Red Golem Blog

The following pictures show the final result of the previous post. Feel free to use them in your Ptolus game! Again, if you know who wrote these Ptolus broadsheets, please let me know! Enough talking, enjoy!

This tutorial details my second batch of Parchment handouts to be used in my Ptolus D&D Campaign (Thanks to someone in the online community for providing the files - please let me know the author if you know who it is!). The first steps are similar to the previous homemade parchment post. This time, I toned my dipping brew with brown (red, yellow and blue food coloring added to boiling water, instant coffee, and a bag of black tea - because it smells good!). I wanted to have different parchment looks: off-the-press, old/wrinkled (like the one in the picture below), with blood and/or stains, etc. It is better to tear and rip your paper now if you want to have a damaged look to your handouts. The drying process makes these damages appear quite realistic (much better anyway than if you try to do them on dry paper).

Handouts were left to dry on thick cardboard. I added red food coloring drips on a few of them to look as blood. It turned out a bit too clear for dried blood. I tried to fix it with black ink while the paper was drying. It worked okay (see this post for final pictures).

Here’s the second batch drying… More pictures of the ready-to-use handouts in the next post…

When our group decides to start a new RPG campaign, I usually end up gamemastering, for many reasons. First, I like it (!). Second, I have some inspiration to get things going and I master many different rulesets/settings. Third, I take the time needed to prepare our games. This really makes a difference in my opinion between a “good game” and a “great game”! Recently, I have been including more and more visuals into our RPG sessions: miniatures, terrain, handouts and other props. I guess this is a side effect of playing miniature games such as Mordheim!

What I’m presenting today is a quick way to make your own parchment for handouts to Read the rest of this entry »

The campaign is reaching its 4th IRL night and its one week of IG time. The players are now hooked on Ptolus! It’s easy as it is the more detailed city setting I have ever played with. Kudos to Monte Cook! I also want to mention the incredible job done by Skeleton Key Games‘ maps creator, Ed Bourelle. I use a few of his cartographic material. Last night we played “Trouble with Goblins” with maps printed and glued on cardboard in the same way I prepared my modular 2D map tiles. They are great-looking. My players really enjoyed them. Add a few 3D props (unpainted unfortunately for now) and you get everything you need for a rewarding encounter - even for Scar the litorian who was taken out of action again (3rd night in a row!) [Evil DM Grin].

IRL: in real life
IG: in game

I always wanted to have two-dimensional terrain tiles to play tabletop games. 2D terrain can be stored easily and doesn’t take much space! What I was missing was some good dungeon artwork. Fortunately, I stumbled on the excellent work of Ed Bourelle and his e-Adventure Tiles (bonus sample tiles here!). His business, Skeletonkey Games seem to have been around for a few years. He has a very nice and extensive selection of packages: dungeons, caves, sewers, inns, wilderness, tombs, desert, spacecrafts, hives, temples, lairs, warehouses… I bought a few e-Adventure tiles packs (mostly dungeons and caves) that I intend to use for Roleplaying games (Dungeons & Dragons, Rolemaster, Warhammer, etc.) and for Miniature games (Blood Bowl / Dungeon Bowl rules, Mordheim with underground rules, .45 Adventure, Two Hour Wargame rulesets, etc.).

Here’s a short tutorial detailing how I am building my 2D modular tiles using SKG e-tiles.

Step 1. Get yourself a pack of self adhesive vinyl floor tile (12″ x 12″). They’re pretty cheap. I got mine at my DIY store (RONA) for 0.46$CAD per tile.

Step 2. Cut them in half. Use an Read the rest of this entry »