Stonework Steeps!

I know I know....."modular modular modular."
I preach that all the time.

But the versatility, storability, mobility, and playability of modular pieces is just SO much fun, and they are a constant challenge to create.
Plus, when your imagination varies from a love of all things D&D to the carnage of Warhammer 40K, having pieces that can work for both saves a bit in the "Gaming Terrain Finance" department too.

So this weeks project was creating a sense of muddler stone columns, but made to look like natural rock. I wanted these to be able to be used in various forms of terrain. anything from mountain to forest to underground cavern settings (although the end result, while nice, does slightly limit  the potential use (in my own opinion) to underground cavern settings).

I started with my standard building material, hardened, paper-backed foam core or gator board (see the previous Creative Dungeoneering post on the Battle board made from this here:
http://creativedungeoneering.blogspot.com/2018/01/battle-board.html)

I shaped these with a thick and rough pair of scissors and then smoothed the edges with a soft sanding block, before gluing them together in equal-sized stacks with standard pva glue.

Once done, I added layers of paint over the black foam core and paper backing in the following order:

• Primer gray-standard gray primer spray
• light gunmetal gray: any med-to dark shade of stone gray would work (or red, brown, etc).
• soft gray: I used a softer, almost white gray here, dry brushed over the top to create edge highlights and give the stone a worn texture. The same would apply here though for other shades of red, browns and whites.  

Once the stone work was completed I added a thin layer of pva glue to the top, and created a flocked top layer using standard flocking materials. Green hobby store grass material (think train building sets or model diorama terrain) works well, but I also use a mature of old pencil shavings, pva glue, and a light dab of green food coloring and paint and mix until dry. This gives some texture and depth too (more on this in the next post on Aspen trees and natural terrain).

   

Simple. Pretty fast, and these were made almost entirely in an evening-about 2 hours +/-. 

Effective for use in wargaming or table-top roleplaying as added terrain features, archways, gateways, columns, pillars, or even over-water type features.

There are a ton fo add-ons that could be done to these too:

• Stalagmites/stalactites from some fo the small overhanging rock edges, then done in purple (Underdark or crystal-type) hues or even painted with snow flocking to represent ice or winter terrain. 
• Extra foliage or moss on the edges
• Water-spray, or bases of hot glue and water-type features giving them the look of being suspended in or above water. 

Just great simple little pieces with a lot of creative potential. 

As for cave terrain, I intended originally to make these modular to where they could be used for an Underdark campaign as well. But I am a huge fan of the more purple-gray hues that are found in the Wizards of the Coast and Gale-Force 9 Caverns of the Underdark sets that I currently use and match terrain too (see some of the previous Creative Dungeoneering posts on these in our archives...) so it was tough to justify the purple hues needed with the green flocking. 

As much as I love modular terrain, I love making it match even more. Thus, these are primarily for "above-ground" use. 

The Tragic & unheroic Death of Caloren Kuri'n

I live in a beautiful little mountainous corner of the Salt Lake Valley.
While there are plenty of role-playing groups here in Utah, there are for whatever reason, not very many in my immediate area. Nor are there players with enough creativity and over-imagination, that I have thus far found, to suit my tastes for immersive playing; from miniature table top worlds to smells, sounds, and even dress.

And so it is with some reluctance but also, some youthful excitement that I venture into the world of Dungeons and Dragons Solo adventures.

I opted to create a brand new player, level 1, from the Dungeons & Dragons traditional Red box set, completely by the book. No jump starting to Expert Rules, no high-level Solo adventures, but Level 1, and right into the world of all available vintage D&D Solo adventures.

This blog will chronicle the adventures, as I play through them all one0by-one, starting with the original included solo adventure in the Dungeons & Dragons basic set, circa 1983.

Following this first solo adventure, I will be moving on in the following order, as experience (and characters) allows:

BSolo- Ghost of Lion Castle

             

XSolo-Lathan's Gold

     XS2-Thunderdelve Mountain

 M1-Blizzard Pass

M2-Maze of the Riddling Minotaur







                          CM5-Mystery of the Snow Pearls      





                              

D&D Basic set, included Solo adventure (Red Box):

      Caloren Kuri'n grew up in the small village of Hillsreach and somehow avoided falling onto the same expected path as that of his friends; joining the local territorial militia and being marched off to the slaughter some years back. The border war with the neighboring Orc horde and left all but the fewest of survivors, and a once thriving village was left little other than a deteriorating ghost town as a result.

He did however, love the wilderness. And as a great admirer of both adventure and the Elven cultures of the western regions, he sought out adventure and the potential for fortune that came with it.
He thought, probably fittingly so, to begin this somewhat questionable career path at a series of old caves not to far from his home.

Since boyhood, the local caves had been the spot of dares, challenges, fights, and fortune, rumored to lie within the depths of the now abandoned halls and unmapped catacombs of dwarves ruins. He had never really ventured in very far, maybe only 100 feet or so, but then again, no one did. Well, except for Keithard Weaslent. And none had heard of him since the day he ventured forth, 17, armed with his fathers stolen sword, and a simple sack. It had been nearly 15 years since that day, and Caloren had never forgotten watching as the town bully, on a dare by the millman's son, Chadwick Laurent, ascended the small set of stone steps and entered alone into the depths, never to be seen, or heard from again.

But this day was different. Armed with a sword received as a glorious gift from his neighbor, the widowed lady Blackguille, and armor freshly purchased from the town armourer, a family friend Caloren had known since childhood, he was more prepared than ever to find either fortune or at the very least, fame, and possibly the remains of of the long lost boy.


                                                   

Caloren entered the chamber, and came some distance into the darkness, stopping to light a small lantern he held aloft. The walls were of crude carved rock, but empty braziers sat evenly spaced along the hewn cavern walls, unlit for an age.
He soon came to a large central room, with passages stretching into the darkness north, west, and east. In the center of this strange carved room, sat a large statue. The stone was faded and worn, but the image was clearly that of a once beautiful woman. Finding nothing of consequence, he began to venture eastward where a small glimmer of reflection caught his eye.
As he looked to the wall at his right, he saw there a small round metal clasp, and within the rotting leather tie, a faded roll. He slowly peeled open the deteriorating tie and found scribbled in a chalky dried script, three simple statements:

EAST ARE RATS

NORTH ARE GOBLINS

WEST BEWARE!

 Caloren opted then to take his chances first, with the rats. He ventured cautiously down the cavern passage at his right as it twisted and turned past a section of dripping stalactites. As he moved slowly around a left hand bend, a sudden screech filled the small cavern as a great rat let from a perch above and towords his head. 

The cavern filled with squeals and mad cries as rats squirmed from crevices in cracks in the walls, rallying to the cry of the lead attacker. The rats of the region were known for being quite vicious, and quite large. These were particularly nasty, and standing on all 4 resembled that of a medium sized canine rather than a typical rodent.  vicious and cruel, they were a tortured and vile breed, bred from filth far below and surviving through the scavenging and the canabalism of their own kind. It was a rare treat for the rats of the Hillsreach mountains to get fresh meat. 

Acting quickly, Caloren stepped back, swinging hard and slicing the rat clean through as it sprung. Quickly another attached at his leg, it's claws sliding harmlessly off his metal greaves. 

Swiping down and at once lancing the beast, it squirmed and fidgeted beneath his sword point as its foul blood leached out over the smooth stone pathway.

Setting the lantern down and searching cautiously, Caloren saw little else as the cavern pinched off to smaller and smaller veins, the twinkling eyes of more rats than he could count staring back from deep within their stony crevices. 

As he proceeded back the way he came, he chose to venture down the easternmost hallway. Giving up on the sense of avoiding potential trouble and facing it, or at least based on what the note said, the potential of facing it, head on. 

The North tunnels grew far fouler than that of the eastern passages. As he walked deeper into the dry and rocky caves stretching north, the signs of the dead and dying increased with every step. Bones littered the floors and rocks, blood, some peculiarly fresh, seemed splattered randomly. 

The sheer number of bones when examined was staggering. And some seemed quite human in shape and form. For a cave that was supposedly long forgotten, it seemed to have seen plenty of death.              

As he entered  a small alcove, at once two small figures turned from a huddled pile of freshly gnawed bones, each slowly turning towards the approaching light. 

Goblins.  

Goblins are rarely something feared by adventuring parties, but when in need, they can be a ferocious and deadly foe, and an bloodthirsty lot set on nothing other than devouring their prey, preferable alive. 

As the Goblins sprang, Caloren made quick work of the first, swiftly setting aside the lantern as he parried a blow with it's cruel short sword.

Drawing backhand arcing swiftly left, he slid his blade deftly across the attackers throat, letting the black blood spurt across the small cave and leaving the goblin gurgling for life on the cavern floor as the second attached. 

But the ferocity of their bloodlust was too much. 

The Goblin immediately slashed, using its free hand to swipe at Caloren's exposed thigh, slashing through leather leggings and into his right leg as it tore with it's short sword in an upward thrust.

Blocked, slid, and slashed, the Goblin fell back as Caloren pushed it away with a  swipe, slitting it from check to shoulder, but leaving it only frenzied all the more.  

Before he could retract, or stabilize his footing, the blade of the Goblin found its mark. The rusted edge slid crudely up under Caloren's exposed breastplate and deep into his gut, twisting and tearing through flesh and sinew in a horrendous slurch. 

Blood flowed, he fell to his kneess, and at once, his world grew black as the teeth of the goblin sprang, slipping beneath his helm and deep into his open throat. 

At once his world became pain and terror, as claws and snarls and teeth ripped ever faster into his still dying corpse. 

The old caves of Hillsreach, claiming another soul who would no more see the light of dawn....

   

                         

So my first Basic D&D character...was killed...by a goblin. 

As an extremely experienced AD&D, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 3.5, 4th, and even 5th edition player....this is a bit embarrassing. 

But one fantastic trait remained: As I remember the two hour session, playing with music, an elaborate Dwarven Forge cave set up, building each piece as Caloren explored further into the caves, the memory of that story seems as real and as fresh as playing with a  group. the true sign of a good gaming session. It was a brief escape, an adventure, and a journey into soemeplace unknown. 

Perhaps my elven fighter will be somewhat more equipped for the basic solo adventure next time.... 

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....