Commission: Ruined Men

Here we have the majority of the newest commission that I've completed. These guys are 'Ruined Men', dangerous Vault-Dwellers who seek to impose law and order upon their little corner of the Wasteland. The miniatures themselves are a 'Zombie Containment Team' from Eureka miniatures with some minor augmentations.

Meant for an ongoing homebrew Fallout System, they are also potential miniatures for the 'This is not a Test' skirmish/warband game as Peacekeepers or Preservers.

The whole squad out and about, defending an entrance to some important bunker.

Same picture with some alternate lighting. I'm still experimenting with the best
ways to capture miniatures.

A little close up of the dug-in squad, ready for anything. The radio-pack is
and old Catachan vox that I had lying around.

Some members of the team up and moving with some interesting scatter on
their bases- including a mine, a raider sign, and an old piece of track.

One of the boys shown on a piece of Fallout scenery that I built.

It is certainly crude but, pretty cheap. I'm hoping to work on my scenery techniques
in the future.

First Game of Star Wars Rebellion!~

Ray and I sitting down for our first game of Star Wars Rebellion. Both of us will
be joined by an ally (Dad, Ray for imps and Myself, Robert for the Rebellion) for the four player variant.

Getting set up took the requisite amount of Fantasy Flight fiddliness, not helped
by an embarrassing amount of indecision for choosing where the Rebel Base should be.

After much deliberation, I decided on Dantooine, hoping that the nearby
Death Star would rule out the planet as a potential target.

The aforementioned Death Star floating around Mandalore. Super Scary.

As Imperial Forces subjugate Naboo, General Rieekan evacuates the
strategically unimportant Bothawui.

In an action that can only be described as 'unnecessary', the Death Star
moves and destroys the planet of Dathomir- putting the weapon within one space of Dantooine!

Panicking slightly, the Rebels start reinforcing Geonosis as if that advance was threatening their
base. This bluff and cold war lasts most of the game as we leave the Rebel Base isolated.

Guessing that the Rebel Base was Ryloth or Tatooine, the Imperials start building
a second Death Star right on the doorstep of Geonosis.

The Empire continues to build up, and we Rebels worried and fretted as
the first Death Star continued to ominously loom over the Dathomir Asteroid field.

Boba Fett attempts to capture Princess Leia and is foiled by the timely
intervention of Han Solo. Very thematic little encounter.

Boba Fett is again foiled, this time trying to conquer Utapau. Chewbacca
bested the bounty hunter, much to the Rebel's amusement.

To open another front and to pull more forces away from the Rebel Base Han Solo
led a lightning commando raid on Mustafar. Vader suffers his second defeat on that planet.

Several space battles have occurred by this point, with Rebel victories punctuated
by the compleation of the Second Death Star.

After turns of idling, the first Death Star... moves up instead of over towards
Dantooine. The Geonosis bluff is working!

Boba Fett finally finds success on what would turn out to be the last turn of the game,
pursuing a bounty and capturing the prestigious Mon Mothma.

In a move to eventually attack the weak Tatooine corridor, Grand Moff Tarkin brings
a battlegroup to crush the Rebel's on Nal Hutta. If the rebel base sat on Luke's home planet
the rebels would be in deep trouble...

But it is not to be! With the Rebel Base far away from any Imperial Force on
the other side of the Imperial curtain and a lucky string of objectives the
Rebel's have stalled long enough to achieve a victory!

The Dreamer's Journal #1

 //A meeting of pairs, two sets of shadows- one light and one swathed in crimson blood//A miniature castle sinking into thick dark mud as if the gods themselves wished it gone from their sight//A high pale moon rises over an apparently bottomless pit, gaping maw crowned by a ring of once beautiful roses//

7th of April 

I awoke this morning with the word 'Barovia' forming on my lips, the mental image of that most cursed of villages emblazoned into my mind's eye. I knew I would be needed there, and soon... so against my better judgement I turned away from my planned trek towards my family home in Vallaki to take the more dangerous path.

The trip took most of the hours in the day, though I was blessedly unmolested in my travels- a rare boon in this land. Perhaps even the foul creatures that stalk the roads are unwilling to travel close to the Count's personal Fief. Whatever the case, I arrived just as the sun set. Unsure of my goal, I wondered the streets, following the flitting spirits until they led me to the foot of some great mansion. That was when things escalated... fairly quickly.

Just as my dream foretold, two pairs came to me on that street. One pair stepped out of the mists, clad in the raiment of  a foreign land with their bodies malformed in such a way to imply a distinct lack of humanity. The other pair arrived in the form of frightened children, fleeing down the steps of the Mansion to plead for our help. Despite my fears, I could not merely leave the brother and sister to their on devices. Ah, the plight of a Hunter in Barovia eh? To have every instinct screaming at you to run, and yet having an obligation to stay. Old Master Yorik would have been proud.

So I joined with this pair, an 'elf' named Stryker and a 'dwarf' referring to himself as 'Gil'. Despite their unorthodox appearances, the pair seemed surprisingly dependable as we navigated through the house. The mansion had an ill feeling to it, from the hidden horrors hiding in every carved wall to the sheer... emptiness. I could feel a teeming mass of spirtual energy yearning for release, and yet the souls of the dead seemed quiet. Unable or unwilling to come out of hiding... that is, until we reached the nursery. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

We searched the library on the second floor, a grand room with many more books than I have ever seen in one place before in my life. That would have been a wondrous enough find... but Stryker found a secret room. Inside there were more books, darker books. Tomes of demon summoning and binding. Black Magic and foul knowledge not worthy of any reasonable Barovian. Here we found that the Durst's (the owners of the mansion) were foul servants of the Dark Powers who had been torturing and murdering regular folk for what must have been decades- and that this bloodthirsty pastime did nothing to ingratiate them with the Count. The correspondence we found clutched in a dead man's hand, some poor thief no doubt, proved of the Count's knowledge of the atrocities and his own tacit disgust at their pathetic cruelty. Damn the Dursts- though how does this relate to the children?

Trying to discover the secrets of this house almost led to our instant deaths. Disturbing the nursery just a floor above led to the rousing of some murdered and bloodthirsty soul. Her touch was as cold as death, and my life almost was ended by her embrace- only the swift intervention of my new companions saved me from joining the host of the damned swirling about this nexus of horror.

I write this barricaded in an upstairs washroom where we must rest. Leaving is impossible as the fog outdoors has swallowed the street up seemingly in its entirety. We must regain strength and solve the mystery of this house soon- or risk becoming its next victims. 

Morninglord Preserve Us~

[Just for a little OOC clarification, this is the journal of Christoff Vonovich- and his journal happens to be a gothic trinket that writes down his dreams every night.]

Spoilers

I plan on updating the progress of various campaigns depending on my personal experiances at home or at cons- and occasionally that means I might let loose a few spoilers when it comes to some of the pre-written games (such as Rise of Tiamet and Curse of Strahd). I'll do my best to remain vague when possible, but if you're worried about plot spoilers, well then I'd suggest skipping my updates.

I'd hate to ruin your fun!

Current Games

So, I figured a worthy piece of content for this sort of blog would be to give updates on my home role-playing campaigns. Currently there are two, both taking place in Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition. The primary campaign is the 'Rise of Tiamet', a follow-up to 'Hoard of the Dragon Queen' and a very long term campaign that I've been DMing for my group. The second is the brand new adventure from WotC, and a return to a classic setting that happens to be older than *I* am- The Curse of Strahd, which thankfully I can join as a player rather than game master.

Not that running through Barovia is going to be 'easy' by any means.

Rise of Tiamet Characters

Morty Bentear- Male urban-born Elven arcane trickster. Ambiguous in looks, romantic preference, and alignment. An occasional instigator (accidentally or otherwise) of all manner of nonsense.

Grizwal Shepard- Male Dwarven wizard. Best friend to Kal, and the closest the party can come to a common sense PC. Evoker by specialty, he likes nothing more than to fill a room with fire. Repeatedly.

Kaltheran Grey- Male Half-elf ranger/bard. Yet another member of a long line of legacy characters with the surname 'Grey', most of whom who also happen to be ranger/bards. Likes nothing more than to pine after his lady love and to defeat evil. Even if that evil happens to be in an egg, surrendering, or what have you.

Davikos the Mercenary- Male Human battlemaster. Know ever so artfully as 'Dave'. Started off as a no-nonsense mercenary, he's been traveling down a more bloodthirsty path ever since finding and wielding an evil sentient blade. Now treasure takes a backseat to the quest for ever greater kills!

Melisandre Weaver- Female Half-elf Cleric of Angharradh. The replacement cleric who was chosen by the group after their last cleric (A mute Half-orc named Turuk) was executed by the cult of the dragon. She's new, and is already a LITTLE appalled by the rest of the group.



Curse of Strahd Characters

Christoff Vonovich- Male Human Wizard. Haunted natural born Barovian, trained as Monster Hunter. Can hear spirits whispering secrets, and has recently found his specialization as a Diviner. Has the requisite distrust of strangers and penechant for dark humor that is necessary for all Barovians. My character.

Gillius Thunderhammer- Male Dwarven Cleric. Sturdy and dependable, doesn't worry nearly enough about vampires and other spooks. Known as 'Gil'. Worships the Dwarven God of Travel, peplexed my said God's sudden lack of communication.

Silvanis Thuleinn- Male Elven fighter working towards Eldritch Knight. Known as 'Stryker', uses a Glaive and has a very brash attitude. He is equally not nearly worried enough about vampires and spooks- the man just opens doors in a murder house willy nilly! Insanity. 

Introduction

Hello!

New blog, and (despite the naming scheme lifted directly from gothic horror classic Castle Ravenloft) this time its going to be all fun and games. I plan to use this space to upload photo's and stories from various games, conventions, and roleplaying sessions as well as show off some of my miniature painting skills- for better or for worse.

So let's just have some fun.