Crafting a Moon Gate

I'm a big fan of the Ultima series of computer role-playing games.  I spent many hours playing them on various platforms over the years.  One of the most memorable things about the older releases was the lore and the extras included in the boxes.  They used to have small rulebooks reminiscent of the OD&D little brown books, cloth world maps, and maybe other stuff like coins.  Of course, this type of stuff would influence my fantasy gaming and I would include similar items in my worlds.  

The screenshot here shows a moon gate that has manifested in an open area of the game world. The idea behind the moon gates is simple.  You can enter a moon gate when it appears to be instantly transported to another location.  A simple form of fast travel that has appeared in many other games up to the modern day. The scroll of town portal from the Diablo series is one such example. I've used something similar in my games but it a very limited form; I didn't want an automatic get out of jail card for the players.  I did, however, want some sort of magical gate that would show up in some locations depending on "if the stars were right" or some other arcane reason.  

I got into miniatures a few years ago.  You can clearly tell from my paint jobs that I am focused on utility and function rather than winning any competitions.  I also downloaded the complete Ultima series from Good Old Games some time ago.  Between these two events, I decided to try some crafting with some cheap clay so I would have a moon gate miniature to use in my games.  I was going to do the entire thing in this clay, but I found some small wooden circles for just about a dollar that could serve as the base.  I also stumbled across some cheap grass, sand, and rock at a local hobby shop, so I decided to go ahead and add those to the mix.  

My results are pictured here.  I'm not disappointed with the results as a first attempt.  I'm going to do another one in the future and there are things I would do differently.  First, the boulders with the runes and the moon gate were glued down first.  On the next one, the first thing will be the moon gate, but the boulders will be glued down after the base terrain. I think that will help with the few small voids that can be seen.  The small yellow spots were added to show a "magical effect" but I don't like how it turned out.  I used several coats of gloss varnish to give it a gleaming appearance and I will do that again rather than using the yellow paint spots. I may try some more expensive clay on the next moon gate as well.  I'm pretty pleased with this first attempt but I see areas to improve.  I will add more stuff inspired by Ultima in the future.  I'm not entirely sure what it will be but I think the runes might be on that list.

[Miniature Monday] Mimic

 

Since my last two painted miniatures were a closed treasure chest followed by an open treasure chest full of gold coins in only seemed natural that a mimic should be next.  It's not an "official D&D branded miniature" but rather a mocking beast from Reaper Bones.  As you can see, it serves the purpose I'm going to use it for quite well.  I was a little concerned with how the teeth and mouth would turn out, but after applying a wash to the miniature it obscured most of the problem areas that had me concerned. I know I still have a lot of improvement to do in some skill areas, but I'm definitely satisfied with the results.  The main thing is that it passes the table use appearance test so it's all good.  It also looks consistent with the other two chest miniatures. 

Newest Miniatures

I picked up some new miniatures yesterday. These are immediately going into the “waiting to be painted” pile – currently in the middle of packing to move into a new house – but they were good choices. Duke Gerard will most likely serve as a player character; a Fighter or Paladin would be the most likely choices. The other miniature is a Bugbear Warrior. Obviously, the Bugbear will serve as an encounter.

I am moving closer to having miniatures to represent each character class and what seem to be the most often encounters typically used in my games. The next thing to do is to finish painting them. Then I can start acquiring any miniatures that I will need when they come up in later games. I will have a dedicated painting area when I get moved in to the new house so that will make things easier to manage.

I have been painting miniatures for less than a year. I had tried in the past but I had no idea what I was doing. I chalked that up to a learning experience and decided to focus on other aspects of the gaming hobby. This was all in the pre-internet days so the great wealth of knowledge available on youtube and other sites was not available at the time. In 2020 my son became REALLY interested in Warhammer 40K so I went on the internet to find out how much information I could gather before going any further. I didn’t want him to have the same discouraging experience as I had in my youth.

I found numerous pages of tips, tricks, and tutorials available for any skill level. I let him pick out one of the beginner boxes and we were off to the races. I discovered that I enjoy painting and I decided to continue. I have since picked up many Reaper Bones and a good selection of the Wizkids Deep Cuts range of miniatures. I am not a grand master at painting and I don’t care to be. I paint at an adequate level that I am satisfied with so I can use my miniatures for in game purposes to represent characters, encounters, NPCs, etc.; just happy they don’t look like a blob of paint randomly brushed on a figure. Painting is also a great way to unwind and relax in my spare time.  In addition, it helps me grow the hobby by passing on tips and my collection to my son.

Now it’s time to get back to packing….

Upcoming Projects

I always seem to have several creative projects ongoing at one time.  I admit that I am not very focused in that aspect of my life.  I just can not focus solely on one creative endeavor or I will burnout and put it down and there is no telling when I will pick it back up at that point.  Listed below are some things I am currently working on and will post about in the near future.

DRAGONRAID

I remember seeing the ads for DRAGONRAID in issues of Dragon Magazine from the 1980s.  I always wanted a copy but I never did see it in any of the stores so I never got around to adding it to my collection.  All these many years later and I discovered that the company printing the game is still around and I decided to order a copy of the boxed set to satisfy my curiosity.  I am pretty impressed just with the contents stuffed inside this box.  I will be going through the contents and offering up my thoughts and observations; not necessarily a review.  I suspect it will take 3 - 5 posts to do that and maybe it will lead to more posts in the future.  

MINIATURES

I am continuing to paint more miniatures for use in games.  Most of them have been from the Reaper Bones line but I will not hesitate to pick up whatever works for my games.  The picture above shows a row of possible player character minis (top row) and some encounters (Kobolds, Mind Flayer, Minotaur, and a Mimic to name some) that will most likely see use in the games.  I am sticking to what seems like the mostly used encounters right now so I will get maximum use from my efforts.  I plan on adding more exotic types of miniatures when needed. 

CAMPAIGN WORLD

I am scaling things back.  No, not the possibilities and opportunities but the information.  I used to crave all the encyclopedic facts that some campaign worlds offer but that does not fit my current mood.  I am taking the "less is more" approach as the map above can show.  The bigger world is still out there and all sorts of possibilities await the characters but all of it is starting small and local.  The actual discovery of the larger world needs to take place instead of having all of that information logged at the start.  Gaming like that is cool but I am at a point where I would rather just play instead of trying to figure out all sorts of minutia beforehand. Simply put, bang for the buck. 

OTHER

The above list is by no means comprehensive. I have a notepad handy for jotting down ideas and expanding on stuff I have already in progress.  There will certainly be posts about GURPS Dungeon Fantasy RPG, The Fantasy Trip, D&D 5E, house rules, my own games, and all sorts of related items.  Stay tuned...