[Olympia Campaign] The First Volcano

Leaving Aeon, they explored another island with a complex by the side of a volcano (notice the quality art at the bottom of the image). They explored the ruined catacombs which local teens used as "make-out point".

Although it started off pretty simple, they faced a chimera with a nasty goat's head and a poisonous breath. Then, they found some Minosian pirates in the catacombs themselves. Decidedly, there were more people involved than they believed at first.

Oh and when they left the island, they found the friendly village where Boros the Priest of Poseidon made good friends with them, and his people slaughtered by Keltoi Raiders...

[Olympia Campaign] Start and Aeon Island

I started a new campaign set in Olympia with ActionMan, Sarah, and other (new) friends. In this campaign, a powerful priestess of the Titans (Nausicaa) has slain the Great Oracle at Delfos and the PCs set out to find her heir. Until then, no oracle can divine the will of the gods. A bad thing in Olympia...

This campaign will be a very nautical one, with the PCs visiting a series of islands to locate four stones that will show the way to the heir to Apollo's gift.

One thing when I began designing the campaign was to mix random sites and events with fixed locations. So I created a number of tables for random ships and islands. Let the PCs do what they do...

I found that by alternating "main" and "random" events, I am able to give them different items and earn gold and reward without them being tied only to the central quest. Though sometimes, they may get clues... It's up to them to engage or not.

From Athenion, they sailed to the Island of Aeon where time moved of its own accord, the vegetation growing and dying within minutes.

They entered the temple and met with Kronus (represented here by the massive construct).

Funniest thing was when Lethe, our cleric of Hades, touched Kronus... and found himself aged 40 years! He was already creepy... Now he an old creepy man...

And every laugh as they cringe...

However all was not happy-joyful as their enemy, Nausicaa escaped with the first of the four stones they need.

[Sundays Kinda-Campaign] Modron Madness

A few weeks ago, I came up with an idea where the PCs went and investigated a rogue modron's wrongdoing. The final battle featured the PCs fighting against quadrones... Creatures who look like... DICE!

Hard to show but the center was an arch opened to the plane of Mechanus but opened only from one side. They had to go into Mechanus to close the portal.

After a lot of teeth-gnashing, and the death of one of their own, they managed to close the portals.

Note: Modrons are the laziest miniatures to use... they look like dice!

[After Action Report] Music City Multicon

This past weekend was Music City Multicon, in Lebanon, TN. I've never been to it so this would be a never event for me.

I was approached by my friend Rob from the Sunday Murfreesboro Games (Formerly at the TEC) who asked me if I would run something as he took over the tabletop RPG coordination. Yes! I answered and sent him a two game offerings... One for SpaceFOE and one for Olympia.

Not knowing the level of attendance, I offered two games I offered at other events. And my experience with Multi-cons in general is... mixed at best. So running something fun that did not require too much prep time.

Saturday, I ran SpaceFOE, had a group of players come and explore a derelict starship. A fun group where more than half the party had never played the table top. Some played Baldur's Gate. Six players entered the Void's Gaze to try and plunder its many treasures...

I returned on Sunday to run an Olympia adventure. Again five players. Fun times.

Some takeaways, which I shared with Rob include:
- Having fixed 4h slots. I was lucky my slot on Saturday happened because I would've been stuck waiting for hours since nothing else started.
- Having 2h slots starting split into two will allows for more traffic (this one came from Rob)
- More publicity (this one came from Rob)

In all, this was a pretty positive experience. The only thing: I did not get to actually see anything else of the con. That's really on me. It's a lot harder when ActionMan isn't around... Strange how I miss my con buddy.

[Kinda Book Report] The Decameron Book/ TV show

It's not every day that you get to sit down and read a story set during the Black Plague of the 1340s. It's rarer to get to read a book written contemporaneously.

The Decameron is one such book, written by Boccaccio around 1350.

Now the story deals with a group of ten aristocrats (seven women, three men) who decide to retreat from the world while the worse of the plague ravages Florence. They head to an estate and spend their time in idle pursuits.

The main pursuit is that of telling each other stories about people and their actions. Tales of love, duplicity, joy, and lust.

Now I won't say these tales have a great complexity. Rather, they are presented in fairly simple language with a few metaphors to make sure you understand.

The easiest analogy would be to present would a Jerry Springer and Maury Pauvich episode from the 1300s. Cheating housewives, lecherous priests, horny nuns, homosexuality, gullible fools, everything is presented here. Boccaccio really gives us a portrait of humanity, with its warts and beauties all presented. Some of the stories are funny but most eligit a "meh".

The characters are simplified versions and I have not really found any of them to have any personality.

One fun fact, it was one of the first books banned by the Catholic Church for showing priest doing... parishioners... Yeah. I'll say that.

For the book, I'll give it a 3/5. I leaned towards a 2 but its forbidden draw AND it's historical significance increased my appreciation...

---

When I saw that Netflix was adapting the Decameron as I was in the middle of reading it, I added it to my list and waited.

Suffice to say that they are two completely different animals. Whereas the book presents people sitting down and talking, the series weaves everything into a narrative that happens to the character during their retreat. The names and character types are taken from the book but the similarities end there.

I wondered whether I liked it early on, but as the series continued, the characters grew on me, especially Tindaro and Liscica. Though I will say most are pretty reprehensible and discusting. Such characters make for good storytelling. Indeed Dioneo is the most boring of the characters in the series IMO.

Thinking about my appreciation, I leaned towards a 2/5 early on, but it finishes strong with well-built and merited emotional moments at the end, ending on a solid 4/5. So I will average it at a 3/5.

[Kinda Book Report] Between to fires

I got this book in my Amazon recommendations Between Two Fires by Christopher Buelman. The blurbs is not quite descriptive as to the content. I went into it expecting a piece of historical fiction set in France during the 100 years war, and I got that

What I did not expect to find was a story filled with supernatural elements taken from medieval demonic literature. Monsters we are less familiar with but who are no less horrific. Therein lies their horror...

Add to everything a plot that could lead to the end of the world and you end up with this book. I devoured this book. The subject of it called to me, even if as the plot advanced it became less and less historical fiction.

If I have to rate it... I'd say a strong 4 or a weak 5, which I will settle on 4/5.. a great book overall and a surprise to me.

[Commission] Warforge Alchemist

The second commission for Ron.

I believe this is the first time I painted a warforged... I just never use them in my games, so I never had any reason to paint one.

Again, he gave me pretty simple instructions. "Go with a blue scheme" was all he said.

At first, I thought about making him of blue-tinted metal... But quick tests did not make it look good. I wanted a subtle blue but it didn't work out. Came out too blue.

So instead, I chose to make the wrapping a deeper shape of blue and the body more dirty steel metallic. The result is that the brown leather really pops against the metal and the blue draws the eye.

For the base, I painted a broken lantern and a skull that were there, peeking out of the grass, leading to the question: what happened to their owner? Maybe I'm just too entertained, but I amused myself by the story they told.

One funny thing is that the model had a support line that connected directly into the warforged's mouth. I left it there and painted it as a cigar, and extra accent.

[Commission] Goblin Alchemist

I received this commission by my friend Ron at the Sunday D&D game.

His demand were simple: make it look good. He sent me a palette that was simple. I got the impression that his character was a type of back-alley alchemist or potion reseller. Whatever the case, buying something from him should make you wonder exactly what you got until you drink it.

And even then...

The most interesting aspect, as a painter was originally the many potions... they are so small but I wanted them to be different colors to showcase a variety of products...

Something that's hard to see are the plaids I painted on his pants. They really look good.

The cloak has two tone: A hood section mostly red and a dark brown bottom section. I like the mix of the two as it breaks the big blob of brown.

Gencon Perks: Minis for the GMs Olympia 4

Part of the GM perks for FOE is that you get some "products". I am never truly upfront with those because I never know ahead of time what I will be able to offer. This year, I managed to paint nearly everything that appeared in the adventure and offer baggies of miniatures to the GMs.

I printed and painted them myself.

Gencon Perks: Minis for the GMs Olympia 3

Part of the GM perks for FOE is that you get some "products". I am never truly upfront with those because I never know ahead of time what I will be able to offer. This year, I managed to paint nearly everything that appeared in the adventure and offer baggies of miniatures to the GMs.

I printed and painted them myself.

[Ozaka Campaign] Big Finale!

Our winter campaign, set in Ozaka has come to an end as the PCs tackled a strange creature hunting the refugees from the Yaminoryu's depredations. With the situation in Aoshima only getting worse between the Tojo and the Wakou.

This game began with the greatest question a GM ever asked his table...

Do you carry any explosives on you?

Their investigation led them to a fog-covered cemetery where a light shun growing darkness. Then, the nian, a flaming monster mixing elements of a lion and a dragon. The nian represent the craziness associated with the annual celebrations of the Lunar New Moon... A celebration known for its fireworks displays.

What followed was an epic battle where the terrain itself fought for the nian... The lanterns (visible in the picture) exploded whenever the PCs came near them! Until finally, the creature was defeated.

This epic battle put out level 8 party against this new monster (which will be published in an upcoming Ozaka Monster book). Due to school-related timing issues (half our party are high schoolers), we closed this chapter of the campaign. As some players will no longer be available for a few months, I think it easier to end this chapter and start something new.

Whether we will come back to Aoshima, or even Ozaka, remains to be seen.

Stay tunes for more details!

Gencon Perks: Minis for the GMs Olympia 2

Part of the GM perks for FOE is that you get some "products". I am never truly upfront with those because I never know ahead of time what I will be able to offer. This year, I managed to paint nearly everything that appeared in the adventure and offer baggies of miniatures to the GMs.

I printed and painted them myself.

Gencon Perks: Minis for the GMs Akhamet 2

Part of the GM perks for FOE is that you get some "products". I am never truly upfront with those because I never know ahead of time what I will be able to offer. This year, I managed to paint nearly everything that appeared in the adventure and offer baggies of miniatures to the GMs.

I printed and painted them myself.

Gencon Perks: Minis for the GMs Ozaka 2

Part of the GM perks for FOE is that you get some "products". I am never truly upfront with those because I never know ahead of time what I will be able to offer. This year, I managed to paint nearly everything that appeared in the adventure and offer baggies of miniatures to the GMs.

I printed and painted them myself.