A Dungeon for Dominion Day!

Tomorrow marks Canada's 146th birthday, and I plan on celebrating with A Dungeon for Dominion Day! (A salute to my Dad, who still calls Canada Day by its old name.)

Our good friends will be trudging through this dungeon for our first ever crawl soon enough, but I plan on taking my older gnomelet through tomorrow morning. For now, you get a sneak peek at my plans and secrets while I also showcase my favourite papercraft artist, Billiam Babble of Inked Adventures. Depending on timezones, I may even get this entered into The Frugal GM's Inked Adventures Contest in time. Time's something I've been rather short of, with the gnomelets now out of school for the summer, and a surprise convention that got me gaming for eleven hours yesterday! Anyway, back to The Dungeon!

In our first glimpse, we see two gypsy wagon drivers enjoying a chat and a beer while someone else looks after the horses. The gypsies are from a caravan our hero is helping to protect through a sometimes treacherous route through the woods.

The wagons & drivers are from my second favourite papercraft artist, Dryw the Harper, over on the Cardboard Warriors forums. He has generously provided 100's of free paper minis that he's made for the games he gamemasters (GMs). Our hero is a bargain bin HeroClix figure I picked up from Strange Adventures (my friendly local comic & gaming store or FLC/GS) because he looks remarkably like Montresor: my favourite character I've ever created, from my favourite computer game, Hero's Quest AKA Quest for Glory. Except, I played Montresor as a jack-of-all-trades thief, and this guy (Jericho? whoever that guy is; clearly he's in the bargain bin for his obscurity) looks ready to take on the world with his fists alone. Which is good, because he's going to solo this dungeon for demonstration's sake ;)

Descending into the crypt, our hero will confront a halfling skeleton-come-to-life should he open up the sarcophagus. However, our hero may be smart enough to discover the lever that swings the sarcophagus aside, revealing steps leading into...

The Dungeon Dominions of the Demented Demi-Human!

Our will have to be wary of traps and minor beasties in the hallways.

Every decision will have its consequences.

A Mysterious Chamber?

Or more choices?

A Dead-End Tunnel?

Or a Dozen Dead Demi-Human Knights?

Okay, so only four are shown here. But I have twenty-seven altogether! These were my experiment at crafting paper-minis in a semi-One Monk/Cardboard Warriors style; the artwork is the scale-representative drawing used in Inked Adventures' Skeletal Archway & Portal Large Dungeon Entrance add-on. The artwork here reminds me very much of my favourite comic book artist, Mark Oakley, and his Shadow Knights in Thieves & Kings.

Finally, our hero seems to be getting somewhere worthwhile. But who would be crazy enough to live down here?

It is the Demented Demi-Human! (AKA Lem the Halfling Bard, Iconic Pathfinder character, gone rogue... err... evil summoner) summoning a creature from a bizarre dominion...

He also appears to have an equally demented pet goblin, ready to toss a bomb or two at our intrepid hero!

Will our hero's fists-of-fury prevail?!

Naturally. After all, I'm going to be running this for a seven-year-old gnomelet, as his first-ever dungeon delve ;)

My elder gnomelet may, however, need his lil' brother gnomelet's miraculous finding skill to discover the hidden treasure hoard off the summoner's bedchamber. Someone roll him a Nat 20! Stat!

THE END

FYI

All terrain used for this dungeon is Inked Adventures from RPGNow, as noted below:

Forest
Encounter Lairs #3 Forest Ambush ($3.25 sale $2.50), the encounter tile is printed twice
Modular Dungeon | Cut-Up Sections | Basic Pack ($5.50 sale $4.50), p.40 "Entrance amidst overgrown ruins" [also available in the Free Sample Pack of same]

Crypt
Modular Dungeon | Crypt Room & Door (FREE)

Entry Stairs, Corridors, Stand-up doors, Dual-level Chamber
Modular Dungeon | Cut-Up Sections | Basic Pack ($5.50 sale $4.50) [some pieces may also be available in the Free Sample Pack of same]

Summoner's Bedroom, Staircase, Summoning Chamber, Prison Cell, and Secret Treasure Chamber
Modular Dungeon | Evil Summonings ($2.50) [all proceeds go to charity! Woohoo!]


A mixture of minis:

Gypsies & Wagons: Imperfect People's Imperfect Wagons, by Dryw the Harper @ Cardboard Warriors

*Log*: my first ever paper mini/terrain. Surprise!

Our Hero, Montresor: Jericho, DC Team Crisis, HeroClix, from Strange Adventures in Fredericton

Halfling Shadow Knights: paper minis I crafted from a scale-representative drawing in Inked Adventures' Skeletal Archway & Portal  Large Dungeon Entrance ($1.50 sale $0.95)

Halfling Summoner: Lem the Halfling Bard (iconic Pathfinder hero repurposed), from WizKids' Pathfinder Battles: Shattered Star random booster pack (MSRP $15.99, or on his own for $10.00 from Paizo), from Strange Adventures in Halifax.

Goblin Pet/Prisoner: Mogmurch the Alchemist, from WizKids' Pathfinder Battles' Builder Series: We Be Goblins (random single pack, MSRP $2.99). He was my character from my first-ever-as-an-adult tabletop RPG, on Free RPG Day 2013, from Gamezilla in Fredericton.

Summoned Creature: A patriotic maple leaf eraser from one of my elder gnomelet's pencils ;D

The dice, too, are patriotic in Canada's Red & White; they are from the Pathfinder Beginner Box. The shimmery yellow d20 die is a loose Chessex from the bin @ Strange Adventures in Fredericton, bought especially for my GMing.

Hope you've enjoyed the adventure, and that you have a Happy Dominion Day! 

err... Happy Canada Day! err... Happy Fourth of July! or just Happy Summer Gaming!

- WackyAnne AKA Dungeon Mama

P.S. Always share your stories (& your treasure) with your friends afterwards ;D

A busy week! Happy Summer!

Well, it's been a VERY busy week. The first full week of summer means both gnomelets are underfoot more often, and both eager to do some papercrafting. Well, for Mama to do the papercrafting for them. Two treasure chests, one made for the elder gnomelet's friend's birthday card, the other (reinforced) for the littler gnomelet sufficiently to hold some gigantic jewels (more on that another day). After an intensive internet search, they settled on my next project for them - Cubeecraft's Luigi and Mario (elder & younger gnomelet, respectively).
I think next year I'll have to dress them up and take them to the con I visited Saturday - Animaritime. My first-ever convention, and somewhat unplanned. Unplanned on my part, because being neither an anime or manga aficionado it wasn't on my to-do list until I learned a few days ago that there would be Pathfinder played there. Well, how could I pass up the chance to play again? Our home game didn't get  off the ground yet again, turning into Dungeon! and Margaritas instead of Dungeons & Daiquiris last  weekend. And can you believe it, I didn't realize my mistake on the drinks until my friend J pointed it out to me days later. So you can see how often I drink...
Anyway, back to the convention. Aside from enjoying the sight of people en-costumed in their favourite characters (all-but-unknown to me!), peeking in a couple of panels, and window-shopping the vendors and artists, I was hard-core gaming. From 9am to 1pm I was in my first-ever Pathfinder Society game, and my second-ever took up the hours between 7pm and 11pm. I also got in a two-hour play-&-learn session of Munchkin, but hanging out with my own Munchkins for supper was more fun even if it was mundane. Mission Impossible flavour doesn't quite float my boat, and the hot muggy weather made the geek sweat more claustrophobic in the too-small, too-packed room. I'll be happy to pick it up and play it again sometime, but will stick with dungeon flavours - especially if it's the upcoming Pathfinder one!
I'll update with the Pathfinder game information later on... (I had a blast!)

WackyAnne, AKA Dungeon Mama

Mini Mondays!

Okay, I know I said in my original Mini Mondays/Module Mondays post that I'd be alternating Mini Mondays (odd days) with Module Mondays (even days). However, our at-long-last-we-are-going-to-actually-PLAY! group didn't actually play Dungeons & Dragons this weekend. Instead... we played Dungeon! a dungeon-crawling board game put out by Dungeons & Dragons. Close enough... especially since we got more than enough plurality in the Daiquiris half of our Dungeons & Daiquiris Saturday evening...

So without further ado, Mini Monday! (I'm odd - close enough?).

While last week I posted a review of the Pathfinder Battles Builder Series: We Be Goblins, today I'll be focusing on something completely different: Paper Minis!

In particular, a spectacular freebie, sure to add lots of flavour to many a campaign, especially any of the number of Pathfinder adventures set in gypsy-inspired Varisia.

Imperfect Wagons: Gypsy Wagons by D. Caraley (AKA Dryw the Harper), from the Cardboard Warriors forum.

Dungeons & Daiquiris!

Well... Dungeon! & Daiquiris...

As I mentioned in my intro post, myself, my husband, and a couple of very close friends have been talking about (and somewhat preparing for) playing Dungeons & Dragons since New Year's. Well, summer has now officially arrived, and in the hopes of enjoying some deck time and the short Canadian summer, I had the inspired idea to host Dungeons & Daiquiris night.

We had had an evening or two a couple of months ago where we'd done a little work towards character generation: one night in January or February where the germ of our characters (name, race, class, perchance the ghost of a backstory) was hatched, and another in late April/early May at J&S' place where we compared the D&D 4E Red Box I'd picked up for them against the Pathfinder Beginner Box J (our DM-to-be)

Freebie Fridays!

Mini Mondays! We Be Goblins!

The deranged alchemist Mogmurch.
He stands 20mm to the eyes.

A new blog, a new feature! I'll be alternating Mini Mondays (odd days) with Module Mondays (even days), highlighting and reviewing whenever possible the best I've seen / read / purchased. To kick things off, I will be including an edited version of the review I posted to paizo.com of the Pathfinder Battles Builder Series: We Be Goblins.

Pathfinder Battles—Builder Series: We Be Goblins

Available now at here at Paizo's website, or at your Friendly Local Gaming Store (FLGS) in single packs (MSRP $2.99) or 24-pack Display Cases (MSRP $59.76). Canadian, international, and even different store prices may vary. My FLGSs had single packs priced at $2.79CAD and $3.95CAD, respectively.

 

FANTASTIC! exceptional detail & finishing, fabulous fun ;D

wackyanne — Monday, 11:38 PM

Impossible to resist if you are any fan of goblins at all, I imagine many visiting paizo.com have had these on their wish list since the day they were announced. Let me say, these minis in no way disappoint (how could they? They Be Goblins!). The sculpts are full of personality and exceptional detail, and the paint jobs are fantastic. There is a great balance of matte and shiny surfaces (appropriately assigned), nice metallic work on the weapons, no painting outside the lines that I can find (over the 6 minis I've gotten so far), and there is a nice wash so that the depths are brought out. [One difference to the photos shown at Paizo.com is that I have a blue lizard mount for my Goblin Warchief, instead of the plain brown pictured. His back half (lower torso, back legs, and tail) and his forearms (lower front legs) are all denim blue, with the rest black-speckled brown. It looks great, but again, is different from what is pictured.]

As to randomization in the case, I've been lucky, with the Goblin Warchief in my first package*, and no duplicates in the further 5 I purchased at another store. I've another two that I'm leaving in the package until I just can't resist any longer ;)

The Goblins arrived just in time for their second module outing - another home run for Paizo (& smart marketing). While I was playing in a We Be Goblins Too! game at my FLGS on Free RPG Day, a guy from another table (who'd bought out most of the case) shared his duplicates so that we all might play with our actual character's minis. It certainly enhanced the experience! The cherry on triple-fudge sundae, to be sure :D

I would also like to add just how much I like the Pathfinder Battles Builder Series as a whole, and why it is such a great idea in so many ways:
#1 Goblins! Epic Win!
#2 Allows you to play Iconic monsters ;)

General benefits to the series as a whole:
#3 allows you to populate larger creature encounters, adding as few or as many as you like
#4 that little bit of surprise, the happy kind, while still knowing that you are sure to get a goblin (or undead, in the upcoming set), instead of some more random monster or NPC.
#5) a token something to pick up at your FLGS every time you pop in, at low price-point (good for the buyer, the store, and Paizo/WizKids - win/win/win!)

Cheers!

*That happy discovery redeemed WizKids for me, as I was very disappointed with my lot in the Shattered Star booster I'd bought as my first ever mini purchase. I'll add that review in when I have more time.

Mini Mondays! Module Mondays! We Be Goblins!!!

A new blog, a new feature! I'll be alternating Mini Mondays (odd days) with Module Mondays (even days), highlighting and reviewing whenever possible the best I've seen/read/purchased. Our gaming group has yet to get off the ground, so my one-&-only contemporary tabletop experience was this weekend's Free RPG Day. Therefore, my module experience is limited ;)
To kick things off, I will be including edited versions of reviews I posted to paizo.com of this year's Pathfinder Free RPG Module, We Be Goblins Too! and of the Pathfinder Battles Builder Series: We Be Goblins. The module I'll be reviewing from the player's perspective, and a newbie player at that. Once I've had a chance to read it over in more detail, and hopefully run it for my gaming group, I'll review it from the GM's perspective. Keep a look out!

Happy Free RPG Day 2013!

Happy Free RPG Day 2013 to all you gamers, geeks, wannabes, and especially the DMs/GMs/Storytellers that put up with us. And thanks to the great Friendly Local Gaming (&/or Comic) Stores, fantastic publishers, and the friendly organizers of FRPGD who put theirs heads together and put on a such a wonderful event on for us today!

My biggest thanks to Strange Adventures and GameZilla here in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, and some very special people: Josh Smith (local PFS guy, allied with Strange Adventures, who let me know what was going on today), Lee Dunn (organizer of the games at GameZilla who hooked me up with my very first modern game!), and the other staff at both stores whose names I will learn & remember soon, I promise ;D
And last, but certainly not least Ellie, Phil, Amanda, and most especially Kyle, who took me through my first ever game of Pathfinder (We Be Goblins, Too!) and put up with my many questions and much enthusiasm with patience and helpfulness. And Kyle, you've some amazing voices in you! Loved every  minute of it, and so glad I was able to join in.

Now that I've actually played my first tabletop RPG in over twenty years (my older brother figure Andrew lead me through the original Ravenloft and another AD&D module back when I was a tween), I can now pour out all that I've been poring over the last six months. Myself, my husband, and two very good friends of ours were playing a boardgame New Years Eve, and shared a mutual desire of getting into D&D. For one reason or another, we've not suceeded in getting together yet, but I feel our luck a-turning. Joe's been able to run some intro to 4E with his kids, in prep for leading us grownups through, and I've been learning Pathfinder (more fluff than crunch so far) so we can trade off GMing duties and try a couple of flavours of RPG.

Look for my upcoming reviews of the fun Kids' RPGs I've tracked down so that we might share our interests with our little ones, plus fantastic freebies I've found in my hunt for knowledge ;)

Cheers!

Anne, AKA Dungeon Mama, AKA Mogmurch today ;D