The Evolution of Long Neck and No Face

My Two favorite adventurers, Long Neck the Warrior, and No Face the Wizard, have fced many dangerous situations this year.  I've think I've actually done more drawing this year than miniature painting.  You can get a lot done when you don't worry about things like perspective, anatomy, reasonable color palates, or talent.  :-)  It's good to see that Long Neck has bulked up a bit, but he's still only a Vorpal blade away from disaster with that neck...

Man, that guy needs a sandwich...

Straight legged sweat pants were all the rage...

May need to make the jump to pleated sweats...

It took three milk shakes a day to get here...

Looking buff, smelling bad....

Happy Thanksgiving!

This might just make our fearless adventurers into vegetarians...or dinner!

Weird Adventure Idea Wednesday

This week's weird adventure idea:

On a misty evening you meet a filthy peasant along a rutted road. The peasant tells

you that 9 days ride to the northwest, beneath the Abominable Wasteland of the Soul Eating

Serpents, can be found the Cavern of the Celibate Conjurer. It is believed that there is hidden the Spiked Lava Sword of Cruelty. But beware, for the peasant warns you that the Darkened Monk of Eternal Wounds dismembers all who come near that dreaded place!

If you enjoy Weird Adventure Idea Wednesday, be sure to check out these free resources:

1,001 Weird and Wacky Adventure Ideas

and

1,001 More Weird and Wacky Adventure Ideas

My Game.

   

     Over that past few years, I've been working to whittle down my RPG collection, purging the games that I will never play.  Over the four decade that I've been gaming, I certainly collected a lot of different RPGs, some of which I've actually played, but many of why just took up shelf space.  This really got me thinking about the question of, "What is my game?", and what do I even mean by "My Game."  By "My Game", I'm talking about the game that I think in terms of regardless of what game I'm actually playing.  This isn't to say that I compare other games to it and find them wanting, but rather that it is the game that permeates my consciousness like a native language.  The game that I dream in, so to speak.    

     Way back in the day, circa 1979, the answer to this question would have been Dungeons & Dragons, as that was the game that I played the most and the one which informed my view of roleplaying as a whole.  As time went on, I found myself wanting more, and I was exposed to more varied systems.  I found other games that spoke to me more than D&D, games that let me do things beyond the strictures imposed by that venerable system.  By the time that I was in college, "My Game" was the Hero System.  It gave me free range to create almost anything that I could think of, provided that I had the time and energy to do the math.

     After college, real life intervened, and I gamed less for a good while, but I kept buying RPGs since I had a job and could better afford them.   However, I would still look at everything through he Hero System lens.  As I got back into gaming, and played newer systems, I found many to be very enjoyable.  Savage Worlds is now one of may favorite systems.  I love that I can create adventures quickly and get a session going without hours upon hours of preparation.  Also, I think that Savage Worlds works really well for the types of games that I like to run (Barbarians wandering around the wastelands killing evil wizards).  I'm also a big fan of the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG.  I love the zero level funnel idea and the whole "You're not heroes" vibe, plus Goodman games puts out some great supplements and has amazing artwork.  Far Away Land is also a great rules light system with some wonderful art and some really fun adventures.

     If I were to run a game today, it would probably be Savage worlds, DCC, or Far Away Land, yet I can't call any one of them, "My Game".  "My Game" to this day  is still the Hero System, even though I haven't played it in over a decade, and very likely will never play it again.  I can't create a monster or a magic items for another system without at least vaguely thinking, "How would I create this in Hero?"  So, what is your game?  What system do you find yourself thinking in terms of even when you aren't playing it, and do you still play it? 

Weird Adventure Idea Wednesday

It has been quite a while since I've posted a weird adventure idea.  This isn't for lack of the ideas, but rather for lack of the illustrations to accompany them.  So, without further ado, here is a new weird adventure idea!

On a warm summer afternoon you have a chance meeting with a charismatic soothsayer who is resting near a ruined temple. The soothsayer discloses to you that 23 days travel to the northwest, through the Flesh Devouring Swamp of the Hidden Eyes, lie the Forgotten Tunnels of Time. It is whispered that hidden there are the Pain Vestments of the Abominable Acolyte. But beware, for the soothsayer warns you that the Insane Tentacle Beast of Dementia awaits the unwary in that accursed place!

If you enjoy Weird Adventure Idea Wednesday, be sure to check out these free resources:

1,001 Weird and Wacky Adventure Ideas

and

1,001 More Weird and Wacky Adventure Ideas

Goodman Games has the best mailing labels

Honestly, To: and From: labels that form a laser battle!  What could be better than that?  Every time I get a product from Goodman Games, it's actually hard for me to throw the mailing envelopes away.  Just another way that they add extra fun to their products.  Well done guys!

I tend to think that his should be an automatic success.

A few weeks ago, in our Iron Kingdoms campaign, my friend Dan made what I think was a spectacular roll.  When the GM asked for a d6 roll, Dan's die came up corner "corner".  There is no trickery in these photos, the die actually landed and stayed on it's corner.  Indeed one of the craziest rolls that I've seen on my 35+ years of gaming.  Does anyone else have photos of wacky or improbable die rolls?

Some Film Inspiration for your Dungeon Crawling Enjoyment

Several years ago, I came across a lesser known German horror film from 1967 luridly entitled The Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism.  As it starred Christoper Lee, and as I am a notorious sucker for bad horror flicks, I was of course obliged to watch it.  While the film falls squarely into the realm of gothic horror, I found that it provides great dungeon crawl inspiration as well.  Let's start with the characters who feel almost as if they were rolled up from a Dungeon Crawl Classics zero level table.  We have a Nobleman, a music teacher, a priest/highwayman, and a serving girl.  These three embark upon an overland journey by carriage to a mysterious castle which is said to be ruined, and about which the locals refuse to speak.  Their journey takes them through a phantasmagoric landscape of blood red skies and a forest where human limbs sprout from the trees, and dead bodies line the roadway.  Upon arriving at the castle they find that much like many classic dungeons, it turns out to be a ruin where only the dungeons below remain.  Descending into the dungeon, the heroes find themselves in a maze of twisting passages filled with secret door and falling portcullises.  Disturbing frescoes festoon the walls, and skulls abound.  The characters are obliged to explore this underworld by torchlight and encounter things like huge buzzards, a zombie, and an axe wielding vampire along with a multitude of deadly traps.  A pit trap opens beneath one of the daring explorers.  A sleep gas trap knocks a character out.  A retracting walkway threatens to drop one of the characters into a pit filled with poisonous serpents.  Now all of these things don't make for a great movie, and the ending is a bit unsatisfying, but the set design is great and it really got me in the mood to do some dungeon designing.  For those interested in checking it out, the film is currently available on Amazon Video, and it's free to Amazon Prime members.

R.I.P George Barris

Sad news for my 500th post.  George Barris, the automobile customizer responsible for the iconic 1966 Batmobile and the Munster's car has died at the age of 89. :-(  Say what you will about the campiness of the show, but that car was awesome.

Wow, 40 years.

40 years ago today, Queen released the single Bohemian Rhapsody from their album A Night at the Opera.

Queen never seemed to get much respect in their heyday, but in retrospect, they really were quite amazing.

The Superhero Dilema

      I like superheroes.  I've really enjoyed the recent Marvel films, I still read Batman comics, love playing the Arkham games, and really like watching the Awesomes, but for some reason, I've never been that crazy about superhero roleplaying games.  Oh, I've played them.  In college we played Champions occasionally, and a few years ago we played a friend's home-brew system, but I've always been more a fan of guys with swords.  So where am I going with this?  Well, lately I've been feeling the urge to run a superhero game, and as usually happens, I'm debating which system I would use.  In my mind, the game would be a one-off, rather than a regular campaign, and I would want the flexibility to create characters of varying types.
     To me, the seemingly obvious answer is Champions / Hero System, but it's not as clear cut as all that.  While I know that Champions and the Hero System have a bit of a reputation for complexity, the core mechanics (3d6 roll under) is pretty simple.  The heavy lifting comes with character creation, which is a bit of a double edged sword.  While Champions lets you create just about anything you can conceive of, it can get a bit overwhelming if you don't already have a concept.  Building the powers can be a bit of a turn-off to some, but once the characters are done, the game flows pretty smoothly.  Combats do tend to take a bit of time, but that's pretty much in keeping with comic books where you generally only see one big fight per issue.
     Mutants and Masterminds of course is in the mix.  I love the DC Universe supplements which means that I'd never run out of ready-made antagonists, but it doesn't seem to be that much lighter then Champions.  Character creation still seems to be the stumbling block for new players, but man is it a beautiful book.
     GURPS is that game that I've always wanted to love, but just don't quite.  Sort of like Champions without all the stats, which is probably why I'm not that fond of it.  Had I come to GURPS before I'd ever played The Hero System, I'm guessing that this would have been my go-to game, but it didn't happen that way.  Plus, I'd need to tote around at least 3 books just to do character creation.
     So maybe Savage Worlds?  It's a great system for pulp games, and would probably be awesome for a costumed vigilantes fighting Nazis type game, but I'm not sold on it for straight up Superheroes.  I need to do a d6 only have for Savage worlds, as I'm just a fan of using d-sixes and.
     Finally, we come to Icons.  I picked up the Assembled edition last winter and it really seems to scratch that more rules light while still doing supers itch that I seem to have.  I like the idea of random superhero creation, and it uses all six sided dice.
     In the end, this doesn't really go anywhere.  I doubt that I'll run anything soon, but it may e a fun diversion for the times when all of our regular group can't get together.  I think that either Champions or Icons would win out, but who knows?

Miniatures Monday

This week or Miniatures Monday, we have the last member of our Iron Kingdoms party, Voldrag the Doomreaver.  The Fellblade was a bit tricky, and I had a tough time deciding which pieces of armor to do in red, but overall I'm fairly pleased with the results.

Miniatires Monday

For this week's Miniatures Monday, we are continuing with miniatures from our current Iron Kingdoms campaign.  Here we have a couple of photos of Ellyon the Warcaster in his coal powered armor.

Miniatures Monday

This weeks for miniatures Monday, we have an alchemist from the Iron Kingdoms.  This is one of the miniatures that I painted to represent the adventuring party in our current campaign.  He's a bit monochromatic, but he is an alchemist, and I'm not sure that they are the flashiest of dressers. :-)

Miniatures Monday

This weeks we have another Iron Kingdoms miniatures.  This one is  a warjack intended to represent our gobber's's steamjack.  All of the rivets took a bit of time to paint. :-)