Author: Tim Maidment

NPCs – Various Oddballs

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I’m having a bit of a restless day, so I’m glad I got my application sorted yesterday, which means that it isn’t hanging over me. It’s been a day of bits of housework and groceries – and catching up on tv. As ever, my usual distraction under these circumstances is playing around in HeroForge and coming up with ideas as to how I could use these oddballs.

So I’ve saved each of these under whatever random name comes to mind and we therefore get – from left to right: Melly Verne, Rufen, and Polmet. Each has emerged with a different focus and hopefully that’s immediately obvious just from the initial portraits.

Melly Verne is a sorceror and small time hustler, with a ball of flame somehow concealed in the plain sight of her bare arms. A plain bandit’s mask is a grand idea, but the flamboyance of her dyed hair and tattoos, not to mention striking appearance mean that she’s hard to lose in a crowd. Then again, if a ball of flame goes flying through the air, most people will be fixed on that so perhaps there’s a method to the madness.

Rufen is a barbarian descended from either an orc or a troll – its hard to tell really quite what an eclectic mix of species he is. A mercenary by trade, their axe and javelin give a range of options in combat – and despite his handsome appearance there’s a ruthless energy held in check.

Polmet is a a kobold artificer and tinkerer, more interested in taking things apart and recombining the elements to make something new than in adventuring. Between their hammer and bottles of oils they can make sure things either stay put or get shifted.

Feel free to copy and use these tokens in your own games – and as ever if you do, I’d love to hear what they get up to.

Acting Up

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Nothing ever stays the same in any area of work or life – and an opportunity for a secondment has come up at work. On the principle of “What’s the Worst that could happen?” I’ve put my hat in the ring to be considered. This hasn’t been an instant decision – far from it. The role is another step up the seniority ladder to a level of role I’ve not handled since I was very unwell nearly twenty years ago. It’s taken a lot of introspection and work in counselling to consider the fears and shadows raised – and to recognise that I am a very different person and have grown and healed considerably since then. Even more important has been the recognition that it wasn’t the previous role that had caused the illness and that there are, in any case, very few points of similarity between that role and this.

So I’ve updated my CV and spent a couple of hours working through a personal statement to support it based on the job role and profile provided – and am now stepping away from it for a few hours before I return to review it. I’m hoping that I won’t spot something immediately problematic and can hit the send button with confidence.

I refuse to let my imposter syndrome sabotage me – and part of that is recognising that this is just an email and a foot at the door. The worst that will happen is that I won’t be what they’re looking for just now and they’ll go with someone else. You know what? That’s okay too

NPCs – Goblin Raiders

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So here’s a new batch of NPCs/antagonists that a group might encounter – inspired by the uniform approach for guards and zombies recently, I spent an evening making a bunch of goblins with a similar look who could be raiders or part of a larger force.

I’ve made up here a sniper, a spellcaster, a spearcarrier, a skirmisher, and a general sneaker – all with a unified colour scheme and set of armour. It’s been fun to play around with the facial expressions and poses and I think that’s a big part of the draw.

There’s something about this set of facial features that makes me smile – its similar to some recurring sketch designs that I doodle on and off. In the meantime the unified designs of groups like this are also sparking scenario ideas, so that’s an added bonus given the number of times I wing encounters in my games.

As ever, feel free to download and use anything here – have fun!

Map – Snowy Mountain Pass

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This is the map I used for Sunday’s game where the DDC encountered both a group of Ice Trolls and then a far more dangerous Dire Troll that had been buried in the stone circle. Rather than being a ravine environment, the intention was more to have a raised ridgeway or track through mountainous terrain that sloped away either side.

I set the adventurers at the top of the map, emerging from between trees into the more open area, and the trolls initially in and around the rough circle of stones. The map is designed as a 25×30 portrait area, and was exported from Dungeon Alchemy. The zipfile is mountainpass.zip and you’re welcome to make use of it and the lighting information as you need – or you can just copy and download the map below without any other information.

DDC – Ice Trolls

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Sunday’s game saw the group deciding on what to do about the revelation that trolls were moving in concert to disrupt life in the Hold’s territories. A week of scouting and research culminated in loud rumbling noises in the night, off in the distance and echoing across the valleys. With no visible source of that noise, the group decided to investigate reports of activity at an old mill site to the north west. Various lures of slaughtered animals were bringing predators down from the mountains to more civilised areas – and the mill was near the main pass towards the mines.

Before they did though, Kerne asked that they all go to Flower Town, taking Karkanna and Loris with them for a party and celebration. Kerne also had a surprise that they wanted to share. It took some persuasion to get Karkanna to acquiesce to the idea. She had spent a lot of the week fussing over Kerne while they recovered from their earlier injuries. A deputation was needed in the end to back Kerne up, like children asking if their friend could come out to play.

The group made their towards the pass to the north east leading to Flower Town. In the early stages of the approach, however, the DDC encountered four ice trolls near a rough stone circle. The two sides rushed at each other, with Caeluma being badly hurt in the initial rush. A desperate struggle raged within the snowy pass and despite the trolls’ regenerative health, the group was able to whittle down the threat in reasonably short order. However, before they could draw breath, the mound at the centre of the stone circle began to shift and collapse as something large dug its way out.

Weary, hurt, and after a rapid expenditure of energy, the DDC was shocked to see the misshapen form of a dire troll digging its way out of its grave, disturbed by all the activity. Caeluma fell beneath its claws twice, being hastily revived in the heat of battle, while Thorin went toe to toe with the creature. Blow after blow were traded, and time to heal up was bought with a frantically-cast banishment spell.

The creature’s tenacity was such that the group thought they had killed it several times, only to have it rear back up and strike again and again. In the end they were able to bring a massive flame to bear that overwhelmed it, and this time the remains caught and were consumed.

A search of the fallen trolls revealed another set of bone and iron brooches, symbol of the Circle of Rot as previous research had revealed. Within the now tumbled mass of the stone circle, a battered satchel contained gold coins, and a beautiful gold and silver brooch with the Amberhammer crest, were found. This was later identified as an old Amberhammer treasure that had been used to identify an agent of the Hold. A painting of a a previous clan queen showing her wearing it was found in the library.

The main pass itself was found to be impossible to use – the loud noise in the night had been an avalanche. Fragments of burned stone still bore the imprint of glyphs of warding that had been deliberately placed and triggered to cause it.

Returning to the Hold, and when all were relaxing and wounds tended, Karkanna asked what the surprise was going to be – which was when Kerne produced rings that they had commissioned, and asked Karkanna to marry them. We left the session there with a grand celebration and very few dry eyes in the house.

NPCs – Zombie Guards

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I had a bit of a quick play round in Heroforge to make some guards that were zombies for a scenario knocking around in my head – I’ve saved the models but did quickly make some virtual tokens that I could scatter around a map to scare some players. I mostly just played around with head positions and changed a couple of minor details, but wanted to keep enough of the same basic equipment and colours to suggest a uniform.

gaunt zombie face with a broad-brimmed metal helmet looking to the viewer's right
decayed and bloodied noseless female zombie guard with a broad brimmed metal hat staring out at the viewer
grey skinned decaying guard with no helmet, head lolling back and left to look in the air

Not bad for a quick ten minutes clicking away on the laptop – I’m thinking of scenarios ranging from adventurers happening across an overrun checkpoint, an invasion by necromancy-using forces, an unearthly portal to a dark dimension, or a buried eldritch machine that has been reactivated and that is draining the life force from the area and needs to be quickly found and destroyed.

Feel free to grab copies for yourself, and as ever if you use them, let me know – I’m always on the lookout for scenario ideas.

Queer Joy

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I wrote the following for a work blog but it didn’t get used as originally intended. Instead I ended up using it as the basis for a piece I did to open the LGBT History Month event at the Surrey History Centre.

I’m hoping to get hold of the video footage at some point, or even just an audio recording, but there may be some hoops to jump through for that. In the meantime, here’s the original blog. It doesn’t include the joke suggested by boy s about a picture of Queer Joy and how wonderful they are.

As someone with deep clinical depression, it feels a little odd to talk about queer joy. Leaving aside my imposter syndrome, however, that is the point of doing it. Finding and appreciating good things is an important skill. Queer joy is not in and of itself a matter of mental health though. 

 
Queer joy is a positive moment of celebration. It is even more remarkable because they are in an LGBTQ+ context. I experience it when I eat cake at a same-sex wedding. I experience it when I hear that we have hired an amazing new transgender colleague and that they are thriving. I experience it when I contemplate the anniversaries of myself, partners, or friends. At its heart, queer joy is a name for our reaction when we encounter signs of progress. 

Queer joy is the experience of being in a diverse and empowered community. I can be myself, or I witness others be themselves without threat of violence or rejection. It comes when people can wear what feels right to them. It comes from encountering – or being – someone LGBTQ+ in a leadership role. It is the joy of seeing people blossom. It is the experience of people who find their voices. It is seeing people work out who they are outside rigid gender roles and norms of behaviour. 

The importance of queer joy is that it helps sustain me. Media and personally experienced backlash and hate across our community is exhausting. We get our celebrations in Pride and LGBTQ+ History Months, but queer joy appears in the small moments. It is often unexpected, like sunshine rays through breaks in an overcast sky. In those moments, queer joy is often bittersweet. For all the joy of the moment, we still remember the fight. We remember not everyone is as lucky as we are in that moment. 

There is a resilience that comes with queer joy. The joy peaks when someone in the LGBTQ+ community wins an award. The joy shines out when I hear a song celebrating same-sex love. When my found or chosen family supports me, it is an example of how we rise despite setbacks and step forward and up. It might only be a small step, but it is still a step forward. 

Queer joy is for everyone. If you want to see equality, diversity, and inclusion in our society, then you can experience it too. The empathy within us manifests as joy at people’s success. We may call it queer joy, but you are all welcome to experience and thrive in it. 

Quiet Anniversary

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Eleven years ago, Lady M and I invited a bunch of people to join us at a castle for a party with a bit of paperwork attached. Memories of our wedding still put smiles on faces – and especially ours – all these years later.

We deliberately didn’t make any plans for today – but there were possibilities of book shops, coffee, maybe some wandering in fields or woods. Sadly, Lady M has had a horrible migraine today – and on top of that we ate some very rich food last night that very much disagreed with us both this morning.

So its been a quiet day. I’ve been reading some of the books I got for my birthday, as well as done some writing and sketching. I dropped the cub back round to boy s when he came round after school, and now I’m watching some videos on YouTube while waiting for our regular Friday Destiny Twitch stream.

We’ll do something to mark it properly at some point, I’m sure, but for now its just nice to sit and reminisce on the passage of years and how blessed we are where we are now.

NPCs – Outcasts

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There’s an aspect of fantasy world storytelling that appeals that focuses on characters caught between two worlds or cultures – the idea of the halfbreed who may or may not be accepted by either of their species or cultures. Sometimes this leads them to dark places, sometimes to brighter places. They can be an allegory or not, depending on the whim of the author or the player (who may have picked their character traits for some trait that fitted their concept)

So with that in mind, here are two new NPCs I’ve modelled in HeroForge and toyed around with in DNDBeyond: Rufen Hagspawn and Arianna Hytheknot.

Rufen is a custom lineage involving trolls and hags as the concept – very much inspired by the current DDC adventures. He is a barbarian with distinctive broken ram’s horns sprouting from his brow, who appears brutish but is unexpectedly charismatic. He may not be schooled in the ways of civilisation, but he has an uncommon amount of common sense (or wisdom). Even so, that wisdom is largely concerned with where and when to swing the great axe he carries. He is largely shunned wherever he goes, but he has managed to bargain for a trinket that once per day allows him to disguise himself as a human or similarly sized individual. This allows him to access shops and taverns without automatically being chased out of town as a monstrous abomination.

Arianna is a tiefling druid who lives by the docks of a town, preserving the wildlife and plantlife at the interface between civilisation and the natural world. The rats and vermin act as her eye and ears as she sells charms to sailors and potions to housewives. On occasion she’ll be asked to patch up someone caught by footpads, or on the run from the watch – and she turns any coin from that towards making her corner of the world a little calmer and safer for the youngsters. The horns on her head may make for an arresting sight but she finds it a good way to test people by not mentioning it, and pretending to be completely unaware of them when questioned.

Both are good examples of border characters that live on the edges of society and who may well be living in shades of moral greyness. How they react to player characters may well depend on how they in turn are treated on first contact or in how the actions of the characters are reported to others.

Rufen is more of a lone wolf individual who might eke out a living as a hunter, or who might be a mercenary encountered with a bunch of bandits who use his hardiness and regenerative powers to break defences. Arianna is much more of a socialised individual who works within or on the fringes of a society – the docks which inspire her second name. A hythe is an an old english word for a dock, usually on a river – so a hytheknot may be what secures a rope from a boat as it rests in its mooring – or maybe there’s a more sinister aspect related to punishment for pirates.

As ever, feel free to download these PNG format graphics and use them for your own VTTs – and if you do, drop me a note and let me know what they get up to – or how else you’ve used them.

Map – Alchemy House

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This is an early map I made when I first got Dungeon Alchemy after the KickStarter – so wasn’t made with thought of any particular type of encounter or other use. It was mostly an exercise in trying to visualise a layout on three floors and would probably not be a great place to actually live. If nothing else, it is lop-sided and overhangs on the top floor while leaving either a large flat roof or a very oddly sloped set of shingles. Trying to visualise it do give me a headache – but then perhaps this is a magical place and not necessarily all on our plane of existence.

Image for illustration, described in the main text

Looking at the layout – the top set of rooms is the ground level floor, with an entrance hall or porch in its top right corner. There’s a large sitting room to the south and a smaller hallway or reception to the west. This leads to a long thin corridor, off which the dining room, kitchen, toilet, and servants’ quarters are set. At the bottom of that corridor there are steps leading down into the cellar, and stairs going up to the master bedroom.

The master bedroom is the room on its own to the right of the map and isn’t anything particularly exciting.

The cellar has steps coming down near the well, along its north wall – and that main cellar area is mostly used for storage and drawing water. Each of the chambers off from that are full of work tables and supplies in crates. Its a rambling open area that could hold experiments or McGuffins that a group could be searching for.

So, I’ve included the exported file, jpeg, and text file as usual as usual as alchemyhouse.zip but am treating this as an example of the early learning curve while playing with a new toy. Enjoy!