Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers out there! It’s a difficult, but rewarding, gig. At least that’s how I often experience fatherhood. Four of the six people in my current game are dads, and I appreciate the constant adjusting of schedules and balancing of parental responsibilities that takes place in order to ensure we continue to get together for our D&D game. Today, no D&D session. However, my spouse and oldest son did humor me by playing a skirmish game of A Song of Blades and Heroes (again, it’s Father’s Day). It was a blast (even though I lost)! It also allowed me to bust out some minis and one of my crafted boards and terrain.
Author: The Rambling Cleric Page 12 of 16
I'm a former professor of religious studies turned hospital chaplain that has a love for old-school roleplaying, particularly original D&D and B/X D&D. If you enjoy pondering the esoteric nature of early D&D, or just want to poke around and see what another player does in his old-school games, then you should find something of interest here.
Long time no write! Ah, the other demands of life. Work has been good, but busy. I’ve gotta new batch of students motivated to learn about providing emotional and spiritual support in a hospital setting. I like teaching, but this kind of work is nothing like teaching in a university setting. The transition is stressful at times, but I’ve got great support from my own family and friends. Being with them really fills my cup when it’s empty.
Anyway, I’ve been rolling a Sword & Sorcery campaign around in my head for a few months now. Unfortunately, I’ve only made two posts on the topic. Of course, there is no rush since I’m already running a game that continues to be awesome (thanks guys!). I just like to work on this other idea in my free time so it will be ready to go in the future. I could just be lazy (or smart and efficient, it’s a matter of perspective) and set the new game in the land of Hyperborea, the city of Lankhmar, or even the city of Sanctuary and simply move on. But where’s the fun in that? I think I’ll just use such literature for on-going inspiration and ideas.
Now, on to the Priests of Niotha Qurghai . . .
Well, I haven’t posted in awhile because I decided to get some crafting done. The focus of this project was a large (2’x2′) cobblestone dungeon board. My main inspiration was this episode by Professor Dungeon Master. This was my first time doing one of his projects, but I was very pleased with the results. I’m usually making dungeon terrain inspired by DM Scotty (as you’ll notice after seeing some of my terrain in the pics below). I’m also a big fan of Black Magic Craft. All of them are amazing at what they do!
Anyway, unlike Professor DM’s piece, I wasn’t concerned with making the entire board circular, nor do I intend to mount it on a Lazy Susan (maybe I’ll do that in the future since that is a pretty cool idea). I wanted to keep the board large so that it can double as a board for miniature skirmish games. You’ll notice I also departed from Professor DM’s color scheme. I just used the paints I had at the house. I etched the entire board from a single piece of XPS insulation foam. I then prepped, painted, and sealed the board. The rest of the post includes pictures of the process and results. All miniatures in the pics were painted by me. All the showcased terrain pieces were made and painted by me, with the exception of the bone piles. The bone piles were a gift from my wife that I later painted. Peace.