Cthulhu RPG

If your character is frightened and paranoid then I think you are probably playing it right (see below, be afraid, be very afraid):  

Then some more. Did I just see a tentacle, or two? 

The Beholder

Sometimes all it takes is a little push, so when my eldest son said he needed a monster for his D&D club (an at school activity) to chase a bunch of newbies (giving them a head start at 5th Level) around a dungeon - he asked would I paint the Beholder that had been lurking primed and shaded on the shelf for over a year, it was enough of a prod (see below, the paint went from pot to brush to figure and before you know it, my mojo was back):  

Not someone or something I would want to meet any day down a dungeon! The Whizzkids model is much more animated and scary than the previous one I painted.

Personal D&D Highlight of the current Campaign: "Elven Magic User, do you remember the time when, ..."

Snuggly settled into a quiet corner of a tavern, the players reminisce together: "Elven Magic User, do you remember the time when, ..."

" ... You got scared after a Spectator hit you with a ray and you sprinted off down a random dungeon corridor screaming at the top of your voice until you were out of sight? And then, when we eventually found you, weren't you chained to a large rock, barely clothed, shivering in the middle of a cavern surrounded by [as yet] unanimated skeletons? 

We rescued you but you kindly forgot to tell us about, ... the fact that a Wraith had put you there as bait to lure the party into the cavern and he was coming to get us?" ... pause ...  "And, as the Wraith was 'getting us' you were totally without any magical powers of any sort to help us - being striped of spell books and ingredients for spells, by the clever Wraith. 

And ... if it wasn't for the fact that 'Beady' our lovable, but slightly murderous Gnome thief was secretly [as in unbeknownst to the rest of the party] possessed and under the malevolent power of an ancient, evil, intelligent artefact - which made Beady hand itself over [that is the evil artefact, aka a 'Mark of Chaos' - which everybody is now agreed as a "bad ass" thing for him to pick up in the first place and not tell us] to the Wraith which was then .. to our complete surprise .. was consumed by an unnatural red ball of energy that opened a dimensional portal, out from which stepped forth a Greater Demon spitting forth lightning and destruction - which we narrowly ducked, despite it bringing the roof of the cavern partially down?" 

Gasp of breath and sip of beer, then the Dwarf continued ...

"Which meant that, instead of being simple undead servants of the Wraith, we were alive but now responsible for releasing a terrible monster into the realm of men-elf-dwarf-gnome, the likes of which has never been seen in centuries and something we are desperately trying to hide from all the authorities, despite their persistent questioning?" 

Now that is a good tale for a long, dark, wintry, night in a tavern - providing it doesn't end up in a bar room brawl (see below, the scene in question from the adventure, proof that 'a fellow party character in need' [magic-user chained to a large rock] is definitely a pest of the highest order): 

Meanwhile back at the bar ...

"Yes?" said the Elf rather truculently, "I do kind Dwarf, I do remember the incident in question, but what of it?". "Well I only ask," said the Dwarf sipping his tankard of beer which was almost empty, "because I thought, isn't it your round at the bar?"

Purchase Number 2: Hero Quest Expansions

As I picked up Warlord Games Epic Napoleonic I came across a "must buy it or regret "scenario. I have acquired an original Heroquest but the revamped re-edition has also pushed out the two expansions .. and an irresistible force met my wallet (see below, no regrets .. even on the figure count it was worth it .. and there was some cool dungeon scenery bits too):  

The beasties inside need painting and I now feel as if I have enough undead zombies to chase unwary adventurers through the catacombs) .. Game On!

Dungeon Hack - Cleaning up the Baddies Lair (Lost Mines of Phandelver)

I like old style D&D despite it being 5th Edition rules. My teenage son favours the computerised Roll D20 with its precision and its magic lighting, but I like pulling together whatever is on  hand and improvising, making a "mash" of it. I like the organic flock and pseudo chaos of that ensues. Here are few shots from early on in the adventure (the Lost Mine of Phaldelver" used in the 5th Edition Starter Campaign). You have my old 1980's 2D dungeon floor plans resurrected from the loft and old school miniatures of the same period plus a few newbies (see below, clearing out the "minor" baddies lair under the ruins of an old manor house a classic party "snaking its way" through the dungeon): 

The rugged cavern section is covered without major trauma, then the party finds a more structured (aka "square shaped") section of storerooms and are dutifully explored (see below, when there are a series of rooms to investigate it is always interesting [fun for the DM at least] to see "who" goes [or is nominated to go] first into the 'next room', a bit of reluctant "turn taking" is always FUN (karma inducing moments) - as in who's time is it for their luck to run out and spring a trap): 

An interesting find. Rinse and repeat. Steps leading down, especially when they are narrow (5' wide which means single abreast), which is always a "bad sign". The classic 10' by 10' cube awaits at the bottom with the classic choice of two doors (see below, "Wasn't this why we brought a thief along, to go first?" says the fighter to the magic-user):

Behind one of the doors .. is a guardroom (what else would you expect) garrisoned by drunken brigands who fight at disadvantage (see below, one sleep spell later and they are tied and bound up and ready to sing like canaries): 

The party advances to meet an important bad NPC (magic user) whom escapes .. with the expense of his beloved familiar -- which all adds rich narrative texture to the adventure which is good stuff! Don't worry they meet up with him later and he has a score to settle (he was attached to that rat [as in it was his "familiar"] the party killed)!

Note: If truth be told the adventure has passed far beyond this point, as I believe the pictures are over two years old (my posting to this blog has really slowed down). The characters have advanced in levels and explored the Sword Coast ;) 

Learning from the way the Kids do it nowadays!

In the old days you read books, then read some more books, talked to others in the pub (well playground) about those books and probably the animated version of Lord of the Rings that never got completed, read some 2000AD comics and then went and picked a (too) hard monster from the Monster Manual and then threw in a couple dozen Orcs and the adventure began. Now there is all this crazy stuff like (see link below) that my kids watch and read!

https://www.dndbeyond.com

You will honestly spend more time reading and watching this stuff than actually playing it ... but it's cool. This old dog has started learning some cool new tricks. Most excellent! And yes, there are so many more sites I could have chosen! Boy am I envious!

Online "Dragon Magazine" Repository

Courtesy of the WayBackMachine:

https://archive.org/details/DragonMagazine260_201801

Digitised versions of the RPG Dragon Magazine

Letting the youngest DM .. and me being Solo Adventurer!

Having walked the kids through their first D&D adventure I could see the sparkle stay in my youngest's eyes (he's only seven). He so wanted to "play with the toys" I had to let him become the storyteller (DM) and you know what, I think that bright young mind did it far better job than me. I was placed in the precarious situation of being a solo "dungeoneering". "This won't last long" I thought to myself, first monster and he will choose the biggest one in the box (probably the Umber Hulk ... a miniature that has never yet been killed in one of my D&D games)! So there I was walking across the stony floor of a chamber and it was announced that I had encountered a trap. Ooops.  One (failed) skill test later and I was left imprisoned by a falling cage (in true comic book fashion). That was it I thought .. monster meat! However with a benevolent sense of imagination, the monster that appeared was a small mushroom man that befriended me. He (it?) said that it would help me escape as it knew where the special key was for the cage! I then played the mushroom man getting the key from a locked chest. Ingenious. He (or was it, it?) set me free and my new BBF and I explored the next room (see below, we are sneaking around in the background trying not to be seen by a Big Blue Monster and two young hatch-ling Dragons [Red and Blue]):

One unremitting axiom of dungeoneering is that where you find treasure chests you find big ugly monsters. In this case a green one that came from a very old Warhammer starter pack. I didn't manage to catch his name as he bludgeoned me into the ground (three rounds of combat which I all lost) as I was distracted open treasure chest withe the allure of gold inside it (see below, I was left unconscious as my new BBF did a very good "hide in the shadows" which is perhaps what I should have done):

Luckily my mushroom BBF was on the ball to once again come to my rescue. It(?) sneaked away and opened a chest where he knew there was a secret healing potion in that resuscitated me (see below, my seven year old was definitely out dungeoneering me hands down):

Once I was back on my feet Mr Mushroom introduced me to Miss Mushroom (pink hat, I get it) his girlfriend(?) who would help me from here "as it was too dangerous for him to go on". Not only narrative but he ingested the sense of peril into the storytelling. I was impressed (see below):

There we had to leave it until another time. My only chance of survival is to "follow the mushroom" to find a way to safety. I think my youngest is a bit of a groovy hippy at heart ;)

Dungeon Delve with the Dungeons and Dragons Board Game

It's the classic tale. Two adventurers and a DM. Limited resources, one character each, pretty much their first dungeon delve and a whole load of mysterious experiences for these youngsters to come, my two sons. Bravely they lit their torches and pursued the band of Goblins who had captured the local village sheriff . Opening their first dungeon door (I wonder if they will remember this defining event thirty years hence), they surprised the distracted Goblin guard, wounded him and then watched him run off down the corridor to try and alert his friends (same old story at least guard always gets away to warn the others). Fearlessly they decided to push on (see below):

The guard ran to find his friends and this group of three Goblins turned to face the adventurers outnumbering them 3:2. This bravery turned out to be pure folly as the dwarven-magic-user (interesting) and human fighter's ranged bow felled two breaking the Goblin's brittle morale. Were these the serious monsters who overwhelmed the local village. Searching around the two adventurers found a wealth of magical treasure locked in checks (obviously the Goblins were packing up lot ready to move off). With a new found magic sword in hand, two potions of healing and a strange magic scroll (watch this space) the lucky duo passed into the final hall of the adventure. Deftly avoiding some nasty pit-traps (thanks to the dexterity of the fighter-their) they pinned the remaining five Goblins (four normal and the big sub-leaser) into their lair - but no sign of the "sheriff" (see below):

Here the novice dungeon delvers learned first hand of the power of a "sleep" spell. Four out of five of the Goblins were subdued and the fifth slain by the fighter. The remaining four never "woke-up" (the ethical consideration of this I am still pondering as a father .. but they were evil .. perhaps I should have hinted they could have been "tied-up" as prisoners). The adventure part one is over. As the adventurers sift through the treasure chests "lo and behold" they discover a map to where the "sheriff" is being held. This small band of Goblins were but a mere scouting party for something more bigger and sinister!