Tarus the Druid

Here is a AD&D Druid Kitbash I was working on over the weekend.

The Five Shires

I recently acquired a copy of The Five Shires. It’s one of the sourcebooks in the old Mystara series of Gazetteers. Each book in the Gazetteer series detailed a different region in the classic D&D world (quite a well done series actually) . “The Five Shires deals with a nation of Hobbits umm…Halflings, or as they prefer to be called amongst themselves (according to the book) The Hin.
This sourcebook is one of the most sought after and highest priced gaming supplements on EBay. I recently saw a shrink-wrapped copy go for $85.00, my copy wasn’t shrink-wrapped but it was complete and in good shape, it still cost me $29.00 (To add insult to injury the seller left the original $4.99 discount sticker on it- gee thanks). The book is written by Ed Greenwood, he of Forgotten Realms fame, and gives a real complete look into Halfling culture that goes beyond the typical “Bilbo Baggins” stereotype that most gamers have when thinking of Halflings. He provides a complete history of the nation that is filled with struggle and adversity; overall it’s a good read. I came away with a greater respect for the race, which when I DM will reflect on the way I use Halflings in my campaign.

Masters of the game

A really great message board is forming up over at the GMing Questions and answers forum.
It’s a message board where GM’s of all types post questions regarding the art of game mastering. Drop by and take a look.

Fellowship 9/11

This is too damn funny!

Todays entry was brought to you by the number 4

Great idea from over at Jeff’s game blog. The Evil DM answers some four questions

Four jobs you've had in your life: Baskin Robbins (1st job), a worker Drone at EDS, an MP in the Army, a sales clerk at Waldenbooks

Four movies you could watch over and over: Gettyburg, The Wind and the Lion, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Four places you've lived: Monterey California, Honolulu Hawaii, Anniston Alabama, Denver Colorado

Four TV shows you love to watch: The Shield, My name is Earl, The office, Battlestar Galactica (current series)

Four places you've been on vacation: Manila Philippines, Las Vegas Nevada, Lake Chapala Mexico, Honolulu Hawaii

Four websites you visit daily:
· Attu sees all
· Fantasynet
· Latino review
· Gaming report

Four of your favorite foods: Pizza, Po Tak, BBQ, Fruitcake

More Chap Mei

A buddy on another list turned me on to a Russian site with more of the Chap Mei figures. I saw the King Kong figure over here at the local Rite Aid. I gotta swing back there and see if he has been discounted. These other sets have yet to hit any stores near me.

TV on DVD

Well part of my Christmas haul included all three complete seasons of the Shield and the first season of the new Battlestar Galactica on DVD. After watching the whole slew of them I’m kind of feeling “why should I watch TV”? It’s better to wait for the season DVD’s to come out. I get deleted scenes, commentaries, behind the scenes stuff and most importantly –NO COMMERCIALS! I’m a new fan of TV series DVD’s. Next on the list are Buffy the vampire slayer and at least season 1 of Xena.

We are back!

Sorry for the long hiatus but the Evil DM has been getting his butt kicked at work with end of year stuff. Hopefully we can get back on track now.

Weekend Kitbashes

I had some downtime over the weekend so I tweaked a couple of kit bashes. I love that new head sculpt that Lanard put out for the K-9 corps line. But I just couldn't find the right outfit for him. This kind of Van Helsing- monster hunter look suits him well. He Kind of reminds me of the Hammer horror films from the 60's.

The second one is an outfit I used before with a Black Cy-Girl figure. I changed it out with an Asian one, which I think is an improvement- the hat kind of adds something to it as well.

The third is a modern bounty hunter guy I'm playing with. I like the coat.

Hey, if it's on the internet it has to be true.

Free Adventure

Pulp stories are a tricky thing, for every really great story you need to plow through some really lousy muck. Over at PulpGen, the authors have taken dozens of authentic pulp stories and converted them to PDF format. In addition to that they even give you little capsule reviews to help you avoid the really bad ones (Then again bad stories are kinda like bad movies, they seem to have a charm of their own). PulpGen has Pirate stories, Boxing stories, sports stories, lost world stories, and many others, a great sampling from all the worlds of pulp fiction. Download them, print them up and toss them in a folder- then read them at your leisure during staff meetings, training sessions or at your desk. Get your daily dose of action, adventure and intrigue and still maintain the façade of the dedicated employee.

EBay Rocks!

Shadizar the wicked.
Retail $39.95
My price: $9.99
God I love Ebay!

Red Nails

It looks like the Conan animated movie is moving forward. It’s looking good so far. They are doing an adaptation of Robert E Howard’s story “Red Nails”.

This is the style of art I would love to have for my Legends of Steel Game.

Check out the Link.

The things we do for love

Last week I received a package of Tapes that I won on Ebay. They are part of the research I'm doing for my Legends of Steel game.
-ATOR THE FIGHTING EAGLE
-THE BLADEMASTER
-INVINCIBLE BARBARIAN
-CONQUEST
-DEATHSTALKER 3
So far I have sat through Deathstalker 3 I tried to sit through Conquest but my hand kept wandering to the remote. I finally turned it off and went to bed.

Geek links

D&D 101
I remember my first few games of Dungeons and Dragons as being an exhilarating, yet confusing foray into the unknown. We didn’t have the right dice (we played with six siders borrowed from a Kismet game and some paper chits), we weren’t quite sure how character levels and spell levels worked with each other, and nobody knew what the hell a Lucern hammer was (we just knew it was better than a regular hammer-My dwarf fighter used one in each hand in combat). Figuring out the game was half the fun, and in some cases our own rules were an improvement on the official rules. Well excuse me for sounding like an old fogey when I say “Damn kids these days got it too easy.” Case in point.

Mood Music
I’ve dabbled in the past with having music and sound effects in the background during games to help set the “mood” some times it worked sometimes it didn’t. It’s kinda like playing Ravenloft by candlelight; it sounds cool in theory but not very practical. But that was back in the day of the boom box and cassette tape. Now we are in the 21st century, and there is a company that claims to have a handle on it. RPG-Soundmixer has a free download where you can give it a try. And here is a place to find more sounds to use.

Where smart is sexy
That appears to be the motto at Gorgeous Geeks a calendar site that uses REAL geek gals not models as their calendar girls. Worth a look.

Quite the scribe

Well I posted a bit of bashing last week. So this week I’ll update what’s going on gaming-wise

KODT
I'm currently working on two more “Lost Gaming Safari” articles for Knights of the Dinner table magazine. One is on the horror game Chill from Pacesetter games. the other is on The Marvel Superheroes Role-playing game by TSR.

I'm also working on an article that shows how to use movies as teaching tools to get players to role-play better, specifically in the regards to alignment and group interaction.

Legends of Steel
I am so close to finished with the rules. I'm still working with the magic system and trying to tie in a bit of Psionics. The character generation, combat, and campaign play are pretty much done. I have to do some more on the critters and then tackle the campaign world stuff. I have one professional artists on board for a piece of art or two and hopefully I’ll be able to get at least two more, the art thing is important to me cause I'm a very visual person. So although I sure in hell ain’t rich, I’m willing to invest a little to get nice artwork. Like I said before, some guys take 69 Ford Mustang and trick it out for a hobby, I'm gonna make my own game. And its gonna see print (even if its just a vanity run for friends and family).

For those of you who didn’t know, I'm working on my own Role-playing game called Legends of Steel. It’s what those in the gaming industry call a “Beer and pretzel game” that is to say a game to play for laughs or a quick aside rather than a full-scale campaign. I'm modeling it after the Sword & Sorcery B movies of the 80’s and the Fantasy comics of the 70’s.”

FASERIP-Pulp
I also started on a side project of taking the FASERIP rules from The Marvel Superhero Role-playing game and converting them to use in a 1930’s pulp setting. A much less ambitious project than Legends of Steel, but still a fun diversion. I’ve got about 13 pages written up and will probably post it on the Swords of Erisa website when it’s done.

I told myself – Self: “Don’t talk about writing, don’t read about writing, don’t dream about writing. Just sit down at the damn keyboard and write.”

So there we are.

Dollar Pirates, ARRRGGGHH!

Chap Mei is, as best as I can tell a small outfit that makes 1/18th inch bargain figures for sale at discount outlets. They have great ideas for figure lines. they do the standard soldier figures as well as police, rescue, and constrution figures and sets but they also have some really cool original lines, they have a Wildquest line that features arctic and jungle animals and the folks that capture them. they have a ninja line, a He-Man knockoff fantasy line, a knights and wizards line. and now the other day I ran across a Pirate line. the figures have cool detail, nifty equipment, and a great price point. their biggest failing if that the figures have no articulation in the knees and elbows. I think thats the only thing thats keeping this company from being way more popular. it's funny, the figures are awesome to look at, the detail and originality of the recent figures tells me someone at that company cares about what they are putting out,just look at these figures: the tatoos on the bald guy, the peg leg on the eye patch guy and the hand on the captain can be replaced by several different weapons (kinda like Mr. Han in Enter the Dragon) somebody at that company loved these guys to invest all that detail in them. but I just cant figure why these guys dont go for that extra articulation that would push these figures into direct competition with the little joe guys.

WIP: Priestess of Nogar-Sai

I finally got the kitbash room into some semblance of order. and with the long weekend I was able to indulge in a little kitbashing. here is an early stage Kitbash using a Janay head, Jane body, Callisto outfit, and a wicked weapon made by Ed Cassar. still a work in progress.
In my D&D campaign world of Erisa, Nogar-Sai is the god of the undead. here we have a vampire high-priestess of his cult.

Average Joe's

I took Big Brawler and made him a Mercenary. Joe cabot left the the underworld and became a blacksmith. not Wizards,not Paladins just a couple of average Joe's from town.

Sorcerer's cabinet

I'm working on a lab for my sorcerer, yesterday at the second hand store i ran across this miniature cabinet. I got rid of all the harvest crap and redid it Ala D&D kitbash.

"The endless night"

"The endless night"
Suitable for use with Traveller, Star Frontiers, Alternity, Etc.

This was inspired by the movie “Outland” starring Sean Connery.

The players are sent to an asteroid mining operation to investigate the murder of a VIP’s son. The son and his father had a falling out and no one in the colony knew who that his father was this famous person. The death was ruled accidental but of course that is not good enough for the father. That’s where the group comes in. the father hires a team of private investigators to go there undercover and conduct a private investigation. The team finds out this is just one of many deaths in this mining colony, it appears that literally hundreds of convicts, indentured laborers, homeless and other people “who nobody will miss” have disappeared through the years here. The players discover that the killer is the head honcho of the mining operation, pretty straightforward stuff. Until, we add the twist that the head honcho is a Vampire. Actual-sleeps in a coffin-strength of ten men-turns into a mist- undead vampire. Now the players who are prepared for a conventional fight have got to suspend their 25th century mentality and fight a creature of legend. For some added spice, add a “sin town” with strip clubs, casinos, and brothels etc. where the laborers go to blow off steam- this is where his minions hang out- kind of like the “Titty-Twister” in “From Dusk till Dawn”. Oh, and have the vampires “Renfield” guy be the chief of security for the mining company.

"Zis vill only hurt a little bit. Trust me."

Since Sunday the Evil DM has been the victim of the mother of all toothaches. I went to the dentist today and was told the tooth needs to come out. I'm on penicillin and vicodin. extraction scheduled for Friday. I anticipate posting will be light till after that.