It's been a while since I last talked about the 'print & paste' videos and pdfs that I've been releasing... and so I thought it was time to remedy that!
So, I started the year off with a couple of encounter/puzzle ideas (complete with the terrain to go with them):
Now, in my opinion, the first video is a much better encounter than the second one - but as luck would have it, the second one has had more than four times the views so far (go figure).
I actually used both of them in an adventure I run a while back (once in person, and once online), and I'm happy/relieved to say that they worked reasonably well both times :)
* * *
After those I've been working on some more sci-fi stuff (as I plan on trying out the 'five parsecs from home' game) - which has mostly been focusing on buildings, greebles, and the like:
And, I have to admit that I'm pretty pleased with how they've turned out!
Some of the (optional) bits can be a bit fiddly - but I think it's a great way to get some passable sci-fi terrain to the table relatively quickly (plus, I've tried to keep it fairly generic looking - so that it will fit in with a number of different games and settings).
Though I'm not quite done with this current sci-fi phase that I'm going through, and I have at least one more video in the works...
...which, as you can see, will be for some quick and easy barricades.
So yeah, that's what I've been up to this year so far (terrain wise)... and I think 5 videos in (slightly less than) four months isn't too bad (though I've also been getting a lot of mini's painted too - but that's a post for another time ;) ).
It’s been a while (or, at least, it seems that way) since I last released a regular ‘print & paste’ terrain video – because if I ignore the giveaway stuff, the 2D tiles & cards, and the dungeon box (as all of these are kinda their own separate thing)…
...I have to go back 4 months to find the last piece of scatter terrain… or five months if I’m just including ‘dungeon’ stuff.
So, it’s been good to get back to more dungeon related scatter terrain (as that seems to be the core content for the channel)… and coincidentally, it’s turned out to be not too dissimilar to the last one I did:
However, despite having an encounter in mind for these (just like the previous ‘traps’ episode), I’ve not included it in the video this time – as I haven’t got it to the table myself yet, and I don’t want to give away the solution just yet (though, to be fair, it’s not super complicated).
Anyway, as usual, you can find the (pay-what-you-want) pdf file over on DriveThruRPG… and I hope that you can get some good use out of them!
As of today the YouTube channel has surpassed the 25k subscribers mark… which might not be much when compared to the big channels out there – but it’s a pretty huge milestone for someone like me :) :) :)
So, as you’d expect, I’ve made a short video to acknowledge that fact…
...and in that video I also announce another giveaway.
Now, the giveaway isn’t anything special (mainly just a $100 gift certificate for DriveThruRPG)… but it’s a small token of my appreciation nonetheless.
I’ve also used this as an opportunity to (re)release the ‘modifications & requests’ pdf…
...as I removed that from google drive a while back – due to the fact that (apparently) my exclusive deal with DriveThruRPG means I shouldn’t really be sharing modified versions of the files in other places. As such, it’s now available over on DriveThru instead (though I did spend a bit of time making it look a bit more presentable before doing so – hence the delay ;) ).
Anyway, I’ll finish this post by saying thank you to everyone for their support over the years (it really is appreciated), and here’s hoping you’ve managed to get some good use out of some of this nonsense of mine :)
It's been a while since I last talked about what I've been doing (terrain-wise) over on my YouTube channel - so I thought now might be a good time for a quick recap!
OK then, earlier in the year I announced another 'community challenge' - i.e. just a fun little project where I put together a bunch of random textures, and then 'challenged' everyone to make something with them (you can see the blog post I made about it HERE).
Anyway, I was very pleased to have nearly thirty people take part... and you can see all of their entries in the following video:
So, I want to say thanks (again) to everyone that took part - it was really great to see how inventive/creative everyone was!
Anyway, after the 'challenge' I've also released another three videos - the first being a sci-fi shuttle (which I'm quite proud of)...
...the next was a bunch of pedestals (to add to 'the dungeon')... ...and the most recent was a 'fun' idea for a trap... ...which also had a little encounter to go along with it :)
Anyway, if I go back to the 'shuttle' episode - in that video I asked if folks would like to see if I could make similar vehicles using the same chassis/fuselage/hull. And, seeing as how a lot of folks said yes, that has inspired the next video - in which, I'll be showing how to make a 6-wheeled truck.
Here's a picture of an early prototype:
And here's how it ended up looking (note the smaller one is printed at 75% - just to illustrate that you can easily change the size of most of this stuff within your pdf reader):
So, that's the video I'm working on at the moment, and with any luck I'll get that out later this week!
* * *
In other news, I seem to have been bitten by the World War II bug again... and, since I have a couple of Wargames Atlantic sprues lying around, I thought I would assemble a little (early war) British force:
And, I'm thinking that I could use the One Page Rules 'firefight' game (using the 'human defence force' list and a bit of common sense) to play a few skirmish games with them.
Obviously, that then leads me down the rabbit hole of WW2 terrain... and while I'm not fully committed to it yet... the ideas have begun:
(though things like 'hedgerows' and 'emplacements' will likely have a wider use than just WW2 gaming).
Anyway, I think that covers most of what I've been up to (aside from painting several more undead models to test out my new paint set)... though I have also given my hobby area a bit of a tidy/makeover - to accommodate this new(ish) Vallejo range of paint (that I recently bought - due to having problems with some of the Army Painter 'fanatic' range):
So yeah... that's it for this post. As I say, the next video should follow along in a day or two (or three)... so hopefully you'll tune in for that!
As
I’ve recently mentioned over on Patreon, I didn’t really plan on
releasing any new videos until this year’s ‘community challenge’
was over (see my previous entry)… just so that folks (myself
included) could focus on that, and not be sidetracked by yet another
new project.
However,
as you can tell by the title of this post – all of that has gone
out of the window, and since I’ve just finished this...
...I
thought I’d share it :) (as I’m not a huge fan of holding things
back once they’re done).
Anyway…
HERE is a link to the pdf file over on DriveThruRPG (as usual it’s
a pay-what-you-want files), and here’s hoping you like ‘em!
Anyway, over on the YouTube channel, I’ve decided to start the year off with a (month long) community challenge!
All of the details are outlined in the video above… but all it really boils down to is – here’s a bunch of random textures…
...lets see what we can make with them :)
The hope is that several people will take part (I’m looking at you, gentle reader ;) ) and then send me pictures of what they have built – so that I can make a follow up video at the beginning of February that showcases everyone’s projects :)
So that’s the plan!
I will, of course, be taking part myself… and while it’s not a competition (there’s no prizes or anything like that), it should be a fun project to get the year started!
As is usual with most of my projects, I’ve been posting WIP pictures of these on the various social media sites… and I even ‘streamed’ on discord for a couple of hours while I was drawing some of the textures (I say streamed – but it was just me and a couple of guys in the chat :) ).
Anyway, they’re finally finished…
...and while I’ve labelled the video as ‘orc/goblin huts’ they could be used for a wide variety of humanoid creatures (including humans).
So here’s hoping you can find a use for them in some of your own games!
October has been a bit of a sci-fi month for me - both in regard to the miniatures I've been painting, and the terrain that I've been making... and in this post I'm going to focus on the terrain (I'll talk more about the mini's tomorrow).
Anyway, I've been meaning to make some 'pipes' for a while now - you know, big industrial looking pipelines that can be scattered around the table to create some line-of-sight blocking terrain - and also to make things look a bit more... well... industrial :)
- an early prototype -
So, as you can see in the above picture, I set to work on making these with empty toilet roll tubes (as I do try to keep my crafting materials as simple as possible)... and I had to watch a couple of 'plumbing' style videos to figure out how to get the T junctions to work :)
I'd also realised that the table tennis balls that I got for the 'dungeon box' build were the perfect size to fit into the end of those toilet roll tubes...
...so I thought that needed to be taken advantage of as well :)
And, after a lot of trial and error, here's what I came up with:
(you can find the accompanying pdf file over on DriveThruRPG)
Anyway, despite being a 15 minute long video (I don't like making overly long tutorial videos - as I think too much information can quickly get a bit overwhelming), I still had more ideas that I wanted to try out - like these bases to rest larger pipes on top of... and the steps that go over the top:
And, as you might have guessed, that led to a second video...
...plus another pdf file (as usual, they are both pay-what-you-want downloads ;) ).
And, as I say in the video, if you combine both of these with some of the other sci-fi stuff that I have available, you/we should be able to make some pretty interesting layouts... something like this perhaps...
...which should work well enough for several different games and settings :)
So yeah, that's what I've been up to terrain-wise this month... and it also marks 99 video tutorials over on the channel (there's actually closer to 200 videos when you include the tips, build along projects, and so on - but only 99 'proper' episodes). And that makes me think I should maybe do something special for the 100th episode (or a follow up video after it)... so I need to get my thinking cap on I suppose :D
As some of you might have noticed, it's been a while since I last mentioned any of my terrain projects here on the blog... and that's because the latest batch of videos kinda follow on from one another in a similar way to the 'build along' series. And, as such, I wanted to wait until I'd got everything finished before talking about them here.
Anyway, the idea was to build a basic self contained dungeon adventure (and everything you'd need to run it) that packs away into a small box (making it ideal for the traveling GM - or for someone that might want to run a one-shot at a game store or a con for example).
So the obvious place to start was with the dungeon itself... and here's what I came up with:
And, as you can hopefully see, despite having to overcome a few issues along the way, it turned out rather nice (at least in my opinion).
So, if you'd like to have a go at making something like that yourself, then the YouTube tutorial can be found HERE (there's a link to the 'pay-what-you-want' pdf file in the video's description).
In addition to the dungeon - the adventure also requires a few player handouts in the form of some old copper rings and a rusty amulet...
...well, I say 'requires' - you don't really need any of this stuff - so they're not essential, but they are fun to have. Therefore, there is a second video HERE that shows you how to put them together (with another pdf file to go along with it).
But a dungeon adventure wouldn't be much of a dungeon adventure without some monsters to battle (at least in my opinion) - so I had a go at making those too... starting off with some ghostly creatures...
...and then with some slimy oozes:
So, as you might have guessed, there are video tutorials for these as well. One for the GHOSTS and another for the OOZES.
And that's pretty much two months of video updates condensed into one blog post :)
However, in the first video, I did say that I would try and tidy up my adventure notes for this dungeon (once I'd run it a couple of times - once for my online group, and once for my in-person group), and share them online... and so that's what I've done.
But like I said at the beginning of this post, it's not meant to be anything special (in fact that was the complete opposite of what I was trying to achieve - as the aim was to have it be a simple one-shot that could be run with minimal fuss), so please keep that in mind.
Anyway, HERE is the link to those notes (it's just a google doc at the moment).
So yeah - that's my little 'dungeon in a box' adventure that I've put together. I'm not gonna lie, it is quite a bit of work to make - considering it might only get used once or twice - but I enjoy the whole creative process of putting this kind of thing together, so it has been a fun project to work on nevertheless (plus I now have a little boxed adventure to run if I ever get the chance to do something like that at a con, or a store, or similar).
And now that I've got it finished... I'm in the mood for some sci-fi - so I think that's gonna be my focus for the next couple of videos - so stay tuned for those :)
- here's a quick example of the kind of thing I've been experimenting on this past week -
For
my next foray into Five Leagues from the Borderlands, my party of
‘brave heroes’ will be venturing into their first ‘delve’ (in
this game, a delve is essentially a multi-level dungeon scenario).
As
such, I’ve continued with the dwarven/Moria theme in my latest
terrain project - and, as you can see, this time I’ve added some
doors/doorways/arches.
As
always, there is a pay-what-you-want file available over on
DriveThruRPG if you want to have a go at making some yourself, and an
accompanying video (showing how everything goes together) posted
below.
As you might know if you’ve been following some of my recent posts, I’m about to start a Moria-style game – one where I’ll be playing as the orcs (using the Five Leagues from the Borderlands solo rules).
And, while I could just use my regular dungeon tiles for this (and I probably will to be honest), I also want to make a few pieces that have a bit of a dwarven theme… and I thought a good place to get things started would be with these pillars:
So, as always, there’s a (pay-what-you-want) pdf file that goes along with them (you can find it HERE)... and I hope you agree that, considering they’re just made from bits of card with a paper texture glued on top, they don’t look too bad at all :)
Furthermore, I forgot to post about the river tiles that I made earlier this month…
...so there’s the video (and HERE’s the pdf) for that as well.
So, yeah… it’s been quite a productive month. Now I just need to set some time aside to play!
Sometime ago, Wargames Atlantic sent me three boxes of some of their models to take a look at (perhaps to appear in the finished pictures I include at the end of my videos)… one of which was this box of horses:
Now, the models from the first two boxes have already featured in a few episodes, but at the time, I didn’t really have anything suitable that I could include the horses in… until now that is. Because, if you have been following my Discord/Community posts, then you’ll know that I’ve been working on some carts and wagons recently… the video for which has just gone live:
And, as you can see, these horses are the perfect fit for this latest episode.
So, since I’ve now had time to put a few together, and splash on some paint – I thought I’d share my thoughts.
* * *
First up, here’s a picture of the sprue (there are 6 of these in the box)…
...and while that might seem a bit limiting to begin with, any left half of the torso can be stuck to any right half – making for a nice variety of poses (plus, you can also swap the heads and tails around for even more variation).
And, as for the assembly itself, they go together really well – I really like how the reins around the neck hide that particular join… in fact the only join that’s mildly visible is on the rump – and even then I just gave it a light sanding… and now it’s all but gone (i.e. I didn’t do any greenstuff work on these at all).
Now, I will admit, that I’ve only ever painted a couple of horses before (as I generally prefer painting human-sized infantry miniatures) – but I have to say, I enjoyed painting these (which was a bit of a surprise to be sure)…
...I mean, as you can see, I didn’t attempt anything particularly complicated (i.e. I wasn’t brave enough to try any fancy markings or anything like that) – but I’m pretty pleased with the results (I especially like how the white one has turned out).
However, I should point out that you have to provide your own bases (they do have a small integral base – but I mounted mine on some 2mm mdf ovals that I have, for a more consistent look) – but aside from that, it’s another great set!
And if you’re wondering about their actual size – then here’s a pic on my cutting matt:
(note that the squares are 1cm, but I’ve added a few rulers so you can see the imperial measurements too)
So yeah, if you can’t tell, I rather like them – I mean I’m no horse expert, but they look fine to me, they go together easily, and they paint up well – so there’s not much more to say really.
I suppose if I really wanted to be a bit nit-picky, then I might have preferred it if each sprue ditched the fourth (spare) head, and included some baggage instead (to make a couple of pack horses) – but that’s just me wanting to tailor the sprue to my own specific needs.
But, like I say, these are nice models, and are a perfect accompaniment to my new carts and wagons!
And, as you'll see, the idea for these is to have a bunch of steps/stairs that are quick to build, easy to store/transport, and that conform to the original 2.5D design/philosophy.
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 ).
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.
* * *
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 :)
