Halloween Nonsense...

It seems that, more by luck than judgement, some of the projects that I've been working on this year have kinda culminated in my recent 'Halloween Special' video (which I've just uploaded to Youtube):

So, if I go back in time a little bit, back in April I thought it would be a good idea to sort out a bunch of mini's that I have lying around and 1) get some paint on them (as I have quite the pile of shame), and 2) use those as the inspiration for a little D&D adventure that I would put together (just as a little personal project - as I like to have a few one-shots up my sleeve for emergencies ;) ).

Anyway, as I mention in the video, some of these were board game pieces, some were basic kit-bashes, and others were just things that I've had lying around for years:

So, the first job was to get them primed...

...then get the basic colours and the washes applied...

...and finally just tidy/highlight them back up with the same colours that I used for the base-coats (as I didn't want to fuss over them too much with numerous highlight layers):

Though, as you might have spotted, I did swap out the lady (who has someone's heart grasped in her outstretched hand) for this guy...

...as I thought he'd make for a better 'cult leader' (and because I think the original model would be a better fit for a Vampire Spawn... which would be way too powerful for a 1st level adventure).

Anyway, armed with the monsters that I would need for most of the encounters, I then set about writing a few notes for the adventure itself - which, of course, needed to be set in a graveyard - just because that was the terrain that I was working on at the time (as you can see in THIS video), and also because most of the models I'd selected were either undead or cultist-looking.

However, I usually like to throw in some dungeon exploration as well (I do have a lot of dungeon terrain after all) - so I decided that the main location for the adventure would be split into two parts - the first being the graveyard, and the second being the catacombs.

As such, I would need to transition from the graveyard to the catacombs somehow... and I thought that the ideal way of doing that would be to have some kind of entrance in an old mausoleum - something that would lead down into these underground crypts. And, since I've had an idea for a mausoleum video on the to-do list for a while - this seemed like the ideal time!

And, throughout all of this, I was slowly putting a couple of maps together (bit by bit), as I fleshed out each encounter (as you can see in the picture below, I decided to go with the classic 'blue' look for these), and trying to make sure that it could all be made with the 'print & paste' terrain that I've been putting together these past few years.

But, as you know, once you start putting pen to paper (or in my case, fingers to keyboard), things can sometimes take on a life of their own -  and you start thinking to yourself ...maybe the characters will try to convince the NPC guardsman to accompany them? ...perhaps there are some other minor annoyances in the catacombs? ...should I have a token or something to represent the cult fanatic's spiritual weapon spell?

So, as you can imagine, that resulted in me digging around in my bits box yet again, and putting a few more miniatures together...

...and since I'd recently made some (very quick) 'giant fly' models for Rangers of Shadow Deep (which is a great game BTW), I thought I would include those as well:

So, here's all of the models once they had been based (with some Geek Gaming 'scrublands' basing material):

 

- I also found a very old GW? snake while I was rummaging around - so that ended up in the adventure too -

Anyway, back to the adventure...

Once I had it all written down (originally in a shorthand form that would probably only make sense to myself), some basic maps drawn, AND most of the terrain I would need if I was to run it in person...

...I started to think that perhaps I should turn this into a short 'tips and tricks' video (or something like that) - just in case some of this stuff would be useful for other folks too ...and maybe include a couple of new textures for some of the specific terrain pieces as well (originally just the corpse's head for the statue).

However, as you've seen, that short 'tips' video evolved into something more akin to a regular episode (and a longer episode at that), and my notes got tidied up into something a bit more presentable - and all of that culminated in the latest pdf file (which is pay-what-you-want, and can be found HERE).

That being said, in the video I show how the finished dungeon might look if you are using some of my dungeon tiles - however, I forgot to include a separate image showing how the individual tiles go together (that is, if you are using my suggested arrangement).

So I'll correct that now with this image...

...which, if you look at the example on the right, shows the exact placement of each individual tile!

And with that I think I'll bring this post to a close. As you can see, it's been a rather lengthy (and somewhat unintentional journey) to get this video released - but I think (or at least hope) that it's been an interesting one (it's been a fun one for me nonetheless... especially when I got to playtest some of the encounters with a couple of friends :D ).

More Print & Paste Terrain

Last month I forgot to post about some ‘print & paste’ tents that I made…

...i.e. the kind of thing that could be used to put together a little campsite for the PCs when they’re out in the wilderness – or maybe (if you make a lot of them) that of an army on the march – or even (if you made some of them look a bit tatty) something more akin to a goblin camp.

Anyway, that was last month’s project… and this month (since it’s Halloween in a few weeks time) I’ve expanded on the graveyard terrain, and made a simple mausoleum…

...which has turned out pretty nice I think :)

And, as always, you can pick up the pay-what-you-want pdf files for both the tents and the mausoleum over on DriveThruRPG.

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Also, since I’ve been playing some Rangers of Shadow Deep every now and again – that will sometimes prompt me to make a few bits of terrain for some of the scenarios featured in the main rule book.

So, as you can see in the pictures below, one of those scenarios calls for a small farmhouse – one that needs to be playable AND needs to have the positions of all the doors and windows clearly shown.

 

And so I thought I’d try out something similar to what Wyloch does with his clip-on features… and I think it’s worked pretty well. It might even be worth a quick ‘tips and tricks’ video at some point.

-a picture of the set-up before the game began-

* * * 

Another thing I'd like to get finished this month, is a little graveyard-themed adventure of sorts - just something that could be run as a Halloween one-shot (i.e. the kind of thing that would put the mausoleum and tombstone pieces to use - as well as a handful of dungeon tiles).

Now, I'm not sure if I'll actually manage to get it done (as I don't think I'll be running a Halloween game this year) - but the idea is there... it's just a matter of getting it out of my head and onto paper (in a form that will make sense to folks other than myself :) ).

Note that you can get these maps in their current form over on Patreon - and you don't need to be a member to view/grab them.

* * *

Anyway, I think that’s if for this post – I’m not quite sure what I’ll be working on next with regard to the Print & Paste stuff (I might have to do a poll over on Patreon) – but I have a to-do list as long as my arm, so I have a few things to choose from if I get stuck :)