Steve the Yuan-ti Party Hound now has some friends....

Meet Harry "the Hard-rockin'" Hydra and Medusa "the Gin-drinking" Gorgon...

Harry, Steve, and Medusa having a few laughs.

Miniature Terrain and Painting, the Polymythic Way

My good friend Polymythic Steve (not to be confused with Steve the Yuan-ti Party Hound) has  posted an excellent “how-to” series about creating terrain and painting miniatures for miniature wargaming.  Steve shows how he made his terrain and painted his miniatures for Ambush Alley, but this stuff is applicable for any game involving miniatures.  I think the terrain creation is particularly ingenious. 

Give it a look:

• Miniature Wargaming Series- 1 Building the Board
• Miniature Wargaming Series- 2 Making Terrain
• Miniature Wargaming Series- 3 Painting the Insurgents
• Miniature Wargaming Series- 4 Painting the Marines

Showdown in the Upper Temple of Orcus – An Overdue Update

[general Rappan Athuk spoiler warning]

[Update: 9/9/10 12:15 PM] After checking my notes again and conferring with my players, I realized I had a few things wrong. I've noted as such below]

[photos compliments of Dave the Knave]

It has been a long time since I mentioned the ol’ Showdown in the Upper Temple of Orcus scenario going on in my Rappan Athuk campaign. The campaign has been on hiatus for a couple months now, but we are firing it up again tomorrow.  Dice will roll.  Lionshead will be swilled.

Anyhow, here is the second update I promised… back in April. 

So after whipping the cadaver collector’s highly-susceptible-to-rust ass, the party added insult to injury, and used it to block one of the doors to the lower-level, hoping to blockade the seemingly unending freight elevator of death.  The party had previously used stone shape to blockade the other door, so both were corked at this point.  My memory is a bit fuzzy, but I believe the party then healed up, cast buffing spells, and generally prepared for the next wave of baddies.

The party had routed a vampire would-be bad ass last time and he came back with some friends for payback.  Here was the hit list:

• Mr. Vampire Wanna-be Bad Ass,
• his vampire spawn,
• two nightmares serving as their mounts. and
• a Phantasm (from the Tome of Horrors II)

You’ll note that these dudes all could become incorporeal, gaseous, or ethereal, and as such, were able to pass through the party’s blockades.

The battle was a lot of fun to DM, with the vampires harrying the party from the skies, the fumes of the nightmares thwarting various heroics, and such.  However, the Phantasm was a bust. It has this cool magic jar-like ability, allowing it to possess people.  But damned if that freaking NPC dwarf fighter, Lady Bombis (known to the group as Lady Marmalade) didn’t make every save to resist it.

I can’t remember too many specifics at this point, but the party eventually brought down the  vampires and their mounts (although one or both of the vampires might have escaped). [The vampire spawn couldn't breach the antipathy zone, so he was kind of screwed from the get-go. His mount had no problem, though. It's been confirmed both vampires lived to fight another day. Reoccuring villians, anyone?] I believe Bonnie’s Hunter of the Dead was lighting up the undead with her Radiant Sphere (from the Magic Item Compendium).  I had a lot of fun, especially with the nightmares. I can’t recall the last time I used that creature in play and I don’t think I ever have in 3rd edition.

There was a rather funny rules debate at one point when Sam tried to make a case for an AC bonus for being prone.  Ha, but his wizard was prone under the flying vampire who was about to toss a shortspear at him, so  technically he could have received a +4 versus missile attacks.  Suffice it to say, DM logic over-ruled by-the-book accuracy at that point. I’m not sure how being spread-eagle beneath a flying opponent warrants an AC bonus. (To clarify, this wasn’t a heated argument, rather Sam tossing out a rule and hoping the DM would go for it. I did not.)

Eventually one of the divine spell-casters, likely Rob’s Shaman, turned the Phantasm, the nightmares were brought down, and the vampires were slain or routed.

Shortly thereafter, a pair of carcasses (from the Creature Collection III) laid siege to both blocked entrances and finally removed the physical barriers to the room.  These things are basically undead transports, being hollowed out giants that carry undead within them.  They sound cooler than they are and are kind of a one-trick pony. It was pretty fun to surprise the players and launch black skeletons out of their bellies, though.  The carcasses did make attempts to envelope some of the PCs but to no avail.  The party made fairly quick work of this assault. [This combat actually just started at the end of the last session, so we'll be picking up with it tomorrow.]

So, there you have it.  This Friday we pick up here.  This whole showdown has been fun, but I’ve vowed to the group that the next session will be the last encounter.  I’ve something special planned for it and have little doubt it will make it a memorable session.  I’m pulling out the stops for this one. 

Damn,  I love this game.

Modern Warfare on your Tabletop - Ambush Alley

Polymythic Steve (not to be confused with this Steve) has clued me into a pretty sweet miniatures game called Ambush Alley.  Basically, the game is an in-your-face, down and dirty modern skirmish rule set (think "Black Hawk Down" with minis).  You can read more about it at their About Us page.  I haven't played it yet, but I am eager to and will when I visit him next month.

Steve submitted a scenario for Ambush Alley's "To the Last Round" contest.  You can check out his submission ("...Because We Got Intel Saying") and its sweet layout here: link.  You can also see him smack himself in the head with a jump rope here: link.

He created the scenery and painted the minis himself. Here are some of my favorite shots:

Well, there goes what little DM cred I had....

I have shamed myself.  I once mentioned that a certain yuan-ti really knows how to get down.  To be precise, I said that the yuan-ti abomination knows how to party.  For the record, this is a yuan-ti abomination:

Clearly, this fellow does not know how to party.  He is all business.  Yes, he likely kicks ass and would be good to have on your side in a bar fight, but he doesn't look like a barrel of laughs.

However, the yuan-ti anathema knows how to party like a golden god.


On a side note, for no apparent reason, this party hound has been named "Steve."  Not sure why, but two sessions back, Dave the Knave was taking pictures and said, "pass me Steve."  No one knew who or what the hell he was talking about.  He was referring to the dude to the right.

Nobody parties as hard as the Yuan-Ti Abomination!

So, my friends and I have discovered that the Yuan-Ti Abomination really is misunderstood.  Sure, he is a 12-foot tall, chaotic evil monstrosity composed of venomous snakes… but buy the guy a few rounds of the ol’ Hyperion Ale and he’s the life of the party!