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.

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

Savage Dredd

The current pandemic predicament has given me a lot of free time which of course I am spending wisely (there's Fuck all else to do!!).  

I am currently busy familiarising myself with the Savage Worlds system and the unofficial Savage Worlds conversion by Randy Mosiondz and Teller.

I will also be incubating some fresh Judge Dredd ideas so that when we are released from Lockdown I can potentially run a game in one of my favourite settings.

I am also busy gathering models into a Judge Dredd collection on thingiverse and printing as many as I can.  If you are following my printed miniatures series Jessie's Prints you will probably see a few homebrew Judge Dredd models in there as well.  Hopefully the current worldwide PLA shortage won't scupper my plans.


 

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

This week, I are mostly been printing... 

 An Alien Cube - https://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!

Reaper Bones #12 - A Monstrous Menagerie

12 episodes in and we have only painted one big monster mini.  Let's fix that with this monstrous menagerie.  

In alphabetical order we have the:

Clay Golem (Ben Siens SKU: 77170)

Muscles upon muscles upon muscles, this is such a great multipurpose mini.  Imagine your heroes surprise when the weakling they thought they were going head-to-head with transforms in to this Jekyl like man beast.  I thought it was too good a sculpt to give it a terracotta warrior treatment.

Eye Beast (Julie Guthrie SKU:77043)

Reaper's homage to the quintessential Boss Monster that is the Beholder.  A two part mini which came preassembled.  Judicious use of miliputt was needed to hide the seam between the top and bottom sections of the head.  The addition of eye stalk tentacles at the bottom are a great way of incorporating a flying base and the abandoned sword is a neat touch.

I've been a fan of Julie Guthrie's sculpts for years and loved this mini from the first moment I saw it.

Griffon (Jason Wiebe SKU:77156)

Probably one of the best Griffon sculpts on the market and an essential creature for your wandering monster collection.

Marsh Troll (Jason Wiebe SKU: 77152)

I love the addition of the spine plate reminiscent of some 1950s B Movie dinosaur.

 Owlbear (Jason Wiebe SKU: 77156)

A bit of a contentious "more owl than bear" sculpt on this one and the one legged stance makes the mini droop towards the floor.

Bones Progress

Reaper Bones: 245 - Painted: 42

Related Posts

Reaper Bones #1: The Marathon Begins - Where I paint a dozen Giant Rats.

Reaper Bones #2: Kobolds, Are They Dogs or Dragons? - Where I paint a dozen kobolds.

Reaper Bones #3: A Carcase of Skeletons - Where I paint a half dozen skeletons.

Reaper Bones #4: A Shuffle of Zombies - Where I paint five zombies.

Reaper Bones #5: Introducing Shaina Coppervein, Dwarven Orc Hunter - First PC mini.

Reaper Bones #6: Mimic, Treasure Chest and How I re-base my Bones - Where I paint furniture.

Reaper Bones #7: Fire Elemental Meets Novelty Lamp - Where I hack a mini with LEDs.

Reaper Bones #8: Flaming Sphere LED Tealight Hack - Another mini LED lighting project.

Reaper Bones #9: Elliwyn Heatherlark, Gnome Bard - Another PC mini.

Reaper Bones #10: Horace "Action" Jackson - A Baddass disco dancing Motherfucker.

Reaper Bones #11: Pirate Captain Thorin Stoneheart - A Swashbuckling Philanthropist.

Coping with COVID-19: Online Gaming - How Low (Fi) Can I Go?

Some people call it a "Shelter in Place" others " Self Isolation" but we all know it as "Lockdown".

Whilst many might accuse us roleplayers as being sad loners, nothing could be further from the truth.  The vast majority of games need to be played with at least 2 people and most RPGs don't function without 3 or more.  That puts us roleplayers in a dangerous position.

Alternatives to Illegal Assemby

So you want to continue your normal (insert day of the week) roleplay session and still want to stay safe and legal?  What are your options?

You could sign up to the usual suspects, the Benicio del Toro of Roll20 or the Gabriel Byrne that is Fantasy Grounds.  Playing D&D? Then you probably already use D&D Beyond.  There are other smaller players such as Astral Tabletop, Beyond Tabletop, Tabletopia or Tabletop Simulator.  All of these services are more than up to the task, but the question is are you?

In my experience these offerings don't replicate the sitting around the table experience and come with an Everest of a learning curve.  Pre-game setup is also arduous just for simple encounters and the nice things typically sit behind a subscription paywall.

Do it for Free

The thing is most of us, thanks to corporate homeworking,  already have the necessary kit at our fingertips.  Video calling software such as Whattsapp, Google Hangouts, Facetime and Skype can all manage group video calls. The chat and game streaming services such as Discord and Twitch are probably two of the easiest services to use and are available across the spectrum of devices from iphone to laptop.

You will need to do some initial trials to see what works best for you in your situation but the last three weeks has seen my group using a combination of Twitch / Discord for the video & chat and a second service such as skype for the audio.

Virtual Game Setup for Games Masters

The setup for a GM is trivial.  You already have all the maps, minis, rulebooks and handouts that you use in your regular game all you need is:

1. A mobile device (or preferably 2) - capable of being used as a video camera and don't forget the charger(s), you are going to be on a video call for a couple of hours.  If you are using a second device make sure that you mute the microphone on this one so it is only capturing the video.
   
   
2. Wi-fi - don't blame me if you rack up a huge data bill hosting your game.  Make sure that you connect your device(s) to your wi-fi.
   
   
3. A tripod or selfie stick - to get that high level over head view of the battlemap.  If your location allows position it on a hig shelf with a good view of the map.
   
   
4. A headset on a second device - a headset is essential to cut down on any unwanted noise from appliances and feedback from speakers.  Using a second device logged into a different account or a different service to handle the audio is ideal.
   
   
5. An arms length indication device - AKA a stick!! The more tech obsessed (and cat lovers) will no doubt possess a laser pointer which is a suitable alternative.
   

Set Up For Players 

The setup for players is even more trivial and just requires you to have a mobile device and a headset.

Add-Ons and Resources

Here is a list of services which you might find useful to enhance your sessions.

• Dice Logger - free dice roller service which creates a read only log of every roll you can share with your DM or vice versa.
   
• Sketchup - you can quickly create 3d illustrations of rooms in your scenario using the warehouse of free 3d objects.