Where the Whales Go to Die!

Best. Movie. Ever.

Ok...maybe not "EVER"...but I LOVED this movie as a kid. And it was old when I saw it.
Island at the Top of the World. 1974 I believe. Adventure/steampunk/victorian explorers meet arctic Vikings and a lost colony.

Not sure why this movie captivated me so much. But it do so to the point that even years later, when I was serving in the US Coast Guard, I could not wait to get stationed up in the Arctic. And I loved every minute of it. Around every desolate mountain and snow capped peak was a Viking colony just waiting to be discovered. The "feeling of being watched" was constant in the arctic mountains, and the way the fog rolled in over the snow and tundra made for a mystical, imaginative land.

Now, in the movie poster artwork, notice the "Killer" Whales chomping at the boats in the lower right corner. In the movie, the mythical graveyard of whales, or "the place where the whales go to die" was a mythical boneyard filled with a Victorian era treasure trove of whale oil and ivory. But it was guarded by the Hunters, Orca's that would attack any that attempted to reach it. This scene depicted here actually never even happened, as the heroes ended up floating away on an iceberg not a boat. and of course if you look to your left, you'll see the Walt disney classical depiction of the "horned helm viking with a medieval era hilted sword" yet in the movie itself, the costuming wasn't nearly as grandiose, and actually followed historical Norse clothing much closer.

but until yesterday, I never contemplated throwing these mythical "Hunters" into game play...
I picked up this toy Orca at a thrift store yesterday for $.50. He was just about the right scale for standard table-top RPG 28mm miniatures.

 He showed a good amount of markings, which actually, if you've ever seen Orca's in the wild, they tend to have a lot of. I think with a  bit of work I could make this work to my advantage in increasing the realism here too.

The first step was to cut that fin off. I needed him jumping out and poised for a potential crash down onto either icebergs or a small boat. 

This was actually quite a bit more difficult than one would imagine. Cutting through this thick Sea World Toy rubber was harder than getting their Executives to stop breeding in captivity. Ok, maybe not that hard, but tough. Once I got the rubber cut through, I needed to even out the tail and main body sections to allow even molding with the water base I will be creating.






Nothing a bit of creative fiddling can't clean up. I found a nice sharp exact knife, albeit one with a large enough handle area to really dig into the rubber worked well enough. The Tail would be used in the same way to imply one Orca rising out if the water in attack, and a second, always just right behind as it descended into the depths again. The next part, and possibly the trickiest, would be to get the right size "water base" for him.

I typically use a thick black foam for most of my Dungeoneering work because I tend to acquire a lot of it. I work in a creative field and we utilize a lot of this material for signage, advertising pieces, etc.

Often referred to as "Gatorboard" or "foam-core," this thick, heavy, and durable black foam works outstanding for everything from buildings to boulders to bases.




When it came time to mold the base and model, the heavy weight of the rubber upper body, which makes for a solid, fantastic miniature, was too heavy and too angled as the Orca is rising up and breaching the surface of the water, that heavy weight pieces were used to hold in place.

Two small anvils worked well to allow the model to begin the drying process. The rubber was simply adhered to the foam base with standard black epoxy glue, and allowed to dry overnight. A similar process will take place with the tail.


In Part 2, tail gluing, water surface painting, and texture prep.

Geography & Gods

I read this fantastic post today from Kotaku.com titled  

The 13 Strangest Deities In Dungeons & Dragons 

http://www.kotaku.com.au/2016/03/the-13-strangest-deities-in-dungeons-dragons/)

This was a hilarious write-up on some of the quirky details of D&D's pantheon of Gods. I can't help but think that coming up with details on the Gods has got to be one of the best writing gigs in the Wizards of the Coast/Dungeons & Dragons real-world. But it made me think a bit deeper too. Like reflecting on how, and why, I have always been apt to use ALL gods from ALL lands in my campaigns.
Yup. All of them.
But here's why....

My first D&D book ever, was not the Players Handbook, the DM's guide, or even the Monster Manual. I checked Deities and Demigods out of the Library when I was probably 9 years old. Maybe even earlier. I, like any kid, picked it up because of the artwork and what details I could make out on each inside. I distinctly remember this first checked-out version containing something I couldn't pronounce either, "Cthulhu Mythos" and had I known then what I know now, I'd have probably stolen it....
But all the way through D&D, AD&D, 1st edition, second edition, 3rd, 3.5, a quick dabbling in 4th, and now, 5th, I have always looked to Deities and Demigods as the standard for all gods and evils in the realms. And thats when things got interesting.

See when I started DM'ing in 1980-something, I wanted it all! Every god, every fable, every mythical land, every weapon...all rolled into one. One gigantic, unfathomably large, realm where all continents connected and sometimes, didn't. Narnia? Yup, far to the northwest of Greyhawk (the Flaness). The Flaness was central, with Faerun (Forgotten Realms) to the South West, Middle Earth to the upper north, Neverland, Nockmar and the Nelwinns, even further east (from the Willow movie), Krull, DragonLance, and even the lands from the D&D Cartoon show...every animated series, every movie, every fantastical fantasy based film (Labyrinth, set in the Flaness in my world) and even the Never Ending Story, Fantasia, had it's own land to the immediate west. Such a vast mass of land that even the people of Fantasia didn't know their borders. I encompassed all fantasy-fiction worlds my little 10 year old brain could comprehend into one major continent.
This way, my players could literally travel to any campaign, any place, any world, and it was somehow, all part of one large, cohesive world, often times each country acting and surviving as if they had no knowledge of the others. But here is where the Gods came in...

In my worlds, all gods are "alive" or until killed in their own realm. Those that die still have ruins, ancient demonic Lich Lords, conniving wizards and followers, and deep, ancient, secretive cults quietly worshipping them in the bowels of the Underdark. But on top of them are new Gods, and they kept coming and coming with each new edition. Unless the Old Gods had been destroyed, just because they ceased to be worshipped on any one given land mass, did not necessitate them "dying." Not only did this allow the constant use of unexplored ancient ruins and temples to long forgotten Gods, but  it kept the doorway open to infinite creative possibilities. Here's a quick example:
As a young teenage DM, I had one player that insisted on worshipping Buddha. Granted, he was a Ninja, who was a paid assassin, who ate meat, but he was still (or so he thought at the time), a worshiping Buddhist. At least his character was. Whatever.
I also had another who wanted to be Christian. But just because he was, doesn't mean everyone else around him was. They all fit like a big puzzle into one eternal cosmology and it was FUN!

The other factor that played heavily into my realms Pantheons was imagery. When I first checked this book out of the library so many years ago, I remember loving all the imagery, the fantasy, and the ideas so much, I could never exclude one.
Before I even knew who "Lolth" was I knew her worshipers were bad news, as evidence by some of the great original AD&D artwork:

   I always loved this artwork. Brutal as it is, the black cloaked priestess sacrificing someone to Lolth through some demonic acidic torture was disturbing in my younger years, and etched itself in my memory but in a dark, and imaginative way. Later images of Lolth showed her as the curvy vixen and the demonic spider as well, but all encompassing that unnatural hint of darkest evil: 

And so it is with the 5th edition now. Of course my official adventurers League Organized play half-Elf Paladin follows the 5th edition guidelines, swearing an Oath to the Ancients and choosing the Emerald Enclave as his faction (as an outsider), but in home-brew campaigns I still like to allow the floodgates of creative worship to rule, allowing players maximum creativity and personal design in their characters. I may get a bit more strict on Buddhism though.

BACK TO DUNGEONEERING!

Ok,
Enough talk about gaming, and back to actual, hard-core DUNGEONEERING!
We have so many projects in the cauldron right now, I just need to get photos up.
Canyons,
Ruins
Ponds
And a swinging medieval tavern-like sign...let me explain.

There comes a time when it becomes difficult to craft new Dungeoneering projects, when the outdoors calls me more than the seclusion and silence of the Tower. Unfortunately, this "calling" is as directly related to weather in the Spring as it seems to be in the fall, and as a result, the more the sun shines, the less I seem to do.

But as the season melts into Spring, this year the Dungeoneering focus will be on improving the gaming club.
Yes, gaming club.

See the Ursus Templari Gaming Club (not even sure that's the final final name yet...) started as a potential future "private" RPG club, that has yet to truly come to fruition.
Here is the basic outline as it now stands in it's early stages:

• The idea is that the private club will have a monthly fee, ($10 or less) where in all players pay a one-time monthly fee, and the money is used for refreshments for each of 2-4 gaming sessions per month. The money stays in a collective pool. 
• If a player misses a session that month, they receive a credit towards their session next month, so your never contributing to a game your not going to take advantage of. 
• At the end of each month, each player who attends a game session gets 1 credit towards the monthly drawing: a reward if you will, that consist of some item of D&D paraphernalia. Dice, a mini, a map, maybe even a magic item or other D&D related item they, and only they, may use as they wish. They can, however, trade, sell, barter, or lend the item as well. Just like it was real. Similar to D&D Adventurers League Magic Items, but with no limit on trades or borrowing. 
• Membership would be done through an application process, to ensure that we get a variety of well balanced players, but most importantly, so that we can establish a group of consistently committed players for ongoing campaigns, friendships, and hopefully, lifelong game play. 

As a result, the gaming club needs a name!
The hanging medieval inn-style sign is ready to be painted, but it has yet to receive a final name!
Of course any reader who finds this blog, and submits a name, is welcome to claim such rights and as a result, be given the first free membership in the (insert name here) gaming club....or...something like that. This is all just an idea of course....

We would of course love to have a sponsor, and report frequently on upcoming events, cons, etc....but again. Just brainstorming. The idea here comes from how cycling teams tend to operate, but without the frequent use of every available legally available nutritional supplement known to man....

Not sure how this will pan out, if ever. The interior of the club needs some work, space mostly. And while I wish it had room for a nice long war-game style table, I am afraid it might be restricted to a smaller, round, type. But its a work in progress....


   
 

11 HOURS IN THE DUNGEON!

I had been waiting to play a TRUE game of 5th edition since it's inception.
In the mountainous region in which I dwell, there are not too many game groups, and especially  D&D 5th edition game groups.

Oh we have Pathfinder of course, the table-top inception of bad comic book art and murdering-hobo role playing where anything goes...but no true to the core D&D groups. Hopefully that will change.

Finally, at this years Saltconn convention I was able to get my fill...and then some. Thanks to the Wasatch D&D Adventurers League and some great folks from my LGS, Mystic Hobbies!

11 straight hours of D&D and I loved every minute of it.
But there was an even more virginistic (if thats a word) catch I placed upon my new baptism into 5th edition:

I started at level 1.
Really.

Level 1. By the book, level 1. Not a single GP more than what I rolled. Adventurer's League stats, adventures League guidelines, armor, you name it. Everything was as simple, clear, and start-from-scratch as possible.

And here's why.

Most of the players were there with power-gaming 7th level plus characters. Wether they started that high or not is unknown, since much of the D&D Adventurer's League characters are run on the honor system, which is great.
Now, they did not indulge us to the point of adding in Dwarven-Forge-style 3D terrain or anything, but thats ok. The DM's did a great job, the mapping was good, and the use of freestyle miniature movement was such that when I remember back, I almost forget there was NOT terrain!

And THAT is the sign of a good DM! What I remember is Having a FANTASTIC time! It felt like when I was a kid! It's like that feeling I had when I exited the theater of the Force Awakens, or the first time I got off Star Tours.  Adventure. excitement. And at the same time,a  happy, simplistic, creative innocence.

Granted, this IS what a first level dungeon should look like. And here's why. New players need to be brought into the idea of this same exact feeling. If they can not find the hook to empower their own imaginations, whats to keep them from relying on a video game to do it for them?  If the dungeon can not be a 3-d massive diorama of immense imagination-capturing proportions thats ok, but the descriptions there in need to be! 

We played the very first starting adventure on the Lost Mines series. 

The D&D ADV L volunteers were from various shops, but the one who ran a couple of adventures for me was from a great shop located outside of Salt Lake City here, called Mystic hobbies (www.mystichobbygames.com), and I can not thank these guys enough for bringing me back with such vigor, friendliness, and enthusiasm. 

I was familiar with this first level module for D&D 5th edition already,  as I'd actually already read most of it, but somehow, they still made it fresh and new. I could not believe how nervous Iw as as a first level player...stepping into the dark woods to pursue what part of my psyche told me was "just goblins!" It's amazing how vulnerable you feel when you look at your character sheet and see only "10" under HP....gulp. 

I knew we were going to be escorting a wagon through the forest and that a Goblin sneak attack was imminent. To be fair, I never would have, as a 1/2 Elf Paladin Outlander, allowed our troop to blatantly walk right through such a narrow crevass without first sending scouts up and around the cliffs, so the Goblin attack would likely have been avoided had we had 3-d terrain. This was, no surprise here, just asking for an ambush. 

But regardless....It was the best time playing D&D I have had in years. 

It brought back memories of playing my first game back in 4th grade. A botched version of some friends older brothers game of the Keep on the Borderlands. It brought back memories of the Dungeons & Dragons Endless Quest books, like Dungeon of Dread by Rose Estes.
It made me miss my friends.
It made me miss my youth.
And yet, it made me feel inexplicably connected to it too. More so than I have in years.

11 hours of geekiness.
And I loved every moment of it.
Like a time machine...thanks Wizards, thanks Wasatch Adventurers League, and thanks to Mystic hobbies for what I hope is the first of many many journeys to come....

Salt con T-Shirt Design contest 2016

In an effort to push myself to being involved with all things creative, for better or worse, I opted to submit a quickly-sketched logo design for the SaltCon 2016 T-shirt contest.

Now to be fair, it didn't win, and thats ok. I don't think it was my best work, but I tend to go more towards the clean and simple look anyways. Although I have to say, the winning design was fantastic! Retro and yet almost "50's space-age" cool.

SaltCon Miniature creations...

So I love the Saltcon Miniatures contest! But unfortunately this year, I will not be submitting any entires. You can find out more here if your a local and attending this weekend:

http://saltcon.com


I thought since I am not able to enter any new creations this year, it might be best to visit a couple "virtual" entries I wish I had the time to submit.

Large Black Pudding:

This was created from wire, foam core board, and hot glue. then painted to several varying depths, and varnished with a  thick gloss to give it a wet look. the complete original posting can be seen here: http://creativedungeoneering.blogspot.com/2015/04/from-tentacles-to-crystals-to-puddings.html

This was a planned entry for the medium miniature category, and while simple, I think gathers a sense of "depth" and movement. With this iconic creature, the simplicity is often its horror.

For my planned Large entry, I thought I would re-visit the Smaug's Horde treasure pile:
http://creativedungeoneering.blogspot.com/2015/01/smaug-horde-found.html



The Treasure pile is quite large, and unfortunately in these images I do not feature a standard D&D mini for comparison, but I wanted something for players to really see as a massive horde, not just a small treasure pile from a wandering monster that for some unknown reason, seems to always be hoarding gold pieces. No, this needed to be true Dragons Horde. Modular of course, so that in creating future piles I could arrange them into being multiple piles of a grand scale, eventually, resulting in a Smaug size horde.




I am somewhat disappointed in myself for not committing to showcasing some of the DUNGEONEERING! work this year, but perhaps its ok for the focus to be on being the one to actually enjoy another creative Dungeon Masters efforts...not just always making them....maybe...

Gulp.....

So this blog is my own personal avenue of creative journalling one might call it. It is often as I can, updated with the REAL purpose of Dungeoneering, which is to highlight creative tips, tricks, and projects for Dungeons & Dragons and table top roleplaying.

But since re-locating to the Western mountains of the Salt Lake Valley, I have found there are not too many D&D only players nearby. It's proved increasingly difficult to find a group that is not only made  up of consistent adult players, but ones that have a more "old-school" mindset as well. 

I am not a fan of just playing board games for board games sake. Nor am I a huge fan of Roll20 or Virtual Tabletop applications.  I like the idea of old-school, role-playing heavy and miniature tabletop heavy D&D. I'd even be a LARPer too if I thought I could get away with it, but I have a long history of not meshing well with that hobby. I don't see too many adults heavily involved in that past time either, which is somewhat of a deterrent. 

                          

Dungeons & Dragons is truly where my heart is at. 

But I am old. 

I am not a "gamer." I am a "started with B1, The Keep on the Borderlands, Red Box basic set, watched the cartoon when it was still in syndication" player. 1980s....Not a video gamer who dabbles in RPG's. Not a LARPer who dabbles in table top nor a Wargamer that has stepped sideways into D&D. I am a purist. I'm so uncreative in this regard that I do not even play Pathfinder, much to the shock of many. 

Now, there is NOTHING wrong with these other types of gaming nor the people who play them. I just happen to find a sense of simplistic story telling and pleasure from just playing D&D. Now to eb fair, in the past, I have played Star Frontiers, Palladium, Robotech, MERP (Middle Earth Role Playing), 007 James Bond, and Star Wars. And I loved them all. But D&D will always be my first love. 

But because I am old, I have slid into being a bit of a Hermit gamer. I am dabbling in solo Basic D&D gaming, but love a good tabletop session. Tough to do with solo games. As a result, I have taken the leap, and singed up for my first official dabble into D&D 5th edition at my local gaming Con that starts this weekend. Of course my hope is that there is somewhere, a "hidden room" that holds old-school style "play by candlelight" and "cloaks required"type D&D games..aka Mazes & Monsters.....the quintessential image in my mind of a good-old-fashioned "cult-like" D&D game. 

While it may not result in the "cloak wearing play-by-candlelight-type cult gathering" I would love, it will hopefully, at the very least, be a riotous good night of gaming. And who knows, maybe somewhere, hidden in the mist shrouded forested hills of Western Salt Lake cOunty, perhaps there still exists others with this same old-school mindset. 

On a side-note, this is one of the first years I will not be entering any of the Dungeoneering 

Time will tell...