Dungeons and Dragons Eight Week Project - Summary and DMs Comments

To finish off the D&D8W posts I'd like to give a brief idea of what I was aiming for, and, perhaps, what I might do differently next time.

As I mentioned previously, this was the first time this particular group had played face to face. Indeed, although everyone knew some of the group, there were first time introductions for several members.

It was great to finally meet up. Some of the players had never seen each other before, but there was a very friendly atmosphere from the beginning.

The Adventure 

I used the five room dungeon structure for the Crypt and I felt it worked very well. It was my first time consciously following this model, though I suspect I've included many of the elements in the past.

I'm not sure if Zarrel retreating to her crypt quite counted as the Reversal and I think the players were expecting to face a tougher final form. I'd have had her retreat to regenerate, but she never got the chance; the party can deal out a lot of damage now if they work together. 

Also, we were getting close to six o'clock, the nominal finish time, and another big fight would probably have been rushed.

Harrow's desire to face the vampire while her Spectral Guardians was still in effect really drove the pace, which was excellent. In case you're wondering, yes, she did have another third level spell slot, but she's keeping it free for any required Revivify.

Looking back, I missed the chance for some monologue from Zarrel. She's got a back story that she could have referred to, but I'm sure there are hints to it elsewhere. 

This is something I'm guilty of, not giving the opposition enough to say. I tend to get caught up in the tactics. To be fair, the party rushed in, spells blazing, and she wasn't around very long anyway.

Zarrel herself wasn't taken straight from the Monster Manual. That would have been too tough. Instead, I took the Knight stat block, boosted it slightly, and added features from the Vampire stat block that seemed to me to fit the story.

Non Scenery Prep

I prepared 5 x 3 index cards for every player's spells (they all have some spell casting ability now). 

I also made magic item cards, class and race features cards and spell slot cards. I noticed that the spell slot cards weren't used, but everything else was.

All this needs something to hold it, and I found wooden boxes at The Works (a UK chain selling discount books, crafts and other sundries) that nicely hold the various cards, dice and a mini or two. 

Harrow's box with just some of the cards

Harrow shows there's plenty of room

Roland's box with mini and cards 

The Deck of Discord 

The adventure as written is based around the Deck of Many Things. I've no problem with this as background in the original, but I decided early on in the campaign to switch this for something else. 

Partly because the 'find a card and get a minor extra power' is very fourth edition and doesn't transfer smoothly to fifth. Partly because it doesn't seem to quite match up to how I imagine the Deck to work.

There's also the fact that I lent my deck from the original adventure to someone many years ago and never got it back.

So I came up with the Deck of Discord. A very Chaotic artifact. It's purpose is to spread Chaos and change the behaviour of creatures. The powers are much more nebulous than the Deck of Many things, though the party have witnessed at least one instance of a card being used directly against them. 

Roland has been gifted a platinum box by Bahamut, with instructions to shut the cards away. So far they've done this, and resisted any and all temptation to use them.

All this means that I needed a Deck. 

There's plenty of options to buy or print off the internet, but I wanted something all my own.

I'd already sketched out some of the cards, or bone plaques as we are describing them. I'm aiming for a sort of 'Medieval' look in art style, though I admit, its very vague. 

I even found another wooden box, again from The Works, but sadly my existing cards didn't fit in, so that meant redrawing them all again, this time sized to fit and on white Mounting Board so they have the right sort of thickness.  

Sadly I didn't have time to paint the box silver, but I think the thing works as a prop.  Perhaps too well:  The players are keen to keep the plaques locked away, so other than a brief inspection, they never got examined all session!

The Deck of Discord 

Where Now?

The 'Heroes of Nentir Vale' will continue to adventure remotely; their quest to reclaim Gardemore Abbey is progressing nicely,  though there are some factions that they still need to deal with (including a potential one that they are unaware of!).

It would be nice to direct them elsewhere; a couple of characters have backstory hooks that could lead east, and there's plenty to explore there, including another official adventure, though in this case I'd be borrowing background stuff than plot.

I'm certainly hoping for another live session, but not for a while perhaps.  I'd like it to be another important goal, but I'm not sure what that's likely to be yet.

But, Minis?

You've seen the character minis, the skeletons and the zombies (which didn't get used, they were for an earlier version of the Garrison, but the Heroes have already done that area online), now here's Zarrel herself. 

Zarrel Gardrinsdottir

Zarrel again

I wonder if any of that gear is worth anything?

I didn't want to go for the standard Gothic lady vampire mini, this girl's a fighter, and should look like one. In fact I avoided undead minis altogether and used the Reaper Figure Finder for something elven looking.

Shardis, Female Elf Rogue (SKU 77741) was exactly what I wanted, and I already had the mini from one of the Reaper Bones Kickstarters in one of my boxes of unpainted minis.

I deliberately gave her very pale skin, VGC Elfic Flesh, and her clothing is based on VGC Jade Green, with dark green for the undertunic and yellow leggings.

So that's my random thoughts about a great fun gaming experience and the prep I did.

I'm busy getting the next online session ready, always working on the next one. I'm also getting something painted for my Old School orcs, which after working to a deadline for this is kind of relaxing.

Season of Scenery Summary

If you're a regular reader, you'll know that I combined my Dungeons and Dragons Eight Week Project with Dave Stone's Season of Scenery Challenge. 

Now with the eight weeks over and the game played, and with the end of August looming,  what did I get done scenery wise?

You can see most of the stuff in the Crypt of the Vampire Knight posts, but here's a bit more detail. 

Sticking to the Plan?

I did work out a bit of a plan, well more of a wish list really. Did it hold up?

Sort of. 

By the time I got around to doing the scenery I'd pretty much decided what the adventure was going to be so I could be a bit more focused.  I was building only the scenery that I knew I'd use, so I could put a bit more time and effort in to it.

Tombs

For speed (and because I really like them)  I used the Crooked Staff Terrain Print and Play Effigy Tombs.  To add variety I made a couple of different effigies,  and I made several tombs just with decorative slabs from Episode 5s Crypts and Tombs. These are probably the tombs of lesser knights of the Order. NB  the middle effigy in the picture below is deliberately incomplete.  It represents a new tomb (the previous Knight Commander) and hasn't been finished.  I see that the one on the right with the axe is missing its arms, this is an oversight. And there's a happy accident.  The first print I did had greyscale switched on, and it gives a pleasing dark grey texture.  Further,  the jar texture now gives a good extra texture for more tombs.

Three sample effigy tombs and six pillars

Altars

Essentially the same as the tombs.  I built them a bit smaller and had planned to add some sort of decorative element to indicate which god they were dedicated to.  This never got done, partly because I wasn't quite sure how to show this.  The blank altars worked perfectly well though. 

I used the textures from the pillars PDF, leading to...

Pillars

I built six of those, using Crooked Staff Terrain Print and Paste Dungeon Pillars.  They didn't actually get used in the game.  If there had been significant play in the main crypts, they'd definitely have been used.  

There absolutely should be pillars in the main temple, but I never put them in on the virtual map, so didn't want them suddenly to appear.

Rubble

I had a couple of ideas for the rubble, but in the end, I didn't make any at all. There's quite a bit of rubble in the temple, but this was just drawn on the floor plan. 

I did put some Terrain Crate rubble in my box, just in case, but it was already mostly painted, so doesn't really count for the challenge. 

Floor Plans and Tiles 

Initially I planned to draw out Floor Plans on Spot and Cross paper as required.  It's much better to have these prepared ahead of time, so I drew some out back in July. 

I drew them pretty much based on Chris Perkins' method (Mystic Arts has a good video explaining this if you can't find the original article). 

I drew out the Temple, which got used for the fight with the gargoyles, with the addition of the 3D altars, and the crypts below, which didn't see play. 

The temple map is pretty much taken from the original adventure, but the crypts are my own design, though they do incorporate elements from the pack.

But for the actual crypt I wanted something a bit more dramatic. 

I saw Crooked Staff's Dungeon in a Box and it looked impressive. I knew I could do something with it,  and it fits my brief of making stuff with multiple uses. I quickly downloaded the PDF and made my own set. 

But the largely square rooms didn't quite give me what I wanted,  so I looked at the 2D dungeons PDFs. Ideal.  Very easy to convert to the new style of 3D tiles,  and I've got the wide hallways I wanted. I also made some smaller doors using a texture I found on one of the bonus PDFs.

Gardrin's family tombs and the false vampire crypt

Built from scratch

Finally,  here's some pieces I made up from bit from my bits box.

Tharnak investigates the braziers

The braziers are two wooden beads stuck on a 20mm washer. The flame is hot glue on a length of barbecue skewer. The whole is painted as seen, I must admit that the photo makes the flames look better than in real life. 

Tharnak and the two snake fonts

The 'Snake Fonts' are toy plastic snakes glued to 40mm washers with an upturned button as the bowl. The buttons are metal and I had to grind out the bit that holds the thread with a rotary tool, which is why there's only two,  rather than the planned four. The whole lot is painted and the bowls filled with PVA glue mixed with green ink, partly to hide the rough interior. 

Combining the Season of Scenery and my Eight Week Challenge really helped me get the terrain ready for the game, I'll have to try this again.

Dungeons And Dragons Eight Week Project - The Crypt of the Vampire Knight Playthru part two

We left our heroes staring into a tomb, littered with bones, rags and desiccated flesh, but not the remains of a Vampire.

Race to the Vampire

Harrow was desperate to take advantage of her Spectral Guardians, and urged the party on and down. 

Despite her hurry, the more, erm financially minded party members insisted on searching.  After all, they might find important information. When they looked at the skeletons they were shocked to realise that they carried the gear of knights of the order. Could they have been placed here to prevent meddling with the vampire's tomb?

Closer examination showed that they had defaced their shields with the snake symbol of Zehir. Worse, some of them had deformed skeletons; elongated skulls, extra vertebrae and similar.  a puzzle, though the dwarf, grim faced, muttered "yuan-ti" under his breath.

When they at last descended, they became aware of a greenish mist hugging the floor and a stench of rotting vegetation, very different from the dry dusty air upstairs.

The steps led to a long corridor with side passages to left and right. Ahead the way was blocked by a sturdy portcullis.

The first side passage just held a sliver statue of a snake rearing up over a bronze bowl.  Green mist spilled from the bowl, so Tharnak upended it, hopefully stopping the poisonous murk.

Assuming the Vampire would be at the end of the corridor, the party advanced. They saw doors off to right and left, Kei jammed them shut in case any danger were lurking behind them.

Through the portcullis they could see a room containing armoured skeletons at guard.  To the right was a raised section, with steps leading up to it.  Somewhere up there a flickering green light issued out.  More of the green flame braziers?

The Court of the Vampire Knight

Roland heaved up the portcullis allowing the others to enter. 

Taryyn slipped in first, loosing an arrow at the undead. Kei then pulled the lever, locking the portcullis and allowing Roland to move, he took advantage of this by attacking another skeleton.

Timbers showed the dragonborn that he, too, had some mastery of magic, weaving a tune that snapped many of the skeletons' bones (shatter).

Harrow then moved in onto the steps, her Spectral Guardians finishing off the damaged skeletons. 

"Well that was rude", a woman's voice called from the raised section to Harrow's left.

Zarrel Gardrinsdottir at last.

"Well that was rude"

Looking round the tiefling saw a grand chamber lit by more of the green flames. In the far corner, beyond an iron grate, was a fine stone chair, it's sinuous design set with green stones.

Lounging on it was a woman, dressed in armour, and holding a sword and long knife. Her dark hair accentuated her pale skin, pointed ears betrayed some fey ancestry.

In front of her stood three more skeletons, a dwarf, an elf and a halfling. 

She moved towards one of the braziers as the skeletons advanced to block the heroes.

Tharnak rushed in, eager to destroy this insult to dwarf kind, while Kei used another new spell, conjuring a ball of fire to engulf the elf, the halfling and the vampire. The party cheered, but as one of the green flames went out, Zarrel seemed far less damaged than she should.  She showed a similar resistance to Harrow's Spectral Guardians, and was far faster than the heroes expected, dashing up and striking before they were ready.  

As the paladins took out the skeletons, on one instance both weapons sliced into the undead dwarf at the same time, neither knew who had dealt the killing blow, the more magical heroes concentrated on the vampire.  She proved no match for their combined might, succumbing just after the last of her skeleton heroes did.

Zarrel at last

As the blow fell, Zarrel collapsed, her body turning to mist which sped away down the grate. The remaining flame leapt up and became another of the ghostly spirits. 

The heroes quickly dispatched this new spectre then ran after the fleeing vampire.

The Final Tomb

Alas, the grate was locked and Taryyn took some time to open it.  Once opened the party were lowered one at a time, Harrow first.  

The shaft ended in green mist of indeterminate depth, though Roland had tried pouring Holy Water down to see if it made any difference.  A little way above the surface of the mist was a ledge, with a short passage of it, blocked at the end by another portcullis.

Harrow advanced and could make out a square chamber, dominated by an ornate tomb.  Hovering nearby was yet another spectre, and it wasn't bothered by the portcullis at all.  Harrow called for someone strong to open the way while the spectre hurt her through the bars.  It didn't last long against her Spectral Guardians though.

Roland descended and raised up the heavy gate, allowing the cleric to enter.  As she heaved open the tomb, the rest of the party made their way down.

With the lid opened, Zarrel sat up, eyes glowing with hate.  In a concentrated flurry of attacks, the party managed to keep her down long enough for Harrow to finish the job, smashing a vial of Holy Water over the undead.  The body rapidly decayed, leaving only the equipment.

The Heroes move in for the finale

So victory to the Heroes of Nentir Vale, and a great day of gaming.  We stopped at that point, carrying on would have seemed an anti-climax, and some of us had long journeys back home.  

There was much chat, of course, and a suggestion that we do this again.

I'll do a seperate post discussing some of the choices I made in designing the dungeon, and there'll be at least one more post wrapping up the Season of Scenery challenge, so check out the D&D8W tag f you want to read more.

Dungeons And Dragons Eight Week Project - Crypt of the Vampire Knight Playthru

The D&D eight week project reached it's climax on Sunday.

Left to Right; Harrow, Roland (with Dire Wolf), Namfoodle Timbers, Tharnak, The Architect of Chaos, Kei and Taryyn

We got together and played through two sessions of around two hours and four hours, broken by a delicious buffet style lunch.

Here's a brief (?) account of the play, a couple of warnings though, I'm no author, so apologies for the writing style, and for those who know the original Madness at Gardmore Abbey adventure,  I've changed it somewhat, so there will be surprises in the description ahead. 

(I've added a few GM asides in brackets)

The Third Day of Mordinius, 600 Years After the Founding of the Empire of Nerath

The party began in the village of Winterhaven and had plans to destroy the vampire they believed was hiding in the crypts below Gardmore Abbey. 

To Gardmore

They stocked up with healing potions and holy water, the latter would prove very useful in the end. 

They had a quiet journey to the Abbey, then Kei showed off his new ability; wings of crackling lightning sprang from his shoulders and he took flight on reconnaissance. He was interrupted by a shape flying up from the ruined temple, a gargoyle! In gravelly tones it thanked the heroes for freeing it and it's companion, in exchange it would permit him to leave unmolested.

(The Knight Arcarnist had three gargoyles bound to him as servants - implied in the original, and especially in The Siege of Gardmore Abbey, though I added an extra one.  The party had previously slain one, and destroying the undead wizard freed the other two from the binding)

Still pondering this change in the monstrous population of the ruins, the heroes made their way up the secret stairway and holed up for the night, taking advantage of Kei's new Leomund's Tiny Hut ritual. 

The party had noticed that there were stones missing from the ruins, the culprits were revealed during the night, a goblin work party. Fortunately, these creatures were nominally acting as spies for the party (particularly for the paladin Roland). They duly reported that the minotaurs in the lower chambers were building walls to seal off their underground domain from the troublesome orcs and others on the surface. Intrigued, and hoping for some help against the vampire, they resolved to call in on the minotaurs in the morning. 

The Fourth Day of Mordinius, 600 Years After the Founding of the Empire of Nerath

(For the next section we used floorplans drawn out on 'spot and cross' paper).

As they set off they wondered what had happened to the remaining harpy (who may or may not have been one of the priests under a curse). The answer was revealed; his bloody remains were strewn around the high altar!

Into the Temple

Incensed,  the party sprang forth, determined to cleanse the area. 

I don't know why Blogger is displaying some of my photos at 90 degrees

The gargoyles had other ideas, they had spared Kei yesterday, now they wanted to inflict pain and misery. Unfortunately for them, they were no match for the heroes, although Kei's attempt to frighten them off by showing them the crumbled dust of their companion only enraged them.

(The party had just levelled up to fifth level, the combat was an opportunity for them to appreciate how powerful they now were).

A bit of cleaning up the altar, and the respectful removal of the harpy's body to the crypts, lead to a minor blessing from the gods (Inspiration).

Going Underground

The heroes then made their way to the Grand Staircase,  a structure dating back to the minotaur occupation of the site.  They were met with a wall, still under construction, with goblins working away on it.

Eventually Lerolax, the minotaur leader arrived, now sporting a fine crown.  He apologised for not informing them, but he was ensuring the safety of his people.  (My version of the minotaurs has them much less likely to blindly attack.  They are on an expedition to seek treasures of the lost empire of Saruun-Khel. The heroes have met them before and reached an understanding with them.  Indeed, they have helped by getting rid of Kashatri the Oni and the gnolls) At Roland's urging, he agreed to build a gate in the wall and would discuss things further in the future.

Vampire Hunting

But this was all just preliminary action and Harrow was determined to deal with the vampire, so they went to the crypt where she was last known to have appeared. 

(Here we started using the Crooked Staff rooms I had built)

The Crypt antechamber know affectionally as Vardin's Chamber

The party examined the chamber, Tarryn was sure there was a door hidden in the wall opposite Gardrin's tomb, but had no idea how to open it. She was puzzled by the many small holes drilled through the mortar, some of which were plugged with silver. 

Timbers noticed graffiti scratched on the great man's tomb "my father turned his back on me", so Roland tried turning the statue. To no one's surprise, it pivoted, and as it did, there was a click, and the secret door swung open.

The Crypt of the Vampire Knight

Beyond was a corridor ending in a door, green light seeping from under it. Surely this was the vampire's crypt.

Timbers began chewing garlic, certain that it would offer him some protection from vampires, Kei prepared his Magic Circle (the upturned font - reading the description, it appears as if the circle can be set anywhere in range, rather than being drawn around the wizard). As Tharnak opened the door, he cast it in, blocking the chamber beyond.

Skeletal guards lined the walls and eerie green flames lit the room with a sickening light. 

Timbers opened the door and rushed in to face one of the skeletons, while the dwarf pushed his way forward to swing at another. Both missed and were nauseated by the flames, but thankfully took no damage.

One of the further flames coalesced into a ghostly figure, but rather than attacking, it drifted to the end of the chamber and seemed to be instructing skeletons there who began tugging at the tomb lid.

Harrow then stepped forward. "By the power and grace of the Raven Queen, I send you to your rest". With the exception of one orcish skeleton and two of the ones opening the tomb, the rest fell apart in a rattle of bone and rusty equipment. The ethereal creature fled to the end of the chamber. Roland and Tarryn quickly brought down the still standing skeleton with javelins and arrow.

While the rest of the party moved in and debated the most efficient way to finish things, unwilling to disturb the 'turned' undead, Harrow called on her god again. Spectral ravens appeared circling around her, pecking away at the remaining undead.

The tomb lid was almost off, and a swift kick from the tiefling finished the job. The spectral ravens swooped in and pecked the occupant to bits.

Was that it? 

The heroes investigated, sure that the thing in the tomb was no vampire, and the keen eyes of the elf spotted scratches on the floor. The tomb could slide.

It was heavy, and the mechanism was old and unused. Roland was unable to shift it, even with Tharnak's help.

Rolling up his sleeves the dwarf took over, "dinnae fash yersel laddie, let a real dwarf show ye how its done.  By Kord!". As the huge stone tomb slid, another door swung open in the wall, revealing steps down.

Ready for action (there are another four skeletons in the tomb section, but the party can't see them yet)

My view of the action, again, inexplicably turned on it's side.

To Be Continued in part two.

Dungeons And Dragons Eight Week Project- The Undead of Gardmore Abbey 2

With the bony contingent finished I got on with the more fleshy vitally challenged. 

These are mostly zombies, and already the online play means I won't need one particular group of them (Chillborn, if you're interested).

Still, I may well need others, and looking forward, encounters with zombies in crypts are always fun (?!).

Collecting Zombies

I painted up ten Reaper Bones zombies way back in 2016, they were the first minis where I experimented with clear basing. Sorting through the loft of shame I could only find 8 of them, but I've a another set of the models unpainted.  So here they are.

  

So that's an extra five, and I think it's all my unpainted Reaper zombies finished.  I'm adding a few other makes of zombie to bulk out the collection and add variety. 

The Dread Warrior is a WotC prepainted mini, and was already finished but for a coat of matt varnish and clear basing.  There's a WotC prepainted Strahd Zombie from the Ravenloft setting, and one of the second lot of  WotC zombies (the first one is pretty poor).

Although prepaints, the Strahd zombie and the vanilla zombie were repainted more or less from scratch. 

Finally, a mini from the Magic the Gathering minis game, simply because it was already part painted, and, with the armour and axe, fitted the ex military background I want for some of the zombies in the Abbey.

Painting the Zombies

All of these, even the pre painted minis (except the Dread Warrior) and the part done MtG one, were given a wash of Army Painter Dark Tone followed by a white dry brush.

Then assorted Vallejo Express Paints for the bulk of the painting. I wanted the same sort of look as the more recent zombie models I painted, which means a second wash, so I avoided Speedpaints.

As a nod to my long ago zombies, I did some flesh in Space Grey, which I think gives a nice 'spooky' effect.

But how well do the newly painted zombies compare?  Well here's a comparison shot of the old and new Reaper bones Zombies.  I deliberately went for different skin tones, and I've used a wider range of colours for the clothing, but I think they look OK together.  The main difference is the more gloss finish on the early zombies, I may give them  a coat of Matt varnish at some point.

Or not.

A Shamble of Zombies

Is that the collective noun?  It should be.

So here's my D&D collection of zombies; various makes and two lots of painting, but I think they'll do.

But

You might be thinking "but Mister C,  what about all those Reaper zombies you painted earlier?" 

I've still got them, currently languishing in a box set aside for Frostgrave/Rangers of Shadow Deep.  They aren't exclusive to those games, but I wanted an excuse to finish off this group and sort through my undead collection. 

They also have a different aesthetic. Those RoSD ones are, or were, definitely civilians, and they look recently raised. Most of this batch look older. The clothing is more ragged and the flesh more sunken. OK, I'm self justifying here, but it's an excuse to organise my collection a little more, and I can always combine them into one huge horde.

I do think that the Reaper zombies I just painted would look perfectly at home in modern games.  The clothing can easily be interpreted as modern dress.

I also found that I had few 'martial zombies', unlike the skeletons I did recently, zombies seem to rely on fists (and teeth) rather than weapons.

Dungeons and Dragons Eight Week Project - Scenery 1 - Planning and a Tomb

As I recently mentioned, I'm combining my eight week project with the Season of Scenery Challenge to add some scenery to the adventures.

Floor Plans 

In the past I've done full 3D and 2.5D builds, but this is going to be a bit less monumental. All this group has seen is maps drawn on Inkarnate and shown via Roll20. I'm looking forward to showing them another way, and experience has taught me that when players actually see terrain, they interact more with it, like the glow around objects in video games.

I plan to use my trusty Pathfinder mats, with some hand drawn prepared floor plans for special areas. I could print off the Inkarnate stuff, but that's a lot of ink, and I want to show that you don't need fancy software to enjoy the game. 

There's also the minor issue of furnishings. I try and have the Inkarnate maps as detailed as possible, but sometimes circumstances (the characters) can change them. It's not much of a problem if it's just moving a chest, but it can be more dramatic, as in the incident where the party deliberately collapsed a ceiling to stop a horde of gnolls.  I won't be able to print off new maps part way through the game, so drawing and terrain models are the way to go.

I'll try and draw out a few special encounter areas. Previously, I've used 1 inch squared flip chart pages, but these are nearly gone, and I can't find replacements at a reasonable price.  However, I did find a product called "spot and cross paper", used in dressmaking for patterns. This alternates dots and crosses on the vertices of a grid, and it's available in inches. A roll cost me under £17 for 10m on Amazon, and it's better quality paper than the flip chart too.

Scatter Terrain 

I've plenty of unpainted Mantic Terrain Crate stuff, which will come in useful, but I've already identified some gaps in what I need. For speed (and economy) I might use some of the Crooked Staff Print and Paste terrain, my limited experience suggests that it should be good.

But what do I actually need?

As always, the goal is to finish up with a terrain set useable for many games. 

While it would be nice to do a special piece just for this adventure, I suspect that time is against me, so, to begin with at least, it's going to be fairly generic.

Tombs are a must, there's plenty of exploring still to do in the crypts. 

Rubble/rubbish piles are always good, providing some cover if high enough, difficult terrain, great for hiding in or behind and very atmospheric.

Pillars, again good for partial cover and to prevent being surrounded. They also help a large underground space to seem more believable.

General Furniture; beds, chests, tables, crates and barrels. More stuff to add 'realism' and introduce stuff for the characters to interact with. I won't bother with benches or chairs, they can be assumed, and the models tend to get in the way. That said, if they are present, someone's bound to pick one up and hit someone else with it.

Special Furniture, such as altars, weapon racks, torture equipment, tents etc. may or may not be made. It's down to time available. A stone table* could stand in for an altar. 

I suppose tombs really fall into this category, but they are such a significant feature of the Abbey crypts, that I couldn't really leave them out.

But enough waffle, time for some actual terrain.

Speedpainted Tomb

Here's a tomb from Mantic's Dungeon Saga game.  It's supposed to be for a dwarf, hence the small size, but I think it looks fine. It's really an experiment in using Speedpaints to see if they are practical for getting the Terrain Crate stuff done quickly. 

I started with an Army Painter Dark Tone wash, followed by a white drybrush.  Then it was a simple coat of Army Painter Speedpaint Holy White.  The result is a grey rather than white, but it looks ok.

To add a bit of extra interest I painted the very top section in Vallejo Game Color Hammered Copper and then stippled Vallejo Game Effects Verdigris over it, especially in and around any cracks and flaws.

I really like the result, but I've only two or three of the model, so it's not really a practical choice for the adventure.  

I might reserve it for any particular special undead the party meets. Clearly I need to find an alternative for the tombs in the game.

Well, Well, Well

And as a bonus, here's the Dungeon Saga well. 

I painted one a while back to use in Frostgrave. This one is more experimenting with Speedpaints for Terrain Crate models.  Besides, there are wells in the Abbey, should I ever need a model.

Briefly, wash and dry brush just as the tomb, then I picked out various stones with various Speedpaints, including Pallid Bone, Gravelord Grey, Hardened Leather and Sand Golem. 

The whole lot was given a light dry brush of VGC Bonewhite to soften the harsh contrasting colours, then a coat of matt varnish, both to lose the glossy finish and to protect the Speedpaints. I worry that excess water (such as a spilled drink at a game shop) will reactivate them causing a colourful mess.

So there's a lot of waffle and my first two minis for the Season of Scenery. There's plenty more (especially tombs) to come. 

I'm fitting in the terrain building amongst the mini painting,  it's a nice change of pace. 

*I suppose the Dungeon Saga tomb would work as a stone table, but it does look rather funereal.

Dungeons and Dragons Eight Week Project - The Undead of Gardmore Abbey 1

Madness At Gardmore Abbey features a lot of undead, both in the original adventure and my remix.

What Do I Need?

The heroes have already met quite a lot of undead creatures, but there are plenty more to come. 

They've realised that there are two main groups; recent undead raised by the necromancer Vadin, and creatures dating back to the fall of the Abbey, presumably created by the intense magical effects released. 

In terms of minis, general skeletons and zombies will always be useful, as will ethereal types that can work as spectres, wraiths or even ghosts.

All of these are available in Reaper Bones and I might have something in my WotC prepainted minis collection (Burning Skeletons and Chillborn, for example).

I'll look through stuff I've already got painted or part painted, and see what I can use, but, inevitably, I'll need to add to the collection.  Fortunately, I've a lot of prepainted WotC minis, and a lot of unpainted Reaper bones.

First Up, Skeletons 

Out of this lot I've managed to paint up or complete, including basing, seventeen skeletal undead creatures.  One of these, the Undead Elf, required no work as I completed them as one of my Palette Cleansers back in 2021.

All 17 skeletons, including an elf from a long time ago

I'd already got a few completed skeletons back in 2015, they do need rebasing though, and I need more than them.  To accompany them I found some part painted skeletons still on their broccoli bases, and a number of unpainted ones.

I started with the unpainted minis (the tiefling is a WotC prepaint, but it needed a lot of work, so it's effectively starting from scratch), prepping them with a bit of mold line removal, base removal and pinning, then a good wash in hot soapy water (they are the original white bonesium, and it needs to be cleaned to take paint properly). Then they were given a wash of Army Painter Dark Tone. As I mentioned regarding the Heroes, this really helps bring out the details. Next, a white dry brush and then on to colours.

I used my Army Painter Speedpaints, which do have the potential to reactivate, so it's one coat only here, which should encourage me to get these done quickly and not over complicate the painting. 

APS Pallid Bone for the bones and then yellow and green for the cloth and shields. These were mixes based on Zealot Yellow and Orc Skin to match the finished skeletons, with various other shades added to give variety and make them look grungier.

The first batch after Speedpainting 

When everything was dry, they were given a light coat of Colour Matt Varnish to seal the Speedpaints, then a dry brush of VGC Off White on the bones.

I experimented with some Vallejo Effects paints, Dry Rust and Rust. I'm pleased with the results, an improvement on my usual Dark Flesh and Fiery Orange.

I also drybrushed VGC Desert Sand around the feet, cloaks etc to give a dirty, dusty look, but this didn't come out very well.  However, it did highlight the wood texture on spear shafts, so I used this an all the wood.  Remember, "we don't make mistakes, we have happy accidents".

I treated the dwarf and the halfling as individuals rather than matching the rest of the skeletons. I've more of these minis (Reaper Bones SKU 77561 and 77562) so at some point I might do some converting to give me even more dead adventurers.  It was nice to reunite them with their elven chum.

I'm particularly pleased with the WotC undead tiefling. The original mini is mostly just dark metal armour and bone. I wanted to add a bit more colour, and looking carefully, I decided that they must be wearing some sort of tabard; it's not all just armour. I used Army Painter Speedpaint Red for this, and blue for the wide belt. After a quick varnish to seal the Speedpaints I lightly went over the details in VGC yellow; the idea was to make it look like embroidery that had faded and worn away in places. 

The first batch

Unarmoured mooks

Armoured warriors

The adventurers

Old Bones

I took the opportunity to update some older painted and part painted minis. In most cases this means rebasing on clear rounds, with possibly a bit of detail and/or shading adding.  These are the 2015 skellies, to which I added a batch that I must have started and abandoned.  

Once the bases were sorted I gave the bone a coat of APS Pallid Bone.  Some of them needed a little more to make them match the first batch, but essentially it was just a case of varnish then drybrush of VGC Off White.

The armoured skeleton is Reaper Bones Barrow Warden 3 (SKU 77348),  I part painted it years ago in rather uninspiring steel with brown boots and bronze trim on the pauldrons. Even the shield was steel.  It was too monotone and dull, so I used APS Gravelord Grey to shade the armour some more,  especially the mail coif, APS Grim Black on those bat wing shoulders and I painted up the skull shield using VGC Bonewhite,  Off White and Dead White. 

Once finished,  I daubed some of the VSX rusts on the armour, and now I'm really pleased with the results. A fitting leader for the skeletons.

So now I've got sufficient skeletons, not just for the game, but for future in person D&D games.  I've also got roughly the same in unpainted and part painted skeletons, this time with a red and yellow livery, not to mention various scythe wielding skeletons, skeletal monsters and even dragons, so plenty more to expand the collection if I want. 

I'm not tackling any of these now, but I do potentially need some more fleshy undead. That might be next, or possibly some scenery. 

Dave Stone's Season of Scenery Challenge

Another Online Challenge?

I wanted to take part in this challenge when I first heard about it. I love building terrain, but it often gets side-lined in favour of minis (or drawing maps, or planning etc). The challenge is a great way of focusing my efforts. I've a lot of stuff to build for Orc's Drift, so this seemed like an excellent opportunity.

However, I'm now in the process of sorting out minis etc for the face to face D&D session, so can I spare the time?

No, not if I'm going to meet the D&D8W project.

Fortunately, Dave has kindly pointed out that the challenge is for any scenery, and dungeon stuff definitely counts (I love fuzzy challenges!)

So I'll be plodding along, including some D&D terrain in my eight week project and cheekily including it in the Season of Scenery.

If you like building scenery, or if know you you need to, but just need that bit of impetus, check out his blog and sign up.