Tales from Benchleydale: Anders Freesword

Welcome to the Vault once more!  My studies at the Benchleydale Academy have continued with a fun interactive character generation systems via Zoom and I've rolled my "back up" character. 

Our erstwhile DM has also provided us with insight into various locales within the realm as we've all rolled up "current events" for our character's home locations via a series of random tables.  This is quite a fun addition to character generation and something I'll consider adding to my own campaigns.

So let's introduce; Anders Freesword

Half Orc for hire by Conquistador (Deviant Art) (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) 

Father's Day Loot: RBC Spell Tracker

Welcome back to the Vault!  As I've indicated in recent posts I'm participating in several online RPGs to get my gaming fix and that includes a weekly 5th edition D&D campaign.

I'm really enjoying the adventures of Immerel the druid as he and his comrades battle a force of giants and the ogre-ish allies.  5th edition uses a different magic system compared to my more familiar "go to" 3rd edition.  In essence Immerel "prepares" a number of spells from his possible selection each day and can then cast any combination using his spell slots of different levels.

My daughters are obviously aware of my enjoyment of this game as they've given me the perfect present for Father's Day; a spell tracker peg board!

Tales from Benchleydale: Torvik Quicksilver

Welcome back to the Vault once more my fellow Adventurers.  The primary source of my gaming fix over lock down (apart from the family board games) has come by playing D&D online with friends from the First Founding club. I'm enjoying playing Immerel the Druid in a 5th edition game (my first real exposure to this version), and running an introductory adventure using Swords and Wizardry Light.

I've also been very lucky to be invited to participate in a gaming experience over the summer called the Benchleydale Academy.  The Academy is focused on a 1st edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons sandbox setting called Benchleydale and Beyond comprising over 100 classic adventures set in a campaign backdrop created in part by the collaboration of Academy participants.

 

Simple Online Fantasy Role Playing Game Guide

Welcome back to the Vault my fellow Venturers! One of the joys of the smart phone age is the Group Chat, and like a lot of gamers/hobbyists I belong to a number of such groups dedicated to various gaming and modelling topics.

One of the smaller 40k group chats was lamenting the lack of face to face gaming due to lock down and social distancing, and the suggestion of running an online role playing game came up.  Most of the players are relative novices to RPGs so I volunteered to organise a very simple introductory game using easily accessibly materials.

First up was the choice of rule set; this was an easy decision to make as I've had Swords and Wizardry Light (S&WL) in mind to try out for a while.  S&WL is a free product (well technically Pay What You Want), and provides a stripped back D&D-like system over  an easy to digest 4 pages. For me the rules have a very Basic D&D vibe to them, and preparing the adventure was something of a nostalgia trip for me.

The Dead Shall Rise

I see you have ventured back to the Vault once more. Whilst the warm summer sun tempts us away from the painting desks, there is dread chill in the crypts.  I've spent a couple of hours applying more paint to my Wraith diorama, and the model is now at a point I'm happy to call it done.

The Dead Shall Rise: Work In Progess

Welcome back to the Vault! The hobby butterfly seems to have settled in the fantasy realms as I've started on another "terrain" project.  This is a little different as it's an entry for the Frostgrave Facebook group's monthly hobby competition under the theme of "Wraith".  The brief is deliberately vague to allow the creative juices to flow!

I purchased the first issue of the Age of Sigmar "Mortal Realms" magazine when it appeared as two quid for a dozen or so miniatures was just too much of a bargain to pass up. And luckily a bunch of those were wraiths.

A number of other people on the group have made the same purchase so I've decided to do something a little bit different and incorporate some of the spectres into a diorama/terrain piece.  A quick dive into the bitz box and the hobby supplies found some useful pieces allowing me to knock this up:

Ruined Wizards Tower

Welcome back to the Vault!  Even though we are still in lock down I've been lucky to get some gaming in over the last week or so, having played in an online Dark Suns-esque D&D session, and my eldest daughter and I took on the Writhing Fumes solo Frostgrave scenario running a Warband between us.

Hobby wise I'm still firmly in the thrall of painting models for my fantasy based games, and I've been tackling a more significant project; the forgotten Wizard's Tower, now fallen into ruin.