Bitzbox of the Damned

Brace For Impact! The One-Off Pilot Session

2010-09-27T13:22:00.002+01:00

Ran my one-off Empire! game for the start of the university rp society year yesterday and it seemed to go well. Not particularly high concept, I admit, but Edwardian Steampunk meets War of the Worlds seemed to fire up the imagination of the non DnD players so I had a the maximum number of players I had planned for (six).

General premise - Scott's first Antarctic foray coincides with the arrival of the Martian cylinders. Having no red weed to give the game away nor a major spread of bacterial life to kill them off the Martians set up a resupply base using the personnel at McMurdo Station as food until Scott's expedition disturbs them. Much derring do ensues.

Player characters were Scott, Shackleton and a number of their expedition regulars (a doctor - MacKay, engineer - Skelton, dog handler - Crean and navy officer - Royds).

There was much fun had at the general presumption of 'Prussian Mechanical Monstrosities', the heroic death of the dog team as Crean sent them careening off into the night to cause a diversion and save the lives of the expedition and the finale which involved the PCs taking control of a now unmanned tripod (after fitting the base's Colours to the machine and attempting to play 'God Save the King' through the 'sound funnel') and coming to the rescue of their incoming supply ship HMS Pandora.

The quote of the night was Scott's magnificant deadpan understatement as the signaling device they'd whipped up using a bucket and all the reflective material they could find was destroyed by a tripod tendril in the groups first glimpse of the Fighting Machines: 'Damnation, there goes the shaving mirrors.'

Stop That Boat! Part 1

2010-07-14T12:37:00.004+01:00

So they PCs get word that Naglfar has sailed and it on it's way through the nine realms up to Asgard. Not the best of news but the PCs have got a plan. Several plans. OK, more plans than any sane party should ever have...

They start out with Sheep Heaven. Simple really. They want to tap into the Odysseus trope by kidnapping a Cyclops (and his sheep - he'd been living as a farmer in NZ, even had his 3 year 'no fatalities' badge from Murdering Monsters Anonymous) then taunting the Fire Giants into killing him so Poseidon would damn them to roam the seas for nine years rather than nine days. Nearly worked, but the Cyclops was kidnapped rather than killed. They didn't take the sheep, however, who now rule over their own terra incognita.

Having spied on Naglfar docking to resupply in Muspelheim Operation Ergot was put into action. The PC god of balance and harmony enchanted about a third of the food supplies on board to start sprouting again, making them completely unpalatable to the charcoal munching giants. Resounding success.

Operation RyanAir span off from that. Having spied the tensions between the Giant warbands, the PCs had made sure that Operation Ergot had only affected one particular tribe creating a lot of hostility between the various clan chiefs. Ryanair was designed to exacerbate these hostilities to fatal levels on a cramped voyage. Didn't work entirely but certainly had an effect.

Operation Baldurgate was a late addition once they'd discovered that one of the souls kidnapped to row the ship was Baldur, the Beautiful. Having got on quite well with him the last time they met (and him and Hod being crucial to the plan to the effect that Hod stopped being the god of emo kids and started being the god of sabotage) Baldurgate was designed to get as many rowers off the ship (slowing it down again) and, of course, rescue Baldur and his wife, Nanna while the ship was docked at Jotunheim. Worked very well.

Having decided that they needed a distraction capable of being launched by their mortal special forces allies but that molatovs weren't really an option, Operation Heston's Kitchen was the invention of the anti-molatov - liquid nitrogen encased in polystyrene. It gave the mortals enough of an edge that they didn't die the moment the battle started.

And the final act within the Giant realms was Operation Pimp My Ant. On their way out of Naglfar's hold the PCs dropped off an ant hive 'borrowed' from a Nigerian ant god with dominion over artistry. The ants started dismantling Naglfar's internal walls one tiny sculpture at a time...

TBC

I Dropped A Meteor On Muspelheim and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt

2010-07-07T08:50:00.000+01:00

The start of the true epicness of the campaign, where everything started to gel at a wonderful level, was Mjolnir II. As a side effect of stopping a child kidnapping ring working for the Erl King the players dropped a meteor with a 20 mile diameter through a portal between Midgard and Muspelheim. Yep - a random side quest wiped out two thirds of the entire population of Fire Giants. All because the players take note of interesting magic I'd set up as canon for the setting several months before.

Operation Surtr's Patio was set up to deal with the aftermath of Mjolnir II as dropping an asteroid on Muspelheim had fairly large side affects - specifically most of the volcanoes in Midgard erupting as all the mystical gates between the two realms get flung open by the impact. As a method of solving the problem of lots of magma all over the place the players got a bit ambitious - and started to plan creating their own planet. With the portal tech they'd used for the asteroid itself and a canon piece of mystic wooga (I had previously set up a meeting between different bands of Scions that occurred in it's own little pocket dimension with its own way of dealing with time while you were inside it) they engineered the magma to some spilling out of the other end of the portal in ten years time - after it'd been fired out in the depths of the solar system by the Russian space program. The patio's a bit chilly but it'll have a nice view.

And all of this set up Ragnarok quite nicely. Odin, never one to miss a trick, forced Ragnarok into happening early while the Fire Giants were still massively depleted so the Aesir could fight for the win. Of course, that wasn't easy either...

TBC

The Saga of the Wanderers

2010-07-05T12:10:00.001+01:00

It's finally finished.

After 123 sessions, 10 Legend and the best part of 900xp the epic Scion campaign of epicness has drawn to a close - Ragnarok has been 'diverted' and the Wanderers have finally hung up their boots to take their place among the greatest gods of the Aesir. After sacrifice, betrayal, love, honour and, of course, the dropping of a 20km asteroid on Muspelheim the campaign notebooks have finally been hung up.

I'm somewhere between absolutely exhausted and incredibly bouncy and elated.

From The Ground Up - Maybe Not the Best Way To Reach The Stars...

2010-06-25T20:41:00.003+01:00

I've been having a significant amount of trouble with this setting - it's just not gripping me, just niggling away and world building for the sake of world building. It doesn't have the sense of fun I really enjoy creating for my players.

Maybe it's the fact that it just doesn't have a hook. If I tried to pitch it as a TV series it feels like something that'd either get cancelled after three episodes never to be seen again because the ratings were so abysmal or a series that would struggle on for half a series slowly petering out.

I'm of the general opinion that if I can't sell a concept to myself I won't be able to sell it to a group of players and make it in any way as enjoyable as the current one. As a GM I feel that I have duty to not make roleplaying boring or turn it into some sort of lecture rather than an enjoyable interactive experience.

I still adore the Duty and Honour/Beat to Quarters system (Empire!) and it's been rattling around my brain trying to attract my attention with a big flag that says 'Go With Your Instincts!' since I wrote part 4 of the blog. So I think I will. Currently I'm thinking of combining Empire! with epic space battles and going for awesomely cool steampunk spaceships. And possibly Martian Tripods. And death rays.

Yay! I can have Skullduggery back!

From the Ground Up - Homebrewing a Near Future Sci Fi Setting : part 5 : Power

2010-03-23T16:06:00.003Z

Power drives our civilisation. Without power our lives would be changed utterly; the dawn of civilisation was defined by the discovery of fire, most of it by the harnessing of beasts of burden, then our current age brought about by steam, coal, oil and nuclear power with solar and windpower nipping at their heels. With the current global power problems and global warming prowling in the shadows a change in power source would be a massive change for society.

I think I've decided on three...

1) An interim fuel source between now and near game time. I'm currently meandering through the GURPS Transhuman Space sourcebooks to ~~steal~~ borrow cool ideas and it's realistic use of helium-3 as the major power source of this century is something I'm going to keep for a while.

2) Plot-driven stellar-travel spaceship fuel. Caught by skimming solar winds and harvesting the matter expelled by stars. Really powerful but only viable in actual spacecraft.

3) A cool new fuel source to fight over. No nation would ever regard having too much fuel as a bad thing and if there's a new improved source on the block to fight over then you can bet that tensions will be high. As I ended up at a lecture on antimatter at last years British Science Festival that substance jumped to the top of my list. Certain isotopes are currently used in modern medical PET scanning because they decay and release antimatter - carbon-11, nitrogen-13, oxygen-15 and fluorine-18 - and this by itself lent itself to lots of fun possibilities for discovering antimatter on other planets. What happens if within a certain ecosystem one of these isotopes is bound in molecules which stabilise them until the molecule bonds are broken down? Antimatter is annoying to store for anything more than a few minutes without a penning trap, and even then the amount you can store in one is tiny but if you can ship out tons of the compound then separate the molecules...

From the Ground Up - Homebrewing a Near Future Sci Fi Setting : part 4 : Skills

2010-03-04T15:49:00.002Z

From a purely thematic viewpoint the skills in BtQ invoke wonderful images, after all just seeing the 'Skullduggery' skill brings to mind piratical exploits on the high seas and Dickensian urchins racing through the streets. While the insane part of my brain is screaming 'run Oliver Twist in Space!' at me I'm ignoring it and trying for a more modern feel to the setting.

First off I decided on the skills I was going to leave happily alone. 'Awareness', 'Command', 'Diplomacy', 'Gambling', 'Haggle', 'Intimidate', 'Profession' and 'Scavange' all seemed to be perfectly suited for the setting as is.

Leaving aside the wrestling match with linguistics for the moment I had to make a decision on new skills to reflect the changes in society, especially the importance of the sciences. With a bit of mulling over a few of the other space based games I decided to go for the three way split - 'Life Sciences', 'Technical Sciences' and 'Social Sciences'. I was tempted for a few minutes to add in the 'Theoretical Sciences' but that seemed like pushing the system a bit. Maths for the sake of maths is only a challenge if you're sitting an exam - somehow I don't think that wouldn't make a particularly fun session.

Now for the renaming. The non-military skills were less likely to break the mood than the military ones so I started with them. Firstly my beloved 'Skullduggery' had to go, 'Subterfuge' being the obvious choice to replace it. With the meshing of 'Music' and 'The Arts' was born 'Media' which more accurately reflected the current state of artistry. 'Romance' is a dirty word these days with 'Seduction' being closer to reality. 'Intrigue' was slightly more problematic but after having a good look at what the skill represented I decided on 'Investigation'. 'Courtesy' also led back to bygone days and it was a toss up between 'Charisma' and 'Presence' with 'Presence' winning afte a small tussle.

The military skills were what I was most dreading. So much of the atmosphere depended on getting these correct. 'Purser' was fairly straightforward and immediately went to 'Logistics'. Likewise, 'Gunnery' made perfect sense to go to 'Ordnance'. 'Soldiering' renaming to 'Military' and seemed to feel right. The others were less forthcoming. I had some reservations about combining 'Seamanship' and 'Maritime' but in the end compromised by replacing the two of those and 'Riding' with the combo of 'System Ops' and 'Pilot' - one for large vehicles, the other for personal/small scale craft.

Now I had to figure out if anything was missing. The only thing I could really see needing was some kind of skill to simulate the challenges of working in different gravity conditions. 'Athletics' was the first phrase of choice but it gave off too many allusions to sports so I opted for 'Agility' which didn't have the same type of overtones.

Now I have everything system-wise but traits and ships, however how they could manifest depends entirely on the setting and tech level so I'm off to get some research done.

TBC...

From the Ground Up - Homebrewing a Near Future Sci Fi Setting : Part 3 : Measures

2010-02-23T20:36:00.002Z

Linguistics, language and literature have always fascinated me, especially when trying to choose the right words to portray the correct theme. The idea that two words can technically mean exactly the same thing but invoke completely different moods has always endeared me to a love of the English language. With that in mind I knew I'd have to do a bit of tweaking with the skills and measures of D&H to portray a futuristic setting.

The measures were mostly kept as standard - 'discipline', 'influence' and 'charm' are as important a measure of a man as they ever were. 'Guts', however, gave me a bit of a problem. Having played Deadlands previously the term brought back memories of the wild west, mixed with some overtones of pirates on the high seas. While perfect for the Napoleonic era it was not giving the impression of a modernistic setting.

So, what felt right to replace it?

Going back to my old haunts 'Stamina' was always a good fit for general fitness and health but here it didn't seem right. It came across as too light a term for a weighty measure, more associated with gym fitness than the heat of battle.

'Endurance' was another possibility but came up against the same problem.

'Health' just didn't seem right.

Eventually, after messing about with various phrasings, I decided on 'Resilience'. Formal, impressive, modern and few preconceptions about its scope.

Happy with that I then turned my eye to the skills...

TBC

From the Ground Up - Homebrewing a Near Future Sci Fi Setting : Part 2 : The Basics

2010-02-05T12:52:00.003Z

I have a system.

I have a vague genre.

Now I've just got to figure out the details.

SciFi (with apologies to Douglas Adams) is big. Really big. It covers everything from the beginnings of cybertech to the vastness of intergalactic empires so it's important to know what type of scifi to go for. With that in mind I had a number of ground rules I wanted to stick to:

1) All the pcs will be human.
This will ensure that all the characters will have an identity based on the pcs' outlook and experiences, rather than just having broad stokes of 'I'm an elf/dwarf/three-tenticled-Xzuka.' While I'm still undecided on whether to have alien beasties in the setting I'd want them to be properly alien, not just a human with a bumpy forehead.

2) The tech will be at least vaguely viable.
I'm a science geek. Most of my friends are science geeks. I go to the British Science Festival every year and pick up random weird and wonderful facts about new technologies. I know that some of the odder scientific theories out there are perfectly viable and it's far more interesting to have logic underpinning your tech. Without that it's just magic with a different name.

3) I will be able to have cool space battles.
Because they're cool. 'Nuff said.

4) The setting will still be recognisable.
I'll be aiming to get new blood in and infodumping a new, unrecognisable setting on people I don't know is usually a recipe for disaster. By keeping a recognisable set of governmental entities relating back to modern nations I can give a frame of reference while relying on the story to fill in the nuances of international relations. The general point that current levels of globalisation has led to a major resurgance of nationalism rather than decreasing it makes me think that it isn't going to be going away for a long time.

5) The pcs will have a noticeable effect on the universe they reside in.
The pcs are the most important people in that particular universe as far as the players are concerned. This is an undisputed fact. The players experience the universe via the pcs and if their actions mean nothing then there's no real reason for them to be playing. While these effects can start small when the players see that their pcs can make a difference to the universe around them it will immerse them more fully into the setting. It also means that they know that their actions have consequences and that if they screw up its not just themselves they have to worry about.

With these ground rules in mind I started to have an idea of the setting that would most fulfil them. A near future setting, just at the very dawn of FTL travel, would be ideal. There would be the opportunity for first contact with other species (or the opportunity for wholescale genocide depending on your view), there are enough current theories on FTL travel that I could pick a bunch and see which one feel the best, the human sphere won't have changed that much - though the rest of the solar system would be colonised and, of course, by being pioneers in the jump out to space the characters will be directly affecting the growth of human civilization in a tangible way.

TBC

From the Ground Up - Homebrewing a Near Future Sci Fi Setting : Part1 : Stuff

2010-02-03T11:23:00.002Z

I'm an engineer by trade and a scientist by mindset. Let me get that right out in the open from the start.

I love well thought-out rpg systems and the way certain systems or gaming processes lend themselves to different genres is something that I am always conscious of when deciding on a new campaign. There are certain games which epitomise this - the original Deadlands, with it's mix of dice, poker chips and cards, managed to enhance the feel of the Old West and, despite it's seeming complexity, improved the gaming experience. This always seemed to be the epitome of the system fitting the genre (especially when you played poker with the same cards after the session).

The original World of Darkness rules became my standard 'generic' system for modern day games when I was gaming at university, mostly because of their simplicity and ubiquity. There were always little touches that could be tweaked with the Storyteller system to give it that little bit more atmosphere.

Others are less successful. I've only really been happy with the various d20 systems when I've used them to send up the whole genre - XCrawl using the Iron Heroes rules is amazing fun and I've had a great time attempting to break the paradigm by subverting DnD stereotypes but that's only good if everyone in the group has ganged up to completely destroy the genre. At a different level GURPS is a brilliant series of sourcebooks but the system has always left me cold as it's too clinical for me.

Which brings me to my main problem at the moment - what happens when you find a beautifully elegant system but aren't comfortable with the setting that comes with it?

Yep, it doesn't happen often but it's happened to me a couple of times - the first was Fireborn, a short lived 'the PCs are shapeshifted dragons in modern day London' game from Fantasy Flight which had a lovely basic mechanic unfortunately backed up by an overly complicated combat system and a setting that never really jelled.

The second is my current favourite system of all time - the one created in Duty & Honour/Beat to Quarters by Neil Gow. It's very stylised but elegant in the way most systems couldn't even dream about. The pure card based system can rack up tension in a way that'd be difficult to attempt, let alone succeed with, using dice rolling. My only problem is that I wouldn't feel comfortable with running it with the setting it's designed for - the Napoleonic Wars. I'm not a Renaissance girl; my heart belongs to ancient times or to the unknown future. If something happened less than two or three hundred years ago it just doesn't seem like history - more like slightly old current events. Growing up down the road to a Neolithic dolmen that might be older than Stonehenge does seem to define your worldview and I know I just couldn't do justice to the era. In fact I've probably insulted a bunch of historians by mentioning the renaissance and the Napoleonic Wars in the same breath.

So what do I aim for? Duty and Honour is based around infantry which would be a fit for most eras, though I'd want it to be a time which fits with the cards. Pulp Noir would be interesting with the whole relationship based drive of the system so I spent some time trying to feel out how my players regarded that setting.

Shot down in flames.

Then Beat to Quarters came out. It is based around naval campaigns and the moment I saw the ship-to-ship combat rules I knew that this is what I wanted. My players had previously expressed a great deal of interest in playing a space-based military campaign and I realised that I held in my hands the perfect tool to run it. Now I just had to figure out the details...

TBC

Painted Somersaulting Wardancer

2009-08-18T17:11:00.002+01:00

My freehand kinda sucks on the tattoos but otherwise I'm happy with this guy. Much easier to transport than the orignal model too.

Wardancer

2009-06-11T14:49:00.004+01:00

I'd picked up this guy on GW's mail order site a while back and was fairly unimpressed. The detail on the mail order minis, especially the faces, was far below what I generally expect. I didn't really want it to go to waste but also wasn't that impressed with the pose - far to difficult to transport for a start, the spear was dreadfully bent and threatening to snap. Removing the spear I decided to convert him to backflipping over a piece of broken warmachinery, severing the waist and leg and repositioning them to look like the legs were actually going the right way. It might have gone better if I'd arched the back a bit more but on the whole I quite like him like this.

2009-06-11T14:35:00.002+01:00

When I picked up this base in a pack from Micro Art Studio I was a bit wary as to what I could use it for, the slope didn't really fill me with hope for a good fit. However with a bit of modification the Panzerfaust Ghulam fits quite nicely, sitting perched on top of a pile of rubble looking for targets.

Akali Speedster

2009-05-27T13:34:00.003+01:00

Another superhero conversion, this time a speedster from a PanOc Akali. The pose is great for running though I wish I'd been able to angle him down a bit further (the pinning would have been a nightmare and as he's actually going to be used I didn't want to take the chance.) Tried for a weathered bronze 'Rocketeer' type 1940s feel. Not sure it comes out in the pics. (S.U.V.A.T. suit.)

Zulu Skinks!

2009-05-27T13:31:00.004+01:00

Because if you're going to go with a Southlands theme you may as well go all the way.

Interventor

2009-05-27T13:22:00.007+01:00

Infinity Interventor with a minor conversion (just changing the gun holster into something that looks more like a control pad or something else less gun-like) to make her closer to a superhero concept (Cybernista!).

Vyper/Viper

2008-01-14T16:01:00.000Z

The Vyper/Viper is finally finished. It was entered as my entry for the Work-In-Progress Fast Attack competition and came a respectable second. Now I just need to work on a Necron/Cylon Raider...

Raptor Squad Markings

2007-10-04T15:09:00.000+01:00

I tried to go for a glowing rune effect for the squad marking on the shoulder pad and I'm quite happy with the result. The symbol is the alchemic rune for Arsenic which I thought quite fitting.

Vanguard - Raptor Sergeant

2007-10-02T10:57:00.000+01:00

I'd been holding back from my beloved Alpha Legion with the release of the new Chaos codex but now I've actually got my grubby little hands on it it's made me want to go back and work on my Lost'n'Damned. While the Legion got a little bit nerfed by the new rules, the actual list is very nice indeed and the Legion get three quaters of a page of descriptions of how devious they are - which can't be bad. However, it does make me want to play the devious legion that nicks all it's stuff from Imperial supply convoys and converts entire IG regiments to Chaos.
Here is the first of my 'disguised' Alpha Legionnaires, and the head of his enemy.

Autarch Finished

2007-03-29T16:49:00.000+01:00

I'm really pleased with the colour scheme on the Autarch.
I wasn't too sure about the purple/green gem combo but it
is rather striking without clashing too much with the brown.

In retrospect I should have got rid of the beard for a female
Autarch but on the whole I'm happy!

2007-01-24T14:41:00.000Z

After the discussion started by Despoyler on W.I.P. I had a quick go at creating an Autarch only out of plastic bitz mainly from the new Dire Avenger kit. After a bit of testing I used a female guardian torso and backpack (why don't they do an official female autarch? it seems a massive oversight), a plume from a dark eldar sprue (free with a WD so old I can't remember what was in it) and a 'nid gribbly to trample. I'm not desperatly impressed by the pose but I did knock this up in less than thirty minutes and I wouldn't be embarrassed using it.

Djanbazan

2007-01-23T16:01:00.000Z

I love my Djanbazan, it's just taken me ages to get a decent photo of him. The painting came out a lot cleaner than the Ghulam and I wanted to show him off to good effect.

Eidolon Campaign 1.0, Paradigm Shift

2006-12-14T11:40:00.000Z

As previously mentioned, I've started uploading my Conspiracy X campaign. This is the introductory adventure, designed to be run in a one afternoon session and give the players a taste of the Conspiracy X world. As ConX v2 wasn't out when I started this I was running with a modded version of the the new World of Darkness rules so I haven't included any stats, but as the major antagonist is injured he's probably best being tailored to the cell's capabilities anyway.

The scenario is here:http://www.jashyr.co.uk/ConX/Eidolon_0_%20paradigm_shift.pdf

There will be repercussions later in the campaign for what happens here, just enough to make the players feel clever for remembering it later on.

Conspiracy X Campaign Notes

2006-12-06T14:56:00.000Z

I did promise to post my Conspiracy X campaign notes once I'd typed them up. I know my players so I go into insane amounts of detail when I'm planning for all the weird stuff they could spring on me (and yet they still manage to surprise me - I will expound upon the story of how they suddenly decided to requisition a T-Rex skull eventually.)

Anyway here is the overview/GMs intro giving a brief teaser of all the individual scenarios. The actual scenario write-ups are gradually taking shape and the first few should be ready very soon too.
http://www.jashyr.co.uk/ConX/Eidolon_introduction.pdf

Alpha Legion Boards Ride Again!

2006-11-09T16:10:00.000Z

Momentum has gathered on The Serpent's Lair Alpha Legion forums (linky to the right) so if any Legion players have been tempted over here, go take a look. It's steadily filling up with tactics articles, army lists, conversion ideas and general Alpha Legion discussions.

Yay! GaRoTa is Back Again

2006-10-30T16:53:00.000Z

There is much rejoicing!

RPG Update

2006-10-10T13:26:00.000+01:00

A librarian, a cop, a retired army engineer, a mystery writer and a tattoo artist walk into a bar...

Mage has not started out like we expected, mainly because only two of the characters have actually met so far. Ah, the joys of getting the party to cooperate. It'll never last.

Back from Hols

2006-10-04T13:13:00.000+01:00

Back to work and the dark nights are closing in. Trying to paint after work is pretty much impossible now so its back to the long, dark months to hone converting skills.

On the bright side it also means a new university term and new RPG campaigns. The new WOD version of Mage seemed to the most popular offering this year and I've joined up for a York based character driven campaign. Updates shall no doubt follow...

Exodite Kill Team Ranger

2006-09-22T10:55:00.000+01:00

Just to prove I haven't been slacking too much :-)

Finally got round to assembling my Exodite ranger for the Work-In-Progress kill teams. As an exercise in 'how many different sprues can I combine for one model' it was fun to do, even if it has taken me this long. More views and expo on Work-In-Progress. http://z11.invisionfree.com/Work_In_Progress/index.php?showtopic=5506

Bloody Stupid GW UK Online Stores...

2006-09-20T15:41:00.000+01:00

All I want is a single Eldar falcon engine block sprue for my Vyper/MkII Colonial Viper conversion from the GW UK online store. Should be easy enough but no, they don't sell the three different falcon sprues seperately. The US store does, but absolutely nowhere else. Even I'm not enough of a convertaholic to shell out £20 for two tiny engine parts. I'm going to have to go back to the drawing board with this one.
Why is it every time I desperately need a part it goes out of production about a fortnight earlier?

The Con X Campaign is Finally Over

2006-09-18T14:59:00.000+01:00

My players and I have finally finished my Conspiracy X campaign 'Eidolon' after a year of conspiracies, bluffs, double bluffs, Saurian invasion plans and more information on virii than any sane non-doctor should ever need. While all the original player characters survived, one is in need of immediate top-security psychiatric care and will never go back on active duty again. So on behalf of everyone who has had so much enjoyment from playing (and hearing about) the campaign I salute you:

The Major; whos ability to avoid telling the other characters information has passed into legend.

Captain Hospitalier; bane of Saurians and the only person who seriously regards snowmen as legitimate camoflauge.

'Jinx' Jackson; the only man who, when told about impressive skulls involved in ancient incarnate binding rituals, would automatically think 'where can I get the remains of a T-Rex'

Claymore; the least psychic non-void in the history of existance.

and of course Cavanagh; the easily led psychic, now led only by the straps of his straightjacket.

At Least I Get to Write...

2006-09-15T10:19:00.000+01:00

Mostly writing up the notes on my Conspiracy X campaign last night. Once I've finished GMing it(one or two weeks at the very most) I'll post 'em up on the X12 yahoo group.

Since there was no painting last night (something to do with Leeds having a small hurricane rip through it last night. Seriously.) here's the final infinity model from last week's painting.

The sculpt has a small probem with the facial molding. The mold line (with a whole lot of flash attached) goes right through the left side of his face and mangles some of the definition. It didn't seem to be 100% right no matter what I did. Oh, and the comment has been made that I really should just marry the Vallejo florescent green. It's just too cool not to use for icky, posssibly radioactive waste.

New RPGs for the New BURPS Year

2006-09-14T12:01:00.000+01:00

No painting yesterday, the usual Yorkshire weather descended and it chucked it down, so back to writing the upcoming campaign instead. Came across a recommendation on Exalted Wiki for this superb repository of really cool Exalted character sheets. I've snapped up the dragon blooded ones and it means I don't have to worry about creating a customised one for my players.

http://www.melissauran.com/wps/

Last Week's Painting - Infinity Again

2006-09-12T13:45:00.000+01:00

There was much thunder, lighting, rain and very little light yesterday evening so no painting for me. In its place is one of the other models I finished last week, a female Haqqislam ghulam trooper, again from Corvus Belli's Infinity range.

Lovely sculpt. Definate contender for CB's annual 'rear of the year' award. It must be 'cos they're Spanish :-) . While I swear I will get some photos with less lens glare, these were the best of the bunch I got over the weekend. The camo effect was inspired by the Phillipine Special Forces 'brick' urban camo, just a lightweight version that was easier to paint and didn't obsure the detail as much as the real-life camo would. It's not perfect but I like it and its a bit unique.

Last Week's Painting - Infinity

2006-09-11T13:41:00.000+01:00

My ongoing obessesion with Corvus Belli scupts has led me to adore their 'Infinity' line of anime influenced sci-fi models. Everything from the ear-comms down to the treads on the soles of the shoes have been rendered with such care that they look much more realistic than the stylised 40K or Void stuff. Most of my painting for the last few weeks has been from this range.

Anyway from last week's batch of painting, an Fiday from the Haqqislam faction.

Sit Rep

2006-09-08T15:26:00.000+01:00

Current Painting:
GW WoodElf Noble w/great weapon (absolutely gorgeous sculpt.)
Infinity Haqqislam Ghulam Doctor (I'm addicted to the Corvus Belli sculpts.)
Infinity Haqqislam Djanbazan (ditto.)

Current Converting:
Exodite Ranger for the W.I.P. Eldar Kill Team (yeah, I know I'm dragging my heels over this one but I just can't get a pose that doesn't look boring).
Lost'n'Damned Basilisk (big guns! spiky bitz! needs more dragony bitz though. There'll be some serious greenstuffing and I'm kinda putting it off while I've still got enough light to paint on an evening.)

Current RPG GMing:
Conspiracy X (I may even write up the campaign at some point.)

Current RPG Writing:
Exalted - Dragon Blooded (due to start at the beginning of university term time, somewhere round October 1st)

Opening the Bitzbox

2006-09-07T10:27:00.000+01:00

'cos you've got to start somewhere.

This'll probably involve random musings on roleplaying, mini painting, conversions and the general wierdness of life.

Enjoy
Jash