Wednesday, March 28, 2018

Review: Tomorrow Dies Today!

I have not done any reviews in a while and my pile is getting tall, metaphorically speaking.
The first one on my pile is a different sort of game for my blog, but not something I am unfamiliar with.  Back when I first got married and before we would do those old "How to Host a Murder" games with our friends.  We would have everyone over a meal and a murder.  It was fun.  This new game reminds me a little of that.

Tomorrow Dies Today
Tomorrow Dies Today is a 10+ player one-shot LARP (Live Action Role Play) by Sean Mooney designed to be played in two to fours hours.  So perfect for a dinner party with some friends who all want to be super-villains.  For your $20.00 you get a 135-page book with 11 character profiles.
Don't worry, this is not 135 pages of rules to memorize. 

The rules of the game are covered in the first 20 pages.  What follows next are the 15 or so pages for the Narrator of the game (doesn't have to be the host of the party).  Then each character gets 8 pages of descriptions and details. These details also include various props and mannerisms.

Print out the characters and review the rules with the group and go!

The basic plot is General Goodman has built a doomsday weapon and he has brought all his most loyal henchmen (the players) to witness his greatest glory! Except. One of you is a traitor!  You now spend the rest of your evening figuring out who that person is, or hiding it if it is you.

The rules exist somewhere between the free-form, if slightly scripted, play of How to Host a Murder and the "points and dice" play of an RPG.  Characters do have a character sheet/book and they do have points.   The Betrayer can be a different character each time you play, so that gives it more flexibility than others I have read and played like this.

While the setting can be "Mid 2000s" frankly I think it would be a crime not to set it in the 1960s.

For me, I'd invite my friends over for dinner, give them their characters ahead of time and let them do some free-form role-play, improv about their characters over for dinner and then get right into it.

I can also see this working well at a Con. 

So for 20 bucks you get a game for 10 people for 2 to 4 (or more) hours.  That really is a steal.

The art is great and the writing is very clear.

You can see some of the art on their Facebook Page.

Tuesday, March 27, 2018

Arts & Crafts WEEK, Part 2: The USS Protector

I am still on Spring Break and loving it.   I should do this more often.

So while my wife is painting minis I have been working on my USS Protector model for my Star Trek game.

I have been toying with this idea for about two years now and I wanted to get something done.  So I pulled out my primed and painted models and started to work!

I started with my LEDs.  I bought a bunch of 12v 5a blue LEDs for this project.  I figured wiring them in first before glue and paint was the best.




Turns out I did not have enough room inside the NSEA Protector "wings" for the LEDs.  So out they came.




For the main deflector dish I drilled a small hole to feed the LED wires through and left the LED on the outside of the dish.


Liked the look of that better anyway.




I had a leftover piece from the GQ Protector, so I had my wife paint it and I fixed it to the top of the engineering section.   A ship like this needs an expanded engineering section!


Next I got the wings nacelles added in.  They are glued in yet. Still have some more trimming to do on them to make them fit.


Quick light test.


Added the ventral phaser array and drilled and cut a hole for the DC power adapter.





Next up I soldered these tiny ass 22-gauge wires to my power connector.  Keep in mind I wear bifocals and I have not soldered anything in nearly 20 years.


She snapped right in. After more trimming.


Some more paint and sculpty.



Sculpty is not dry yet.


Now add some decals.


Lining up my registry number.


Get them into place! (some "0"s died in this attempt.)




The lights work great!


Even the impulse engine and the bridge.



I still need to get it's name printed out, the "U.S.S. Protector" and get a few more decals on, but for the most part she looks great to me!  I might get around to doing some more painting...or more to the point getting my wife to paint some more on it.

I opted for "NX" instead of "NCC" since this is supposed to be a very experimental ship.

All in all, I am extremely pleased with this!  Can't wait to give it a go in my games.

This is a "Mystic Class" starship. Based on the original USS Mystic found here, http://www.mcfergeson.com/hobbycorner/2015/04/23/the-uss-mystic-a-kitbashed-starship-from-star-trek/





Previous posts in this series

Monday, March 26, 2018

Monday Mail Call: Monsters of Mayhem #1

It's Monday of my Spring Break.  I am getting a lot done over here but wanted to take a break and show off what came in the mail today.


+Mark Taormino's Monsters of Mayhem #1

While I have had the PDF for a little bit now I was waiting on this print version to sing its praises.   First off if you loved his adventures then you will low this monster book.

36 pages and 48 new monsters, each one more deadly than the last and just tons of fun.

You won't find these monsters in the Fiend Folio or Monster Manuals, nor even in the pages of Dragon.  But you will find them all here.

I have been waiting for a good reason to use a Demonica Gigantica against my players now for a while.



According to the book this is a small one.


Now how about 5e conversion Mark?

Sunday, March 25, 2018

Arts and Crafts Weekend, Part 1

I am on Spring Break!  So we spent the first part of my vacation working on various arts and crafts.  My wife painted a bunch of minis. I'll share what I did in the next post.


First up is a little Piasa Bird.



She did a Tiefling Necromancer and a gold skinned demoness.


She also worked on my witch Larina!




She looks great with other versions of her!




Larina and her daughter Taryn.






She also did Iggwilv for me!



Art imitates art!

Been a great time.  Love these little witches!