Wednesday 3 August 2011
Animals in RPGs
Familiar - One of the things most Sorceror's do fairly early on in their career is to augment their character with a familiar. As well as providing important skill boosts for the traditionally weak low level sorceror, they can be quite useful plot devices for DMs as well. In my last campaign one of the PCs had a cat which had an annoying habit of wandering off and discovering things I wanted the PCs to uncover. Non-magical classes can get into on the action
Animal Companion NPC - Non-magical characters can get in on the supplemental skill action with an animal NPC. Barbarians with tame bears and wolves are not unheard of, Rangers with birds of prey, Elves with dragons etc. They are a common feature in literature, from Samwise Gamgee and his pony "Bill" in The Lord of The Rings to Fitz's bonded wolf "Nighteyes" in Robin Hobb's Farseer Trilogy.
Pets - These animals tend to be more of a quirk than anything truly useful, but can be good plot devices for DM's. One of my current campaign PCs rescued a terrapin from the a streetvendor who was barbecueing them as tasty treats. All credit to him as a player he had us in stitches when in the middle of a rather intense discussion over a round of drinks in a tavern, he reached across the game table to retrieve his imaginary terrapin as it tried to escape.
Producers - All animal companions have the potential for use as a melee weapon, but there are some animals which can have uses beyond the mundane biting and clawing aspects of combat. How about animals such as the humble goose whose feathers make quills or arrow fletchings, the bear that you must kill in the Northern Wastes in order to make a coat to survive a snow storm. In my current campaign there's an Assassin who keeps a tree frog which produces the poison he dips his darts in.
Transport - If you've not run a game where your PCs have bought a lame, stubborn or unrideable horse, or in my case a psychotic spitting camel, then you should even if just for comedic value. Retrieving a loose horse or fending off a bunch of rustlers are also fun sidetreks to relieve the boredom on a journey. I've even created my own Animal Item Cards and Paper Minis to help my players to visualise and manage them.
Animal Hybrid PCs - One of my favourite RPGs is Justifiers which has the "Beta-Humanoid" animal hybrid concept at it's heart. These corporate owned constructs are bred for their congenital abilities which make them extremely useful for exploring new planets for natural resources which their corporate masters hope to exploit. I also used the animal hybrid as a concept for Lizardmen in my campaign, complete with a racial schism which over the centuries as meant that a common ancestor evolved into two distinct species Red Salamankari and Green Salamankari but who share many physical and social similarities including a bloodthirsty animosity towards each other.
Thanks of course go to Of Dice and Dragons for continuing to promote the RPG Blog Carnival. This is my 1st entry and you can read the rest by clicking the RPG Blog Carnival tag below.
Tuesday 2 August 2011
Make: 3D Dungeon Tiles Pt 2 - The Build
After a bit of trial and error, with different construction methods, I settled on the overlapping laminate design for each corner (as seen in the picture to the right). This means that each tile has an outside measurement of 6" x 6" and they will tesselate quite nicely without any annoying gaps in the floor. The downside to this design is that any opening which doesn't have a door or wall in it has an obvious slot in it's edge.
Cutting List
For each base you will need:
1 x Base (5mm Foamcore) - 6" x 6"
4 x Long Corner (2mm card) - 43mm x 1"
4 x Short Corner (2mm card) - 41mm x 1"
4 x Long Corner (5mm Foamcore) - 36mm x 1"
4 x Short Corner (5mm Foamcore) - 31mm x 1"
8 x Tabs (2mm card) - 10mm, 1"
Don't worry too much about getting it absolutely accurate to the mm as the foamcore is quite forgiving. The card on the otherhand needs to be quite accurate as this is going to provide your overhang and ultimately a slot into which you can slide your door or wall sections.
All the corner sections are glued up with PVA (or Elmers) as in the picture above. I used masking tape to bind the corner whilst I finageled in the foamcore, again the foamcore is quite forgiving so if the corners fold out, don't worry too much as the foamcore will compress back to 90 degrees when you glue each corner onto the base.
It's a good idea at this point to draw over the pencil lines on the base with a ballpoint pen, otherwise it'll be trick to get a straight edge in the confined space once you've glued on your corners.
My trial and error provided me with several abortive boards with good square corners, so I just used one as a jig. This was invaluable and I would recommend making one. The corners are then hot glued onto the base. This is a bit of a messy job, but hot glue is way stronger than the foamcore's paper backing and provides a great bond.
Once all 4 corners have been glued onto the base, take some time to trim off any excess glue particularly around the join between the base and the overhanging card which forms one of the inside faces of the door/wall slot. If there's any splodges of hotglue in the slot it will prevent your door or walls from sliding all the way to the bottom.
Then you just need to cut some 10mm x 1" tabs and hot glue to the opposite faces of the foamcore at both ends of each corner. It took me a while to develop a technique of sliding the tabs towards the open end to get them into the correct position to prevent any hot glue seeping into the slot.
Once this is done the doors and walls can be cut from foamcore. Doors are 3" x 2" and walls are 3" x 1", but can be trimmed down if they don't quite fit into the two slots at either side of an opening. This gives you the option of having a door or a wall in each side. Just cut more doors and walls as you need.
Eh Voila, three 20ft square dungeon rooms.
In my next part I'll be tackling the painting and decorating.
Monday 1 August 2011
Make: 3D Dungeon Tiles Pt 1 - The Design
I've designed and built plenty of 2D tiles before, but never in 3D with walls and doors. The biggest change has been to scale everything up to a 1.5" grid as a 1" grid became too cramped and play broke down. Another inspiration was the fantastic drakkon boardgame which has a couple of fun actions like the Rotate a Room and Floating Room which I thought would be nice to have in a dungeon.
This all percolated into an embryonic design of a 6" square standard tile with a 4x4 grid 1 inch high walls with removable wall/door/feature sections which I drew out in sketchup.
In Part Two I'll be pulling out the foamcore and starting to cut.
Monday 25 July 2011
Movie Watch: Eyeborgs
Adrian Paul (Highlander TV Series) and Danny Trejo (Machete) star in this cautionary tale of technology gone too far set in a near future Chicago.
The eyeborgs of the title are mobile surveillance cameras tasked with the surveillance of society for the Department of Homeland Security, but have they been compromised and if so, by whom? Gunner Reynolds (Adrian Paul) a DHS agent discovers the truth about the real nature of the eyeborgs design.
If you can get past the distinctly "TV Movie" CGI eyeborgs which are nicely modeled but poorly composited, there's a good plot in there and certainly something that hasn't been seen before. The characters, and perhaps Paul's acting, are a little one dimensional but passable and Danny Trejo has the most lines I've ever heard him speak in one movie.
A solid 4 out of 5 for the story and a 3 out of 5 for the CGI.
Friday 22 July 2011
Beast of the Week: Hydrothermal Worm
Nature proves yet again that it can evolve animals which would fit quite nicely into any RPG scenario. Meet...
The Hydro Thermal Worm
This photo was taken by Philippe Crassous at FEI (makers of Electron Scanning Microscopes).
I think that this is a suitable image for my 100th post
Thursday 21 July 2011
...meet Leonard of Quirm
I'm beginning to feel a bit like Leonard of Quirm, too many projects and not enough time to finish them...
Wednesday 29 June 2011
Legendary Locations: Mud Maid of The Lost Gardens of Helligan
Sunday 29 May 2011
COMPETITION: RGP Products - Tell me what you think and win a Decision Deck
I need some user feedback.
So, If you've bought any of the first 3 sets of Item Cards; RGP001 - Adventurer's Gear, RGP002 - Potions or RGP003 - Animals or RGP004 Paper Minis Set 1: Animals please feel free to let me know what you think using the comments box below.
As an incentive I'll send each one of you a complimentary copy of my new GM Aids Decision Deck courtesy of RPG Now/Drive Thru RPG.
Wednesday 25 May 2011
Dice or Cards? Choose your weapon!!
What's a Decision Deck? you say, well it's a pack of cards which I use instead of rolling dice. Each card has a dice roll value corresponding to the size of dice be it a coin toss or D3 to D30. In the production version I've added a number of other random metrics including Critical Hit, Fumble, Poker Hands and Dice Hands. It means I don't have to look for the appropriate dice anymore or have to consult a random result chart.
I know some players object to using cards instead of dice themselves but I gotta say as a GM I really felt they worked for me. I had my numbers ready at the turn of a card and the combat ran smoother and quicker than with dice.
What are your thoughts on the legitimacy of GMs using anything other than dice?
Tuesday 24 May 2011
MOVIEWATCH: Limitless (15)
++REVIEW++
Watching this movie was as much a revelation, for me, in how you make a superb superhero movie as was, Akira to animation or Blade Runner to near future Sci-Fi.
If you haven't seen this movie, put it at the top of your list (or at least above Green Lantern) you will not be dissapointed. Unfortunately I can't tell you anything about the plot in the sameway as you don't talk about Fight Club... it spoils the punchline.
Bob DeNiro is of course playing Bob DeNiro again, but there are shades of Travis Bickle in there which overshadow even Bradley Cooper's utterly believable performance as Eddie Morra, both as struggling writer and limitless hero.
5 STARS!!
Monday 23 May 2011
...Errata, Erata, I love you Eratta...
As you are by now aware I have started a little publishing venture, and proof reading has kept me away from blogging. Today, was the first time I have had to publish an errata notice and this got me thinking.
I don't know of any other publishing genre which has so many errata which slip through the net. Fiction certainly doesn't, magazines and newspapers print retractions, but that's a content matter and not typos or other cockups. Do we the buyers seem to accept these errata more readily because we see ourselves as RPG fans first and consumers second? Do we appreciate the publisher's hard work that goes into even the smallest $1 PDF download, rather than wail on their poor proofreading skills? I'd like to think we're a better kind of people and we know how much love goes into the games we buy.
BTW if you've bought RGP001 - ITEM CARDS Set 1: Adventurer's Gear the errata have been corrected and you can download them in the FREE Item Card Sampler.
Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa, Mea Maxima Culpa...
Tuesday 17 May 2011
MOVIEWATCH: The Adventures of Tintin - The Secret of the Unicorn
Saturday 14 May 2011
Grimtooth's Most Useless Machine Trap
For those of you not initiated in the ways of Most Useless Machines, it's a device whose only function is to turn itself off. Each time you turn it on a finger pops out and immediately turns itself off.
Which got me thinking, perhaps Grimtooth might have invented something similar for one of his trap catalogues? Something like this perhaps:
The trap consists of a 100ft long, 10ft x 10ft corridor, at it's far end is a featurelss door with no handle. Protruding from the wall beside the door is a lever with a sign above it which reads "OPEN" and one below it which reads "CLOSE". Behind the wall sits an ogre, troll or other dim but dangerous creature who has been told to guard this door and stop anyone trying opening it by flipping the lever to CLOSE.
How to play it
The first time a player flips the lever roll 5d6, the resulting number is the PATIENCE of the guarding Ogre, make a note of this number. Each time a player flips the lever to the OPEN position the Ogre flips it back to CLOSE and reduce the Ogre's PATIENCE by 1. When the Ogre's PATIENCE is reduced to 0 it opens the door from his side snaps off the lever and bashes the PC with it before returning through the door and closing it.
Player's Solution
Go back the way you came.
Other RPG Uses
Unmodified, the machine would make a perfect Alpha Complex experimental robot...
"Listen up troubleshooters... The Computer, in its infamous wisdom, has granted you temporary security clearance to escort the experimental bot U-SLUS-MASH1N to R&D sector, please make sure that it gets there in one piece... "
Tuesday 10 May 2011
Roleplay Geek Publishing - New Product - Paper Minis Set 1 - Animals
Do your PCs ever forget that they're on horseback? Do you need some mundane animals to populate that village scene? Do you want ink friendly disposable miniatures? Then this is the product for you!!
Paper Minis Set 1: Animals includes over 112 paper miniatures depicting the 28 animals featured in our sister product RGP003 Item Cards - Set 3: Animals. Each animal is based in 4 colours, 1 for each of your PCs, plus another 6 bonus animals, that's 136 miniatures in total all for the pocket money price of $1 dollar!!.
Animals featured include; Bear, Bull, 2 Types of Camels (Bactrian and Dromedary), Carrier Pigeon, Cart Horse, Cat, Cow, Dog, Donkey, Eagle, Elephant, Goat, Horse, Lion, Llama, Mule, Musk Ox, Ostrich, Pony, Reindeer, Rhinocerous, Tiger, 2 Types of Warhorse (Light and Heavy), Water Buffalo, Wolf and Zebra plus bonus animals; Ducks, Goose, Pig, Sheep, Boar and Chicken.
Monday 9 May 2011
FBI Tracking Device Torndown on ifixit
Now I'm not for one moment going to get all high and mighty debating the pros and cons of one nation state surveilling its own citizen's, I just think that it's fascinating from an RPG stance to see the sort of technology, which if the claims are true, is current issue. Apart from the industrial strength casing for the battery pack it sure looks a little "Radioshack" to me...
Thursday 5 May 2011
Roleplay Geek Publishing - New Product - Item Cards Set 3 - Animals
Hot off the RGP press it's Item Cards Set 3 - Animals.
Does your party of PCs like to ride around the kingdom on the one warhorse that they forgot to tell you they bought in the last 2 shack village they passed through? Want some exotic transportation for that african safari you want to send them on? or do they just want to send a postcard back to mom? Well this is the product for you!!
Set 3 includes 112 cards depicting 28 animals each in 4 colours, 1 for each of your PCs. Animals featured:
Bear, Bull, 2 Types of Camels (Bactrian and Dromedary), Carrier Pigeon, Cart Horse, Cat, Cow, Dog, Donkey, Eagle, Elephant, Goat, Horse, Lion, Llama, Mule, Musk Ox, Ostrich, Pony, Reindeer, Rhinocerous, Tiger, 2 Types of Warhorse (Light and Heavy), Water Buffalo, Wolf and Zebra
As with all item cards it's at the low, low price of $1 dollar!! You can now also buy the entire set of item cards together and save 20%.
Friday 29 April 2011
Roleplay Geek Publishing - New Product - Item Cards Set 2 - Potions
28 Potions in 3 Sizes (1, 2 & 3 Doses) and each potion has a blank 1 dose card, so you can surprise your players with the "Guess the mystery potion" game.
Like all the Item Card Series, Set 2 - Potions is priced at low, low price of 1 dollar. Includes:
- Aid
- Blur
- Cure Light Wounds
- Cure Serious Wounds
- Delay Poison
- Fly
- Gaseous Form
- Haste
- Protection from Evil/Good
- Remove Blindness / Deafness
- Water Breathing
- Water Walk
and many more.
Thursday 28 April 2011
Roleplay Geek Publishing - New Product - Item Cards Set 1 - Adventurer's Gear
Coz I've been slaving away putting the finishing touches to the first of my item card PDF downloads which is now available on RPGNow/DriveThru RPG right now.
I've been playtesting these cards in my latest campaign and they've gone down a treat. The first set contains 112, yes I'll say it again 112!! basic Adventurer's Gear item cards plus a full set of rules on how to use them in your game. So show some RPG love for your players and buy a copy today, it's only a dollar!!
Thursday 21 April 2011
The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec
Friday 15 April 2011
Sneak Peak behind the Hobbit
Wednesday 6 April 2011
ThunderCats are on the Loose...
Citymorphs #025 to #029
#025 - Canal 002
Another canal tile with a bendy bit in it. Hopefully this will line up properly this time. I will get round to fixing #006 Very Little Venice at some point in the near future.
#026 - Slum 001
Not everyone in Morphia lives above the poverty line as demonstrated by this slum district.
#027 - Arena 001
Since the Colliseum was built this smaller arena has had to suffice with smaller scale entertainments such as public executions and beast fighting.
#028 - Arena 002
The owners of the Arena found that there are a few notable advantages to a smaller venue... It can be flooded and mock naval battles can be staged!!
Tuesday 5 April 2011
New Doctor Who T-Shirts at Forbidden Planet
4th Doctor - Tom Baker | 5th Doctor - Peter Davison |
6th Doctor - Colin Baker | 7th Doctor - Sylvester McCoy |
Not your usual fan shirt fare I think You'll agree.
Monday 4 April 2011
Games and 3D Printing: Thorn Dice
I spotted these Thorn Dice this morning courtesy of the guys over at Make Magazine. Designed by Chuck Stover (aka ceramicwombat) and available to buy from shapeways, they look strangely lovecraftian.
Friday 1 April 2011
Legendary Locations: Strahov Library Philosophical Hall
Strahov Library, Prague |
Thursday 31 March 2011
RMS Titanic
The PCs are a mix of passengers and crew aboard the RMS Titanic on it's maiden journey from Southampton to NewYork when it finds itself on a collision course with an iceberg. The captain and crew give the iceberg a wide berth only to find some hours later that the iceberg is following them.
The iceberg is infact the cleverly disguised ocean going mothership of the twisted genius Fu Manchu who launches his attack on the Titanic in the guise of manned mini submarines. These small submersibles are designed to punch a neat hole in the side of the ship and disgorge their contents, blood thirsty Malay pirates, into the bowels of the ship and take it over from the inside out.
The PCs must:
- overcome the pirates
- discover what Fu Manchu wants with the ship
- ensure that it completes its journey.
Tuesday 29 March 2011
Monday Motivations #12
Article #12 in a regular series where I offer up some ideas for character backgrounds by class. I aim to collect these ideas together for a future pdf publication.
What made your character decide to become a wizard? Why did they leave their home town? Did they leave family behind or are they looking for something? These are all questions players face when generating their characters, with the best will in the world it's tempting to rely on cliché.
ASSASSIN
5. Family Business - Your childhood was a strange one, you were home schooled by both your parents in subjects as diverse as languages, preparation and application of poisons, mathematics, esoteric missile weapons. You never questioned why you were being taught these skills. On your 16th Birthday your father told you to go into town and deliver a letter to the baker insisting that you wore your best leather gloves. Only moments after the baker read the letter his face turned purple and he keeled over stone dead. You gingerly picked up the letter and to your amazement the postscript was written to you in your father's hand it read. "Happy Birthday Son, congratulations on completing your first job and welcome to the family business. Now clean up any evidence that you poisoned the baker and come home..."
PALADIN
3. A Father's Secret - You were never close to your father and always saw him as an old an frail man, his body wracked by illness, old age and the rigours of farming life. When he died during one particularly harsh winter you buried him as custom demands. Being some twenty years old yourself and with no desire to continue trying to scratch a living from the soil you decided to sell the farm and move to the nearby town. When you were sorting out the valuables from amongst his possessions you found a book, scrawled within it's pages in his familiar hand were journal entries describing the most fantastic adventures and acts of heroism you could imagine. Was this really your father whose exploits you were reading about? The final page was addressed to you and told you where to look for the sword and armour that your father had hidden and that his dying wish was that even though he had not schooled you in the ways of war, that you would take up the sword and shield and fight for truth, justice and honour...
MONK
4. True Wisdom from Experience - It is written in the teachings of one of the most venerable ancestors of your temple that one cannot be taught wisdom from a book and that the truly wise must learn from experience. This tennet has been handed down to each and every monk of your order since and has formed one of the most important lessons that a novice must undertake... The life outside. Stripped of the comforts of a daily routine and the wise words of his teachers a novice must journey outside the temple for a period of not less than 1 year and return to the temple to be tested by the abbot himself. Some novices return and fail the test, fewer rise to join the ranks of the teachers, most are never seen or heard from again...
5. The Watchers - It is said that History is written by the victor. This is untrue, History is written by you and your fellow monks of the order of the all seeing eye. Once you have completed your training you are despatched to all the corners of the known world to record the passing of events. Whenever a battle is fought you account for the losses from each side and the amount of land given or taken, you and your brothers have witnessed momentous cosmic events, the birth of kings, the death of dynasties and the rise and fall of nations all with an impartial impassive eye...
DRUID
5. Side Effects - After that nasty business with the mayor's wife's skin turning purple there was little call for your remedies in your home town. You decided that there was more money to be made on the open road, so you sold what little possessions you had to buy a small covered wagon and set yourself up as a doktor of physick selling your own remedies for common ailments as you pass through the towns and villages on your way to who knows where...
Tuesday 22 March 2011
No Monday Motivations this week
Saturday 19 March 2011
TLOD Campaign Report: The Teaser Trailer
I hope that they appreciate the payback in a future session...
You can read about their exploits in my campaign site The Lands of Dual
Thursday 17 March 2011
Character Accents: Rastamouse "'im proper tuff"
I'm not going to concern myself with the wailings of the Daily Mail readership but draw your attention to this excellent resource which will help you to learn how to speak patois for those essential Jamaican character accents.