Images from Session 202

Here are the two enemies the PCs are facing in the Brotherhood Complex.

Mechanical Knight of Cornwood - a somewhat unreliable but formidable construct. Cheaper to make than most golems for this level of ability, but their speedy contruction has a cost in reliability.

These are straight-up statting up of a favorite mini of mine - a Tom Meier-scultped Ral Partha Mechanical Knight. I have a mounted one, as well, so beware, PCs!

Iron Witch of Cornwood - the inventor of the Mechanical Knight, one of the fractious Cornwoodian nobles who chafe at the iron-handed rule of King Titanius Anglesmith.

The Iron Witch is actually a mini painted by my sister. I had an enamel paint set from some model set, and she proceeded to use those to paint one of my TSR minis from set 5303 Magic Users and Illusionists. But we didn't have anything resembling flesh color - it was a set of vehicle colors. So she just didn't paint that. I kept the mini as-is, spray-sealed it, and put an "Iron Witch" in my GURPS campaign when I started to use minis again. She was a distant figure in that game - and was possibly responsible for giving the rapier Malice (see DFT3) to a swashbuckler type PC. I made her a bad guy in the Felltower world because she was an ideal match for the Ral Partha mini.

I loved the idea of an iron golem wizard, especially one that either a) was human, and made herself into an iron golem, or b) was always a golem. In the previous game, it was option a. In this one, it's likely that she's just a willful golem who has improved herself into a master wizard. A true self-made woman!

And why do we call them robots, and pronounce it robut? Here is Chop demonstrating his expertise in First Aid (Human) vs. Hidden Lore (Construct) . . .

Year in Gaming 2024

Here we are at the end of 2024. How was it for gaming for me?

Running Dungeon Fantasy

I GMed 13 sessions of DF Felltower this year.

Session 190, Felltower 128 - Exploring Level 1
Session 191, Felltower 129 - Troll Treasure & Orc Holes
Session 192, Felltower 130 - Down, down, down the GFS
Session 193, Felltower 131 - Olympus Gate II, Part I
Session 194, Felltower 131 - Olympus Gate II, Part II
Session 195, Felltower 131 - Olympus Gate II, Part III
Session 196, Felltower 132 - Wells, Pools, and Cultists of the Good God
Session 197, Felltower 133 - Chimera, Stone Bulls, and Baby Mira
Session 198, Brotherhood Complex 6 - Gnolls & Doors
Session 199, Brotherhood Complex 6 - Gnolls & Doors, Part II
Session 200, Brotherhood Complex 7
Session 201, Brotherhood Complex 8 - Raid, Part I
Session 202, Brotherhood Complex 8 - Raid, Part II - War of the Robots

This was good, but far less than the 20 I'd hoped for. In fact, this might be the lowest total we had any year since we started. I think it's because we now have a solid core of players, and instead of playing as often as we can, we play as often 75% of more of the core players can make a session. I'm giving some thought about to deal with this.

We lost a few players this year - well, one, and it's clear some of the others aren't coming back. Kevin left the group due to a difference in play style (I think.) I think I can pinpoint the moment it occured. It's okay - my game isn't for everyone, and I don't let players create problems for themselves (say, by trashing entrances to the dungeon so they're hard to use) and then solve them for them (by handwaving the "hard to use" part.) If that costs me players, it's okay. It's just a bummer because I think he left just before the PCs went off and did something he'd be have been terribly interested in.

I was pleased with a few things in-game this year:

- a return to Olympus. There is one more era left, now, and it's a doozy.
- an attempt to do things with the pools. Mostly wasted, but still, it was actual methodical exploration.
- a successful attempt to re-open ways into Felltower.
- the PCs finally found the domed city at the bottom of Felltower.
- a persistent attempt to wipe out the Brotherhood Complex's inhabitants.

Good stuff overall.

Playing RPGs

None. Not one session.

Other Games & Gaming

I was able to play some other games this year:

Board Games:

Third World War: Persian Gulf - I had a great time playing this one, but the randomized system I used for card selection left the Warsaw Pact (okay, USSR) with very little time to really seize the gulf. They ended up with a substantial, but unsustainable, advantage, before logistical breakdown left them in the lurch. A player-chosen diplomatic approach would have placed far more emphasis on getting forces into Iran early. Oh well.

Revolt on Antares - I didn't get to play but I did finally replace my set. I'll play this year.

Video games:

GTA 3: Vice City
Pathfinder: Kingmaker (Lawful Good Paladin aimed at getting the "best" ending)
Fantasy General (one battle left)
Grand Tactician: The American Civil War - played a short bit, I need to play more.

Not a great year for these games. I did get more done in Pathfinder, but as always I stall out in the complicated and not-terribly-fun phase-state House out of Time.

Writing

Almost none. My work-work got busy . . . I set myself a goal of +50% business for the year and met it. No time for writing with that going on.



Other stuff? No painting, although my readers (glasses) make it possible now. Lots of Felltower work. Some new gaming things I can enjoy to read and play with. But that's about it.

As years go for gaming . . . not bad, but not up to par. Next game is 1/12 and I hope to keep some kind of rhythm.

Painting glasses?

I'm thinking of getting back into painting minis. I stopped a while back - maybe a couple years ago, maybe longer - whenever my last WIP post was, in all likelihood. I stopped for a few reasons, but a big one is vision. I wear glasses for vision correction, but painted without them. Now, though, my close-in vision is sufficiently poor that holding a 28mm mini in close is still not enough to see details and is very tiring on my eyes, as well.

I cannot paint with an external magnifying glass. I have a rig for such, but I just can't handle the different levels of magification between my hand, the brush, the glass, and what's magnified in the glass. I tried and failed.

So I'm thinking I need something like this:

Painting like Joubert

Or a pair of magnifying glasses I can wear. I don't know if it's possible for me to paint even with such a setup, but I'm going to try.

Does anyone have a recommendation from experience? I've done some random searching, but actual use experience would be helpful so I'm not just guessing and spending.

Year in Gaming 2023

Here we are at the end of 2023. How was it for gaming for me?

Running Dungeon Fantasy

Due to a TPK, this year was pretty odd for me - I actually got to play in a DF Felltower adjacent campaign GMed by one of my regular players, Vic.

So I GMed less sessions overall, but the net amount of DF Felltower-connected play wasn't as low as this seems. 2022 featured only 13 sessions for comparison to me GMing 12 this year - about one every 4 weeks.

Session 178, Brotherhood Complex 2 - Iron Knights
Session 179, Brotherhood Complex 3, Part I
Session 180, Brotherhood Complex 3 - Part II
Session 181, Brotherhood Complex 4, Part I
Session 182, Brotherhood Complex 4, Part II - Demon Grunts & Torturers
Session 183, Brotherhood Complex 5 - Gnolls (Part I)
Session 184, Brotherhood Complex 5 - Gnolls (Part II)
Session 185, Felltower 125 - Return to Felltower
Session 186, Felltower 125 - Return to Felltower Part II - Gnolls & A Level Too Far?
Session 187, Felltower 125 - Fighting the Werewolves
Session 188, Felltower 126 - Werewolf Loot & Crystal Gazing
Session 189, Felltower 127 - Quick Delve

It was great getting back to Felltower.

We added a couple of players, though - Doug and Kevin joined us. We didn't really lose anyone although Galen's player Mike only played in a session or two. Doug and Kevin have been excellent additions and have added a different approach to delving and character generation.

The Forge has been excellent, and Foundry is getting better and better. Still odd sometimes, and still lots of little issues, but overall I feel much more comfortable with it.

Playing RPGs

With our TPK in Session 184, caused by Ye Olde Let's Camp in This Dead End Tactic, we needed to reboot the party again. I didn't want to create yet another starting area, and Felltower isn't a great place for newbies anymore, after endless bottom feeding by high point guys cleaned out anything that wasn't a rat, an ooze, or a gargoyle from the upper levels. So Vic offered to run some games . . . and I suggested we port the characters from there back to Felltower.

We did that. It was a good experience - I'd never co-GMed anything like that before.

I played most of the sessions, missing only one because I didn't want to stay up all night in Japan to game from there.

Felltower Adjacent - Session 1
Felltower Adjacent - Session 2
Felltower Adjacent - Session 3
Felltower Adjacent - Session 5 - Scaring & Murdering Hobgoblins
Felltower Adjacent Session 6 - Traps & Temples of Orcus

There were 6 sessions and I played 5 of them, as you can see above. All in all, then, there were 18 sessions of Felltower-connected games run in 2023, and I played only 17 of them despite it being the campaign I initiated. Heh. Goes with my "our game" idea - Felltower is "mine" and I didn't even play all the sessions.*

AD&D

Another year with no AD&D. I expect this coming one will be the same, although I'm going to try otherwise. I expect the ship has sailed and no one wants to play AD&D anymore. I'm the only one who mentions it.

Other Games & Gaming

I was able to play some other games this year:

Board Games:

Fire in the Lake - simply beautiful, and amazing to play. Every turn feels like a dilemma.
Panzer Blitz - fun, but I'd actually rather play early-war scenarios, like 41-42.

Video games:

GTA 3: Vice City
Borderlands 2 (not so much of it, this year, but I still fired it up a few times)
Pathfinder: Kingmaker (running both my evil monk, and a Lawful Good Paladin aimed at getting the "best" ending)
Planescape: Torment enhanced edition (beautiful, and such a good game)
Fantasy General (almost finished it)
War in the East (played a couple of short scenarios)

I bought, but haven't yet played, Grand Tactician: The American Civil War.

Writing

I started work on a big project with Doug Cole, but SJG ended up putting it on hold for a while. Oh well.

I wrote a few other little things but without Pyramid, they don't have a home, but I like them too much to not try to find a way to turn them into a profit.

Overall, not a bad year in gaming. I'd like to get to 20+ sessions in 2024.





* I still shake my head over the hostile reaction I got in the comments on that one.

Year in Gaming 2022

Here we are at the end of 2022. How was it for gaming for me?


Running Dungeon Fantasy

We had only 13 sessions of DF this past year, from session 145 - session 162. That's down from 20 - I think - last year. It was a lowsy year for gaming.

Session 165, Felltower 118 - Beyond the Repelling Doors
Session 166, Felltower 120 - Draugr Do-or-Die (Part I)
Session 167, Felltower 120 - Draugr Do-or-Die (Part II)
Session 168, Felltower 120 - Draugr Do-or-Die (Part III)
Session 169, Felltower 121 - Second GFS - Part I
Session 170, Felltower 121 - Second GFS - Part II
Session 171, Felltower 121 - Second GFS - Part III
Session 172, Felltower 122 - Desmond Takes Command & Stirges
Session 173 (Part I), Felltower 121 - Second GFS - Part IV
     Interlude: Prisoners of the Masters
Session 173 (Part II), Felltower 123 - Dungeons & Dwarves
Session 174, Felltower 124 - Mission for the Masters
Session 175, Felltower 124 - Mission for the Masters II
Session 176, Felltower 124 - Mission for the Masters III - Beholder
Session 177, Brotherhood Complex 1 - Tricks, Traps, and Triger


Our player pool dropped, too. We had only seven players this year, down from ten. All regulars, no new people. But Galen's player hasn't played since 2021, along with a couple others. Some can't seem to handle Foundry, and I can't handle Roll20 anymore. I'm not sure I need new people, but I do need to get some of my players back.

A good chunk of the game was in Felltower - all of it except the last session. No gates. A little deeper exploration. And a number of sessions centered on the ill-fated delve that led to the capture of the PCs, and the consequences. That derailed a lot - it took a while to get people together to play it, a long time to resolve, and then we had a few sessions of trying to satisfy the Masters's needs but they ended in a TPK.

Oddly TPKs don't seem to dissuade anyone from playing. Which is good, although if everyone threw up their hands and say no more Felltower aka DF on Hard Mode I'd just run something else.

Foundry has been annoying, but vastly better than Roll20. I'm getting more skilled at it. I anticipate paying The Forge to host another year - it was well worth the price and their tech support - the one time we needed it - did all that we could have asked. As a former IT guy myself, I'm both understanding and very picky. I understand the issues, but I expect results. We got results.

Playing RPGs

I didn't get to play any.

AD&D

Another year with no AD&D. I expect this coming one will be the same, although I'm going to try otherwise.

Other Games & Gaming

I got my copy of Fire in the Lake. I've read the rules, but I need space to play it.

I played Pathfinder: Kingmaker and enjoyed it a great deal. I'd play it again except I need to give it a little more time before I'm properly decided what to do in it. I want to run an unarmed monk, and I'm trying to decide between good (again) or evil. Fun stuff.

I didn't really get a lot of other video game playing in.

Writing

I wrote all of one article for Pyramid for publication. I'm a lot busier with work - at my place of employment and with my own personal business. So not as much time to write . . . and not as much interest in writing what came along.

I did put my name in the ring for a possible project in 2023. We'll see if I get the gig. If so, it's GURPS, and it'll involve my usual areas of interest. That's all the hint I can give.

I am still keeping up the blog, but with more breaks than last year. Call it 319 posts this year. Not bad, although I will try to keep up daily posting more in the future. Still, it's over 11 years in and 3900 posts.




Overall, a so-so year in gaming. I will do my best to make sure the next one isn't so light on gaming as this one.

Edestekai WIP

I finally got back to painting these two Edestekai from Star Frontiers.

Not a lot done, just put on the fringes and outlined the eyes. Next, I need to decide on an eye color. I'm thinking white with a purple iris. I think that'll pop nicely and say "Alien!" more than anything else.

Maybe dark brown for the spear and a spearhead of bronze, then some bright metal colors for the ornaments and the headdress of the leader.

Should look nice. No idea what to do with them - in DF the PCs would just stab them in the eyes and that's that. I need to save them for some Sci-Fi game in the future, perhaps.

In any case, here they are:

WIP Viking drinking

I think I got this from a Black Tree Design set, but I don't think they sell the set anymore if so.

He's probably going to be a Tavern Level patron in Felltower or another potion taster.

Plate-armoured Orc Based & Sealed

I managed to finish this guy off entirely this week:

I'm quite pleased with how he came out, even if the basing material is stacked a little tall.

He'd make a cool NPC in a lower-powered DF game or an Orc PC, in a game featuring them.

Year in Gaming 2021

Here we are at the end of 2021. How was it for gaming for me?


Running Dungeon Fantasy

We had only 18 sessions of DF this past year, from session 145 - session 162. That's down from 20 the previous year. We weren't as dilligent about getting sessions in, clearly.

Session 145, Felltower 111 - Yeth Hounds
Session 146, Felltower 112 - Yeth Hounds & Moonbeams
Session 147, Felltower 113 - Orichalcum and Moon Doors
Session 148, Felltower 114, Lost City 13 - Ampitheatre
Session 149, Felltower 115 - Staring at Doors
Session 150, Cold Fens 9
Session 151, Cold Fens 10
Session 152, Cold Fens 11 - Deadfalls & Defeat
Session 153, Cold Fens 12 - Scouting Sakatha's Island
Session 154, Cold Fens 13 - Hexcrawling the Cold Fens (Part I)
Session 155, Cold Fens 13 - Hexcrawling the Cold Fens (Part II)
Session 156, Cold Fens 14 - Sakatha's Lair Do-or-Die (Part I)
Session 157, Cold Fens 14 - Sakatha's Lair Do-or-Die (Part II)
Session 158, Cold Fens 14 - Sakatha's Lair Do-or-Die (Part III)
Session 159, Cold Fens 14 - Sakatha's Lair Do-or-Die (Part IV)
Session 160, Felltower 116 - Level 7? (Part I)
Session 161, Felltower 116 - Level 7? (Part II)
Session 162, Felltower 117 - Level 6?

I think we had 10 different players this year. Playing virtually kept us consistent but oddly didn't help some of the occasionals stay in the game.

In game, it was largely the Cold Fens this year, with 10 delves there, plus 1 in the Lost City, and thus only 7 in Felltower. They made a few delves down deeper but, once again, avoided some of the big things they discovered along the way - the beholder, the draugr, the dragons, the gates. It was a year of Cold Fens delves and lots and lots of nibbling on the margins of things. That's part of why I bit the bullet and went with the firmer requirements for loot for XP. I had enough of nearly 400 point guys picking up XP for loot by cashing in a few dropped weapons and some scrap bits found here and there.

Roll20 hasn't been a lot of fun to deal with, though, so we're moving to Foundry VTT as soon as reasonably possible.

Playing Dungeon Fantasy

I was able to play in a one-shot with evil characters, GMed by Marshall, who runs Aldwyn (and Varmus) and previously ran Gwenneth the Dirt Mage.

DF Suicide Squad 1: Cave of the Dark Elves

I enjoyed getting to play, as much as I complained about how overpriced Terror was for what I'd gotten.

Playing Gamma Terra

Zero sessions of Gamma Terra this year. I'm officially putting this one in the "dormant" campaign category. Our GM still plays DF when he can, so it's possible we'll get back to this, but he's a bit too busy to GM right now. Too bad.

AD&D

We went the whole year without playing AD&D. I'm bummmed. We were ready to go but had to cancel last-minute, and then the next time it came along everyone wanted to play DF Felltower. I still intend to run more.

Other Games & Gaming

I played some video games:

- a bit more of Darkest Dungeon, but stalled when one guy I need was killed off and I can't seem to find a replacement to level up to where I need him. Tiresome. Enjoyable while I've got a good party going but it's annoying to finish a quest and the next week the coach still hasn't brought the one class I need. Feh.

- I finished X-Com: Apocalypse, despite not being able to finish all of the tech trees.

- I played a lot of Battletech, finishing the core missions and getting deep into the Flashpoints before stalling out due to a mission I'm not enjoying.

- I stalled out on Ultima V, but I'm not really far from victory if I'm right about my progress. I just need to get my notes out and get to work.

- I played a bit of other games but nothing really worth mentioning. Well, maybe Borderlands 2, which I'm still playing. I finished it with another guy.

I didn't get in any board games that I can recall. Maybe Fire in the Lake will arrive in 2022 and I'll be able to play that.

Painting

I got in some mini painting right under the wire this year, finishing a few figures and speed-painting a pair.

I'm still going to sell my Bones V collection, I just need to get up and list it on eBay.

Writing

GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 22: Gates came out in 2021. I'm quite pleased with it.

The Crypt of Krysuvik came out, as well. It was a hard thing to write, as it was my first adventure, Marshall LaPira's first writing for hire in the gaming field, and our first collaboration with each other and for Doug. I've written with Doug before, but not for Doug. I'm done with adventure writing as of the moment, but Marshall has more on tap I believe.

I did a little more writing. Truth be told, I've slacked off because I want to write for royalties, not flat payments. The royalties, over time, make more sense for me. SJG isn't currently doing Royalties. I threw in for another SJG project, and we'll see where that goes.

Overall, not a bad year in gaming - but not a great one, either. I'd like to get in some additional games - running AD&D, playing GT or something else - and some additional "other" gaming - writing, painting, video games . . .

Assorted painting

Today was a day of painting cleanup, mostly.

I did the following:

- dull-coated six figures.

- glued together three minis - two that need painting, and one that was painted but broke.

- sorted through some minis to find others I'm in the mood to paint.

I haven't really started painting anything new yet. I may get in some base-coating of a couple of Bones minis tonight.

Overall, it's been fun getting back to painting.

Speed-Painted Orc

This guy went from a bare Bones mini today to this in a few hours:

- I did a basecoat of Apple Barrel Colors Grey Flannel

- I did a base coat of all of the colors you see on the mini

- I did a brown Magic Wash

- coated the base in glue and dipped it in my basing materials

Done.

I like this guy. It was a lot of fun.

Ogre WIP

I did a little work on this nice, big ogre Reaper Bones mini.

Underneath that yellow caking is "medium flesh" paint. I decided I liked the idea of an ogre who'd self-colored with some kind of pigment. We'll see if that survives the finishing touches of paint and then a quick "magic wash" of brown and Pledge floor care finish mix.

The goal is quick, tabletop presentability here. I went for main colors where I could, and I'll put in some extra finishing touches next time - the spikes, edging where one paint bled into another, the straps on the barrel and the necklace, the fingernails, teeth, and eyes.

But I feel like I made solid progress on this guy.

Mini: Weird Tentacle Beast

Here is a mini from Felltower for a monster the PCs haven't encountered yet. It's from a set of weird rubbery monsters one of my players has. I took a few of them and painted them up.

It's hard to get the paint to stay on, the toys lack useful details, and the paint reveals the flaws instead of hides them.

This slimy white-eyed critter probably is a relative of the Caustigus (from Orcslayer, originally) or other tentacle beasts, like the Ubiquipus, or a relative of the mysterious Spheres of Madness.

Also, it's pretty much unique, so I couldn't get another without some real work. That doesn't mean I won't tokenize it and deploy them by hoards.

Barbarian WIP

I got a little painting in today:

Zoomed in with the camera, it's easy to see the details I can't see on the actual figure. I'm hoping better lighting will do it. I think I need to start trying to learn to paint with a magnifying glass, like this Alsatian gentleman:

I need to make him a little more colorful, too. Not sure where. Maybe I'll color his clothing, such as it is, with red and blue fringe or highlights.

Painted Wererat

I finished the Black Tree Designs wererat last night - I didn't get to the barbarian today for lack of any free time at all.

This guy just needs pupils dotted on his eyes (done after taking the pictures) and dullcote (next dry, warm-ish day).

Overall good tabletop quality, which is my aim these days.

A touch of painting

Just out of nowhere, I felt like painting. So I grabbed a couple of minis that felt like they needed to get finished and started in on them. I'll knock these guys out ASAP and see if the need to paint stays.

This is a pair of Black Tree Design minis.

Wererat Assassin

and an Elite Barbarian Raider - sadly, no longer sold there.

I don't remember why I bought the wererat - maybe just because it's a cool mini. The barbarian I bought because I think he looks like Conan might with an axe.

Hopefully I keep up some momentum but I'm not really hopeful just yet. It's rare I have a lot to listen to but not watch, and thus the attention to spend on painting.

Friday Random Links for 7/2/21

Weekly wrap up.

- I still plan to run A2, but I plan to run it on 7/11. Unless my players come up with a really good plan after their delve into Sakatha's island last session. I don't expect so - they didn't really do anything but confirm what they're after.

I did learn they enjoy hexcrawling, though, with procedural travel, so we may need to do some of that in the future.

- My Reaper Bones minis shipped. Sadly, I've mostly stopped painting since between when I pledged and when they'll arrive. We'll see if they inspire me to take up my brush again. If not, maybe I'll just sell the lot on eBay. I doubt I'll back the next one.I don't even remember when I stuck the email with the shipping notice, so figure I'll get a UPS "package arriving tomorrow" notice at some point and it'll just show up. Like Tides of Numenera, it's coming so late (for reasons beyond their control) I've lost a lot of interest.

I'm still a bit grumpy that I barely got my pledge manager stuff locked in at the last minute. Apparantly they posted it as an update, and then emailed all of us delinquent people as a last resort. Well, had they emailed me as a first resort, I'd have locked in my pledge immediately. So I found that a bit annoying . . . and some helpful non-Reaper person gave me snark when I said so in a comment. Just remember, your fans reflect on your company, too . . .

- I'm excited that DF22 will come out. I wish I had any idea of when that would be.

I'm even more excited that my payment for DF22 will come soon. Heh.



Sounds shallow, maybe, but getting paid for game writing is sweet.

- After a break I'm back at Battletech: The Mercenary Collection. I'm into the Flashpoints. They're good, although I'm not sure what the deal is . . . do you usually make a new company to play them out? It just told me where they were and I went for them with Gunhaver and the Cheat Commandos, my campaign-winning crew. My first two missions were a joke. One had me going to fight a high-danger, well-equipped enemy lance. Their heaviest mech was a Wolverine, a 55-ton mech with good staying power and useful firepower. My mechs were a gauss gun-carrying Atlas (100 tons), a gauss-gun carrying Highlander (95 tons I think), an AC/20 mounting Atlas (100 tons), and a 70-ton Archer with two upgrded LRM-20s. We finished the mission without significant armor damage, just down a lot of ammo. It's getting better but I'm still walking through them. I just entered a tournament of champions with mechs provided, so that's a level playing field, but my pilots are all 10/10/10/10 in skills, and we'll see how good the enemy is.

Still amusing but not challenging, just a time waster.

- Speaking of games, War in the East II is out. I'm waiting on it showing up on GoG with a sale, but it looks good. I'm not saying it's not worth $80, just that I can wait on it. I'm still trying and failing to do well as the 1942 Soviets. I'm doing okay but it's hard to figure out how to deal with some situations when you're outgunned and on the defense.

Friday Roundup 7/3/2020

It's a Friday, so I like to link to posts or post random little tidbits. Today is no exception.

- Over at the Nine and Thirty Kingdoms, Talysman has an idea - can you expand the idea, nebulous in OD&D, that margin of success matters on a strike? And then, can you assign special, critical effects on that strike, over and above (but possibly affecting) the damage?

It's a good idea. It's not a new idea, though. That'e the core of Arms Law from Rolemaster. In Rolemaster, you roll a "to hit" roll that is modified by your attack skill and modifiers and the defensive skill and modifiers of the target. The margin is looked up on a table, which tells you the concussion hits (HP loss, basically) and what level of critical to roll. That critical can and does modifier the effects and damage on the target.

I'm not dissing Talysman here. I'm just pointing out that he's on the same logic trip - and roll approach - of another system I really liked. Margin of success modifications to results, or determination of results, has a lot to say for it as a mechanic.

- The GURPS PDF Kickstarter is still going:



DF21 is still locked, and not even displayed, as a stretch goal. I figure it's probably going to unlock at $44K or $45K based on the other jumps between unlocks.

- I'm stalled in War in the East, at least mentally at the moment. I got through the mud but now the Soviets have a solid front in front of me. I need to decide where to put my efforts to break it; I can't just chase everywhere like the heady days of July and August 1941.

I did finally take the rest of Leningrad, stabilized my front and even advanced it by crushing a few Russian salients, and otherwise made good use of the time. Now the snow is here and I'm moving East again. I might be able to take Moscow but I might not be able to keep it. I could move my armor there en masse but it'll take time and the terrain in front of Moscow is a tangle of woods and rivers - places where armor suffers lots of penalties and takes lots of casualties. It's already looking tempting to dig in so I can hold on for dear life in the winter and then transfer my mobile elements from Army Group North to Army Group South and make a big push on Stalingrad and the oil I need in the Caucasus mountains. Yeah, I know, I know. Suddenly the OKH doesn't look like a bunch of idiots doing something obviously wrong. I'll post pictures after a few more turns.

And I should say, all of this is with Panzer IIc, Panzer IIIg, Panzer IVe, and Pz-38t tanks as my primary workhorses . . . by the time you get to Tigers and Panthers and Panzer IVg tanks in any numbers, you better have won the war or you're bound to lose it.

- Dreams in the Lichhouse is revising its blogroll. The comments are full of blog suggestions. If you want to suggest one, or suggest your own, or (like me) browse for more blogs you might like, take a look.

- A rabbit hole of link-following led me back to this post:

Same Description, Same Rules

I feel that's a good rule of thumb. A related idea drives my color scheme.

Speaking of old posts of mine, here is one idea I liked but haven't really implemented. I really should use something like it - not necessarily "first time always works" as I have players that will abuse that, but perhaps "it works this time because of amazing luck and timing and coincidence" to help players get past being stuck. Don't forget to read the followup if you're considering doing the same.

- This blog has some very good advice on painting - she paints well and explains well. That's very, very valuable.

New Brushes

I ordered some new brushes as soon as I ended up with extra time thanks to COVID-19 work schedule changes. It took a couple of weeks for them to finally ship (and then they came the next day.)

Here they are:

It's a new Windsor & Newton Series 7 size 00 to replace my worn-out 00, which finally died just before this whole thing hit, and a set of ProArte brushes that Amazon.com had for a lot less than individual brushes would cost me. The set includes a 0, 2/0, 3/0, 4/0, 5/0, 10/0, and 20/0.



They'll replace some 0, 5/0, and 20/0 and other assorted 1s and 0s and 00s that have worn out.



So far they seem pretty good. I can finally get back to painting without needing to use a W&N 0 to paint literally everything that requires some detail work.

Apes Finished

These guys need some sealant, but they're done:



Time for an ape uprising!