Humanoid Enemy Quirks

  To spice up encounters with humanoid enemies roll a d20 on this chart once for each group encountered. Apply the result to one random member of the enemy group, the idea is that maybe in a group of 3 bandits maybe one has slightly more armor or one out of 5 goblins is already wounded.. Not every creature needs a complicated backstory but this way some of the rank and file grunts will seem a little more "alive" and unique.

D20

1. Scared and grizzled- has a few extra hit points.
2. Wearing superstitious charms- has a slight bonus to save against wisdom related effects.
3. Extra big and muscled- has a slight bonus to damage.
4. Is wearing a few extra bits of armor- +1 to AC.
5. Better stance and technique- has an additional attack.
6. Craven- will immediately attempt to surrender if takes damage.
7. Mocking- hurls insults during battle.
8. Avenger- determine another random member of the enemy group. If that character is slain the enemy with the avenger quirk will attack the killer with a berserk frenzy.
9. Wealthy- has slightly more coin or treasure than is typical.
10. Wielding better quality weapon- has slight bonus to hit.
11. Fearless- has bonus to morale.
12. Alert- has slight bonus to perception and detection.
13. Small build- has a few less hit points.
14.  Attractive- is particularly good looking, handsome/pretty (or at least clean and noble in stature).
15.  Wearing less armor- -1 to AC.
16. Fearsome- looks particularly badass.
17.  Wounded- already has a significant wound, significantly fewer hit points.
18.  Has an interesting weapon- the weapon is unusual or at least different from others in the group.
19.  Tattooed- has some prominent tattoos.
20.  Has a musical instrument- will play it during battle for morale or to try to signal nearby allies. 

 Comments and questions are welcome, or maybe come up with extra entries on the list. Cheers!

Ingenuity vs. Intelligence

My Quarantine Zone game uses 6 character attribute stats that form the acronym B.R.A.I.N.S. The 'I' used to stand for 'Intelligence' but I have decided to change it to 'Ingenuity' instead. I understand using Intelligence as an ability score in some settings and some game systems but for what I am trying to portray in Quarantine Zone it does not work as well. In a present day- post apocalyptic world featuring regular people as protagonists I think ingenuity will be a better choice than intelligence for representing a character. In Quarantine Zone I want it to be more important for a character to display: 

"The quality of being cleverly inventive or resourceful."

than for that character to have a high IQ score. I would rather a successful skill test for picking a locked door be represented by an ingenious character using chewing gum and a paperclip than that character just being somehow smart enough that they know how to pick a lock.

Awwww yeah!

Equipment for Necromancers

The Necromancer requires a ready supply of mortal remains as subjects for their dark magic. Keeping fresh (or not so fresh) body parts can be difficult however, especially in large quantities. These items are essential for any serious practitioner of the Necromantic arts.

Body Bag
Although you could just stuff a body in any old sack the Body Bag is a vastly superior choice. This huge leather bag has a thick double lining and is waterproof. It can shut air-tight when drawn closed. A Body Bag can hold up to ten hit dice worth of body parts and weighs 1ENR if empty ( it can fold up fairly small when not in use). If in use the Body Bag weighs 1ENR + 1ENR per hit dice worth of body parts contained within. A Body Bag can be used by non-necromancers as well as a means of transporting the body parts of exotic creatures to market, or even to safely transport the remains of a fallen comrade. A Body Bag costs 10gp.

Preservative Agents
These alchemical potions help greatly to stave off the effects of rot and decay. If a single dose if poured into a Body Bag and left overnight all the remains inside the bag will stay "fresh".  If a Body Bag receives daily applications of  Preservative Agents and is kept in a cold and vermin-free environment it will continue to preserve the remains nearly indefinitely. The alchemical ingredients required to make Preservative Agents are expensive and rare however, thus each dose costs 5gp.

Flesh Scarabs
These vile little creatures are of invaluable help to Necromancers who prefer to work with skeletal remains. Each Scarab is only slightly larger than a coin and they are typically sold in small colony groups of a few dozen individuals. A colony of Flesh Scarabs comes in a small sealed iron box which contains a small quantity of sand. If the open box is placed inside a Body Bag which contains "fleshy" remains and left overnight by morning the bones will be stripped nearly clean of flesh and the scarabs will have retreated back into their sandy home. A colony of Scarabs which are given a steady supply of flesh to eat will be able to reproduce and replenish their numbers indefinitely but it is impossible to breed additional colonies. Each colony of Flesh Scarabs must be imported from distant lands and thus each box costs 50gp, The iron box they are housed in weighs 1ENR.  

Peddler's Bag
A Peddler's Bag is a small cloth bag which contains simple supplies of the sort usually used by peddlers to mend shabby clothes. Each bag usually contains a random assortment of soiled rags, strips of leather, wooden sticks, nails, small twisted bits of metal, pins, needles, string and twine. Each bag weighs 1ENR and contains 20 uses. You could scrounge up the materials that make a Peddler's Bag by paying any shopkeeper 3 copper pieces for the privilege of searching through their waste-bin.

( Note: Many Necromancer spells such as "Create Skeletal Wretch" require 1d6 uses from a Peddler's Bag, as well as many of the spells used by Animators.)

The state of B?X

Well it has been a while since my last post., I guess that's how it goes sometimes. I suppose I would rather post sporadically when I want to then push myself to post frequently just for the sake of it and end up burning myself out.

Anyway, here is a bit of an update on my B?X project:

The release of the 5th ed playtest materials really re-ignited my interest in the project. People will tell you that 5th ed looks like 2nd or 4th ed but honestly it looks to me mostly like B/X, or at least how my group used to play B/X back in junior high.

Right now my core rules are basically very similar to the rules from the playtest with a few major changes.

Experience and leveling
I am having the characters start out at lvl 0- heavily inspired by the DDC beta rules. First they will roll stats in order, and then roll on a separate occupation table depending on what their highest stat was. So a character who rolled strength as their highest stat would roll on the strength based occupation table.

The 0lvl characters start with no class and virtually no money or equipment, just what their occupation gives them. They will start with a "background trait" just like in 5ed, but they will have to wait till they hit level 1 to choose a theme for their class.

I am probably not using standard experience points for leveling. Instead the characters will stay at their current level until the complete a big level appropriate quest. The players and I will discuss what a worthy quest would be and come to an agreement about it. Increasing in level gives a hp increase and increases the character's ingame prestige and renown. In between tackling the big "level up" quests the players can engage in any number of smaller quests or adventures to gain money and supplies or possibly unlock and improve abilities. - So you wont become a better swordsman just by leveling up; you need to go on a specific quest to find a sword-master to train you.

Race as class. Also some weird changes to some of the races.

Alignment: there will be Lawful, Chaotic and Neutral. There are no real gods in my setting per se but there is an absolute force of good and an absolute force of evil fighting it out.

I am thinking about setting a flat level cap at lvl 6. I think a low level cap will be overall more manageable, and I hope that it will encourage players to get involved in creating a legacy with their characters- when a fighter hits lvl 6 and settles down to become a ruler, the player can make a new character from a  former follower they had.

I am completely overhauling magic. Going to be using mana pools and piety dice and getting rid of Vancian spellcasting entirely. I made up new types of wizards with their own new schools of magic. Magic will be learnt from found spellbooks and there will be no such thing as spell lvl or spells per day.

I could get more into specifics but I'm going to bed now.

Comments and questions are welcome.

-Cheers!

Adventuring Equipment

 Some adventurers bring "healer's kits" with them into the dungeon and rely on herbs and bandages to keep them going. The more rough and tumble brand of adventurers bring strong drink.

Fortified Wine

A swig of strong fortified wine can keep even a gravely injured warrior on his feet. Fortified wine is laced with tonics and restorative medicines plus the biting flavor will shock the drinker into wakefulness while the liquor dulls pain.

• 25gp for a canteen, 5 uses - 1lb. same effect as a healer's kit.

Hard Liquor
The most foolhardy adventurers are fond of carrying small "handcasks" of powerful liquor such as moonshine or the dreaded dwarven fire whisky.  In contrast to fortified wine these drinks have very little medicinal value aside from occasionally being poured into wounds as disinfectant.

• 25gp for a handcask ,10 uses - 2lb. same effect as a healer's kit*.
• 50gp for a pony-keg ,20 uses - 5lb. same effect as a healer's kit*.

*If you expend more uses than your CON ability score modifier during the same rest you suffer from the Intoxicated condition for a full hour.

Sturdy Steel-shod Boots
These tough steel and leather boots are the absolute best protection available for an adventurers' feet. The toughened leather exterior has been treated with several coats of protective varnish and wax, making them both water proof and extremely durable. Although padded and comfortable on the inside these boots have a reinforced steel toe and a thick steel sole, as well as several small metal plates to protect the heel and sides of the feet.  The drawbacks that come with these boots are that they tend to make a loud clanging sound when walking across stone and they are obviously very dangerous to wear while attempting to swim.

• 10gp for pair (must be worn as pair), 4lbs. as pair, +1 to wearer AC.
• At the end of your turn if the wearer is in melee combat and hasn't moved they may make a extra kick attack using only their basic strength modifier. If it hits the attack does 1d4 bludgeoning damage.
• At the DM's discretion these sturdy boots can protect the wearer's feet from nearly any damaging effect that would target feet specifically.
• Anytime the wearer attempts to climb, jump, swim, or move stealthily   the DM should impose severe penalties.

Sturdy Gauntlet
Most of the heavier types of armor come with a set of gauntlets but sometimes even lightly armored warriors choose to wear them. Although it may not be the most heroic tactic, a well timed punch can be very effective.

• 5gp each, 10gp for pair. 1lb. each, 2lb. as pair, +1 to wearer AC if a pair is worn.
• If the wearer is in melee combat and has a free gauntleted hand they may make a extra punching attack using only their basic strength modifier. If it hits the attack does 1d4 bludgeoning damage.
• A gauntleted hand cannot cast arcane spells or preform delicate tasks.

Just some ideas I had, Cheers!

Creatures of the Basic set pt.2

More thoughts on the bestiary from the Moldvay Basic set:

Bat:
Comes in two flavours:
Normal- regular bats who fly around characters and cause confusion, they are very likely to flee unless they are summoned or controlled.
Giant- they do 1-4 dmg and only have 2 HD so they aren't too giant really but i guess alot bigger than a regular bat. There is a chance they are Giant Vampire bats and thus suck blood and can cause vampirism, a neat little touch.

I'm going to try to use normal bats more often. Even if they can't actually attack I think they work really well as a "dressing", it makes alot of sense for them to be in a dungeon anyway.

Bear:
The bears in the basic set are on par with the weakest dragons, I think that says alot right there. All bears have a "hug" ability that causes 2d8 extra damage if both paw attacks hit the same target, it is this ability that really makes bears lethal.

Black- the regular bear, not too threatening but a good companion for a druid. Also perfect for being a campsite invader, punish the players for not storing their food properly.

Grizzly- Now we are talking, these guys are scary. Although I might use the polar bear stats for a papa or mama grizzly.

Polar- The main reason characters should avoid cold regions.

Cave- These 15ft tall killing machines are coming for your blood- really- "If hungry, they will follow a track of blood until they have eaten." so you better not walk around with unbandaged wounds in bear country.

Beetle:
Although I think fire beetles are lame, oil beetles and especially tiger beetles are pretty cool. I think they are an interesting alternative to some of the more conventional fantasy dungeon monsters.

Berserker:
I never really liked these dudes until quite recently, they have a really cool description in the 5th ed playtest that changed the way I think of them.  So barbaric Germanic tribesmen they are! Picts and such. Great for populating the wilderness as "wildlings" and giving PC barbarians a place to come from.

Boar:
Another useful if not terribly exciting addition. Great for hunting and eating at feasts. You can use these same stats for a deer buck if you want.


Bugbear:
I hate the name, I hate the concept. My goblins aren't hairy so they sure as hell won't have giant hairy cousins. In a game where an Owl Bear is a owl-bear hybrid animal bugbears just cause confusion. I don't use bugbears, they don't exist in my gameworld.


Carrion Crawler:
A really cool concept. I would leave as is. I love creatures like the crawler and gelatinous cube because of their role as waste disposal in the dungeon environment.

-More to come. Cheers! 

The Monsters of the Basic Set

As a young kid, before I could even read I was pouring over the pages of the Moldvay basic set just devouring the pictures with my imagination (particularly page B20- lol). I spent many hours running around my local park pretending to fight white apes and carrion crawlers.

Anyways, I thought I would share some of my thoughts on the monsters of the basic set.


Acolyte:
These dudes are pretty cool. There is alot of roleplaying potential here.  I think it really comes down to what the clerics are up to and what alignment they are. So here goes:

 1d6 for alignment
1-2 Lawful   - Jolly friar-tuck types or deadly serious witch hunters.
3-4 Neutral  - Pagan druids.
5-6 Chaotic  - Hardcore super-evil raiders or more moderate hedonistic types.

1d6 for current mission
1- On a pilgrimage to or from a shrine.
2- Escorting a valuable relic.
3- Seeking new converts.
4- Itching to battle nonbelievers.
5- Fleeing persecution.
6- Searching for the "Chosen One".

Ape, White:
White Apes are a very useful creature for the DM in terms of utility. These nocturnal albino apes certainly appear fearsome but they are just animals of neutral alignment and low intelligence. They are also specifically stated to eat fruits and vegetables, so it seems they are unlikely to cause trouble if left alone. That said, I think White Apes make excellent minions for sinister powers, there could be a dark force corrupting the usually peaceful Apes and using them for evil.  How much more badass is the evil warlock with the pet ape?

1d6 for reaction to party*
1- Loud display meant to threaten and scare off intruders.
2- The apes bring forth offerings of fruit.
3- The apes try to barter and trade with the party through gesture.
4- An ape guide will join the party but will not travel further than a day from the ape lair. The guide is very helpful and will point out dangers and shortcuts.
5- The apes are curious but standoffish, several will watch the party from a distance for an hour or two.
6- The alpha of the group (male or female) takes an interest in the member of the party with the highest charisma score.
*The apes will not normally attack unless provoked.

Bandit:
Another good entry. I try to portray a human-centric world for my players, and having human opponents goes a long way toward that goal. Bandits are good and simple- classic villains, but they can range from neutral robbers to super EVIL murder-you-and-burn-your-house types. As a bonus they get a cool character class NPC to lead them.

1d6 for Bandit group:
1- The Wolfpack- This group of chaotic brigands are mean and have excessively bad hygiene. They favor ambush tactics and many use crossbows. Although they act tough the Wolfpack tends to retreat if their prey fights back. The Wolfpack is led by "Blackwolf" a veteran one eyed thief.
2- The Forestmen- This jolly group of neutral bandits is always looking for a good time. They are fond of music and wine and tend to be well liked by the common villagers. They are all excellent woodsmen and archers but their leader "Sparrow" is particularly skilled and renown.
3-  The Ragged Men- The Ragged Men are all deserters. They are neutral and not truly evil but they are incredibly desperate and defiant against authority. The horrors of war have broken these men and they refuse to bow to a lord ever again. Although the Ragged men don't have a formal leader most turn to "Old Rob" for guidance. Old Rob is a skilled halberdier and the oldest member of the group.
4- The Red Gents- These chaotic men are totally evil and totally loyal to their leader "Annika". Annika is an evil sorceress and she uses her bandit minions to further her selfish agenda. Annika uses her magical talents and great beauty to keep the bandits in line.
5- The Luckless Fellows- A small band of vicious thugs. The Fellows are the worst of the worst and cause misery and suffering just for sport. Their current leader "Maul" is a cruel bastard who is always thinking up new ways to torture captives.
6- The Maiden Slayers- This chaotic band of lazy drunks can't do anything right. Although they are certainly evil and cruel the Slayers lack the necessary skill and discipline required of bandits. The majority of their raids and ambushes end in embarrassing failure. The leader of the Slayers is a foolish man named "Tall Paul" who only has the job because nobody else wanted it.

- A decent start. Cheers!

Why I love the 5E Playtest

I know alot of people are not very keen on the playtest materials but I personally couldn't be happier. The playtest seems to support exactly the type of game I want to play. I have seen all kinds of comparisons on blogs and forums saying the playtest is everything from "just 4th edition with 3rd edition stuff mixed in",  "a pile of crap" to "mostly 2nd edition with a little 3rd"- to me though the whole thing is extremely oldschool. Not just because of the Caves of Chaos either. Although there are quite a few "modernisms" in the rules, namely the "Core Mechanic" (the roll a d20, add and subtract modifiers, try to beat a DC) these 3+ edition rules really form a pretty simple frame work.

I really like the core mechanic approach, it is really easy for new players to grasp and leads to a much more unified game experience. It gives you a very stable baseline to improvise with, and helps to keep the game moving. Compare for instance the complicated unarmed combat rules from AD&D to a easily improvised set of opposed strength checks from the playtest.

-lazy notes:

ASCENDING AC

Basic stats (ability scores) are everything now.

Simple (and totally optional) skill system.- skills are now bonuses that modify your ability score check to use the skill instead of skills being their whole own thing that ability scores modify (a subtle but important change).

I've seen quite a few guffaws about fire beetles having 7 charisma, but this consistent approach is good and also is necessary now that ability scores = saving throws and such.

Backgrounds and Themes are good.They mostly seem pretty minor but add a little evocative customization to character creation (presumably).

Hit point inflation doesn't seem too bad to me. Sure the Ogre has alot of hit points but the Dwarf fighter deals a MINIMUM 9 damage on a hit with his greataxe- and deals 3 damage even if he misses. Hit points are up all across the board- but so is damage, so overall it doesn't seem too out of whack to me.

Advantage, Disadvantage and Hazard rules are pretty freaking awesome and I'm going to be using them always now.

Really would have liked to see monster HD listed in the bestiary.

- Oh yeah, the download process was terrible. I hated it.

Sorry for the lack of posts. I'm going to try to get back into a routine.

-Cheers!

Quarantine Zone - Reloaded

So I got a bunch of my pals together Saturday night and we played a quick game of Quarantine Zone. Just another playtest really, we didn't get much further than character creation and played through a kinda long combat- it started to drag out so we ended it and went for beers. I got some pretty decent feed back and the players seemed to like a couple of things. I also pinpointed some areas that needed fixing or  further development.

The biggest thing to come out of the session is that I have decided to rethink one of my original game concepts. One of my big selling points for the game was that when you play QZ you are encouraged to set the game in you real-world location. After a few sessions I have realized this might not be the best approach. I think that instead of trying to do a rules lite real world simulation type thingy I should rework QZ into a sandbox type map crawl.

I was thinking I would get a big sheet of 1inch graph paper and draw out the roads and buildings of a town onto the sheet. I figured each square would represent a kinda abstract sized portion of the city, like a road/street would be 1 square wide and individual city buildings would usually take up 1 square each. Using this model I could draw out fairly large areas onto each sheet, and then just keep track of where each sheet meets up with the other sheets to make bordering territories. Like one sheet could represent "Downtown" and an adjacent areas could be "Lakeside" and the "Industrial District" for example. The more I think about using this method the more I like it, I can make up some cool random encounter charts and seed each map with cool locations and stuff. This way I can leave alot of the control in my player's hands and let them decide how they want to try to survive in the zombie filled sandbox.

Hopefully I  have done a decent job explaining what I plan to do but I will also take some pictures as I start drawing out the maps.

Another problem area was in combat. In my combat rules it was wayyyyyy too easy for PCs to end up breaking their weapons in combat. Nearly every player broke their weapons within the first few rounds of battle. The problem was that anytime a 1 was rolled on the damage chart a weapon would break, and the way it worked out was that the better a player did the more likely it was that their weapon would break. To fix this I am adding a simple correction to my weapon damage rules:

 "Only the highest dice result applies when rolling on a weapon damage chart."

This fix should work out nicely because you will need to roll all 1s on your damage roll for the weapon to break. Obviously the more dice you roll the less likely it will be for all of them to come up 1s, whereas there is a 1 in 6 chance if you only are rolling 1 d6.

Anyway, sorry for the wall of text. Hopefully it is semi-readable. Comments and questions are welcome.

-Cheers!

  

   

Traits and Talents Pt 1

When creating a character for Quarantine Zone you get 3 points to spend on Background Traits and Talents to customize your character. You get an additional # of skill points equal to the number of points in your Intelligence ability score.                                         

 Traits and Talents: 

-Officer of the Law (costs 3 skill points)
Before the outbreak you worked in law enforcement. During the first few days of the outbreak police forces took enormous casualties, heroically defending barricades against a rapidly rising tide of undead. Many bitter survivors are desperate for someone to blame for the outbreak . If your character is openly acting as a law enforcement officer (in uniform) and you encounter another group of survivors roll their initial reaction as you would normally. If the reaction is positive increase it by one step to create a better positive result (from wary to friendly), if the initial reaction is negative though decrease it by one step to make a worse negative result (from unfriendly to hostile). In certain situations when you are called upon to make an ability check for something which relates to law enforcement the ZM (Zombie Master) may give you a modifier d6 to represent your expertise and training.

A character with this trait begins play with a police uniform, a pistol, a sturdy police baton, and 6 + 2d6 bullets.

-Pistol Owner (costs 1 skill point)
You either owned a pistol before the outbreak or you were able to find one since then. You begin play with a pistol and 6 + 2d6 pistol bullets.

-Shotgun Owner (costs 2 skill points)
You either owned a shotgun before the outbreak or you were able to find one since then. You begin play with a double barreled shotgun and 2d6 shotgun shells.

-Rifle Owner (costs 2 skill points)
You either owned a hunting rifle before the outbreak or you were able to find one since then. You begin play with a hunting rifle and 2d6 rifle bullets.

- Walking Arsenal (costs 1-3 skill points)
You are very fond of your weaponry and try to have the perfect weapon for every situation. You may take this talent up to 3 times, each time you take it you may increase the number of weapons you may carry by one.

-Hoarder (costs 1-3 skill points)
You hate to throw things away... you might NEED it later. You may take this talent up to 3 times, each time you take it you may increase the amount of gear you may carry by one.

-Survivalist (cost 1-3 skill points)
You like to plan ahead and always try to stock up on supplies. Before the outbreak you already had some gear stashed away. You may take this trait up to 3 times, each time you take it you may select a piece of survival gear which you will begin play with. 

-Brawler (costs 1 skill point)
You are particularly burly and have seen more than your share of fistfights over the years. In melee combat you may get an extra modifier d6 on your Brawn checks.

-more to come.

Cheers!

Blood Splattered Dice

Quarantine Zone uses regular old d6s to resolve everything so I thought I should try to spice them up a bit. I bought some crappy dollar store dice packs and borrowed some bright red spray paint from one of my friends - he does alot of spray paint and stencil on canvas artwork and he is very talented. Anyway, I sprayed the red paint on the end of an old toothbrush until it was dripping wet and then flicked the paint off onto my pile of dice. I tried to vary my flicks so that in some spots big drops appeared and some areas only got a light mist. They took a long time to dry but I think they came out pretty good ->

Easy homemade bloody dice - they are fun to roll.

Recently when I was in a Chapters bookstore with my pretty lady I found these awesome little zombie notebooks.

I immediately snapped up two. Inside half of the pages are lined and the facing pages are blank, with a very faint green image of the cover art on every page. The art is by Rob Sacchetto but good luck finding somewhere to buy these online cuz I can't. I guess I'm planning to fill these in with the rules for Q-Z at some point but right now I am too worried I will ruin them so they are just sitting on my shelf looking nice.

And finally here is a shot of my status cards for Q-Z.

    Looking pretty good if I do say so myself.

-Cheers!

Quarantine Zone- Character Generation

To make a character for Quarantine Zone you need some paper and some dice. Quarantine Zone uses only standard six sided dice.  I recommend at least a small handful of dice for each player. It would ease play if you have two types of easily distinguishable dice ( two colors of dice or different sizes) but not strictly necessary.

Quarantine Zone is set approximately 6 months after a massive outbreak of the zombie virus swept across the world. Each player should try to imagine for themselves a tough survivor who has managed to last this long using wits and luck. What does your character look like? What did your character do before the apocalypse? How did you manage to survive this long?

To start with each player should write a name for their character at the top of a sheet of paper and write the names of these 6 abilities in a column down the side of the page.

Each Player character has 6 ability scores-'B.R.A.I.N.S.'

Brawn- How physically tough and strong a character is. Used in hand to hand combat and to resist illness.

Reflexes- A character's speed and agility, also used to measure manual dexterity.

Attitude- A character's ability to connect and make relationships. Used in social situations.

Intellect- The knowledge and mental skill of the character. Determines starting skill points and used to resolve intelligence based checks.

Nerve- A character's ability to stay calm in difficult situations and overcome fears. Used to shoot ranged weapons.

Search- A character's ability to notice details. Used to scavenge supplies.

Now roll 6 dice as d3s (1-2=1/3-4=2/5-6=3) and note down your results on a scrap piece of paper. Assign one of your dice results to each ability score above. This should give you a score of between 1-3 in all of your abilities.

Each character will start with:

• One sturdy melee weapon ( a baseball ball, length of metal pipe, or meat cleaver )
• One random piece of gear.
• One backpack.
• Three cans of food.
• Three bottles of water. 

 Each character is also assumed to be carrying some simple miscellaneous equipment such as can-openers, and similar minor stuff as well as seasonally appropriate if not ideal clothing and footwear.

Unless otherwise noted a character may never carry more than:

• Two weapons.
• Three pieces of gear.
• Six cans of food.
• Six bottles of water.

There are certain Talents which can be taken to increase how many weapons or pieces of gear a character can carry. These encumbrance rules are meant to be simple and represent the survivors trying to travel light and be self-sufficient, carrying only their own gear in case of separation or mishap.

-Ok, so good start here. Talents and Traits to come, as well as equipment lists.

-Cheers!

Skull Island Rivals

Like many kids I was absolutely in love with dinosaurs. When I was a bit older I got completely enthralled by ancient Aztec and Mayan culture. When I started getting into Warhammer my first purchase was a box of Lizardman Saurus Warriors (Aztec dinosaurs). Recently I added a handful of "tribal folk" miniatures to my collection of fantasy jungle stuff. My collection of jungle terrain has been slowly growing for many years, I have a bunch of aquarium plants for jungle trees and two half finished pyramids. I'm big fan of Peter Jackson's King Kong and a HUGE fan of module 'X1 The Isle of Dread'. I recently bought three rather expensive solid toy animals from a kinda higher end kids toy store- the kind with educational toys instead of action figures. I might show some pics of the third animal later on but here are the first two since they are related and both finished :

I repainted them and mounted them on CDs for bases. I covered the top of the CDs with really cheap plasticine and painted them with two coats of white glue, then sprinkle sand on and paint as you would normally. There are some aquarium plants on there as well and a piece of garden tree bark to look like stone on the T-Rex's base. The brown bases look a little bare so I think I will put some patches of grass or flock down at some point. And yeah there is one of my half-painted tribals for scale.

Hopefully I can pick up some pulp era explorers someday.

Cheers!

Mordheim Progress

Some new wip pics:

 Building 1 front

 Building 1 back

 Building 1 side

 Building 2

 Building 3 front

 Building 3 side

Building 3 back

 Woodpile & chopping block

 Busted cart

 Busted cart other side

Intact wagon

Had a freak snowstorm yesterday so I got today off work. Going to get some paint on these today hopefully. Cheers!

Here comes Papa Nurgle!

 I really like Nurgle. I don't own much chaos stuff but Nurgle is by far the coolest power. I like undivided as well though. So anyway, the cool thing about nurgle demons is that they are super easy to sculpt yourself, like I did a few years ago with this guy:

So there he is, my homemade greater demon. I used some extra hands from the warhammer giant. He is plasticine sculpted up around a rubber bouncy ball. He needs a little bit of a facelift, maybe I could redo my sloppy paint-job. I think he will look particularly good stomping down the streets of Mordheim. I will probably sculpt up a handful of nurglings to accompany him 

Cheers!

Mordheim update

 Ok, just some random stuff I photographed on my work table. Eventually I will post some nice shots all staged and such of the gameboard. I also have been coming up with some rule changes and house rules.

 I bought some charming little ceramic houses from the dollar store.

 I am going to base these up, give them some details and some fresh paint.

 I 'm building small additions onto two of them to extend the size and cover up some undesirable features.

 Covering up this extra small door and staircase.

 I really like this one, I am leaving it mostly alone.

 I will paint them kinda drab and rundown looking, but not actually ruined. Hopefully they will work as a peasant village for other games or as Mordheim pieces.

Just glued down a frame for the cardboard roof to rest on. I am going to try to make some building with roofs that are gently sloped. I like the idea of models running along the rooftops and fighting.

Cheers!

Mordheim - The City of the Dammed!!!

"Mordheim, once a great city capital of the Empire's most northern realm, was slowly enveloped by corruption. The only beacon of hope and sanity in Mordheim was the Convent of the Sisterhood of Sigmar. Weeks before the end of the year 1999, the symbol of Sigmar himself - the twin-tailed comet - had appeared in the sky. As midnight of the final day of the year approached, Daemons crept from the shadows and mingled with the throng, crying joyously and cavorting with man and woman alike. As the festival reached its zenith, the comet impacted upon the city. Only the Temple of Sigmar's Rock, home to the Sisterhood of Sigmar, remained unblemished. The city burned for weeks, the comet leaving the ruins of Mordheim covered in shards of solidified Chaos, soon to become known as wyrdstone. When Mordheim finally stopped burning, mercenary warbands from all over the Empire and beyond came in search of it, for it was said that wyrdstone can do anything; change your luck and fortune and turn lead into gold. Of course, Man was not the only race interested in wyrdstone, and many other creatures prowl the City of the Damned."

 Mordheim is a dark and evil place. The bands of your fellow ruthless treasure hunters are the least of your worries amid the cracked streets. Creatures from your darkest nightmares prowl the alleys and the air is poisonous.

Mordheim is a tabletop miniature skirmish game set in the Warhammer world. I have been constructing buildings to make a section of the city to be the battlefield when I play. I have also been collecting a decent number of odd models to represent the inhabitants of the city (although very few are actually painted). So anyway here are a couple pics of some of the stuff I have been working on.  

 The Gallows, for public execution.

 There is a Headsman's block as well.

 "Cheap Meat" stall. Some of the pork tastes very suspicious...

 Cheap Meat back view- large rat advancing on a human hand.

 The Row houses, not as complete as the meat stall but playable.

Row houses- interior/back view.

 Row house close up.

Wyrdstone counters (green sparkly nail-polish supplied by my pretty girlfriend).

So yeah, just some of the stuff I have been working on. I have a bunch of D&D type material in my head, I just need to get it up on here. I just started work last week, and have been composing lengthy blog posts in my head at work only to pass out as soon as I get home and forget to post them.  Also apparently Jack and Evan have been posting about familiars as well- here. They had a much more interesting and in-depth look at the topic but it is quite a coincidence that I did a post on familiars yesterday too.

Cheers gang and Happy Easter!!!