So passes the Lord of Darkness

Christopher Lee has died at the age of 93.  He remains to me forever the very embodiment of Dracula, but he was everything from a wizard to a Bond villain, and will be missed.

Old Illustrations in New Color

I've been going back and coloring some of my older illustrations.  This one was from back before "Long Neck" the warrior got his awesome red sweat pants...or his long neck...or hands.  :-)

Strong with the Force is my breakfast...

Strong with the Force.

Miniatures Monday

In honor of May the Fourth, I give you a trio of Star Wars miniatures in true 25mm scale.  Boba Fett, Luke Skywalker, and Han Solo.  These are from the old Grenadier sets done for West End Games d6 Star Wars system back in the late 80s.  I think that my eyes might be getting a bit old for painting minis this small. :-)

Weird Adventure Idea Wednesday

Weird Adventure Idea Wednesday is back! 

On a overcast morning you have a chance meeting with an evil-smelling drifter along the road.  The drifter tells you an interesting tale that 16 days journey to the northeast, on the shores of the Flesh Eating Lake, stands the Rotting Monastery of a Thousand Doors.  It is told that there is hidden the Ceramic Stiletto of the Ill-Fated Juggler.  But beware, for the drifter warns you that it is whispered the Mad Cleric of Darkness tortures all who go there!

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

Miniatures Monday Returns!

On the road to recovery, I managed to finish and photograph a miniature on Sunday.  Here we are a fellow who looks like a Roman Legionnaire making his way through what might be the gloomy forest of  northern Europe, possibly with some Germanic tribesman hot on his heels.  Then again, perhaps he is a Roman spy investigating the situation east of the Rhine, or hunting for Celts in Roman Britannia.  With so many possibilities, what do you think his story is?

Front View

Back View

Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day: (D100 table of Items)

I've been down with a kidney stone for the past week or so, but in honor of Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day, I put together another d100 table of magical item ideas.  Now in keeping with my views on magic of course most of these sound cursed, but I think that some of them could be quite beneficial.  These are just the item names and would need to have stats made up for them for either S&W or whatever game system you prefer, but hopefully some of you will find some inspiring ideas in this list.

If you enjoy this, be sure to check out these free resources:

1,001 Weird and Wacky Adventure Ideas

and

1,001 More Weird and Wacky Adventure Ideas

Miniatures Monday: Delayed

Sadly, Miniatures Monday has been delayed this week due to an issue with a rather nasty kidney stone.  I'll look to get back to posting as soon as I'm feeling better, since right now painting requires being able to sit up for longer than I can manage.  Until then enjoy some of my weak artwork in color. :-)

Happy 40th Anniversray to the Holy Grail

Wow.  I can't believe that it's 40 years old.  That would make me...more than 40 years old. ;-)  After all of these years I still love this movie, and I've seen Spamalot twice.  It just never get's old.  I feel Happy!

Weird Adventure Idea Wednesday

Well, here we are again, with another weird adventure idea!  This one sounds like a bad idea all around!  I think we might want to hire an NPC to light that lamp...

Adventure Idea:

On a bracing autumn afternoon you happen upon a friendly vicar sitting on a boulder beside the road.  The vicar explains to you that 4 weeks travel to the east, deep beneath the Ruined City of the Depraved Vivisectionists, lie the Befouled Sewers of the Vengeful Gods.  It is whispered that hidden there is the Flesh Melting Lamp of the Ruined Adjudicator.  But beware, for the vicar warns you that the Brotherhood of the Iron Eye makes its lair in those dreaded sewers!

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

Miniatures Monday

In today's installment of Miniatures Monday, we see a heavily armed and rather grizzled warrior charging from the cover of the forest.  I think this guy may have mugged Don Quixote and stolen his armor.

Review: Star Wars RPG Adversary Decks

     So the first time that I ran FFG's Edge of the Empire, I found myself wishing for an easy way to represent enemies.  As you know, Edge of the Empire and the rest of FFG's Star Wars games use special dice, so it's necessary to roll different amounts of differently shaped and colored dice for different opponents depending on their stats and skills.  Now this isn't that hard, and once you get to know the system it's not too bad to figure out, but it can be tricky for GMs that are new to the system.  What I found myself doing was writing down the opponents then doing crude sketches of the dice so that I quickly knew how many combat dice to roll for Thug #1 or Slaver #2.

     When I came across these Adversary Decks at my FLGS I was pretty excited.  I imagined that they would have all of the things that I needed for an encounter in one easy place.  We'll talk about whether or not that turned out to be the case a little bit later.
     First, let's talk about the cards.  There are three decks currently available; Scum and Villainy which has an assortment of smugglers slavers, and bounty hunters; Citizens of the Galaxy, which has things like droids, dancers, and various administrator types; and Imperials and Rebels, which has your various Imperial and Rebel soldiers, leaders, and pilots.  The front of each card has a large full color adversary picture on the front along with all of that individual's stats and skill.  The back of each card lists the adversary's talents, abilities, equipment, and a descriptive writeup to provide some flavor.

Adversary Deck Front

Adversary Deck Back

     I think that these cards were a great idea, and the art is top notch, but sadly, they have what I think is one big drawback for the novice GM, and that is that it is still necessary to figure out the dice on your own.  So, a Hired Thug with an Agility of 2 and a Ranged (Light) skill of 1 would roll... "Hmm, I'll need to figure that out" to attack.  I think that it would have been great to have represented at least the adversary's combat skills in format that was used in the Edge of the Empire Beginner's Box adventures, which used the dice symbols along with the skill ratings.

How I wish they had done them

     Many of the cards have plenty of space on them for it, and I think it would have been possible to have shortened the ones that didn't.  It's really a shame that they didn't do this because I think it would have made these cards a must have for all GMs who are new to the system.  When I compare the Star Wars Adversary Cards to my recently arrived Far Away Land RPG Creature Cards: Series 1, I have to say that the Far Away Land cards are more useful to me as they provide everything that I need with no needs for extra calculations.  But then I'm kind of lazy. :-)

     Overall, I'm going to give The Star Wars Adversary Decks a 3 out of 5 rating.  They are a good idea that could have been great if they had just included the dice symbols.

Weird Adventure Idea Wednesday

Well, here we are on another Wednesday, and just like a bad penny, another weird adventure idea has turned up!

Adventure Idea:

On a starry night you have a chance encounter with a pious friar on an overgrown footpath.  The friar explains to you that 23 days walk to the northwest, beneath the Crater of Blasphemous Bones, lay the Melting Caverns of Transcendence.  It is reputed that there is hidden the Eternal Saw of Silence.  But beware, for the friar warns you that it is said the Amorphous Mutant of Decay engulfs all who dare enter that forbidden 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

Spy Games: Or good rolls for bad results

     This really makes me want to play a game of Danger International, or Top Secret. :-)
     Back in the day, the day being the early 1980s, we would take the occasional break from dungeon delving to explore a more modern genre, the espionage game.  Now back then, in the area where we lived the two options were TSR's Top Secret and Victory Games' James Bond 007 RPG.  I can't recall exactly why we played Top Secret, but it was probably the fact that it came out first.
     Now I secretly suspect that my group favored Top Secret even over D&D.  I was a lot more into fantasy than the rest of them and I think they found the world of spies and saboteurs a bit more cool.  It was after all the Cold War.   In any case, Friday evenings would often find us knee deep in some spy shenanigans.  The players were employees of the M.S.O. which stood for the Mysterious Spy Organization, headed by the mercurial spymaster known only as J.  The Mysterious Spy Organization was famous for it's ever moving headquarters, which was once found to be hidden in secret tunnel concealed beneath an ice machine in the middle of the desert.
     The party consisted of Keith, who was the most straight up James Bond type spy, Ross, who really liked to shoot guys (more on this later), and Len, who would probably have sold out his mother to the enemy for the right price.  Now Top Secret, unlike D&D had hit locations, which were the source of endless amusement to us, particularly to Ross.  Ross's character always carried a 9mm P-08 Luger, and he shot everyone in the foot.  The left foot.  This was not intentional, but rather just the way that he rolled.  In order to determine hit location, the players just had to make a simple percentile dice roll modified by certain factors like movement and cover.  Ross had the dubious luck to frequently roll in the 98 to 00 range, which is generally a range associated with good things like head shots and critical hits.  Not so in Top Secret though, for in that system, the range was reserved for the lowly left foot.
  We had a lot of fun with that game, like the time that Keith's character beat the party's recurring nemesis Nelson to death with the porcelain cover of a toilet tank.  The there was the time when Len, in order to prove his loyalty to the villains during an infiltration mission, shot Keith in the head.  And of course, there were all those villains who were found limping after being shot in the left foot by Ross.
     Our adventures weren't terribly original.  Most of them happened in casinos, or remote alpine ski resorts, or exotic Caribbean islands, and were thinly veiled rehashes of our favorite spy novels, but we had a blast.  Man, those were some good times.
     So who else has some fun spy adventure stories from their youth that they would like to share?

Miniatures Monday

It's Miniatures Monday once again, and this weeks we see two wolves prowling outside of a humble peasant cottage.  Those poor peasants!  Last week they had a brigand, and this week they have wolves.  They'll be lucky to be here by next week.