Project Log and Miniature Mischief (End of September)

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with a bit of hobby update on the miniatures and other random wargaming stuff we do.  Currently there are a bunch of projects and other random crazy things we’re working on.  Right now I’m prioritizing the unbuilt/unassembled things that need to be glued to my fingers so i can get everything primed (and theoretically painted).  So we’re going to start in no particular order.

Test of Honour (The Core Mechanic)

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with another article on our new favorite skirmish game, Test of Honour.  Last week we put together an article about the Recruitment cards and how to read the Recruitment cards..  Today we’re going to talk about the Core Mechanic (and the dice rolled for the game).  This article might be a little shorter than the last one, but it’s covering a couple of important concepts.  The next one of these we’ll cover the mechanics of combat and how to cut the other guys down. 

Adventurer's League Season 4 (Part 3)

DDAL 4-5 The Seer

All right Game Fans, Season 4 of Adventurer’s League (The Curse of Strahd Story Arc) rolls on through with DDAL 4-5, The Seer.  The characters finally push out of the town of Orasnou and explore a little bit of Barovia proper.  During their exploration they encounter the Vistani, a mysterious people of sinister reputation.  What are these mysterious Vistani up to?

Plot Traps: Bad Guys Part 4 (Lieutenants)

Hey Game Fans, we’re going to keep on keeping on with our discussion of Antagonists and how to get the most use of them in your adventure writing.  Every Antagonist has a specific role to play in the narrative you’re putting together. Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of them gives you a leg up in finding the spot to put them and how to utilize them to maximum effect.  Last week we talked about the minions that make up the rank and file of the bad guys, today we’re going to take a look at the Lieutenants that carry out the Antagonist's plans.  Remember the Pyramid example we talked about last week.  These antagonists are the next level up, and perform a specific task for the Antagonist directly.  Let’s dig into that idea and see what we can come up with.

 

Exalted Character Write up #2 (Merchant Princess)

Hey Game Fans, today we’re going to make another character for Exalted 3rd Edition.  You all voted on Twitter for this one, so today we’re going to take a crack at making a Merchant Princess type of characters.  Now we’ve had a little more practice at this, so we’re  going to omit some of the explanations along the way.  If you want a step by step breakdown of the hows, check out our articles on Rey, which you can find here, here, and here. This is after 3 solid reads of the relevant chapters and digging into the nuts and bolts of everything.  So let’s dig into this article and get things started.  If you’re curious what we’re talking about and don’t know what Exalted is, check out our First Looks article Here.  

Aasimar and Tieflings of Lakeport

Hey Game Fans, we’re back for another part of a feature on the Homebrew setting of Lakeport.  Today we’re going to look at the divinely graced Aasimar and the fiendishly souled Tieflings.  Both races have ties to other planes of reality, and are the result of unions between powerful energies from those planes and living creatures from the material plane.  There are basically two kinds of each.  Some of the Aasimar and Tieflings favor the extra planar origins (often referred to as Domitors), others favor their mortal heritage (Falraks being as an easy shorthand for these people).  Let’s dig into these differences and explore these otherworldly beings.

Adventurer's League Season 4 (Part 2)

DDAL 4-3 The Executioner

All right Game Fans, Season 4 of Adventurer’s League (The Curse of Strahd Story Arc) carries on with DDAL 4-3, The Executioner.  An ancient relic is rumored to have been discovered nearby.  Treasure hunters and fortune seekers alike are racing towards this treasure, can you afford to be the last ones to reach the relic?

DDAL 4-3 is designed for 1st thru 4th  level characters, with an average party size of 5 suggested.  For Adventurer’s League play, the level range is a hard ceiling, and characters of 5th level or higher are not playable in this adventure.  This adventure is built in 3 parts.  It should take about 2 hours start to finish.  Remember to bring your D & D Survival Kit with you when you show up to game. (This adventure is optimized for 3rd level characters, so plan accordingly)

Plot Traps: Bad Guys Part 3 (Specialists)

Hey Game Fans, we’re going to keep on keeping on with our discussion of Antagonists and how to get the most use of them in your adventure writing.  Every Antagonist has a specific role to play in the narrative you’re putting together. Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of them gives you a leg up in finding the spot to put them and how to utilize them to maximum effect.  Last week we talked about the minions that make up the rank and file of the bad guys, today we’re going to take a look at the Specialists that are basically a tier up from the minions.  Remember the Pyramid example we talked about last week.  These antagonists are the next level up, and perform a specific task in the Antagonist hierarchy.  Let’s dig into that idea and see what we can come up with.

 

Test of Honour (Recruitment Cards)

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with another article on our new favorite skirmish game, Test of Honour.  Last week we put together an article about how units activate, and we realized we sort of put the horse before the cart.  Today we’re going to talk about the Recruitment cards you use to build your force, and very briefly cover the attributes on the cards.  We’re only going to talk about the ones that come in the Starter Set, so you can familiarize yourself with these units before you start building your models.  

The Unmitigated Joys of Not Knowing Where You Are Going (RPG Editiorial)

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with a bit of an editorial on a gaming topic that we find personally enjoyable.  From the earliest days of playing the game (back in the 80s for us, some of you may go back a little further, some of you got a bit of a later start), one of the things that i really enjoyed was gathering my supplies and traipsing off into the wilderness.  We may have had a destination in mind, like an adventure site, or not.  Really at the time i didn’t matter to me.  One of the most interesting ideas i found as a kid playing games like this was the ability to pick a direction and go, and not necessarily having the foggiest idea of what was along the way, and where we’d end up.  The journey was the aspect that i found fascinating.  

DDAL 4-1 Suits of the Mists

All right Game Fans, Season 4 of Adventurer’s League (The Curse of Strahd Story Arc) kicks off with DDAL 4-1, Aptly titled Suits of the Mists.  Like the 1st module for prior seasons, this adventure is actually composed of five mini adventures.  Each one is designed to be played through in about an hour and a half, and gives brand new players their first interactions with Dungeons and Dragons in bite sized, discrete pieces.  Set in the darkened land of Barovia, the characters are slowly introduced to the horrors of the Demiplane of Dread and get a look at what’s waiting for them in the rest of the season.  “Welcome to Barovia”

D & D 5th Edition Character Creation Example (All hail Grand Bahama)

Hey Game Fans, I realize we talk an awful lot about how to build characters across a lot of games, but we’ve never actually shown you a character creation example for Dungeons and Dragons, 5th Edition.  Well, fear not friends, with the thunderbolt inspiration of naming things awesomely, I had the inspiration for what I think is a great character to bring on an adventure.  Now there are two ways this character could have gone, so we’re going to build it both ways.  One of them I’ll be rolling attributes, the other I’ll put together with a point buy (meaning you could technically borrow my character and take them to adventurer’s league at your local gaming establishment).  Alright friends, let’s build some characters.

Bits Box Picture Gallery

This was originally supposed to go up with my bits box article, but the scheduling wires got crossed and that article dropped earlier than it was supposed to.  I have put together a few pictures of the Bits Box I use for parts (this one is specifically for Terminator parts).  These are easy to find Plano tackle boxes.  The internal compartments have inserts that allow you to customize the internal layout for whatever parts you want to store.  I use the same box for my X-wing ships, and my D & D dice plus minis.  Let's get a look at those pictures, shall we?

Mystery Box Friday (Ice Kingdoms Adventures)

Hey Game Fans, It’s friday so it’s time for us to dig into our Mystery Box and revisit one of our favorite publishers.  Mad Martian Games has created one of our favorite campaign Settings in the Ice Kingdoms.  A complex setting in a frozen land, Ice Kingdoms is Sword and Sorcery style adventures at their best.  If you’d like to take a look at our review of that setting, you can find it here.  Today we’re going to take a look at 3 of the adventures for that setting.  This is as Old School as it gets.  

Exalted Character Creation Part 3 (Little Bits and Final thoughts)

Hey Game Fans, as promised, we finished up the Charms Section for Rey’s Character sheet which is now complete.  You can find that version of the character sheet here.  One of the aspects of the character i didn’t get to write up last week is the various nicks, cuts, scars and other distinctive physical characteristics that Rey has.  I’ve been pondering how this works for a couple of weeks, so i have a firm idea of what Rey’s been through and the long, hard roads he’s been down.

Test of Honour (Activation)

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with another article about our new favorite Skirmish game, Test of Honour.  Set in feudal Japan, Test is a fast paced game of historical violence.  It’s designed for a player to control between 5 and 25 models, with most games falling somewhere in between.  With fast task resolution and some interesting mechanics, we love the game (and now that we have our color scheme chosen, can start assembling our boxes).  Today we’re going to take a look at the Activation mechanism for the game.  Units activate in a dynamic fashion that keeps the game tense and the players guessing about how their tactics are going to unfold.  Let’s take a closer look at this, and show you one of the ways this game grabbed our attention during a demo.

Army Rebuilding Project Part 3 (WTF is a bits Box?)

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with another article taking a look at Warhammer 40,000’s 8th Edition, and how we’re going to bring our 7th edition (okay, mostly 6th Edition) army forward.  We’ve gone over the rundown of our Deathwing army including what units we have, and the likely purchases we need to make soon.  Check back on the other two articles in this series Here and Here for more details.  Then i did some cleaning last weekend and found my Terminator parts Bits Box and cried a little inside.

Plot Point 12 The Bad Guys (Part 2)

’m changing some things up with the blog and looking at a variety of new and old ideas in gaming.  I’d like to spend part of today talking about some recurring tropes and ideas that crop up in fantasy storytelling and how they can be used (and abused) in an RPG to some sort of effect.  Today’s volume is a little different because we’re not going to be looking at a specific instance or idea of a plot trap, but a larger concept that is overarching throughout the fantasy RPG genre and beyond.  When you’re designing an encounter, an adventure, a story arc, or even a campaign, your villains are an essential part of what you’re designing, and you can put a lot of thought into all of the aspects of team “bad guy.” What we’re going to do is take a look at some types of bad guys and how they can scale up to deal with your player characters in interesting interactions throughout the encounter, adventure or potential campaign.  Let’s take a closer look.  

Adventurer's League Season 4 Breakdown

Hey Game Fans, today we’re going to do a quick breakdown of the Experience Points for Season 4 of Adventurer’s League.  There are two experience tracks in season 4 (One for brand new characters up to level 4, and one for more experienced characters that are level 5-10).  We’re going to list the adventures, and indicate where they belong on these tracks and maybe some good points to consider hopping from the lower level track to the upper level track.  This season can be played in direct order by following the adventure numbers, (depending on experience gains, you may have to exercise the catch up option to get from level 4 to level 5).  We’re going to take a deeper dive and see what information we can come up with to help you get your stuff together.  Read on, Game Fans.

Deities, Divinities and Truly Scary Things Pt. 26

Hey Game Fans, we’re taking a look at some world building ideas and concepts for the home setting i run.  If you’ve checked out my other world building articles, this is the setting that focuses on Lakeport and the larger world around it.  Today i’m going to  take a look at one of the more serious goddesses for the setting, Asha, the Keeper of the Gates. Before i get started on her, let me give you a little background for the gods of this world.

The Wanderers of Lakeport

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with another look at our Lakeport setting.  Today we’re going to cover another major group of affiliated races that share a culture.  Our Feature for today are the Wanderers of Lakeport and the shared culture they have.  We’ll have companion pieces that look closely at the specific cultures of Gensai, Aasimar, Tieflings, and some of the other exotic humanoids.  We’ll also have articles on their matron goddess as we move towards a complete picture of these denizens of Lakeport.  

Test of Honour (First Looks)

Test of Honour is a fast paced skirmish game from Warlord Games.   Set in Medieval Japan, it features clashes and confrontations between warring clans of Samurai and their peasant retainers.  Honour is a driving force in this era, and the game is fast paced, dynamic, and filled with excitement and the dice themselves can swing a glorious last stand into a rout of the enemy forces, or turn a sure victory into an ignominious defeat. Let’s take a closer look at Test of Honour and see what convinced me to buy a starter set this weekend at Recruits