In The Mood! Had the opportunity to discuss Dungeons and Dragons with my friend Jon again. There was a lot of good stuff tucked into “setting the mood”. We both thought the topic wouldn’t be super deep, but as it turns out there are quite a few things to consider about it. Check out the latest video!
Category Archives: Gaming
Attack Of Opportunity!
Normally I’d have notes and various preparation bits that I’d share along with a link to the new video, but this is not about me. It was fantastic to hear from these women. Hopefully we’ll have more of this in the future!
Spell Effects
I have a lot of actual work to do. I have 2 deadlines for edits that I need to hand in and some website work I need to do to get my site here cleaned up a little. Add a couple of professional touches that I am missing. I just wasn’t feeling it today. As happens so very frequently of late, I couldn’t sleep. My body is still in rebellion about something with aches, pains, and lots of other unpleasantries. So when I finished my second cup of coffee this morning I decided that some crafting was in order. Take on a small project, finish something and see if that would help.
My project of choice today was creating area of effect / spell effects for my D&D game. I picked a handful of spells and set about trying to make them in a form that we can just drop on my shiny new dungeon tiles next time we get to play.
Sculpting things with hot glue is an art form. It takes practice. I gathered up the stuff I needed and laid things out. The spells I decided to create for were web, Evard’s black tentacles, entangle, flaming sphere and wall of fire. I’d seen a video talking about how to go about making most of these before and they felt like things I could handle.
I hadn’t seen the wall of fire before. I’d seen a magic circle spell effect. The concept was the same and, as luck would have it I found this old, flat computer disk case in the bits box. I figured I’d pull it in half and each half would be it’s own wall. I popped on some safety glasses and went after the one side with my craft snippers. Safety glasses were a very good idea, trying to snip parts out of brittle plastic… not so much. After completely destroying one half of the box I decided that minimal changes to the other side was the way to go. I liked the fact that is has a square edge that will help it stand without some kind of crazy extra base addition.
I also had this thought about the flaming sphere. I was going to use a miniature base and start with a clear pony bead. I also planned to sprinkle a little bit of glitter into the glue as it was cooling. I figure that each of these things is a magic spell effect and a little glitter wouldn’t hurt. I thought I could start with a little bit of glue in the center of the base, pop the bead on there then start working my “sphere” outward from there. As it turns out, gravity was not my friend here. It made everything droopy and very non-sphere like. I changed tactics. I laid out a flat set of flames on the parchment paper and decided to curl that around the round mini base. The effect would be less “sphere” but it would still give the idea. I went with it.
Forged ahead and started laying out the squares for the area effect things like web, tentacles and entangle. Normally parchment paper is really great for not sticking to the hot glue. This time for some reason, when I laid out my squares the paper just would not let go of the glue. I did what I could and pulled them all apart once they were dry. Moving from piece to piece while waiting for things to dry was a big help. This is a definite bonus to multitasking.
I gave a little bit extra to each of my squares. Some of it worked, some of it really didn’t. I used glow in the dark paint under the entangle spell. I added a little green glitter in with the flocking. I tried to get one or two extra bits of vine to stick and stay. The glow works where you can see it, if it’s dark enough. The flocking doesn’t look as great as I want it to and the vines just keep flopping off no matter what glue I use. I spray finished the whole thing and I’m just going to hope for the best. I added a little webbing from our Halloween decorations to my area effect for the web spell. I only painted the tentacles… and they seem to have turned out the best.
Painting the wall of flame and the flaming sphere worked out pretty well I think – and the wet palette actually is a super cool way to handle paints. I now understand why so many folks talk it up. I needed to take a break in the middle of these projects and when I got back all the pain was just as if I hadn’t left at all. I’ll be looking to the wet palette from now on.
I struggled with various parts of each of these projects. The biggest issue I have still, is patience. I’m working very hard at getting better with this. Paint needs time to dry. Glue needs time to dry. Hot glue needs time to dry of you’ll burn your damn finger… again. Sometimes the effect you think will be great doesn’t work out that way. It’s a learning process. I’m looking forward to doing a lot more learning on these sorts of projects moving forward.
Here are some of the finished looks:
Tiling
When I was a kid playing Dungeons & Dragons there weren’t many options when looking for parts to enhance your game. The hobby was relatively new and the market was just ramping up. You may be thinking, “here we go, another things were better back in the day statement”. Not so. I’m actually stunned, amazed and really happy about where things are for D&D and associated parts of the hobby right now.
Some lucky few of us as kids were able to work for or add to the Christmas list official D&D miniatures. I’ve managed to hang on to those, but I no longer have any of the other things we used to supplement our game. One of the things we used to do was carve up any corrugated cardboard we could lay out hands on and cut them up into various combinations of squares. These flat ’tiles’ became what we used to represent the fabled 10′ x 10′ stone corridor that has become synonymous with classic dungeon crawls. I clearly remember the shoe box of cardboard I had filled with various combinations of corridor or room that could be laid out to show the ‘surroundings’ of the miniatures we were using. The imagination assistance worked really well.
Fast forward to today. There are multiple companies out there now selling every sort of miniature pieces or parts for dungeon masters to layout and confound players with. The pure art of these pieces really is exceptional.
It is also expensive. Paying the artists is important, but frequently WAY out of budget range.
Happily, the internet has also provided a way to connect with other people that are just as excited about creating these worlds as I am. There are literally thousands of folks out there coming up with new and imaginative ways to use various bits and pieces from around the house to create these worlds on a budget. I started posting a little while back about my journey back into this, and I’ve gone back to the very basics.
I made up some dungeon tiles.
It’s a very beginner level project. I saw a fellow crafter post something wondering about being proud of simple things, like these beginner projects. One of the most challenging things I’ve found about digging back into this hobby is learning to be patient and go through the various steps toward learning and experience. You don’t get to be a pro on day one. Stack up the lessons… and the dungeon tiles.
I started off with 1/2” extruded polystyrene insulation board (XPS) and carved up a bunch of shapes that would be my new set of tiles. I did all of this with a metal carpenters square, a pen and a box cutter. No high end, out of the budget stuff here. After carving all those bits up, I understand why crafters go after hot wire cutters and other expensive tools. This was labor intensive. I found that even on my best cuts, I wasn’t necessarily square or plumb. I forged ahead. These were meant to be faux stone after all. Anything carved by hand would have imperfections and odd edges.
Once all the parts were cut, I laid out a 1” x 1” grid on all the tiles. This is the size of a large number of standard miniature bases and provides a convenient method for estimating distances at scale. I also added in a number of imperfections using the ball point pen. The idea was to gouge the foam. This would allow paint to get into the cracks and show the variations when painted. When I was painting I discovered that I probably needed to apply more pressure when creating my textures and adding cracks. I don’t think I went deep enough in many cases, so the paint mostly filled some of the cracks I made. As a YouTube crafter I follow said, “Crack to taste”. I did. I’ll do better next time.
Once all the parts were set it was time to paint. It’s been a long time since I attempted to judge how much paint I might need in order to cover various miniature parts. I managed not to waste too much in my multiple coats. Black was first. I watered down a little bit of straight up black craft paint and covered them all. This would show up as deeper shadows whenever the rest of the paint was applied and didn’t seep down into all the cracks. Just had to wait for it to dry.
Once that was dry, it was on to a gray coat. This gray was applied pretty heavily. I was afraid that I had over done it when I finished with the gray. Some of the cracks had filled in. It was hard to see the texture. I wasn’t super happy, but I was this far along, I just needed to keep rolling. And wait for it to dry… again.
Next up was a dry brush over the high points. I misjudged the amount of paint a couple of times and my brush was not nearly as ‘dry’ as it was supposed to be. I used some paper towel and dabbed the excess back off when I could. I mixed a light (dolphin) gray along with a color called blue stoneware. It gave things a bit of a blueish tint, but that’s OK. It was what I was going for.
Just had to wait for things to dry… again.
Once that bit was done, it was on to the wash. Back to black, but super watered down. I forgot to add in any sort of green or brown to add a feel of “grime” to this part, but I was just happy to be moving on. Looking back, I might have wanted to give each step a little more thought. As I said above, nobody’s a pro on day one.
As things turned out, I’m a lot happier with them after all the steps were finished. So now it’s just a matter of sealing things up with a glue wash and stacking these up. Ready for my next gaming session! I’m calling this a success and I’m already looking forward to making more stuff.
Have you made anything lately?
Save Against Fear
I spent the weekend at a local game convention with my daughter. It was time well spent. The folks at the Bodhana Group really put together an excellent weekend. This year was the second time in their location at the Harrisburg Mall. It was also the second time I got to attend the convention.
Great stuff – it’s local to me, affordable and filled with activity. Added bonus, I was only an attendee. I wasn’t part of the team putting the show on, I wasn’t working or speaking or any of the other things that I’ve come to associate with conventions. I was simply attending and enjoying the time with my daughter.
More Great Stuff – we had the chance to put in for door prizes each day, could pick up tasty tasty treats from the bake sale and got the chance to participate in the “play to win” promotion. Play to win is a super cool idea. Game companies donated a number of games to the convention. You could check out a game and play it. When you did, put your name on the list and you’re entered for a chance to win. Call them out on social media and get an additional chance to win. We came home with two FREE games this weekend just because we took the time to sign them out and test drive them. Combined with the door prize I won I think the winning balanced out what we paid to attend this year.
Even more great stuff – it really was a fantastic little convention. The people attending were nice and friendly. We got to play games with new folks and both learn and teach new games. We got to meet and talk to game designers. Test drove 3 different games that are still in development. Couldn’t pick them up as they’re still in development, but signed up to be notified when the games come out so we can get them then. All kinds of fun.
Really, the only down side to the whole thing involves the location. Being at the mall is excellent. It’s a ton of free parking, easy access and short walk to the food court when we chose to break for something to eat. Close to the house and easy to get to any time. The space itself is one of the large stores that hasn’t been rented out yet. It’s not pretty. It is as unfinished and worn out as you might think. The temperature was all sorts of out of control. It got hot enough in there to make a number of folks not feel well on Saturday afternoon – and I don’t know if the HVAC system was something the con could control or not, but it was a real issue. Also – just on a personal level – I HATED the chairs that were provided. To be fair, they DID provide chairs and tables for around 400 people. NOt easy. I still hated them.
If you’re in the area I highly recommend looking this convention up next year. They’ve already announced it – and as soon as registration goes up I’m signing up to go again!
Birthday Time
There are times when I think that I should be posting more here than I do. I probably should. Thing is, when given the option I’m all in for family stuff. My kiddo is only going to be this age once and I’m not going to miss it.
Yesterday it was party time! She’s going to be 12 years old this week so we took a group of friends out for a day of party fun. Off to see the new movie Trolls first. Wasn’t my first choice for the weekend – but all the girls really wanted to go. Having been in the packed theater I suspect a certain Marvel movie will have serious competition for top spot of the weekend. I also have to say the cloud character has a part in the film that totally cracked me up.
After the movie it was off to the local game cafe for an entire afternoon of friendly competition and super fun table top games!
IF you’re in our area the Game Table Cafe is a worthy place to hang out. The girls all but destroyed their supply of chocolate chip cookies and took all the cold soda from the counter fridge. We played “MEOW” as a starter (right up their alley) and then ran through a bunch of other fun games. I think there may have been a “Connect 4” tournament that came out of the whole thing, but I’m not sure. I was beaten soundly in round one by one of the girls and couldn’t get back into a game!
After hours of games and fun invaded the pizza shop at the end of plaza for pizza and fries. Don’t think that growing boys have a monopoly on eating big. Those girls left the pizza trays spinning!
After the pizza there were a couple of gifts, but that wasn’t the focus of the day. We all went and had fun together. It was a great time. Totally worth every missed deadline and every missed post here.
The Dwarvenaut
Things lately have been super busy and more than a little crazy. One of the things I’ve found that brings me back to myself again and again is gaming. I have loved playing Dungeons and Dragons for a long time. I’ve also loved to see what people do with their miniatures. I’ve personally got a bunch of the old Grenadier miniatures box sets along with a big stack of others. Carrying lead is always fun when you move… it’s even heavier than the books!
I’ve painted my minis, used them for games, created maps and maps and adventures… but I’ve always had these massive, grand visions of what the game could be with a little extra visualization. How wide is the corridor really when you compare it to the mini?
Dwarven Forge has been that answer for somewhere around 20 years now. I just watched a film about Stefan Pokorny, the founder of that company, called The Dwarvenaut. I’m glad I watched the film. IF you’re a fan of miniatures and the passion that goes along with this wonderful game you should hop onto Netflix and check it out. It’s a good look behind the scenes of the company and their third Kickstarter campaign. I’m glad I got to see the passion behind this company. It certainly gives me a lot more perspective on what they offer and what’s behind the cost of the sets. I plan to dig into these and see if I can add them to my game.
Check out the trailer here:
Influence
I’ve talked to a lot of people and written a number of blog posts about the influence that Dungeons and Dragons had on me growing up. I’ve seen more and more people putting forth that yes, they in fact were part of this movement too – or that they were directly inspired by the development of the game industry. Little things can have massive influence or they can be what keeps somebody tethered to reality. Sometimes the tether doesn’t hold as they rise so far so fast – but the memories others have will still be there. It’s important to remember that even the people we see in the media, behind all that hype and glamour, they are still people. This news bit doesn’t surprise me as much as it might others. Scott Weiland was a gamer too. Once upon a time Marilyn Manson was a kid named Brian who’s grandma wouldn’t let him in the house if he was all made up*. Knowing people before they got super famous will give a different perspective.
People connect through role playing games and board games. It’s part of the realm of Fandom I really love. Get out there, find some friends and play a game.
(*important note – that Manson story is indirect, from a friend of mine – it is not my own. It’s always amazing to me how these sort of things crop up in conversation.)
Fearless or Embarrassing?
Once, I was fearless. There was a time when I would just put words or art or actions out there and just let them be what they would be. I had an art instructor tell me once as she held up an old painting of mine, “I liked this painter better. You didn’t have fear. Look at these bold colors…”
It’s not easy to get past that. It seems to be getting worse as I get older, not better. Yes, I’ve moved toward positions of greater responsibility in my day job and in my community activities. Yes, people are starting to look at me and say things like, “Oh, yeah… I thought you looked familiar.” It’s almost like I’m right at the edge of…
That’s just it. The edge of what exactly?
I had the opportunity to do yet another thing that was outside my comfort zone yesterday. I took the chance and I think things turned out well. I have told people in a quasi anonymous way that I am an old school role player but I have not given that claim much agency lately. Well, I busted out the books and dusted off some old notes and for the first time in many years ran a D&D game yesterday. It was a slow starter. It was a very small group (made even smaller by the fact that one of the invited came down sick). Two of the players had never played before, nor had they had any real exposure to the game outside of what showed up on Community or Big Bang Theory. I’ll admit – this was way outside my comfort zone. I’m at a loss to figure out why, but I was not at all confident – and that’s just silly. I’ve been playing longer than either of the new players has been alive. Maybe that was it? Maybe all this discomfort lately is my stupid, weird version of a mid-life crisis? At least I won’t be trying to buy a Porsche I guess.
I fumbled, but didn’t roll a 1, so we made it through the game. I think I could have done some things better or some things differently but nobody ran screaming… well at least not from the living room. Their characters on the other hand, let’s just say it was refreshing to get the reactions I did. Hopefully we’ll get to do it again.
As for me – I think doing something and not totally failing has added to my willingness to step out and do stuff again. Perhaps I’ll be more proactive and get things done. It’s worth a shot – even if I do critical fumble, at least I’m doing the stuff I think is fun.
Comfortable and uncomfortable
All in the same me.
I’m working really hard to get my creativity on track and start getting some work out the door. My slump has cost me – I don’t think I’m being invited as a guest to my favorite convention again this year. I really would like to change that. It’s depressing and a little daunting to be dependent on others that way. I’m planning to move out of my comfort zone and try something new. I’ve had a couple of brief chats with some friends and it seems like something that *might* be able to happen. I think this Friday will be a test of that. I’ll not be at work and have the opportunity to set up one of the first steps toward making it happen.
Right in the middle of all my inner turmoil I’ve found a way back to a creative spark I haven’t felt in years. Some friends asked me about my “secret” passion – Dungeons and Dragons. I put secret in quotes because I am, and likely always will be, hesitant about telling others I play in person. Don’t ask me – I don’t understand my hang ups that well. The point is, I crawled up to the attic and dragged 6 or 8 boxes down from storage. I’ve been thumbing through old character sheets (Morgan Firedrake lives on!) and adventure notes from games I’d run in the past. I had forgotten the shear volume of work. I had neglected that creative push that was trying to stay ahead of a band of smart, experienced adventurers. It’s been really fun along with motivating.
So – there will be more on my vague “something new” project as soon as it becomes something more than a daydream. Until then, I’ve got lots of work to do (just as soon as I make one more choice in my pick your own path adventure book).