Wandering Monsters... A Webcomic Debut

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The Treasure Chest

One thing I like about the Internet is it's seemingly endless supply of inspirational, educational, and at times entertaining content.  It's like a treasure chest ( to use a gaming metaphor ), when you "open' it, you never know what you may find.  Occasionally it will be empty, sometimes it's trapped, but most of the time you find some really cool stuff.

Over at Tower of the Archmage, there's a contest.  It requires some participation and effort, but the prize is a nice piece of terrain.

Loviatar #5 is out.  Christian has published another great issue.  If you don't know about Loviatar go check it out here.  Well worth the $3!

I've been exploring different miniature war gaming rule sets, and I recently discovered Death Squads.  It's a fan created rule-set inspired by Games Workshop's Warhammer 40K, but it's for skirmish level battles. I've been skimming the rules, and so far I like what they've done.  Designed to be used with your Game Workshop miniatures, it would be a nice break when you get tired of playing 40K.  Of course you can create your squad using other miniatures, and many players are doing just that.  From what I read , you can keep the same squad from battle to battle, and they can gain experience, squad members die, new equipment purchased., etc.  This is very similar to Necromunda, and it's an aspect of the game I like.  Of course if things really go south on you during a game you can always disband your squad, and start over.  The best thing is that you can download the rules for free.

Even if you're not into war gaming, the Death Squad forum has some great info on miniature painting and terrain building.  I really like to see other people's work, and there's some great stuff at Death Squad.

The treasure chest is empty, bag it up, and move out!  Some bugbears are coming down the hall, and they're out for blood!

Great Eye of Fire!

Don't draw the ire of the great eye of fire!

I've always been intrigued with the elemental planes.  What sort of creatures, ( aside from the standard elementals of course ), reside in such inhospitable places?  The illustration above is an experiment to create one such creature, the Great Eye of Fire.  Is it intelligent?  A servant of some powerful, fiery denizen of the Elemental Plane of Fire?  Constantly on the prowl, soaring above vast seas of lava, searching for intruders to it's master domain.

I like how the illustration came out, except for the "pupil".  I need to work on that.  I thought about not adding a "pupil", but it needed something.  Otherwise it just looks like a giant fireball, and the pupil really helps with the whole giant eye of fire concept.

Next thing to do is work up a stat block.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!  It's quiet around here.  My brother and his girlfriend are in Lubbock.  Mom's just shot off to the ER because of a sinus infection.  I guess it's really bothering her, and of course no doctors are open today.  Nothing cooking here, but Thanksgiving's going to be at my Aunt and Uncle's later today so that's a good thing.  Always a good feast there.

I'm going to try and enjoy the day, but it's difficult.  First major holiday since my sister passed away.  It really is too quiet around here.

Are You Ready?

A spoof cover of a government preparedness booklet.  The photograph ( if you didn't already know ) is from Night of the Living Dead, a movie that is in the public domain.  Government manuals are also not copyrighted material.

I should write the whole booklet from the perspective of how to prepare for the coming zombie apocalypse.  Might be fun...

What D&D Character Am I ???

Yeah, I did it...

I Am A: True Neutral Human Ranger (7th Level)

Ability Scores:

Strength-14
Dexterity-15
Constitution-13
Intelligence-15
Wisdom-16
Charisma-11

Alignment:
True Neutral A true neutral character does what seems to be a good idea. He doesn't feel strongly one way or the other when it comes to good vs. evil or law vs. chaos. Most true neutral characters exhibit a lack of conviction or bias rather than a commitment to neutrality. Such a character thinks of good as better than evil after all, he would rather have good neighbors and rulers than evil ones. Still, he's not personally committed to upholding good in any abstract or universal way. Some true neutral characters, on the other hand, commit themselves philosophically to neutrality. They see good, evil, law, and chaos as prejudices and dangerous extremes. They advocate the middle way of neutrality as the best, most balanced road in the long run. True neutral is the best alignment you can be because it means you act naturally, without prejudice or compulsion. However, true neutral can be a dangerous alignment when it represents apathy, indifference, and a lack of conviction.

Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.

Class:
Rangers are skilled stalkers and hunters who make their home in the woods. Their martial skill is nearly the equal of the fighter, but they lack the latter's dedication to the craft of fighting. Instead, the ranger focuses his skills and training on a specific enemy a type of creature he bears a vengeful grudge against and hunts above all others. Rangers often accept the role of protector, aiding those who live in or travel through the woods. His skills allow him to move quietly and stick to the shadows, especially in natural settings, and he also has special knowledge of certain types of creatures. Finally, an experienced ranger has such a tie to nature that he can actually draw on natural power to cast divine spells, much as a druid does, and like a druid he is often accompanied by animal companions. A ranger's Wisdom score should be high, as this determines the maximum spell level that he can cast.

Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)


I really though I might be more chaotic neutral... oh well.  Actually, I should probably be chaotic hungry.

Don't Fence Me In... or What's Cookin' Zanazaz?

Wow.  I just noticed it's almost been a month since I last posted.  Sometimes when you're exhausted it seems like time flies by like the Millennium Falcon evading Tie Fighters.  I've been busy building a fence, which included a concrete footing, and that involved loading and unloading bags of concrete, mixing said concrete, etc.  I think it involved close to 2,000 pounds of concrete, probably more than that.  Hence the exhaustion....

Each section took six bags of concrete. So... about 360 pounds of concrete...

The hard part is almost done.  I've got to put up a few more rails then I start putting up the fence slats, which should be easy, but I have to cut each one to the correct length.  Three are already up, but there are so many more to go.  I should already have had this done, but the summer heat was a real killer.  It's nice and cool now.  Unfortunately, after the back fence is done, the other side fence needs to be replaced...

After working on the fence all I usually feel like doing is watching t.v. or reading blogs, but like I said the hard part is over, and I can start writing again.  Expect a new Kinship story soon!

A couple of weeks ago I received the newest issue of Loviatar in the mail.  Cool gaming zine.  I really enjoy reading it.  Christian, of the destination unknown blog, does a great job publishing Loviatar.  If you haven't checked it out yet you should.

On the gaming front, I haven't done much of anything.  I've been downloading free miniature rules, and reading them.  I'm intrigued by fubar, and plan on exploring it further.  I've found a couple of interesting blogs and websites that use 6mm scale minis and terrain for their war gaming.  So tiny!  I guess Epic ( Games Workshop ) is 6mm?  If so, I have a ton of minis I could use.

I've also downloaded Hordes of the Things, but reading through it, I'm not sure I like it.  I played one game of HOTT many, many years ago in the gaming room in a comic book store, but I don't remember anything about the game.

My Kinship project is on the back burner for  now, just simmering away...