TrollTrader is attempting to fill a massive void in the sci-fi industry: a Kickstarter for a complete Halfling Sci-Fi Army.
Reapercon, Reaper Miniatures' convention celebrating minis, painting, gaming, sculpting, and more painting, is September 1-4 at the Embassy Suites Convention Center in Denton Texas
Recently they revealed the Dungeoneering Mousling, sculpted by Gene Van Horne, that is part of the yet-to-be detailed ReaperCon swag box, which will be available for general sale on www.reapermini.com .
During the jumps, Tarrie monitored the health of the creatures, using a low-dose drug concoction to keep the rabbits under control, without the imminent fear of a crazed rage Translucent Trappers like they had experienced on Alderaan.
It required five hands of Sabaac for Duk'k to "win" the honor of cleaning up rabbits cages, but even he could not avoid the embrace the cuteness of the blue critters. Moving them within a communal pen to get enough time to clean out the cages, Duk'k tripped over one of the little guys, collapsed, and was enveloped in cuteness. Luckily, no one else saw the incident, less The Sipsk'ud would be force to kill them.
After an optimal trip through hyperspace, but an long and winding course at sub-speed, the Pretio arrived at Tuktaar. Given the characteristics of the camel-like Yarkorans, Tuktaar seemed perfect, with its vast swaths of arid land, dotted with small patches of green which appeared to look like farms.
Hailing the starport, Tarrie was required to provide only the basest of credentials to land, and was directed towards Landing Bay 1. He pulled into the starport to discover that they were the only ship at the major starport on the city. There were other space and aircraft in the air upon their descent, so they weren't a primitive culture, but it just seemed odd. .
Entered customs for clearances, credentials, and unloading their peculiar cargo.
The regular customs officials looked like the few Yarkorans they had seem across the galaxy. The chief customs official appeared to be of noble status, and a series of evolutionary changes. With darker, matted hair on his hair, and a pair of vestigial arms/(legs?) on his chest, he was a haughty, but by the book character.
While working with customs, a race of wolf-men subservient to the Yarkorans, the Vagr, were tasked with the accounting and unloading of the shipment.
"Very good. How many of the Bioxin Azure Rabbits were diseased or died on the voyage?"
Ne'vets looked at his pilot, "Tarrie has those numbers."
"Twenty-four diseased and twelve dead, 532 for delivery."
"We will take them all, however we are to only pay for 500, More importantly, I only count 525."
A messenger arrived, who distracted the customs team from further questions. He took the Customs Chief aside. The Chief then turned to the crew.
"It appears that the Administrator has issues with your ship, please follow the runner to the Administrator's domicile." The crew complied, leaving Evus and Frokazza at the Pretio to hose out the cargo holds.
The messenger led them to the domicile of Ghek'kurik.
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| Ghek'kurik |
Ne'vets could only plaster a giant grin across his face, to prevent any other emotions from coming through. Duk'k through of numerous ways to kill this alien, but chose against them, for the sake of their own survival.
"Are they... satisfactory?" was all Ne'vets could muster.
Ghek'kurik held a finger up to them, to beg for a moment while he crewed and swallowed the last bit of rabbit. "The lower castes cook their rabbits, but the Bioxin Azure is most delicious raw, and still breathing."
"I am always happy for a satisficed customer."
"You and your ship may be a solution to our problem."
"In the last Klaat'tu, a number of our ships have been attacked, completely disabled, and boarded. Whoever is doing this taking all of the cargo, and killing everyone on board, including females and children. Despite our distance from most human civilization, it is still safe to surmise that if it's not some misguided Vagr with a death wish, then the threat must be human. What is the model of your freighter."
"Why, it's a Ghtroc 720..."
"Yes, Ghtroc, it is far bulkier than other freighters. It may pass for an uncomfortable Yarkoran ship to attract the pirates. You currently have a Twi'lek walking around an peaceful starport with a blaster rifle, the Wookie seems a bit perturbed, and..." staring over at Duk'k, "This specimen is particularly sporting. You would do well as a decoy to lure the pirates in and then you just kill them."
"Waitaminute, you just met us and you want us to kill a bunch of pirates for you?"
"Essentially, yes. The jump point to the Vagr system seems to be where the attacks happen."
"I assumed that's what you guys do."
"On a rabbit transport?"
"You're not the stereotypical crew."
"What are we lookin' at for compensation"
"So.... every ship that has been attacked has been carrying !xug'k!"
"Excuse me?'
"!xug'k!, It's one of our few exports out of our empires. We enjoy it as an after-dinner treat. It's quite soothing, but other races find it much more satisfying."
Ghek'kurik pulled a jar off of a bookcase, took a large wad of a dried substance out and stuck that his mouth. closing his eyes to savor the flavor.
Duk'k leaned over to Ne'vets, "I think that's Highleaf?"
"Highleaf?"
"Yeah, bad stuff, hallucination city. Quick Addiction, Really Bad Withdrawal. By the sweet power of the Force, they're dealing with drugs."
Ghek'kurik continued, "We can offer you a kilo of the !xug'k! to solve our problem. That should be more than worth you time, if you know the right humans who want it."
Between the live animal consumption, and pompous attitude of this alien noble with vestigial limbs, Ne'vets and Duk'k were quick to professionally decline, but not completely condemn the Yarkoran Administrator to his face.
As the crew walked out of the front door of Ghek'kurik's domicile, Tarrie seemed incredulous, "We're really not taking the mission."
It was enough for Duk'k to threaten him with a backhand to not pursue the matter longer, but Tarrie wisely suggested that they leave immediately.. and avoid that jump point at all costs.
Once back in space, Tarrie put Duk'k in the turret as the Pretio and set a steady course for the opposite jump point from the attacks. Tarrie was about to lean back and catch a nap, until a huge, green tear-drop shaped craft flew right in front of the ship. It knocked the autopilot out, and took the ship out of control, damaging one of the Tuktaar communication satellites.
"Don't shoot it, unless they return fire!" Tarrie shouted over the coms.
It was time to go back home.
Ne'vets felt a little disgruntled "This kinda ruined the spa day I had planned. Now I'm just not feeling it."
The Pretio made fabulous time with the course R2-H8(r) plotted, but made one last side trek to establish a business front off of Takodana and onto Bestine, a safe and picturesque midpoint from the Inner Core. The Empire was already interested in their shipbuilding operations, so additional Imperials wouldn't raise an eyebrow.
GM Notes - Every once in awhile there's a scenario that might be a breeze, but a party of PCs won't take the bait. Deciding that the bunnies were a delicacy, and the pompousness of the nobles, it's no surprise that the crew passed on the mission as offered.
Of course a kilo of the !xug'k!/Highleaf does fetch about 25,000cr to the right buyer.
The Tuktaar Connection appeared in Challenge Magazine #26. Outside of two NPCs I haven't introduced, and two scenarios that are great one-offs with different groups, I've completed my Challenge Challenge with issues #26 and #27. We're very close to the campaign storyline changing gears, so I don't know how much more I'll get through on my quest. Considering after #29 I'm jumping back and covering the Journal of the Traveller's Aid Society #1-24, and there are a ton of cool creatures in those issues, I might be a bit more selective.
Next: #45 - Takodana Days
I tend to avoid looking into the vast array of FRPG materials on Kickstarter, but By This Axe: The Cyclopedia of Dwarven Civilization might fill a empty spot in OSR-style games: A one-book reference on Dwarves, their culture, and their civilizaiton.
Magglet in Spain is well-known for their high-quality, ludicrously limited, ridiculously quick Kickstarter for Space Dwarfs, so there's no surprise there were less than 48 hours left when I discovered their Space Dwarfs: Exo Armours campaign.
I'm slowly assembling and reviewing everything I need for my events for Historicon, but that doesn't mean I can't pain up a random Macho Women with Guns figure, especially one I could hypothetically use in a game!
Finished: one Killer Teddy Bear w/ Laser Pistol, part of a two figure blister. There's also a duo of Killer Teddy Bears wielding laser rifles, if fluffy long-range weapons are your preference.
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| Killer Teddy Bear w/ Laser Pistol (1 of 2) |
Up Next: Currently sitting on the painting bench include figures for Pulp Season 4, German Gnomes for International Gnome Week, some sci-fi buildings, and even some Wars of Ozz individual figures. I do need to pull out some figures/terrain to ensure my Yellowstone game is complete, and where are my sheep rules!
Project 350: Even with new Star Wars episodes slotted and a few cool pics to fill in the slow days, the number continues to gradually decline to 445 (292/153) from 447 (291/156) last week.
Father's Day is sacred ground in this house. Not for some gala celebration, but a few low-key activities I have with both kids and the fact that, outside of breakfast, I stay at home.
First strike: An unscheduled tournament pops up at Spooky Nook on Father's Day weekend.
Second strike: Only Millie's team has enough players available, so I'll be stuck with a moody teenager (Maja) skulking about the complex all weekend.
Third strike: The championship game for 5th grade is late enough that we won't salvage our annual tea party/game day. I can do my best impression of a moody teenager too.
The best positive of the weekend was that is was all-girls, which doubled the rosters and attracted teams from Massachusetts, Ohio, and into the Deep South. Of course, the 11th Grade Division had 86 teams.
5th Grade? Only 8, divided into two pools of 4. And we quickly discovered the top three teams were stuck in pool A.
 |
| The whole weekend felt like this play |
The Current Crew of the Pretio
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| Bioxin Azures |
I'm still trying to get my bearings with the gnome holidays. Thankfully, unlike BBQ which has National BBQ day May 16, National BBQ month (May), but National BBQ week is normally around the 4th of July, International Gnome week (June 21-28) does fit with International Gnome Day (June 21).
I know there's plenty of people who consider Pulp Fiction to be an overwrought piece of cinema, but dammit if it isn't so quotable. One thing that hasn't aged well, thanks 28 years of inflation is the Five Dollar Shake discussion at Jack Rabbit Slim's. Considering a small shake at Five Guys is $6+ nowadays, I might kill someone for a decent-size, tasty shake at 50's themed restaurant.
(Note to self, double check your schedule for Historicon, and see when I can sneak out to DJ's Taste of the 50's.)
Project 350: Things continue to decline down to 447 (291/156) from 449 (293/156). While gaming and gaming project languish, I was down to only three Star Wars campaign episodes to write-up, until this week's session has oddly been expanded to three episodes all on their own.
We've got a host of basketball to finish off the month. Millie has a national invitational this weekend, and both girls finish out the season local against either very good competition, or horrendous competition. From there its a little weekend ball for Millie, and Maja focuses on working on being a leader for 8th grade and helping out the new 7th graders starting school ball for the first time. The 7th/8th grade team isn't too shabby for their first two weeks, losing by 1 to Hazleton two weeks ago, and losing by 3 to Good Shepherd, with a full roster of brand new 7th graders and a coach who focused more on winning at all costs than getting some of the girls vital court time. Wins in the summer are nice, but there's no trophy at the end of July. There are trophies for grades 7-9 come February, and that process starts now.
Up Next: I'm going to try to paint up a few figures for International Gnome Week, or at least review my notes for a viable article or two. A gnome game looks to be more of a miracle, but there is stuff in the overdue pipeline.
The Current Crew of the Pretio
The morning after the great Translucent Trapper incident, Ne'vets wandered down to the hotel lobby for the free galactic breakfast... and much fanfare. Holo-vids of the crews actions reached the news feed, and all of their faces were now famous... at least for the next 15 minutes.
Checking access of the business suite, the front desk clerk handed him an envelope left at the desk. Inside was a small thank you note from Kafla, and an additional 5,000 credits for the crew.
Grabbing complementary yellowberry muffins, Ne'vets spied the now-famous video being broadcasted on Good Morning Alderaan.
Everybody but the Wookie decided to rent a speeder and visit the city. With some extra credits in hand, there was a new desire from everyone to buy some droids.
Tarrie was confused, "Do we have a bacta tank?"
"No, but I am definitely not cleaning one out."
They quickly picked out a brand new 2-1B Medical Droid, designated P3PP3R.
"How about a labor droid?" Duk'k inquired.
"Why would we need that?"
"It takes care of all those menial tasks, and they can clean the refresher and carry cargo."
"The medical droid has two arms. He can carry something, or hold a brush in case Evus stops at Space Chipotle again."
Tarrie stayed on topic, "What about an astromech droid to help fly the ship. It'll keep Frokazza from fat-fingering the jump coordinates."
"That's fine, but don't look at the R2's on the end caps, there's always something wrong with them."
Grabbing a shiny new green unit, the crew was happy with the oddly designated R2-H8(r)
"Ne'vet Aharo, in the flesh, I presume," The Finger said in an easier creepier tone.
After a far more professional series of introductions, they got down to brass tacks.
Devlin was an archeologist who was impressed that Ne'vets trusted his crew with the critical presentation matters. "You've got a bigger set than a Tayvarean Tree-Bat. Most of my hired help either wants to destroy things or steal them, yours is on the up and up."
The Finger dove into a the Zell, an ancient race from tens of thousands of years ago. Imperial teaching teachings say the Zell exterminated a race called the Taung before finding the early civilization that would be known as Coruscant and all of humanity. The problem was, hyperspace drives were already in production even back then, so it was accepted that the Taung probably just left en masse. More impressive is that he believed that the Taung settled on Mandalore.
"I did in the underhive of Coruscant, technically digging in sub-levels that are technically above the surface of the planet. But I also dig in the deserts and and bio-domes on Mandalore. Most of the work is on the up-and-up, but folks like you can handle your own, and already have the equipment to speed the process. If you're on either planet and make a few credits, you're welcome to look me up."
Tarrie just stared into the shininess of his new droids, but at the first mention of Mandalore, he woke up.
"Mandalore. There's some rockin' musical festivals there recently. It would be a great trip!"
Another weekend with basketball has been a mental godsend. Sure there's still practices and such, but with school letting out it was nice to not run around like a nutjob, pay for a weekend of hotels, gas, and food and add another t-shirt to the kids' collections.
The weekend wasn't completely activity-free. Maja's last year of crazy weeknights full of school sports, AAU practices, and dance culminated in the spring dance recital. Maja's dances netted her a 1st and two 3rd places at the competition which conflicted with her last tournament, it was time for me to drive 20 minutes to see her finally do those performances in a formal setting, rather than every night in our living room.
Rant: I believe this is year eight of dance for us, and I absolutely despise dance families at recitals. I'll take the rudest/most offensive AAU parents over the the clueless dance parents inviting 22 relatives to see their 6-year old dance for 96 seconds, then talking over/moving about/complaining about the other 2 hours of the show. I'd like to think we were pretty decent in the early years, and at worst, wised up by 1st grade with 2-3 extra relatives and finding seats that didn't interfere with others. /rant.
Finally seeing the performances in person, it's official: Maja's pretty darn good at dance as well. Her athleticism showed forth when compared to other girls her age, even those with better technique. It was an incredible afternoon and a long, long way from her waving her arms and doing tiny plies in Kindergarten. It also should be noted that her duet partner/classmate who had moved to Louisiana in March came back for the last week for the competition and recital. That's not a commitment I see from the AAU folk.
Right now, school is not her passion, and sports is that right mixture and fun and work and she's getting recognized for.
Dance? I'm afraid it's going to her permanent hobby, and I resigned myself to that earlier this year. I doubt her college and professional life will be dominated by it, but I believe she'll want this to be part of her life for as long as she's physically able.
That being said, I didn't mention scholarships, because, as luck would have it, she was award a Fall scholarship to the dance studio, covering all monthly fees for whatever dancing she wants to do.
In my journeys around the web, I uncovered this little gem.
When I do a web search the first option that comes up is A Donsy of Gnomes, a collection of seven gnome stories, appropriate for children, by Sieglinde De Francesca.
It could be worse. I did find a D&D reference to gnomes (and halflings) referring to groups of them as quivers... assuming giants would use them as effective missile weapons.
So apparently, in addition to the traditional Bill & Ted Day (of Excellent Adventure fame), there's a comic book, Bill & Ted Roll the Dice, coming out next week.
The Current Crew of the Pretio
Kafla Thingviller had prepared a dramatic unveiling of his find, he just never expected an empty cage when the surrounding curtains dropped. A quick scan revealed the the Trapper up on the ceiling in the center of the arena. It was 100 meters high, among the lights. As it tried to do in the canyon, it spread its wings, and the light going through them produced a kaleidoscope of rainbows, descending into the audience.
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| The Trapper |
An unknown number of attendees were mesmerized by the
Trapper’s ability. The others were a mixture of confusion and scientific curiosity. Very few wisely ran to the exits.
Duk’k was confused, and turned to Ne’vets, all the while pulling the holdout blaster. "Do we rescue people, do we recapture it, or do we flee with our lives?"
Tarrie, pulled out his blaster in one hand, and palmed a
flash bang grenade in the other.
Evus was shocked, “Did security even check you guys????”
Tarrie ignored the Twi’lek and motioned to the Frokazza for
the Woookie's spider-web immune skin cream.
Kafla finally snapped out of his disbelief, and immediately hailed
a non-fleeing stage hand to help bring the creature down. The stage hand did not seem cooperative at all.
Frokazza tossed the cream to Tarrie and headed for the sound
engineers behind the floor seats in the arena.
Duk’k scanned the scenario, the lights the Trapper was up on was actually over the far side floor seats, with plenty of scared and mesmerized attendees in danger.
Ne’vets sought out Kafla’s scientific crew, in search of any
tranquilizer guns, darts, and the appropriate drugs. The assistants were nearly
underneath the stage, cowering in fear.
A few more attendees fled, but an unhealthy number were old pros at Zoological Symposiums, and over the years, things like weren't rare occurances. The regulars unaffected by the wings were more likely to pull out datapads and other devices to document the event, or at least make their own scientific notes.
The Trapper's web-shooter shot down upon the crowd. One missed the attendee, the second caused grievous injury to a woman, and a third impaled one of the attendees attempting to take pictures of the beast. Things just got real, and only the foolhardy didn't look for the nearest exit.
Knowing what succeeded before, Tarrie doffed his his goldenrod cable-knit sweat and began to lather up with the Wookie skin cream.
Frokazza scared away the other techs at the sound and light board. A quick flashbacks from a few random college classes he took around the galaxy, and his time as a fledgling faded away to him donning the wireless headphones and adjusting the boards, dimming the lights in particular.
Even with the wing's effect subdued, those that had mesmerized could not fight against it. In fact, they began to fight the others still milling about the arena.
Kafla pulled out a small tranquilizer gun from his belt. The dart stuck on the Trapper, but had no effect. Duk'k finally managed to climb upon the stage, and nodded to a relived Kafla. He pointed up his blaster, set to stun, and fired another ineffective shot. Realizing that he was probably out of stun range, he proceed to fire repeatedly at the lights the creature was still hanging on. The barrage broke two the supports, forcing the lights to swing towards the stage, the Trapper plummeting onto the stage.
It landed square on the stage, staring down Duk'k.
"'Sup bitch," the Sipsk'ud quipped.
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| Duk'k is not amused.... |
Ne'vets pushed aside some crates of scientific instruments, procuring two silver tranquilizer guns. He fired both at the nearby creature. One stuck in the creature's carapace, the other flew over than struck a Gungan, sitting in the stands, square in their chest.
People finally begin to panic. Multiple small melees broke out around the arena. The mesmerized folk were pulling others towards the stage, but few had any sizable success.
The Trapper lept at Duk'k, its attack causing nothing more than glancing blows, forcing Duk'k into a defensive posture. Just then, the spotlight came on the creature and a salved-up Tarrie leapt onto the beast and began wrestling the it, in the amateur wrestling sense. He had one leg pinned down and stretching to reach more.
Ne'vets simply shook his head in disgust of Kafla's scientists, and reached for more tranquilizer darts.
The hordes controlled by the Trapper finally built some momentum to to push the other attendees toward the stage, one right at the scientists, and one at Frokazza and the sound booth.
Kafla turned and fired his blaster, set to stun, stopping the crowd moving towards the scientists.
Tarrie managed to lock two legs up. It was quick uncomfortable for both the Trapper and the pilot.
Duk'k stepped back and fired another stun blast at the creature. Neither the monster nor Tarrie atop it. were affected..... He backed into Ne'vets, and needed to ask, "Does Tarrie always do that."
Ne'vets had a quick flashback, of a previously shirtless, but unlotioned Tarrie riding a Diluthian Drop Bear
"Yep, it's better than dressing up as a cat," and he loaded the final two tranq vials into the guns.
Both of Ne'vets' shots were surprsingly precise. The lodged beyond the carapace, and with a struggling Tarrie straining to control the creature, it finally succumbed to the medication.
With the arrival of Alderaan Planetary Security (and campus police), the small riots in the arena were quickly resolved, as the mesmerized folks began to regain their senses.
The group quickly grilled Kafla over the escape. The Trapper broke out of the cage meant for a creature twice its strength. Foul play was afoot!
Upon on-site interrogation, the scientists insisted the they were slowly bringing the creature back from all its medication, but Tarrie quickly questioned flushing the system, "The deeper the arachnid coma, the faster and stronger... they come back."
Ne'vets wasn't worried about Trapper biology, he had other goals. He turned to Kafla,
"What do we get for catching this thing twice?"
"How about we worry about paying the lawyers," as Alderaan security forces finally descended upon them.
Detained and in handcuffs, Kafla wondered aloud, "I think we're fine with capturing my Trapper. I think it's just the guns. Let's hope all the paperwork is in order."
*Overhead voice* "Ne'vets paperwork was perfect."
The crews, both Ne'vets' and Kafla's new scientific hires, were sent to Alderaan City proper and interrogated. All their weapons were detained, but the questioning was rather simple, given the gravity of the situation.
One by one, everyone was released (albeit weapons held until the left the planet) into an underground parking garage. Upon leaving,, Ne'vets gave his business card to the precinct captain, "If any other creatures need capturing, give us a call."
Ne'vets caught up with Frokazza and Evus in the garage. Tarrie came out a few moments later. The shitless one had been given a robe to cover himself up, but it was loosely tied, and his chest still glistened with Wookie skin cream.
"That was fun!" Ne'vets said. "Go team!"
Duk'k felt it was a good tine to ask, "Are your low-key events usually so high-key?"
"Riding with us, you'll never be bored."
Kafla was the last one to emerge onto the street, hands in your pants.
"Thanks guys, I don't know what you guys did in there, but we got out with less than a slap on the wrist."
Ne'vets, for once, was confused and indifferent, "Uh, thanks, I dunno...."
Kafla continued, "Apparently we were hit for the Imperial Zoological Society "Any Zoological Exhibition where a creature escapes and re-captured without killing anyone seems to be a great big positive."
Duk'k quickly requested clarification, "What about that dude who got hit by the Trapper's web spear thingy? And that Gungan?"
"Maybe they didn't find the bodies? Don't help the police!"
"You guys head back to your hotel. I need to wait for my lawyers. What did you say to them to get us released."
"Just that all our paperwork is in order...."
"That's very weird. Paperwork isn't going to release us on a few thousand counts of attempted murder, much less weapons charges."
Ne'vets and crew wandered back to their hotel and crashed. Day two appeared to be a rousing success as well.
GM Notes: Apparently there is a DJ that goes by the name of Wookie, making those pictures easier to find.
Next: #42: The Finger
