Art, Dnd: Highcourt Map for NMP

Well, I had intended to do another 40K Battle Report for a game I had last Thursday, but I honestly don't feel like writing it up. So, instead, I'll give you something much more aesthetically appealing (I hope) than a bunch of crappy cell phone pics.

This is a map I made of Highcourt, the setting for Nevermet Press' first .pdf that should go on sale soon. It's the first time I done a map like this, but I look forward to further developing my own variation the process I emulated to produce this piece.

At last count, I think the .pdf going to be 50(!) pages of rockin' content that you can use for/in your RPG campaigns - and that's all based around a single villain/setting. We've got a LOT more coming down the pipe, with plans to produce a printed collection.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't excited about it.

40K: Experimenting with Space Hulk Doors

Fear not faithful reader(s?), I have not forsaken the blog! After a rather hectic week and a half, I finally got around to getting a new post together.

The Space Hulk door bases are great for practicing new painting techniques on. Particularly, I wanted to make them look old and rusty - a technique I plan to apply to my Orks, once perfected.

Step 1 (not pictured): Undercoat of Chaos Black (sprayed on)

Step 2: Flat coat of Boltgun Metal

Step 3: Scorched Brown on the sides, corners and recesses - basically anywhere that does not get as much foot traffic on it.

Step 4: Tin Bitz over the Scorched Brown. Don't worry about an even coat or leaving some of the Brown peeking out in places - it's supposed to old and rundown.

Step 5: Here is where the experimentation really come in to play. Not sure which wash would produce the best effect, I tried three: Flesh Wash, Thraka Green, Badab Black. The washes were liberally applied all over the base. In the case of the Flesh Wash, I probably could have done with a little less.

Step 6: After the washes dried, I drybrushed some Boltgun Metal over the base - being mindful to give the more heavily trafficked areas extra attention.

And that is pretty much all there is to it! I put some doors in the bases to see how they looked.
Surprisingly, I discovered that I only had one green door for the whole set, so I probably won't be using Thraka Green on any of the other steps. The Flesh Wash looked good, but was a little too brownish/orange in the final product for an ideal match to the doors - though the yellow doors helped bring it together some. The Badab Black came out the closest to the color of the metal printed on the cards.

For some added immersion, I'm toying with the idea of making plasticard door frames - without the doors in them - that would fit in the bases and represent open doors. But I've got a loooong list of things to finish before I get around to that.

DnD: Encounter Quick Reference Sheet

I finally finished (the version of) the Encounter Quick Reference Sheet, which was developed to help make encounter building a little easier:

Shown with highlighted fields

Download it here (1.94 MB .pdf, Mediafire)

My plans for the future involve redesigning the Monster Card Template, Player Reference Sheet, and the mysterious Group Tracking Sheet to be more printer-friendly and combing them, along with this sheet and the Skill Challenge Tracker into a comprehensive "DM kit" that can be used digitally or as a print out.

Misc: A Clockwork Pumpkin

A few years back, some friends of ours started throwing an annual pumpkin carving party. A bunch of our friends would come together, have dinner and carve pumpkins (pretty self-explanatory, really).

Not being content with using the same cookie-cutter patterns that you'd see at just about every house in the neighboorhood, I made it a point to always use my own design - even if it wasn't quite as polished.

What you see below was decided upon, drawn out and carved (using one of those fake pumpkins from Michaels') in about 2.5 hours.




Meh.