From the smoking ruins of The Silent Sorcerer's tower, Skullsword sends forth nonsensical artwork and useless gaming tools. He also likes to discuss RPGs, boardgames, miniatures painting, writing, movies, books, and whatever else strikes his fancy. Mostly though, his goal is to provide fun and goofy things to inspire others in their games. Enjoy!
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Monday, March 14, 2011
Miniatures Monday
From the deepest depths of the earth, crawls a dreadful Blue Wyrm to feast upon unwary delvers!
Saturday, March 12, 2011
The Upper Ruins of Cyclopentaxor's Castle
The grand entrance hall. This is the main entrance to the castle of the mad Wizard Cyclopentaxor. Most of the above ground parts of his residence have been reduced to rubble. The stairs at the right lead up to the few remaining upper chambers. The crack in the floor was a source of great merriment for the last party to pass through here...
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Terrible Troll Thursday!
As I've gotten older I'm finding it easier to paint BIG miniatures. Like Trolls! Keep an eye out in March for more Terrible Trolls.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Terrain Tuesday
Welcome to a new feature here in the Dreadful Dungeons. Terrain Tuesday. I'm going to attempt to post weekly pictures of my home-made terrain. This week we begin with the Foul Fortress of Foam!
Another angle:
Another angle:
Sunday, October 24, 2010
D&D Gamma World in actual play
So, yesterday I participated in the Wizards of the Coast Gamma World Game Day and I have to admit, it was a blast. Sadly we didn't have a lot of players so we ended up having two tables each with a GM and three players. We were charged by he mayor of the town we were in to investigate some mysterious happenings at an old medical laboratory just outside of town. I was playing a psionic Yeti, and we also had an earth shaking cockroach and a doppleganger. Character creation in the game is quite a bit different from regular D&D 4E. Each player rolls 2d20 to generate random primary and secondary origins. Your origins determine two of your ability scores and each provides one power. Your primary origin allows you to place an 18 in one of your ability scores, while your secondary origin awards a 16 in another. after that, your remaining scores are generated by rolling 3d6 in order, which I love. I actually like that chance that I could roll a 3 for an ability, but then I'm weird. Equipment isa lot more generic than in D&D, but that makes for in some cases more interesting equipment. Weapons are grouped into light and heavy by class, (melee, ranged) and then one-handed and two handed. This means that I can have a 2 handed weapon and say that it's a huge club, while someone else can have one and say that it's a garden rake, which I think adds to the overall amusing feel of the game. Armor works in a similar way, being classed as light, medium or heavy.
My character as I said before was a psionic Yeti and my main weapon was a parking meter. Combat is very much D&D 4E, but there is no magical healing and there are no healing surges, making the game far more dangerous. To counteract this somewhat, each character is permitted to use their second wind, which is now a minor action, once per encounter. Second wind in Gamma World heals 1/2 of your total hit points. Additionally, short rests after each encounter allow for full healing.
For each encounter, every player is dealt one alpha mutation which provides some for of special ability. The player can use this card once during the encounter and then it becomes "tapped" much like a Magic the gathering card. At the end of the encounter, the mutation card are turned back in and each player draws a new one for the next encounter. When using an Alpha Mutation, players also have the option to attempt to overcharge them by rolling 10 or higher on 1d20. Successful overcharging enhances the power, while failure can lead to some hilarious side effects. I used a time shift power and failed my overcharge roll, which led to my character vanishing for 1d6 hours. Of course I rolled a 6. :-) There has been a lot of debate around this mechanic, but I for one am a huge fan of it. I love the random element and while players are allowed to build their own custom mutation decks with a minimum of 7 cards and no more than 2 of the same kind of card, I think that I prefer the wackiness of using random cards drawn from the master deck that comes with the game.
Treasures in the game fall into 2 categories, ancient junk and Omega Tech. Ancient junk isn't exactly what the name says. Some of it is junk, but some of it can be useful too. One of the players found tape, while I found a saxaphone. The treasure system sort of reminded me of the random equipment table in Aftermath. Omega Tech are the real "treasures" These are more akin to magic items in D&D and are usable once per encounter. My Yeti found a Leaky Fusion Rifle, which did 7d8+1 damage, but caused 2d8+1 damage to the user.
I have to say, I'm a big fan of this game. I'm not convinced that it would be completely viably for a long-term campaign, but o while a way a fe weeks, I think it's splendid.
My character as I said before was a psionic Yeti and my main weapon was a parking meter. Combat is very much D&D 4E, but there is no magical healing and there are no healing surges, making the game far more dangerous. To counteract this somewhat, each character is permitted to use their second wind, which is now a minor action, once per encounter. Second wind in Gamma World heals 1/2 of your total hit points. Additionally, short rests after each encounter allow for full healing.
For each encounter, every player is dealt one alpha mutation which provides some for of special ability. The player can use this card once during the encounter and then it becomes "tapped" much like a Magic the gathering card. At the end of the encounter, the mutation card are turned back in and each player draws a new one for the next encounter. When using an Alpha Mutation, players also have the option to attempt to overcharge them by rolling 10 or higher on 1d20. Successful overcharging enhances the power, while failure can lead to some hilarious side effects. I used a time shift power and failed my overcharge roll, which led to my character vanishing for 1d6 hours. Of course I rolled a 6. :-) There has been a lot of debate around this mechanic, but I for one am a huge fan of it. I love the random element and while players are allowed to build their own custom mutation decks with a minimum of 7 cards and no more than 2 of the same kind of card, I think that I prefer the wackiness of using random cards drawn from the master deck that comes with the game.
Treasures in the game fall into 2 categories, ancient junk and Omega Tech. Ancient junk isn't exactly what the name says. Some of it is junk, but some of it can be useful too. One of the players found tape, while I found a saxaphone. The treasure system sort of reminded me of the random equipment table in Aftermath. Omega Tech are the real "treasures" These are more akin to magic items in D&D and are usable once per encounter. My Yeti found a Leaky Fusion Rifle, which did 7d8+1 damage, but caused 2d8+1 damage to the user.
I have to say, I'm a big fan of this game. I'm not convinced that it would be completely viably for a long-term campaign, but o while a way a fe weeks, I think it's splendid.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Requiem for the Rail Rat Kid
Well, last night's gaming session saw the demise of Mortimer the ratling, better known as Manchego's sidekick, the Rail Rat Kid. No The RRK was hardly adventurer material, and he was somewhat of a magnet for disaster, having been horribly burned, blown up, nearly downed in sand and finally impaled by a somewhat hormonal, totally psychopathic, and fully cybernetic wench named Mila Mars. He wasn't particularly effective, but he was earnest and always tried, and damn it he was Manchego's sidekick. Now Manchego's not really the sidekick having type of dude, but somehow he clicked with the RRK. In the end, Manchego hauled his corpse out of the collapsing dome city so that he could at least have a decent burial. He was a member of our party and he will be missed. So, roll on Rail Rat Kid, and may your afterlife be filled with willing rat ladies.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Monday, May 3, 2010
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)