A Company of Fools - Blog

[EvilGinger]

Strange Wortld ofg Random Doom - Episode Seven

what happened 

Sadly I forgot to get any screen shots of the game this time my excuse being that it was  such a tense and involving session I completely forgot to do so as we had our hearts in our mouths most of the time waiting for our commando tactics to fail

Starting from outside the bandits fort we waited for night fall then worked our way in using stealth and tactics climb the walls unseen and to neutralise all the guards around the outside wall except for those guarding the gates as those where backed up by an ogre which we did not much want to fight if it could be avoided.

Then we scaled the keep unseen and entered it through the roof and continuing as stealthily as we could we neutralized the off duty ogre guard and broke in on the bands leader and his guards. The guards common orcs fell easily enough but their leader proved to be our old foe from  episode 1&2 the were rat. he was  less than pleased to see us again and was put to flight by slung silver coins and the fear of more silver'd weapons but not before he had bitten the companies priest badly and raised the alarm. 

A desperate fight followed where we defeated the other ogre and two more bandits however the sleeping off shift despite being alerted seems fortunately for us to have mostly fled along with their master. We subsequently looted the place and found and released around half the towns folk form the town by the lake. Before we burned the fort to render it uninhabitable by returning or future bandits we recovered news that the bandits had taken most of the captives north to put them on boats as slaves an a lot of paper work which Coradwin was going to study and try to work out what was going on and if it was linked to any larger organisation.

We returned the released captives to their town before retiring to recover form our wounds at the manor where we reflected on our experience and planed the next phase of operations.

by the end of which we had all levelled up but our incautious priest who was savagely bitten by the were rat

succumbed to the same disease and will need to be hunted down in his turn.as we can not let another such threat stand

Source: Strange Wortld ofg Random Doom - Episode Seven

[EvilGinger]

Very little posted yesterday

an apology 

Sadly by the time I had got work under control and was ready to get stuck into the blog it was time for the next episode of the Strange World of Random Doom so I got next to nothing done here yesterday despite intentions my intentions being otherwise. I will work permitting get back on with stuff again latter and try to catch up with things I should have done yesterday.

Source: Very little posted yesterday

[EvilGinger]

A Quick Picture

a portrait of Zildor the Archmage

A bit more messing about with a portrait created using HeroMachine 3 and further manipulated by GIMP possibly needs some more work on the hat brim but good enough to publish as is without largely as I am still considering this and have other stuff to do for the forth coming Company of fools game on Thursday 

Quick tip if you use Heromachine to do a base colour scheme then do this its easier if you change the line colour to dark brown or one in the colour range you have chosen for that area as black is hard to blend in I find I left the lines on this image in black and they where more work than they needed to be or would have been otherwise.

Heromachine is here if you fancy a play 

a couple of other points 1 you can move images up and down the stack & put multiples of the same kind on an area but the default is one which means adding a second removes the first. I mean to do a bit of a tutorial article on this useful tool if I get the chance as its whilst not perfect the best thing I have found so far for the person who cant draw people & has not got the time to practice

Same picture with some more work on the cap and a decorative band around the base

The cap as a mater of interest is supposed to be one of there

even if its ridicule to see the characteristic shape front on as it is

Source: A Quick Picture

[effect]

Elsewhere Elven starting Spell like abillities

All of these are apprentice level for the purposes of purchasing additional uses and whilst very similar to arcane magic only fail with the loss of the use if the caster is struck during the casting time

Diminish illumination

Casting time 1 second 
Duration 2d12p seconds 
range  60'

effect 

halves the radius of illumination of one light source within range  by causing it to effectively brown out 

Pass in silence

Casting time 1 second 
Duration 2d12p seconds 
range self

effect 

adds a bonus of +50 to the casters effective sneak skill  for its duration and is cumulative with the casters natural abilities to hide in natural surroundings or the dark

Dark fire 

Casting time 1 second 
Duration 2d12p seconds 
range 60'

effect  

paints a target with a brief aura of light visible only to those with low light vision or true dark vision which adds a +1 to hit it with missile weapons if you have low light vision double that if you have dark vision there is no save and most of its targets are unaware they have even been lit up by it 

Give pause

Casting time 1 second 
Duration 1d3 seconds
range 60'

effect  

The target cannot act for the next few seconds and behaves as if  subject to surprise expect it is not possible to mitigate it  there is no save but it is easily foiled by minor magic warding spells and charms which defend against it are common amongst the enemies of elves 

Spark of enchantment

Casting time 2 seconds
Duration 2d12p seconds
range weapon held

effect  

The casters weapon in hand becomes -weakly magical for a short while fro the purposes of what it can hurt and any reductions of DR of the target this requires the user makes a pass over the weapon with an open hand and has no effect on already magical weapons

Dark light

Casting time 1 second
Duration 1d4+1 hours
range item held 

effect

The chosen item counts as a candle except it only aids low light vision and is invisible to those without it or dark vision offten cast on stones to make an invisible illuminated perimiter or used in the manner of a flare

Source: Elsewhere Elven starting Spell like abillities

[EvilGinger]

part of an exercise in world building

 Ginger

[EvilGinger]

Episode Twenty One a preview

The game has at least in the terms of episodes if not years come of age and out story threads are beginning to converge whilst at the same time a new element has entered ad that is were we will begin in the cellar and under the burned grain store of a small farm not far from the M'Alvern stream here we have a Gnome form a wild clan in the north lands seeking to add to his family and clan glory. Mean while unbeknown to him a couple of refugees one recently badly wounded in the recent fighting and the other an itinerant healer travelling form the care givers temple in Neffaria to the Great Hospital at Vayham and who had met up in the aftermath of the events of that fateful night and unable to enter the town because of the goblin siege.  

where every one is

 Mean while on the edge of the woods the company plans its attack on the sleeping goblin camp below them

Source: Episode Twenty One a preview

[EvilGinger]

More Tokens

I did warn you this was addictive

This is a work in progress shot of a token or standee I have in mind for one of the characters in the game and something of a test for the suitability of the more interesting poses

Source: More Tokens

[EvilGinger]

Minor Milestone

Just noticed that we have had more page views this month than ever before in a given month already and we look set to break the two thousand barrier for the first time ever. As I always say its nice to know I have an audience for this

Source: Minor Milestone

[EvilGinger]

Blog update

Reader advisory note 

I  am currently mostly working on stuff for the Thursday Company of fools game which I sadly cant post for fear of spoilers before the players have encountered it. However there will still be stuff to read here just not as much of it as I might like.

I also don't really have the time or the creative reserves to spare to go back and do more work on the other articles which need work doing on them. However this is not to say I am not going to just a way of pointing out that this blog is and will always be very much a work in progress piece rather like the games it supports which are not done developing until the final wrap.

In the cases of all of them I am hoping that that is not something which will occur for many years hence

Source: Blog update

[EvilGinger]

Coradwin's plans

From the time of arriving back a at the manor

Immediate actions

• Find out form Relemir what the ant situation is like are they encroaching on the house or not and if they are at what sort of a rate
• Send Relemir into town with a notice to put up in the Raven the notice is an employment advertisement for a priest of the true to act as Coradwin's personal chaplain and a fighter or similar to act as his bodyguard, Coradwin is looking for some one human  in both cases and much more presentable than the Hobgoblin 
•  The Hobgoblin is also to go to the Mages guild and pick up a supply of spell components for the translate spell an decent number as Coradwin wants to look at the books in the Manor library particularly the one about folk lore (the Old Sin)

over the next few weeks 

• Reflect upon his recent experience and see what he can make of it (level up to level3)
• Spar with the Hobgoblin as often as he can 
• Study the unknown spells in his spell book in the light of his new experience (try to learn them)
• Get Tanner to order a pro-grade silvered  dagger in town - this will become more urgent when Poatarr goes rat & he will add a score of proper silver sling bullets to the order.
• Research the folklore book as best he can for references to things like the swamp and what was found there
• Find out how much the hire of a company of mercenary men at arms would cost as Coradwin is intending to develop the lands around the lake into a small but well ordered realm 
• Advertise for settlers to repopulate the town he is already calling Bet Corad in his private journal  and the raided villages around and beyond the lake

Plans for the future

• Return to the Swamp and deal with the situation there
•  Return to the mine and deal with the situation there 
• Try to develop a well governed little state around the lake and  when he can afford it move his residence to the town on the north shore.
• Find some one to marry as Coradwin intends to found a dynasty

Source: Coradwin's plans

[EvilGinger]

More Tokens

I did warn you this was addictive

This is a work in progress shot of a token or standee I have in mind for one of the characters in the game and something of a test for the suitability of the more interesting pose

a bit further work done mostly on shading and toning down the black lines which I again forgot to remove, I should read and act on my own advice 

And a bit more mostly to the trousers where I noticed the lowe parts had a heavy seam like a pai of jeans which was not on the upper part so I fixed this with a little copy and paste work followed by some redrawing to make the trouser legs look all of a piece

Source: More Tokens

[EvilGinger]

Coradwins Livery

 going to do this on Heromachine but it seems to be down at the moment I hoe for an upgrade










This is a conceptual design for a man at arms in the Livery of Lord Coradwin and another of the megalomaniac mages projects

Source: Coradwins Livery

[EvilGinger]

Coradwins Livery

This is a conceptual design for a man at arms in the Livery of Lord Coradwin and another of the megalomaniac mages projects

Source: Coradwins Livery

[EvilGinger]

Aeneste

finished I think

Quite pleased with that but now feel the need to do every one in the game

Source: Aeneste

[EvilGinger]

The Original Company

Here are images of all the NPC's & NPC Protégé’s associated with the Original Company

Sondan

Dvorn the Axe

Fawlit

Liamar  

Nyasse 

Nyassor

Americ 

Myranaris 

or rather there will be as I do them

Source: The Original Company