Christmas in July - Christmas Seal from Christmas Familiars (Reaper 01553)

Just how many times can I put Christmas in a blog post?  

Not in time for Christmas (There I go again), but this little seal is just one figure out of the pile of Reaper holiday packs my buddy Scott gave me back at Mepacon Fall 2024.   Out of the lead/plastic/resin pile, I'd like to see all them finished up eventually.  

(Backerkit) Space 1889: After for 5th Edition

Strange Owl Games under license from Ulisses Spiele, is taking another shot at a classic Victorian sci-fi game.  

Space 1889: After takes the classic aetherflying and largely Martian intrigue and puts it into the world's most popular role-playing system. 

I absolutely adore the idea a offset print, library quality rule book.  The fact that it's 5e tames my excitement. 

(Gamma World) Not a Test #124 - A Return to the Wrong Celery

Our heroes, the De Facto Explorers, have decided to embark on an epic quest to reach Lathar's long-lost father.  They have left Fair-Town after a lengthy stopover, but after only a half-days travel, they encounter a woman and a severely hurt mutant mycelium that appear to need their help!

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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.   Looking for trouble in all the right places. The two-time champion of the Fair-Town Queen's Joust.  Recently married to the now-pregnant Thunnelda Haycock.   Just received a letter from his long-lost father, and has convinced the others to accompany him to the Wildlands.

Sneaky Pete: A mutated weasel scout.  Pete's telepathy and night vision take a backseat when he whips out his electrical powers.   Apparently addicted to his newly uncovered yellow powder found at "The Pool House"

Sonny Helianthus: an over 10' tall sentient sunflower artifact examiner with four arms, and trusted Restorationist ties. Knowledgeable,  but not a good one with device repairs or upgrades.   Sonny may have recently detonated an atomic device in the petrified woods... although no one else knows. 

Slitheran Wurmtail (aka Squiggles): a mutated earthworm scout, in impromptu power armor, looking for trouble in all the wrong places,  and finding it often.   He  has been subject to genetic testing and developed super-human strength, a more human body, and a thick coat of shaggy white hair.  Recently attacked and kidnapped then left for dead by an unknown group, looking for revenge 

and two new additions....

Poppy and Speedy: Two of Squiggles' offspring from his first... litter(?) They're now teenagers in worm years, old enough to grab diminutive muskets and help their Manchi and his friends on this epic quest. 

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After a night of rest, it was finally agreed that they should take the half day to return to Fair-Town with Trekk and his apparent savior Mirella Quince.    They strapped the mushroom man to a litter a top of No-Name.   Mirella kept up with the group, describe her noticeable limp.  She stayed alongside the stagon, watching her new mycelium friend.

Mirella Quince, Random Traveler from KIA Academy (with a photo bomb by Sonny)

By mid-morning, they were met by a surprising sight.  A group, dressed like Fair-Town guards, brazenly strolling down the road, five wide.  They wielded a variety of melee weapons, two of them with rifles of the ancients slung across their back.   They acknowledged the party and asked if there were any problems.  

It appeared the discussion with Captain Brom Halloway back in Fair-Town and produced immediate fruits, as these five men, members of the supplemental militia, were ordered to perform the first ever patrol of River Road.  

"Any worries?  Any problems?"

Sonny: Well, if you asked....

The group showed the militia the wounded and unconscious mushroom.   The militia were shocked (confirmed by Pete's telepathy), and once it was mentioned they were taking him back to Fair-Town for help from some of his own kind (What human would differentiate mushrooms from mutant plant plants?), the militia offered to escort them back to town... 

Pete sensed much fear in them, in so that none of the militia had ever left Fair-Town this far downriver.  

The rest of their travels were uninterrupted, and their militia escort even got them through the gate without delay or entry fee.   

The Explorers followed the main boulevard back to the Wrong Celery, Lathar carrying Trekk and asking for Duncan, the bartender.  

The little mushroom person was put into a backroom.  

Duncan: "We'll put him in the dark and feed him a line of shit... We'll take it from here, friend of plants... and non-plants like this lad."

Lathar: "Wait, mushrooms aren't plants?"  

"All plants need the sun to feed our bodies and our souls.  Your friend here is nothing like that.. but we share similar likes, and prejudices against us."

Once the injured mushroom got the help they needed, they reaffirmed Mirella if she needed anything else.  The former resident of the KIA sub-levels had no connections in town and few skills but was resolved to make a go at it.  She may have shook off some advances from the always amorous Lathar, but finally took 50 domars from him to start her new life. 

By the time they resolved everything, they just had enough time to leave town again and reach the temporary camp they used the night previous.

Thankfully, the rest of the the travels down to KIA was unexciting....  with no traffic coming from that city....

Next: #125 -  Allocation is Under Review

#RPGaDay 2026 is Coming

Right on the heels of #FreeRPGDay comes the listing for #RPGaDay, the monthlong event in August were we cover a topic a day to convey our love and enthusiasm for role-playing games 

I do believe the full list is posted on the RPGaDay Facebook group, as well as the blogs directly linked to the organizers.  I'll post the full list here right after I finish the last two painting projects, where I'll pause my blog performance to focus on these. 

(Painting) The Ancient Shanty of Perpetual Project

Even as we inch closer to Historicon, I am amazed when I get some random piece off the painting queue.  

This little shanty has been incomplete for almost TEN YEARs, but no longer!

I had actually started this at a Hobby U class way back at Fall-In! 2016.  I'm not quite sure when I'm going to use this (Death Planet Iota?) but I'll get some joy as it sits on my cluttered shelves.

I decided to take full advantage of the brain melting direct sunlight and use my brand new porch.  Dedicated readers might remember that my front door on my apartment had a small porch that had been half-rotted since the day I moved in.  Thankfully it was rotted through on the far side from the door, so I could get in.  I've really only used the porch for spray priming and sealing.

Right before I left for work yesterday, my landlord shot me a text that the local handyman would be replacing it that day.  I had my doubts, by as I pulled in around 6pm, it was finished, with even the correct pitch to prevent pooling water.  

So my only mission in this oppressive heat might be a table and chair, and perhaps a six-pack of beer to celebrate the holiday

Next:  I do have a gnome project to finish for Historicon... and it might even get posted before the convention!  We all know that regardless of a shopping list, a big con like Historicon always reorganizes painting projects. 

Project 350:  As the #RPGaDay prompts have been produced, this will be my last check-in for behind the scenes blog progress until September!   Between preliminary posts for the con and the community activity, I'll pause productivity at 460 (297 drafts/163 scheduled)  already up from 456 (292 drafts/164 scheduled).  My next report on this will be September 4th, God willing, and almost time for a year in review! 

Mike Lung Gallery #96 - Wasteland Warrior Gangs

I continue to clean up years of photo, e-mails, and texts off my phone, I found these gems from friend-of-the-blog and AWARD WINNING GM, Mike Lung:

These were all gangs used in his Fistful of Lead Wasteland Warriors games he ran twice at Historicon.  With his impending retirement, I may need to have him bring out the whole set again for another HMGS con.

FreeRPGDay(s)?

Rainy days and Mondays always bring me down....

It's summertime, so that means at least one day of my weekend is dedicated to going down to my Mom's and taking care of the yard, plus running number of errands that she might roll a d20 for right before I show up.  She's 77 now, and it was a hard 77 years, so I'm happy she's still moving from room-to-room, much less heading to Wal-Mart for prescriptions she could just get through the mail for free.

But this past weekend was just a drenching rain most of the day,  so I scratched yard work and called to check on the errands.  

None.  Zip. Zilch.  

As I was already moseying down that way, I diverted my trip to make some stops for #FreeRPGDay.

First stop was JAF Comics, between Bethlehem and Nazareth.  I was very happy that the gaming rooms were in full use, even if it was card games.   Even if the RPG section didn't grow, the board and card games were more robust, and they had a good selection of FreeRPG stuff.  

To balance things out, and not take everything from JAF, I drove down PA-191 into the city of Bethlehem and The Portal.  There were three separate RPG sessions running in their game room, and even an official Battletech Missions game finishing up.   I did make my only purchase there: a pair of black metal Mepacon d20s.  

Sunday, I had plans on staying local, heading over to Sword in the Stone Games, and joining a game or two.

And then my Mother called. 

Out of milk, out of toilet paper, out of all of her prescriptions, and the grass was looking a little shaggy.   I did make a stop there before I ran down there again, picking up a few random books that they had plenty of off.  Sword in the Stone had two different CCG events going on, and still had five tables of RPGs going on. 

The good news is, my Mother has food, a clean yard, and is fully medicated. 

Really, the big steals of the events seem to be the Indie RPG Anthology, printed by 9th Level Games, and the FreeRPG Day special for Dungeons & Kittens.