(Kickstarter) Rogues and Vagabonds from Oathsword Miniatures

Oathsworn Miniatures continues to expand their anthropomorphic Burrows and Badgers line with a Kickstarter for Rogues and Vagabonds.

Ballad of the Pigeon God #47 The Mess at Maless Manor

Talis Makolin and Echelon discovered that they were half-brothers, sharing a father, the recently deceased Winston Maless.  Winston actually willed his possessions to his unknown bastard children.  Possibly on the run from the Crown, and their existence threatening their friends in Eding, being unknown sounded like a great option.

So our small group of heroes went claim their great inheritance:
Echelon - Pigeon-loving, former Baron of Eding, now a wanted man by the new evil King... if he only knew Echelon was still alive.  Cleric of  Tshang Kai Shing, eastern god of the sea
Talis Makolin - Lover, Bard, Knight of the Pigeon.  Assumed dead by the King.
Velandro -  A pious priest of Akana with a kobold following.  Also assumed dead.
Mellandria - former baronial scribe under Echelon.  Assumed dead as well, now caught up in the zaniness.


27 OctDec 1071 Town of Omsjik, Kingdom of Crosedes
Echelon and Talis had little issue going to the town hall, presenting minimal amount of proof that they were their mothers' children, and after an exchange of gold for fees and taxes, gained the deed to Maless Manor.

"Lucky for us, Winston didn't come from a noble family or else the transfer of the land grant would be sent to Hydincall.  Thanks to good old Dad being only lecherous gentleman, we can keep out of sight."  -Talis

The following is an excerpt recovered from the travel journal of Mellandria:
27 OctDec 1071 Maless Manor, Town of Omsjik, Kingdom of Crosedes
Well, we finally found the glorious estate.  Akana, did they get taken on this place!!!

It's somehow fitting that these two outstanding characters would inherit a house that a rat wouldn't live in.  I love it!!!

Long ago, this place must have been fantastic, but now its a ruin.

Maless Manor, from its best angle.

I got a creepy feeling as I entered the main hall.  I swear I could hear some thing singing from somewhere in the house.  I thought I was losing my mind, but Talis drew his sword, so I think he heard it too.  I must be alright, but then again it is Talis, so...

We slowly searched the house.  Nothing much is left after a once over of the property.  The second floor was mostly odd libraries of alchemy books and other such useless tomes.  Most had been become mold-ridden and ruined, save at least one about extracting innards from a newt that particularly enthralled Velandro.  

We spent the rest of the afternoon searching the "wonderous estate."  For the most part is is a normal estate... with the exception of it being riddled with secret passages and rooms!!!   One passage lead outside.  Another led to an alchemist's room, but there was nothing there other than a few empty bottles.

Talis, Velandro, and I all decided to spend a few days there making repairs and exploring, much to Echelon's dismay.  He wanted to stay hidden, or even stay hidden here, but he feared constant trips into town to get lumber and supplies would expose us. 

I am getting so annoyed at him.  

1 NonDec 1071 Maless Manor, Town of Omsjik, Kingdom of Crosedes
Thanks to MY invisible servants, we were able to make enough repairs to keep the chill out of the main portion of manor.  We've finally set about the slow task of properly clearing the house."

The house is very odd.   I walked into the pantry after a hard day's work (conducting my servants is very demanding!)  Coming into the dining room I could hear voices and turned to see ghosts sitting at the table!!! Naturally, I screamed.   The rest of the charming party came running, but when they got there the ghosts were gone.

Echelon made some remark about me being a crazy mage.  Talis agreed and they walked out. Velandro tried to comfort me and told me to get some rest.

I AM NOT CRAZY!!!

I am careful so I went the other way out turned out to be the dining room. Again , I encountered ghosts.  Maybe I am losing it.  They sat and talked, although they did not make a sound. .  Fine if they ignore me.  I'll be more than happy to ignore them.

I finally decided to settle in the observatory.  It's not as warm as one of the bedrooms, but I can see the stars at night.

There seemed to be a cold, cold breeze blowing through the room coming near a set of symbols carved into the wall.  As I reexamined the symbols,  it suddenly became clear;  the symbols represented parts of the room!  It look like there was another secret passage, right off the observatory!  I screamed for Velandro.  He's the only one who believes me.

2 NonDec 1071 Maless Manor, Town of Omsjik, Kingdom of Crosedes

After breakfast we moved some pots and junk that was in front of the passageway and easily gained access into the passageway.  It took us to a secret room with all kinds of alchemy potions and something under a sheet.  We pulled back the sheet, and found books.  Magic books!!!

I opened one by mistake and got blasted by a protective spell, but finding a magical tome.  It will probably take month to copy it into my own spellbook.  We also found another book, written entirely in Elvish.  

3 NonDec 1071 Maless Manor, Town of Omsjik, Kingdom of Crosedes
Giving my invisible servants some work to do, I spent my day copying the tome and carefully going through the secret alchemy room.

I found the diary of Titus Maless, who may be Winston's father or uncle!!!

4 NonDec 1071 Maless Manor, Town of Omsjik, Kingdom of Crosedes

After Echelon and Talis pass out from their usual night of drinking and moping about, both Velandro and I get an overwhelming urge to exhume Titus' body from the family plot behind the manor and drag it back to the secret laboratory.  We did so.  I found a page in his book that told us how to bring him back to life with some of the chemicals we saw in the lab.

7 NonDec 1071 Maless Manor, Town of Omsjik, Kingdom of Crosedes

It took awhile to figure it out, but we (I) did it, and wow, it worked!!!  Three days had passed since I started doing this and the other two idiots in he house haven't even noticed!  I had hoped one would eventually notice so they wouldn't lose the last few shreds of respect I had for them. 

With the correct combination of alchemical powder applied to his corpse, and the proper incantation recited, the essential salts of Titus Maless coalesced together and his body was brought back to life!

Titus immediately asked us where his son Winston was.  I was speechless to my success, so Velandro caught the resurrected man up to his family tree, and how Talis and Echelon were most likely Winston's heirs.  

8 NonDec 1071 Maless Manor, Town of Omsjik, Kingdom of Crosedes

We hold a family reunion, as I hid all the books we found into my backpack.  Titus told us of his quest for eternal life, and the need for his "death".  He asked about his books (and guessing them lost -- yes!) and just departed without another word.  

He did, however, smack me on my ass on his way out.  Most definitely Talis is related to this bunch.  

After that odd encounter, there was a serious discussion on getting the manor finished.  The rest of us wanted to hire workers for a few days, but Echelon was completely distracted. Kept wanting to look for Zabty.  "If the Dread Lord is looking for him, he's got to be important."  Talis and Velandro thought it wise for us to stay out of sight awhile longer.  I was all for staying at least another month.  

We split the vote.  Echelon and I stayed, to deal with the new work, while Talis and Velandro left to check on the Chateau and find some leads on Count Zabty.  They would return in a month, if not sooner.  If they didn't come back within a month, Echelon and I would leave.  

9 NonDec 1071 Maless Manor, Town of Omsjik, Kingdom of Crosedes

Talis and Velandro left, and everything was happy again, when Michael showed up.

Tonight, while I was copying my spells, he jumped down from the ceiling. He scared me at first, but I think I scared him more.  I agreed to keep him safe and a secret from the others.  I'd bring him food if he behaved. Everything was happy again.

7 DecDec 1071 Maless Manor, Town of Omsjik, Kingdom of Crosdes

Echelon wanted to leave, but I thought it would be wise to leave someone in charge of the workers.  I introduced him to Michael, and gave him a plan.  We left a hidden message for Velandro and Talis where we went, in a passage by the billard room.  We left a message from Norm with Michael and Charlie, the foreman.  If he only gave me money for Michael to pay the workers, we could leave.  

Echelon yelled at me, told me no, and just sat there.  I shocked him, took the needed gold, handed it to Michael, threw Echelon over his horse, and left.  

I think Echelon and my relationship took a turn for the worse, but someone had to zap some sense into him.  I actually hope we find Talis and Velandro before one of us hurts the other.  

GM Notes: This episode mixes a boatload of questions with a boatload of crazy.  First off, our presumed-dead heroes decide to check out, and ultimately remodel, the ancestral manse.  A safe place to hide and gather their wits about them.  Smart. 

But while the Maless half-brothers have a bonding montage, Mellandria gets miffed at them and she and Velandro decide to dig up Grandpa Maless!  Is the Manor effecting them?  Is it the spirit of Titus?  

Then Mell goes off the reservation when she goes re-animator on Titus!  The brothers are okay with this. The lawful good cleric of the God of Law and Order is not only okay with this, but an accessory to the act!  And to top that all off, they let the recently resurrected Grandfather leave without saying a word!  

No one dared looked at the gravestone in the cemetery, but Titus died while Winston was in his late teens.   His son was supposed to conduct the ritual, but he quickly left without saying a word, and never went back.  The manor staff informed the authorities of Titus' death, a funeral was conducted, and the last of the staff left when the money ran out.  

In the midst of the renovation, Echelon realized that the most pious man left in Crosedes was Count Zabty, the half-orc fallen paladin that they had rescued from the Spider-People.   With the centuries in stasis, he might know about the curses, prophecies, the return of the God of Goodness and Light.   Like every other person they rescued, he kept a low profile and only performed acts that helped the community.   He might have the low-down on White Plume Mountain, the Dread Lord, etc...

Finally, there is the curious case of Michael.  As a GM, I completely blank on who or what Michael is.  In fact, before I edited Mell's journal entry, early on, she sometimes confused Michael with the work foreman.    Was he an elusive squatter who simply needed food and warmth during the winter months.  Was he some wandering fey creature who encountered the manor?  Was there some charm cast about Mellandria, or perhaps there was an honest romantic relationship hidden between the words on the journal?   Your guess is as good as mine, but Echelon might have been wise to not agree to put him in charge of Maless Manor.  

Unfortunately, for him, Mellandria has tasted forbidden power.  What she does with it is anybody's guess.

Below is an updated map showing the location of the Manor, Norm's road to Ruuna, the Cult of Light's Camp.  The Barony of Eding really just runs from the near side of the lake, near the Chateau, up the road to Elmshire, and not much more.  The southern border follow the Ruuna Road and dips south at across the forks of the river until about halfway to Alasku.  Northern border is essentialy a straight line across from the Chateau and Elmshire.   Most surrounding land is part of the Duchy of Draloite, which his administered by a Duke, but owned directly by the Crown.  

Next:  #48 - A History of Counts and Kings

The Basketball/Train Meet/Game Day is Complete!

I sit here at my computer, sipping on some late night Mountain Dew to offset the exhaustion enough to finish this up at get some sleep.  This has been one of the longest Train Show days ever. 

Usually, the goal of Train Show day is to wake the kids early Sunday morning, grab some breakfast at some diner that hasn't changed its look since the Ford Administration, and venture down to the ATMA Spring Thaw Train Meet in Allentown, PA, followed by me dropping the kids off at my Mom's while I do some gaming in my hometown of Easton. 

Due to scheduling, I agreed to change it to the Saturday this year, but Maja's basketball team made the championship game this year, to be played at 8:30am that morning. 

I was up before the break of dawn to get things ready and pick up a Dunkin' order (I heartily recommend the online ordering!) and sit with 150 people to watch 8 and 9-year old girl duke it out on the high school's hardwood. 

Maja's Hurricanes and her hated archrivals split all their games 2-2.  Unfortunately, their second loss was a 25-21 nailbiter this morning. 

Maja didn't have the phenomenal game she had last week, but while other teammates were wailing and gnashing teeth after the loss, Maja walked over to us with a half-hearted smile, "Oh well, we did the best we could today.  You can't win them all."

Losing doesn't build character, it just showcases the character you already have.  She's already planning mock drafts of eight year olds coming back, and wondering how she can learn about the seven year olds moving up next year. 

With a little more time to spend with relatives and teammates, we got a late start for drive down to Allentown, and thank God for that.  Besides the pea soup fog over the mountains, I forgot that we were going on Saturday, not only the far busier day of the two for the meet, but also competing with parking spots with the Allentown Farmer's Market. 

Once in, the girl's put their names down for the train races, we grabbed our hot dogs, and perused the layouts and a few vendors. 

I no longer need to pick them up to see everything. Bittersweet but my back is appreciative

 They rearranged some of the vendors/displays, including throwing the races to the opposite side of the building.  I couldn't find scenery vendor I had picked up the watermelon patch from years before, and that threw off my shopping list. The kids did well in the races (Millie won her first heat), and our late start, we departed for my Mom's....

..but not without a ViscountEric approved side trek to Steel City Comics in Bethlehem, in the same location that Dreamscape Comics last operated in.  The antique beer cooler is gone (a rusty health hazard), but the store is a beautifully uncluttered lump of clay, that once they get their regular comic orders, should be sculpted into something the comic and gaming community can enjoy. 

Versus the old Dreamscape, I'm appreciative of the clean slate approach.

 With a final stop for cheese fries to stop of meltdown (by my children, not me), the kids got dropped off at my Mom's and I bolted to Nichol's house for some much-needed meditation, dice-chucking, and simple venting about life. 

Nichols and Steve were the only ones who could make it, so we kept it low key, breaking out the tutorial scenarios from Beyond the Gates of Antares, or, as Nichols put it, Bolt Action in Space. 

Steve and I have learned to take every ounce of joy we can find from the precious face-to-face gaming time we had, so while Nichols tried to teach the rules, we may have made a few premature rulings and command decisions to keep the dice rolling and game moving.    Since Rick Priestley (formerly of GW fame) is behind this Warlord Games production, I hate to say that it feels a lot like previous iterations of 40k (chuck a lot of dice, your opponent chucks a bunch in return, remove one figure), plus the figures are so-so faux realistic.  I enjoyed the pinning rules, although my NCO overcame a lot adversary,  just to get shot it the head. 

I called an audible after wards and got Nichols to pull out his old Traveller and we made a session zero by simply creating characters.  Neither had created characters in Traveller before, so the threat of death with each term, plus the party of scum and villainy they created made the session a hoot.  I'll put this on the back burner of other games we can play (Roll20 anyone?)

At that point it was late, I grabbed the kids, some Taco Bell, and forged my way home in the fog.  Mission accomplished.  I'm somewhat relaxed, I don't need to visit my mother for a month, and my kids are asleep. 

Game Day! Woo-woo!!!!

Okay, it’s probably not an RPG session this afternoon, but it’s a day of joy wrapped up in a day of crazy. 

First, we've got Maja’s Basketball Championship at the crack of dawn. 

After that, we've readjusted the schedule multiple times, but I'm still focused on getting the kids down to the Allentown Spring Thaw Train Meet.

Then it's a visit to my mother, drop off the kids, and get some actual face-to-face gaming time with my friends.  Online gaming has been great, but the ability to shoot the breeze and cover a variety of games is lost in our current set-up.  

Putin and One of His Russian Bots

I get enough random traffic from Russia as it is, let's see what this does to it....

Paint continues to be put to lead-free metal and plastic, but with a week with multiple hockey meet-and-greets for my wife and multiple basketball practices for the girls, the light at the end of the tunnel isn't getting any closer.

That being said, with an actual moment of peace and quiet, I pumped out two simple figures this week.

First off is Mr P, from the Brigade Games Post-Apocalyptic line.

BG-APC145

Should have just stuck with the heavy wash for the eyes (the sculpt is accurately beady).

The other came from the Psi-Paladin and Techno Barbarian Kickstarter. 
Ironically, it's called a ComBot.

On the Project 350 front, I'm still hovering at 355, and with the knowledge that tomorrow's game day won't be associated with any of my projects, plus sports camps for Sunday, I'm going to call the effort a small bust. 

The regular battery of stuff sits on the work bench and the Pulp Game is ready to go.  I just need time (and perhaps a little serenity). 

FREE RPG DAY 2018 Announces This Year's Swag

June 16, 2018 will be yet another Free RPG Day.

Any participating local game store can put in an order through their distributors for one or more crates of swag to give out to support the RPG Hobby.

All items are going to be original material, some with Quickstart rules to help facilitate playing.

Not every company adds an equal ammount of swag.   Platinum sponsors, with 15 copies of each item offered are Goodman Games (Dungeon Crawl Classics and 5th Edition Adventures), Paizo (Pathfinder and Starfinder), and surprisingly enough, Atlas Games with Unknown Armies.  Other sponsors, like Chaosium, only offer 5 copies, while others are inserting lone items to support the cause

Check out www.freerpgday.com for more info on where participating stores are, or how to become a participating store.

(Painting) More Middle Eastern Buildings and an Elaborate Mousehouse

When it comes to the blog, I'm a creature of habit.   RPG write-ups on Tuesdays, my Apathy of New Releases column on the 26th of every month, and I like to post the results of my painting on Fridays.  But the fact that I have more buildings "good enough to play with" is a small matter of pride.

Here are the third and fourth buildings from my Gamecraft Miniatures order.  I experimented with something for the top of the buildings.  It looks acceptable in person, and some sides are better than others when filmed.  They'll still display prominently in the Pulp game.

Both are 28MMDF020

 I also got the Amazon order I placed well before I had my accident.  Christmas instant-shipping they most certainly are not doing anymore.  Besides one of the My Little Pony RPG books, I grabbed one of the Pegasus Hobbies Ukrainian farmhouses on the cheap. 

A hefty piece of terrain, well painted, and will be the focal point of some upcoming Mousling games.

Next:  Hopefully a game or two! OGRE tanks getting the TSR treatment, those infernal treasure chests, and even a few gnomes!

Ballad of the Pigeon God #46: An Accounting of the Chateau d'Echelon

GM Notes:  With the sale of the Chateau to Felix Homsburg, it's a great time to bring up another document from "The Baronial Journals of Baron Echelon."  Although there are no dates on the papers, this might be the contents of the Chateau d'Echelon around the time of the transfer.

• Chateau Main Building
• Barn
• "Bungalows" x10
• Stone Mill
• Acres of Grain
• Acres of Wolfsbane
• Beer Brewing Equipment
• Barrels, empty (at least 3)
• Spatual and frying pan (at least 1 each)
• 10 ft poles x4
• Canvas  (indeterimant amount)
• Grain Stores "x50"
• Bit and Bridle (at least 5)
• Crates, empty  (at least 7)
• Rope, 50 ft, not in use x2
• Lamp (at least 10)
• Lamp Oil (at least 2 gallons)
• Hatchet
• Hoe
• Iron Plowblade
• Shovel
• Wheelbarrow
• Quill Pens
• Parchment (at least 10 sheets)
• Lacquered Vase
• Wine Goblets (x12)
• Rare Rugs (x3)
• White Wine (5 bottles)
• Fishhook and Line (at least 8 sets)
• Fish Trap x2
• Camp Bed Sets x10
• Sealing Ribbon
• Shears x2
• Linen Bandages (30') x2
• Wooden Birdcage
• Pitchforks x4
• Sickles x4
• Short Swords x2 
• Leather Armor x1 suit
• Silverware
• Wine Goblets x12 (Ashe's)
• Oil Paining, "White Plume Mountain"
• Numerous pieces of high quality halfling made furniture from Elmshire (see episode #44).
• Mule x1
• Cow x1
• Bull x1
• Pigeons x22
• Chickens x5
• Rooster
• Pathfinder (Wolf) x1
• wolf/dog puppies x6
• Horses x4
• Phoenix (War Dog, female) x1
• Rabbits x30
• King's War-horses x3

This revelation clears up a big question: "Why didn't Pathfinder play a more active role at the Chateau in certain activities."  It appears he and Phoenix took a lot of time to make a mess, I mean a litter.  I honestly don't remember the reason to corner the market in wolfsbane, though.  

NEXT: #47 A Mess at Maless Manor

The Weekend Finds a New Home

"The Weekend," the small convention held in Lancaster, PA that last few Julys, has found a new home.

As reported earlier, The Weekend's former site, the Continental Inn, was purchased by neighboring Dutch Wonderland, and immediately closed, all reservations cancellations, including this scheduled event for April.

Lucky for those of us interested in going, a new site has been found, although the details are still being worked out:

From Cleo Leibl on TMP:

The date of the weekend is April 19,20, 21, and 22. Thursday to noon Sunday.
The place is
Roadway (sic) Inn and Suites
411 College St.
Myerstown Pa.
You can get the phone from the web site.

DO NOT CALL THE HOTEL AND MAKE RESERVATIONS YET. We do not have the account set up yet. That will take place this week. We have to sit down with their restaurant staff to hammer out the details of the "free breakfast." (You didn't REALLY think it was free at the Continental did you?"

Probably looking at a day trip this time and donating to the cause, but Myerstown is closer to Lebanon than Lancaster. I have no problems with a shorter drive for a game!

(Painting) Middle Eastern Building, Microarmor, and... a Box

Through all the chaos of dealing with two insurance claims, car shopping, a promotion at work, a half inch of water in the basement, and the regular mayhem of my life, I have not only gotten to the bench to apply paint to models, things are actually getting finished!

First off, I finally got two of my Middle Eastern MDF buildings from Gamecraft Miniatures painted up to "good enough to play at home."    Painting large smooth areas with bottled paint isn't my strong suit, but multiple coatings did create a very faint texture.  It's not the sand blasted white of the building top-center in the picture below, but it's much lighter than the MBA buildings. For a few new buildings for the expanded town for Season 3 of our Pulp game, they're perfect.

28MMDF015 and 28MMDF010

I also finished the other three 6mm LAV-R from "the Mech Box" from the Fall-In flea market.   As my Transnitrian Scientific Republic seemed to have enough of these vehicles, these three are painted in the scheme of the Skye Rangers.

Finally, I got ONE treasure chest finished from Johnny Lauck's final Kickstarter, Dungeon Scenery & Anthropomorphic Miniastures 28mm. Whether they're simple scenery or game objective, chests, and the coin pile inserts will work well.

Larry of Arabica defending his bin of pennies....

Next Up:  More Middle Eastern buildings, OGRE minis, German gnomes, and the aforementioned treasure chests litter my work bench.  

Project 350: Week Five

Still driving around with a rental car, and sloooowly shopping for cars while the Insurance Adjuster crosses the T's and dots the I's on my check.  I also no longer have the random moments in the middle of the night where I feel like I'm in total organ failure.  It's an exageration, of course, but I forget what the traditional aches and pains feel like for a middle aged man.

I'm also counting the weekends for basketball to end.  Don't get me wrong, our little community league is far better than the road warrior travels gymnastics makes us do, but with the double elimination tournament in full swin, leading to the big championship game at the high school for my eldest, I'm dreaming of 9:30 am next Saturday, when, regardless of win or lose, we'll be piling into a car and heading for the Allentown Train Show and a trip to my Mom's (and a chance to game with the guys).

The sump pump is pulling yeoman's work this week, but the French drains can do little for the soggy ground, and we're getting seepage through cracks in the floor.  With a 1/2 inch of water that goes down, only to have another downpour fill it back it, I'm monitoring the status by sitting at my bench and painting.  Of course it's nothing off my projects drafts save to the blog, so I'm sad to report minimal progress on Project 350.  With a week and a half to go, I'm stagnating at 357 drafts and scheduled posts, down only one from last week.

I've already whittled down the fory or so backlogged ideas for February down to 24, and to be honest, no more than six have a chance of occuring. 

My goal for this weekend?  Launch my Third season of the Pulp game with the girls.  Since I call them "seasons" I realized that for this storyline, I could "film" some of them out of order, and with the completion of certain pieces, those games could happen right now.  Here's hoping Maja's team wins their first game this morning, so we can grab breakfast and go home, a loss means a second game and a morning/early afternoon lost to any other activities.

Of course, the biggest news is that Monday I start a new position within my company, with a sizable raise and tweaked hours.  The late night marathon sessions will need to stop at midnight now.  The best news from this is that I've been doing 80-90% of the workload already, on top of my normal duties, so the job will eventually be easier, as I shed off some minor duties to interns and support staff.

Targets for this week:

1. The Pulp Game, using Savage Showdown
2. Mousling Fantasy... or Song of Mice and Whiskers 
3. My Little Pony
4. Contemptable Little Armies
5. Writing some of the latter episodes of Ballad of the Pigeon God, it won't affect my 350, since they're scheduled for June, but it would be nice to drop that Draft number closer to 280.

(Kickstarter) Creatures: Underground - Gnomes!

It is a great and wondrous Friday when gnomes appear on Kickstarter!

Krakon Games has launched a campaign for Gnomes for the Creatures Underground line

Now, the gnomes are more akin to traditional 28mm scale, so they are very small for Gnome Wars, but I am picturing them as a variant group of warped cultists.   And at around $21 for 10 of them (prior to shipping), it's worth a try.

Scale comparison with an oversized dwarf

(Painting) Transnitrian Recovery Vehichles

So many projects, zero focus, but I have gotten something off the bench!

From my great big box o' mechs I picked up at the last Fall-In! flea market, I found some microarmor, and after many distractions, the first three are finished.

Manufacturer Unknown

These LAV-R recovery vehicles are the first part of my "Transnitrian Scientific Republic" army I'm building, with battlemechs and OGRE minis to come.

Transnitria is the unrecognized autonomous breakaway state from Moldova.  It's got the classic 80's communist vibe, without the worldwide fear of nuclear annihilation and if any country fits the futile effort to save their city/command post from OGRE aggression, it will be them.  And if we're playing in the future, using some surplus USMC recovery vehicles to salvage what they can from the battlefield sounds good to me..

Hunchback for scale.

(Kickstarter) The Princess Bride RPG

It IS conceivable!

Toy Vault has launched a Kicstarter for The Princess Bride RPG!

The 250 page book will be written by RPG veteran writer Steffan O'Sullivan (GURPS: Bunnies and Burrows) using the Fudge engine.  

Mayfair Games Shuts Its Doors

I've said, ad naseum, just how crappy things have been lately. 

Now Mayfair Games folds up?  Yeesh, enough already!

From their Facebook post earlier this week:

As of today, the management team at Mayfair Games, Inc. announces we will wind down game publishing. After 36 years, this was not an easy decision or one we took lightly, but it was necessary. Once we had come to this conclusion, we knew we had to find a good home for our games which is when we reached out to Asmodee.

We are pleased to announce that we have sold our games to Asmodee North America, who have acquired all the assets of Mayfair Games, Inc. This acquisition includes the product line for both Mayfair Games, Inc and Lookout Games, GmbH.

We would like to take a moment to say - Thank You!
Thank you to the many retailers, reviewers, customers, industry partners, and volunteers, who made us a success over the past 36 years! You helped bring our games to game stores and cafes, conventions, libraries, schools, kitchen tables, backyard patios, family vacations, and more... where thousands of fans have been introduced to this great world of board gaming. Thank you!!

Catan has been out of their hands since 2016. I can't think of another game of theirs that I've played in years, but like TSR, FASA, and other before them, I always thought that Mayfair would be a cog in the general gaming industry. 

And Asmodee gobbling up board game companies just doesn't sit well with me.   It's probably just me, but my gut is telling me to wait for a big blowout sale, if I ever find anything that tickles my fancy.  

Happy Valentines Day 2018!

Fellas,

If you're down to the last hour, and you've already used the one-time only "Valentine's Day is a commercial holiday" excuse, follow these guys' suggestion and get your lady some lead!

Or resin.. or plastic...  Just make sure it's the proper scale.  Size does matter.

Ballad of the Pigeon God #45: An Accounting of One's House

15 OctDec 1071 The Temple of Akana, Village of Eding, Kingdom of Crosedes
The deaths of Carthon d'Echelon and Dew Xyclone rocked the village of Eding.  Peasants were known to be victims of various monsters, but Carthon had quickly become part of the foundation of the community.  And most of his dealings with merchants, farmers, and the like involved some of Dew's cooking to break the ice. 

Their funerals would normally be small affairs, a few mourners participating in rituals under the large tent that marked the location for the new Temple of Akana.  But when one remembered that Carthon was the adoptive father of the young Baron, the area was flooded with area notables.  It also meant that a few friends, thought dead by the current rulers, needed to say their goodbyes from a distance. Talis Makolin had already made his vitality noted in a drunken stupor at the Blue Wizard Inn, after learning of the death of his long-lost father, so he brazenly took a seat near the front of the temple, with Baronial guards and Royal spies obviously in attendance.   

After the funeral, he mounted his horse and rode east towards Lowdale, attracting a number "curious" followers loyal to the crown.   Outside of Lowdale, he and a group of Halfling militia led by Mayor A.Warren Corkbarrel ambushed these agents of evil and brutally put them all to the sword.  Ransacking the bodies, the bard discovered coded messages that, when finally broken, gave them vital intelligence:

• King Cervinal knew Talis was alive, but did not know that Echelon, Velandro, or Mellandria were still alive.
• The King wanted Talis dead.
• Cervinal honestly liked Norm Dingleberry, granting him a knighthood and a vital defensive command in Lansluck. 
• The rest was confusing, and possibly in a strange dialect or different language, but it appeared that the King either knew of the Spider-People, approved of their mission (not disclosed), or were in cahoots with them. 
  

Talis' distraction allowed the others who attended both inside and in the shadows to return to the Chateau unmolested. 

17 OctDec 1071 Chateau d'Echelon, Barony of Eding, Kingdom of Crosedes
With the declared death of Echelon, and now Carthon, ownership of the Chateau and surrounding estate was put into question.  Carthon had never taken the deed out of his name, and without a will of his own, possession would turn to his son, the Baron, and under the influence of the Crown. 

As Baronial Seneschal, Lady Iris put a quick stop to that.  Using her power and some scribes more loyal to goodness and light than the law and order of the King/Dread Lord, Iris created a legitimate paper trail, selling the Chateau to "Baron" Felix, giving the proceeds to Jenny d'Echelon. 

Felix and Iris worked together to keep the "unexpected guests" a secret, while filling new positions. 

Felix would take over all of Carthon's responsibilities, Heirylat (Iris' ne'er do well father) would be the estate foreman, and they would bring a young peasant girl, Zoe Loup, as the new housekeeper.  Zoe was a peasant girl claiming her son Luke was Maloran Alberhold's.  He denied the claims, and the next day left for Hydincall, where he would be magically transported to Talislanta and killed by a Land Kra.  The girl and her newborn had survived the hellish Summer and Fall of 1070, and had lost all of her family in the chaos.  With Babette's babies and Dag's kids at the Chateau, it only felt fair to bring her onto the staff... so long as she wasn't a spider person.

22 OctDec 1071 Chateau d'Echelon, Barony of Eding, Kingdom of Crosedes
With many matters, both formal and personal resolved, the day-to-day activities at the Chateau were coming back to normal, even if each chore still had a hint of sorrow within.
The inhabitants of the Chateau d'Echelon and various outbuildings on the estate:

• Felix Homsburg - Current owner of the estate. Former Baron of Homsburg, Ras-Prythax. Kidnapped by Spider-People 341 years prior. Rescued by Echelon and given a trusted job.
• Zoe Loup-Alberhold - 19 year old housekeeper. Her year-and-a-half old son Luke was fathered by Maloran Alberhold.
• Heirylat - Estranged father of Lady Iris.  Former crime enforcer kidnapped by Spider-People in 1050.  Rescued by Echelon and given a job.  Current Estate Foreman, part-time tax collector.
• Babette of Hydincall - accomplished street thief.  Became pregnant from a man from another world.  Her boys, Darius and Yuri, six months old.
• Brutus - Dim-witted but loyal ex-gladiator who found a home and a family at the Chateau.  Works as a manual laborer on the estate.  Part-time tax collector.
• Dag di Velandro - Kobold Acolyte of Akana with a sworn blood-vow to serve Velandro.  His wife Groeta, and "teenage" children Scrag (son) and Daschelle (daughter) live in a bungalow. 
• Kane - Eastern monk and water elementalist.  Effectively has retired from adventuring.  Spends his days working for his keep, in deep meditation, or assisting his friend Mohammad.
• Mohammad - Mentor of the Echelon, now a crippled, agoraphobic, and psychically weakened cleric of Tshang Kai Shing. 
• Pathfinder - Grey wolf, permanently charmed by and telepathically linked to Echelon.  He spends his days sleeping around the barn or helping the humans herd animals on the estate.
• Sterling Riverbend - Quarter Ogre Fighter picked up Hydincall.  Used for manual labor and guard duty. 

Zoe Lupe-Alberhold, the new housekeeper

The four remaining inhabitants were assumed dead (and if not, certainly wanted by the King) and decided it was best to move on for now. 

Echelon - Pigeon-loving, former Baron of Eding, now a wanted man of the new evil king if they only knew he was alive.  Cleric of an eastern god of the sea
Talis Makolin - a rakish bard, Knight of the Pigeon, also assumed dead.   Just discovered he and Echelon are half-brothers.
Velandro -  a pious priest of Akana with a kobold following.  Also assumed dead.
Mellandria - former baronial scribe under Echelon.  Assumed dead as well, now caught up in the zaniness.

Echelon and Talis' father Winston, had owned a manor house somewhere outside of Omsjik.  If they played their cards right, they could take ownership of the property without anyone assuming that they were the "Dead" Echelon or "Dead" Talis.  Who would be that blatantly obvious?

DM Notes: Sorry for what many could consider a bookkeeping episode, but with some many moving pieces... and so many missing pieces at this time, it was wise and proper to do a formal census.   What was once a crazed and bustling estate has turned into eight adults, two kobolds, two kobold children, three babies, and an intelligent wolf.  Let's also assume that they're hiring farmhands as needed, but that's a very intimate group, and with Lady Iris' blessing, we can hope they can keep it together. 

Next #46 The Actual Accounting... Revealed!

(Kickstarter) Testudine Time Travelers in 28mm

Even with my troubles, I should have been able to remember to up my pledge on the Space Dwarves 28mm. 

However, thanks to following Macrocosm as a creator, I discovered the Testudine Time Travelers, sculpted by Chris Nicholls at Macrocosm, over the weekend.

Dude... Whoah!

Project 350: Week Four Was a Really Bad Week

A full month of my Project is wrapped up, and all I can say is... good riddance!

We're down to eight more drafts/scheduled posts getting published by the end of this month to get down to the completely arbitrary 350.

358

Now, you'd think with two snowdays off from work, and only a single 8am basketball game this weekend, I would get something accomplished. 

But the two snowdays were the result of this...

Ouch!!!

In a week where I thought a Philadelphia victory would be the worst thing, reality said "Hold my beer" and started singing "Fly Eagles Fly" in a snowstorm. 

In a year with added responsibilities at work and year where I don't have bald tires in the month of February, I hit an icy patch while going slower than reduced speed limit and had a face to face encounter with Mr Guardrail.  

I'm okay... a little sore in random places, but okay.  Still waiting on the report from the adjuster, but with Suzukis and aftermarket parts, I'm planning on it getting totaled. 

Did I mention my wife's new car got t-boned in a parking lot the day before? 

The good news is we both have spiffy new rental cars, her car is already in the shop getting fixed, my wife is sending me sensible used cars throughout the day, and our tax return already hit.  Not the hunk of pretty painted metal I wanted with my portion of the return, but I'm not complaining.  

Mrs Viscount is working Sunday, and with a birthday party over 45 minutes away, there's a window in the morning that I'm actively finding time to play a game with the girls...  

"I'm on a Horse" at 5th Level

Old Spice, the purveyor of deodorants, old man colognes, and surreal commercials, has decided to make an attack of opportunity against gamer funk, but releasing a Gentleman/Gentlewoman character class, using the old d20 OGL.

Pic from nerdvanamedia.com

For shameless self-promotion, it's pretty witty. 

Ballad of the Pigeon God #44: What Really Happened in Ruuna - Echelon's Side of the Story

GM Notes: After a week of big revelations, we turn to an editorial episode of sorts.  When my college roommate, Steve, unearthed the journal of our much beloved college AD&D campaign, I knew that writing up the journal into weekly episodes would be a vast undertaking. The journal entries were written by numerous players in the style of their characters and had plenty of omissions that I had trouble filling in after two decades of play.  I'm proud to say that I got into the #50's in episodes before my real job and family life pulled me away from the computer.  

Then, over Labor Day weekend this past year, Steve came up to my house with another stack of papers he had uncovered "from a box":  royal decrees, baronial expenses, and a host of other typed up notes from his character, Echelon, while he was Baron of Eding.  I've corrected a few names in earlier episodes, but things are pretty consistent.  

However, a major document in the collection is titled, "What really happened in Runa (sic)- Echelon's Side of the Story."  It covers the actions from episodes #39-43 in the voice of the twice-assumed dead Echelon, former Baron of Eding.  I do find it odd, that it covers the the gruesome attacks at the Chateau, but fails to mention anything about the death of Winston Maless...

Without further ado,  passages from "The Baronial Journal of the Baron of the Barony of Eding"  by Echelon Riemann

It started as a diplomatic mission to Runa (sic).  Me and my entourage (Talis, Norm, Mellandria, and my latest religious adviser, Velandro) all set off to the Duchy in Ras-Prythax.  My motives were honorable, at least on the surface.  I wanted to establish a trading partnership between Runa and Eding (Who knew the road east of town didn't end with the right fork towards Lansluck?  The left fork went right to the border... and Runa.)  I figured formal peace and trade talks would prevent this road from becoming an invasion route.

Secretly, though, my motives were a bit more sensitive.  An ambassador from Runa visited me before we departed and told me of tales that Duke Steven (the guy in charge) was beginning to issue crazy decrees and drive the people of Runa nuts.  In not so many words, he asked me to investigate.

We set off, making other diplomatic stops at both Welldale and Lowdale, as well as the first official visit as Baron to the halfling village of Elmshire (at least that I remember, it's been a little crazy).  I was quite impressed with the citizens of Elmshire, and order some furniture be delivered to the Chateau.  After I was satisfied the everything was happy in all of my part of Crosedes, we went off to Runa. 

The first thing we did was investigate the town.  The people didn't seem to care that their ruler was, to put it nicely, a few arrows short of a quiver.  We tried to talk with the Duke directly, but he wasn't seeing anybody.  We tried to talk with his right-hand man, Dracos, but he wasn't seeing anybody either.  We were getting discouraged.  The king (duke) was still issuing weird decrees, and there seemed like nothing we could do to stop him.  How dare they disrespect the almighty Baron of Eding! When the apocalypse comes, I'm not sparing their city!

One a side note, one of the insane decrees managed to offend all the dwarves in the city by expelling them all from Runa.  As a consequence, the Dwarves of Skyforge vowed revenged in the manner of a war to wipe the inhabitants of Runa off the face of Earth (Georic)!  Figuring that a war between these two can't be good, I now had to stop a war instead of just negotiating a trade partnership.  

Why me?  

Because wars aren't happy.  People die. Things are destroyed. Wives and children are needlessly raped.  One side is obliterated and the other gets cocky.  Then another power sees the mayhem, and declares war themselves.  It spreads and spreads and spreads and pretty soon, the whole world is at war, and it's NOT a happy place.  I refuse to live in a non-happy place, so I must stop this war. 

Suspicions told us that Dracos could be the one behind the Duke's insanity.  So we decided to investigate the city barracks, since Dracos was in charge of the town guard.  During the day, the barracks looked deserted.  And so, we walked right in.  However, the first building we came to did contain some guards, and they quickly escorted us out of the compound.  So we decided to walk around back.  Again, we walked right . This time, the first building we came to was a kitchen.  The chefs inside didn't like us, so they called for the guards.  Guards in full plate mail came pouring out of every building.  This compound wasn't as deserted as we thought!   Using the Echelon school of combat, we ran.  They chased us on horseback, but we managed to disappear into the crowds.  Going back to the compound was certainly not an option.  We needed a new course of action.  


<==========lost pages=============>

...convince Velandro to check out the temple of Galmar.  Velandro then managed to convince us that this was the way to go, and we headed off to check out the temple.  

Getting inside was not a problem.  It was all the people we had to fight on the inside that was a the problem.  From sea serpents to clerics in every room, if it looked like it wanted to seriously harm us, we killed it first.  At one point, Talis prayed to Modee for a little help, which was granted in the form of revealing a secret passage for the price of most of his bardic abilities.  Inside the secret passage, we found some sort of demon, who would just not die, no matter how much damage we did to it. (Fire traps, flame bolts, tridents, daggers, cold water we could have sworn was magical, etc.)  All damage dealt to him seemed to have not effect, as he quickly regenerated as fast as we could do him damage.  

As we ran away, he gave us a riddle, "....high in the sky and deep in the earth at the same time" which we later figured out to be a mountain, with a little help from the old man who helped us navigate the high hills.   So we set off in search of this mountain, apparently looking for the soul of this demon fellow.  Coming to a crossroad, we decided to go left down into the valley of Abalone instead of into the mountains of Skyforge. 

Well, that was a mistake.  The only things we found there were a hill giant (whom we killed) and three orcs (whom we killed also).  There is just no reasoning with primitive animals.  

After three days, we turned around and decided to go back towards the mountains.  We did indeed find that mountain we were looking for, as we saw an inscription on the wall that told that infidels would be annihilated. Velandro assured me that we were not infidels, and we proceeded onward.  We first met a vile beast with an identity crisis.  It had three different heads, each one wanting to eat us.  Since being eaten was not on my agenda of things to do as Baron, we killed it, and I got a cool new happy trident.   The next beast we face definitely had its head on straight, but it also wanted to eat us, so we killed it too.  Up the stairs we proceeded, killing everything that stood in our way.  The only time we ran was from a mist that seemed to drain us of both energy and mental capacity.  Believe me, you would run too. 

Over the next couple of days, we cleared out this entire place, mostly just for fun and vengeance for that stupid mist thing.  Eventually we did find the demon's soul, in the form of a gem.  But by the time we got it back to Runa, the city was under martial law of the dwarves.  

We were too late, and now we were really pissed off.

No one was allowed in or out of the city.  We decided to send Talis back to Eding to make sure everything was peachy back home, as the rest of us would attempt an audience with the Krugraf of Ras-Prythax  to see if we couldn't stop this war from spreading further.  The representatives of Krugraf, who had come from the neighboring Gran Duchy of Vesthamm were very receptive to peace.  The Dwarves were not as receptive to us, not even letting us into their Kingdom.  Doing everything in our power to stop this war and turning up empty-handed, we decided to go back home.

Upon our arrival in Eding, something was different, I immediately sought Lady Iris.  As it turned out, much has happened in the two months we've been gone.  

You better sit down for this:

1. The king was assassinated
2. His brother, The Dread Lord, has seized the power of the throne.
3. The leaders of the Mage's Guild and Hydincal Lyceum, have been deposed. 
4. The new king, thinking that we're all dead, made Timmy baron
5. However, upon the event that we're not dead, Talis, Count Zabty, and myself supposed to report to the king immediately, probably to be "dealt with."
6. Dew turned out to be a spider person and killed Karthon (Carthon).
7. Norm then killed Dew with a chair (Oh yeah, Norm came home several weeks earlier - you'll have to hear his side of the story.)

Now knowing the Dread Lord as we do, we did not take kindly to this information.  In fact, it down-right pissed us off.  Based on Dew's recent turning, I am now convinced that we cannot trust anyone who has not been with us since the beginning, namely Mell, Talis, Velandro, and myself.  Since the world thinks we're dead, we're playing dead.  We are going to find every spider person in the world and kill them.  Then, we are going to incite the towns to riot against the King.  Finally, after joining forces with Count Zabty and the faction of the mage's guild that is anti-Dread Lord, we will kill the King!!!  

As Shan Hai Shing as my witness, I will make this world into a happy place with my happy trident, even if it kills me!

NEXT: #45 An Accounting of One's House

My Talislanta: The Savage Land PDF has arrived!

In a wild surprise today, I got my codes for the PDF copy of Talislanta: The Savage Land. 

My $5 was very well spent. 

Two things this curmudgeon noticed with the afternoon read-through. 

1) The book and era evoke the Conan-style I originally felt, but there are a few races and monsters that specifically screamed "It's D&D, but with no elves!"

2) I'm the deranged demographic that's happy with black and white artwork.  The book is chock full of full color pieces, many taking up more than half of many pages.  In a strange world like Tal, this isn't usually a problem, but for a 258-page core document, that's a lot less text.  Your mileage, of course, may vary.

Sketching Out an Adventure at Amazing Tales

One thing I've noticed since I started following more RPGs on social media has been the number of people who do sketches/full art work for the games they are playing.  While it's certainly better than my efforts, I'm not about to say that much of it is good, but if it helps the game/player, I have no room for critique. 

With all the kids games I run, I forget that their creative juices start flowing with a little artwork.  With that in mind, I'll link a short article from Amazing Tales covering the glory of... the stick person.

Project 350: Week Three

Three weeks down on my quest to get the collected drafts and scheduled posts hiding in the background of my blog down to a "reasonable" 350 by the end of February.

As we near a month left in my process, I'm down to 360.

Let me tell you, the process for this idea hoarder is a difficult one, as the cool ideas continue to appear, and I must be strong to resist... or at least get something accomplished before I add more.

The freak snowstorm, kids coming back from a weekend away, and laborious pick-up of the groceries have made what is normally a relaxing fun day with the wife at work into sheer drudgery.  And to make matters worse, the satellite dish has two inches of solid ice on it, so no Super Bowl (and worse yet, for my safety, no This is Us after the Super Bowl). 

So is life.  Not even sure if I can corral the kids for bed, since they are already excited about the 2-hour delay.

Events for Mepacon Spring 2018 Have Been Submitted!

After a poll and much consternation, I've submitted my events for Mepacon, April  27-29 at the Hilton in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

I really wanted to try to revert back to my old style of GMing with a twist towards the youngsters with TWERPS Superdudes and TMNT/After the Bomb games, but in the end, you go with what targets the largest non-D&D organized play demographic.

I shall run six 2-hour sessions of My Little Pony: Tails of Equestria, and I shall like it!

My Little Pony: Tokens of Friendship  
My Little Pony has a role-playing game and it's as magical as the power of friendship! Each session you can create your very own pony and share adventures with your friends in Ponyville, Canterlot, and beyond! Or bring back your pony from a previous session (or previous Mepacon) to play some more! Parents welcome to help their child or play alongside them. 

6 players

Running  4-6 Friday, 11-1 Saturday, 4-6 Saturday

And since the theme of the convention is "Heroes and Villains" it's only fitting to run a variant on the "Power Ponies"

My Little Pony: The Infinite League of Avenging Justice!
The POWER PONIES have returned to Maretropolis!  But what happens when the Doomsday device isn't controlled by a villain, but by everyone's favorite team, The Rustlers of Justice?  Who will Rustle the Rustlers?   Super-Ponies provided at the table.  Parents will be needed to assist some youngsters, but they can certainly play alongside older children.
6 players
Running 8-10 Friday, 9-11 and 2-4 Saturday

Prescription Pill Bottle Prison for Sci-Fi

Throughout the internet are the Pinterest in Real Life memes:  Fabulous craft ideas or cooking recipes on Pinterest, compared to a picture of the results of someone who tried to recreate it.

So, with that in mind here’s an idea posted to the Rogue Stars Fan Page on Facebook.

Using a prescription bottle, milk cap (described as "from a milk in a McDonalds' Happy Meal"), and a few bits to make a cool sci-fi prison/holding chamber.

And here's my attempt:

Of course it looks nothing like the actual sample that they presented. To be honest, I used a huge pill bottle, McDonald's uses tiny "traditional" caps for their milks nowadays, and I offset those losses with a foot from an old bed frame.  It's a little cumbersome, but it sort of does the job.

And no, I don’t do stripes.  Truth be told, I remembered five different blog posts on painting yellow and black AFTER I finished. The good news is that my wife will provide me with a small constant supply to work on in the future.

NEXT: I’m slogging through those things that just... refuse... to be finished.  I'm working on all the Gamecraft buildings, big and small. There’s also some various fantasy accessories  to finish up, but my latest Kickstarter arrived in my mailbox yesterday:  A small team from the Legion of Steel Kickstarter Macrocosm ran. 

I regret not going bigger into this campaign, but Uscarl Miniatures might benefit from that since their Space Dwarves 28mm Kickstarter ends right around the time my tax refund should hit the bank.

Happy Bill Murray Appreciation Day... Again!

Why Alignment Can Be Crappy