August ‘26 In Review

Heat, humidity, thunderstorms… typical August. We took a long weekend to go enjoy Mystic seaport with some friends early in the month, and then popped into NYC late in the month for a Broadway show. In a lot of ways it was a good month… It’s been a crappy summer for a lot of my friends though. Deaths in the family, a fire, a fallen tree, health issues… It just seems like a crappy time all around, and of course all of them are all too far away for me to be able to help, to be able to hug. 

The kid has mostly been out of camp this month, which has meant more interruptions during the day while I work. Honestly this isn’t the worst thing. Sometimes frustrating, but it’s giving us the chance to work on knocking before entering a room.  

Miniatures
Once again, it was a slow start to the month. I didn’t even touch a paint brush till the 2nd week of the month, and even then it was a lot of back and forth on some stargrave minis without a lot of real progress. Sometimes things just come together, and other times it’s a fight to find something that makes me happy. In the end I got there, but it was a struggle. There was a big rush at the end to get some stuff wrapped up, and I’m a little worried about next month, as I’m starting to think about Halloween and this year’s yard project. 

 

I also got back to the cardboard transport and got it primed, and even started putting some paint on it!

 

 And because you can never have too many projects, I started working on an orc food truck inspired by this pic. 

Gaming
The above mentioned health issues have impacted our Stonehell game and limited progress. Between that and the condensing of 2 months of Beetle Knight games into a single report, I’m all caught up on my session reports. 

Summer doldrums also continue to conspire against my work game… 


Media 
Star Trek Strange New Worlds season 4
Resident Alien season 4
Letterkenny
Your Name

Books
The Painted Wastelands Empire of Bones
Alternity Tangents

Loot
Reaper Master Series 2 paints

Goals for September
Finish painting the cardboard transport ship
Play the next scenario of Hope Eternal
Build the food truck

Rappan: Stone Doors and Fairy Monarchs

Session 327 was played on 4/26/26

Morgana, wizard 10 (Rob)
Borumar, Triton Thief 11 (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter 8 (Lanse)
Nick, Fighter 8 (Me)
Koltic, Cleric 9 (Cindy)
Aroon, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 8 (NPC)

Borumar chats briefly with Tink before he turns his attention back to the door, opening it, and ushering the party though. Tink explains that they find themselves in the realm of King Almander and Queen Kazsha… the fairy court across the river from Nick’s castle!

Sorting through the loot the party has on them, it’s decided that the emerald they’d collected would make a reasonable gift to offer when they ask for ongoing permission to use the stone door to enter Rappan. Tink bounds off to the court to let them know of the parties arrival through the door, and Nick and Co. follow at a more leisurely pace. 

Queen Kazsha is enchanted by the gift, though the king seems less pleased. Perhaps it was too nice a gift? Nevertheless the graceful monarchs grant Nick’s request, and not only that, but over the course of a single day and night craft an enchanted path under the river that only the party (and those the fey allow) can use! A passage big enough for horses even! 

With that, the party makes their way back to the castle, and makes plans for their next adventure.

Rappan: Doors

Session 327 was played on 4/26/26

Morgana, wizard 10 (Rob)
Borumar, Triton Thief 11 (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter 8 (Lanse)
Nick, Fighter 8 (Me)
Koltic, Cleric 9 (Cindy)
Aroon, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 8 (NPC)

The 6 figures reach toward the party. Koltic holds up his holy symbol, and the meat sticks charge forward. They’re tough like jerky, but the juju zombies go down easily enough. The pool in the center of the room… flows. Borumar, reluctantly, takes a dip in and has a look. A long tunnel, maybe 80 or 90 feet stretches off to another chamber. There are forms moving about, but he doesn’t get a good look before deciding to come back and report. 

Rather than risk a swim, the party heads east down a winding tunnel that emerges into a room with 4 doors facing each other. Of note is the fact that the doors are not against the walls, but stand freely about 5’ from the walls. 

Clearly this is something for Morgana to investigate, and everyone else hangs back. The doors, and the frames holding them are of oak, and well made. Otherwise nothing particularly interesting about their construction can be seen. They are not locked, nor trapped, but are absolutely magical. Starting with the south door and going clockwise, this is what they see when the doors are opened.
S - Swirling portal
W - familiar shadowy cavern with a large squat ziggurat. 
N - A meadow, day time, butterflies and other bugs can be seen. The smell of spring and sunshine wafts through. Maybe near the keep?
E - A blast of heat as a desert is revealed. A pair of statues flank the door, and beyond a pack of lions feast on something… someone?

Borumar is volunteered to go through the north door. “To the keep, to the keep” he whispers as he steps through. On the far side of the door, he finds himself in the meadow, Behind him is a stone ruin, maybe an old cabin? And yes, there’s a door. With a shrug he closes it, steps back, and… waits. Back in the dungeon, the party watches as he closes the door, and they wait. Eventually Borumar gets bored of waiting and goes to open the door, but it’s locked. The hair on the back of his neck prickles, and he looks around, feeling watched. Not seeing anyone he picks the pock on the old door… and then out of the corner of his eye he sees it. A giant badger in the grass.

“Hello! My name is Tink” the badger growls politely. 

Cardboard Starship #4: Transport part 2

Detailing a build can take what is essentially a cardboard box, and turn it into something else, something special. My strategy for this, for the interior was that the detailing needed to be such that it didn't interfere with game play. I used a couple of covid tests for the walls above the benches, and used some screen material for the hatches. The rest of the detailing is either cardstock or plasticard

In the above pic you can see the hatch to the cockpit along with the panels for accessing it. I haven't added the ladder up to the hatch yet, but it's coming. Below you can see the hatch for the engine compartment framed out with some additional panels and detailing. While working on this, I was doing my best to remember that this is a gaming piece of terrain, not a diorama, not a show piece... it's literally cardboard and trash, so I tried to keep from going overboard or over stressing about things not lining up perfectly. 

 What I think is more important to the look of the ship are the external panels. Once again, everything here is made of card stock and platicard (largely from old expired and used up gift cards). The basic goal is to make the card board not look like cardboard. I experimented with a variety of different shapes, some of which were more successful than others. Again, frequently reminding myself that it didn't need to be perfect, and that once painted many of the sins committed in its construction would be hidden, and largely I would be the only one to be able to see them. 

One feature that needed to be clear on the ships were the cargo hatches. To ensure they were easily identifiable each is framed by those blue straws that came from the 100 water balloons in a minute sets you can get during the summer. Personally I hate water balloons, and balloons in general for the waste they create. This is my tiny bit of effort to reduce the waste. That and the reusable ones I got for my kid instead.

One thing I didn't consider when I was doing this is that because of the shape, on the table, the panels that slope down will be largely unseen. Unless you're looking at it from the side directly, this ends up being a lot of wasted effort... ah well. It was good practice. 

You might notice the cockpit looks a lot different... I decided I hated the cardboard version, and repurposed the one I built for the cargo hauler. I still need to do a bit more work with the cockpit, but after that I think the outside of the ship is done. 

The prow of the ship was the last bit I worked on, and by this point I felt like I had the process down. So much so that I actually took a bunch of WIP pics to show how I did it. 

and finally the details!

 

Rappan: Orcus' Blessing

Session 326 was played on 4/19/26

Morgana, wizard 10 (Rob)
Borumar, Triton Thief 11 (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter 8 (Lanse)
Nick, Fighter 8 (Me)
Koltic, Cleric 9 (Cindy)
Aroon, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 8 (NPC)

Beyond the stream the party follows the tunnels heading north, then east, then north again, finally arriving in another massive rocky cavern. Their light is unable to reach the far end of the room. Keeping one wall in sight, they move forward carefully. Moving around small boulders they eventually spot a large pillar rising out of the ground and up into the darkness above. Along the wall they spy some rat tunnels, and some… wider than rat tunnels, but nothing anyone in the party would want to explore. 

In the relative emptiness of the cavern a distinct sound of flowing water begins to be noticeable ahead. But there’s another sound… scales on stone. A rasping, hissing sound. And not small. Then they see the long large forms… basilisks! Morgana drops invisibility on the party and everyone crouches hoping the lizards have a terrible sense of smell. Luckily for the party, it seems they do. Interestingly, Aroon and Koltic both touch rocks with runes carved into them, and suddenly a purple glow spreads throughout the chamber. The glowing rocks aren’t everywhere, they outline marked paths through the cavern. Morgana takes a look at the runes… they’re “Orcus’ Blessing” 

Avoiding the basilisks they take the path they’re next to out of the carven. The tunnel opens up to an ornately carved bridge in one direction, and up a set of stairs in the other. The party opts for the stairs, hoping to find a way back to the surface. After a long and zigzagging climb, they emerge into a chamber with 6 pale humans, their eyes, noses, and mouths sewn shut. They moan, and lurchingly reach toward the party. Are they saying “brains” or “kill us”? It’s hard to say.

Rappan: Does that sound weird to you?

 Session 325 was played on 3/29/26

Morgana, wizard 10 (Rob)
Borumar, Triton Thief 11 (Josh)
Blotto, Goblin Fighter 8 (Lanse)
Nick, Fighter 8 (Me)
Koltic, Cleric 9 (Cindy)
Aroon, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 8 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 8 (NPC)

Continuing their exploration to the east, after finding nothing of value among the ashes of the undead pond ooze, they come to a cave warm and humid, alive with fungal growths. Checking to the east, the caves seemed drier though with weird sound effects… there was a rushing stream, but the sound of it was dampened somehow. While seeing the extent of the effect, Nick was attacked by a wraith, and his strength drained. Nick killed the monster in return. 

Exploring a little more, Nick was again surprised by some rust monsters. Thankfully his armor resisted their curious probes, and Blotto rushed forward to help corral them away from the party, but keeping them along in hopes of being able to add them to his herd. 

The stream is fast and cold, and about 20’ across. Clearly dangerous to cross. Various methods of crossing are discussed, but eventually an ice bridge is deemed the safest for everyone, including the rust monsters. 

Once across the rushing water the sound all sounds normal again. The party spots a large box, half buried a bit of the way down the cave along the edge of the stream. They spend a little time digging it free of the mud and rocks, and open it up. It’s a coffin, and within are the jumbled remains of a human and his ceremonial bronze armor, emblazoned with the symbol of the army of light. They take the fancy armor, and replace the bones, building a cairn around the box. 

Beetle Knight

Taking a pause from our usual game as Josh was off on vacation, Lanse offered to run Beetle Knight, an RPG based kinda on the setting of the Hollow Knight video game (of which I know very little) but basically you play bug knights on quests to solve mysteries. The report below covers all sessions from May through June. 

https://brookletgames.itch.io/beetle-knight-quickstart

We rolled up our characters randomly and ended up with:
Milax the Slug
Harvey the Fire Ant
Charlotte the Spider

In the town of New Elm, we meet up with some refugees from Old Elm, and then find and talk to the mayor. Old Elm has been beset by wasps behaving somewhat out of character, and a weird glittery atmospheric effect everyone is calling “The Glimmer” Those who linger in The Glimmer become trapped, mentally, repeating actions over and over.The mayor wants us to find his daughter, and help deal with the Glimmer and/or the wasps. 

Heading south out of New Elm, the party encounters Lauphy the snail, who is waving around a bit of lilac root that is coated with a shimmery substance. Explains that the lilac root helps ward off the effects of the glimmer, and makes it extra tasty. 

Further down the road, a blowfly is speeding north toward the party followed closely by a dragonfly! The blowfly screams for help, and the party prepares to do what it can when the dragonfly sprays everyone with a brown mist… making everyone desperate to mate with it! Fortunately for the party the only one able to fly up to the dragonfly was the blowfly, and he was quickly dispatched, and his body carried off as a snack. 

Later the party encountered a pair of wasps that warn of white ants and the golden curse. Naturally the party ignores this. Further down the road there’s a first real taste of the glimmer, a gingery spicy glow, and a wasp repeating a series of actions that probably made sense at one point. Using a big of scavenged lilac root, the slug whacks the wasp a few times before enough was knocked from her that she could regain her senses. Unfortunately not much was gotten out of her as she then flew away. The Slug decided to try the glowing root, licking the glimmer from the root and getting high as a kite! 

“I’m perfectly fine… “

Dear reader, he was NOT.

Closer to Old Elm a flee was being chased by wasps. The slug hugged the flee while the party talked to the wasps. The wasps weren’t interested in talking, and make things literally hot for the party before the fire ant slaughtered them. The flee thanked the party and then fled. 

Arriving in Old Elm, the party scouts around the stump before heading in. The concentration of Glimmer was much stronger, and Milax the slug needed to keep whacking the others in the party. Within the stump, they encounter some guard wasps, fight and kill them, followed by a mother in law millipede. She was anxious to find her granddaughter. She’s so obnoxious, but the party agrees to keep an eye out. 

Splitting away from her, the party finds a trail of chalk like powder.. They follow it finding numerous crumbly corpses of ants.

The party encounters wasps fighting and losing to the powdery white ants. Harvey talks to them as best he can (they speak a very old dialect) and we’re brought before the Queen. Her throne reeks of the Glimmer, and seems to be the source. Milax and the Queen both use their Lust powers, Milax on the Queen, the Queen on the party. Milax the slug and the Queen make out in front of EVERYONE sloppy style. 

While everyone watches, both horrified and disgusted, as Milax gets the queen extra slimy, the party smashes the throne, and the ants begin to crumble. Milax tries to hold the queen together, but even as powerful as she is, the ancient magic holding her together fails, and she crumbles in his… arms? 

---

 

There were a few other things that happened over the weeks we played this, but my notes for these sessions were frankly terrible, and I’m lucky I’m able to put this all together in anything that resembles a coherent narrative. Mind you, that’s a failure on my part, not on Beetle Knight, and I would absolutely play this again!