Elrostar's page

I think I've mentioned these on the board before, but I highly recommend square plastic recessed bases. They're available from thewarstore.com (this product) in the US. They're actually Freebooter bases, so if you're in Europe you're probably better off getting them directly from them (includes a nice picture), what with shipping costs and everything.

Most Bones minis will fit right in there, and then you can add gel pumice or putty or whatnot to fill in the gaps before putting flocking on. I've done it with a number of DHL minis (metal ones), and I was extremely pleased with the results. I'm planning on doing it with quite a few of my Bones as it will make them a good bit more stable.
If you do need to trim the base a bit, that's trivial with Bones (more annoying with metal).

I just got the email with the tracking number. Now it's all down to how long it takes UPS.

It specifically states that you can't have magic items that grant dodge bonuses to AC because Dodge bonuses are the only ones that stack with themselves.
Granting it via Haste is a different matter, but there are no items that grant Dodge Bonuses directly.

One question that I've recently been wondering about (regarding these sheets) is whether there's a script to resize things to fit on US letter size paper instead of A4. Obviously, I can just shrink it down a bit to fit on Letter paper when printing, but this leaves wide margins at the sides of the page. I haven't really messed around with scripts for Illustrator, and it may be that there's a simple way to resize things in a simple-ish way, but I don't know about it :)

I definitely like Aberrant a great deal. Part of the reason for that, however, is that it's not really a Supers game; it's about how the world would work if there were people with super powers, which is completely different. I like the mechanics for it, and I love the setting, but I wouldn't really call it a superhero rpg.

I was hoping that there'd be some changes based on (what I understand to be) 20 years of experimentation and tweaking. And I'm disappointed they kept "Stuff". It seems like such a complete cop-out of an attempt to balance things that actually manages to do precisely the opposite.

My reason for thinking that Strength is a dump stat (as I'm quite certain Wujick felt it was) is that the example used for why "it's the most important stat" is that everyone is afraid of Gerard. Which is simply laughable. Everyone considers Gerard to be slow, steady, loyal, and none too bright. People are afraid of him if they are within arm's reach of him. But I can't say I've ever thought of Benedict as being afraid of Gerard or heard anyone suggest this was true. Brand feared Benedict, but I don't recall him expressing any concern about Gerard at any point.

And then there's the way in which Elders' stats are assigned in the ADRPG book. Flora has a higher strength than Eric (in every example of each of them). Llewella is generally stronger than almost any of the brothers, for that matter.

My problem with the auction is really that it is only useful if PCs are only matched against each other. If they're not, and might be compared to other people, then how are they included in the rankings? Is every single Elder just operating on a different power level from PCs (whether above or below)?

Perhaps I've simply never played in any 'traditional' Amber gams, but I've never had an auction, nor have I ever felt that one would be appropriate. Perhaps if I were playing in a Throne War style game in which people were only ever competing against each other. But I would find a game like that to be uninteresting, to be honest.

I guess I'm sort of wondering what the point of this re-release is, if there doesn't seem to have been any actual tinkering with the mechanics. Perhaps the PDF is not a good guide, and perhaps the new Setting will reveal exciting new things. But I'm currently skeptical (as is doubtless obvious).

I already donated. I'm curious to see to what extent it's addressed all my grievances regarding ADRPG :)

Edit: I see that there are still Attribute Auctions... grumble mutter grumble.
I understand how they can be useful if EVERY challenge is going to be between different PCs, but if we assume that a majority of the conflicts will be with people other than other PCs, and the GM is not going to include every character in the auction, then I don't really understand the point.
And now I see that it's the same old 4 attribute system as well. Have efforts been made to make Strength less of a 'dump' stat, and Warfare less supremely powerful?

(Yes, I do realize that I seem like I'm complaining).

I think it's interesting that Golarion has many of the trappings of feudal (and renaissance) culture, like guilds, landed gentry, royal courts, knights, etc, while many other aspects of the societies are much more along the lines of 19th century states. As I recall, the Korvosa sourcebook even mentions that the local bank tries to regulate the economy through monetary policy, which is 20th century economic and financial technology at the earliest. But then, I guess that the designers of Golarion aren't really as interested in the social, economic, or ecological consequences of various technologies, magical and divine forces, etc, as some of us might be :)

Essentially, if you want there to be court intrigue and machinations going on in your game, you can do that anywhere you like (with the possible exception of Galt and Andoran, which are rather unusual cases). If you want there to be feudal structures in Taldor, Cheliax, or anywhere else, you can just go ahead and make it so.

James Jacobs wrote:

I don't regard a runelord spending a feat to be proficient in a pole arm to be a waste. Wizards have feats to spare. They're about spells, after all, not feats.

I am running the anniversary edition of the ROTRL currently and my players and I are really enjoying it! (Just finished the battle with the Quasit Witch...best fight of my GM career!)

I always thought the Ranseur was a really unique choice, and felt it went perfectly with the Sihedron Rune, as each point represented a sin, and the Polearm was a badge of office representing that Runelord's "sin-point" of the Rune and his power over his "Sin." Symbolism is often important in leadership roles, almost as much as diplomacy can be.

Probably overthinking it however...
=)

I'm a player in a RotRL campaign and I'm extremely fond of that particular Ranseur (assuming you're referring to the one in the statue under Sandpoint). It's my Barbarian's favorite weapon, I'd say; it's had some upgrades (magical, now furious) which seem in line with the style :)

I've been taking a gander at Barebones Fantasy RPG by DwD Studios recently, and am quite impressed. Lots of room for customization.

This looks very interesting. I normally try to avoid getting enmeshed in foreign entanglements... I mean new game systems. However, this looks worth picking up. The setting seems appropriately straightforward and classic, but I'd really like to hear some reviews of people actually playing the game, rather than just reading the book :)

These are really cool. I just need a local group (and some time?) so I can make use of them in an actual game :)

BRP has an appealingly simple set of mechanics, but it's definitely got some issues. The simple percentage chance of success concept doesn't easily lend itself to tasks of varying difficulty, for instance. But in practical terms, I do like it for its ability to easily tell you, in a quantifiable way, what a particular character's strengths and weaknesses are. As such, I really liked using it for one-shot games (for conventions).

Skill-based systems are, broadly speaking, less about (rapid) character advancement. I don't know whether Skyrim is the same way, but in BRP, GURPS, HERO, and the like, you tend to start with a fairly decent set of skills which then improve only very slowly.

Here's an odd question that recently came up in my RotRL game. We were fighting a flesh golem, and my Barbarian was raging and decided to have his Elemental Rage power cause fire damage.
According to the PRD,

Immunity to Magic (Ex) A flesh golem is immune to any spell or spell-like ability that allows spell resistance. In addition, certain spells and effects function differently against the creature, as noted below.
• A magical attack that deals cold or fire damage slows a flesh golem (as the slow spell) for 2d6 rounds (no save).
• A magical attack that deals electricity damage breaks any slow effect on the golem and heals 1 point of damage for every 3 points of damage the attack would otherwise deal. If the amount of healing would cause the golem to exceed its full normal hit points, it gains any excess as temporary hit points. A flesh golem gets no saving throw against attacks that deal electricity damage.

Now Elemental Rage is a Supernatural ability, so does that mean that the fire damage would have slowed the golem? And if I had used electrical elemental damage with my Rage, it would have healed him? It's not a Spell-like ability or spell, but does the supernatural mean that it's magical?

I used to play RM a lot back in the day, having got into it from MERP.
However, the more I think of it, the more I realize that it's a system that is peculiarly unsuited to describing things in Middle Earth; it just doesn't capture the feel of the setting at all.
Don't get me wrong, I LOVED all the source material for MERP/RM (the Robin Hood campaign book and the Pirates book are both outstanding in terms of flavor), but as a system I just can't muster the energy to get enthused about it :(
But I'm sufficiently intrigued to wonder what the current state of the rules are to take a look at the playtest :)

Kind of surprised no-one has mentioned Trinity as an excellent Sci-fi setting. The whole Trinity-verse setting (including Aberrant and Adventure) is really outstanding, and the mechanics are quite good as well; essentially it's a streamlined and simplified version of the old World of Darkness system (and may be what was used for NWoD, but I haven't looked into any of that).

Anyway, it's an excellent setting and outstanding game system.

Certain materials will also reduce the armor check penalty further. I'm thinking particularly of Mithral, of course. Which is one reason why Mithral is practically a must-have for serious armor. Reducing armor check penalties by 3 and increasing the max dex by 2 is just so much better than... basically anything else. Just look at a mithral chain shirt as compared with any other light armor (of similar cost): it's better in every conceivable category. Aside from rare instances where metal armor can cause problems (a real but fairly rare occurrence), why would anyone ever wear +1 leather armor if a mithral chain shirt were available?

And this is of course one of my main problems with it as a material: there's no reason for anyone to ever wear anything else, given the choice. The increased cost is certainly not any meaningful deterrent, and explanations that "it's rare and hard to come by" don't cut it. If it's rare, then its cost should be higher.

/end rant

So I can go ahead and be as anal-retentive and perfectionist in painting my Bones as I have been in painting my metal minis. I'm not sure this is good news :)

PsychoticWarrior wrote:

Elrostar wrote:

Oh dear GOD what am I going to DO with all those minis?!?!?!

I suppose I'll just have to find out :)

BRING ON THE WHITE HORDE!!!

It'll be a refreshing change from the bare metal horde I have now.

Agreed. I'll have to finally learn how to paint. Luckily, I'll have at least one or two dozen minis I don't care about to practice on, mixed in with the majority that I don't want to ruin.

This is actually an excellent point. I have long been wanting to work on my speed painting, or even just my general speed of painting. I feel that I am very slow at the moment, and if I'm ever going to paint a couple of hundred minis, I'm going to need to learn to go a bit faster.

One thing I'm wondering about is whether the Bones minis are safe to clean using Simple Green cleaner. That stuff works wonders on metal mins: dump the minis in a jar with some concentrated Simple Green mixed with water, let it sit for a few days and voila, clean mini.
But I'm worried it will break down the plastic. Does anyone have experience with this?

Oh dear GOD what am I going to DO with all those minis?!?!?!

I suppose I'll just have to find out :)

Good brushes make all the difference in the world. Nice brushes are SO much better than cheap ones. I've tried some of Reaper's high quality ones, and they're definitely a step up from many things, but still substantially below the level of the real quality: Winsor & Newton Series 7 Miniature brushes.
I can't say enough good things about these. A #1 or #2 will do most of your heavy lifting, and a #000 will be better than almost any detail brush you can get.
The investment in brushes like this pays for itself once you're painting a lot of minis. I've tried many different types, at different price points ranging from super cheap sets from AC Moore to supposedly nice ones from Army Painter (their Wargamer line) to various Golden Taklon brushes (e.g. IMEX). And they all wore out quickly, got hooked tips or splayed ends. But my W&N brushes are still in perfect condition.
Yes, I do use cheaper brushes for priming (I live in an apartment and thus tend not to spray on primer or sealer), as well as drybrushing. But I love love love my W&N brushes.

Alternately, you could get yourself some sunk-lip square bases (for instance from frpgames), glue your mini to it, and use some gel pumice (like this) to fill in the gaps.
I've done this with a number of DHL minis (metal ones), and have been extremely pleased with the results. Plus, it means you can create some nice basing effects without too much effort.

I started using some Winsor and Newton series 7 miniature brushes last summer and they are the best thing ever.
I am currently waiting for a couple more to get shipped to me, but my #1 brush is really the best for most painting. It does detail work quite well and holds a lot of paint. I also have a #00 and a #000, which are terrific for detail. The #000 is probably the best for eyes and similar minute work.
I've also got a few wider brushes (not as nice quality) that I use for priming, sealing, and dry-brushing.
Gunk is extremely useful for thinning paints. The recipe I use (I believe I found it on a Reaper website) is 50% water, 40% flow aid and 10% drying retardant. You can get flow aid and drying retardant at any craft store.
I also use liquitex white and black gesso as well as sealer.

I like the new better than the old as well. In general, I prefer serif fonts for printed things; I'm loathe to mess with your awesomeness, however.

We are now past the $2M mark.
This is insanity :) Or possibly: THIS. IS. REEEEEAPER!!!!

I just watched it tick over the $2M mark. Pretty spectacular :)
How am I ever going to find the time to paint all these?!?!?

Matrixryu wrote:

I'm really thinking about joining in on this Kickstarter, but I have some questions about the Bones minis and Reaper Paints...

First, does anyone know if Citadel paints will work on these Bones minis without priming?

Also, does anyone know if Reaper paints and Citadel pants can be used on the same mini?

Yea, I have a bunch of Citadel paints already, but was thinking about trying out the Reaper ones. wouldn't want to replace my entire collection at once though, so I'd probably end up using both for a while.

Just remember not to thin the first basecoat down with water. Use a bit of reapers brush on sealer or matte medium if you need to thin. Extra water seems to be repelled by the pvc and cause beading. After the first coat, thin as normal.

You could also just prime the figures, I suppose. I know they don't need it, but it would scarcely hurt. I've started using gesso as a brush-on primer for metal minis, which works extremely well.

And I LOVE Reaper paints. I have some old (I'm talking VERY old) Citadel Paints from way back in the day (they must be nearly 20 years old at this point), and they're still amazing. But from what I hear, their newer supplier isn't anywhere near as good, and the paints tend to try out quickly.
However, I have nothing but good things to say about Reaper paints.

I find that I paint much better in the evening, while drinking a beer, than I do in the morning, while drinking coffee :)
Drinking a beer helps steady my hands, it seems. Or possibly it's that coffee makes them shake a bit. Either way, it's a fantastic way to spend an evening, especially if I do it while listening to a good audiobook or watching some TV.

Hey folks, I know you are all aboard the Bones train, but when I discovered the Kickstarter I hadn't seen a bones figure in the flesh and the KS deal seemed a little too good to be true.

I picked up a sample figure, painted it up and did my best to get the paint to chip to see how it would hold up on the tabletop. In short, I was really impressed. In case anyone else is in the same boat I posted a full review on my blog.

Good to know. Thanks for an insightful and detailed review. There's no way I'm going to be able to paint all of the minis I get from this. But I guess it will help me improve my speed painting skills. If I could just learn to be a bit less anal about it, things would be much easier ;)

Seven PF iconics. And a jabberwock. Holy mother of Odin's gray beard.

7 Pathfinder Iconics!
Jabberwock.
Dear sweet Bajeebus.
I'll be in my bunk.

Pathfinder Bones. Unmitigated awesome, conveniently packaged in goblin-sized chunks.

Not to mention the Red Dragon.

I'm going to have to start tallying up just how many of the extras I can afford to add to my Vampire Level support. And then I will need to really work on getting faster at painting. Because 120 minis aren't going to paint themselves :)

Damn you Reaper... I've succumbed and bumped my pledge up to $100.
I'm definitely going to have to get some cases and things as well, because I won't have anywhere to store all these guys.

Reaper, why must you keep making this more and more awesome?!?
I don't see any way I will ever have time to paint the 130 minis I'm likely to end up with, but at the same time... they're just too cool.

I'm really going to have to get faster at painting. That's the only possible solution to this conundrum :)

Cpt_kirstov wrote:

Marc Radle wrote:

Chaotic_Blues wrote:

BTW, any ides on where someone could get some bases for these things?

That's a really good question. If I do jump in and get these (and it's looking like I will :) I definitely want to remove the broccoli-blob base and put them on proper scale round bases.

There are a number of companies that make bases.... depends on what you want - Wood, Plastic, or a plain old US nickle

I'd want the standard round, black plastic bases to match all the D&D and Pathfinder pre-painted plastic minis out there.

I'd actually recommend getting some of these:

They're square, not round, but they're sunk down, meaning that you can easily glue a broccoli-base into it, and then use pumice gel (such as http://www.thewarstore.com/product43215.html) to cover the broccoli and leave you with a base you can do... whatever you want with.
I've been doing this with my metal DHL minis and it works really well.

So I just acquired a (completely legitimate) copy of AI, and I was thinking of playing around with these sheets a bit :)
However, there are some fonts in use that I don't seem to have (BellGothicBT-Bold, for one). Is there somewhere I can download that font (and potentially others that I would need) ?

Damn you all for coming up with such an awesome concept.... $15 donated for now. More to follow, I am sure :)

This looks so incredibly awesome. It's silly, but my main concern now is that if I donate (at the Vampire level) I will never ever finish painting these.
And there are certainly a number of them that are less interesting to me, but overall, there's so much goodness that I'm finding it hard to resist.
Woe is me.

Furious Focus explicitly states that it works with a 1-handed weapon wielded in two hands. It's odd that there is different wording for Pushing Assault and Furious Focus. I'm not sure what to make of it. I would say that Pushing Assault is okay, but Shield of Swings is not. Which is okay, because SoS is a terrible feat.

I'm really beginning to wish I had AI so I could try playing around with these. It's the sort of tinkering that I really enjoy, but having just looked at the price tag of CS or AI, I'm not sure it's going to be happening any time too soon. :(

I had borrowed the Commando Sourcebook from a friend at various times, and it irks me that I don't have it :) But then I'm a completist at heart.
I do have the FREE Lancers and FREE America books, and the Agent 13 Sourcebook.
I like a lot of it, but I do wish they had thought through the mechanics more carefully :)

I'm curious why you decided to give Sindar +2 STR. It seems like an odd choice. I would think that CHA would make more sense?

I haven't really looked in PF Middle Earth, so there may be considerations involved that I'm unfamiliar with.

I was just looking at the Party sheet (fantastic idea, and a terrific resource), and I noticed that both it and the timeline sheet say 3.5e on them. Hardly the most important thing (and one might indeed say that it's among the least important things possible), but I thought I'd mention it :)

I have almost all the books for TS/SI, actually. I got very into it back in the day. I don't have the Commando sourcebook, but I think that's it.
I really liked the source material on different intelligence agencies and famous spy cases. Those sourcebooks were called Covert Operations Sourcebook 1 and 2. Really interesting stuff.

However, in terms of the game mechanics, I began to realize that it was riddled with problems:
Skills were ridiculously expensive, but at the same time having more skill levels didn't give much benefit (except for combat skills). So PCs would have a lot of different skills all at level 0, because no-one could afford to buy skills at higher level. And improving them was almost prohibitively expensive.
Weapons were... wacky. The damage assigned to different types of weapons was fairly random. The G4 book (which was an incredibly long list of different cars, guns, etc) had hundreds of entries for different rifles, handguns, etc. And there didn't seem to be any particular reason for why different weapons differing amounts of damage. Just to mention one example, a lot of .30 calibre rifles did less damage than a .45 handgun. And automatic fire was not deadly, although I understand that sort of makes sense if you don't want there to be regular TPKs.

Basically, I liked the idea of it, and I enjoyed a number of the modules, even if they were on the cheesier side of things. Its execution was rather lacking, though, which was unfortunate.

Perhaps I'll go back and take another look at it :)

Frankly, I wouldn't bother GMing for a group that won't bother to read my handouts. But your miles may vary.

Pretty much.

Privateer press has http://privateerpress.com/warmachine/gallery/the-protectorate-of-menoth/sol os/high-exemplar-gravus

The empire general from GW has a mounted and unmounted version. The gw suggestion is a good one (if expensive) - most of their figures are multi part, with legs seperate from the torsos, so you can buy two of a foot figure you like, buy a mounted figure and then kitbash it together. Empire, Brettonia and Chaos Marauders are the lines you would want to look at.

http://www.reapermini.com/Thecraft/45

Perry Miniatures has mounted and unmounted troops like GW does. Not sure of the scale, I believe historical folks are usually smaller in scale.

unmounted Henry

mounted

The Perry Miniatures are gorgeous, but they're definitely smaller than 'heroic 28mm'. I got a set of their War of the Roses plastics, and they're amazing pieces, but significantly smaller than Reaper or other Fantasy minis.

What art is this guy based on? I was trying to find some inspiration for painting :)

Iron Heroes is good, but it has a number of balance issues of its own, due to a lack of play-testing. I feel like those issues should have been able to have been overcome, but I haven't seen good fixes (e.g. making the Armiger suck less).
On the whole, I really like the feel of Iron Heroes. Same goes for Midnight. I just don't really feel like trying to update Midnight/IH to PF... If someone else were to do it, on the other hand ;)

I'm not sure I could keep a strait face playing in an AP where the party patron is "Cobknobble Gobberwack, Retired Dwarven Goblin Slayer".

:D

I believe that Cobknobble is a member of the famous New Hampshire Gobberwacks, known for their strained relationship with the Darkmagics.

That is the sort of thing that makes me feel incredibly untalented and inept. I'm amazed by your skill. I've never really tried much of any sculpting with green stuff, but I'm quite sure that I would never be able to make anything like this.