Check it out!

Things have been a bit confusing around here so let me get it all straightened out.

Hero's Ruin as a blog is no more. My friend Noah and I have decided to venture into the world of game design and production and have called our company "Hero's Ruin Game Co." As such, we decided that it wouldn't be appropriate to continue with a personal blog of the same name.

But that doesn't mean there won't be a blog, in fact, I've started a new one!

If you are interested in checking out the new blog, head on over to our new site, Tragic Missile! (http://www.tragicmissile.com/) I've already got a couple articles up with more to come!

I'd like to thank everyone who read and commented here. This blog was seen plenty of chaos but I was glad to see folks still enjoyed it. I look forward to seeing a bunch of you over at the new place!

I'll leave this blog up for a while just so folks can see this and older posts. I am considering moving all of my old content over to the new site as well. Please note that many of the images inside the posts themselves will be disappearing as I clean out my flickr stream.

Thanks and happy gaming!

Progress!

A lot has happened since last we spoke!

Myself and my business partner Noah have taken the first steps to forming our own legitimate company!

It will be known as "Hero's Ruin Game Co." We've got one game past the playtesting stage and into the design stage. It's a two player strategy board game. It's a steam-punk themed capture the flag style game with various troop pieces and card mechanics. We'll be revealing it in it's complete form soon.

I told you I've been busy!

We've filed all the business paperwork and are in the process of settling down on an artist to do the illustrations for our game.
 





I know things have been kind of hectic around here and a lot has changed. Unfortunately, things will continue to change around as we move forward. Seeing that we named the company "Hero's Ruin," the current blog as it is will lose it's title. I've had a hard time deciding on what to call it, but I'm sure something can be figured out.

While everything is still in it's infancy, you can still check out our various sites.

"Likes" to our facebook page are greatly appreciated, as we gain access to more tools on a company page when we reach certain levels of "likes". You can visit our Facebook page by clicking here.


You can visit our Twitter page by clicking here.

You can visit our very much in progress tumblr site by clicking here.

Not long from now www.herosruin.com will be directing to the new site. If you subscribe to this blog through blogger, I don't think it will have any effect. I'm pretty sure for the time being the blog will revert back to warbeargames.

Until next time, Happy gaming!

There's a Mouse in the House!

Last night I was pleased to play my first game of Mice and Mystics from Plaid Hat Games. Mice and Mystics is a dungeon crawling adventure that places you and a few cohorts into the bodies of tiny mouse warriors. You must fight your way through a treacherous castle filled with all manner of now-giant sized foes including rats, insects and the ever fearsome cat, Brody!

The art is fantastic!

We had a wonderful time playing the game, although I found it a bit too difficult for the suggested rating of ages 7 and up. We were playing with a group of adults and even we had a difficult time at some points. Difficulty aside, the game is great! It comes with glossy chip-board tiles, colorful cards and a handful of very detailed plastic miniatures. The use of tiles is nice, as it leaves plenty of room for future expansions using the rules and figures provided in the original box.

The game mechanics are unique, requiring fast-paced action thanks to a handy system of measuring time. Instead of an hour glass or stopwatch, time is measured by a "storybook timer." Certain actions in the game cause the pages of the book to move forward and if you reach the end of a chapter before reaching your goals...'GULP... it's game over! I also appreciate that defeated characters are considered 'captured' instead of dead, allowing them to return to the game quickly. I was especially thankful as I was the first to be captured in every game session we played.

If you enjoy sword and sorcery with a dash of dungeon delving, this would be a great game to pick up, I highly recommend it!

Until next time, happy gaming!

Too Late for Halloween?

We played our annual Halloween game this past weekend and it went off without a hitch! I've got to say, I'm pretty proud of the job I did writing and running this adventure of horror and mystery.

As with all of our Halloween games, it was based on a horror movie. This particular incarnation was based on House on Haunted Hill, a classic "spend the night in a haunted mansion" scenario. 

 Vincent Price, star of House on Haunted Hill

The premise was simple: A wealthy lumber baron by the name of Malcom Dodson invited the  players to a birthday party; it took place at the defunct Essware Asylum for the Feeble Minded. The invitations included an offer of 1000 gold pieces to each player who attended. The only requirement was that they entertain Malcom's wife Flossie, who had fallen into poor health. Flossie was an avid reader of adventure books and bards' tales. What better gift than to provide her with real adventurers who could regale her with first hand tales of danger?

The players jumped at the opportunity for a bit of easy coin and a free meal. They arrived on schedule and enjoyed an evening of food, liquor and tales of horror provided by Francis, the asylum's current caretaker. They met Malcom, Flossie and a pair of wealthy landowners known as Klaus and Verner Kull. Francis told them of the asylum's spotless reputation, it's charitable works and the escaped inmates that brought the whole place down in a psychotic riot. They toured the various wings and discovered a large slab of iron behind the grand staircase. They retired to their rooms for a good night's sleep and an early start the next morning.

Or so they thought...

The silence of night was shattered by a blood curdling scream! Viktor the monk and Stella the mousefolk wizard dashed toward the scream while their eccentric cleric, 'St. Jubal the Insane' was assaulted by his own bedsheets. The haunted linen lashed out in an attempt to strangle him but he managed to call for help. The group's fighter, Maximus, heard the pleading and came to the door to find it mysteriously locked. As he tried forcing the door he began sinking into the floor, the house was trying to eat him!

Meanwhile, Viktor and Stella made their way to the main hall. Peering over the second floor balcony they spotted the lifeless corpse of Flossie on the floor below, apparently pushed from the catwalk opposite them. They didn't have long to investigate, as they heard Maximus calling out for help. They ran to him and found him laying in the hall holding a doorknob with one hand and a glass of scotch with the other. He and Jubal relayed stories of their encounter and the group proceeded to Malcom's room, where he was pounding on the locked door, demanding release.

Following his release from his own room, Malcom discovered his dead wife and flew into a rage. She not only fell, but was brutally stabbed, the dagger still present in her belly. He began accusing everyone present of the crime and revealed that the Kull brothers were his bodyguards and not wealthy landowners. Malcom locked the doors and gathered everyone in the parlor, including the chef, servants and maids. He was determined to find the culprit.

Stella and a maid ventured to the kitchen to retrieve more wine while everyone else mulled about the parlor. The lights suddenly went dark and Jubal was possessed by the spirit of Flossie. He screamed an ominous message before falling to the floor. As his body hit the ground an earsplitting bang came from the main hall. In same time frame, Stella managed to save the life of the maid, who was attacked by a spectrally wielded butcher's knife in the kitchen. Thank goodness for darkvision.

Shaken, the party gathered in the main hall to find the iron slab behind the stairs had split, revealing a staircase to forgotten levels below the asylum. Being adventurer's, they dove right in.

The dungeon crawl was pretty straight forward. They battled various undead mini-bosses and collected a relic from each one. Each encounter was difficult, but also had a particular weakness; discovered by searching their respective rooms in the upper levels of the asylum.  Each relic solved a piece of a puzzle which in turn, opened another level below. There were a variety of spectral traps including ghostly shoves into cells, attacking chains, devouring floors and grasping hands that melted out from the walls. The bad guy gallery included the head doctor and his nurse, the pharmacist, a flagellant cleric, a disorderly orderly and the head of staff.

My favorite encounter was the cleric's ghost. They managed to acquire his relic without combat by convincing him that they were true believers... Of course the 'convincing' required that they scourge themselves for some pretty hefty damage to prove their faith.

The lowest level pitted the group against the true evil of the asylum, an immense human heart, wrapped in chains and formed from the memories and torment of the former inmates. It was a grueling fight as the heart sent out waves of pain, cursed the adventurers and attacked with ghostly chains. The tide of battle turned when St. Jubal plunged a toy soldier (an item found earlier in the dungeon) into the heart, shattering it's magical defenses and denying it it's normal damage resistance. After a long fight the PCs came out on top although a little worse for wear. Maximus had only 1 point of strength left (the rest was drained) and was on the verge of death. Viktor also found himself permanently cursed, an affliction that causes him to lose his actions 50% of the time.

We didn't have a human heart laying around, so we used a soda can on the map in it's place.

By the time they resurfaced the sun was up and Malcom rewarded them for their efforts with 1250 gold pieces each. They were happy they broke the curse on the house and Francis informed them that they are welcome any time. He intends to turn it into a tourist attraction.

Unfortunately, they failed to discover that Malcom had actually murdered his own wife, as he was tired of her sickly condition. It was the spilling of her blood that awakened the evil in the house in the first place!

All in all it was a fun game. It ran until the wee hours of the morning, a fact no one realized until we were packing up. A few of us headed for a diner around the corner and had a completely different adventure, but thats a story for another time...

Until next time, happy gaming!     

        

Bullets and Bridesmaids

This past weekend I was lucky to experience an RPG I've never played before. It wasn't fantasy themed, the only dice involved had six sides, there were no complicated maps and there was only one book! The game I'm talking about is...

Image property of Bully Pulpit Games.

Fiasco is a GM-less roleplaying game from Bully Pulpit Games that plops players down into a variety of scenarios, assigning them roles and relationships through luck of the dice. Once the settings are all sorted out the game takes on a life of it's own as players act out various scenes in turn. While there are only a few scenarios in the book, you can play each one numerous times and have a completely different story and outcome every single time!

 

In one session my wife, Noah and I played the roles of wedding participants. Ironically, Noah and I played a former TV-queen and the bride while Beck played the groom - a famous TV bounty hunter! Starting simply, the game evolved into a multi-layered plot where the bride and TV star schemed to make the groom look like an abusive monster. Their plan was to ruin his reputation and divorce him for profit! There were flashbacks to the groom's murderous past and backstabbing on behalf of the TV queen. At one point the bride had enraged the groom so much she had to run, afraid for her life! Unfortunately the former starlet was waiting for her, and may have 'accidentally' tripped her in the stairwell. The blushing bride fell to her demise. 
          
The former starlet managed to convince the groom to hide the body in his room. Confused and afraid, he went on an all night bender, drowning his guilt in drugs and alcohol.

The next morning everyone was assembled at the church... except for the former star, the bride and the groom. Moments before calling it off, the doors crashed open and in came the groom atop his giant motorcycle! He was wearing a white bride's veil and armed to the teeth! It was a massacre! He was brought own by police who arrived on the scene in a most brutal and cinematic way.

The TV queen on the other hand, got away scott free and published a book about the whole event. Her career was revitalized and she went on to lead a very lucrative Hollywood life!

Phew! As you can see, for such a simple game it can get pretty involved. We later tried out the High School setting with our friend Tom joining in but I feel that session may have ended up a bit too mature to post here. Fiasco is definitely a winner in my book!

Until next time, happy gaming! 

We aren't dead yet!

Well, as you can see, there are a few changes going on here. I say 'we,' because there will be more people coming on board in the very near future!

I have not, however, been sitting on my laurels. Big wheels are in motion and I can't wait to let the surprises out of the bag. The current site design is temporary, until we get a new one locked down.

I'm so excited!

Honor Friendship and Deceit

While I've spent much of the past two weeks writing, participating and thinking about gaming, there just wasn't any room for blogging! I guess that's a good thing?

Two weekends ago, "Group A" went for a double header. A Saturday game that started at 1:00pm and didn't end until 9:00pm.... On Sunday!

It's my game-face!

Now before you get any wild ideas, we did break for food, stretches, conversation and a bit of TV. We also returned to our respective homes and got a good 8 hours sleep between Saturday and Sunday but for a brief moment in time, it was like middle school where all that mattered was "what's going to happen next?"

And what happened next was nothing short of great storytelling. The setting was a desolate wasteland in a pocket dimension linked with the planes of hell - an immense fortress on an equally immense chunk of rock floating freely in a vast nothingness. The land was parched and dry, geysers of boiling blood dotted the landscape and all around wandered wretched demons and devils, scrounging what they could outside the fortress walls.

The party was a ragtag group of adventurers with little in common, linked only by mutual respect and over a year of adventuring together. They've helped each other through thick and thin and now, they were really in the 'thick' of it. They were in search of a devil named Kulkus the Deceiver. They were to find him and kill him.

-The Cast-

Blanklee, their resident fighter is a mountain of a man. Born in the snow covered lands of Viklingr, he is as hardy and strong as he is ugly and socially inept. Months prior, in a moment of weakness and poor judgement, Blanklee made a deal with Kulkus. Overcome with guilt, Blanklee went back on the deal and turned himself over to the church. After a formal heresy inquiry and with a little help from his friends, he was released from custody under one condition - that he seek out and destroy Kulkus the Deceiver.

Karl Steimer is a battle-priest and the group's unofficial morale officer. Often going off on lengthy tirades about the dangers of evil and of mankind's need to be free of temptation, Karl is a model follower of the human deity Albrich Vul. He stood by Blanklee's side during the entirety of his inquiry, risking his own career on the actions of his companion. 

Gertrude Saddylmoor was once the well-to-do wife of a wealthy adventurer-turned-celebrity. When he was ruthlessly murdered before her very eyes she swore revenge and trained in the ways of stealth and combat. With the help of her friends she sought out her husband's killer and avenged his death. Children in the city of Sessovir tell tales of her exploits. Not knowing her true identity, they gave her the name "Black Widow." Gertrude also stood by the side of Blanklee during his trials, using what political and social influence she had to pull strings.

Alvernus "Alvi" Thornwuld was a modest priest on a simple pilgrimage when he joined up with the group of adventurers. Thinking it would be safer to travel with "experienced professionals," he found himself thrown into one dangerous situation after another. Typically in the back lines during combat, Alvi has saved the day on more than one occasion, mustering his courage and risking life and limb to keep his new friends alive. Alvi's knack for good fortune has earned him a position as a kind of "mascot" for the party.

-The Game-

The players were only one part of a much larger force. An Imperial force known as "The Order of the Destructors" were waging a large-scale frontal assault on Kulkus' fortress. During this time the party was to infiltrate the stronghold from below, gaining access via a little known cave located on the underside of the floating island. They were accompanied by an Imperial Demon Hunter and a sorcerer with celestial bloodlines. The adventure led them through spider infested caverns where Blanklee was swallowed whole by a gargantuan fiendish spider and ancient catacombs filled with ravenous undead who cackled in glee as the party fell into their various traps. The imagery on the walls and armor worn by the dread grave knights hinted that this place did not always reside here, but may have been ripped in entirety from the prime material plane. 

Breaking through the catacombs they found themselves in the lower levels of the keep. They battled their way through the torture chambers and prison levels, freeing an imprisoned friar in the process. Reaching the surface levels they remained inside the fortress, although they did peek out the door to witness Kulkus' secret weapon, an immense two headed giant! Cursed with the blood of fiends, the beast was a tower of muscles, tusks and weapons.

They quickly made their way up Kulkus' tower, dispatching guards and ruining his alchemical laboratory, slaying the infernal alchemists and ransacking their potion stockpile. Unfortunately one of the alchemists escaped, giving Kulkus ample warning to their intrusion.

When the party finally ascended to the open roof of the tower they found Kulkus waiting with a host of minions from lowly lemures, to wizards and bearded devils. Kulkus boasted and laughed at the party, offering them wealth, power and titles if they would only bow to him. The heroes refused and engaged with the forces of evil.

 The setup.

The battle was hard fought and their wounds were grievous. Blanklee was surrounded by devils and fighting Kulkus' new champion - a fighter of similar abilities to Blanklee himself. Every hit he scored was healed quickly by their foul cleric. Blanklee on the other hand, bled freely from many open wounds, his own clerics preoccupied with combat elsewhere on the rooftop. Gertrude was trapped in a dome of ice with a cluster of low level minions, effectively preventing her from helping her comrades and the sorcerer was attempting to locate Kulkus, who had conveniently turned invisible.

 Gertrude trapped in an ice dome, behind her Blanklee is quickly overwhelmed.

Discouraged by his lack of progress, Blanklee's strength of spirit was fading. He watched his companions struggle against the tide of evil and his player - a long time roleplayer and friend named Jim- had a hard decision to make. I could see it in his face and I knew something was up when he pulled out a coin and flipped it while still maintaining his character at the table. Jim passed me this note...

Johann Dangles -called 'J. Dangles' by the players- was a player character in a previous campaign. He has since become evil and is the main "Big Bad Evil Guy" in our game world.

 Fortunately for the players, a few of them spoke infernal and relayed the message to everyone. The table was stunned. The brief silence was broken by Karl who ordered retreat. A devil and his minions were one thing, but with Blanklee against them, they knew their chances were nil.

Karl grabbed the now unconscious demon hunter and ran down the steps, hoping to somehow escape the cursed place with Alvi hot on their heels. The sorcerer cast featherfall and took a leap from the tower to land on the bridge below. Blanklee, now a villain under player control followed the sorcerer in the hopes of cutting off Karl and his former allies. Free of fear thanks to his own ring of featherfall.

 Gertrude surrounded and alone.

Gertrude was left behind, having just escaped the dome of ice and with no chance against such a formidable force, she took a running jump from the tower with no means to slow her descent. She grabbed hold of Blanklee betting that she could "hitch a ride" but he easily pushed her off, leaving her to plummet to certain death.

With a little quick thinking the sorcerer cast a pit spell below Blanklee before slowing Gertrude's descent only moments before she hit the ground. The party used their limited time wisely, escaping while their former fighter was trapped within the pit. They barreled through the fortress and ran straight out the front doors to find what was left of the Destructors standing victoriously over the massive corpse of the two headed giant. Blanklee, no match for an army of trained clerics and warriors returned to his new master at the top of the tower.

His new employment was not long lived though. Kulkus made contact with a plethora of devils, begging for reinforcements. He was denied at every request except for one. A tall skeleton in dingly black robes appeared and offered aid and reinforcements on behalf of his master. In exchange he wanted only one thing - Blanklee. Kulkus, already having a suitable champion willingly made the deal.

The party, now short one 'killing machine' have regrouped and on their next adventure will venture back to the tower to slay Kulkus and destroy his domain once and for all.

Ugh, sorry for the long post but it was an interesing game! Hopefully I'll have some time tomorrow to sum up this past weekends game which was equally exciting.

Until next time, happy gaming!       

Crocodile Rock!

Our home-brew campaign features an Egyptian inspired race which are far removed relatives of the elves. One of our players (Tom) is a monk of this particular race and has had a hard time finding a suitable figure to depict his character.

Surfing around the mini sites I stumbled onto crocodilegames.com. They have an excellent selection of figures in their online store, including Egyptian/fantasy themed armies! After browsing around for a bit Tom and I decided on a figure for his new character.

My wife was kind mega awesome enough to order it for me today while I was at work. Unfortunately she ordered the wrong one by mistake. I can't blame her - the product numbers were easy to mix up. I wanted WGE-140 and she ordered WGE-114. Phonetically, they sound very similar and I have been known to talk fast when excited.

The wrong (but still cool looking) figure. Image property of Crocodile Games.

I sent an email to Crocodile Games when I got home from work asking if I could swap out the products. My better half pointed out that they were both at the same price-point so I figured I would give it a shot. No harm in trying, right?

I imagine him saying "I love you this much!" Image property of Crocodile Games. 

Right! I received an email back in short time from Chris telling me it was no problem and that they would swap the figures out! I didn't have to amend my order or "return and re-buy" or any nonsense like that. I know it probably doesn't seem like a big deal to most folks, but I've had my fair share of nasty customer service experiences in the past so this was a pleasant surprise.

I'm excited to see how the figure turns out. I'll be sure to post an image when it's done. I'm considering picking up their Necropolis Guard set as well. They would make an excellent themed hit-squad or group of assassins (who may or may not be hunting down Tom's character, shh!).

On a side note, I was going to originally write " I received an email from a sales rep named Chris..." but after browsing the "About Us" section on their website it seems that I may have been talking to the head honcho of the company! Pretty cool stuff!

Until next time, Happy Gaming!

Whatcha thinking about? I dunno...game stuff...

Just a few thoughts as the week goes on...

Firstly, while progress continues on my desert themed monster book, it is much slower than I anticipated. A single monster from scratch takes well over three hours until I'm satisfied with what's on paper and even then I sometimes feel a bit "iffy." But plod along I will, the hard part is almost done!

Next up, my wife and I have been discussing our vacation this year and are seriously considering attending our first game convention. We're thinking of attending Mepacon in November. It's not terribly far, but far enough to stay at a hotel and call it a "real vacation." It'll be a nice change, I spent almost all of last year's vacation time working on our house.

In game news from our table, this weekend's game will probably be postponed due to scheduling. It's a group 2 kick in the door style game and the first part of a mega-dungeon. Two (possibly three) players can't make it and I don't want them to miss the fun, or have their party mates hindered with lack of man power.

I've also noticed this Kickstarter floating around other blogs lately. I really enjoyed the trailer so I figured I'd show it here. It's a documentary on the history of Dungeons and Dragons.

That's all for now. Until next time, happy gaming!

Asleep at the Wheel

I was reading an interesting post by Sean over at Tales from the Flaming Faggot about the OSR community running out of steam and it got me thinking about it as well.

Especially since I'm not really part of OSR but have also been very absent as of late.

While I know some folks get blog fatigue, I can only hope that they are just extremely busy playing all these games we love talking about! On my end at least, summer is pretty relaxed for gaming not just online, but at the tabletop as well. A lot of folks are busy and it would be a shame to waste all of this good weather. Weddings, parties, vacations, work, etc. With so much stuff going on it's difficult to get everyone's schedules lined up. I don't know what other group demographics are around the globe, but mine is comprised of a gaggle of twenty-somethings with one other player and myself leading the pack at a ripe-old thirty(ish). Finding a day when everyone is available is something akin to herding cats.

Personally, I wish my lack of presence was due to such wonderful activities as partying and vacationing but mine is a bit more pragmatic. Work on our house is continuing at a rapid clip and I was lucky enough to mess up my back pretty bad two weeks ago. I spent much of my bed-ridden hours playing The Witcher 2 on my 360 between bouts of medicine induced sleep.

That's not to say I've been asleep at the wheel my friends. Oh no, much to the contrary. As I've mentioned before, I am working on my own little monster compendium. Some creatures strictly home brewed with others based on more obscure critters pulled from ye goode olde times. I've got tons of stuff I want to show off. I've been chomping at the bit to splash it all over the site but I need to show a bit of restraint. This is gonna be my first ever "self published, try to make a few bucks project," and I want to do it right.

My project currently contains 16 monsters, all fluffed out. Six are completed with stats and ten still need stats. No art yet. I was surprised at how in-depth monster creation in the pathfinder game can be. While I know a lot of folks out there just throw stuff together and slap some arbitrary xp on a creature, I'm really going all out, following the rules as best I can.

Unfortunately they don't have rules for undead plants, so I had to wing it. Trust me, it's much cooler than it sounds.
 

  

Photos!

While I know I normally write about gaming, my better half and I have been focusing on our home remodel. Since I often use it as an excuse for not updating, I figured it was time to share a few pics. Our home is located in a wonderful area of South Philadelphia within walking distance of the stadiums. It was built around 1925 - a row home - it was originally intended as affordable housing for dock and factory workers. It isn't a large house, not including the basement it clears just over 1000 square feet. We wanted to modernize the home but retain a lot of the charm and history. I think we've done ok so far.

Some "before" images.

The guts of the kitchen

This small pantry was torn out and the wall was stripped to exposed brick.

Looking into our kitchen from the living room.

Ripping up the floor.

Look at that bandana. That guy has got to be totally awesome.

You can see fire damage from a fire some time in the 80's

Exposing brick. I am standing where the pantry used to be.

Stuff disappearing bit by bit.

Ok this needs a bit of an explanation. At this point we hired contractors to come in and take over. The pile of wood you see there is the original lathe from our ceiling and walls. (While new houses have drywall construction, older houses had plaster walls. Thin strips of lathe were nailed to the studs and plaster was applied on top of them. When the plaster dried, it became hard and paintable.) The lathe was carefully removed and cleaned so we could reuse it on our ceiling.

The joists in the ceiling were left exposed and black paper rolled between to prevent any light from poking through. Then the lathe was cut...

...and placed between the joists. We were originally going to drywall between the joists, but this seemed much cooler.

 The separating wall was torn down revealing our duct-work. Rather than reroute the duct, we decided to build a column/shelving around it.

Alright, I have a bunch more before shots, but they are not nearly as fun as the "afters," so here we go!

new hardwood floor and a vintage vent recovered from a demolished building. It's small, but heavy!

The new view from the living room.

The new guts. The dark wood trim around the shelves is more wood recycled from inside our walls.

A fuzzy picture of the brick wall and lights.

As you can see, there is still a lot to do. Paint, fill holes, finish the trim etc. But We're really happy with what we've done so far. Now we just need to get furniture!

I was going to add some gaming stuff here too, but I've taken up a lot of space as-is!

Until next time, happy gaming!

Am I Dead Yet?

Lack of time, lack of updates! Our kitchen remodel is coming along nicely and will hopefully be (mostly) done by the end of the week. I also have a promising job opportunity so lets hope for the best there too!

Now that the pesky 'real life' stuff is out of the way, lets get on to more important things!

While my internet presence has been lacking, my gaming has been all sorts of productive. We played a very successful game two weekends ago. It was a module that Paizo produced back before Pathfinder - when they were making content for D&D 3.5. We ran GameMastery Module E1: Carnival of Tears. It was great. I had to do some modding to fit in my campaign world and it's pace was a little slow for my group, but overall it was a fun adventure. It was an event-based, time-sensitive game and that's where it bogs down for us. My group plays it fast and loose. Sometimes they rush through things that a built in timeline just won't accommodate, but fast forwarding the in-game time is no big deal so it really isn't much of a complaint.

Don't worry, that cover-guy isn't actually in the game.

The monsters were very memorable however. I was particularly happy when our resident monk was turned to animated ice by a type of fey called a "frosty chiseler." He maintained all of his abilities but took extra bludgeoning damage and would hurt himself if he tried to do more than simply move around. Prior to that he was stricken with a nasty curse that made his head appear to be that off a novelty doll (in this case, a carnival stong-man doll). All in all, his bad luck made for quite a laugh to the rest of the group. We have a 'group 2' game coming up this weekend that takes place in the southern desert kingdoms of our campaign world. If I could find the time I would love to map out the world and get their full tales down on paper if just for the internet to enjoy.

In other 'other' news, I have been working on a new project. While my original project to turn a campaign into a self published series didn't pan out too well (actually, it near-complete, but my attention went elsewhere). I have started, and made serious progress on a new self-publishing attempt. I won't spoil it complete, but maybe the layout will give you a hint. I've got 16 entries ready to go. Art and stats are all that's left!

 Until next time, happy gaming!

Where Does the Time Go?

I swear, it feels like I lay down to bed on Tuesday and wake up on Thursday! Weeks seem to fly by and while I get a good amount done, it never seems like enough.

This past weekend we traveled north about 5 hours to Sinnemahoning, Pennsylvania. My mom has a cabin tucked away in the woods where we spent the weekend 'getting away from it all.' It was a pretty good time. A lot of driving and a lot of good country food!

Bent tree or portal to another dimension? OOOoooOOOhhH.

The highlight of the weekend was our visit to the Austin Dam. Rather than ramble on about our vacation, you can read about it by clicking here. While pictures can give you a good idea of what it looks like, you really need to see it in person to get the whole experience. If you are ever in the area, I suggest you check it out!

 Brutal

 

In other news, my wife and I did a whole mess of painting last week. We plopped ourselves in front of the TV and cranked out almost twenty mini's! Here's a few of them for your viewing pleasure.

 The ill fated wizard my cousin played. I had just painted him and then (of course) he died

.

 A man in stocks with some jerk kids.

A pair of ogres. The bottom one is Part of the Reaper Bones lineup.

My friend Noah actually made this figure!

Nobody here but us evil wizards!

We've got our Group 1 game this weekend and to be honest, I am completely unprepared. After fending off an underground town from demons, the group cleric has decided to temporarily remain behind and help the townsfolk rebuild their homes and their faith. (In reality, Kevin -the cleric- is getting married!) That leaves us with Blanklee, a brutal fighter trying to redeem himself through religion and Gertrude, a wily thief with a knack for trap finding. Ideally I would like to have the town implore them for help. In it's current state the town would be vulnerable to any number of nasties ready to pounce on opportunity. This would give my players something to do and keep them close to their cleric for future adventures. At this point any ideas or suggestions are appreciated. I'm close to pulling the last resort (gasp!) digging out an old Dungeon magazine!

Besides that, I'm pretty booked up for the next few weeks with games and home renovation. I'm looking forward to the games, the renovation on the other hand, is getting expensive...

Until next time, happy gaming!     

A Weekend of Miniatures

Throwing caution to the wind, my wife and I decided to take a short road trip this past Saturday! We hopped in the car and ventured northwest along Interstate 78 until we reached the small village of Shartlesville Pennsylvania. 

Now you may be asking, "What could possibly be of interest in Shartlesville, PA that would warrant a spur of the moment road trip?" I can answer that with a simple image.

 This Place!

Roadside America is a wonderful attraction that boasts "The Worlds Greatest Indoor Miniature Village," and having nothing to compare it against; I'm inclined to agree! It is 8000 square feet of small town America (circa mid century) in miniature scale. The models are extraordinarily detailed, the push-button animations are a blast and the constant whir of HO scale trains is a delight to behold. 

The photo isn't great, but click it to get an idea of how huge this place is!

Better than the display itself - it's the atmosphere of Roadside America that really shines. Once inside I had the strange feeling of being pulled into a different time. As far as I can tell, nothing has been modernized since the late 60's or early 70's. While most modern attractions focus on getting the next big thing, the owners of Roadside America seem more interested in preserving the integrity of Laurence Gieringer's original creation - a lovingly handcrafted miniature world.

Reminds me of "Leave it to Beaver" 

While the miniatures and dioramas I paint and create usually fall into the fantasy genre, it doesn't prevent me from appreciating the time and effort that has been put into this monumental display. Constructed from actual wood and cast metal parts, the miniature village was built in an age before plastic pieces, foam-core boards and dremel tools. A brief look at his photos and the in-progress models that Mr. Gieringer left behind remain as a testament to his skill as a miniature maker and an artist.

 Dungeon or miniature model of Virginia's Luray Caverns? You decide!

If you ever venture into Pennsylvania, I highly suggest making a stop at Roadside America. I enjoyed it so much, I'd even go with you!

Until next time, happy gaming! 

Ps. Here's a few more images for you to check out. I apologize if they are a little fuzzy, I'm still trying to figure our camera out. If you like what you see, make the trip!

 

"Lawful Evil Dwarven Cleric" kinda sounds Swedish!

FUN FACT! The title of this post came from my good friend Noah. Years ago -when myspace was still the social media network of choice- he commented my page with the statement: "Lawful Evil Dwarven Cleric: if you say it fast it kind of sounds Swedish!" Since then it's become one of our groups "staple catchphrases." 

We had our "Group One; Sub-group B" Game this past weekend. It was a blast! We introduced two new players to the game and like my wife an I, Andre and Katie are from Philadelphia! They both had a bit of rpg experience and really brought a breath of fresh air to the table. They role played like champs and played skillfully to boot.

 Katie casting "Burning Hands." I'm not sure if homeowners insurance covers that.

The story is a bit confusing, as we've had a few character changes, but let's just say we "hobbled it together." After sorting out who was playing what, the players were brought together by fate (namely: the gm). The"heroes" were all staying in the same town for one reason or another when a series of murders and disappearances occurred. Banding together, the group set out to find the culprits and claim their reward; which was stated on the wanted poster as: "no less than 5000 Gold Piece value!"

As they investigated, rumor began to spread that the victims were found devoid of blood and that the bodies would mysteriously disappear from the crime scenes. Fearing vampires, the townsfolk and even a few of the players began carrying holy water and braids of garlic to drive off any would-be blood suckers.

After sleuthing around the township and countryside, the party was able to piece together the location of the "vampire's" lair: an old compound in the woods built by a long dead cult of flagellants. Taking the side of caution, the group waited until morning and set off  in search of the fortress.

Entering the abandoned fort, they did not find vampires, but a small army of zombies! Through combat and investigation the party discovered that an evil dwarf cleric had raided a traveling sideshow and converted it's employees and attractions to a force of terrible undead. The main attraction of this show was a pair of chupacabra, which he used to kill and drain victims before he raised them as zombies!

Not to be confused with the deliciously elusive "Chalupacabra"

After defeating the zombies, chupacabra, the cleric and a mohrg, the party returned to town to claim their reward! Welcomed as heroes of the community, they were rewarded by the mayor and people of New Prindepth with 110 head of fine cattle, worth just about 5500 gold pieces!

Rest assured, they sold the cattle off and took a 15% loss, but with the loot they found, they'll have quite a nice pot o' gold once they find someone to sell it all!

Until next time, happy gaming!

No Thank You: Geek Culture

The phrase "Geek Culture" lives in a special place in my heart. A seething, angry and dark place full of hatred. In fact, I hate all of the negative words associated with the culture such as nerd, dork etc. I do not embrace it as a badge of honor or as some backwards way to get back at "the man." When confronted with accusations of geekery I am the first and usually loudest to respond. My original gaming blog was titled "Orcs and Dorks," and it took some time to realize why I hated the name.

I... We are not geeks, nerds or dorks. While I sometimes use the word gamer, I don't need a label to tell the world who I am. I am so much more than the hobbies I participate in. If I was forced to label myself I would say that I am a hard worker, a dedicated husband, a good friend, an artist and a player of games. Only when we sit around the table -dice in hand- do I become the GM. The Game Master; a title in my eyes, not a label.

I bring this up because of recent observations out in the real world. I talk about gaming anywhere, and to anyone. I love to convert the skeptical or the naysayers into supporters and players. We've got so many people hooked on games at work that it's a regular topic of conversation. If we aren't talking about Pathfinder, we're playing Kittens in a Blender at lunch and when we aren't doing that, we're playing trivia. It's a nice feeling to walk into the break room and hear a sixty year old master plumber or electrician hopefully ask, "Hey are you guys doing trivia today?" I don't sit and look at the 'cool table' in the lunch room, wishing I was there. I run the cool table.

Today's game, circa 1984.

I worry that the embrace of the so called geek culture is just a trend - and trends change with time. Fantasy and sci-fi might be popular teefury shirts topics right now, but who's to say how long that will last? Dr. Who and Game of Thrones will eventually run their course. Harry Potter has been dethroned and Skyrim will eventually take that final arrow to the... never mind.

Take heart though. This post isn't some message of anger and impending doom. Just my opinion and some advice. Don't keep your hobbies hidden away in the metaphorical dungeon. Embrace them, talk about them and ask other people if they would be interested. In my experience table top gaming is not very friendly to newcomers, or people who are interested but don't know where to start. It's hard to start playing D&D if you've never played it before and sometimes a friendly face makes all the difference. If you play in a game/hobby shop and see some lone guy or gal wandering around, glancing at the tables invite them over! Use Craigslist, Meetup or even Facebook to link up with other gamers. And while I've never been a fan of trends and bandwagons, I'll be damned if I don't use Game of Thrones as a jumping point to get people into gaming.

 Behipster's head may just explode from irony overload.

I often fantasize about owning a game shop - and during those daydreams I don't imagine it filled with the stereotypical nerds we've come to expect from TV; but people of all races, ages, genders and social circles. Entertainment that is open to everyone and no one has to keep it as a secret hobby or describe it as "that one nerdy thing I do." When I look at the folks I game with I don't see gamers, I see friends and not one of them fits into the mold of a geek.

I'm currently planning a series of "First Timers" games to run in a few months time. Pre-written games with premade and easy to understand character sheets for folks who have never played before. A casual rpg experience just for the fun of playing and I'm happy to say that I've already received lots of interest from prospective players. My goal is not to start a new group, I've got more than enough games on my plate at the moment. My goal is to spark interest and encourage others to start their own gaming circles.

An early photo of Jeff.

I would like to finish this up by talking about a friend of mine. Really he is the reason behind this post in the first place. Jeff is a coworker and friend who is from a generation far older than myself. I'm not exactly sure how old, the lab hasn't sent back the carbon dating reports yet. Jeff is by no means a table top game player, although he does love trivia. If I mentioned gaming a year ago it's something he would laugh at and poke fun of; but today on my way out the door something surprising happened. I told him to have a good weekend and he wished me the same but followed it up with, "I heard you have a big game this weekend, have fun!" 

I mark that up as a victory in my book.

p.s. On a side note, if someone does give you grief about gaming, stand up for yourself! You can always ask them how many hours they waste in front of Modern Warfare 3.