SDE Critters

 

Witches and Others

 My latest batch of minis. These are an eclectic mix.

Two green-skinned witches from Northumbrian Tin Soldier. They make me think of Nanny Ogg and Granny Weatherwax from Terry Pratchett's Discworld stories.

Three witch sisters, obviously based on the characters from the Hocus Pocus movie, played by Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy. Also from Northumbrian Tin Soldier.

A goatman, large goofy bat (maybe a vampire in bat form?), both from Northumbrian Tin Soldier. And a treasure chest mimic from Super Dungeon Explore.

A steampunk lady from Reaper, and a couple of cats whose source I have forgotten.

On Fire

 or Up in Flames?

Finished some more Super Dungeon Explore minis. Most of the fire-based ones (from an expansion/supplement?).

A couple of shots of the whole group, where you can see the fire beetle and the fire dogs (or wolves or whatever they are).

And closeups of the big flames, pillar, and little flames.

The flames remind me of Muppets. I did their eyeliner and pupils with a pen, just following the sculpted lines.

Basilisks, Bulettes, and Tanks, oh my!

Slowly getting a few more projects done. Today I finished and photographed some miniatures and another applesauce cup tank.

The bulette and basilisk are plastic minis from the Reaper Bones range. I'm not fond of plastic, especially the pliable plastic they use in this range, but some of the monsters are useful. I find if extremely difficult to remove mold lines from this sort of plastic. You can't really file it, and scraping doesn't seem to work well either. Trying to trim it by slicing off tiny bits is beyond me as well. I based them on washers on top of plastic card, to give a little weight to them.

I tried to base the basilisk colors on the real world basilisk lizard, or one variety thereof.

Next is this firenewt from Otherworld Miniatures. They do some nice minis based on some of the old (or classic) game illustrations. Not sure what I'd use him for. Maybe a random (possibly non-hostile) dungeon encounter?

An amphibious applecart tank. This is another tank using a Mott's applesauce plastic cup for the turret, part of a writing pen barrel for the gun barrel, plastic caps from squeezy applesauce containers, and other odds and ends and wood bits.

The entire applecart fleet, as it stands at this time.

Dirty Orcs and Others

Pursuant to the comments on the post: Improvised Shields I "dirtied" up the orcs's shields with a light overall wash of old GW flesh wash, followed with dabbing here and there with a somewhat darker brown wash mixed with a small amount of a bit of gray paint, on both shields and lower parts of their garments. I think it turned out suitably grubby. I did all of them, but here are a few representatives.

I also finished painting a Reaper rat ogre and a Reaper giant horned viper (it came with 2 heads, the other was more like a real snake, but I liked the idea of the horns to make it stand out from other snakes). I tried to base the horned viper's colors and pattern on the colors and pattern of a real life horned viper species.

Orcs and More

A few figures fresh off the painting table. Some old GW so-called "black orcs" - I think these are really tough orcs, sort of like uruk hai. Unfortunately, for some reason I only ever got around to buying the command group, so they have no more orcs or their ilk to command. I guess they'll have to settle for bossing around lesser orcs.

A few regular orc archers, an old purchase from Foundry.

And some sort of plague-ridden mangy dog-like creature from Reaper's Bones line (I think it could be a Pathfinder goblin dog, which are not canines but more like large carnivorous rat creatures), and a dungeon mimic from Otherworld Miniatures.

Assorted Miniatures

I finished off a few assorted fantasy miniatures.
An old GW halfling and a Reaper elf

 

An owlbear and a mimic from Otherworld Miniatures, which seems to have good range of 25-28mm miniatures that hark back to some of the old artwork for D&D. I like the style of the figures. Otherworld's service was good, too. They added in a few figures I hadn't ordered, at no extra cost.

 

I also have some kobolds from Otherworld. The kobolds look great, but they are small figures, about halfling size, and many of them come with separate hands or arms that I haven't been able to attach solidly yet. I wish they were all cast in one piece. I dislike trying to assmble small figures.

And some snow goons from Reaper. When I placed an order with them in December the snow goons were included free as the "perk" for ordering that day. Reaper was doing a sort of "12 days of Christmas" promotion where they included a free figure or so depending on which day you placed your order.

For Whom the Gnoll Bellows

These gnolls are all of the metal gnolls from Reaper. Large, sturdy creatures, full of character (even if it is of a rather unsavory sort).

 

 

(having troubles with blogger - can't get some photos to load. There is one more gnoll, with a bow; and a family of goats from Foundry, and a large forest spider, provenance forgotten.)

Here Be Dragons and Other Doodles

I've been spending some time working up monsters and other dungeon denizens for my OSH dungeon crawls and printing out more cards. This has involved some research, in the form of searching various RPG sources for monsters and monster skills, traits, abilities, tactics, and other characteristics (I could use some monster manual books! Not sure which ones to get though. I would only be using them for inspiration and to get ideas about the monsters and other creatures so I can convert for OSH), as well as checking primary sources in some cases (such as Alice in Wonderland). Also, some doodling to get some idea of general appearance and sizes, for my own use.

Here are a few examples of various monsters and minions I have written up for Old School Hack.

1. Basic Goblin Minion (minions are 1 hit point creatures in OSH. They only roll 1 die to hit, so it usually takes more than one to combine their attacks to get a hit on a character). AC 8-10. HP 1.

o Run Away! Add up HP of monsters. If equal or less than the number of party members the goblins automatically slip away. Add them to the next encounter.

o They try to gang up with at least 2-3 per opponent.

o Hatred of dwarves. If they have to choose targets dwarves will be the priority.

2. Hobgoblin Fighter (Guard level, which means they have 2 HP and roll 2 die for attacks. They will give characters a bit more trouble). AC 8-10. HP 2.

o All out attack. They can roll an extra D10 to hit, taking the top 2 die, but are then eliminated.

o Hatred of elves. If they have to choose targets elves will be the priority.

3. Bandersnatch (Monster, larger or tougher creatures that can give a character a tough time one on one). AC 12. HP 1D4+2. Reach weapon. Frumious.

o Fuming (Savage). 3 AP. Once per Combat. If it scores any hits double the damage. 

o  Furious (Fast). Constant. +2 on Initiative test and can move 2 arenas or move 1 and act in each round.

4. Kobold Shaman (Boss level creatures, usually have minions and guards along with them, additional skills, and tougher overall; well, kobolds might not be the best example of the latter!). AC8. HP 1D4+2. Light weapon, 1 hit.

o Dark Gods. 2 AP. Focus. The creature summons the dark energies of the gods it worships. After a frenzied chant dark orbs surround the target.

Attack: Ranged; Hit: 1 damage.

Effect: The target takes a -2 penalty to all attacks on their next turn.

Jellies, Gelatinous Cubes, and Blobs, Oh My!

I was reading about comb jellies, actual sea creatures, not closely related to the other jellies commonly known as jellyfish. They sound pretty cool and some of the information got me to thinking about gelatinous cubes, so here are a few notes and ideas for "spicing" up those iconic dungeon beasties.

Comb jellies come in a good variety of species. Some kinds have long tentacle-like extensions that they use to grab prey and pull it into the jellies to be eaten. Some chase down their prey. Some glow. Some light up with an electric blue color when they are startled. If they are cut in half the two halves can each regenerate over time into 2 individuals. They don't have eyes, but they can detect light.

Some of this already applies to gelatinous cubes (and their amorphous cousins, "blobs"?) in various rpg bestiaries, I believe. But one could "enhance" the gelatinous cubes and blobs by giving some of them tentacles, maybe spread out into a room or hallway to grab unwary beings and try to pull them in to be consumed. Some types could glow, lighting up a room. Some could light up with blue (or other colors) when some danger is near; maybe to be taken as a warning by savvy party members and/or dungeon denizens. Gelatinous critters could target prey that is carrying light (or be led astray by a magic user sending floating lights in a different direction, for example). I didn't see if comb jellies use any kind of toxins, but some of the other jellies do; so maybe some gelatinous cubes/blobs use toxins to put prey to sleep or to stun, paralyze, kill, etc., to make their prey easier to deal with.

How do adventurers deal with gelatinous blobs? Cutting weapons may only split them into 2 monsters, but might be useful against tentacles. Stabbing and piercing weapons, like daggers, arrows, spears, etc, likely would have little effect if any. Smashing weapons might be one of the few non-magical weapons that could harm them. Other things, like fire, freezing, maybe lots of salt, magic spells and magic weapons, could be the weapons of choice. Like the wonderful old game, Awful Green Things From Outer Space, maybe the things that affect particular types of gelatinous blobs varies and you may not know which ones will work until you try them, unless you have prior experience or specific knowledge (Shmucker's Big Book of Jellies, Gelatinous Cubes, Blobs, and Their Kin?).

So, that's a little look at being inspired by nature.

Going off in that direction I also thought, how about something along the lines of sea sponges? Terrestrial or amphibious cave sponges? These could be large less mobile creatures, known to lie in wait at the bottom of pits, for example. Anyone who falls down the pit will have their fall cushioned, only to find they are being swallowed by some big soft sponge creature. Toxins or soporifics could also be part of the sponge's arsenal.

Food for thought, eh?