Patreon: FOE Adventure Board

I posted a picture of the work board for the upcoming "Witches of Pikemaster" on the Patreon. If you are interested in learning part of my process for producing adventure content, check out the FOE Patreon.

Kill Team: Adeptus Astartes vs Death Guard AAR

Last Weekend, ActionMan and I had to use the new Necromunda terrain in a game of Kill Team. We had originally set up the terrain to give ourselves many opportunities to use the multi-level-ness of this. Then we picked a scenario: Ambush.

The basis of the scenario is that one gang ambushes another and trie to slow it down. The defender/ambushee gets a bonus 20 points to beef up their gang.

The game is set to last at least four turns.

The Attacker: Separatists (Adeptus Astartes)

These are my space marines made using my classic 80s models. I played the role of the attacker for this scenario. Points: 100
- Sergeant with boltgun and power sword
- Tactical marine with meltagun
- Tactical marine with plasmagun
- Tactical marine
- Tactical marine
- Tactical marine

The Defender: Poopachus (Death Guard)

These models are a mix of the new set from First Strike and some older ones. ActionMan took on the role of the rotting champion of chaos. Points: 120
- Plague champion with plasmagun and power fist
- Plague marine with plague spewer
- Plague marine with plague spewer
- Plague marine with boltgun
- Plague marine with boltgun
- Plague marine with boltgun
- 6 x Poxwalker

ActionMan had to deploy along a narrow corridor in the center of the map. I had to deploy more than 8 inches from him, where I could set up anywhere along my left side. My marines were spread all along the "barrier" formed by the gantry, with only one of my marines - the plasma gunner - at the top. The rest had to deploy to slow the advance of the Death Guard.

For the first turn, the Death Guard advanced into a barrage of bolter fire, making effective use of the cover available with minimal damage. He managed to have one of his basic Plague Marine escape via the tunnels!

Turn two, one of the poxwalkers escaped into the tunnels for safety! Now, imperial shells began to take a toll on the forces of chaos. The imperial line held, with only the loss of the marine with the meltagun.

Turn three saw the tide of chaos flood the imperial line. With close combat raging everywhere, shooting became secondary. The Death Guard and poxwalker's disgustingly resilient saves came into play more than not and the battle was in the balance.

Turn four saw the imperial forces gain the upper hand with concentrated fire and lucky melee outcomes. Still, the forces of Chaos did not fail as a poxwalker made it across and another one escaped through the tunnels. He needed three more to escape for the win!

Turn Five happened on a roll of 4. Now the remaining imperial forces blasted away and slowed down the Death Guard enough to ensure they would not escape this turn. Still, by the end of the turn, they were poised to run off and pull off a win on turn 6.

However, Turn 6 never came and the Separatists won by slowing down the Death Guard.

In the end, ActionMan should have used his escape on the poxwalkers and leave the plague marines to walk (slowly) across the field. He made great use of charges to speed up his forces. In the end, he was not able to punch enough of a hole through the marines to guarantee his escape.

A close affair indeed.

Scratch-built Necromunda/40k Terrain

Since Christmas, my mind has been going to Necromunda.I rememberl fondly the cardboard spires that came with the original game and that 3d view that really gave the game its appeal. It was not "just" hiding behind walls, but you could could run up and surprise the enemy by using the gantries. I liked it. A lot.

So you can imagine my surprise when the 2017 game came with doors and barricades. The 3d terrain relegated to ANOTHER box. "Nope," I told myself as I resolved to scratch build some terrain that would have multiple levels.

Some of my design ideas:
- Must be light (popsicle sticks/coffee stirrer/ chipboard)
- Must be reusable and posable
- The basic color scheme would be rusted metal with broken/uneven floor tiles
- Must allow a heavy miniature anywhere on the upper structure (particularly for the flat surfaces, I used a warmachine metal warjack)
- Floor tiles would be dirty black and white
- MY arm/ hand must be able to reach under the floor.
- The largers surfaces would be crooked to give the impression that things have rusted and twisted with time.

So with all these ideas, I set out to do it all.

Once everything was built and painted, I opted to add the printed posters for highlights, but also the neon green sludge on the tiles to give it some more highlights.

The result really pops with the eye drawn to the black and white and the fluo sludge. I like the result.

ActionMan liked it too.

[Kinda Book Review] 52 - Vol. 1

Santa was kind enough to bring me a few comic books, including this 52 Vol 1, that gathers 13 issues of the 52 series. One of the shtick is that they were published, one per week for a year. Following the Crisis on Infinite Earth where DC cleaned out a lot of its duplicated characters and timelines, 52 was a bold idea.

Imagine the DC Universe without Batman, Superman, or Wonder Woman for a year... The characters are not gone (Clark Kent still works at the Daily Planet, Bruce Wayne is off training in the recesses of the world, and Wonder Woman is off somewhere).

Now through the first few issues, I wondered where this was going as we are presented with many subplots that don't mingle: Booster Gold, Elastic Man, Black Adam, Wonder girl, Steel, Renee Montoya (a cop from the Animated Series), the Question, TO Morrow. This reads more like a novel than a classic comic book as the good guys vs villains brawls are rare. The next question, who is the main character and who is the main villain is up in the air. Black Adam being the most powerful, but is he the main villain? Unclear yet.

As this is the first of 4 tomes, the story remains engaging and I found myself immediately picking up the second tome as soon as I completed this one.

The art is of the highest quality with no let down, increasing my enjoyment. The plot moves a little slowly sometimes but not enough to ruin the enjoyment. As an omnibus, I thought it was very good. I doubt I would've purchased them one at a time.

So, a rating? I enjoyed it, good writing, good art, I would've liked to have a clearer endgoal - which I may get later in the series. Settling for a 4/5 was easy. I look forward to the next chapter/trade paperback.

[Kinda Book Report] Le Troisieme Testament: Julius III: La Revelation Partie 2

Since posting my review of the part I of chapter 2 back in June of 2020, I left the other three albums of the series on a table ready to read. Teasing myself. Waiting for the right moment to continue.

That time has come. I just had to read Julius III.

Like the preceding tome, our diminishing group of travelers continue their eastward trip, through (what will become) India, the Himalayas, and into Tibet. This voyage of faith is one that taxes the travelers to the brink. Each character is well-established by now.

There are two main revelation in this tome. The chapter (composed of tomes II and III) is called "La Révélation" so that is no surprise.

The first revelation is on personal level where the characters' outlooks and faith are shaken and put to the test by the events therein. It would be hard NOT to have a crisis of faith considering some of the elements. Some characters turn back, some abandon the quest while others persevere on the quest.

The first one is the origin of the raven-knights that have been plaguing the protagonists from the start of the series. This was an interesting reveal, even if I felt the scene where we discover the secret fell a tad flat. Like everything, it has a biblical link that most people would recognize and interesting. The scene felt forced. Almost as if the author went "Okay, let's info-dump this and move on". "Interesting" as in "not great, but not bad either"

The ending sets up the finale, a finale I am very excited to read. I said to myself "Oh wow, what a shift," no doubt this sets up the "First Part" (Reviewed here). For the longest time, I wondered how the two plots could link, but this is getting to the real meat of it.

As always, Julius the Roman is the most interesting character of the bunch. His evolution is realistic and very relatable. Definitely a stand-out character from the series - a good thing as he is the titular character. I can't wait to see what will happen to him next.

This book was sparse on dialogue with many of the discussion done with facial expression. I went through it so fast, despite my attempts to slow myself down. The art is as top-notch as the rest of the series. My one ding is that differentiating the men is difficult at times because they are all bearded with long hair and look similar. Even Julius is has to find in the group. Historical, but drains some enjoyment.

So where does it rate. For the first time in the series, I waffled between 3 and 4. Comparing it with other 3s, it was much higher, but it was lower than most other 4s. I settled for 3.5, rounded out to a weak 4/5. This one is the weakest of the series so far. Despite this, it sets up the series finale.

[Kinda Book Review] Herodotus - The Histories

If you ever take an interest in the history of Western Civilization, one name returns as a reference for others: Herodotus. Herodotus is the Father of History because he is the first who recorded history was a series of events based in the "real world" and not a series of events inspired by a divine source.

Now reading Herodotus is not like reading later historian like the drier Thucidydes, or even Plutarch. Neither is it a case of "1914 Start of WWII. 1915 Battle of Verdun. 1916 Battle of the Somme."

From the foreword, he was a travelling scholar, someone who talks about these things and is very adept at making side steps, then bringing himself back. For example, starts talking about Darius' campaign beyond the Ister (the Danube), all around the Black Sea. He then side-steps to give geographical information about the terrain, particuarly the rivers and their main tributaries, then goes on to talk about the origin of the people and their relations to others, before returning to his original point. (see. see what I did there?)

Many of the tales are quite sensational and it feels like Herodotus is reading from the National Enquirer sometimes, with tales of forced cannibalism, wife-trading, and mythological involvement. Definitely entertaining stuff, one funny thing is that the more far-fetched the story, Herodotus tells us he does not believe it himself.

Other times, he tells us of a few alternate stories and different version of the same tale. For example, he tells us the body of the Persian general Mardonius is lost after the battle Plataea. He gives one version, then an Athenian version of the story.

The core of the content is really the reign of the Persian kings written over nine books, including Darius, Cyrus, and Xerxes with a focus on their involvement in the Greek world. The book is filled with interesting details, a great resource indeed! I mean as near a first-person resource as we have on battles like Thermopylae (the 300 Spartans), Artemisium, Salamis, Plataea, and Mycale. Even if Herodotus is more interested in the story than the gritty military details, this book gives us insight into the way of life of the Spartans, the Athenians, the Persians, the Egyptians, and groups like the Scythians.

So, what did I think of the book? I will say I prefered the style of Plutarch over Herodotus but the size and quantity of material here is quite phenomenal. It dragged in parts. To rate this one, I waffled between a 3 and 4, in the end, I went with a 3.5, rounded up to a 4/5. I can get behind that, mostly because I think a 3 would not do it justice...

Cryx Mondays: Wraiths with guns

Note These minis were painted in the summer of 2020. This post stayed on my draft-stash since.

When I painted the Barovian army for Strahd, I had some additional undead forces (pistol wraiths and a necromancer). These guys come from the Widower's Wood set for Hordes.

These dudes look pretty evil. I like the flames on their heads. Reminds me of Hades in the Hercules Disney movies. They look pretty cool in green and yellow.

Yearly Retrospective 2020

Hindsight is 20/20, indeed

This year was a wild one for sure: CoronaVirus, lockdowns, politics, and election madness. Who could have predicted such a year? Not me. Riots, towns ablaze, conflicting information, rushed science, politicking, and censorship all damaged our fragile faith in the system. This was not the year that would bring us together again. The divisions in American society deepened, and I can see both sides having points in their claims. Making my moderate perspective difficult to keep.

Yet, despite the gloom, I have seen many things that give me hope for mankind. People coming together in friendship and respect. People helping each other in small and big ways. People exercising their rights by manifesting for that perceive is right. My faith in society as a whole is strained, but my faith in my community is strengthened.

I am a Catholic and a capitalist, finding comfort in both because of their basic constants and their notion that those who work and do the right thing ultimately reap the rewards of their good deeds and hard work. Even if these rewards may not come in our own timeframe or quite as we wanted them. Faith allows me to keep a moderate opinion and look for perspective on what is happening, and keep my family calm during these troubled times. This is not the time to panic, or to freak out. This is the time for calm, for prayer.

Faith and perspective are powerful tools that will allows us to navigate these troubled times. The world saw worse days that those before and will see worse ones in the future. We are NOT in the End Times, though our actions and decisions may help usher it.

So I urge everyone to keep praying for our world, for our leaders, for our families, and for yourself. Regardless of your faith or creed, we can use all the prayers we can get. Please do it for all of us.

I ask this in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

Amen.

Personal and Family Life

Highlights of the year include:

- Perhaps the biggest news in our lives was when we moved back to Dublin in April. Okay, okay this post was a total click-bait. It worked great by the way. I have since set up my Command Post upstairs with flags decorating the walls, and an ecclectic collection of things between them: swords, hats, helmets, masks, and painting, in a way that vaguely makes me think of a de-cluttered version of Ray Bradbury's own workplace.

- Both Kitty and Patrick keep on practicing their flute: Kitty gave us a wonderful concert playing "Rudolf the Red-Nose Reindeer" via a Zoom call. The Audio was not great but I was lucky enough to hear the full thing. She did great. Very proud of her. As of the time of writing this, I have yet to hear Patrick's Christmas concert.

- Well... the kids are growing. If I needed any reminder, Jojo began driving this year. Now we may need another car... Crap, thought I would get rid of payments for a while! But seeing her take the wheel and drive around made me think of when I learned to drive: it was the fall going into winter. Winter in Canada. Many years ago now. Three decades ago for now in fact! She was hesitant at first, I guess she was really worried about it but the more she drives, the more she seem to like it. I remember that feeling, it is a feeling of freedom, one that I still experience today when I take the wheel.

- For those who have yet to learn, we adopted a little dog, Dora. I am allergic to dogs so I don't mingle with her too much. We still have our own thing: I chase the dog around and she teases me to catch her (note, I never catch her). She is a pretty good girl and the kids absolutely LOVE her and she loves the kids. I'm the one who is the odd man out. Find comment about allergic before and you will see why I am not particularly worried by it. She got four people wanting to take/ pet/ feed/ play with her already.

Professional Life

2020 marked the first full year of my work for CBS Interactive/ 247Sports. I enjoy my work and its many challenges. Like many people, I was sent to work from home as of March. After the big move, I have been at my command post here in the house.

Work got completely up-ended this summer when something happened where the team lost two extremely valuable team members to... "something". The whole hush-hush of the situation was not pleasing and strained how we worked and what we could deliver. This situation felt and smelled bad. The people who should have spoken were clearly legally obligated NOT to talk about it, which did not help the morale of the team for quite a while. As one of the most senior member on the team, I had to remind the others that all we could do was focus on the work before us and get it done well. It was not particularly comforting, but I like to think it helped the team recover. In the end, we delivered products and have grown together, bringing the guys together.

World Events

2020 saw the following events:

- The passing of Neil Peart, drummer and lyricist of Rush. The writer of the soundtrack of my life, really. From that day I came back home with (cassette) tape #9 which contained song by Rush, Queen, Heart and others. My friend Francois-M made that tape for me. It was used and used and used. I wish I had kept the playlist...

- the mass hysteria of the Corona Virus created massive toilet paper shortages as zombies rose in mass. This pandemic has really changed so many things about our lives. The development of the vaccine for Corona Virus is nothing but a spectacular achievement in the time. Now there are many concerns about it, but still getting a vaccine done in a few months really speaks to the quality and strength of the American spirit. I am impressed.

I wonder how the introduction of the vaccine will change the morose feeling shared by the population. Fear and panic are never the way to proceed. I made sure I explained to my kids that this was NOT the end of the world and that we need to act safe and not give in to fear. One thing about studying history is that it teaches you to have perspective, and while this is the biggest and worse thing in recent history, there were WAY worse things that took place before. The death toll from this disease is high. But we are yet to reach the levels of the Black Plague. We will get through this, trust.

- US Presidential Elections: What a mess! I cannot understand why one side completely ignores calls and evidence of irregularities, such things should be investigated to fullest immediately with the utmost transparency. What worries me are future elections, will we see a repeat of such thing? 100%.

The biggest loser of all is democracy itself - a sad omen for the future.

As a Canadian, a lot of the irregularities in the US are simply impossible to happen in Canada. Voting in Canada requires a photo Id to vote, pre-registration, all voting is on paper ballots, and voting is done only for one thing (the House of Representatives). There is no voting for the executive branch, or the senate, and provincial and local elections are usually done on different days. The process is odd and confusing to us Canadians.

As a student of history, I find myself rivetted to the events, looking for data and information about what is happening but finding my search blocked. This is a time in world history that will likely determine future events, much like the Fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Back then, I watched the events unfold with great interest, as if something told me the world was changing. And it was. The world has never been the same since.

Trips

Outside of gaming, I had two trips planned for this year.

- Montreal for the summer to go celebrate my father's 80th birthday. Well... That did not happen.

- Chicago for Thanksgiving to go see our friends Florent and Florence who just welcomed their baby boy to the world. That too was cancelled.

Publishing/ FOE

This year, I published fewer products, many on the DM's Guild. These products, added to those on DriveThruRPG and Amazon have been providing a steady income to FOE. Money I (too) quickly turned around and re-invested into FOE.

FOE's art collection grew a lot, because of the awesome and super-fast work by the Blehc, British Shark, Irene, Niall Arts, MedievalKite, and others. I mean art for Akhamet, Olympia, Ravenloft, and even a few Saggakar ones in there. I really dig this because now that I have a variety of pieces to use. And I plan on continuing.

This year's best seller (now at electrum and climbing) was Real Housewives of Ravenloft, an adventure that expands on the dinner at Ravenloft. Although the title is tongue-in-cheek this adventure gives the PCs a chance to work with the vampire Strahd, meet and speak with his brides, and perhaps obtain something of interest. The feedback from GMs has bee incredibly positive and I really love hearing what each GM did with the "Mystery" they have to build. In the end, it *DOES* play like an episode of "Real Housewives," with all the drama you expect.

That said, I focused on larger products this year, like the Akhamet Player's Guide and Curse of Strahd II: Griffon Hill Manor, a 100+ pages campaign/ adventure.

New in 2020:
- Real Housewives of Ravenloft on DM's Guild. This is now on its way to a gold bestseller!
- Princesses on DM's Guild. Product of a collaboration with Ibsen-Z.
- Rahadin: Dread Knight of Ravenloft on DriveThru RPG
- Akhamet Player's Guide on DriveThru RPG
- Curse of Strahd II: Griffon Hill Manor on DM's Guild.

Conventions

It should come as no surprise that I attended few conventions this year than in previous ones. I am particularly sad of the demise of Conglomeration in Louisville who went away without even an actual send off.
- Weekend in Rokugan 2020 in St Louis MO
- Cyberconv 2020 on-line
- Gencon Online 2020
- DragonCon 2020
- Gamehole Con 2020

Blog and Patreon

The blog made something of a return this year, with just over 110 posts (there are 112 as of this writing). Topics varied quite a lot from books, to new products, to miniatures, to life changes.

I plan on keeping the FOE Patreon running into 2021. I decided to add a new perk for patrons: use of FOE art for personal projects. I posted A TON of new art on there for patrons. A lot of it is "generic" and can be used for pretty much any D&D setting, not just FOE's.

I plan on continuing at this pace in 2021 for both. This is a pace I can maintain and still feel productive.

Books

This year, I read a variety of books with wildly different ratings. Some great, some terrible.

- In the Flesh by Clive Barker
- Civil Wars by Gaius Julius Caesar
- Marvel's Universe X Part 1
- DC's Harley Quinn Vol 1. Die Laughing
- Le Troisieme Testament: Julius I
- The Eternals 1982 1-12 the full series.
- New Defenders #1.
- Showcase Green Lantern #1.
- Le Troisieme Testament: Julius II Partie 1.
- Showcase Legion of the Super Heroes #1.
- Le Troisieme Testament a review of the first cycle of the series.
- Young Inhumans.
- X-men Blue Vol 2.

Final Thoughts

Although many will say 2020 was a disastrous year, and in may ways, it was. However, I prefer to think of it as a transitive year. There are a number of positive things that came out of it, like the creation of great products, the opportunity to play regularly with my children. We got a dog. We got to talk to old friends through social media.

So with all this, I wish you all a very happy new year.

JP

Space Marine Adventures: A review-ish

This year, I offered ActionMan Space Marines Adventure: Labyrinth of the Necrons, a small cooperative board game where you take on the role of a space marine trying to take on the necron overlord in a labyrinth ever-filling with necron warriors.

As we played, ActionMan, Florent-F, and I, we quickly discovered the game was not as simple as initially thought. The labyrinth gets tougher with each of its three phases. And each character brings something different to the game.

ActionMan took control of the Blood Angel and Space Wolf. Florent had the Imperial Fist with the heavy-bolter. I played the Separatist sergeant, wielding a bolt pistol and chainsword.

Fun, fast, and easy once you've played a few turns. The game takes about 30-60 minutes to play and has a lot of replayability, even more if you use some of the characters available online. This is a beer and pretzel game that does not require the tactical genius of space hulk.

I would rate this 4/5 but my enjoyment was greatly enhanced by looking at the minis and finding how cool they were and how much I enjoyed looking at them. ActionMan shares my rating of 4/5.

Necromunda Terrain wip

If you remember, Santa got me the Necromunda game. The box I got (Underhive) comes with a flat board. However, what I remember of Necromunda were those towering buildings made of cardboard and bulkheads. A flat surface is... not the same.

So I decided to build some terrain for myself and ActionMan.

Now I have a few requirements for the build:
- Must be light and easy to move around
- Must be sturdy enough to handle both storage AND table usage
- Must be reconfigurable: the pieces must be movable and not form one single shape
- Must be cheap: they would be all scratch-built with accents from the bitz box
- Must look the part
- Human hands and minis MUST fit between the levels
- Must be "mostly straight": the Underhive is not a place where things are perfect

And for once, I took pictures of the build WHILE I am building, not only when it is done. I think I will add a few more pieces to cover the board.

Click on the pictures for a larger scale.

CoS 2019-20: Arabelle the sneaky ADVENTURER!

Note This miniature that painted and given away in the summer of 2020. This post stayed on my draft-stash since.

This miniature represents Arabelle, the party's ally for the Curse of Strahd campaign. I know she is supposed to be 7, but I made her a little older - around 12. She became synonymous with her regular player - Sarah-R.

I painted her in a classic Adam West-era Batman color scheme, wielding light weapons.

Arabelle survived Curse of Strahd to become the Lady of Ravenloft. She did make a surprise plot-link when I ran its sequel, Curse of Strahd II (written by yours truly)

[Review] Revolution of the Dalek

All right, it has been a few months since we had any Doctor Who and I was excited to get a new episode, a "New Year Special." So let's get into this one...

So, the story open with a flashback to the 2019 New Year Special, before I was rating the episodes, so I had to use Wikipedia to refresh my memory. You know, these episodes are SO memorable that I completely forgot about it. I may have been asleep when that happened. Likely.

But fine, you have daleks, you have my interest.

Then we have the series' one-dimensional (like everything in DW today) Trump-slot-alike who takes the destroyed dalek casing and begins to manufacture them... BY 3D printing them! *EYE ROLL*

Now at this point I was sound asleep. No joke. I slept from 11pm to about 6am on my couch. At 6am, I got up, went to my bed, and slept another two and a half hours before waking up. Deep, restful sleep, I must add.

So... In the morning, I restarted the show, this time sitting at the computer, to avoid falling asleep.

From there, we have a corrupt politician woman dealing in secret with Trump-slot-alike, who half-tells her and she may become prime minister. *EYE ROLL*

Then, I will say the escape from the judoon prison with Captain Jack was pretty cool, if a little rushed.

From then on, EVERYTHING seemed rushed and in a hurry to get nowhere, and when we got there, we got the tear-jerker for 15 minutes. Let me list:

- Jack Harkness is drowned in the ensemble cast who have to share the screen. Why not ONLY use him, a fan-favorite rather than use him for a few bits, then waste him. HECK in his first appearance he warned the Doctor about something. Then here, he just shrugged with a "you shouldn't have done it." WHAT??? Wasted opportunity

- With the Doctor in a prison, having a fun prison-break episode where Jack, Yaz, Graham, and Ryan seek the Doctor and break her out. OR have an episode with only the Doctor and Jack? That would have been cool, move them to another city and begin the plot where "the fam searches for her." Wasted opportunity

- The Trump-slot-alike has no redeeming quality, to the point of being an unfunny caricature of a person. He has no morals, qualms, or anything. He is "evil straight white man industrialist." It would have been fun to have him use his evil bastard skills to help the Doctor. Failed opportunity

- The dalek vs dalek takes 2 seconds then is done. "We destroyed the mutant daleks." And that was it. Litterally 2 minutes total. No Battle of Canary Wharf or anything that would strike the imagination. A bad shoot out at the OK Corral and the SAS daleks win. Failed opportunity

- There is a MASSIVE battle cruiser over some town, they blow it up, but nothing happens: no debris, no cameras, no footage, no perspective from other people. Again, if we don't care about the crew, why should we care when nothing happens to random people? Wasted opportunity

- Then to make things worse... we have 10-15 minutes at the end where Ryan and Graham leave. I was sad for Graham but fine Ryan, leave. We can catch up with them two later, perhaps a one-off episode where they run into Sally Sparrow Or something. But nah, they are gone and we were meant to cry at the end. I was sad for the first two minutes, but then I just wanted it to end. Wasted opportunity

- Whenever the Doctor speaks to someone that is not Yaz, she is moralizing, preachy, self-righteous, bossy, and frankly I would want the others to tell her off. She is bipolar, going from severe (and understandable) self-doubts to supremely confident and preachy. PICK ONE. Wasted opportunity

- Quite frankly, like the whole season this episode felt rushed. Like he had four episodes: mutant daleks vs pure daleks, Captain Jack, prison break, and the Fam finding the Doctor. Each could have made decent episodes with action and personal investment. But nah... RUNRUNRUNRUNRUNRUNRUNRUNRUNRUNRUNRUN then cry for 15 minutes. Oh I forgot to mention the telegraphing scene in the middle where Ryan talks to the Doctor about "you are who you are but you changed along the way." The sort of wishy-washy bullcrap you can get from a self-help book.

- With a title like this one, I would expect to discover something new about the daleks. But no. Nothing happens. Wasted opportunity

As you can see... this was another episode on par with the rest of the season. Rushed and frankly full of wasted subplots resolved in a line or two.

John Barrowman's presence and excellence as Captain Jack was well worth re-watching it, and the characters of Ryan and Graham who despite the drawn-out ending turned out to be fun and well-rounded characters (they have flaws unlike the perfect Yaz).

My rating: I will settle on a 3/5. I arrived at this rating by looking at the other episodes and how I enjoyed them (the pleasure of keeping track of my ratings).

Would I re-watch? Maybe, but with a lot of fast-forwarding. Most likely no.

Guess who was a good boy? This Guy

This is a real quick post to put out the many goodies Santa brought me. Guess some of the topics you will see on this blog next year?

Yep, comic books, miniatures, nuts, and RPGs!

Revisiting an old adventure

Over the Christmas Holiday, Kitty asked me to run a game of D&D. I had nothing ready for playtest at the time (I know, a rare occurence). What I have been working on was either in a different level-band (The Dying Merchant 7th-level Akhamet adventure, Witches of Pikemaster mini-campaign, or half-formed, incomplete products).

What I do have, however, are old adventure I wrote during the Pathfinder days. I pulled out one I hadn't touched in years called "Sugar and Spice," which presents the PCs with a rather thorny dilemma pitting them between legalistic arguments and family arguments. The argument at the core of the adventure is very simple and everyone can grasp the ramification easily.

So, Korral (little mermaid rogue), Elzbeth (sleeping beauty sorceress), Keera (ice princess cleric), and Doncella (cinderella fighter) went into a bar looking for adventure...

In the end, they made the same choice players who played it from way-back-when did. I cannot sell the adventure as is, but it could make a return, with the serial numbers filed off, which was MUCH easier than I expected, in fact. Once I clear my current stack of unfinisih work (to the above, add an Akhamet Magic/Monster Book, the Olympia Campaign setting, a few small monster guides, and side-projects such as the 40k adventure I want to run). Too bad, many of these adventures were decent (perhaps a little re-editing could perk them up), but in their original version they will forever remain as files on my hard drive.

Playing with the Princesses just gives the story a little something extra. I liked how they play together and how they alter the dynamic of the group. Fun stuff really.

You can get the Princess racial book today on the DM's Guild.

CoS 2019-20: Theron, the Albino Dusk Elf

Note This miniature that painted and given away in the summer of 2020. This post stayed on my draft-stash since.

This elven ranger, I painted as gift for my friend Billy for his character, Theron who played through our Curse Of Strahd campaign. He was the machine gun

Throughout the campaign, he faced the "racist" comments of the local population who called him "albino dusk elf", which made us all laugh because he'd say "I'm not albino, I have black hair!"

Theron survived both Curse of Strahd and its sequel, Curse of Strahd II (written by yours truly)

[Patreon] The Vault: a 40k adventure outline

To get this sci-fi idea out of my head, I wrote an adventure outline for Warhammer 40k. No system, only plot! I may run the adventure, but I do not think it will ever be published as a FOE product.

Check it out on the FOE Patreon today.

To support us, become a Patron today and get exclusive insight into FOE, and access to the art created, which you can use in personal projects.

PS: Yes, I should repaint these guys... They are over 20 years old!