Wednesday 8 May 2013

Sci-Fi Ship Morphs - Part 5 - Even More Basic Tiles

Here are some more basic tiles for you to fill with your own furniture.

With Doors Without Doors

Daves Mapper

All the tiles for this and previous posts in this series have been uploaded to Davesmapper.com, so go get mapping!

Previous Posts in this Series

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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.

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Indian Robot Endhiran

My head is sore (as are my sides) after watching this action sequence montage for Bollywood's take on The Terminator and Matrix franchises, Indian Robot Endhiran.

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Monday 6 May 2013

Power Corrupts: Side Effects for Magic Users gaining levels

"This is Corruption"
Doug Kovacs 2011
On the internets today, my eye was poked by an awesome image by fantasy artist Doug Kovacs.  It masterfully illustrates a wizard passing through the various stages of his career and gradually changing as he becomes corrupted by his growing power.  This also rekindled my love of the old  AD&D 3 Stage Miniatures (of which I've written before).
 
Hack and Slash, Trollsmyth and Grognardia all write about spell casters gaining temporary side effects as a consequence of casting or memorizing the spell.  However, I feel that this would become onerous to track in game and doesn't really reflect the concept illustrated in the image, namely the chronic effects of exposure to thaumaturgic energies and their corrupting effect on the flesh and mind.

This is not a new idea,  in fact it's a defining feature in most fantasy literature, be it Saruman's corruption by Sauron or Raistlin Majere's racking cough and golden skin.  So why should there be a free lunch in RPGs? 

I can't think of a good reason not to to do this, so here's a little table of random levelling effects.


D20DESCRIPTIONEFFECT
01NOT YOUR DAYRe-roll twice (ignore all results of 1 or 20) apply both effects, you retain the right of choice.
02HAIR LOSSThe hair on your head falls out. You're permanently bald, deal with it.
03MAGICAL BURNSYou have been burned by the thaumaturgical energies. Permanently lose 1 CHA, 1 DEX or 1 CON (your choice) which cannot be healed by any means.
04ASTRAL SMOKE INHALATIONYour lungs have become scarred by smoke inhalation. Lose 1 CON permanently and develop a wracking cough which cannot be healed by any means.
05DEFORMED SKINYour skin has become: scaley, changed colour, become translucent, become hairy, become leathery, developed warts or lesions, veined, liver spotted (you choose). This change is permanent and cannot be healed by any means.
06DEFORMED EYESOne of your eyes has: changed colour, changed shape, become sensitive to light, or a particular spectrum of light, become bloodshot, enlarged. This change is permanent and cannot be reversed by any means.
07DEFORMED HANDYou have, lost a finger or thumb, arthritis, paralysis, had your hand replaced by that of a beast, lost your whole hand (You choose).
08SOUL TAINTYour soul has become tainted and you have become less empathetic as a result. You permanently lose 1 WIS and 1 CHA which cannot be healed by any means.
09VOID MINDPart of your mind has been lost to the void. You permanently lose 1 INT which cannot be healed by any means.
10DEFORMED FACEYou have: lost an eye, lost your nose, unexplained nose growth, lost your sense of smell or taste, developed facial scars, lost an ear, mishapen skull, lost teeth, developed fangs, facial droop, developed a wild expression (your choice). Lose 1 CHA permanently.
11WITHERED LIMBYour arm or leg has become withered (you choose). Permanently lLose 1 STR, 1 DEX and 1 Move which cannot be healed by any means.
12HEARING LOSSA magical explosion has permanently damaged your hearing and cannot be healed by any means. Lose all bonuses to hearing checks.
13STOLEN YEARSYou have been permanently ravaged by Time. Add 10 years to your current age. This change is permanent and cannot be reversed by any means. You can never be rejuvenated below the age of 10. This effect can be taken multiple times and the effects of old age should also be applied as specified in the game rules.
14STOLEN LIFE FORCEPart of your life energy has been eroded. Lose 1 STR permanently. Cannot be healed even by magical or divine means.
15SOUL CONTRACTTo save your own life you had to sign a soul contract. Your soul will be collected in 20 years unless you can find a way to break the contract. If you already have a soul contract it just got 5 years shorter.
16SANITY LOSSYour mind has become ravaged by the unspeakable horrors which lurk beyond this mortal realm. You permanently lose 1 WIS which cannot be healed by any means.
17SIGHT BEYOND SIGHTEverytime you look at someone: they age before your eyes, you see their death, you see their skeleton, you see their alignment aura, you see the face of a deceased loved one (you choose).
18FRACTURED MINDYour mind has become trapped straddling two universes. Whenever you are required to make a binary decision (Yes/No, Left/Right, Up/Down, Kill/Don't Kill) you must roll a d6 to determine your state of mind; 1-4 Your decision is unnafected, 5 You must change your mind to the opposite choice, 6 You become catatonic.
19MALODOUROUSYou smell of: sulfur, stale urine, faeces, rancid milk, orc, a week old corpse (you choose). This change is permanent and cannot be reversed by any means only masked by strong perfumes.
20GM'S CHOICEGM rerolls and chooses the effect for you.

3 Stage AD&D Miniatures

(R to L): Citadel (ADD11) Female Wizard (Lvl 1)
Ral Partha (01-331) Illusionist (Lvl 2), Illusionist (Lvl 3)
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Friday 3 May 2013

The Droste Effect: Has anyone used it in a game?

After downloading Tiles of the Dead: Games Room (Crooked Staff Publishing), I'm now thinking about running a one session game devoted to the Droste Effect.
Packaging for Droste Cacao

What is the Droste Effect?

Simply put the Droste Effect is a particular form of recursion when an image appears within itself.  It is named after a Dutch brand of cocoa powder which used the effect in it's advertising but has been used by artists from M.C.Esher to Jan Van Eyck for hundreds of years. 


Scenarios which use a Droste Effect are largely going to be dependant on the exact characters in the game but everyone needs at least two things:

  • A Focus - This is essentially a portal to each level of recursion, deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole.  The floorplan I mentioned above has a typical RPG table (complete with character sheets) which acts as its focus, but this could just as easily be a photograph (or a woodcut) on a mantlepiece, a window or even the PC's own shadows cast in their torchlight. 

    Whatever you choose, as soon as the players notice the Droste Effect in the image then they should feel that the world has gone a bit wonky for a moment.  How long it takes for them to work out that this a'int Kansas anymore depends largely on how obvious you make the differences between realities or how quickly the next recursion happens.

  • A Pivot Point - The Droste Effect revolves around it's pivot.  Locate the pivot point within the scenario and the players just have to work out what the correct outcome is and "hey presto" the Droste Effect will resolve itself and the world resets with no lasting effects on the PCs.  Get it wrong and you need to find the focus again and enter the next level of recursion.

Some Scenario Ideas

Mirror, Mirror - A great way of introducing a Droste Effect into any game is to use a mirror as portal to a mirror universe.  PCs will find that adventures in a mirror universe will have a peculiar set of complications; backwards writing, driving on the opposite side of the road, guns with ejection ports on the other side throwing hot casings into your eyes, you can see where I'm going with this.

Evil Kirk - Throw the players off by replacing one of their PCs with an Evil version of themselves.  To make it harder for them to spot, just replace one of their personality traits with it's diametric opposite.  Your normally grumpy or pessimistic Dwarf, becomes cheerful and eternally optimistic, just see how long they can last before they drag him kicking and screaming back to where he came from.  The pivot for this could be that all the PCs have to become Evil for the Droste Effect to collapse.   A more sadistic DM would make sure that injuring your Evil counterparts had some sort of penalty like reflective damage.

Uppa, Groundhog Style - Whatever the genre, the groundhog day scenario forces the players to repeat their actions until they hit on the right solution (aka the pivot).  This could become tiresome for players until they work out what the pivot is, so make sure that you let them fast-forward through the non-relevant bits.  This is probably the closest to a traditional Droste Effect as each day is one level of recursion.

Everyone is Everyone Else - When the PCs encounter the Droste Effect, make each of them pass their character sheets to the player on their left.  They must now try to play the character in front of them in the style of the characters owner.  Best played in an established group where no-one takes themselves too seriously.  Each time they encounter the Droste Effect they pass their character sheets to the left until everyone has had a turn, the pivot for the scenario is simply that everyone must play everyone else until their original character sheets come around.  Of course once they work this out they will try to quickly resolve the Droste Effect by "Goal Hanging" so you make it harder by moving the focus around making it more of a treasure hunt.

One of our PCs is missing - Each time the PCs encounter the Droste Effect one of their number is missing and they will remain trapped in this Droste until they locate the missing PC.  You could rehash another meme (Final Destination), by making the missing PC die in interesting ways just as they are found, thereby triggering a new Droste Effect.  The pivot is that you must prevent the missing character from dying.

Have you tried it?


If you have any ideas, suggestions or experience of using the Droste Effect in your own games, feel free to comment below.

The Arnolfini Marriage
(Jan Van Eyck 1434)		 close up of mirror, inscription reads
"Jan Van Eyck was there 1434"
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Wednesday 1 May 2013

Sci-Fi Ship Morphs Part 4 - More Basic Tiles

Here are some more basic tiles for you to fill with your own furniture.

With DoorsWithout Doors

Daves Mapper

All the tiles for this and previous posts in this series have been uploaded to Davesmapper.com, so go get mapping!

Previous Posts in this Series

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Sunday 28 April 2013

Goblin Aid - Raising Money for Kevin "Goblin Master" Adams

On March 20th, Miniature sculptor extraordinaire Kevin "Goblinmaster" Adams was brutally attacked in his own home by a couple of scumbags.  Thankfully, Kev survived the attack but suffered some pretty serious injuries.

The gaming community has rallied to support Kev in his time of need and, thanks to Ian Brumby (Fenris Games) and John Atter (Frothers Unite), The charity facebook page Goblin Aid was launched.  Unfortunately I passed on Salute this year, but Wargames Foundry were selling a "snorklings" blister of 6 miniatures including a self portrait mini of Kev.

Dear Tony Blair... has an excellent update post showing all the "greens" which have been donated by sculptors the world over to be cast into a series of boxed sets to raise money for Kev.

Thanks also to James "Grim" Desborough of Postmortem Studios for passing on the news.
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Friday 26 April 2013

DIY Gelatinous Cube

Finn gets half eaten by "Jelly Cube"
Adventure Time with Finn & Jake
Gelatinous cubes are one of those classic dungeon monsters you need in your DM's arsenal, in fact I'd go so far to say that if you haven't encountered one you need a new DM.

The commercially produced miniatures are on the whole way too expensive but here's a list in case you have no modelling or DIY skills.
  • Otherworld Miniatures - The go to guys for OSR style fantasy miniatures have 3 versions;  DM16a Standard (£15), DM16b Deluxe I and DM16c Deluxe II (£25).  These are very useable and to the usual Otherworld Miniatures sculpt standards, but pricey all the same.
  • D&D Miniatures - The Desert of Desolation series of minis introduced which you can still pick up (if you have deep pockets) on ebay for £40.  One for the serious collector I think.

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants - The DIY Roundup


There are basically two ways to tackle this, solid or hollow.  Making your gelatinous cube solid has a number of advantages namely that it will be extremely sturdy durable and you can embed miniatures and other items inside for that partially digested look.  However the cost of resin can be high and it's not a material everyone feels confident using. 

The obvious advantage of the hollow cube is that you can put your PC's miniature inside it and there's a weight saving.  It's a purely personal choice, but here's a quick round-up of the more prominent jelly cube makers out there on the interweb.

Solid DIY Gelatinous Cubes
Hollow DIY Gelatinous Cubes

Make it the Roleplay-Geek Way

You will need:
An old shirt box, ripe for recycling
  • Acetate - I got mine from an old shirt box (I bet you have some old packaging lying around) so was this was essentially free and made me feel good about reusing and recycling.  Most come clear but any colour will do, it just has to be transparent.
  • Hot Melt Glue Gun - I picked mine up from a discount store complete with a couple of packs of sticks for £3, but most DIYers and hobbyists will have one of these already.  If you don't have one of these you can use superglue, but make sure that you add some gluing tabs to your box grid (see Step 1 below).
  • Pen - A Sharpie or other non branded fine permanent marker (like a CD Pen).  Green or Blue are best, but any colour will suffice.
  • Sandpaper - Wet & Dry is best to minimise coarse scratches but essentially any sandpaper will do the finer the better.
  • Ruler - for marking, cutting and folding your acetate.
  • Craft Knife - for cutting your acetate.

  • Sticky Tape - for holding your cube sides together as you glue.
  • 30-60 Minutes of Your Life! - You won't ever get it back but you were only going to waste it watching TV or reading some other persons blog.
Acetate marked out in "Cross Pattern"
Step 1: Get your sheet of acetate and mark out a grid of 2 inch squares (50mm) in the standard folded out cross pattern you learnt in high school geometry class using the pen and ruler.  Like so:

If you want to make a hollow box, cut out a smaller square (approximately 40mm) from one face, usually the end one in the cross pattern. 

If you're using superglue it's a good idea at this stage to leave a thin glue tab around each of the faces as it's really tricky to glue edge to edge without seepage and the inevitable fingers stuck together.

Acetate cut, scored, folded and scuffed
Step 2: Making sure that you have the marked side face up, cut out the acetate cross and score along all the fold lines using the blunt side of the craft knife.  Using the ruler as a straight edge will help you make sharp folds.

box taped and glue up in progress
Step 3: Again, making sure that you have the marked side face up, take your sandpaper and rub along all the inside faces edges to both scuff off the pen lines and to give it a frosted look.

Step 4: Tape each side one at a time and glue the edges together.  The hot melt glue may heat up the plastic and deform your box sides but don't panic at this stage.  Beware, the hot melt glue is exactly that, HOT! and will take a while to cool down, so try to avoid the temptation to touch it as it will burn you, stick to your fingers and go all stringy. 

If you're using superglue instead of hot melt glue try to avoid getting any on your fingers as it's a real pain and you will get finger print marks in the acetate. 

Extra drippy effect applied to outsi
Step 5: When all sides are glued and cooled, strip off the tape and repeat the process on the outside edges.  You can drip hot glue (or PVA) from the top face down each side for that extra... drippy look.

Eh voila, you have a super cheap Gelatinous Cube, or as we say in Sarf East Lahndan, "Jellied Cube for nish, mate!".  You can make your cube's as big or small as you like and in as many colours as you like. Try spicing it up by by glueing miniature swords, shields or bits of that half butchered skeleton you have lying around your bits box, to the inside faces

With a bit of creativity you can use hot melt glue and acetate for all sorts of things like flying stands, Tenser's Floating Disc, magic portals, Walls of Ice, Fire, Force and Fog or any of the Bigby's Hand spells.  Let your imagination and hot glue flow free!.
Finished gelatinous cube happily munching on a GW half-orc
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Wednesday 24 April 2013

Sci-Fi Ship Morphs Part 3 - Cryo Tubes, Mess Hall, Transporters and Drop-Ship

Continuing the intrepid adventures of SS Morpheus, this week we add:

Cryo-Tubes and Mess Hall

For those deep space missions where you have to go to sleep during the long journey. This also introduces a new basic standard tile.

Without Doors With Doors

Teleporter Bay

Unless you have a shuttle, you need a teleporter to get you planetside.
Teleporter Room

Shuttle

If you're gonna have a shuttle you might as well have a dropship, just remember to shut the doors when you've left.
Dropship / ShuttleShuttle Bay Doors Open

Escape Pods

If you need to evacuate the ship use an escape pod and always come in handy for secret meetings, just don't let the computer lip read what you're saying... 
Escape Pods

Daves Mapper

All the tiles for this and previous posts in this series have been uploaded to Davesmapper.com, so go get mapping!

Previous Posts in this Series

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Saturday 20 April 2013

Oblique Strategies - Musical Fun with Brian and Peter

"The internet... if you're not learning a new thing every day then you're doing it wrong."

Brian Eno - Games Designer?
©Rolling Stone Magazine
Today's new thing (well new to me anyway) is that noted producer and all round musical genius Brian Eno is also a game designer.

In 1975, he and Berlin born British artist Peter Schmidt, released Oblique Strategies, a limited run of 500 boxed sets of 113 cards signed and personally given as gifts.   Each card contains an inspirational phrase, question or dilemas designed to focus artists on other ways of solving problems and avoiding creative block.

in the early 80s Eno went further, creating his "Games for Musicians" for the recording sessions of the David Bowie album Outside.  Some of the characters he came up with would not look out of place in a William Gibson novel and on it's release Rolling Stone's critical review aptly characterised it as having a "jury-rigged cybernoir narrative".

It occurred to me how fun it could be for a Neutral (or Chaotic) PC to be furnished with a deck of these cards and for their player to respond to the whims of each card.  A cartomantic verison of The Dice Man, you could even make this into a cursed magic item like the Deck of Many Things.

Thanks to Sword & Backpack for leading me to this little gem and thanks also to Gregory Taylor who hosts a fine Oblique Strategies resource page.

In case you were wondering how much you have to pay for a 1st edition signed copy, ebay has one listed for $4,999!!

The Eno shop will also flog you a brand new (unsigned) copy for the princley sum of £30.  For technocenti an e-version is available at
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