Where the Whales Go To Die! Part 2!!!

So I originally wrote about a project a while back that I started titled Where the Whales Go To Die, based off one of my favorite movies, The Island at the Top of the World. (http://creativedungeoneering.blogspot.com/2016/03/where-whales-go-to-die.html)

This was a fantastic movie done by Disney back in 1974 with a lot of advanced special effects for it's time, but it really captured a love for all things "arctic" and especially, for classic adventure, travel, mountaineering, and even Vikings and 'Killer' whales.
I never did a follow-up to this project though to show the finished product, which I think turned out not half-bad!

I started with a toy Orca, and wanting to give the illusion of it coming out of the water, cut it in half. I created the base with a thick card-stock base and a platform of sculpted hot glue. This is done by allowing the applied hot glue to cool just slightly while sculpting the glue into the shaping desired.

After I started to get the base shaped right, I sunk the Orca's top half into the base, and continued to apply. This next crucial step is what really creates the sense of 'frothing foam.'
Wanting to replicate the scene from Island at the Top of the world where the Orca's that guard "The Place where the Whales go to die" is covered with an icy foam and misty cold arctic water, I added a dab of Gorilla glue to the still warm hot glue.
The chemical reaction between these two creates a beautiful (if not slightly over-abundant and out-of-control if not watched!) foam. This created a textured foaming circle of splash around the base of the whale as it crests out of the water, just as in the attacking scene from the film.




Loving these beautiful creatures I feel it imperative to emphasize here that these are designed for fictional table-top roleplaying of course, and that there are no recorded attacks of Orca's guarding "the Place where Whales go to Die" (that I am aware of).


(See a brief sample of it from the original film here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bh lOekZYMk-

Following the same technique for the fluke, allowed me to both create either a ridiculously large single whale (unlikely) or two whales that could technically be used for an ocean-based encounter simultaneously.

A similar base structure, and frothing technique was used allowing two natural encounters to be created from one single miniature.






Creating the underside of the whale was a bit more tricky as I wanted them to look natural (no "made in China" lettering" and yet scarred up and aged, like ancient creatures of legend. Matching the coloring of the white was tough, but adding a "gloss" look of being 'wet' was even tougher without the plastic looking too shiny.





       

All in all one of my favorite custom-made pieces. This has yet to eb entered into a contest as many of my other Creative Dungeoneering pieces have, but will likely be competing in a custom-made category this year at the SaltCon gaming convention:

http://saltcon.com

For the Love of Nostalgia...

   

It's been a while since I've used this (rarely visited) blog to wax nostalgic about good ol' fashioned table-top role playing. But I have recently came across a FB gown called Black and White RPG art that I absolutely love and that's re-kindled my love of old school gaming.

I have always held a special love for used books. Especially damaged, worn, torn, water stained, and even fire-damaged covers and pages. The more "adventure" a book, especially a role-playing book seems to have undergone the better.

And nothing captures this nostalgic look and feel of 'real adventure' to me better than the vintage late 70's to early and mid-80's Dungeons & Dragons and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons black and white artwork. The above image was probably one of the first I ever remember seeing at an early age. Something about it captured me entirely. I just fell in love with the idea of a group of adventurers walking down this long forgotten hallway deep within the earth somewhere, and seeing something so out-of-place as a mouth built into a wall. But many more similarly-inspiring images would follow in the years to come.

Let me preface this by saying I hold no credit for any of the artwork represented here obviously, but just want to share some thoughts and inspiration on it. Hopefully if someone stumbles upon this blog like some secret hidden door deep within a dungeon depth it can inspire a bit of creativity in them as well. In it's essence, the entire purpose of Creative Dungeoneering, to inspire just one idea or creative fellow Dungeoneer.

So breath in deep that musty papery smell, crack open that old TSR manual, and sometime, just pause through the pages as you did the very first time you'd delved into the realms of Imagination and started on the journey of fantasy role-playing, long before you understand things like "THAC0" and "skill mechanics" or even had the skills and spells for a 15th level Half-Elf Cleric-Druid multi-class early memorized...just artwork and inspiration.....

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...