Wednesday 26 February 2014

99 Problems but the Pole ain't One

My regular gaming group are currently experiencing the Liberation of the Demon Slayer an old school gonzo module by Venger Satanis with maps by Dyson Logos.

Liberation of the Demon Slayer cover image
Liberation of the Demon Slayer
The beginning of the module has them preparing to delve into the caverns outside the village of Clear Meadow in search of a fabled magic sword, the villagers kindly provide 3 days rations, 30 foot of rope and a 10 foot pole to each brave soul willing to enter.  My players are unfamiliar with old school dungeoneering so I've taken the liberty of preparing a short list of things they can do with their pole in the style of popular urban troubadour Jay Z...

99 Uses for a 10ft pole

  1. Poke things that are ten feet away.
  2. An improvised measuring stick for things like the depth of water or the width of a crevasse.
  3. Tie two together with a sack in the middle and you have a stretcher.
  4. Tie two together at one end and you have a travois, you can drag your loot behind you.
  5. Use it to carry your pack on the end like some kind of hobo.
  6. Tie a white flag to the end and you can surrender to those bandits.
  7. Trigger a trap from a safe distance.
  8. Tie two together at one end and you have an A-frame (That's half a crane to you and me).
  9. Cut it into sections and you have several improvised clubs.
  10. Cut off sections can be used to wedge doors closed if you don't have spikes.
  11. Jam the end into a doorway to keep it open.
  12. Use it to improve your balance when making those tightrope walking checks.
  13. It's a lever.
  14. It's a great punt pole when rafting. 
  15. It's an improvised tent or pole.
  16. Tie a noose to one end and you have a snare for handling wild dogs. 
  17. It's a walking pole. 
  18. Use it to testing the snow for hidden crevasses in the arctic north.
  19. Tie two together (at both ends) and you have an improvised bridge. 
  20. Stick a mirror on the end and you can see out of trenches or around corners. 
  21. It's one third of a ladder. 
  22. Stick two in the ground with string or rope between them and you can hang your wares at market. 
  23. Jam it into the mouth or eye of a Tyrannosaur / Rancor / Kraken / Terrasque.
  24. Wedge it between the floor and the descending ceiling.
  25. Add some ribbons and you've got a may pole. 
  26. Knock down that wasps nest.
  27. Use two or three to make a tiger trap, just cover them with big leaves. 
  28. Cut them up and sharpen the ends, hey presto… vampire stakes! 
  29. Tie the stakes to a springy tree limb, instant punji stick trap. 
  30. Tie a knife to the end, go spear fishing. 
  31. Trim it to 6ft and use it as a fighting staff. 
  32. It's an improvised lance. 
  33. Make a pair of garrotte handles. 
  34. Jam 2 halves in the ground on either side of a track with a wire between them it's a nasty trap. 
  35. Use it to complete your staff of Ra and find the burial site of the Ark of the Covenant.
  36. It's something to lean against when on guard duty. 
  37. It's for dancing around, apparently. 
  38. It's a fishing pole. 
  39. Use two as improvised stilts.
  40. Use it to push prisoners (or animals) about with.
  41. It's a yoke for carrying two heavy things.
  42. It's a truss rod for two people to carry one really heavy thing.
  43. It's a balance beam for weighing things.
  44. Tie three together at one end to make a tripod to suspend your cooking pot.
  45. Chop it up for fire wood.
  46. Stick to snake spell needs a stick.
  47. It's a wizards staff if the wizard loses one.
  48. It's a bunch of torches when you run out.
  49. It's a stirring stick for really big cauldrons. 
  50. Test the water to see if it's really acid. 
  51. Tie two short lengths together, it's improvised nunchucks.
  52. Tie three together in a triangle it's a coat hanger.
  53. Stick meat on the end and feed your pet tiger or other ravenous beastie. 
  54. Use it as a trail or claim marker. 
  55. If you have enough you can stick them in the ground a make a temporary fence or cage.
  56. Cut notches on it to keep count of your conquests (or kills).
  57. Whittle on it around the camp fire to pass the time. 
  58. Cut a few in half and sharpen the ends, stick them in the ground at 45 degrees, you've got a horse proof barrier. 
  59. Tie helmets onto it at regular intervals and you've got an instant army of friends. 
  60. Make a scarecrow.
  61. With a little craft and string you have improvised snow shoes.
  62. Tie a shield to it and stick it in the ground, instant archery target. 
  63. If your shields big enough, hide behind it for that all important cover bonus. 
  64. Bang it on the ground to call attention to yourself. 
  65. Tie a torch to the end to ward off really dangerous animals.
  66. Tie a sling to the end and use it as a catapult arm. 
  67. Use it to push away siege ladders.
  68. Capture several prisoners, tie their hands and feet to the pole. 
  69. A stake to tie the virgin/witch to. 
  70. A limbo pole.
  71. A replacement axle for your wheelbarrow. 
  72. A handle for a windlass.
  73. Use it to break out jail Jackie Chan style (it also involve weeing on your shirt though).  
  74. Tie some rushes to the end and make a broom to sweep away your tracks. 
  75. Use it to spin plates or bowls and entertain the tribal chief. 
  76. Chop it up into lengths and jam in the walls to make improvised steps.  
  77. Wood to metal spell needs some wood.
  78. Make a yoke for your oxen.
  79. Use it to spit roast a pig.
  80. Make foucault's pendulum and test the Coriolis Effect.
  81. It's a makeshift pull-up bar.
  82. Add weight's It's a weightlifting bar.
  83. Add rope, It's a trapeze handle. 
  84. It's a lightweight caber.
  85. Spin around it when your drunk its a party game.
  86. You can hang tapestries, or curtains with it.
  87. It's a flag pole.
  88. It's a sundial.
  89. It's for knocking down fruit or coconuts.
  90. Charge a line of enemies and knock them over clothes line style.
  91. It's for jamming in the wheels of Nazi motorbikes.
  92. You can tie your horses together with one. 
  93. For rescuing people from quick sand.
  94. An improvised holy symbol.
  95. Tie a pigs bladder to the end and go wassailing.
  96. It's several baseball bats.
  97. Use it to make a corracle.
  98. It's one third of a poor man's bass guitar (add wire and a box).
  99. Add a hook it's a fisherman's gaff (for landing big fish).

Sunday 23 February 2014

Codex Nordica - Castles and Crusades Kickstarter

I'm doing plenty of new things so far this year, and one I can now cross off the list is to back a kickstarter and so I pledged my support for Troll Lord Games latest project for their rules light OSR style system Castles and Crusades. 

The Codex Nordica is a 128+ page book filled with all manner of content, from a complete guide to Viking Mythology for everyone's use, from new spells for characters to monsters for Castle Keepers/Game Masters.  The great thing about these OSR modules is that they're easy to repurpose for other Fantasy RPGs so even if you're not a fan of C&C, you can easily add some Vikings into your campaign setting.

The stretch goals already include 3 bonus adventures and Odin's Rune Tiles and if it gets to 300 backers, they'll throw in some custom C&C dice made by Crystal Caste.

The great thing is that they've already hit their funding goal so this can only get better.

For more details go to the Codex Nordica Kickstarter page.

Thursday 5 December 2013

Space Hulk on iOS - A first impressions video review

David Neumann's iOS News Blog on Boardgame Geek is a must read if you're an iPad owning boardgamer and I was over the moon when I read that Games Workshop had signed a deal with Full Control to develop an iOS version of Space Hulk.

12 months later...

It's finally here.


Available to download from the iTunes App Store

Reaper Bones #8 - Flaming Sphere LED Tealight Hack

As some of you may know my Dwarf Ranger Shadrain Coppervein is uncovering the horrors that lie deep in the Temple Elemental Evil at the moment.  Our 6 strong group is ably assisted by one of the scenario supplied NPCs, a female human sorceror, who I also play from time to time.  She recently levelled up and acquired a new Flaming Sphere spell, which has to some degree supplanted Magic Missile, as the "go to" spell for her combat casting.

Tired of using a red d6 to mark the spell's position, I decided it was high time I rectified this by hacking an LED tealight into the Burning Sphere mini which came in my Bones Kickstarter box.

Burning Sphere x3 (Kevin Williams SKU: 77081)

This video goes out to fellow mini hacker, Peter Cruickshanks (aka Uber-Mensch on the Reaper Forum) who, after seeing my recent success with the Fire Elemental LED Hack, wondered what I could do with LED Tealights.

No full blow by blow this time as all you need to know is in the video below.

UPDATE: The Burning Sphere base can also be downloaded as a free printable model just don't forget to Like, Post a Make and throw a Tip in the jar.

Enjoy


Bones Progress 


Reaper Bones: 245 - Painted: 34

Related Posts:



  • Reaper Bones #1: The Marathon Begins - Where I paint a dozen Giant Rats
  • Reaper Bones #2: Kobolds, Are They Dogs or Dragons? - Where I paint a dozen kobolds. 
  • Reaper Bones #3: A Carcase of Skeletons - Where I paint a half dozen skeletons
  • Reaper Bones #4: A Shuffle of Zombies - Where I paint five zombies.
  • Reaper Bones #5: Introducing Shaina Coppervein, Dwarven Orc Hunter - First PC mini
  • Reaper Bones #6: Mimic, Treasure Chest and How I re-base my Bones - Where I paint furniture
  • Reaper Bones #7: Fire Elemental Meets Novelty Lamp - Where I hack a mini with LEDs
  • Sunday 24 November 2013

    Reaper Bones #7: Fire Elemental meets Novelty Lamp

    One of the standout pieces from the Bones Kickstarter has to be the big translucent Fire Elemental and it was always going to get some special treatment from me.

    Large Fire Elemental (Julie Guthrie SKU: 77082)

    Reaper Bones Fire Elemental


    Xanderhook on the Reaper Forums got there before me and his post comes highly recommended as an excellent tutorial in painting the transparent bones.  I chose a slightly different route for my LEDs which required drastic plastic surgery!

    Disco Inferno

    I picked up a fibre optic novelty lamp in the pound shop some weeks earlier, for another project, which I discovered had a neat design.  3 coloured LEDs (blue, green and red) mounted on a tiny circuit board with a momentary switch feeding a pulse to a chip which regulated the power from the 3 AA batteries to the LEDs.

    The plan was simple:
    1. Extricate the board from the housing.
    2. Swap the batteries for Dry Cell (watch batteries) - as AAs are too big for the base.
    3. Swap the 3 colour LEDs for Red ones with long wires which can be inserted into the mini. 
    4. Add a longer throw momentary button switch.
    5. Pack it all into a custom 40mm MDF (Medium Density Fibreboard) base. 

    Tools and Supplies

    To complete this project you'll need:
    • 1 x translucent miniature
    • 1 x base 
    • 3 x bright LEDs (I used red ones) 
    • 3 x dry cell batteries (I used 3v CR 2032) and holders
    • 1 x momentary button switch (I got 20 on eBay for £1.50)
    • component wire
    • solder and flux
    • soldering iron
    • dremel hobby drill
    • craft knife
    • superglue
    • milliput or similar modelling putty
    • hot glue gun or insulation tape

    Where to Drill and Cut


    I wanted to embed 3 LEDs, one in each hands and one in the head, a scan of the mini showed that it was possible to drill holes from the elbow to the end of each hand and down between the shoulder blades and into the head area.  Getting the wires through the mini was going to be difficult, but cutting the mini in half across it's waist meant I could get the wires up through the middle and out about half way up the back.  This left the three pairs of wires branching out in an inverted arrow on the surface, untidy, but easily concealed with a bit of milliput.

    Cut along the white line, Drill in the yellow direction
    Cut along the white line, Drill in the yellow direction

    The Base


    I made the base from three discs of 2.5mm MDF which I cut out roughly with the dremel and then mounted each disc to an arbour and sanded into a circle.  The three rings were then cut out using a file to score the surface of the MDF as it spun on the arbor (WARNING... only use this method if you are using a dremel which spins at a slow speed otherwise you are highly likely to either fire the file into your hand or get an MDF frisbee in the head!!!).  The safe method is to drill lots of holes around your inner ring and then join them up using a file.  Once you have 4 parts glue together with super glue as in the diagram below.

    Base Dimensions and Construction
    Base Dimensions and Construction

    Of course if you don't want to go through the hassle of making your own base out of MDF you could just use something like a coffee jar lid.  Anything will do as long as it has enough space underneath for you to cram in all the components, like the battery holders wires and circuit board.

    Keep Calm and Solder On 


    A soldering iron is a must have for this great little circuit bending project but they are a handy tool to have for those odd bits of electrical DIY and can be bought pretty cheaply these days. 

    Here's a closeup of the circuit from  my fibre-optic lamp.  You'll need to connect a pair of wires of appropriate length to each of the LEDs and work out (through trial and error) which leg needs to be soldered to which spot on the board, fortunately they are very close to each other so its not too tricky.

    Fibre-optic Lamp circuit
    Fibre-optic lamp circuit showing major components

    Once you've done that you can connect your batteries together in series to give yourself enough voltage to light all of the LEDs at the same time.  There are plenty of videos on YouTube which show beginners how to solder so I won't go into any specifics other than a few directions and top tips.
    • Soldering LED legs neatly is tricky, I straddle the LED over a metal ruler (as a third hand and then solder the wires on top.  The ruler dissipates the heat quite effectively and you get straight joints.
    • Use a hot glue gun to insulate your LED legs from each other other wise they won't light up.
    • Flux is a necessity, don't solder without it.
    • tin your wires before attempting to solder them to the circuit board.

    Construction Video

    Here's a video of the construction and more importantly the illumination effect.


    Bones Progress 


    Reaper Bones: 245 - Painted: 33

    Related Posts:




  • Reaper Bones #1: The Marathon Begins - Where I paint a dozen Giant Rats
  • Reaper Bones #2: Kobolds, Are They Dogs or Dragons? - Where I paint a dozen kobolds. 
  • Reaper Bones #3: A Carcase of Skeletons - Where I paint a half dozen skeletons
  • Reaper Bones #4: A Shuffle of Zombies - Where I paint five zombies.
  • Reaper Bones #5: Introducing Shaina Coppervein, Dwarven Orc Hunter - First PC mini
  • Reaper Bones #6: Mimic, Treasure Chest and How I re-base my Bones - Where I paint furniture