Painting Update

Last week, I got called away to cover for a sick teacher at an English camp, so I didn't get much painting done, and didn't post about it. Before I went to the camp, I did finish up my paint job for the League of Malevolence figures. I posted Warduke the other day. Here are the rest of the figures. 

Zarak the Half-Orc Assassin

Kelek the Sorcerer

Zargash the Cleric

Scylla the Warlock

We're getting the band back together! 

 Painting on the Valor's Call figures will commence tomorrow. 

Warduke!

I picked up the Official D&D League of Malevolence and Valor's Call miniature sets a year ago. 

I assembled them pretty soon after, but then put them aside. Last summer, I gave them base coats (black for the baddies, white for the goodies, obviously). Then put them away again. 

Today, I finally started painting.  Here's the first one, the classic villain Warduke. Turned out pretty well, I think. 

Getting Old?

A week or so ago, I had a bunch of ideas for blog posts. Of course, this was right before bed time, but somehow in the morning I still had them in mind. But I didn't write them down, and since I've been so busy the past few weeks, they've completely slipped my mind now. All I can remember is that I had interesting ideas for things to write about here. Frustrating!

Anyway, things are going well on the gaming front. My West Marches game is coming along well. We had a great session of it over the weekend. The party managed to explore a bunch of hexes on their way to the Ruins of Xak Tsaroth, and scouted it out a bit. No one died, and my younger son got his first taste of D&D (he turns 6 in two months, so he wasn't really paying that much attention, but had fun clicking on the button to roll dice in Roll20 and enjoyed making a character).

The Star Wars d6 game is also going well. But my wife and kids are back in Korea (if you couldn't guess) so my gaming time is going to be much reduced. When it was only me, it was no problem gaming two or three nights a week. Now it's going to be once a week if that. And with West Marches on a regular schedule, Star Wars is going to be much less frequent.

Dean's 4E game is going pretty well. It is fun, despite the drawbacks of the 4E system, and I'm enjoying my quirky character.

Nate, one of my regular players in West Marches, has started a 5E game using the free content WotC has been putting on their website over the past couple of months. I didn't get to play in the first session, but I made a PC -- a human conjurer with a pointy hat as his arcane focus. Named Preston. Any resemblance to 80's cartoon characters is purely coincidental!!! Honest!

Then there are the PbP games I'm involved in on RPOL.net. I've joined too many games, I think, but players in games I'm enjoying were starting new games, and I jumped in on them (along with my previous games). I'm running two (Classic D&D megadungeon, and my d6 Star Wars stuff) plus playing a dozen characters in eight different games (in two games I have three characters each).

And then I'm still plugging away at Treasures, Serpents, and Ruins - East. Once I get the main rules set (working on the GM stuff now, which is tedious and going slow) I'll get back to work on the East Marches setting/module idea I've got. But again, with work stuff and my family back with me, don't expect it any time soon.

Come on, WotC!

I'm sure you've seen this video. It's obviously making the rounds of the Gamosphere.

If Renault Brazil can make an awesome commercial like this, I think you know what to do, WotC. Hollywood's all about the reboot/modernization of old 70's/80's properties right now. Get Hazbro to make a deal with Disney or Time/Warner or someone and make this happen as a big budget feature film! With the current film culture of big budget CGI spectacle and cashing in on Gen X nostalgia, this should be a no-brainer.

It's worse than that, it's physics, Jim!

Thanks to Typhoon Bolaven, we had the day off.  Of course, it also meant we spent the majority of it indoors.  What to do? 

Well, first of all, in the morning my son wanted to listen to his new favorite song, Star Trekkin' by The Firm.  This is an old novelty song from the 80's that I included on a CD to use with my kindergarten students.

After listening to it about 5 times, I answered a few questions, and before you know it, we were watching an episode of TOS (Space Seed, the one where they find Khan in cryogenic sleep).  We also watched an episode of the D&D cartoon.

My son is now a big fan of James T. Kirk, mostly thanks to them sharing the name James.

Just before bed, we watched some Land of the Lost and a bit of Super Friends. 

Thank you, Typhoon Bolaven!

Nothing special gaming-wise to report, although Tenkar's Tavern is featuring my little contribution to the OSR, Flying Swordsmen, this week.  Thanks, Erik!

Beast of the Week: Demodragon

Possibly because the network censors wouldn't allow a full-fledged demon prince to appear on a Saturday morning cartoon show in the 80's, Venger didn't capture Demogorgon to use against Tardos Keep.  Instead, the show's writers came up with Demodragon, part demon, part dragon, all badass.  It still has the two heads and tentacles associated with Demogorgon, but it's a big two-headed dragon with cloven hooves that breathes fire from one head and ice/cold from the other.

Let's try giving it some stats based on a combination of the Mentzer Companion Set Huge White and Red dragons.  Should make it fearsome enough!  This is a creature that only the highest level characters should face toe-to-toe.  Better hope your DM lets you find some dragonbane before you meet Demodragon!

Demodragon*
AC: -5 (25)
HD: 32****
Move: 150 (50)
Attacks: 10 tentacles/2 bites
Damage: 1d12 each/4d8+8 each
No. Appearing: 1 (1)
Save As: F32
Morale: 11
Treasure Type: H x3, I x2
Alignment: Chaotic
XP: 13,250

Demodragon is gigantic gray and purple-skinned dragon with two heads, one red and one blue.  It stands upon cloven hooves and has masses of tentacles sprouting from its sides.   It is said to be half demon, half dragon, and its fearsome aspect and powers seem to support that hypothesis.  Demodragon can only be hit by weapons of +3 enchantment or better, and is immune to all spells of less than 4th level.  In combat, Demodragon can use up to ten of its tentacles each round, but no more than two tentacles can be used against a human-sized or smaller opponent each round due to their size.  Victims hit by a tentacle may be grabbed on a natural 18, 19 or 20, and then squeezed for automatic damage each round.  A save vs. paralysis with a -4 penalty may be made each round to escape.  Each of Demodragon's heads can bite or breathe each round.  The red head breathes a cone of fire 180' long and 30' wide at the far end.  The blue head breathes a cone of cold 90' long and 40' wide at the end.  Each head can breathe three times each day.

Beast of the Week: Phantom Stalker

Man, I couldn't even get the Beast of the Week up on time this week.  It's been rough, that's why there haven't been any posts here since last Sunday.  The new school year started, and things are a mess at work (text books not ordered, new teachers who have no clue, new students who don't yet speak more than a handful of English words - the joys of working in a private "education" academy in Korea, in other words).

Not only that, but I've been using most of my free time to give a final proof to Flying Swordsmen RPG, which I hope to have cleaned up and released by St. Patrick's Day.  The perfect day for an Irish-descended dude like myself to release his kung fu themed version of D&D.

Anyway, the point of this post is not my neglect of the blog, it's the Beast of the Week!  Last week's Sleestak were a bit less popular than I'd imagined, but I'm carrying on with this week's Saturday Morning inspired creature, the Phantom Stalker.  Originally appearing in the D&D Cartoon episode "The Garden of Zinn" featuring one of our favorite supporting characters Solarrz, these guys caused all kinds of havok for those six kids from Earth even with their fancy magic weapons.  Let's see what I can come up with for them:

Phantom Stalker*
AC: 0 (20)
HD: 6**
Move: 90 (30) fly 150 (50)
Attacks: 2 claws or 1 grab
Damage: 1d8/1d8 or see below
No. Appearing: 1-4 (2-7)
Save As: F6
Morale: 8
Treasure Type: B
Alignment: Chaotic
XP: 725

These gaunt purple humanoids with leech-like mouths are natives of the Elemental Plane of Air.  They sometimes appear on the Prime Plane when summoned by a powerful spellcaster, or near a gate to their home.  They are quite intelligent, and speak Common, their own language and that of Djinn.  Phantom Stalkers can only be hit by magical weapons or spells, and magical weapons only do half damage.  Phantom Stalkers can shift from solid to gaseous form at will, and even retain a semi-solid state that allows them to grab onto and carry victims within their cloudy forms.  To grab a victim, the Phantom Stalker makes a normal attack roll.  The victim may Save vs. Dragon Breath at -2 to avoid the grab, otherwise they are at the mercy of the Stalker that captures them.  Phantom Stalkers also have the ability to disguise their form, in a manner similar to Dopplegangers.  Spellcasters often employ Phantom Stalkers in ways similar to Invisible Stalkers and Aerial Servants, as they make excellent spies, assassins and hunters.

Proud of my boy!

Last night, when I got home from work, my son said to me, "Daddy, Disney Channel!"  Meaning, of course, 'I wanna watch some cartoons.'  I asked him if he wanted to watch cartoons in English or Korean (our actual Disney Channel switched to dubbed Korean a few months back, instead of the old English with Korean subtitles that most Korean kids that age can't read).  My son opted for English cartoons last night (meaning stuff I've downloaded and put on a USB stick to slot into the DVD player). 

When I put it in, he decided he wanted to watch Dungeons & Dragons.  Yes, the old cartoon from the 80's.  He's quickly become a fan of it.  After 2 episodes, he watched some Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and one episode of Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends.  Then it was time for bed.

Tonight, he again asked me, "Daddy, English Disney Channel!  I want to see Dungeons & Dragons!"  Boy, was I stoked!  Then he said, "No Holly."  Slight bummer.  That meant no Land of the Lost (of course the original 70's one!).  Still, while we lacked in sleestaks, we made up for it with orcs, lizard men, and Venger!  We rewatched the same episodes as yesterday (and the Spider-Man episode as well). 

And while we were eating dinner, my son came running up with a blanket over his head.  I asked if he was Sheila the Thief, and he said no, he was Flynn the Thief. 

Now I really can't wait until he's old enough to game!  Just a few more years...

Strange Locations

I downloaded the D&D cartoon a little while back. Haven't gotten to watch it much because my son (2 years old) doesn't find it as interesting as the X-Men cartoon was (got that one on DVD).

Watching it, though, I'm constantly reminded that my RPG world creation often suffers from too many mundane pseudo-historical locations, and not enough weird gonzo locations like the River that Flows Upside Down or the Forest of Know Trees, not to mention cool locations like the Hall of Bones or Dragon's Graveyard.

It's hard to get a good balance of mundane and crazy that doesn't devolve into silliness. Or at least I worry about the setting starting to seem silly. Well, maybe once my son's a few years older I'll be able to finally let go and embrace the silliness as he starts to play.