Another art update!

Here you go...

How I spent my rainy day...

So, here's how the individual characters will look. Standard, and wounded versions (which will be on the flip side of the counter).

Made larger than needed, but I may also use the artwork for stand up "SJG Cardboard Heroes" style figures, just have to draw backsides then.

On a posting roll...

Here's the latest update of counters, I think I've settled on what I like...

If you're wondering about the colour backgrounds, one of my thoughts (that will tie in with the rules) is the dark colour marks heroes, the mid range colour standard troops, and the very light tint is for peasants, non-combatants and sword fodder.

Colour Test

Just a quick colour test to see how I should approach printing the counters. I have to say, being a graphic designer/illustrator is a pretty big boon to game design!

Hand Cramp!

I've been drawing a lot lately, at work and at home working on this board game concept — hence the hand cramp. Thought I'd take a break to show an update, so here's a sneak peek at some more counters. I have a bad habit of wanting every character to look different, but I know that's just not feasible. So when I can, I draw them without weapons or facial hair (I have a moustache and beard accessory pack!).

Counters

Thought I'd share some in-progress work on my Cry Havoc inspired game. These are from a "generic human army". My plan is to switch out some weapons, maybe faces and helmets as well for more variety.

A New Blog

I've decided to start another blog, one devoted to the development of my very own RPG design. So go check it out!

Best News in a Long Time!

I got an email today about Otherworld Miniatures finally releasing PCs into their line up. This has been a long time coming. If you haven't already given your support, go do it now!!

Otherworld Indiegogo Campaign

More Tile Excitement!

Please comment with tiles you'd like to see included.

Some Tile Progress

Dungeon Tiles

After a long stretch as a freelance graphic designer and illustrator, with some good times and some bad times (lately bad) I managed to land a really great, full-time position at very large company. Now that I have that issue resolved, and my work for Barrowmaze II has wrapped up I can start focusing on work for myself.

One project that's been nagging at me is doing a set of OS dungeon tiles. I'd like to eventually start an indiegogo campaign to get the production work covered, as I'd like them to be fairly thick, and double sided (similar to WotC's line) and drawing inspiration from GW's old Dungeon Floor Plans sets. Right now my plan is to do a massive generic set, then as interest allows, add supplements of varying types, as well as folding card buildings. The entire set would be hand drawn in ink and coloured with watercolours, needless to say, this will be time consuming!

Any thoughts of what the community might like to see would be welcome.

A Good Day

Well, after a very long wait, my Otherworld order finally arrived. It was lacking some giant leeches (which I was told would come later) but it had some extra surprises in it.

Now I have to finish off that gold voucher and put a dent in that silver voucher!

The DM's Gift

Here's some better — but not great — photos of the miniatures we gave to our DM who is leaving.

The Final Day

Today is most likely the last day of a Darksun campaign I play in. And it's 4th edition.

I'll wait for the hissing and boos to stop.

Okay then. The guy running the game is a writer in the video game industry (it's always impressive to see what he comes up with on the fly) and he's moving across the country. So, to commemorate his move, I've painted miniatures of all our characters, gave them simple Darksun-esque backdrops in clear plastic cases, and a little list of each character's notable achievements during the campaign.

I'll be posting better photos of all my work later this week, it was a slog to get them all done on time. Between job interviews, freelance work and being sick all week, it was rough! So here's a quick look at them I took with my phone:

Nerd Score!

I was rummaging through my closet tonight when I stumbled upon a small white box stashed away in the corner. The label on it said "Nerd Supplies", written in my ex-girlfriend's writing. When I saw it I knew exactly what it was, and it had sat there forgotten for a long time...

A box full of long-forgotten miniatures, many still in the blister! I'm just posting the fantasy ones here, as there were also 10+ blisters of Foundry's Street Violence line, and some old Warhammer 40k miniatures, space orks, beaky marines and old Imperial Guard.

So here's my find...

My all time favourite minotaur miniature:

For a long time this was my favourite miniature, I also have the "bucket variant" loose somewhere.

These were great to find after completely forgetting I had them!

Standard fighter types:

Some really great half-orcs and an adventurer's cart. I have another one that's open, that came with a female "Dungeoneer" miniature.

A balrog type miniature and some orc villagers. I miss the days of five figures being jammed into one blister.

The rock dragon. I think?

Manticore and cockatrice.

The undead chariot which also came with a skeletal minotaur/beastman and a great necromancer that are in with my other figures. I do have the sinking feeling that this may have been a recast I unknowingly purchased about ten years ago. This is an older model, but the metal is extremely shiny and light weight. Any ideas how to tell?

I have way too many miniatures to paint, and my giant order from Otherworld was just shipped off yesterday!

Trogs n' Troll

A couple of Tom Meier troglodytes (some of my favourite minis from when I was a kid) and a Citadel AD&D troll.

Whenever a new edition of D&D comes out, trolls are one of the creatures I check immediately to see if they've changed. First edition trolls will always be the best, there's something terrifying about these lanky, crazed monsters with their sunken eyes, and protruding nose.

More Miniatures...

Some Citadel chaos warriors. These are a personal favourite of mine to paint, as it doesn't take very long. The photo doesn't show it well, but to break up the armour I paint different sections of the armour with silver and bronze.

Things Said Around the Gaming Table #004

"Some of my best friends are elementals."

Bring Out Your (un)Dead!

I'm on a roll, and these figures were just sitting there. I don't have very many painted figures, so I figured I'd post some shots of the painted ones over the next few days. I should probably use my camera and not my iPhone, but I'm lazy.

Some Citadel skeletons, a barrow wight from their 80's LotR line, and a wraith with a sickle.
A wraithcicle?

Goblins and Owls and Bears, oh my!

Sorry for the lack of updates lately, my life is a bit crazy right now. Been busy looking for more contract work, and slaving away on Barrowmaze 2 maps and illustrations. But, I have had some time to paint some miniatures, which I haven't done in about two years. I have a massive collection of unpainted metal, most of which are Citadel figures from the 1980's, including their AD&D line. To fill up posts I may have to show off my collection as a quick fill.

I'm also hooked on Otherworld figures now. I received an order last year (I warmed up my brush by painting slimes and puddings), then I bought a gold AND silver voucher. Now I'm waiting on my last order, which used up about 200 GBP on the gold voucher.

So I give you my latest painting endeavors: two Citadel D&D owlbears, and a group of goblins (in progress)...

...and Let Slip the Dogs of War

Just a quick question to the community out there, how many of you are familiar with the 1981 Cry Havoc board game by Standard Games? And what are your thoughts on it?

A Post for Posting's Sake

My life's been a whirlwind lately, so I haven't had much time (or energy) to put into gaming related things. I was just putting some finishing touches on the map for Barrowmaze 1, and thought I'd give you all a quick tally of how much work I've put in, and have been assigned to, for the Barrowmaze 2 project:

OSR Blue Map: Doing BM1 and 2, as well as one big map
Monster Entry Illustrations: 18 (I think)
General Illustrations: 2 so far
Magic Item Illustrations: 6
Certificate Illustration: 1
Illustrations for Booklet: 5 assigned so far

That's all for now!

Pendragon Pilgrimage

Haven't been posting lately because things have been a bit hectic in my life lately. I'm currently in Winnipeg where I made my semi-annual pilgrimage to Pendragon Games. The thing I like the most about Pendragon is their stock of used gaming books. I was tempted to buy the AD&D players handbook and monster manual with their original covers, but decided to go with just the Greyhawk Adventures book. It was the only AD&D hardcover book missing from my collection. The downside of their stock on out-of-print stuff is that it is a bit over-priced. I was going to buy a copy of the Temple of Elemental Evil, but it was $60. They also had a copy of GW's original Talisman game (which I saw there two years ago) with a $100 price tag that hasn't changed. Oh well.

I also walked away with a bunch of Reaper Miniatures, I bought an almost complete set of the Townsfolk range. I wish civilians and non-combatants were a bit more common to find, Citadel back in the day had a nice collection for a while — until they want all "Games Workshop."

Personally, I'd love to see Otherworld produce a line of civilians and hirelings.

I'm Ahead of my Time...

...or behind it.

For the last few months I've been working on a game design of my own, it started out as an OSR game, but then I decided it go head and implement a few mechanics of my own. I've just downloaded the 5e playtest materials and had a quick look over the monster stat blocks and they look remarkably similar to my own.

Roll Call!! (more nostalgia)

As I was flipping through my old basic D&D books I noticed some pencil lines around alot of characters in some of Larry Elmore's amazing illustrations (to this day, I still feel his ink & brush work from the basic books was his best). What were these pencil lines from? They are the same dimensions as the character illustration boxes from the basic character sheets. I would find the right crop, get my father to photocopy the page at work, and I would cut the image out, and tape it to my sheet. Instant Larry Elmore character art. I used alot of Elmore's work for my characters' inspiration.

So, without further delay, here's the roll call for my character's I grew up with, probably around age 8 to age 15. There were many more, of course, but these are some that I remember...

First up, we have the fighter... Horace. Yup, I named a character Horace, and I'm fairly certain I took the name from the Monster Squad. Which would date this character to 1987. I can't say I remember much about him, he was made at a time when I went through alot of characters.

Next we have Fleetwood the fighter. Oddly, the name wasn't derived from Fleetwood Mac, rather, it was a name I came up with myself and seem to remember thinking it was pretty awesome. He was a long running character for me, until he was heroically lost... literally. I lost his character sheet. Rest in peace, Fleetwood.

The only non-Elmore character to make it into the list (although to be fair, when she started out I think I used Aleena the Cleric's image from the basic books) is Flo Khan. Yup, I had a character named Flo. I didn't realize until I was older that Flo is generally short for Florence. In my defense, I stole the name. An older kid next door that played AD&D (that I idolized) had a female fighter named Flo, so that's her "origin story." She was my only character that I made from basic D&D that made it into my 2e days. She was a tough as nails barkeep by day, and no-nonsense, ass-kicking fighter by night, that eventually attained a sunblade. When she crossed over into 2e, before our house rule of rolling up charcaters with other players to witness, I rolled a 18/100 strength for her. Then thinking no one would believe me, I rerolled and she wound up with an 18/36.

My final entry for my basic days, and only non-fighter, the thief Greenan. Greenan was a lawful thief, but had no problem breaking and entering when he needed to. I seem to remember taking his name from the novelization of Willow, where Willow is casting a spell, one of the words he says is greenan. But, Greenan's story hasn't ended, he appeared again (after some 20+ years!) in a campaign of mine last year as an NPC that helped the PCs. It was great, because the whole time they didn't trust him, and he saved their asses when they needed it most. I sort of based him off the gyrocopter pilot in the Road Warrior, thought he'd be great as a thief. (Please note: this image was taken from one of my books, you can still see the faint rectangle around his head)

And finally, my favourite, and first character from 2e, Falen Harrwood, a half drow elf ranger. When I saw this image when I was in grade 7 I was just reading through my 2e books and thought this was the coolest looking D&D character ever. I had to make a ranger, and this had to be him. He was a very somber, reclusive character who stayed away from civilized areas, afraid that people would recognize his drow blood line. And no, he did not dual wield! He had a long sword and a shield, and eventually wore a cloak of displacement. For the campaign I'm currently working on, both Falen and Flo will make an appearance (as well as a few others), so as nerdy as it is, I am looking forward to see them in a game again. Falen and Flo were probably last active around 1994.

I may have to make a part 2 to this post, as I found another image of a character — Falen and Flo's child... (play dramatic soap opera music here).

A Sketch

This is a rough pencil I hope to ink this weekend of a gnoll wielding two flails.

The Good Ol' Days

Warning: I may ramble on...

After listening to a bit of the Barrowmaze podcast it got me feeling nostalgic about D&D. After all, for me at least, the best part of the game was telling stories of your characters' (mis)adventures. I find talking about D&D can be just as fun as playing it, and telling stories that involve rolling a 1 are much more interesting than stories about rolling 20s!

So, here's my first (of probably many) posts on D&D and nostalgia. Topic 1: The little game store.

Back in the 80's little game stores seemed to be fairly common, sure, many seemed to go under quickly, but there would soon be another to pop up and fill the void. Sadly, these game stores seem to be a thing of the past these days. A few still exist (there's one not too far from where I live now) but I think a big part of my nostalgic love for them have to do with what was on the shelves: Car Wars, orange spines of AD&D books, zip-lock bags of Steve Jackson's Cardboard Heroes, and rows of amazing, illustrated blister packs of Citadel miniatures. For me, a game store needs to be small, have creaky, old wooden floors and a heavy set guy behind the counter that watches you like a hawk!

I grew up in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and the first game store I ever went to was Medieval Works in Osborne Village. My older brother was nice enough to take me on the bus one day. I still remember my first purchase (I think I do at least): a Grenadier blister pack of ghouls (I think). There were two of them, they were small, and somewhat bestial looking. Included in the blister was a corpse inside a coffin.

Another store that came about in the late 80's was Hit Points, I remember their massive miniature collection the most. That's the store where I bought my copy of Car Wars: Deluxe Edition. I don't remember Hit Points being around for very long.

The store I spent most of my money at was Campaign Outfitters, which was on Corydon Ave. at the time when it was a truly great store. Tiny, and packed full of gaming goodness. I bought my first 1st edition AD&D book in that store, used, from the owner himself. This would have been in the early 90's when I visited it the most, when I was around 14. I think that's when I noticed a shift in gaming. All these amazing Citadel miniatures they had stocked, weren't being restocked anymore. Instead, they were being replaced by "Warhammer" miniatures. I hated the packaging, and the lack of "character" in the sculpts. And instead of 3-5 miniatures per pack, you were getting 1 or 2. Campaign Outfitters changed locations to a bigger store, and was still pretty good, and I think is still around in another new location, but just doesn't have that feeling it used to have.

Lastly, there's a true Winnipeg institution: Pendragon Games. It was around in the early 80's, and is still there today, albeit in a new location. Every time I go home to visit my parents, I have my pilgrimage to Pendragon. This is a true gaming store. I went in a few years back, and sitting on a shelf was Standard Games' Cry Havoc, from 1981. It's like stepping into the same store that it was back in the 80's. Old copies of White Dwarf (that covered D&D), 1e modules, and there's new stuff too of course, but that's not why I go. I just hope it's still there for my next visit.

And that's my ramble. I'm curious as to what you other old tyme gamers experience of gaming stores, old and new, are. Also, the names of the stores you went to. Do you younger gamers think you'll feel the same way about the "new" gaming stores of today?

That stupid, stupid thief...

I noticed this up over at the Barrowmaze II campaign page, so I thought I'd post it here as well. For your viewing pleasure...

NEEEERDS!!!

I figured what better place to showcase this poster than here? This was a design project that I did in university back in 2007. It's something I keep meaning to come back to and redesign and throw in a few more nerds. I actually illustrated two more a few years back, but never added them in.

As a side note, you may notice that every entry has the name Greg in it in one form or another. For the record, this was created years before I started work on Barrowmaze!

Make sure you right-click and "view image" to see it full size.

Enjoy...

Nostalgia

Thought I'd post some old artwork of mine, trying to keep it tied in with fantasy or gaming.

First up we have The Soldier and Death, inspired by a scene from Jim Henson's series The Storyteller.

Next up is an illustration I titled Hot RAM, Cold Caffex, inspired by my Shadowrun days, but I thought it sort of had an OSR look to it.

And finally, the weary old paladin. This was a just a sketch I found in one of my old sketchbooks and I thought I'd share it.

Works in progress...

Between my day job, side contracts, and work on Barrowmaze II, I've also started up a few personal projects that will hopefully make an appearance on Indiegogo in the coming months. Needless to say, I'm pretty busy.

I've been looking to make work for myself that combines my almost 3 decades of gaming experience, graphic design background and love for illustration. I'm finding that burying myself in this type of work is really enjoyable and leads to more ideas than I know what to do with. It also counters my day job, which is graphic design and illustration, but the final word is given by marketers (which I'd like to blog about at a later time,  how I think it relates to the current condition of D&D, and how my outlook on game design directly relates to graphic design).

So here's a sneak peek at my work desk, two projects are directly related to OSG, one of which you'll probably be able to guess right away what it is that I'm doing.