Getting Ready for #Dungeon23

As some of you might already know - there is a bit of a craze over on social media/blogs/etc. at the moment... and a lot of folks are talking about this #dungeon23 thing.

If you're not familiar, then it's a concept proposed by Sean McCoy (of Mothership fame) where you try to write a dungeon room every day throughout 2023.

Then, if all goes to plan, every month can be representative of a single level of a mega-dungeon - each containing around 30 rooms (though that idea is not set in stone - it could be a city, with each entry being a building or NPC, or anything you want really).

Furthermore, each entry doesn't have to be anything special (if you're busy/struggling on a particular day - that entry might simply be 'empty room') - the main aim (as far as I can tell), is to just try and do 'something' each day if you can (and don't worry if you can't... just pick it back up when you feel like it).

Anyway, as you can probably tell, I'm going to give it a go... at least in some fashion - but to begin with I'm just going to commit to doing a single dungeon level throughout January (after which, I might change things up a little, and try something else).

And in preparation for that, I've been doing a little warm-up dungeon these past couple of days - just to iron out any creases before I start the real thing (you can find this test dungeon HERE if you want to check it out - as I think this is the kind of layout that I've settled on).

- the basic 'old-school' style of map that I'll be using (drawn in Inkscape) -

Now, the current plan is to post my 'room' descriptions here on the blog (one each day throughout January) - and see how I get on (I'll also compile all of the entries in THIS google doc).

However, I don't want to make something that's too gonzo - so I have drawn up a (very) basic plan of this first level (see below) - but it will likely change as the month progresses.

So yeah, tomorrow will be the first day of this challenge, and while I don't expect my results to be anything special (in truth I don't expect the resulting dungeon to be all that usable) - I think it'll be a fun exercise nonetheless.

Anyway, feel free to follow along if it sounds vaguely interesting... and if you're also taking part in #dungeon23 (and sharing your own progress), then let me know where to find you down in the comments!

Effigy Tombs (print & paste terrain)

I’ve had this idea for a while now – and although the original plan was to make a tips & tricks video to cover it (just using the ‘pillars’ and the ‘statues’ pdfs), I’ve instead opted for a full episode (with all new textures) in order to make things a little easier.

As usual, things started with a basic idea…

 ...which eventually turned into something a bit more presentable: 

 Anyway, here’s the video tutorial:

 

...and HERE is the pdf file (note that if you are a supporting me over on Patreon or as a YouTube Member, then please just put a zero in the little box and download the file for free).

Hope you like ‘em!

 

Standing Stones

When I originally had the idea to make a couple of standing stones (to accompany the recent swamp/marsh tiles) I thought I’d just put something together quickly using some of the textures that I’ve already got available - and maybe make it into a bonus ‘tips & tricks’ video.

However, as is often the case, I got a little carried away, and it soon became apparent that, if I was going to add some decoration to the stones (by the way of a few different inscriptions/engravings), then I may as well turn it into a full episode :)

So, here it is...

...and, like always, you can find the PDF file HERE (note that if you are a supporting me over on Patreon or as a YouTube Member, then please just put a zero in the little box and download the file for free ;) ).

Furthermore, as I mention in the video, feel free to come and join the Discord or the Facebook Community (and join the chat, share pictures, and so on over there!).

 

New D&D Magazine review… kinda…

So, a little while ago I heard someone mention that Hachette Partworks were creating a new weekly D&D magazine.

Now, if you’re not familiar with the concept, Hachette does lots of these kind of ‘collectible magazine’ type of things (for example it might be a magazine where you build a scale model of the Titanic – and you get a few new parts to assemble with each issue, along with some history and background information to read through OR it might be a magazine all about cross-stitching – with new patterns and materials in each issue) – however, as gamers, the ones that are usually of interest to us are the Warhammer ones.

In these Warhammer ‘partworks’ you’ll usually get models, paints, brushes, etc. included with each issue – and if you collect the entire series you’ll end up with all the rules you’ll need to play, and two massive armies (sometimes with a bunch of terrain as well).

However, they can be rather expensive (when you total up how much you’ll end up spending to get the entire collection) – but the first issue is usually super cheap (usually £1.99 or £2.99 – just to grab your attention) – and these are definitely worth picking up just for the models alone (even if you have no intention of collecting the entire set). 

For example, all of these were included in issue 1 of one of the Warhammer ones that I picked up from the local newsagent a couple of years back… all for a mere £2.99!

 

So, as you can imagine, I was rather interested to see what would be included in this new D&D ‘partwork’ that they were releasing.

However, I couldn’t find it on sale anywhere – and neither could anyone else I know (and not just locally, folks in other towns, folks from the UK in my discord server, etc. - no-one could find it in any of their local stores).

So, in the end I decided I’d bite the bullet and subscribe through the Hachette website – with the aim of checking out a few issues (for SCIENCE!) – just to see what kind of thing they had in mind for it… and then report back here.

However, as I’ve since discovered, Hachette will often do short trial runs of each partwork (usually 4 issues), and only make them available in small quantities (and only in selected areas).

So, it would seem that the reason that no-one could find it was because it was still in the trial phase, and wasn’t on general release yet.

Now, I have to admit that this was NOT pointed out on their website when I subscribed (there it says that 80 issues are planned) – so I was a little surprised when I got this e-mail:

Now don’t get me wrong, a free issue is nice – but I have to admit that it did leave a bit of a sour taste in my mouth knowing that I’d been mislead. But it’s a minor gripe – and I was still looking forward to getting an issue to flick through (though I imagine if anyone out there did manage to pick up the first 4 issues ‘in store’ without knowing this – then they might be a bit annoyed to find out that they’d been a bit of an unwitting guinea pig).

Anyway, true to their word, issue 1 arrived the other day – with a similar cover letter…

...and since I’ve had a few days to look at it, I thought I’d give you my thoughts.

First of all (and prominently displayed) are the dice:

 

And these are exactly what you’d expect – though the style of the numbers is similar to the D&D font – and that’s a nice touch. Plus they also come in a little (aluminium?) tobacco-style tin. So yeah, I quite like them (worth the cover price alone). 

You also get four pre-generated characters on a nice, thick, double-sided, satin paper – which again, are nice things to have.

In addition to the main magazine you also get a little introduction booklet that explains the kind of things you’ll be getting…

...and a small ‘combat booklet’ that details some of the things you can do in combat – which comes with an example of play (which, unfortunately, has a few basic errors): 

And, as for the magazine itself, it’s a bit of a difficult one for me to judge to be honest – because, as I’m already familiar with D&D 5e (and have been playing RPGs for decades), all of the explanations make perfect sense to me. However, if I were a complete newbie to RPGs in general, I might be a little confused. But like I say, it’s a hard thing to judge (and probably harder still to pull off) – but I think there’s probably enough there to pique new folks’ interest.

Also, as you probably saw, there’s a short adventure/encounter in the back too – not much more than a combat encounter (a variation of the good old fashioned ‘rats in the cellar’ that we all know and love) – which is set in Phandalin (the town that features in the 5e Starter Set and Essentials Kit).

And I think there should be enough material in the magazine to run it without much fuss (though a pull-out map of the inn, to show to the players, might have been a nice inclusion). 

 

So yeah, it seems that (at least to begin with), each adventure/encounter that appears in a particular issue will focus on slightly different elements of play ...introducing more and more rules (and monsters) as it goes along – which is kinda what I expected (probably a good format for this kind of thing).

* * * 

So, assuming that it does get an eventual (national) release, do I think it’s worth picking up? 

Well, if you already have the 5e core rulebooks (and/or are familiar with D&D) then I still think #1 is worth getting hold of. I mean, an extra set of dice (in their own little tin) is a nice thing to have, and, as I’ve already said, a bunch of pre-generated characters are always useful. And for a cover price of £1.99, you can’t really go wrong. 

And, if you’re completely new to this kind of thing, then I also think #1 is worth looking at – mainly for the same reasons. You’ll have your first set of dice, a very basic understanding of the game, and a bunch of characters to choose from if you have a local store/club that runs starter games (though, in truth, DMs who run those kind of games will normally have pre-generated characters for you to choose from anyway – but having one of your own that you can study beforehand might be more appealing to some people).

However, would I pick up the whole 80 issue series? ...well, of that, I’m not so sure. It kinda depends on what kind of thing will be included. 

For example, the total cost for the entire print run would be around £630 ...and for that kind of money I would expect a lot of physical products/accessories to accompany it - kinda like one of the deluxe Beadle & Grimm’s products. 

Things like handouts, poster maps, props, dungeon tiles, miniatures (or, at the very least, standees/tokens), item/monster/spell cards, and so on. 

However, when I filled out their survey, aside from dice related stuff, they seemed to be more focused on merchandise (mugs, posters, apparel, etc.) than things to actually enhance the game – so I’m not sure if that’s going to be the direction they take (which is a bit of a shame). 

That being said, I suppose that’s the whole point of the trial (even though I’m not keen on the way they went about it) – just to gauge interest and get feedback. However, I have raised most of these points in the aforementioned survey – so maybe things will be a little clearer (with regard to the kind of ‘accessories’ that will be included) when/if the magazine gets a full release. 

 

TLDR: If you see #1 for sale, pick it up. For £1.99 you can’t really go wrong.

Marsh/Swamp Tiles

I've probably bored folks to death with the various WIP images of these that I've been posting on social media (Discord in particular) - but they took a while to get them looking somewhat like I envisaged them.

- early concepts / W.I.P's -

Anyway, I finally managed to settle on a particular style (pictured below), and when it's all out on the table, I think it's going to work quite well (though I foresee those tree branches getting caught on players sleeves if they're not careful).

In any case, if you're interested in making some yourself you can grab the (pay-what-you-want) pdf file over on DriveThruRPG ...and the video below shows you how to put them together:

So, here's hoping you can find a use for them!

PS. if you need some stirges to inhabit these swamps - you can find some HERE ;)

(hmmm... I wonder what a stirge nest looks like...)

FLAMES! (papercraft terrain)

 Just a quick message to say that the next video has gone live :)

...and, as usual, you can pick up the (pay what you want) pdf file HERE.

* * *

Now, the video itself is just more of my usual 'print & paste' content (though I have improved the spinning logo in the intro sequence) - however it IS the first video to be put together on my new computer (with up to date software).

And I have to say that I'm impressed. To render/encode a ten minute video would have taken anything from 1 to 2 hours on the old computer/software (depending on how much stuff was going on).

On the new computer it took less than 5 minutes :O

So yeah - I'm pretty pleased about that!

 

MINIATURES REVIEW – Bulldogs (Wargames Atlantic)

As some of you will be aware, I will usually include ‘action shots’ at the end of most of my videos – and in those final images I’ll sometimes include a few miniatures.

Now, these are usually miniatures that I’ve bought and painted myself (though I do always check with the manufacturer to make sure that they are OK with me doing this) – but in the LATEST EPISODE I’ve actually included a few ‘review’ miniatures that WargamesAtlantic have sent to me.

(everything that arrived in the mail)

Anyway, as you can see in the above pic, they’ve actually sent me three different boxes to take a look at – but in this article I’ll be concentrating on the Bulldogs from their Death Fields range (as those are the only ones I’ve got painted yet).

Now, I will say that, when I first saw previews of these, I knew that I’d probably be picking them up at some point – as I already have a few of their other miniatures (see the ‘Cannon Fodder’ miniatures at the end of THIS video), and these ‘Bulldogs’ looked like a pretty versatile set (especially when you consider the kit-bashing possibilities with some of the other Wargames Atlantic stuff). So, as you can probably guess, I was particularly pleased to receive these. 

(the box contains 4 identical sprues – each containing 6 miniatures)

 

Now, as you can see, you get a ton of head options on each sprue (as is common with the ‘Death Fields’ range), and I expect that a lot of folks will be using the pith helmets to create Praetorian-style Imperial Guard units (as the original GW models are pretty expensive to get a hold of nowadays).

(pith helmet with and without gas mask / WW1 style cap / Brodie helmet with and without gas mask)

However, I quickly noticed that if I instead used the beret wearing heads, they’d have a similar vibe to some of the early Stormtrooper models that GamesWorkshop released – and that’s a look that I rather like (as it will work quite well for the OnePageRules ‘firefight’ army that I’m putting together).

(models assembled with the beret heads)

Anyway, as far as the assembly goes, they did require a bit of mould line removal, and a tiny bit of greenstuff work on the back of the arms and around the neck (i.e. the kind of thing I’ve come to expect with most multi-part kits) – but, as you can see in the above picture, the detail on these guys is pretty good.

Then, when it came to painting, I just used my usual technique of priming in grey and then:

• Paint in all the base colours.
• Apply washes (different washes over the different colours).
• Highlight (and tidy up any ‘tidemarks’) with the same base colours.
• Add a final highlight here and there (mostly just on the face, clothes, and armour).
  

(the finished models next to some of the ‘cannon fodder’ miniatures)

And I think they’ve turned out quite nice. I mean, I’m not an award winning painter or anything like that – but I do like to put nice looking models on the table… and I do think that these are nice looking models (i.e. there’s plenty of depth in the recesses of the models for washes to do their job).

So, I suppose the only question that remains is – would I buy them?

Well, as I’ve already said, I was thinking of getting some of these anyway – and now that I’ve seen them in the flesh, that hasn’t changed. In all truth, I think they actually look a bit better in person than they do in some of the pictures that I’ve seen online.

However, the main complaint that I can see people having with these is that they don’t come with any bases. For me though, that’s a bit of a non issue – as I always use (2mm thick) mdf bases for all of my miniatures (to maintain a consistent look). But I can see how that might be annoying if you were hoping to get everything you need in one box.

Be that as it may, if you’re looking to add some ‘space Brits’ to your collection (possibly even steampunk looking guys if you use some of the other heads), then I don’t think that you can go wrong with these.

In the UK they’re priced at £25, and since there’s 24 models per box, that’s a tiny bit more than £1 a miniature – and you really can’t grumble about that!