Category Archives: RPGs

Dungeonmorph Dice Initial Shipment

I backed the Inkwell Ideas DungeonMorphs 2: Cities & Villages: Map Generator Dice/Cards and just got my initial shipment. I backed at the $40 level which gets two sets of dice, so I took one set from the original dungeon morphs dice and 3×3 dice tray, which is what arrived today, with a pack of cards and two bonus dice. The base set of five dice come in a cloth drawstring dice bag. The two extra dice are dungeon morphs on 5 sides and a village on one side.

I joined this Kickstarter after my October post on my backed Kickstarters.

The dice are easily an inch on a side and appear to be very sturdy with a slight “edge” to the ink. The images on the dice are cut into each face and filled with color. If the color were to fade or flake, one can easily re-ink it themselves. The dice curve in slightly on each face. I don’t think it will affect their rolls. If you don’t like a roll, you can always change it to your liking. It’s not like they are milled to Las Vegas casino standards. These are substantial and would make a lot of noise on certain surfaces. Some finished surfaces could potentially be scratched, chipped, or dinged. So the same caveat for rolling any dice on nice furniture applies. 😉

The dice tray has a high enough “wall” around each square to hold them in position while you move it out of the way or for temporary storage. The tray is sturdy and does have some give in it it one uses force. The only way it would break is if it got caught in something very sturdy and a strong force was applied, like between a door and the doorpost.

The shipment with the new dice is planned for I think May, 2015. I was not finding the planned shipping date when reviewing the Kickstarter. I will post another update when those ship.

Unboxing DungeonMorphs 2
Unboxing DungeonMorphs 2

 

Emptied the dice bag
Emptied the dice bag

 

All the dice in the tray.
All the dice in the tray.

Hobbit Battle of Five Armies

Went to see Hobbit The Battle of Five Armies yesterday.

It was good and consistent with Peter Jackson’s interpretation of Tolkien’s world.

The conclusion to the Dol Guldur situation felt rushed.

There were new creatures that made the movie different from the books in an unexpected way.

One army and one character were way late to the battle, and one army was replaced by a different army.

If you haven’t gotten over Peter Jackson changing some things so much from the books, you won’t get past these differences.

There is a lot more struggles of certain characters with their situation than in the prior movies.

If you can let it go and enjoy the movie as its own thing, you will like it.

Hero Forge Backer Mini Ordered

The Hero Forge Kickstarter was one of the first Kickstarters that I backed. I got swamped with real life and missed out on playing with the beta websites.

Tonight I finally made time to go online and design my mini and place the order. My Kickstarter pledge for $30.00 gets me a detail mini and free shipping. As one of the backers I have access to the beta hexagonal base, for no additional cost.

What is really cool, is that you can name and save the character and then click the share button to get a link to that character. My mini is my interpretation, limited by the options of the Hero Forge site, to make Griswald Stewart, my long-time character in my brother, Robert’s AD&D 1st Edition game. Griswald is a half-elf fighter/cleric/magic-user of 10th/10th/11th level , and is the one for whom Robert drew the wolf’s head image that is Griswald’s personal symbol. Griswald was the only one with a magic weapon when the group he was with encountered a wolfwere. Slaying this magical beast gave Griswald the appellation, “The Wolf”. Griswald’s father was a hillsman, who are based on the Scottish clans, so he is supposed to be wearing a kilt, it is the lower half of robes.

I will show pictures of the unboxing when it arrives.

I will now have to locate paints and other supplies to prepare it. I will do my best to put the wolf symbol on the shield. I will have a post or two on the progress as I paint it. That could take some time, as January is my busiest time of year at work, plus my first grandchild is due in mid-January, so I may not get to it until sometime in February.

I found the Hero Forge website to be easy to use. I could have chosen from many different genres, like science fiction, western, modern, or east-Asian. You pick a genre, body type, racial type and design from head to toe including facial expression. It is all point and click. The low end mini is $15 and is not suitable for painting. The detail mini is designed to hold paint, and there are three inch and six inch versions available, for a big increase in cost. Standard shipping is $5.00. It is also very cool that you can change your view of the mini in design to make sure you know how the whole thing looks and if it is to your liking.

If you want a mini that is massively customizeable, this is a quick and easy way to get one, although I find the cost to be one to limit my purchases to either favorite characters or major NPCs to use in my game. I only have eight lead/pewter miniatures from back in the day, so I don’t use minis in games I run.

I will include further impressions of the actual mini as part of my unboxing post in the coming days….

Griswald-HeroForge
Griswald-HeroForge

Who Said A Mace Can’t Have A Little Bite To It?

Cool! A re-creation of a 15th century German mace, only $90. I _NEED_ one, right?

Way at the bottom are the specs:

Flanged mace, a German style from the early 1500’s. Eight radial flanges welded to an octagonal steel shaft with a rounded wire-wrapped grip. All steel construction, satin brushed finish. Elegantly brutal. This mace proves that weapons can be art.

length: 24 1/2″
flanges: 4″ x 1 3/8″
shaft and butt: 19″
octagonal upper: 6 1/2″
rounded lower: 12 1/2″
weight: 2 lb 2.5 oz [Interesting maces are 50 gp weight for a horseman’s mace and 100 gp weight for a footman’s mace. As per the 1e PH. Yes encumbrance is bulk AND weight.]

Flanged Mace
Flanged Mace

Group Name Generator

I had an idea for a group name generator. Here are my initial ideas. I will polish this and do a proper table after I let the ideas ferment a bit more.

Some groups of players like a name for their group. The online group I play in had a hard time coming up with a cool name, so we ended up using the name of the guard dog of our wizard. The dog’s name is Starchy. Some of us were in the first group of players and by association all of us were referred to by NPCs as “Baldric’s Boys”, since we recovered a gem with significance for the followers of an admiral who died hundreds of years ago. We merged the two into “Starchy’s Boyz”.

It can be used for groups of NPCs, the bad guys, allied good guys, mercenary groups like The Black Company from the book series or The White Company from European History.

Here is a link to the current PDF.

TYPE OF GROUP
Clan
Sept
Tribe
Order
Fellowship
Company
Brigade

PET/FAMILIAR/MONSTER
[Name]
[Species]
Hawk
Dragon

DESCRIPTOR
Slayers
Killers
Seekers
Destroyers

COLOR
Black
White
Red
Blue
Green
Yellow
Plaid

WEAPON/ARMOR/OBJECT
Staff
Sword
Scimitar
Cudgel
Bow
Shield(s)
Helmet(s)
Arrow(s)
Idol

New Computer

I took the plunge and bought a new computer at CostCo over my lunch break. I went their the first time Monday after work and got a few things I need for Thursday and a few extras, and saw this good deal on a PC. It is Windows 7 Pro. I could have spent a bit more for more RAM, but it had Windows 8, and I don’t want to take the time to learn where everything is. If my company wants me to learn Windows 8, they can buy me a new computer. I can always order more RAM, assuming it has another slot, or it can handle a larger RAM chip. It was under $400, so I’m not stretched too thin.

The weekly online AD&D game I play in is a go for tonight, so I don’t know if I’ll manage to get home and get it set up in time for the game.

I also haven’t started my preparations of food for tomorrow (Thanksgiving in the USA). My parents taught all their children to cook, not just my baby sister. My boys like what I fix, and I maintain the tradition I got from my parents. My oldest son’s girlfriend said that my efforts last year were on par with her father’s, so I know she’s a keeper.

I also need to focus on the last few chapters of my first draft for NaNoWriMo and wrap up my hex for Tenkar’s Landing, I mean Eilean Dubh – The Black Isle by the end of November.

Thankfully, I have the day off on Monday the 1st.