Miniatures Monday

Here we have a spear wielding, torch carrying warrior from the early 1980s.  The miniature is from an old set by Grenadier rebased on a metal washer.  I've never been very good at painting torches, but I think that this one is passable.

Winter Sports: Curling

Today, we had a chance to try out curling with the Pittsburgh Curling Club.  They held a learn to curl event over at the ice rink in Schenley Park, and it was a ton of fun.  I would definitely like to try it again.  Here we have a short video of me on my second attempt at throwing the stone.  It could certainly have gone worse. :-)

Miniatures Monday

Is he a gnome, or is he a dwarf? Does it even matter? He's a barbarian!

Free Map 3 (Tunnels & Trolls)

I've lost the notes for most of the adventures that I've ever run.  I've saved a lot of maps, but the keys to those maps are generally long gone.  Here we have a map from a Tunnels & Trolls adventure that I ran about 15 years ago.  I this case I actually have the map key, so if you're interested keep watching here because when I get a few extra minutes I may scan the whole adventure and post it as a PDF (It's pretty short).

Free Map Day 2

Here is another map from my collection.  It's a small tomb that I did in GIMP.  I used it both for a one shot roleplaying game and as the basis for the tomb in my quite dreadful novel. :-)

Free Map Coastal wilderness with swamp

I love maps, and I love drawing maps.  I don't usually get to actually use the maps that I draw, but that doesn't keep me from making them.  I've decided to start posting my maps here just in case anyone finds them interesting or could use them for something.  So here is my first free map posting.  It's got a lot of mountains and a big swamp in the south.

Miniatures Monday

A pair of mudmen ooze across the cavern floor seeking to envelop unwary delvers!

I'm actually not sure where these miniatures are from.  They aren't from Reaper, so I'm thinking they may actually be old ones from Wizards of the Coast from back in the days when they still did unpainted metal miniatures.

B/X Barbarians for Basic and Expert D&D

Since my earliest days playing D&D, I've always been a fan of barbarians.  As anyone who reads this blogs knows, about 75% of the miniatures that I paint are barbarians, so it's always been hard for me that the version of D&D that I'm most fond of doesn't have barbarians.  I'm talking of course about the Tom Moldvay's 1981 Basic Dungeons & Dragons which is available these days at dndclassics.com.  Going through some old papers this weekend, I came across my notes for a B/X Barbarian class from 30 years ago and decided to write them up and post them here.

Clark Valentine on FAE “vs” Core

A nice post on the differences between Fate Core and Fate Accelerated Edition.


Clark Valentine on FAE “vs” Core

My 500 Words

So yesterday finished the My 500 Words writing challenge.  I didn't actually sign up for it because I wasn't sure that I would actually complete it, but in the end I did.  I'm actually pretty proud of my self for it too.  I managed to write at least 500 words every day for the past 31 days.  I wrote the first draft of two new short stories, added some new material to an existing story, and started two other stories.  That's pretty productive for me.  The goal of the challenge was to re-establish one's habit as a writer, and I'm really hoping that I can hold onto the momentum.  Here is a small sample of this month's work:

A bitter wind moaned through the high crags, carrying with it the sharp tang of ice.  There would be snow by morning.  Here among the shattered peaks of blackened stone, the mournful tone of the wind was an eerie dirge blown to herald the death of the day and to foretell the birth of the coming night.

Yep, I'm writing crap, but at least I'm writing. :-)  Now on to some editing!

Lobster Fight!

A couple of angry lobsters playing King of the Tank!

Miniatures Monday

A lizardman champion preparing to do battle.  I removed the stone axe that he was wielding and replaced it with a two handed sword because I thought it looked cooler.

Roll20 Test Drive

So tonight, my friend Willie and I took Roll20 for a test drive.  For anyone who doesn't know, Roll20 is a web based virtual tabletop for roleplaying games like Dungeons & Dragons.  It's got some pretty neat features, like voice chat, the ability to easily import maps, tokens for tactical combat that the GM can give control to whomever he or she wants, and 3d dice to make it all feel a bit more like home.  It can also be run through Google Hangouts, which is how we did it.  After a few false starts we got things configured properly, and after that it went pretty smoothly.  We didn't play a game, rather we played with the features of Roll20.  I definitely need to read the documentation a bit better, but I think that it shows a lot of promise and will certainly be nice if we want to get a quick game going on a snowy weekend.  Also, it might be a nice way to get to game with some folks who don't have much time these days.

Atari Checkered Flag

Checkered Flag for the Atari Jaguar was one of those games that I really wanted to love, and I honestly did try to love it.  I played it all the time when it came out, and even after I walked away from it in frustration at the terrible controls,I kept coming back to it.  Every few months I would dust it off, fire up the Jaguar, pick my car, and promptly crash into a wall.  So here we have a video of me actually playing it.  It is not a pretty sight. :-)

Happy Birthday Dungeons & Dragons!

It's been a long strange road.  I hope that people are enjoying D&D today, no matter what version they prefer. :-)