always made more sense to me.  

    Skeleton - (Qty 1-4)

    I have plenty of skellies, but if I didn't, I would go for:
    • Denizen Miniatures have been selling their Legion of the Damned Skeletons (£1 each) for years and I own a few so have a particular fondness for them.  Frankly their website sucks (Chub, I'd love to help you out with this.) but you can see the whole range at the Lost Minis Wiki.  They are true 25mm and slightly smaller in comparison to other manufacturers but they have honest old school charm and realistic action poses.

    • Steve Barber Models channels Ray Harryhausen with his awesome GMH4 Children of the Dragon's Teeth 6 pack (£7.99)
    Steve Barber Models "Children of the Dragon's Teeth" skeletons

    Zombie - (Qty 1-3)

    I mostly have modern zombie miniatures, so these I actually need.

    Few...  That was a monster bit of research!! (geddit)  The upshot of which is that it's going to cost a shedload of dosh, between £300 ($470) and £400 ($625) just to stock level 1.  This kind of backs up my love of paper minis, but they just don't have the same weight.  

    Mega Miniatures is closing down!!

    After 10 years of operation, they have decided to close their doors and will begin selling off their moulds on 1st June 2013.  Hopefully they will be snapped up by another miniature companies and these OSR mini ranges will live on under new ownership.  I'll try to update this post when I find out who has bought which ranges.