Minis for the Master Forge

If you've read the earlier D&DF2F posts, you'll know that I had to change the focus of the in person session. What was going to be a pleasant ramble in a delightful Feywild valley became a tense exploration of an abandoned dwarven forge.

Fortunately, I was able to source a lot of what I needed from my collection of pre-painted minis. 

I still used some newly painted stuff or pre-paints that I added detail to and rebased to match my collection.

A fine selection of creatures

Valley Trolls 

Three jolly trolls

Three troll backsides, sorry, back sides

These trolls are Reaper Bones minis, and are pretty good representations of D&D trolls, to my eyes at least. I dug these out of my unpainted Reaper Bones box (it's a very big box).

They were originally planned for the Valley; indeed I've acquired a few more of the same design in different poses, so I've a good selection of trolls now, should I need them.

For the game session I was going to repurpose them as Scrags (aquatic trolls), but the heroes avoided that encounter.

Painting was straightforward; a liner of 50:50 Army Painter Dark Tone and Vallejo Xpress Medium to pick out the details and give something for paint to adhere to, then a white drybrush.

Then a series of Army Painter Speedpaints and VX paints. I kept the colours simple, and I'm pleased with the results.  

They might not get any table time this time,  but they'll come in useful in the future. 

Constructs 

A recurring feature of the Thunderforge Clanhold and the Master Forge is a variety of constructs made and used by the dwarves to help in various tasks.

Kluku

Delightful

Many of these had already been defeated or avoided, but the party, especially Harrow, have adopted Kluku, the dragon construct. 

I used an old WotC prepainted Young Copper Dragon mini.  I gave it a Strong Tone wash, then a drybrush.  I picked out a few details in copper, gold and silver to make it look like an assembly of different components rather than a living creature.  

Forge constructs, ideal for smithy work

There are also some forge constructs, designed to help with the heavy manual work. These are WotC Hammerers.

I did the bulk of the painting many years ago, they appeared in The Mines of Dhur, a 4E adventure I wrote as part of the long campaign. 

I added a few extra details and shading. Unfortunately I couldn't rebase them as I've run out of clear bases.

Elementals

Much of the danger in the Master Forge came from elemental creatures. I use the World Axis cosmology, as developed for 4E, for my current 5E campaign*. The individual Elemental Planes, with associated Para-elemental stuff has gone, replaced by the Elemental Chaos. 

This meant that I didn't need lots of gates, cracks, portals or whatever to bring different elements into play, just one McGuffin linking the material plain to the Elemental Chaos can create all sorts of variety.

Further, I don't have to be tied to just one element; different elementals can turn up, though in practice I'm not sure how well that came across.

I already have loads of elemental type miniatures from WotC and Reaper. These generally got used as is, and I took far more than I needed.

The following minis did get a bit more attention.

A xorn

Zzkk Slth

Zzkk Slth is a xorn; Xorn are one of D&D's wierder creatures,  looking like rocky barrels with three legs, three arms, three eyes and a gaping maw. It's certainly not something that's easy to proxy.

Fortunately WotC produced at least two different versions.  Zzkk Slth met the party a few weeks ago and wandered off after being given some bronze symbols of Baphomet to eat. 

I gave him a more varied colour pallet and painted in the eyes (black on the original mini). I painted the teeth and claws like steel, after all, it eats metals, so it's bound to have teeth that look a bit different. 

I didn't get a picture of the Sand Creature (presumably some form of Earth Elemental), but I'll get that posted soon.

So that's the minis I painted for the game.  I'm sure they'll see more use in the future, thus adding to my painted RPG minis.  some of them might have limited use, but all of them are nice to have done.

Mini Studio?

As you can see I've used the Master Forge scenery as a backdrop. 

I've been wary of doing this sort of thing in the past as I've wanted to fit everything into the light box and didn't want too much extra stuff to distract the eye (or the auto focus).  But I think this works,  helped a lot by very bright sunlight to illuminate everything, so I'll be experimenting further.

*This mismatch of game world and game edition seems to be feature of my campaigns. 

I ran 3/3.5 and 4E campaigns in Mystara, originally designed for Basic, Expert, Companion etc rules, so it makes sense (???) To use the 4E setting for 5th edition. 

The Secret of the Thunderforge Playthru

Here's my write up of the face to face session.  

But first, a few points.  I'm no writer, so apologies for the style and the overlong prose. Reading back it seems all about Tharnak, while it's true that this was his character arc, all the players got lots to do.  My note taking may have focused on him, but in play it was very much a group effort.  I didn't take many pictures, mostly because we were all concentrating on the game.  There are more of the minis and the scenery in the relevant posts.

Also, the structure is technically a foundry more than a forge, but the name stuck.  Apologies if this bothers you (it does me, a little).

Now, read on...

Background 

The party were investigating why the northern branch of the dwarf paladin's clan were considered anathema.

To answer this question, they explored the abandoned furnace and forge of the clan, situated in a flooded cavern. 

Previous sessions showed them that they needed to open some valves and shut others to drain the cavern, and in a previous foray, they actually gained entrance to the uppermost levels. Here they were met by the bizarre site of many of the clan, turned to stone! What's more, they seemed to have undergone the process willingly.

The Heroes plus Hangers On

The heroes consist of;

Harrow, tiefling cleric of The Raven Queen 

Kei, dragonborn wizard

Roland, half elven paladin of Bahamut

Tarryn, elven rogue 

Tharnak Thunderforge, dwarven paladin of Kord

Timbers, gnome bard

They are accompanied by Kluku, a construct built in the form of a small dragon, Tordek and Lonar Deepdelve, father and son and Clan chief and heir of the Deepdelves.

Kluku was adopted by the party (especially Harrow) when they met him trying to sell them merchandise in the abandoned Thunderforge market. He has proven useful with his knowledge of Clan individuals.

Some of the Heroes of  Nentir Vale can be seen in one of last years' posts.

Draining the Cavern 

The first stage was to drain the water; accompanied by Tordek, Chief of the Deepdelve Clan, they were able to enter the room containing huge metal pipes with tarnished wheels, presumably some sort of tap?  Water pooled around them, but Harrow was eventually able to open one valve. When Roland joined in, the puddle rose up and attempted to engulf him. Fortunately, the group soon dispatched the creature. 

It was a simple matter then to open the second valve, causing a drop in the water level in the cavern.

But water was still gushing in through the ceiling. 

Earlier, the heroes found a room above the cavern with similar pipework, but with no apparent control, only a blue crystal set in the wall. Time to go back and check further.

Tharnak's use of the Thunderforge motto seemed to bring the crystal to life; glowing runes appeared in a language none of the party understood. Tordek was annoyed; these defences were supposed to require at least two Clans to lift, the ancient Thunderforges were clearly keeping secrets from his clan. 

Harrow mollified him; surely the Deepdelves also had clan secrets?

Kei used his magic (comprehend languages) to try and read the writing, but when he touched the stone, his eyes lost focus and he slumped. His mind was elsewhere, where a strange watery presence demanded to know what he wanted. 

Questioning revealed that it was an elemental creature of water. Despite it's alleged great power, it was compelled simply to control and direct water for the dwarves.  Kei asked it to turn off the water, but the dragonborn was no dwarf to be obeyed without question, what could he offer in exchange?

Quickly Kei asked what it wanted. Would it like the blue crystal? With delight, it seized the thing binding it to servitude and vanished, shutting off the flow as it went.

The players thought this rash. Without the elemental would the forge still operate? Was Highpeak doomed to a dry dusty future? As Kei's consciousness returned, this was something to ponder. 

The water now drained slowly out, revealing a lower wooden bridge, another door in the side of the forge, and a series of mine tunnels leading from the cavern. The Deepdelves suspected that this was a section of their mines that had long been flooded.

The Fate of the Forge Master 

The heroes then persuaded Tordek to remain outside. He was a leader, but no warrior. He agreed, providing his son Lonar accompanied them. At Tharnak's insistence, dwarves were placed at intervals so that the alarm could be raised if needed.

The doors opened at Tharnak's whispered words. "More Thunderforge treachery" Tordek muttered as he took up position just outside.

Entering the Master Forge

The doors had leather seals to keep out the water, and the place was warm and dry. Pillars supported the ceiling and steps led up to doors, presumably the doors that had proven impossible for Tarryn to open in a previous session.

In one corner a cylindrical feature rose floor to ceiling, a faint reddish glow emanating from it. 

Both a ramp and a shaft led below and various tubs and crates littered the room, filled with rubble.

Entering the Ore Floor

A shuffling sound behind the pillars alerted the heroes. What could be moving after 300 years?

Tharnak concentrated; as a paladin, he could sense the undead, and there was an undead creature there. It slunk forward, hissing and licking it's dry lips. It was, or had been, a dwarf. 

Still wearing the remains of its apron and work wear and clutching a metal staff topped by a miniature anvil it approached.

"Ah, rescue, at last. But why did you abandon us for so long? Deepdelve doings I'll wager".

Tharnak, Roland and Harrow watched its approach, the tiefling mentally preparing the blessing of the Raven Queen that should send it to it's rest. But the creature seemed to want to talk, so the heroes questioned it.

In between complaining about how hungry it was, and it's shame at what it had had to do to survive, it revealed that it was Goran, the Forge Master, and son of the Clan Chief. When asked, Kluku recognised him, confirming his tale.

At some point (he seemed confused by the time he'd been shut away) Highpeak was attacked. There were reports of Grey Dwarves in the depths. All dwarves mobilised, but Keldrick, the Thunderforge chief suspected the Deepdelves were behind this.

He withdrew as many of the Clan as possible to the Master Forge. A great battle was fought in the cavern outside (where, incidentally, the bravery of the Deepdelves proved they were innocent of collusion with the dvergar at least). When all seemed lost, Keldrick triggered the defence mechanisms, flooding the cavern and the lower mines.

With a supply of food and drink, they settled down to wait. With the dvergar washed away, surely the other clan chiefs would drain the cavern and release them?

But no help came.

Keldrick issued instructions to his son to lead the apprentices in the regular rituals that kept the forge running and stable, then ushered the rest of the Clan upstairs. A short while later he returned, pale and shaken, locked the doors and sat, sword in hand guarding the stairs.

Now Goran became very upset as he recalled how they ran out of food. Flosi, the youngest apprentice, fell ill and passed away, solving the food problem for a while. 

Eventually, only Goran remained, he glossed over what happened to his father, but did mutter that "he didn't stand a chance against all of us". 

His anger at being abandoned returned and he prepared to attack, exuding a foul stench which caused the paladins to retch.

"They couldn't help, there was a dragon. It attacked and drove everyone away" pleaded Harrow, staying the creature.

He remained suspicious at the timing, but Tharnak commanded him to stand down. Recognising, perhaps, the Thunderforge blood, he declared his watch over, bowed and offered up his staff, begging the adventurers to save the foundry which he feared was dangerously unstable. Harrow offered to finish the undead creature's existence, but Tharnak took that responsibility.

Searching the area revealed that the round structure in the corner was the top of a furnace. Peering in, the heroes were surprised to see it was still lit (and very hot).

Rummaging through the various tubs and bins, the heroes found they contained ores of different kinds.  Strangely, some of the more valuable pieces accidentally fell into Tarryn's pockets.

Disturbingly, there were also gnawed bones, among which was a fine sword, a key and a ring.

The sword had clearly had three gemstones embedded in the hilt, though they were now missing. The ring matched the ghostly ring the ghost placed on Tharnak's finger when they first arrived in Highpeak, and the key opened the doors at the top of the stairs, to Tarryn's delight (they had previously tried to open this from the other side, but the poor thief only rolled a 2).

Descending the slope, the adventurers reached a mezzanine level. Wooden flooring partially concealed the floor below, flickering flames near the ceiling illuminated the area.

Descending to the mezzanine level

View from the other end of the room

But as the heroes explored further, the flames moved! Three bat like creatures wreathed in fire flew at the intruders.

Roland swung at one with his glaive, cutting it in half caused a burst of flame. Seeing this, the heroes resorted, where possible, to ranged attacks. 

Lonar was determined to prove his worth and charged towards one of the bats but slipped and fell (natural 1). As he recovered, the characters were assaulted by more of the bats. They made quick work of them with arrows, magic missiles and, where necessary, glaive and the Forge master's staff. With the creatures destroyed, the party were happy to tell Lonar that he had finished one of them off.

During the fight, Tharnak discovered that the staff protected him somewhat from fire and seemed especially effective against the elemental creatures.

(This encounter made the most of the partial nature of this level, and being able to place the two levels on the table.  Sadly no proper picture of the encounter in play, but the next picture does show three levels with the heroes on the mezzanine in the middle and Lonar sprawled on the floor).

Fighting the Fire Bats

In haste to get to the heart of the forge, the heroes quickly looked around, then descended the ramp to the floor below.

The forge had a spout angled towards the centre of the room, which was covered in sand. Investing this revealed that the sand was of some depth. 

It also disturbed something.

A vaguely humanoid figure formed out of the sand and attacked. No chance to parley, it only wanted to destroy.

Despite it blinding Tharnak with a storm of sand, the heroes proved their worth.  Roland's use of his glaive at distance proved especially useful, and the Forgemaster's Staff walloped lumps out of the thing. Shatter spells seemed less effective against it's sandy nature, but it soon collapsed back onto the floor under the combined assault.

The Sand Thing attacks

The party were surprised when opening the furnace door released a stream of molten metal. The foundry was still operable after all these years, though they could find nothing that looked like it could stabilise the forge.

But there were steps down, so down they went.

The bottom of the foundry was a large octagonal pillar supporting the cylinder above. Wooden walls surrounded the central area and a lift platform rested below the square shaft. The adventurers tried to get this working, but whatever mechanism drove it didn't respond.

But their main focus was the foundry base.

Like the water room high up in the forge, there was a crystal engraved in Primordial, but this one was red.

When touched, a voice asked if they wanted to access 'The Chamber of the Tooth". Of course the party said yes, and found themselves transported to a room the same size as the basement.

A rainbow swirl of colour lit the place and many of the party felt a strange itch or buzz as the energy in the chamber was intense.

The only features here were six large crystals and, corresponding to the foundry, a large tooth thrust through the floor.

Coloured energies swirled around the tooth. 

The crystals spun on their axis, four were irregular shapes and glowed red. Their spin was erratic. A fifth was similar, but a much paler colour. The ghostly shape of a dwarf could be seen trying to control it. The final crystal was regular and shone with a clear light. Another dwarf spirit was controlling this.

Tharnak recognised the latter as the ghost that had treated him earlier, the party was sure the other spirit was that of the Forge Master.

Kei quickly deduced that the crystals controlled the flow of energies from the Elemental Chaos. Presumably the tooth somehow let them through?

Four of the crystals clearly needed attention. Kei and Timbers could use their knowledge of arcane procedures to do this, but since the whole device undoubtedly referred back to the Dawn War, the cleric and paladins could too; different path, same destination.

Tarryn elected to stay on watch, and, after brief consideration, Tharnak joined her. He did attend classes back in the temple, but the finer points eluded him and he felt he could add little to the crystal work.

Before the heroes began, Harrow (I think) called on the Raven Queen to bless their work. Then they set to.

As soon as they began the energies around the tooth coalesced and two fiery spirits appeared.  Tharnak and Tarryn tackled these, and they were soon dispatched.  As the rest of the party concentrated, their crystals began to loose the angry red colour, but they needed more attention to stabilise them, alas, Harrow took longer than the rest, giving more fire spirits the chance to attack, but they were no match for Tarryn and Tharnak.

As the last crystal turned clear and spun smoothly, the energy from the tooth flowed pure and clear.

The ghost of the elder dwarf bowed to the party and turned to Tharnak "you are a true Thunderforge" he said.

And that's pretty much where we left it, time was passing, and many of us had long journeys.

Some more story was revealed as we packed away.  The tooth was that of a Primordial (presumably a dead one!) that pierced the veil between the Elemental Chaos and the material Realm.  The dwarves didn't know where it came from, but it allowed them to access very high temperatures for the foundry and forge, and control them too a very fine degree.  This was the Secret of the Thunderforges.  Keldrik (the last Clanmaster) had found out the Deepdelve secret, and it wasn't anything to do with the dvergar.  He didn't feel it appropriate to divulge it though...

I'll finish by thanking my players for turning up and making this an amazing gaming experience. 

Look out for more posts showing the minis and the terrain, and I may even waffle on about some of the choices I made.

A Challenge Failed And A Challenge Accepted (Forgotten Heroes and Season of Scenery)

I've not posted for quite a while for various reasons. Lots of other stuff going on (generally good, if busy) and a general lack of hobby impetus. 

Forgotten Heroes '26

After having a lot of fun last year building Mina Murray from the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, I fully intended to take part. Sadly, I never managed to finish this year's mini. I've got all the bits I need, but I never got much further than green stuffing some trousers.

Never mind, he'll do for next year.

D&D F2F 26

One reason I've been less productive is the looming deadline for this year's face to face Dungeons and Dragons session. There's been a lot of planning (or rather, let's be honest, over planning) and a last minute change of plans (making aforementioned planning redundant). But now I know, pretty much, what is likely to be happening, and I'm gathering the materials for it now.

There's less demand for minis this time, all the heroes are still pretty much as they were last year, and I've got most of the opposition already. A few bits of painting should suffice*.

But there's potentially quite a bit of scenery I could build; leading nicely on to Dave Stone's Season of Scenery challenge.

Season of Scenery 26

Last year I used the challenge to make the dungeon terrain for the Crypt of the Vampire Knight. This year the in person session is focused on a long abandoned dwarven forge. 

Whilst I could simply draw out maps, I'd like to have at least something a bit more impressive, so that's my main project this time around.

The challenge runs beyond the D&D session though, so I might have a go at something else as well.

*OK, I'll probably end up doing more than that, time allowing, but I hope the focus this year will be terrain not minis.

If I May Draw To Your Attention...

Free Dungeons

Various dungeon YouTubers have once more got together to produce free five room dungeons on their channels. 

It's organised by Daði on Mystic Arts, and there's a full run down of the available dungeons on his site. 

While you're at it check out his channel too, and hunt down last year's adventures as well. 

The Call Of Cthulhu 

Julian Simpson's Lovecraft Investigations is my favourite reimagining of Lovecraft's work. The first four series are available on BBC Sounds, and I believe that some of his wider 'Peasant Green' stories are as well. 

Going forward, the stories are being independently produced and are funded on Backerkit. They've already done a documentary about the life of Alistair Crowley, and are now continuing the story with an investigation based on The Call Of Cthulhu. 

If you're at all interested in Lovecraft's Mythos, at least check out the stuff on Sounds, you might like it. 

You can find out more about the campaign on Backerkit, they've already unlocked bonus material.

Artefacts From my Gaming Past - Initiative Tracker and Game Board

These don't look particularly exciting, but they were an important part of my roleplaying, including the long-running D&D 4E campaign. 

Game board and Initiative Markers

The little name tiles were used to track initiative.  They are magnetic and we used a metal note board, changing the order each combat, and sometimes during combat as folk delayed and similar. 

Whilst fairly humble, this board and the tiles were present every session from Winterhaven onwards.

The surviving names are Fyodor (NPC bard, briefly run as a PC and finally retired in favour of Switch, halfling rogue), Kathra (dwarf fighter with a complicated life and death story arc), and Ozzie (multiple resurrected wizard and school founder).  The red edged tiles originally simply read Creature 1 etc.

If the initiative tracker has been around for years, then the board is even older. 

I made it from one of the fold out paper mats that came with the first D&D Miniatures Game Starter Sets back in 2003.  It's similar to the card sheet included in an early Adventurer Magazine.

I glued it to 3 mm thick card salvaged from the skip at work and covered the surface with clear sticky back plastic. It handles both dry erase and wet erase markers.

The total size is 22 inches by 34 inches and it folds down to a quarter that size. 

It saw use in the Miniatures Game as well as during my 3/3.5 edition days and well in to 4th edition. Although I was printing out floor plans - I remember one of a wizards' tower from B10 Night's Dark Shadow (an excellent adventure), designed on Dundjinni, and printed out on many sheets and with lots of ink - but for most play this board did the job, and even provided the battle ground for the siege in the first chapter of B10.

It's real strength lay in the ease of sketching out an encounter area or battle-map on the fly, which helps avoid the DM's feeling of wasted effort if the players avoid an encounter with ready made floorplans.  It's quite liberating.

As always, this artefact post is really more about the memories than any actual value of the artefacts. These remind me of the fun I've had playing role playing games over the past many years.

Do you have any gaming related stuff that you've used over many years?

*EDIT* I just found a couple more trackers,  soon I'll have the full party.

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.