Holiday Game Day!

Okay, it's not a glorious day setting toy soldiers on the floor, but tonight's the hopeful completion of my online group's Star Wars d6 Holiday Game.  It's been fun to return to West End Star Wars after over 80 sessions of Gamma World (with more of both to come in the future).  

(Painting of Millie) Rarity from My Little Pony #Wizkids

 I had the good fortune this weekend to see my eldest daughter Maja, perform in two showings of Willy Wonka.  Friday into Saturday I had Millie, and had a happy mixture of watching basketball, Christmas shopping, and in a rare act, yelling at Dunkin' employees who had misplaced my order not once, not twice, but thrice!  Time to go back to the local donut shop...

Oh yeah, Millie and I got painting time.  A decent portion of that time devolved into Millie cleaning the accumulated crud in the caps of my craft paint bottles, but she did finally finish the second of her WizKids My Little Pony miniatures.

Here's Rarity, 

Her Jackson Pollock technique remains strong, and while we had no good concept for the base, breaking out some of my "Objective Jewels" for the base seems like a good direction.  Of course, I put them on the base before spray sealing them, but they are just white glued on.  I'll probably research some different options for her (diamond patterns, etc), but I'll probably just Zap-A-Gap fresher, shinier jewels on.

(Painting) Christmas Penguin Familiar - 01553 - by Reaper

My friend Scott gifted me a bunch of Reaper holiday minis when we met up at Mepacon, There's a host of other painting projects I'm working on, but there's not better time to paint Christmas minis, than, well...Christmastime! 

The one for today is a Christmas Penguin, part the Christmas Familiars, 01581. 

Remind me not to paint up an army tiny penguins familiars.  Outside of an objective marker or similar plot device, I see this fella getting put safely away.  

There's technically 13 holiday-related minis on the painting bench.  We'll see if anything else get finished, especially with an uptick of basketball games this week.  

(Painting) The Original Gamorrean Guard

 As the holidays approach, I continue clear out the Star Wars minis from the flea market at Fall-In! 2024.

These bad boys were the main reason I bought the big bag of scum and villainy... and the reason I kept going back for more throughout the weekend. 

I did want a standard melee gang statted out for Fistful of Lead for Death Planet Iota, even if they're just  objective points for my possible game for Historicon.  

This batch gets added to the Refurb total.  Almost no paint touchup, and I removed them from largely penny bases to my standard 25mm MDF.  As there are only two poses, they are numbered 1-6 on the back of the base for record keeping purposes.

In the Queue: The Star Wars refurbishment continues on the side, with Gnomes, Zulus, and unpainted Star Wars in the queue.  Shooting for one more post before the holidays.

Project 350:   Another nice post-Thanksgiving decline in scheduled post from 496 (311/185) from 499 (312/187).  If I can finish a project for 12/20, I'll have scheduled posts coming off for over six straight weeks. 

(Georic Gazetteer) Kingdom of Pohjola

Kingdom of Pohjola

Pantheon: Kulervan Mythos

Ruled By: Queen Smauhl
Capital: Lokka

Other Cities:  None

Language:  Sjappi

Flag/Emblem:  A silver foxhead on a field of blue ice with red flames

Coinage: The Louhi (gold piece only)
Important Personas:  Juli Vouhi, the most powerful spellcaster in Pohjola

Alliances:  None

Hostilities:  None

Open Warfare/Skirmishing:  Only skirmishing with other ice races

Intrigues:  Always talk of expanding southward

Demi-Humans:  Ice Elves - Pikta Tontu (7%), Gnomes- Lyhyt Tontu (5%), Dwarves - Toykea Tontu (2%)

Magickal Devices:  Sampo of the Nethersphere

Thumbnail Sketch:  The northernmost land on the continent, this icy land north of Zieland, Wyrmnal, and Kulervo has is shrouded in mystery.  Run by "Ice-Witches", Pohjola is rumored to be as populous below the surface as it is above, if not more so.  Not only are their rumors of connections within the Drow Empire itself, but further travels into an alleged Hollow Earth came to light, after numerous expeditions from the southern lands to find an entrance to said world resulted in every explorer perishing.   While not common knowledge, there are numerous locations with access points. 

"Tontu" is the term to refer to all demi-humans, with prefixes attached to differentiate.  

Religion:  A mixture of Kulervan Witchcraft, and various snow entities.  Most notable is the near-god worship of one Juli Vouhi.  This warlock is particularly powerful, and actively recruits from the Tontu population to work at his remote enclave, raising magical creates, and experimenting with powerful Magicks. 

Juli Vouhi, the most powerful spellcaster in Pohjola

Geography of Note: 

Palace of the Snow-Queen:  The seat of Pohjola government, the Snow Queen’s Palace has elegant clusters of spires towering up to 120-foot in the air, composed of thousands of needle-thin ice splinters. Despite this dominant structure in Lokka, the spires are empty.  The vast halls of the palace are actually underground.  A broad stair of blue ice descends a great circular portal into the halls of power.

Queen Smauhl in her underground palace

The Frigid Heart:   Occupying an expanse opposite the Spires of the Snow Queen’s

Palace is the Frigid Heart: an open area of snow leading to a vast entrance, leading to an indoor market, and other businesses further below the surface.  

Mentions of the Country in the Blog: 

Lost Dispatches of Feraso #32 - Merchant Angalm Zhule is from Pohjola.  Never wishes to return home.  

GM Notes: Pohjola is the only ice kingdom that doesn't border Galmar.  It's only ever been an area I've dipped a toe in and embellished with L'Haan and the Northern Reaches from Talislanta.

(Star Wars d6) #104 - Flashback - Life Day Special - Shadows of Yavin IV, Part 1

Sitting on the pleasure planet Zeltros, two old friends continued to commiserate over neon-green drinks in a tropical theme poolside bar. Ne'vets Aharo, exotic animal broker, and Abel Norrum, big game hunter, were trusted colleagues, trusted enought to get themselves faced while celebrating recent professional successes.    Drenched in credits, Abel prodded Ne'vets to fill in gaps in their histories.  

"So you got out of Bespin intact, your rental ship, the Oh-Bah-Die,  in tatters, and still not enough credits to get her anywhere legit?"

Nevets:  "Yep, we were pretty much screwed, but Tarrie, my pilot, promised us some time to lay low and get free repairs if they could visit her sister on some moon around Yavin.  He had me at "free" so I couldn't argue with that plan. 

I mean, I regretted a two day trip with four of us in a craft meant for one, but is was Frokazza the Wookie who made the refresher off limits on day two."

As Tarrie jumped into the system, he heard a voice immediately kick on  over the comm"Security Code Zulu Alpha, please provide security code, unidentified ship.  We will fire for lack of compliance."

Tarrie:  "We are looking for Latorna, if you can get her on the comms, that would be great!"

"What the kriff???  Standby..."

A few minutes later, "Maintain course, follow coordinates .  Do NOT deviate..."

The rest of the explorers were concerned.  Outside of the ancient ruins jutting out of the jungle, there was nothing resembling even the smallest amount of civilization.....

A few minutes later, the comms came alive again, perhaps a bit early:

"Vanya, why did you call me hear?  Who?  What?  What the kriff?  This is Latorna.  Identify yourselves or we will immediately fire!"

Tarrie:  "You do not need to start firing, sister.  It is I, Tarrie..."

Latorna: "Hello Tarrie, what trouble are you in now?..

Tarrie filled in the details, and Latorna sighed heavily and provided coordinates, "We'll meet you there, Tarrie.  You owe me and we're going to collect immediately.  

Tarrie guides the Oh-Bah-Die to the destination,  an exposed stone courtyard, sticking out like sore thumb from the jungle. 

Ne'vets: This is your shin-dig, Tarrie, lead the ways.  

As they disembarked, the crew realized they might be the only sentient lifeforms in the area, that is, until the knowing high-pitched whir of some speeder bikes.  The five bikes come to a sudden stop on the edge of the jungle, four humans and a Sullustran.  

The last rider removed their helmet, revealing a tall woman with the remnants of face camo.  

Latorna Savvn

She immediately walks up to Tarrie and punches him on the shoulder.  

"Hopefully nobody followed you here.... Is that a rental code on that tiny ship? ..... Kriff....  Tarrie, what did you get yourself into."

"Latorna, we're legit, I'm under contract...."

There was an in-depth discussion with Latorna and  Ne'vets, Tarrie and Frokazza interjecting at the wrong times.  Latorna was even more curt with the crew than she was barking orders to the techs trying to begin repairs on the ship.  She stepped back, incredulous to the questionable activities of the crew, Tarrie choice of life partners (the Wookie), and possible Imperial ties.  She walked over to Evus, the Twi'lek scout and servant, minding his own business off the to the side.  She stared through Evus' soul, but the Twi'lek only flashed a smile. 

Latorna, taken aback:  Hi....

Hi!  I'm Evus!

Evus Monval

Her head tilted: What do you do around here, Evus?

Whatever Ne'vets needs....

She tried to intimidate him.  Evus, what does this thing haul?

"Animals... lots and lots of animals, usually above board transactions."

Latorna smiled, admitted to their big secret, and presented her offer... to cover all the repairs.

She admitted that this was the early recon mission to establish a clandestine base for the rebellion against the Galactic Empire.  The ancient structures offered great protection, and the jungle canopy hid anything else too big.  

Many klicks away was a large courtyard or promenade, large enough to land sizable supply vessels.  However there was an infestation of large feral lifeforms.  She offered everyone a speeder bike to travel to the main camp and offer more details.  

Following Latorna, the party gingerly meandered through the jungle.  Then, everyone heard a large explosion... and everyone noticed Evus was missing, and the jungle was exploding.

Evus was found on the ground, away from the explosion.  Latorna pulled up next to him and offered her hand.  Evus accepted and quickly he was lifted onto the back of her speeder, holding onto her mid-section for dear life. 

They finally arrived at the main base, a collection of tents, tarps, and netting, some sensitive equipment had already found its way into a ziggurat. 

Latorna fully explained that there had been numerous engagements with this tall, lean mammalian bipeds, and the Rebel Commander Maren wanted them removed without and reduction in manpower.  Killing, luring, capturing, even selling them were all acceptable results, so long as the rebels were no longer attacked at that location.   One shot with a blaster rifle was usually enough to scare them off.  

The rebels had managed to kill a few around the site, but they had not been able to capture any of them alive... yet.  

Latorna procured two additional speeder bikes.  She offered one to Evus, but he much preferred to ride  behind her.  Latorna did not protest. 

A Mon Calamari arrived in the area, in a lab coat.  

Latorna:  This is Dr Emory Talen, our head biologist of the Rebellion.  She's coming as an advisor to ensure we're not "impacting the delicate ecosystem of this moon." 

Ne'vets:  Fair enough...

As they prepped to delve deeper into the jungle, Latorna dealt out rations, and a gift for Tarrie.  Handing him a package in plain brown paper, tied together with a string.    Tarrie opened it up and was hit with a wall of the color mustard.  Latorna had found a cable-knit sweater vest and it made her think of her brother.  

Tarrie and his latest gift

One prepared, they travelled out to the future sit of a landing pad.  The two bodies were still on the edge of this.  The bodies were lean and long, nearly two meters, with rodent features and wearing some odd jewelry on their forearms. 

Ne'vets was aghast, "These aren't animals, they're primitive Selonians! 

Everyone was confused, but many were shocked into reality, as very alive Selonian jumped out of cover and attacked Tarrie! 

A poor recreation....

The Selonian failed to bite or claw the smuggler, rather landing on him, cross body, pinning him to the ground.   Its claws dug into the sweater and soon the two were tangled in mustard colored yarn. 

Ne'vets sensed more of these aliens around them and pled in galactic common to cease and desist.  The Selonians did not seem to respond.  

Latorna was slow to notice the other aliens and opened fire on them, scaring a number of them off.  One of her shots hit the first Selonian tangled with Tarrie, wounding it and setting the yarn webbing on fire.  The alien escape its bindings, but that left Tarrie on the ground with a flaming sweater.  

Everyone else finally got their bearings and drove them all off. 

It was decided that Ne'vets would pretend to be as bait, sitting on the stones.  The others were hidden and were ready to act it he was attacked. 

Once everyone was positioned, a single Selonian lurked onto the stones, almost slithering towards Ne'vets.  The others braced their shots, but were surprised from behind.  A half dozen of the aliens had worked up the hillside, and seemed to evade the shots being sent downhill.    There was a frantic flurry of blaster fire and melee weapons.   Again, it took some aggressive action, but they were driven off...

The Explorers turned back to the stone field, and discovered Ne'vets was no longer there....

Next: #105 - The Finale for Shadows of Yavin IV

(Gamma World) This is Not a Test #60 - Sub-Level 7

Our heroes, the De Facto Explorers,  are at the KIA Academy.  They are looking for some money making opportunities to keep the Academy's roof over their heads for the winter.

================= 

Sneaky Pete: A mutated weasel scout.  Pete's telepathy and night vision take a backseat when he whips out his electrical powers.  

Sonny Helianthus: a sentient sunflower artifact examiner with trusted Restorationist ties. Knowledgeable,  but not a good one with device repairs or upgrades.  Very interested in a "Children's Alchemical Laser" he recently acquired.

Slitheran Wurmtail (aka Squiggles): a mutated earthworm scout, in impromptu power armor, looking for trouble, and finding it often.  Previously "gave birth" to a litter of sentient earthworm babies, but recently has been subject to genetic testing and developed super-human strength, a more human body, and a thick coat of shaggy white hair.

Lathar Bracken: A pure-strain human from River Bend.  He's got the muscle, the face, and a mount for most encounters.  Lathar's trusty beast of burden, No Name, travels wherever he does.  No Name has recently been fitted for a artillery device of the Ancients that chucks spears further than any human.  Looking for trouble in all the right places.  Former jousting champion of Fair-Town and has been awarded... a peacock he has named Chambray.  He's recently been struck by a weapon by a strange race of people and transformed into... something else... multiple times.

RHA-9: A lab assistant piece of "Living Metal" that seems to have befriended the group... for now!  Currently getting repairs done by the Restorationists. Currently safely in their hotel room on KIA Academy Level Zero.

================= 

Descending down the stairwell, the crew followed the concrete wall on the left.  The right side of these deep stairs opened up to row after row of steel columns.   Beyond the columns was a considerable amount of darkness, as well as strange noises.  No one was particularly interested in investigating the right side and focusing on a lone door situation on the landing of the steps, before it continued to go down.  

The stairs continue down, into Sub-Level 7, perhaps? 

Staring at the odd cube-shaped depression in the wall where a keycard should be swiped.

Squiggles used his telekinesis to open the door.  Lights from the inside spark and flicker inside.  A blue liquid sprayed from inside the room, covering Squiggles.  Two bodies hang off from the ceiling.  

The liquid didn't seem to harm the furry worm, save dying the creatures hair.    

One of the bodies was missing a head, yet still hung from the ceiling.  Looking at the second body, this human form didn't have legs do much as a set of treads like RHA-9.  

Behind the bodies and along the wall, were a number of blue crates.

Sonny investigated the bodies further.  It appeared a large hook and chain held the bodies, from small compartments in their backs.  This appeared to be living metal with soft, false exterior.   He lowered the headless living metal to the ground, and promptly ran through his pack to find the living metal head he had acquired earlier.  It fit perfectly, along he was unable to activate the unit.  

Lathar was standing watch in the doorway, rummaging through his pack for rations.  He pulled out a clear cube, 9"x 9" x 9".   Sonny was astonished by this thing magically appearing.

Sonny:  Hey, that thing could open up doors.  

Squiggles and Pete further investigated the living metal with treads.  It appeared it's hands had been removed and replaced with actual mining drills.  

Lathar was able to reached the treaded living metal, and after fiddling around, finds a control panel and press a button.

The living metal's eyes light up with a yellow hue.  At the same time, both mining drills on the bot's hands began to turn, building up to full speed.  The barbarian stepped back, only questioning, "Did I do that?"

The living metal began rotating side to side, still attached to the hook and chains.  

It emitted a stuttered voice, "IN-TRU-DDDERR  IN-TRU-DDDEERR.  UN-AUTH-ORIZED."  Somehow it managed to lower itself.  

Pete quickly whipped out his blaster pistol and fired....  Shocked by the turn of events, Sonny pulled out his new laser pistol.  Nothing seemed to discharge from the weapon when the sunflower pulled the trigger, but portions of the living metal burst into flames, 

The living metal was badly damaged and appeared to go through a countdown.  

Sonny realized what was happening, "It's gonna blow!!!"

Everyone scurried out the door, Sonny pulling the other, still deactivated living metal.  A small explosion occurred in the room, only a small bit of debris flew out the door.  

The explosion appeared to have destroyed any interested items that were in the room.  

They moved onto the next door, using Lathar's cube again, the panel lit up.  The seal to the door opened, release the sounds of screams, grunts, growls, and even a flash of fire or two before the door completed its motion.  

A race collection of white furry and armored being are pointing spears at a large creature in the middle of the room.  The creature ignored the spears getting stabbed at him, stared at the party and roared.  

Sonny quickly walked over to the cube and removed it from it's square console, closing the door... with a five second delay.

"It looks like this thing will resolve itself shortly.  Let's wait it out."

The large fiery beast raised what appeared to be an arm and shot out a red ooze through the door, hitting Lathar for burning and blistering damage. The ooze ate through Lathar's armor, the studs on his leather falling directly to the floor.

Squiggles called out, "Remember, red ooze bad, blue ooze good!"

The door continued to muffle more noise, but finally everything fell silent.  With Squiggles armed in front with rifle, Lathar opened the door again. The large humanoid was all that remained in the room, the bodies of the white furry folks turned to smoldering piles of ash. 

Squiggles fired his new rifle, but nothing came out.  One second later. the creature explodes.  All the equipment in the room had been destroyed by ooze/fire.

The next door opened into a huge open, but definitely open area, similar to the street layout of sub-levels 1 and 2.  Most of the buildings were ruined, but a number of small, glowing emerald light were installed on the standing structures.  Bones littered the entire area.  

They had arrived.  

Two of the party member quickly placed bones into the sack they were provided.  

There was certainly movement down the streets.  Three individuals with robes and points masks came scurrying down the street, a fourth looked the same, but with two antennae sticking out of their head.  Sonny waved and Peter used his telepathy to no effect.  Spotting the De Facto Explorers, this group shook their hands as they ran across their view to a corner out of the party's view. Sunny yelled at them, to no effect.

The sound of multiple people hitting something with bones, Pete turned the corner to see them destroy a computer terminal, and then they ran back in the opposite direction.  

Once that attack on technology occurred, there was a loud hum emanating through this chamber.  The Explorers though it was high time to back-track and leave.  

They returned to O'Pinnery's with only some opposition by the rabbit-folk they encountered earlier.  They finally collected their 1,000 domars.

They finally returned to Level 0 at KIA Academy and found a letter at the front desk for them: 

A Letter from Ramsay Kallax

GM Notes:  The De Facto Explorers are pretty banged up after their first foray into the the bone-strewn sub-level 7, so it might be a while until they make another attempt, but these sub-levels were heavily modified from A Fallen Star for All, a Mutant Crawl Classics module from Goodman Games.  The module definitely helped me flesh out some of the more feral inhabitants, and certain rooms that were untouched can be expanded into whole areas within the sub-level.  Not too shabby for a $9.99 module.

Next:  We'll take a few weeks off for the holiday and return with a different adventure for a bit.  #0 - Beyond the Eastern Barrier. 

Game Day!

It's game day, and we switched up from Gamma World, to run a quick Life Day holiday episode of Star Wars d6.  Our special guests (former players returning for one session) have essentially bailed on the idea, although, for full disclosure, they gave plenty of advance notice.  

Let's see what the weird fun is in store for "The Shadows of Yavin IV"  

5,000th Post

Just over five years ago this month, I celebrated my 3,000th post on the post.  Today, this is the 5,000 post.  

5,000 posts, a million views.  These numbers are milestones, for sure, but they have little practical meaning for a non-monetized hobby blog about games, gnomes, and anything else that tickles my fancy. 

I already note some of my popular posts, both for the year, and of all time.   Still, here's a look at what I posted during these milestone posts.  

1 - Back when I had just one child, only four months old, I was just happy I was putting paint to lead.  Funny that some things do not change....

1,000 - #RPGaDay Day - 4 My Most Recent Purchase.  I had picked up Ripples from Carcosa for Call of Cthulhu.   A quick peak over to my gaming shelf reveals it wasn't as great as I thought, as it did not survive the last ten years in my collectio.

2,000 - The Two-thousandth post is a quick Kickstarter blurb about Native Renegades for the Old West by Blind Beggar.  

3,000 - The True 3,000th post is a quick mention of yet another Midlam Miniatures Kickstarter.  It's funny that Blind Beggar's Kickstarters were anticipated, but I never liked the inconsistencies of the figures' proportions, while Midlam figures are rock solid, but I almost wince at the consistency of their crowdfunding.  

4,000 - The Republic of Argivia - Part of my Geroic Gazetteer series, fleshing out my home-brewed campaign world for D&D/Hackmaster.

(GURPS) Eric Jacobson, Gamified - Year Fourteen

Yet another crazy year in middle-age, but there was the slightest semblance of early holiday spirt even in November.  Traditions have a sense of purpose, so it makes sense to continue one of the long-standing holiday traditions of the blog:  gamifying my on-again off-again dream journal, and translating them into character points for a GURPS (3rd Edition) version of myself.  I've been doing things this way for over 30 years, and the dream version of myself isn't some glorified super-hero...

It's Tom Arnold character from True Lies (Albert Gibson).... and this year he's a little more tired than normal.

ST: 10 DX: 11  IQ: 13  HT: 12

Advantages:  Charisma +2 (I'm a heckuva guy), Common Sense, Luck, Voice, Light Hangover (50)

Disadvantages:  Bloodlust, Near-Sightedness, Gluttony, Stubborness, Sense of Duty (Friends) (-35), Dependents (Family) Enemy: LDS Cabal

Quirks: Always wears a hat (I don't know why this one disappeared, it always was a quirk on my original avatar character that this developed from.  Aversion to big bugs.

Skills:  Skills in bold received points, but not increase.  Bold with a (+) indicates an increase in skill.  New skills to the list for this year are in bold with (New).  Not exactly rocket sciences

Acrobatics   9 
Accounting 11 
Acting 13 
Administration 21 +    
Animal Handling 11 
Anthropology 11 
Archaeology 10 
Area Knowledge: Baltimore 11
Area Knowledge: Iceland 13 
Area Knowledge: Lehigh Valley 14 
Area Knowledge: New York City 13
Area Knowledge: South Africa 13
Area Knowledge: Michigan Upper Peninsula 11
Bard 20 (let me...entertain you!)
Bicycling 11
Boating 9
Boxing 10
Brawling 13
Camouflage 14
Carousing 12
Climbing 10
Club 11
Computer Ops 14 
Conspiracy Theory 11
Cryptography 10
Dancing 10
Demolitions 12
Diplomacy 13
Drive Tractor Trailer 11
Drive: motorcycle 9
Driving: Auto 15 
Driving: Diesel Locomotive 11
Engineering 12
Economics 12
Electronics   11  
Electronics Operation  11 
English 14    
Fast Talk 13
First Aid 13
Forensics 12
Forgery 10
French 12
Geology 10
Guns: Pistol 15 
Guns: Rifle 14
Guns: SMG 13
Hiking 11
History 17
Hobby gaming 14
Hobby: Models 12
Intel Analysis 11
Interrogation 11 

Intimidation 13 (NEW)
Judo 9
Law 12
Leadership 13 
Literature 10 (New)
Mathematics 10
Mechanic   11
Merchant 11
Meteorology 11
Naturalist 10
Navigate 10
Occultism 14
Performance 13
Physician  10   
Pilot: Jetpack   9 
Politics 14
Psychology 11  
Punning 11
Running 13
Savoir Faire 17
Saxophone 12
Scrounging 13
Sex Appeal 15

Shadowing  11  
Sport: Basketball 10
Sport: Football 9
Sport: Golf 11
Sport: Ice Skating 8
Sport: Volleyball 9
Stealth 12 
Strategy 11 
Streetwise 11
Survival: Mountains 12
Survival: NBC 13
Swimming 10
Tactics 13
Taxidermy 11  
Theology 11  
Wrestling 11 

318.5 Points

Still not sleeping as well as I would like, but when I get good dreaming sleep, it's certainly an adventure.  Lots of odd encounters where I stop folks by pinning them to the ground, so middle-management spy agency me might have returned to the field... possibly against my own will?    Seems like I'm developing some secret agent savoir-faire later in life, with intimidation, diplomacy, and the first time I've ever added points in Intelligence Analysis since I transferred the stats off the GURPS character sheet onto the blog for the first time! 

(Painting) Ewoks, Ready for War!

As I mentioned last month, I got a nice haul of Star Wars minis from the flea market at Fall-In! 2024.

One of the reasons I jumped on grabbing more bags of minis was that there was an entire bag of Ewoks, apparently fully painted and based!  My first chance to refurbish them resulted in my discovery:  They weren't West End Metal Ewoks at all, rather, the Micromachine Ewoks! 

It took some effort (and two band-aids) to separate the the rubbery Ewoks off the 32mm washers they were based on, and onto much more compact 20mm MDF bases. 

I'll need to stat these bad boys out in Fistful of Lead, as I'm planning at least two of my Death Planet Iota games for Historicon 2025 next year.

In the Queue: The Star Wars refurbishment continues on the side, with Gnomes, Zulus, and unpainted Star Wars in the queue.

Project 350:   Another nice post-Thanksgiving decline in scheduled post to 499 (312/187) from 500 (310/190)

(Kickstarter) DAMNIT: The Space Dwarf RPG You Didn’t Know You Needed! by Fainting Goat Games

I greatly enjoyed the Pew Pew RPG by Mike Lafferty of Fainting Goat Games, so I'm actually excited by the short Kickstarter campaign for DAMNIT: The Space Dwarf RPG You Didn’t Know You Needed!

From the Kickstarter:

DAMNIT is a very rules light system built for minimal prep, making it perfect for: 

• one-shots or short campaigns
• chaotic evenings when the cleric couldn't make the D&D game so you just need a Plan B to roll dice and laugh with friends.
• You want to play a quick, fun tabletop game with your 4th grader but you don't want to crush their spirit with something too crunchy.

In other words, it's about my Space Dwarves (aka my Gnomish Space Marine universe).  I will find use out of this one, guaranteed.

(Painting) Christmas Dragon - 01581 - by Reaper

 My friend Scott gifted me a bunch of Reaper holiday minis when we met up at Mepacon, There's a host of other painting projects I'm working on, but there's not better time to paint Christmas minis, than, well...Christmastime! 

The one for today is 01581, The Christmas Dragon.  

I know we can make this like a draconic elf almost, but fiddling around with an ice theme makes me ponder whether or not to dig out my Reaper Frost Giants.  

No Queue Update or Project 350 unless I'm posting on a Friday.

(Gamma World) This is Not a Test #59 - Sub-Levels 5 and 6

Our heroes, the De Facto Explorers,  are at the KIA Academy.  They are looking for some money making opportunities to keep the Academy's roof over their heads for the winter.

================= 

Sneaky Pete: A mutated weasel scout.  Pete's telepathy and night vision take a backseat when he whips out his electrical powers.  

Sonny Helianthus: a sentient sunflower artifact examiner with trusted Restorationist ties. Knowledgeable,  but not a good one with device repairs or upgrades.  Very interested in a "Children's Alchemical Laser" he recently acquired.

Slitheran Wurmtail (aka Squiggles): a mutated earthworm scout, in impromptu power armor, looking for trouble, and finding it often.  Previously "gave birth" to a litter of sentient earthworm babies, but recently has been subject to genetic testing and developed super-human strength, a more human body, and a thick coat of shaggy white hair.

Lathar Bracken: A pure-strain human from River Bend.  He's got the muscle, the face, and a mount for most encounters.  Lathar's trusty beast of burden, No Name, travels wherever he does.  No Name has recently been fitted for a artillery device of the Ancients that chucks spears further than any human.  Looking for trouble in all the right places.  Former jousting champion of Fair-Town and has been awarded... a peacock he has named Chambray.  He's recently been struck by a weapon by a strange race of people and transformed into... something else.

RHA-9: A lab assistant piece of "Living Metal" that seems to have befriended the group... for now!  Currently getting repairs done by the Restorationists.

================= 

With a rough map to navigate down to Sub-Level 7, and a trip to resupply (albeit no medical supplies), the group marched down to the sub-levels yet again.   With a look in their eyes like they were ready for anything, they certainly stood out like a sore thumb as they brazenly marched down the streets and alleyways of Sub-Levels 1 and 2.  

The path detailed for Sub-Levels 3 and 4 were hard to deviate from.  Someone had blocked passageways and weld items together to keep the denizens away... or the travelers away from the denizens.  

Sub-Level 5 saw the first of "life" down below.  Dirty and disheveled hallways, random contents, largely unidentifiable... until they got to a side passage that had once been storage, with huge metal racks, and mostly empty containers littering everywhere.

• Pete laid claim to a silver pistol of the ancients that did NOT look like an energy weapon
• Squiggles grabbed a silver globe with buttons
• Lathar picked up a clear cube  (9" x 9")
• Sonny was amused with an oversized drinking mug with buttons on it. 

Following the map that O'Pinnery gave them, they worked their way to a large room, with a further passage, but a side door they needed to go through.  Everyone was entranced by a pair of blue lights over the passageway, so much so that Pete wanted to investigate the entire room.  He didn't even get across the room when he found an odd anomaly in the center of the room.  Despite a level floor, Pete was sliding towards the center.   He was able escape the pull, but as everyone look around, the saw five figures in the darkness of the passageway beyond the blue lights.  Sonny waved to them, and one figure resembling a tree waved back.  As Lathar attempted to approach them, the entire group slowly turned their backs on him and walked away. 

Going through the door, they descended some steps and a hallway.  The closed doors on this level had an odd concept.  Instead of a keypad like they were used to in these ancient complexes the wall near the door had an 9"x 9" cube carved out.  There were no obvious sensors or electronics inside the space. 

Some doors were open, particularly one with a large bed and a number of silver footlockers containing parts for Living Metal!  The footlockers were much to bulky and heavy to carry around during their mission, but mental notes were made to figure out a way of transporting them.  Sonny did take a Living Metal head with blank face, just in case they couldn't come back.  

They continued down more hallways, finding more doors with the square space next to them.  Pete tried to use a crowbar and his telepathy (?) to open these to no avail.  Lathar was even convinced just to stick his hand into the square in the wall, to no effect.  Coming upon a familiar looking set of double doors that they couldn't open, Sonny suggested Squiggles use with telekinesis, not telepathy to open the double doors... and it succeeded!   

The doors opened up to an elevator lift, destinations unknown.  

Then what little power and lighting on the level went out.  Extra light sources were created and everyone decided Squiggles would need to use his undisclosed powers on the previous doors.    The worked all the way back to the first door near the pried opens doors and staircase.    

That door opened to reveal a host of large devices, plus some sort of cart with a dome on it.  As the other three explored the room, Peter wisely popped his head out into the hallway.  

A group of four humanoid rabbits wielding spears forced their way through the pried open door and walked down the stairs.

"Halt!"  Pete yelled.

The rabbits did not stop.  Pete fired his weapon once and nearly vaporized one of the rabbits.  The rabbits in turn charged.  

While the other three scurried to find a fighting position, everyone was struck down for a moment, like something had sucked the life out of them.   Given that unusual event, it seemed a little less strange  that the larger rabbit took two massive hits from the group's weapons of Ancients and barely flinched.  Lathar fired a second shot at the supposed leader, and the shot ricocheted back and hit him for massive damage.  With multiple shots and ricochets, one rabbit dashed away, and the much tougher one fled a few moments later.  

Sonny suggested they finish the mission before going on any more side quests and the rest agreed.  

Moving through the darkened stairs and hallways, they came upon a large room with a number of single chairs next to small tables with cabinets on top of them.  Halfway through the room, the power to the complex came on again, and the cabinets came to life with a series of beeps and squeals.  Each cabinet had some sort of viewscreen showing various animations, crabs chasing birds, monsters destroying the towers of the ancients.

Sonny touched the screen to the building smashing and realized it was some sort of game.  When he finally lost, a small square, wrapped in pink paper dropped from a dispenser in the cabinet.  After much analyzing, it was determined to be edible, hard, and sweet.... 

Sonny wanted to play some more, but the rest wanted to descended the stairs in front of them into Sub-Level 6 

GM Notes:  There is a significant difference between telekinesis and telepathy.  You can't tell an inanimate door to open.  

I also can only tell a group so many times to check their character sheets to see if they have a cube that may fit the space next to all the locked doors.  

Next: #60 -  Sub-Level 7

SATLOF

Saturday was a relaxing afternoon culminating in our group's Saturday After Thanksgiving Left-Over Feast (SATLOF).  What was once trash-can punch, piles of leftovers, and silly game are now bourbon tastings, charcuterie boards, and discussions of Kickstarters.  

The big excitement was the appearance of Nate and his new wife AND the rare appearance of Wooly and Jenny.  Wooly's  last documented SATLOF was 15 years ago, when he played France in Diplomacy.

The food was good, the drinks flowed freely, and there was a healthy discussion on convention organizing, 3-D printing, Kickstarters, records searching on the local county website. 

Our only game for the night was Deadwood 1876.  After having a few fruitless encounter with my fellow players, my reverend in the saloon stockpiled my cards, anticipating some end-game shenanigans again.  The players never witnessed my stockpile, as I had accumulated enough gold to win outright.  

Another Month of New Gaming (December '24)

Issue #298 of Game Trade Magazine can be found at your local friendly game store, or online in pdf form here.

ViscountEric's Want List

Nothin'

ViscountEric's Money-Is-No-Object Want List

9th Level Games

My Little Kobold Plush ........................................................ $24.99

Exalted Funeral

Get in the Van RPG:  Wasted Youth Mini-Campaign ......... $12.00

The Imaginary Store List (The Pegleg Gnome)

9th Level Games

Sentai & Sensibility .............................................................. $14.99

Venture Society ..................................................................... $59.99

25th Century Games

Wine Cellar ........................................................................... $19.99

Alley Cat Games

Barbecubes ............................. $13.99

Station to Station .................... $39.99

The Army Painter

Paint Station .......................... $25.99

Asmadi Games

Agean Sea .............................. $36.00

Atlas Games

Catstronauts: The Board Game. .......... $39.95

Catstronauts: Fish Finder Satellite ...... $19.95

Catalyst Game Labs

Battlemat - Cities HPG Engineering/Business District ......... $40.00

Battlemat - Savannah's River Delta/City Ruins .................... $40.00

Battlefield Support Deck Revised ......................................... $ 9.99

Force Manual  - Kurita .......................................................... $29.994

Technical Blueprints ......................................... $24.99

Flippin Ninjas ................................................... $39.99

Rant:  For months, nay years, GTM has listed Catalyst products by game (Ex. Shadowrun - Trolls and Uzis, Battlech: Urbanmechs for Fun and Profit).  While it's a pain in the butt for me, as I usually manually type the products for this blog post, it's nice for organizational purposes.  Without the labels this month, I was completely disappointed that Flippin Ninjas is neither a Shadowrun, nor a Battletech, product, but a board game.

Chaosium

HP Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness for Beginning Readers ..... $23.99

Cubicle 7

Warhammer 40K Dark Tide: The Card Game ....................... $39.99

Warhammer 40k RPG: Imperium Maledictum - Inquisition GMS's Guide HC .... $39.99

Warhammer 40k RPG: Imperium Maledictum - Inquisition Players Guide HC .... $39.99

Warhammer 40k RPG: Imperium Maledictum - Starter Set ................................... $39.99

Goodman Games

Compendium of Dungeon Crawls vol 3 - Through Caves and Forest (5e) ............ $59.99

Compendium of Dungeon Crawls vol 4 - Dragons & Corruption (5e) .................. $59.99

DCC RPG: #109 - Beneath the Isle of the Serpents ............................. $10.99

DCC RPG: #110 - The Sacrificial Pyre of Thracia ............................... $10.99

DCC RPG: Caverns of Thracia ................................... $59.99

Original Adventures Reincarnated: #9 - Caverns of Thracia ............... $59.99

Monsters & Magic of Thracia ..................................... $14.99

DCC RPG: Annual (New Printing) ............................. $9.99

DCC RPG: Hellpits of Nightfang ................................ $9.99

Fifth Edition Fantasy #27 - The Sacrificial Pyre of Thracia .............. $10.99

Fifth Edition Fantasy #28 - Beneath the Isle of the Serpents ............ $10.99

Original Adventures Reincarnated #9.5 - Hellpits of Nightfang ....... $ 9.99

XCrawl Classics RPG #7 - Save XCrawl .......................................... $11.99

Happy Camper

Combo ........................ $16.99

One Two Many Rabbits .... $16.99

Iello

King of Tokyo: Origins .................................. $29.99

Konami Digital Entertainment

YU-GI-OH! TCG: BLUE-EYES WHITE DESTINY STRUCTURE DECK DISPLAY

YU-GI-OH! TCG: SUPREME DARKNESS BOOSTER DISPLAY

Paizo Publishing

Pathfinder RPG: AP Spore War 2 of 3 - The Secret of Deathstalker Tower ............ $29.99

Pathfinder RPG: Flip-Mat - Ballroom ............................ $19.99

Pathfinder RPG: Monster Core Battle Cards .................. $79.99

Pathfinder RPG: Guns & Gears Remastered ................... $69.99

Sketch Cover $69.99, HC Special Edition $99.99

Steve Jackson Games

Car Wars 6th - Double Barrel / Danger ................ $10.95

Car Wars 6th -  Militant Munitions ...................... $10.95

Car Wars 6th -  Lethal Lineup .............................. $10.95

Car Wars 6th - Savage Stockpile .......................... $10.95

Last Shot  ...................... $16.95

Munchkin: Shadowrun: Hack the Future Expansion.......... $19.95

USAopoly

Risk:  Dune

Weird Giraffe Games

Fire in the Library Card Game ................................... $12.99

Fire in the Library: Familiars Expansion ................... $12.99

Reef & Ruins ........................................................ $24.99

Wizard of the Coast

D&D RPG Monster Manual 2024 (Alternate Cover Option) ... $49.99

D&D RPG PHB Book Tabs ........................ $9.99

D&D RPG DMG Book Tabs ....................... $9.99

Wizkids

D&D Phunny Plushes  (Green Dragon or Roper) 

D&D Icons of the Realms Adv from Baldur's Gate Booster Bricks

D&D Icons of the Realms - Baldurs Gate 3 - Character Boxed Set .......... $49.99