Silver Gems & Perils

The Knight In Shining Armor It took a while painting these knights despite the box set only including 30 of them. The reason it did was adding in details such as the gold paint to the cross-guard and the pommel. Overall, I'm happy with the end results of the knights, but sadly my protective coat of paint is not good. I had to revive it multiple times and after checking on them the day after some of the paint came off. The weather is bad here in Wisconsin so spraying them outside is never an option unless I get lucky to prepare them for it.  So here they are! They are suppose to represent the early to late 15th century knights found amongst the cavalry.    

Somewhat planned painting palette Lately been in a rut planning and even starting the painting process for my medieval 15th century Italian soldiers. I will say what makes this project more easier is focusing on a section of italy. Basically Northern Italy (Milan, Venice, Genoa, Verona) Central Italy (Florance, Pisa, Umbria, Perugia, Lucca) and Southern Italy (Naples, Sicily, Calabria). I also own 13th century knights that can also represent italy so the painting is easier since there are better example than the pieces for the 15th century.  Though as I think about this chances are I'll be focusing on the early 15th century of Italy before the Italian Wars to avoid Milan, Venice and any other armies. So mostly mercenaries that have their own color palette. Early 15th century Italian Soldiers   While the benefits are I don't have to overly detail my 1/72 minis. It doesn't give anyone an idea which italian-state they belong too other than what they dress in. What's also i...

A Gamemaster's Ultimate Toolkit I feel like it's hard not to convince a new or experienced Dungeon Master to solve constraints of life. Especially for the drawer that gets exhausted to draw a dungeon or wilderness map. So the solution? A Deck of Many Dungeons The great benefit having these cards are to create plenty of dungeons that are suitable for one-shots to campaigns. Additionally the solo player benefits to reduce game prep. This review of the product is short to encourage folks to buy this if this interests you. My First Dungeon Laid Out   Rules And Tables for Quest Items and NPCs The dungeon starts with a Ace card that gives you a quest table to get an idea of running the game. The rest follows by pulling cards from the deck and rolling tables for sounds, contents, monsters and treasure found throughout. Of course, you can fill the dungeon as you wish and use your fantasy rpg of choice.  Once you fill in the unconnected dungeon with no corridor with an empty space. th...

Wizardry & Progression I watched an old video long ago from Dorks of Yore regarding why Gary Gygax didn't like Magic-Users with Tim Kask answering that question. While Gary is somewhat wrong on why anybody would play a spell-caster while the campaign is focused around heroes and warriors. I think most people would understand that playing a Magic-User is boring at 1st Level because you simply harness 1 first level spell at the start and a dagger.  Vancian Magic or "Fire & Forget Magic" was introduced in Original Dungeons & Dragons and eventually stayed throughout most editions including retroclones. though cantrips are introduced as more accessible/simpler magic that any spellcaster can use at any moment. I don't have knowledge of D&D 5E's magic system so beyond this point I will suggest looking into it further on how magic works in later games.  Basically a Magic-User (or Elf) selects a spell that they already have studied and prepares it for the n...

A fragment campaign stuck in limbo When it came to investing into a campaign idea I've had for the longest time it never was written on paper nor recorded. It was stuck in my mind sort of on a loop that reminded me this was something I've wanted to play out. There was a first attempt. In fact it was using Whitebox Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game! Well... it was a short-lived attempt because like most Old-School D&D games out there. Lethality was frequent and often an aspect to avoid in combat. So Master Otis and Jason Covenrock were "dead" during their first expedition into the catacombs locating clues leading to the big bad one. I dropped it instantly yet I should've known better to look for a less lethal system for this kind of campaign to emerge in the future.  Now fast-forwarding to 2025 I've been using Pits & Perils to play out my solo campaigns since it was my go-to system to running medieval fantasy games. Most importantly it was also due to t...

The Unga Bunga Build Fighters have been around throughout history, wargaming and most of fantasy literature. We popularly see with Tolkien's Lord of Rings, Robert E Howard's Conan The Barbarian and Kentaro Miura's Berserk with Guts 'The Black Swordsman'. Fantasy Tabletop RPGs allow us to portray these characters into our referee's campaigns.  While the Fighter became a class known amongst the community as a simple class to play. It leaves us to question the enjoyment of playing a Fighting-Man with a battle axe. In medieval wargaming, the common footsoldier, knight and archers make up the majority of an army, but once the fantasy supplement had orcs, elves and dwarves it changed the battles forever. Now I don't have experience/knowledge with OD&D and Chainmail, but regardless of what system you use. It can be achieved to make the most interesting Fighter in your group or solo campaign. Without further ado let's further discuss the class! Building a Fi...