[Fan Film Friday[ Slasherverse Trailer

If you've ever wanted to watch a cinematic universe shared between Freddy, Ghost Face, Jason, Leatherface, and Michael Myers then check out the trailer below and stick around for the 5 short films.

Mini Hooks for Fantasy Campaigns II

 Continuing on with mini hooks to use as ideas in your fantasy games...

11. A young child has returned to town with a few small gems he found in a hollow tree trunk in the woods outside of town.

12. The local witch living close to town has appeared in the town square warning of bad omens for the times ahead.

13. An eerie wolf's howling can be heard at night ever since a caravan of entertainers recently set up camp outside of town.

14. During a lull in the town's holiday celebration, a woman comes through the crowd with the local constable and points toward the PC's while proclaiming loudly "That's them!".

15. Small bands of soldiers have been turning up in town with no explanation for their arrival.

16. One of the Priests runs from the local temple screaming "We must renounce this faith!".

17. A bump has risen from the ground in the town square and has slowly gotten bigger over the last week.

18. A very large feather from what must be a gigantic bird has floated down and landed right on the entrance to the city.

19. Several townsfolk claim their fortunes have been read by one of the vagabonds performing in town and have turned out to be true.  One of the PC's is the most recent person to visit them and have their fortune read.

20. A recently reclaimed tome believed to be of great magical power whose pages turn blank if you read the words aloud.

More to come...

[Miniature Monday] Fixing Bent Weapons

 

If you've done enough browsing for miniatures, you're bound to have come across one with a bent sword, spear, axe, or some other item.  I bought a few that were slightly bent but I was able to fix them with a tiny clamp placed on the item for a few days.  That wasn't an inconvenience at the time because I had other miniatures I was in the process of completing.  I did, however, decide to find a better method for the next time I bought a bent miniature.

On another trip to one of the local gaming stores, I was browsing through their selection of miniatures and found two packages with three kobolds in each package.  The only problem was that one of them had a bent sword (see the picture on the left) and those two packages were the only kobolds in stock.  I decided to buy them all so I wouldn't have to wait for more to arrive or worry about trying to match colors if I didn't paint them all at once.

I did try the clamp trick on the sword when I got home.  I let is set overnight but that didn't work.  I visited some forums and other sites to find a simple trick to fix the bent sword.  I put a coffee cup with water in the microwave and warmed it up for one minute.  Then I dipped the sword into the hot water somewhere between 20-30 seconds.  I tested the sword to find it pretty flexible, so I positioned the sword into a straight position (see the picture on the right) and held it under cold tap water for 20-30 seconds.  I placed the miniature in my painting area to see if the sword would remain straight.  That was a month ago and the sword has remained in place.  As you can see, I still haven't painted the miniature, but its time is coming soon.  Just like books, there's never enough time to read them all.

I only have experience with the Reaper Bones miniatures and other lines made from similar material.  I haven't even tried to paint a metal miniature yet, but I do have a few I bought for a trial run.  I don't even know how they paint in comparison but that's an experience for a later time.  

[Fan Film Friday] Prelude to Axanar

I was under the impression that Paramount didn't allow the Star Trek: Axanar fan film to continue after they raised so much money on crowdfunding.  Apparently, I missed the announcement that Axanar is coming soon. To see what Axanar has to offer, watch the Prelude to Axanar fan film.

Mini Hooks for Fantasy Campaigns I

I like to keep a list of random hooks that may lead to adventure ideas in my fantasy campaigns so I thought I would share some of them here.  Maybe they will help some others come up with ideas to expand on these or ideas of their own. 

1. Strange lights have appeared in the nearby hills outside the city the last 3 nights.  These lights have showed up at the same time and last for one hour.

2. The cat population on the city streets has become noticeably higher in the last week.

3. The local crypt has been violated. The all evidence points to something breaking out of the crypt rather than breaking into the crypt.

4. A local group of youths have returned from a hunt with an abnormally large egg.

5. Graffiti from a long dead cult has appeared overnight on a local temple or church.

6. A local youth known for exaggeration has returned to town frightened.  He babbles on about an army of monsters passing in the nearby woods.

7. A small group of Orcs has surrendered themselves at the gate seeking asylum.

8. A caravan has entered the town rambling about a magical flying disc of silver that sat down nearby in the woods.

9. Mounds left behind by a large burrowing creature have started popping up close to town.

10. A local Priest has started acting strangely and appears unkept after studying a newly reclaimed lost tome of knowledge recently turned in to the local temple by a group of explorers.

More to come...

[Miniature Monday] Dungeon Door

 

I've always wanted to try painting some scenery such as doors, tables, altars, etc. for use in my games.  I commonly see this type of scenery at one of the game stores but it's usually a set of several pieces.  I've avoided picking any of those up because the price and contents are both a larger commitment than I wanted to make on a trial run experiment.  I left without purchasing any scenery.

On the next visit I was browsing through the miniatures, and I found a package with two doors.  I don't remember exactly how much it cost but the price was right, and two doors is a small commitment.  I bought the package of doors, and I painted them when I got home that day.  It went really well, and I like the results.  I'm definitely buying more scenery such as some tables, an altar, and some bookshelves to start.  

[Fan Film Friday] Dylan's New Nightmare

If you're a fan of A Nightmare on Elm Street movies, a new fan film is coming that might catch your interest.  Dylan's New Nightmare is a fan-made sequel to Wes Craven's New Nightmare.  The film is set 25 years after the original and features Dave Mcrae (as Freddy) and Miko Hughes (Dylan Porter) in the cast.  Dave is probably the best choice for a new Freddy that I've seen so far and Miko returns to the role of Dylan 25 years later.  Keep your eye on this one.  It looks good!

[Palladium] Exceptional Attributes House Rule

I've been in the mood to play some Palladium Fantasy lately.  Like many of you, the first thing I'm doing is looking at potential house rules for any game I'm going to play. I'm not opposed to the use of exceptional attributes in the game, but I've always wanted to tweak the rule.  Instead of a roll of 16-18 granting a guaranteed D6 bonus to the attribute score, I've always wanted to change it to a possibility of a bonus. I've tinkered with several different ways to do this but until I recently posted at The Ruins of Murkhill about it I hadn't been happy with the ideas I previously attempted to use.  Thanks to The Perilous Dreamer for suggesting the modification to my original idea.  The house rule is detailed below.

Exceptional Attributes: A roll of 16-18 during attribute generation grants the possibility of an exceptional attribute.  A roll of 16 gives a 10% chance, a roll of 17 gives a 25% chance, and a roll of 18 gives a 50% chance of an exceptional attribute.  If the exceptional attribute roll is successful, you roll another D6 and add the score to the previously generated score.  

I think that will work.  It's easy to implement and it makes the exceptional attributes more rare and truly exceptional.  I haven't tested it out in play yet, but it sounds reasonable.  I may look at the attribute table in general to see if it needs to be modified as well.  Have you done anything like this with Palladium? Did it work? Any suggestions?

[Miniature Monday] DIY Gelatinous Cube

I'm still painting miniatures to help scratch the old gaming itch; maybe I'll be fortunate enough to get a group together sometime in the near future.  As I continue to learn new methods and try out new tips, I have dipped my toe into crafting a miniature as well.  To avoid any confusion, I am absolutely not casting a metal miniature or anything similar because that is outside of my skill set and my artistic ability.  My miniatures are painted for tabletop use only and will definitely not win any sort of competition.  

I didn't set out to craft a Gelatinous Cube or any sort of miniature at all - it just happened.  I was picking up some groceries and remembered that I needed to buy some new ink pens.  On my way to that particular aisle, I passed by a shelf with some crayons, markers, and related stuff.   For some unknown reason, the package for the Crayola Model Magic caught my attention.

  

I stopped and picked up the package to read the instructions and see what it contained.  The box contained four small pieces of the modeling clay for a price of just under $5.  I imagined that I could probably craft a few easy things such as boxes, sandbags, boulders, etc. to potentially use in a game.  Again, my miniatures are for effect rather than display or competition so $5 would be a small price to pay if it didn't work out as well as I hoped.

I got home and put the Crayola Model Magic with my other supplies and then it occurred to me that a Gelatinous Cube is basically a box, so why not give it a try?  I formed the clay into a cube and let it sit for a while and noticed it still had some flexibility.  I recalled that I had a few spare bits laying around, so I added a sword, a helm, and a boot to the clay to show parts of unfortunate adventurers caught by the creature but not yet fully dissolved. Finally, I put a coat of slime green on the cube and then some blood around the pieces not yet dissolved. 

I'm pretty happy with the results.  Granted, it doesn't look as nice as a professionally produced miniature, but it cost me very little to make myself.  I still have the rest of the clay left so I will try to make some miniatures in the future.  I have plans for the slimes from the DragonQuest video game series and some oversized mushrooms as seen in the module In Search of the Unknown.  If it works out, there is a bucket of the clay available that costs twice as much but has 3 or more times the amount of the box.  

Have you crafted anything to use in your games?

 

Posting Again...

 

It's been a few months since I last posted. It hasn't been from a lack of willingness, but we have worked an extremely large amount of overtime this year.  I've got the itch to start blogging again on a (at least) somewhat regular basis. I've got some new ideas for posts, I have some posts already scheduled in the queue, and maybe even a surprise here and there.  Who knows?  I still have a secret project I am working on but it's not yet ready for extra eyes.  Stay tuned for more information...