#dungeon23

Greetings! 

It has been an age since I last used this blog but the recent #dungeon23 craze has inspired me to return. 
I will chronical my progress here as I follow along with Sean McCoy's idea but with my own take and outcome hopefully. 

The original idea (can be found here) was to note/journal a room of a dungeon or to try and at least create SOMETHING to get in to the creative habit, even if the result that day was simply "an empty room".

I love the idea and for my take on it will be keeping a dead tree notebook but will also try to post a tidied up version online. Where my version will vary is in the focus of the subject, I do not intend to make a Megadungeon, instead, it will likely be a collection of encounter ideas, situations, NPCs, Shops, POIs, unusual situations along with several single or dual level dungeons.

While I may miss the odd day here or there, it is my hope to have something significant to show and potentially run in a years time. 

So off we go..

Day 1. 
Scrumpin Sach's Cider Shack

scrumping

steal (fruit) from an orchard or garden.

A little background

Sachley Undernook is a halfling entrepreneur that has built a hugely successful business for himself, selling the finest Cider in the whole region. With a combination of charm and a touch of halfling luck, Sach managed to go from selling jugs of cider from a broken wagon on market day to running a small shop and bar in just a year and hopes to take the next big step up to owning and running a tavern soon.

Unfortunately Sach's success was built on a flawed business model, all of his apples were scrumped and not a single one grown or paid for! while the business was small, a few apples from here and there were hardly missed but as the demand grew, so did the shortfall in the harvests of the local orchards. 

It didn't take long to figure out where the crop was ending up and was soon a source of ire for some of the smaller farms. The local reeve was already drunk on cider when they reported it and Sach denied any knowledge and claimed he sourced all his apples legitimately from the next town over. With their concerns dismissed, Old Boare and several of his farmhands have now taken the law into their own hands.

As the party approach or while passing by...

Approaching the small shack, a freshly painted sign that reads " Sachs' Cider" in bright red paint a white background can be seen standing proud of the small wooden building it is attached to. Out front are several small tables with a small fotted flower and some crude but sturdy looking stools surrounding them. 

Approaching the shack a shrill cry rings through the air. The is of agonised, almost childlike, and followed by some gruff jeering and humourless laughs.

The door to the front of the shack is locked but the rear entrance has been smashed and pushed loosely back in place from the inside. The rear room of the shack seems to be the source of the commotion.

The back room is full of apples, jugs and barrels on a variety of cabinets, crates and shelves that give the room a busy and well used look. A focal point in the centre of the room is large a screw cider press, with a large barrel to collect the pressed juice and a large screw type mechanism designed to pulp the apples and force the juice from them. Standing with their backs to the door are a group of large men with the appearance of farm hands, though from behind it is hard to tell much more about them. 

An older man can be glimpsed between them, pointing angrily at the something in the middle of the presses. anyone listening at the door will hear him growl "...think you can take the food of our plates do yer?! think you are above payin' me and my boys? times are tight and you be takin from us?! well let us show you how tight things can get 'round here for theives..." followed by the creaking of the screw press being turned by one of the thugs, instantly drowned out by the awful scream that rings out...

Who is here...

A group of 4 farmhand thugs, all tall and strong looking lads of bearing the look of locals, surround their boss an orchard farmer by the name of Rodden Boare "Rotten to the Core if you ask the local kids". He is wearing brown, threadbare and stained old clothing and sports shoulder length, greasy, brown hair that hangs in a skullet around his liver-spotted bald scalp. Boare is from one of the poorer plots of land and has felt the loss of Sachs' scrumping more than most. 

Sachley himself a young Halfling in immaculate dress, a mop of dirty blonde hair and a handsome face, currently contorted in extreme agony is on his knees beside the one of the presses. His hand is trapped in the press and being mangled inside as one of the thugs adds another rotation. 

Boare is out for blood and is deranged in his anger, fighting anyone that interferes until rendered unconscious or killed. The farmhands are less committed and will flee if seriously hurt or should Boare go down. 

Taking pictures

Hello Internet, 

Following on from my last post, today while sat at my desk, I have been playing around with lighting and pictures. 

I was hoping to use a couple of different minis to get a better feel for what will be my best setup (for now) but realised the case with my completed minis has been left at my gaming room where I run my Shattered Star Pathfinder campaign. I will stop by and grab it tomorrow and post some pictures of what I have been doing in my absence from the blog. 

As you can see from the images below, I have a bit more work to do as I just can't seem to find the right balance of lighting in my dungeon/office and still need to get the settings on my camera correct. 

I may have to re-invest in a light box, I had one years ago but it got lost in one of many moves, the last picture is ok but could be much better. 

The miniature used is Marcus from Malifaux. I painted him up to use as an unarmed Brawler Character in Pathfinder because I thought he looked pretty badass. To be fair most of the figures put out my Wyrd Miniatures are! He will probably also make an appearance as a mook/thug in the campaign I am currently running too. 

The campaign is only a few sessions in and so far the party have been beaten down by nearly every encounter they have had! Throw away fights with poo chucking goblins became life or death epics that were a lot of fun watch unfold. 

Another highlight for me was setting up some intros for my new players using their back stories. One guy is playing a barbarian who had been making money fighting for cash in seedy bars while waiting for assignment (The Shattered Star campaign has the party start as fresh minted Pathfinder agents) so I gave his character a little notoriety in the city's underground, going so far as to invite him to a big stakes tournament run by one of the bigger gangs in the area. 

I did this figuring he would follow the story, play through a few encounters and then we can have this tourney where he would get some added combat to fight out while the others can use the event as a fantastic way to gather information about local events and people. 

One problem, every encounter he ended up starting a fight with the local gangs and getting his arse handed to him. So the locals went from calling him Champ for his prowess to "Champ" as an insult in short order. 

I have also been toying with the idea of building some cool terrain to throw out at my PF games, having binge watched Drunkens & Dragons, go check it out, has some of the coolest advice and his live streams descend into hilarious drunken commentary on life, gaming and philosophy!

He uses terrain to great effect without taking away from the action/story in a way I think will really enhance my own games. So expect some scenery building posts in the future :)

Anyway, more posts to follow soon hopefully, until then stay frosty people, 

Apoc/Rob

Blood Bowl

Hi folks,

Back again and now with a considerable lack of college work to do! 2 more exams and I am finished until September, so I can get cracking with all my outstanding projects whilst i still have the time :)

Spent yesterday and today working on the two Blood Bowl teams that have been popping up on here over the last few posts. First up, the GW Undead team:

Having a blast painting these cool mini's in the Champions of Death colour scheme, still need a little finishing off and the bases need some turf, but otherwise I am really happy so far.

Next we have the second Necromantic team, still need to finish the conversion work on the zombies but just had to get some paint on to these two AWESOME minis...

I wanted to break up the big slab of flesh these monstrosities possess, so I added a few different rotting skin tones in there to do just that. Rotten flesh was used to highlight up from the base colours of Dark Flesh, Dheneb Stone and Tallarn Flesh to give them a sickly to tone. The Rotten Flesh parts were highlighted up using white and Sunburst yellow.

Have enjoyed working on both of these teams so far and have built up a good head of steam to get these finished.

I have also been doing a little painting for my Pathfinder games too, first up is my Cleric; Cook.

A couple of small conversions to the Dirk - Male Rogue miniature by Reaper Miniatures, new shield, light hammer, pack and pouch. Nothing fancy but he has plenty of character.

Next I have just primed another Pathfinder miniature to work on between Blood Bowl teams, a female ninja called Xue Shinra (Final Fantasy = Best Game EVER!)

Based on the Ameiko Kaijitsu mini, also by Reaper. I kept it fairly simple conversion wise by making a new blade for her (supposed to be a wakizashi) and adding a hilt to the existing Scabbard (will be a second  wakizashi or possibly a Katana).

Hopefully with a little more time on my hands, I will have more to post soon. 

Until then, be good.

Apoc

Eldar update and random stuff

Been a while!


College and the holidays have both conspired against my blogging and hobbying, but i have finally found some time to do this post and even some painting!


I have some very rough pictures of what i have been doing in-between essays, assignments and being a dad. One day I will remember to look into setting up a light box or a photo spot in my little painting dungeon, any advice welcome!


First up some updated pics of the Eldar I have been working on:

Banshees need a little finishing and basing, then they are ready to go.

Warp Spiders, again, need a little bit of finishing (I messed up the symbol on a couple of their heads, that's why some look odd as they have only have a thin coat to cover the mistakes so far) and basing.

Dark Reapers are waiting for basing and their weapons.

Harlequins are coming along, have just put the halves together and finished the Death Jester/Troupe master (I'm not sure about the hierarchy of the Eldar). I am pretty happy with how they are going, I had been a bit nervous about getting under-way with them as the motley sections on them didn't look like much fun! Turned out to be easier than it looked and not nearly as time consuming as I had feared.


Was also sent a Wraithlord to paint up in the Iyanden* scheme:

Am still getting used to my airbrush, but love how nice the yellow came out! still a lot of work to do, extra armour and details still need painting blue, but so far so good!


Have been playing Pathfinder RPG quite a lot too recently and have to say, the more I play the more I love the system!


I freely admit that I was always dubious of those strange creatures that played RPGs and never imagined I would one day be one of them! as if painting and playing toy soldiers wasn't geeky enough! lol.


It has really helped that my first forays into playing RPGs were with two VERY experienced and fun GMs and both groups I played with were amazing! however I did meet a group that included the stereotypical gaming pair (like these guys Fear of Girls) and ran for the hills.


Anyway, enough rambling about it, I have painted a few characters up for my ongoing weekly session of Pathfinder but typically I don't have them with me. A couple were painted for the GM and his wife and the latest (Eando Kline) has come out really dark and grainy in the picture :( Again, I really need to sort out a light box or something!


Here are the pics anyway:

Finally, one of the best purchases I have ever made is the Pound-o-dice by Chessex. I got it from http://www.snmstuff.co.uk/ and oh biy was it worth it!

I got:


13 - d4
8 - numbered d6
14 - Standard size spot d6 - 1 with a dire wolf instead of a 6
1 - Large d6
5 - Small d6
8 - d8
22 - d10
3 - d%
8 - d12
30 - d20
Complete set of limited edition dice green numbers on cream with orange specks
3 Micro 5mm dice
and 2 craft/charm dice with holes through them to thread.

Not bad at all! and for all you war gamers, they do a pound-o-d6 too :)


Hopefully the next update won't be too far away, will do my best.


Stay frosty people,


Apoc/Rob

Finished some and started some more

Finally finished the Heroquest greenies:

Have also finished the barbarian, alchemist and fool:

Goldar the Barbarian - Reaper Miniatures

 

  Damiel, Iconic Alchemish - Reaper Miniatures

Jules le Jongleur - Games Workshop

And as I have been bitten by the painting bug, I have started a couple more minis to use in future games:

Converted Captain of the Empire - Games Workshop

Finari, Crusader Hero - Reaper Miniatures

 

  Anduriel, elf warrior - Reaper Miniatures

  Kara Foe Hunter - Reaper Miniatures

Mites - Reaper Miniatures



More to follow as long as the painting bug continues to burrow down into my brain...


Apoc