the d20 machine

Dungeon-Crunch Chocolate Beholders!

2010-10-05T17:24:00.000-07:00

We had an assignment in my vector drawing class to make a cereal box. So there you go!

Keep on the Shadowfell Heroes

2010-09-25T23:05:00.000-07:00

These are the heroes that defeated Kalarel and his evil plans. Along the way, on a side quest, the Genasi and the Half-Orc liberated a war-rhino that they named Spongey. They named him this partly because he drank a bunch of arcane water and turned green, partly because they used him as a bullet sponge while they crawled through the Keep on the Shadowfell.

Spongey didn't come with them on their next quest, but instead became the Winterhaven town mascot.

Pre-Gens vs. Homemades

2010-09-22T23:07:00.000-07:00

This season of D&D encounters was supposed to start today, but my comic book store will have to wait until next Wednesday since we received Chapter 2 in the mail and didn't want to start in a weird place.

This season of encounters has a whole new set of pre-generated characters, and the consensus among the regulars is that we would rather make our own characters.

What do you think the purpose of the pre-gens is? Are they an option if you don't bring your own, or a mandatory part of the Encounters experience?

This is a picture of the Goliath Warden concept I'd like to play. He has a pet owl created using the Companion Character rules in DMG 2. The owl has extremely limited healing powers, considering we don't have many regulars at the store that like to play leaders. I'm pretty sure my DM will be down with this idea, but what do you think? Is it more about the authenticity of the Encounters experience, or is it more about just doing what I want?

Comments appreciated!

Thanks!

D&D Essentials Gameday

2010-09-10T14:16:00.000-07:00

I'll be DMing at HaJoMaJe Tomorrow at 3pm. Hope you can make it!

Sweet!

Memnon, Deva Avenger

2010-09-06T20:59:00.000-07:00

Underdark

2010-09-02T20:21:00.001-07:00

Recently, because of some minis I bought, I've been thinking of taking my friends' characters to the Underdark.

I'm also looking forward to the D&D comic book (that takes place in the Underdark) coming out in November. I have issue #0, and I'm liking it. It's inspired me to work on my coloring... which, I'll admit, still needs some work.

Longtooth the Minotaur

2010-08-09T08:24:00.000-07:00

Currently, I'm working on some more illustrations for Jeremy of Wastex Games. I've already done a few pictures for his site that you should check out, and there are more on the way, but I thought I'd throw a sneak peek out there for everybody.

Check out Wastex Games and I'd love to get some feedback on this picture too!

The Marsh Lake Minotaur

2010-07-31T12:41:00.000-07:00

I had some inspiration while camping that made me want to play a Minotaur again. :)

Read about the M.L.M. here!

MMMOOOOOO!!!

Boffer and Dav

2010-07-27T19:56:00.000-07:00

Slick Moves had by All.

Kindrok, Half-Giant Fighter!

2010-07-24T11:08:00.000-07:00

I am currently playing this character in the Free RPG day adventure Bloodsand Arena that my friend Eric is DMing. He did an awesome job, and Kindrok did awesome. I've honestly never played a two-weapon fighter before, and I have to say that it's fun, when it's balanced. I don't think I would ever make a dual wielder whose every power was based on the the fact that they have a weapon in each hand. Attacks like "cleave" are certainly fitting.

I also can't wait until the Dark Sun books come out, so I can see the mechanics for all the additional character features! As much as I complain about pregenerated characters, Kindrok has been SWEET!

Here's a doodle I did of the big guy failing an endurance check during the game.

Encounters Season 2, July 21, 2010

2010-07-21T20:15:00.000-07:00

This week's encounter went pretty well, but we still conquered in about 60 minutes, leaving us wanting more.

There's a chance I could be DMing a game at the FLGS in the future to fill the rest of the time. I kind of want to put together a campaign based on the locations and baddies of the TV show Adventure Time.

I won't post any details yet, just in case I have from my group reading, but I will say, that I will probably start by adapting the episode called "Dungeon". Fitting, I know. :)

Dark Sun Character

2010-07-19T16:08:00.000-07:00

Here's the full image of the character I did for gamefiend's D&D 4e website: http://at-will.omnivangelist.net/
It was a re-imagined version of this image.

Encounters Season 2, session 1: "Oh, Dang!"

2010-06-11T11:45:00.000-07:00

I say "Oh, Dang!" because that was about how the entire encounter went. Our goal was to grab supplies from a busted up caravan and make for the hills before the silt runners could rob/kill us. In hind-sight, we probably should have done less supply grabbing and fighting and a little more running.

I played Shikirr the Thri-Kreen Battlemind, and I felt pretty prepared to handle my role as defender... until I became the first to drop below zero hit points. I lay dying on the battlefield until Castri the elf managed to drag me a few feet toward safety. By this point I had also broken my weapon already, but managed to grab a few bone spears off of fallen enemies. I luckily rolled a 20 on one of my death saves, and managed to escape with an ill-gotten 1 hit point by the end of it. Everyone else was not so lucky, though I did revive Castri somewhat while we watched Phye, Barcan and the Tiefling, whose name escapes me, Die with a capital "d".

Synopsis: 1. Dark Sun is brutal. 2. Dark Sun is awesome.

I love the setting, and I love that there was an instant scenario where I was forced into role playing, ie: Do I choose to run for it, or do I try to save my dying friends?

Our DM, Dylan, did an awesome job. It was his first time DMing at the comic book store, and he felt a little bad killing everyone, but all in all, he rocked it. I think if were to have a party vote, though, the d20 was using would be officially banned as a DM die. It was on fire.

My only hope as the group's defender is that I can hollow out some beetle or something later and adorn myself with some kind of chitinous heavy shield. The reach weapons I've been breaking/collecting so far are kind of counter-intuitive, considering most of a battlemind's marking abilities require you to be adjacent to your targets.

I would love to hear about your experience in the comments below! Did anything similar happen to your party?

Thri-Kreen Shikirr

2010-06-09T13:24:00.000-07:00

Comments welcome!

I Guess This Fits...

2010-04-30T12:29:00.001-07:00

Take the quiz at dicepool.com

Recognition!

2010-04-16T14:44:00.000-07:00

These are some places my name has appeared in the D&D community! There's been a few others, and I'll keep posting, but it's this kind of thing that keeps me motivated to strive to be a professional illustrator one day! Thanks for all of your support everyone!

1. & 2. Some words about this site and also some work I did for a D&D t-shirt.

3. My artwork used on the official D&D community page.

4. A shout out for the banner I did for the "Dungeon Master Guys" podcast on critical-hits.com

The Giths.

2010-04-15T23:27:00.000-07:00

Hopefully you'll be seeing this in a Wizards of the Coast D&D article soon! Githyanki vs. Githzerai.

My Minotaur Problem

2010-04-09T12:09:00.001-07:00

Someone on twitter the other day accused me of having a Minotaur problem. Maybe they're right.

In a semi-unbiased way, the Minotaur race from Player's Handbook 3 has become a favorite because of the ability to make a character with bonuses in EITHER constitution or wisdom. I like this very much because I'm a fan of primal heroes, and I can customize my minotaur to whichever class I want to play. In short, they make good Barbarians, or good Seekers, as pictured above. Not many classes can do both!

What's your favorite thing about minotaurs?

Arena Battle!

2010-04-09T08:09:00.001-07:00

Last night I was hanging out with a couple of members of my Friday D&D Group, and we were talking about our characters a little, when a crazy idea came to us: Let's fight each other.

My goal was to crush my friend's Bullywug Swordmage with my Minotaur. We did a one-on-one, no holds barred fight to the death in a large room. We decided on some rules beforehand, like the allowance of action points and daily powers, etc.

Within the first round I used both of my daily powers and bloodied Jeremiah the Bullfrog. After that he used his Agus of Shielding and no matter what attacks I was landing, I was usually doing around 2 points of damage. In a surprise comeback, Jeremiah almost defeated Fisteron, and were it not for the Minotaur Ferocity racial power, the win would have gone to the Bullywug.

All in all, it was a hilarious fight. I thought I'd share it with you because, to me, RPGs are all about fun, and this was dang fun. I can see how it could cause some contention with players who don't get along, or sensitive characters, but I strongly suggest doing things like this in between sessions to let players explore their characters' weaknesses and strengths.

We might do this more in our group, 1-on-1 or in teams. We might even start making characters specifically for arena fighting. Maybe instead of just fighting we could incorporate skill check competitions or races. American Gladiators anyone?

Let me know what you think in the comments!

Dwarf Shaman!

2010-04-07T14:47:00.001-07:00

This originally started out as a doodle, but I liked it so much I thought I had better color it.

This is that Dwarf Shaman I will be using for @Canageek's Play-by-Post Game.

My First Experience DMing D&D Encounters. (posted two weeks late.)

2010-04-06T08:11:00.000-07:00

I'll start out by saying that Encounters, overall, was a good experience. There were a few issues along the way, but the level of fun wasn't compromised.

Last week I got the "Halaster's Lost Apprentice" campaign guide and the poster maps from my local comic book store. The guide itself looked good, aside from the D&D logo covering up most of the monster illustration on the front cover, (as an artist, that bugged me.) There were two poster maps, both of which were folded. This didn't bother me until I got home and spread them out. It was like the creases in the map had been ironed in. I set out some minis on the first map area to see how it looked, and my poor halfling mini's starting position was on a small mountain of poster fold. So I put my core handbooks use with their other ability besides containing information: being heavy and flat. I unfolded both maps flattened them with the books for a couple days. I understand the convenience of sending the posters folded, but rolling them is the way to go for a nice visual experience.

As far as reading the campaign guide goes, I would strongly suggest a couple of things. The first is to pay attention to the advice on page 7 of "Halaster's Lost Apprentice" where it talks about adjusting the encounters. If you are playing with a group larger than five, or a fairly experienced group of power gamers, or both for that matter, they will FLY through the encounter. The enemies are designed for 5 level 1 characters and they are also on the easy side (so far) so people with little RPG experience can get in on the game with the pregenerated characters. I DMed one table and the session went almost two and a half hours, the other table was done with the fight in a little less than two hours. One reason is that they had 6 experienced players.

The other reason is that I follow Wizards_DnD on Twitter. Yesterday they tweeted some additional affects and ideas for the game, and while not all of them were implemented, it helped rein in some of the power gamers in the group who would otherwise destroy all the opposition without taking a scratch.

I'd also suggest that you separate "buddies" on the table as much as possible, so the story can take place without having to say "listen up" too many times. We had a couple of easily resolvable issues in that department.

The actual session was really fun. We had a good mix of pregenerated characters and homemade characters. I had to fudge the story a little when the entire party approached Fayne and her hirelings in the first three seconds of their experience in the Yawning Portal Tavern, but when does a little fudging NOT happen as a DM? The party ran outside and half of them fell off the bridge by either getting smacked by the dwarf squire or just falling of their own volition.

Probably the most negative part of the whole session was giving out renown points. Some people felt pretty jipped. Because I knew the point system ahead of time, I would have made a Wilden Seeker with a PHB3 feat on the Character Builder, and I would have done everything I could to deal more than 15 points of damage. The renown points I would have received as a player would have been 12, enough to receive my first reward. On the other hand, say you're new to the game and you use the pregenerated human paladin named Alvenor, and you don't deal more than 15 points of damage. You are looking at a solid 3 Renown points at the end of the first encounter. There were some mad people. Next time we will probably have two more Wilden Seekers in the group with no experience. Yay. Maybe Wizards of the Coast should think about the effects of some of the renown point accomplishments.

The campaign guide instructed me to go to the organizer after the game to "collect my reward." He had no idea what this was alluding to, and we both wondered if this "reward" was different than the standard DM Rewards program. It seems like it, because the instruction to "collect your reward" is under the section "At the end of your first session" in the campaign guide. This is still a mystery to me.

Anyway. It was a little bit of a hassle to get everyone in the groove, but the actual game was a great success. People had fun, and the comic book store got a lot of business. Looking forward to next Wednesday!

One Dang-Good Session!

2010-04-02T22:05:00.001-07:00

Tonight's game of Dungeons & Dragons was one dang-good session. For starters it was really nice to get to play a character tonight, with my friend, Josh, taking the Dungeon Master's seat.
I chose to make a Minotaur Character, and I was insanely pleased with the results. Fisteron Shacklehand was his name, (please hold your applause until the end...) and being a brawling fighter was his game. I made him especially to grab the faces of baddies and hold them still. I even illustrated the concept here.

Two of the other guys at the table decided to play Bullywugs, which I have to admit, I thought that was going to be lame. I was so wrong. Jeremiah made a cleric that looked like a Bullfrog, and he even named him Jeremiah in tribute to the song my 3 Dog Night. ("Jeremiah was a bullfrog!") Chris made a Bullywug Monk that looked more like a black and blue tree frog, and that was just hilarious by itself. Chris was very clear that "Sammy", as he named him, was totally naked, but that no one should care, because he's a frog. I drew "the Bullywug Brothers here.

We also had a "pirate" on our little team, who managed to drink himself to a stupor and then almost get beat up by his own teammates within 24 hours of meeting the rest of the party.

We also had a human ranger and a shifter warden who lent themselves well to the team. I won't go into agonizing detail, but there was a lot of face grabbing and horn stabbing tonight. Oh yeah!

Between sliding down and fireman's pole and dragging a warforged guard all over the place, I would have to say it was one of the best games I've been able to play in. The roleplaying was great, the combat was fun, and most everyone really liked their characters. This is the kind of session I hope people have every time I DM.

Deer Spirits!

2010-03-22T14:02:00.000-07:00

This is a doodle I did this morning of a male version of my Seeker from PHB3 Gameday on Saturday.

This doodle is complete with one of the deer spirits that bursts from his arrows. :P

Which Character?

2010-03-22T12:16:00.000-07:00

I've had a few different ideas for what kind of character I want to play for this weekend's D&D game, most of the ideas coming from Player's Handbook 3.

The first one is one I've already mentioned, the Druid/Shaman hybrid. The concept is that I want to be a bear that can summon a bear. The only foreseeable problem is that I might not be able to control the Spirit Companion bear without coming out of wildshape to use my implement, that's not a big deal though, considering I can just use a minor action to change back before controlling my bear buddy. I've already taken the feat that allows me to summon bear buddy as a free action.

The second idea comes largely from the character I got to play at Player's Handbook 3 Gameday on Saturday. This Character, however would be Handaxe-Throwing Spiritbond Seeker instead of a Bloodbond Seeker. Can't wait!

What do you think? Which character should I choose?

Bears!

2010-03-17T09:43:00.001-07:00

I was experimenting with the Hybrid options in D&D Player's Handbook 3, and I had a wicked idea. The Druid/Shaman class.

Think about it! You could wildshape into a bear, and then summon a bear spirit companion! Holy Awesome! There'd be bears all over the place!

The Wilden, PH3 Race

2010-02-16T09:35:00.001-08:00

I'm intrigued by the new player character race in the Player's Handbook 3 of Dungeons and Dragons. The Wilden are like nature's answer to all the evil in the D&D world: Plant-people.

One of the suggested classes is obviously a druid, but they don't suggest a Warden, which I just think is perfect, especially if you pick the Form of the Willow Sentinel as your daily power. "Let's attack that living tree!" and then "Gah! It's an even bigger living tree!" All in all, I think the Warden and Wilden characteristics lend themselves nicely to each other, the only problem occurring with redundancy.

I hope you enjoy the picture of my Wilden Warden!

Rock and Gnoll!

2010-01-26T08:06:00.001-08:00

I finally got all of my art software reloaded, so it's time to Rock and Gnoll!

The Day My Computer Died

2010-01-21T13:06:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I had an experience that really stressed me out. My computer died.

I recovered it, so know it runs like brand new, the only downside is that I lost a great many things that I hadn't backed up on my external hard-drive.

All I can say is that Norton Anti Virus is like having a security blanket when you jump out of a plane. You feel safe right until you realize that it's not going to help you at all. And then you die.

It might be a couple days before I post anything illustration wise, considering I have to reload all of my art software, I'm really hoping I don't run into any problems there.

Warforged Portrait

2010-01-17T19:58:00.000-08:00

I was making a character sheet for a Warforged Fighter using the DDI character builder demo. I was sad that there weren't any stock Warforged pictures to use as a portrait on the sheet.

Then I thought, "Hey! I'm an Illustrator, why don't I draw one?"

So, I did. You are welcome to use it! Just save this image to your "ddi" picture folder, and choose it in your options.

I love warforged characters, I wish that they were featured in Player's Handbook 2 instead of Dragon Magazine that I can't afford to subscribe to. Here's hoping for PHB 3!

Tiefling Barbarian 2

2010-01-13T20:05:00.001-08:00

I drew this one live too, but I think it was too late, because no one watched!

Oh well. Next time.

Tiefling Barbarian, Live!

2010-01-13T16:14:00.001-08:00

I drew this Tiefling Barbarian earlier today. If you like the way it looks, you'll have to check out the process! I recorded myself drawing it here: http://bit.ly/5vWzOr

Check it out and let me know what you think!

Maybe next time I'll post on twitter when I'm drawing and you could watch me LIVE! Thanks for your comments.

Getting Beat Up Again.

2010-01-09T11:48:00.000-08:00

Once again I tried to get a cool picture of my fighter doing well, and instead he's just getting mobbed.

It's a funny screen-shot though, so I though I'd share.

Not Exactly a Glamor Shot...

2010-01-08T21:36:00.000-08:00

I wanted to try and take an awesome screen-capture of my dwarf fighter, Ivarock, in an epic battle on Dungeons & Dragons online.

Unfortunately, I got this picture of the poor guy taking damage instead of dishing it out. Oh well.

You can just take my word for it that he won. :D

Which Came First?

2010-01-03T21:03:00.001-08:00

Click to enlarge!

Which came first, the work or the experience?

Forge of Worldsoul

2010-01-03T15:43:00.001-08:00

BOOM!!!

The massive hammer strikes the top of the Anvil shaped mountain, and live sparks fly from the peak!

Hooray for 4e!

2010-01-02T21:21:00.001-08:00

A little while ago I blog-complained that my rpg group was stagnating. Some were defecting to only videogames, while others were getting bored/frustrated with d20modern.

Yesterday we had an amazing thing happen. Our regular DM, Mark, busted out his old D&D minis and maps... and we had a hilarious 3.5 edition session of Dungeons and Dragons.

Then, another amazing thing happened. One of the NPCs shouted, "What is that terrible odor?" and I sarcastically made a "smell" check. This ended up being a perfect segway to explaining how the perception skill replaces the spot, search, and listen skill in 4th edition Dungeons & Dragons.

Long story short, next week I'll be Dungeon Mastering a 4e campaign with my group! Wish me luck!

The Penguins!

2009-12-31T12:21:00.000-08:00

Two of my little brothers have an imaginary band called "The Penguins". It was named by the seven year old one who loves to sing 7 Nation Army by the White Stripes, and Wake Up by Acade Fire. I Hate Cows was written by my 19 year old brother, because my parents have cows that he hates to take care of.

I wanted to do a band poster for them, so here it is!

Google Wave Avatars

2009-12-30T09:35:00.000-08:00

There was a request made that I post the individual pictures of characters so people could use them as Avatars, so here they Ava-are. haha! Old-man style joke!

Warrior Sketch 2

2009-12-28T20:19:00.001-08:00

Here's another one!

Warrior Comic Page Draft

2009-12-28T15:49:00.000-08:00

This is one idea I've been kicking around. I thought it would be entertaining to have a fantasy warrior fighting modern-day or future-day crime. Let me know what you think!

Warrior Sketch

2009-12-28T14:00:00.001-08:00

So, I have an idea for a comic book, and here's a quick sketch of one of the characters... possibly. It's still in its severe embryonic stages, but I thought I'd share! :)

The Wave Line-Up

2009-12-27T22:41:00.000-08:00

Here's the Gang!

I'm posting this picture for a few reasons. The first one being that I got Adobe Illustrator for Christmas and I'm super happy to be using this program from home!

The second reason is that we had an awesome D&D campaign session over Google Wave last night, and I wanted to showcase the characters that we used. It was way fun.

I hope you enjoy the picture!

Google Wave Session (D&D)

2009-12-26T21:22:00.001-08:00

Tonight was my first time playing 4e, and it was incredible. The funny thing is, I played this session entirely with people I've only met on Twitter, and the campaign started on Google Wave.

Wave is an interesting medium to RPG in, with some pros and cons.

Pros:

-Everyone can type their background stories simultaneously, then you can read them during a lull in play or while you're waiting for the DM to set up.

-In my opinion, it is much easier to really role play when you can type! You don't have to make up a voice for your character, and you can differentiate between player and character dialog much easier than when you speak.

-Because you're already on a computer, it's easy to use online accessories to the game, like iPlay4e.appspot.com/ for your character sheet.

Cons:

-It's slow. Maybe that's just because everyone was getting used to using Wave, but the first round took close to an hour! (After that it sped up quite a bit.)

-The map is hard to sync. We used an app called "fighty" tonight, but we had some problems with the map updating on everyone's screen correctly. Next week we might use a silverlight program that is available at dndorks.com/

-It's hard to feel very social when you can't see or hear anyone. Skype might solve this problem too.

All in all, It was awesome! Looking forward to more action!

If you aren't on Google Wave yet, you are missing out! Comment on this post or send me a message with your email address and I'll send you an invite!

Happy Holidays and here's to a great 2010

Dragonborn Preliminary Painting

2009-12-22T22:01:00.000-08:00

Since I've done way too many Goliath Sketches recently, I decided I'd switch it up and paint a Dragonborn character. Let me know what you think!

Oil and Colored Pencil Face

2009-12-21T12:53:00.000-08:00

I needed to make a new twitter avatar, so here it is!

More Goliath Warden Sketches

2009-12-20T21:03:00.000-08:00

Hey, everybody! More sketches of my Goliath Earth Warden from Dungeons and Dragons.

Dungeons and Dragons: 4th Edition

2009-12-19T15:20:00.000-08:00

I really want to play Dungeons and Dragons 4e. An I mean REALLY! By play, I mean not Dungeon Master. Most rpg games I've played have come to campaign fruition by my own efforts, because I'm the initiator. I DM for my siblings and some friends, but I don't know many people personally that will DM for me so that I can play a character instead of running the show.

There are a couple of guys that I play d20Modern with, but the DM doesn't keep a campaign for enough time to get any one character past level 5. Recently he's decided that he is getting sick of the d20 system, that it's too complicated. Others in the group have decided they're sick of tabletop gaming and only play Modern Warfare and Assassin's Creed on xbox. Now we've started playing my friend's homemade rpg system with less people.

His rpg system, named simply "E-Z RPG", is well made, and mathematically sound, but I have a few issues with it.

1. It's boring. We still only play campaigns for about 3-4 sessions. Nothing fun happens, and the DM sometimes just adapts movies he's seen to the storyline.

2. Dice. In his system, you pretty much only use d6's. I like using d20's and other weird shaped dice! I just don't feel as nerdy using mostly "muggle" dice.

3. Everything's standardized. A Maul does the same damage as a Sword. All characters are human. There's no magic besides some limited psionics. I like making bizarre characters! (Although, I guess making generic characters is just as bad as investing time and effort to making an awesome character that doesn't make it past level 3.)

So, besides my lack of support, there's also the issue of 4e. I've heard that some people don't like it. I've read about it, thumbed through some books at my local HaJoMaJe ( http://www.hajomaje.com/ ) and downloaded the character creator demo from the dnd website. I like it a lot, from what I see. I COULD get the Player's Handbooks 1 and 2 for a deal right now... but I don't want to have books I can't convince others into using. Blah.

Is 4e worth it? Please comment!

-Kyle Ferrin

iPod blog

2009-12-19T14:53:00.001-08:00

This is just a quick test to see if I can update my blog from the old iPod touch.

If this works, maybe I'll write more instead of posting just pictures!

Is this more like it?

2009-12-17T18:32:00.001-08:00

Hey, Matt! Is this more cartoony? I guess I'm not sure what you want.

Goliath Earth-Warden

2009-12-17T14:30:00.000-08:00

Alright! Here's the finished product of my Goliath Earth-Warden character performing the Earth Spikes attack! Good stuff!

Warden Sketch

2009-12-17T11:42:00.000-08:00

This is my original sketch for the Goliath Warden that I want to play in fourth edition Dungeons and Dragons. He hasn't been inked or colored yet, but I thought you might be interested to see the process. Let me know what you think!

Complete Game Pieces!

2009-12-15T17:59:00.001-08:00

Here are the completed game pieces!

Matt's Better Profile

2009-12-15T15:08:00.000-08:00

Okay, I personally would rather have this avatar over the previous, but that's more like an opinion. :)

Let me know what you think!

Matt's Profile

2009-12-15T14:31:00.000-08:00

Here's a draft of Matt's Avatar, It's not quite done yet. He's a guy from twitter that asked me if I would do a new Avatar for him. I was playing around on Painter 11 since I only have a couple more days on my Illustrator CS4 trial. We'll see how it turns out in the end. I still have a lot of work to do on it.

Getting Closer...

2009-12-14T11:59:00.000-08:00

The game pieces are coming along nicely! One more guy and some finishing touches! Then it's on to making the board and the cards for the game.

Board Game Pieces

2009-12-12T22:38:00.000-08:00

Okay! Making a board game for my brother's Christmas Present. I've been using "sculpey", a polymer clay. It hardens well in the oven, but I'm afraid my technique isn't perfect. These are a little bigger than plastic army men, so the details aren't flawless.

I might just paint these and see how they look. If the details still bug me I might make them bigger or use wire frames for skeletons. We'll see!

Board Game?

2009-12-11T16:07:00.000-08:00

I drew my little brother's name for Christmas, and I'm thinking of making him a fantasy genre board game. Here's one of my ideas of a character named "Hammer".

So, now that I have this concept, I'm going to try to render Hammer in sculpey. We'll see how it goes, I have a lot of work to do on this before Christmas.

Thor-toon

2009-12-09T15:45:00.001-08:00

Check out my other blog! It's brand new and shiny, and it's all about Thor! http://asgardsfavorite.blogspot.com/

New Avatar

2009-12-04T12:27:00.001-08:00

I decided, since it's a new month, that I should change up my avatar on facebook and twitter. What do you think?

Wave Stuff

2009-11-24T13:10:00.000-08:00

I figuring out how to make a d20campaign on Google Wave, this is just a url gadget that lets you embed other websites into a wave:

http://wave-ide.appspot.com/iframe.xml

I'll let you know how it goes!

David Hill and the End of Society!

2009-11-20T12:34:00.000-08:00

Enough said:

New Moon (Team Van Helsing)

2009-11-19T14:27:00.000-08:00

To everyone going to see New Moon tonight: May you meet a handsome Vampire or Werewolf who will take you on a date to do something besides eat you.

Love, Kyle

Dire Human's Picture

2009-11-18T21:45:00.001-08:00

Thanks to Dire Human for his idea!

Check my Free Drawings post to propose your own drawing!

Alterus' Picture

2009-11-18T16:22:00.001-08:00

Alterus suggested a bard and a vortex, I hope this is close to what you had in mind!

Katallos' Picture 2

2009-11-18T12:53:00.000-08:00

As promised, here's the Dungeons and Dragons genre Ironman:

Please give me more art suggestions on my free pictures post!

Katallos' Picture

2009-11-16T16:52:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Katallos for the idea for the post-apocalyptic war-vehicle.

What do you want drawn? Free drawings by me during November! Post a comment on my Free Drawings Post or this Post!

ManaJunkie's Picture

2009-11-13T12:01:00.000-08:00

Thanks to ManaJunkie for his idea for a female barbarian fighting werewolves! Also thanks to Ronny James Dio, for his song "Lock up the Wolves" that came up on shuffle during the drawing process!

If you want a drawing done, I'm doing some for free this month! Post a comment on this post or my free drawings post. Thanks!

Free Drawings!

2009-11-13T10:10:00.000-08:00

I'm having some serious drawing block right now, so I'm making this post to fix it.

Write what you want me to draw (within reason) as a comment to this post, and I'll draw it for you, FREE!

Offer expires NOV 30, 2009 ...D:>

Zombie Skills

2009-11-11T17:17:00.000-08:00

Frequently, in Dungeons and Dragons games, and d20Modern/Apocolypse games, I find myself trying to incorporate Zombies. I've watched plenty of Zombie movies, but they all start to get the same... and my gamers can tell when they're running a stereotypical Zombiefest.

So, what's a guy to do? Well, I downloaded an app for my iPod Touch called "Zombie Skills". It's made by the same company that designed the much-used Tweetmic app. I payed the "astounding" one dollar thinking it was just a game. But OH, it is so much more.

Zombie Skills is a self proclaimed "Survival Guide" in case of Zombie Infestation. Not only is there an interactive handbook, but also a DAILY update to ensure the living keep on living. Example: "The smells emanating for a Bed Bath & Beyond store are repulsive to zombies and they will avoid it at all costs..."

There's a few games and activities on it that are pretty fun too. (I am especially addicted to the Zombie Escape Puzzle...)

I would totally recommend Zombie Skills to anyone who want to make a new/original zombie campaign, or anyone who thinks daily laughs are worth a buck.

Get the app here: http://tr.im/D7WW

Xerxes the Sheep-human

2009-11-10T15:47:00.000-08:00

Here's my latest GM character for the d20Modern Monster Hunter Campaign. I figured my brothers needed a Monster on their side to share some insights. "Xerxes" is a sheep-human who fights against evil-doers. Pretty fun.

Help Me Name My Character!

2009-11-03T21:33:00.001-08:00

This is my GM character fighting a Scarecrow Monster from the Halloween Campaign. I don't have a name for him yet. Please suggest in the comments section of this post! Thank you!

My Game Master Character

2009-11-03T15:18:00.000-08:00

My Level One Strong Hero I'm using as a GM character in the monster hunter campaign. For some reason I continue to use sword characters in d20Modern.

Really Nice Day.

2009-11-03T14:24:00.000-08:00

Today is just one of those gorgeous days. The weather is beautiful outside, and the temperature is just right.

This is the sort of day that inspires me to make a difference in my life, to spend more time bringing happiness to others. Isn't that what it's all about?

Be excellent to one another!

Mini of the Day #5

2009-11-02T12:19:00.000-08:00

Villian Mini! Mostly the result of toothpick experimentation. Friends don't let friends experiment with Toothpicks.

Mini(s) of the day #4

2009-10-31T14:31:00.000-07:00

Some standard "ninja turtle" style bad guys, complete with German Shepherd.

New Characters

2009-10-30T18:04:00.000-07:00

These are the rough initial drawings I did of my siblings' new characters. Final drafts to come.

Mini of the Day #3

2009-10-30T12:53:00.000-07:00

This guy is from one of the time travel campaigns I did.

Mini of the Day #2

2009-10-29T10:40:00.000-07:00

One more of the d20Modern minis I made out of a plastic policeman. This guy is one of the first I made, before I decided that toothpicks would work as swords. Hence, the silver "gun" on his back.

Homemade Mini of the Day #1 pic2

2009-10-28T17:32:00.000-07:00

Homemade Mini of the Day! #1

2009-10-28T17:12:00.001-07:00

There's no such thing as a d20Modern Mini, so I made some out of "modified" armyguys/cowboys&indians. That basically means I cut them up, glue them together, add toothpicks and what-not, and paint them.

Things that go "Hump Day" in the Night.

2009-10-28T13:03:00.000-07:00

I just realized today that Daylight Savings Time starts on Halloween night! If demons are allowed to stalk the streets for that extra hour, who knows what craziness will unfold!?

I have so much to finish by this weekend. Not all responsibilities are Halloween related, because a weekend is still a weekend, and that means homework and regular work.

I'm still fiddling around with some more ideas for the d20 Halloween campaign, I'll post whatever else I come up with.

Happy Haunting!

The End of Day 1

2009-10-27T21:16:00.000-07:00

It's been a pretty eventful first day on a blog. 4 posts in 1 day isn't bad, is it? I'll try to be more organized in the future.

If you're reading this, I hope you'll check out the information about my Halloween d20Modern campaign. Thanks!

Happy Haunting!

Halloween Campaign Illustrations

2009-10-27T15:41:00.000-07:00

These are some of the illlustrations that I've done for my Halloween d20Modern campaign. I use to just use illustrations to spice up my descriptions, but this guy gave me an idea for using them for initiative cards: http://tinyurl.com/yjqxcgq Check it out!

Introduction to the Halloween Campaign

2009-10-27T13:03:00.000-07:00

Since I got quite a few hits on my Monster Roster, I thought I'd include the introduction too. It's a little cheesy, but keep in mind I'm doing this campaign for my little brothers and sisters:

d20 Halloween Campaign

You all enter a metallic room from different doors, there's a circular table in the middle of the room with what looks like a large computer monitor built into the center. Other TV and computer monitors line the walls above the doors, all of them off.
A week ago you received a letter in the mail asking you to meet at this address at this appointed time. The letter had a plane ticket to Atlanta Georgia, and one thousand dollars enclosed. It said simply that more money would come your way if you agreed to come along. You can only assume that the others coming into the room got the same letter.
You can introduce yourselves.

The only door that hasn't been opened starts to creak. A sliver of dim light fall through the opening of the door. An average height man with average features and brown hair steps into the room, closing the door behind him. He nods to each of you, and sits at the table.
"Since you've probably all introduced each other, I'll skip right to why you are here. I represent Department Thirteen, and we take care of things that shouldn't happen. There is a situation in Eastern Europe that needs to be attended to. One of the small villages that our base buys vegetables from has become a ghost town. We first lost contact with them a month ago. When we sent agents to the town, we lost contact with them also. We received only this, a small satellite video. The image is so dark that it's virtually worthless, but the audio is what made us send for all of you."
The man pushes and invisible button near the screen in the middle of the table. The monitor comes alive with a static image. The volume must be on its maximum setting. All you can hear is "What are those things?!" and a mixture of scuffling, rusting, and gunfire. After a minute, only rustling can be heard, then only silence. The man pushes another button and the screen disappears.
"We want to fly you in to this small farming village in the mountains to find out what is going on. We've selected each of you for your skills and talents. We can't tell you what to expect, but we can promise a large payoff. Each of you should have already received a fraction of your payment in advance."
The man stands up and says, "You leave immediately. Follow me." He stands, walks to the door he came out of, and opens it wide. The room is flooded with light.
When your eyes adjust, you see a private jet on a landing strip.
What do you want to do?

The flight goes quickly, you land in a dark forest in a fortified military base. The walls are easily 40 ft high with razor wire along the top. You are rushed from the jet to a large helicopter. No sooner are you in the walls of the base, than the helicopter takes you right back out... deeper into the forested mountains.

The chopper touches down outside a small farming village. A wooden gate seems to close in the small cottages and fields. The sun has just set, and the only light comes from a waxing moon. The pilot says that she'll be back at sunrise to pick you up at this same place.

Halloween Campaign

2009-10-27T11:49:00.000-07:00

I'm running a Halloween campaign for my brothers and sisters this weekend. If you want to throw something together, here are the examples of monsters I'm using:

Monster Roster:

Jack-o-Lantern Monster Hit die result 1
Tiny Sized, BAB +0, DEF 4, hp 12
STR 5 DEX15 CON11
Slam 1d3 Bite 1d6
FORT +2 GRAP -10 INIT +2
Special: No Massive damage threshold

Scarecrow Plant Monster Hit die result 3
Medium Sized, BAB +2, DEF 0, hp 15
STR 12 DEX10 CON12
Slam 1d6 Bite 1d3 Claw 1d4 Gore 1d6
FORT +3 GRAP +3 INIT +0
Special: No Massive damage threshold

Scarecrow Plant Monster Hit die result 2
Medium Sized, BAB +1, DEF 0, hp 14
STR 12 DEX10 CON12
Slam 1d6 Bite 1d3 Claw 1d4 Gore 1d6
FORT +3 GRAP +3 INIT +0
Special: No Massive damage threshold

Scarecrow Plant Monster Hit die result 8
Medium Sized, BAB +6/+1, DEF 0, hp 20
STR 12 DEX10 CON12
Slam 1d6 Bite 1d3 Claw 1d4 Gore 1d6
FORT +6 GRAP +3 INIT +0
Special: No Massive damage threshold

Scarecrow Plant Monster Hit die result 5
Medium Sized, BAB +3, DEF 0, hp 17
STR 12 DEX10 CON12
Slam 1d6 Bite 1d3 Claw 1d4 Gore 1d6
FORT +4 GRAP +3 INIT +0
Special: No Massive damage threshold

Great Pumpkin Monster Hit die result 21
Huge Sized, BAB +15/+10/+5, DEF -4, hp 41
STR 28 DEX6 CON20
Slam 2d6 Bite 1d6 Claw 2d4 Gore 2d6
FORT +12 GRAP +22 INIT -2
Special: No Massive damage threshold

The Gardener (Vine Armor) Hit die result 11
Large sized, +8/+3, DEF 2, hp 27
STR 22 DEX8 CON16
Slam 1d4 Bite 1d4 Claw 1d6 Gore 1d8
FORT +7 GRAP +10 INIT -1
Special: Regeneration-attacks below massive damage threshold don't do lasting damage, unless dealt by fire, the hp is regenerated each round. Trample-can run down enemies to do 2d4 damage; heroes can make a Reflex Save (DC 15) to take 1d4 damage instead.

I made this campaign about d20Modern monster hunters, clearing out an overrun town, but you can do whatever you want with this, obviously.

Happy Haunting!