A slight distraction

For anyone that's still looking at the blog of the ole lead addict, I have another slight distraction that I find can fill the gaps of time when I have a piece of paper, some pens and 5 minutes............It's the 5-Minute Dungeon Blog!

I am setting a timer and not drawing longer than 5 minutes on a quick dungeon for a nights fun and entertainment. All you need are some random generator charts and you are golden. They are quick, dirty and raw, so no post 5 minute fixes or photoshop. Just proves you don't need an architectural degree (oh wait) to do a quick sketch for some dungeon bashing fun. Old School Style. Who cares about a dungeon ecology? Just bash away.

This was done in 3 minutes. I decided five may be just a bit better.

Recruits Convention #21 Spring 2013

Well, spring Recruits was last weekend. And of course the boys and I and a bunch of the Basement Generals went to show our support. Good times were had by all. Spring football for the boys and a funeral didn't allow me to participate as I would have liked, but I got to see old friends, great games, and shop the local vendors.

The Haul this year:

I picked up Gamma World Charcter Sheets, Referees Screen, and the Legion of Gold for various editions of Gamma World RPG all for a buck each. Ah nostalgia. I passed up a mint condition set of the Star Frontiers Knight Hawks space ship rules.

I picked up a couple of Hudson and Allen medieval houses. $7.00 each is less than half price, so why not. I love their buildings. They are my favorite and I have way too many. But you can never have enough.

And Finally, I picked up a very nicely painted Demonworld Empire Army. It was painted by a a local painter who really did an outstanding job on some of the pieces. Pics when I get a chance. It has:

•  A beautifully painted Rock Giant
• A beautifully painted unit of Hill Giants
• 2 War Towers with Flame Cannons
• A Unit of Swordsmen
• A Unit of Archers
• A Unit of Pikes
• A Unit of The Mob
• A Unit of Druids with Sprites
• Numerous Command, Mounted and Foot
• Wizards and Priests

This equates to about 12-15 units for Hail Caesar Fantasy! All told it was a really good deal on a really decent painted Empire Army. And the best part is, it is almost all units I didn't have. So combined with the Crossbows, Hvy and Lt Cav, Cannons, and various infantry, my Human Empire Army is in pretty good shape. I will finish 2 pieces of Orc Artillery, Then it's on to rebasing and filling in the gaps on the Empire. It was going to be the last army I was going to do. But hey, Its over half done, so it jumps to the top of the list. I am sad to push the Undead back. But they will rise soon enough!  Should be a good summer for 15mm Demonworld Fantasy. 

And OH Crap, Reaper Bones are Shipping! Combine that with the Dwarven Forge Kickstarter and you have a pretty great dungeon bash ready to go.

What's goin on...? (thanks Marvin Gaye)

That song just popped in my head when I wanted to make an update post and now will be in there all day. Might as well put a little Marvin Gaye on and listen to the smooth sounds of one of the coolest M...F..ers ever born.

Mmmm...smooth.

Anyway, as fall begins to settle in in the midwest, and the color show starts in the grasses and trees, and the crazy blueness of the sky on a cold morning, I feel the pull of the Workshop of Doom, but even more so I feel the pull of Roleplaying. Fantasy, Post Apoc and SciFi specifically. Fall is the classic High Fantasy Adventure backdrop. And the Post Apoc always feels like a mix of summer and fall.

So as that bug bites and takes hold, I know the BAron and I will be starting up our RPG games that have been on hold for a bit and start again.

I have bit especially hard by trying to see if I like Stars Without Number. A Sci Fi Space Opera game that has some great crunch, if you want it, and a great mix of Old School methodologies and ideology about what an RPG is, and some great new takes on the genre. And the best thing about it is its a Sandbox driven game.

That means that the GameMaster sets up the sandbox and lets the players play in it however they want. Some areas are just plain nasty and if you decide to go in there without the experience or ability to survive, you won't. It also usually means the world is a cruel mistress, and the dice are even crueler. No fudging, no saves by the GM. In fact in many games, all the rolls for combat and saves are made in front of everyone. Its the ultimate style of a neutral GM who loves to world build...Hey that's me.

It has crazy good tools for generating sectors, world, areas, organizations, etc, too. All the sorts of things you need to start filling in to flesh out a framework for your worlds. Great stuff.

One great tool for a GM of Sandbox style SCFI RPG's is this easy to use scenario generator by DWD. This is by the guy who revived the Star Frontiers RPG as a fan effort. He deserved my money for this just for that. But its cheap and unbelievable useful for the busy GM.

 

Its a great tool for making a framework in no time. And its charts so its old skooly like I like it.

I have started a development blog for my anticipated campaign for SWN, more on that when I have some content. Its called The Endless Night.

I may revive my Play By EMail game with the Baron. It was a little bit of work, but it was fun. Hrothgar's Folly.

My other one was a Post Apoc campaign called the The Burning Wastes. It just underwent a facelift and is ready for some great gonzo Mutant Future Action.

Never fear humble readers, I'll still be painting, just sometimes its fun to roleplay, and world build.

Not Roleplaying in the Fall just seems...unnatural. Go enjoy some escapism this season.

Interwebs Notes, News and Praise

Couple of quick nots from the internets this AM:

Khurusan is hinting at a series of longa awaited releases these next few weeks. Story on Dropship Horizon:
http://dropshiphorizon.blogspot.com/2012/04/khurasan-releases-caiman-apc.html

One of my favorite and most prolific rules writers, Scott Pyle of the Goalsystem(Supersystem, Blasters & Bulkheads, Labor of the Gods, Robofire, etc) has announced a long awaited Goalsystem game for Dungeon Bashing, with character advancement and some light roleplaying. Glad to see this moving forward. Hopefully the BAsement Generals will be in the slot for playtesting again. I do have all those dungeon tiles. Maybe I can paint some dungeon parties at lunch. Story on Scotts blog: http://four-color-figures.blogspot.com/2012/04/announcing-goalsystem-dungeon-delve.html

And at some point coming up, our favorite 15mm artist, SpaceJacker is packing up and moving to Australia. So that means, a little bit before he gets back in the groove blogging and painting. Lets hope not too long. So enjoy his work before he scoots off. Note his workshop pics on the sidebar. If I actually was a prolific phot taker, this would be great. Thanks for the glimpse of whats on your table jacker!:
http://tinysolitarysoldiers.blogspot.com/

Just a slight toot for myself. I have revamped the Roll 2 Hit! site. Its my RPG blog that died off last april as I got focused on my mini work. I have a real hankering to RPG lately. So I thought I would reboot, add some tabs and use it as an idea journal for games I want to run. Not much on there now, but stop by if you have an interest in old TSR games (BAsic D&D, Star Frontiers, Gamma World, Villains and Vigilantes(not TSR I know)) or the retro clones(Labyrinth Lord, Mutant Future) or new games, some based on older mechanics, some just new(Stars Without Number, Icons). http://roll2hit.blogspot.com/

And although I am sure you all know, I thought I would give props to the 4 work horses in the Miniature Gaming World. These 4 site I look at multiple times a day, and so do hundreds of gamers and painters and hobbyists around the world. If you want to know something or reach out to the gaming community, you better reach out here. If you don't follow these blogs or sites, what are looking at?:
The Miniatures Page: http://theminiaturespage.com/
Miniature Review: http://www.miniaturereview.blogspot.com/
Tabletop Gaming News: http://www.tabletopgamingnews.com/
Lead Adventure Forum: http://www.lead-adventure.de/index.php

And a guilty pleasure of sorts. The Mech Dude's blog is one man's quest to get Macross gaming to the table for everyone. I applaud this and many a saturday afternoon was spent by Ze Baron and myself playig the Robotech RPG by palladium, and trying to scavenge anything Macross related. So I would love to see him succeed in breaking through the Harmony Gold mess and getting Valkyries, Tomahawks, Regults, and Zentradei to our tabletops. I would buy a whole bunch if he did.: http://www.mechdudesblog.blogspot.com/

Another quick 15mm update

OK so here's a quick progress update:

I am finished with the Alien Mercs. Based, flocked, finished. I need some support stuff, and vehicles, but that hopefully will be coming once GZG release their next release. Check it out
here:http://dropshiphorizon.blogspot.com/

How cool have the New Israeli's become? And the UNSC troops finally have some new sculpts. So now with the New NAC, NEw Israeli's, and UNSC troops, plus the Alien Mercs, GZG has the infantry to back up all of that wonderful armor and support equipment.

I hope I am getting the Grav Sled fighting force for my birthday in Feb with NAC troops. I was waffling on the NI's cause I have the Critical Mass recon, but I have to get them now that they have the grav bikes. Somebody makes a sci/fi Merkava, cant remeber who at the moment.

I am also planning on purchasing a 8 wheeled force when GZG releases it, and the Hi Mobility wheeled force. Then this summer getting a whole order for buildings and building add ons.  Speaking of...

I am a horder of packaging materials for reuse as gaming material. and the last couple of weeks it has come to a great fruition. I have about 15 buildings and terrain pieces based for 15mm and some for double purpose for 28mm. They look great so far. I'll snap pics when they are painted.

And finally, we almost had a FPW(Full Party Wipe) on the old school sandbox campaign  am running with a friend on blog spot. Here's a link. No die roll fudging going on. If they hadn't of killed the last zombie, he was gonna kill the main character. Link:http://hrothgarsfolly.blogspot.com/

The Diamond Shores

I have started to add content to The Diamond shores Campaign World I am creating. Its been percolating for a while. Random thoughts on post its, sketch maps, etc.

Find it here: http://thediamondshores.blogspot.com/

Its like Lead Addict in that theres a 'home page' then links to all the breakout areas.

Hope you enjoy.

Ken