FREE - Papercraft - Short Stubby Building Base 01 - Craftrobo / Silhouette

From the DM's Files

My girlfriend threw away some makeup boxes, which I observed to be sturdy little boxes and I thought could be used for the creation of some nice cityscape terrain or other such terrain for use with any rpg game.  You could even combine various boxes together to get some unique shaped buildings.  So I created a outline of each and added in some areas where you fold to create a nice little "box". This is the first box...  

Resize to meet your gaming needs!

The .svg file for illustrator/craftrobo/silhouette vinyl/paper cutter can also be downloaded and can be thrown into a browser window and printed out on cardstock, recommended 110 weight, so those apps / devices aren't necessarily needed to use the file.

The red areas are the cutting areas, the blue areas are the "fold/score" regions. Apologies to the colorblind users, but you can see that the interiors are the folds/scores and the outer areas are the "cut" lines.  

If using illustrator and the vinyl/paper cutters the file has two layers, a "cut" layer, and a "fold" layer, to make things easy to use with those devices.

The pattern image is left empty on purpose, however you can easily copy paste images on the pattern in any image manipulation application, like photoshop, print out the images and then run them through the cutting device or construct by hand after the fact.  This way you can customize it to your own liking, kind of similar to my other bookcase files you can find here!

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Video - Louis Zocchi Gamescience Dice 2015!!!

Always love seeing Lou preaching about random number generators! This appears to be from GenCon this year (2015) and i'm glad to see that he's keeping the faith for the dice purist! Preach on Brother! 
 (Daniel Fishers YouTube Channel, Go Subscribe!!)

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FREE: The Uncanny Vault of Deviltry : A dungeon adventure area for an average sized party of level 1 characters.

Happy Game Master Day! WOTC Provides Mass Battle Ruleset for D&D 5.0

Today is Game Master Day! So be sure to do something or send a note of thanks to the guy or gal who runs those adventures for you week after week and keeps you entertained (or frustrated if that's the case :) ).  

It takes a lot to create those adventures and a bit of time to tailor them to your groups needs (otherwise most games would end in TPK's (Total Party Kills) for sure! 

While they didn't release it specifically for GM's day, Wizards Of The Coast just released their latest rule set for mass battles (battlesystem for us old skewlers) for their latest edition of Dungeons and Dragons 5.0/next.  You can read all about it here, or download the .pdf right here.  

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3D Printing : Row, Row, Row Yer Boat!

(as always click to see full pic)

Row, row, row yer boat gently as can be, I be looking for treasure! Might ye have some for me?! Or else! - Robert Sull, Buccaneer, Caribbean Sea

For the pirate campaign i'm currently playing in I decided to print out some row/sail boats for use.  These are from the open forge project on thingiverse and can be found here.  These are fresh off the printer with minimal clean up, If you so choose you can paint them up or at the very least use a bit of black wash to bring out more of the details and deepen the shadows.

Hope you enjoyed this post and thanks for stopping by!

Happy 40th Anniversary Dungeons And Dragons!

Dungeons and Dragons turns 40 this year!  Its hard to pin down the exact date of when exactly Dungeons and Dragons officially turns 40 but it all started back in 1974, and from the origins of Chainmail, Gary and Dave created a game we all love to play that still fires our imaginations to this day!  

So raise a glass of Mountain Dew, throw a d20 or some 3d6, or perhaps create a new character in honor of the 40th Anniversary of this amazing game!

What does the future hold? Perhaps this video will show off what is to be the next version of Dungeons and Dragons as Chris Perkins intros DnD Next!

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Videos : CastAR - Founder Made This With Dungeon And Dragons In Mind. +Kickstarter

Jeri Ellsworth and Rick Johnson formerly of Valve have created their own company called Technical Illusions (click name for website), and their first product is called CastAR.  This product is current underway at Kickstarter which you can find the link here to go and contribute.  

Basically the system is a set of glasses similar to the ones used for Home 3d TV viewing where each eye piece turns on and off at various rates to simulate 3d worlds, however they've also combined two pico projectors above each eye piece along with a tracking sensor in the center bridge.  This configuration allows for projecting your viewpoint forward  when looking at a reflective fabric, similar to those used in road signs or safety tape, at a scene or world.  This allows for everyone around an table to have their own viewpoints and a shared experience for various applications, be it educational or in entertainment such as role playing or board gaming.  

In the video above Rick indicated that he specifically created this system with Dungeons and Dragons in mind as their group was fearful of as they got older about if they would be able to get together and play D&D together.  

Also one of the cool things is that since there is a lot of the processing done within the glasses themselves they hope to get this so it'll connect to your phone or tablet and can be run straight from that device so no bulky computer to hook up to and play.  All you would do is plug into your phone connect to a game/server/whatever and then start playing.  

This could revolotionize playing together on a large scale if the end price and production model is both good looking and affordable for either individual or group purchase.

One of the other benefits is that unlike the Occulus Rift you don't get nausea that some people get after using those VR devices.  Check out the videos below.  The first is Jeri and John over at Tested.com showing off the gear and getting the Kickstarter going.  The second is from Jeri's channel and her story of the 18 month journey.  The last video is the initial showing at Makerfaire San Mateo last year, (which i totally missed!!).  

Here are some other videos demoing/talking about the CastAR system:

Video : Daffy Duck - "The Wizard"

I recently found this old Daffy cartoon from merrie melodies where Daffy is a Wizard.  Its pretty funny if you like old skewl heavy metal with a bit of Dungeons and Dragons fantasy thrown in ;)

Hope you enjoyed this post and thanks for stopping by!

DIY : Trees - Terrain Modeling with Steve “Kamloopian” Delaney

Over at Make magazine they have an article about the terrain making skills of Steve Delaney (no relation). Here is a video from his youtube channel showing you how to make various trees for your gaming needs.  Some good stuff on there so be sure to subscribe to his channel for more terrain tips! Don't forget to check out part 2 of the video after the jump!

Polydice You Can Print! (Well Sort of)

I've got an interest in 3d printing. I've done 3d modeling on occasion, e.g.,  my work on turbosquid Over at thingiverse they have these awesome polyhedrons you can print if you have one of those awesome 3d printers.  I have a Makerbot Replicator 2x! I think this will be the next project I try to print out!

While they are kind of wonky, it shouldn't be too long before we can print out our own dice at home and in various colors! (there are some better models on thingiverse, I might have to try and model my own)

Woot!

I can see it now, that d20 not rolling for ya, send it into oblivion with a sledge hammer but be sure you do it in front of your other dice, you know to "Teach them a lesson") ;)  Then print out a brand new one, even possibly with the "bones" from the smashed one!  Make some "test luck rolls" and you're in business! Or you can attempt these steps from the guys in Knights of the Dinner Table to get the best luck EVER!:

There are even those who suggest that if you rub a die on adead game designer’s tombstone, the bad luck will immediate-ly be discharged only to be replaced by good luck. Such acharged-die is said to be the luckiest of all dice (other thanthose made from the bones of a hall of fame game designer).
According to Norman Bowzer, who has tried this approachon numerous occasions, it simply doesn’t work. He recom-mends leaving the die on the tombstone for two nights undera full moon in order to give the bad luck time to dissipate.Since this particular method is the subject of dispute we pres-ent it here with proper notice that it may or may not useful.

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Tomb of Horrors - by Jason Thompson

Over at wizards website they have a drawn adventure featuring the best DM and worst PC dungeon ever! S1 The Tomb Of Horrors! If you've not had the chance to delve into this notorious player killer then i'd recommend that you don't spoil the fun for yourself and view this image.  If you have gone through this terror, then feel free to relive the fun, the fantasy, and ultimately your death, inside THE TOMB OF HORRORS!

(click to embiggen)

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Random Tables - "Not Paying Attention" from Scott Kurtz's Website Table Titans!

Hey Readers,

Who here loves a good random table, you know I sure do! Well Scott Kurtz, from pvp fame, now has a new comic up called Table Titians and he's got some choice items on the website, one of these is a tongue in cheek "Not Paying Attention" random table chart.  Its for when your players aren't paying attention while you're describing with exacting detail the room they just entered or the woven pattern of the brotherhoods robes...

Don't forget to get over to the Table Titans website and read the comic and delve into the other great source material they have on there!

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Video - Skyrim : 2012 Phoenix Cut (Part 1, 2, & 3)

Even those this was made in 2012, its still one of my favorite Skyrim parodies from the GroBroPro youtube channel!  This is all three (so far) "episodes" from the series.

Now don't mind me as I skill up my pick pocketing and work toward the Akimbo celestial perk!

Here is the video clip:

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12 Year Old Uses Monster Manual To Help Scientist Dad Test A Hypnosis

Over at discovermagazine.com there is an article about how the 12 year old son of a Scientist dad suggested using the monster manual to test the hypothesis of weather we're actually wired to look for eyes on a individual or if we're looking for the face and just get the eyes for "free" as they're in the center of our face.  This all came about because of a previous paper the dad wrote involved with how we as humans as well as other animals follow the gaze of other animals upon interaction with them.

Be sure to head over and read about their findings, but essentially the son suggested using the monster manual and its many unusual and varied fauna with varied eye and "face" configurations, helped his dad set up a head mounted rig to track eye moment, and then helped with the collection and coding of the data.  Turns out we tend to look for the "center" of an object when a face isn't readily perceived then search out "eyes" wherever they may be.

 

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Video - 1978 Video Of Red Sonja & The Wizard + Bonus Video

Richard Pini (62) & Wendy Pini (61)
still work'n the conventions!

So here is the 1978 Comic Con performance of "Red Sonja & The Wizard".  This performance is from when both Comic Con and D&D were still in its infancy.  The video was uploaded by Richard Pini, his Wife Wendy IS Red Sonja, and the two of them are the team who brought you the Elfquest comic in the early issues of Dragon magazine.  Wendy's figure back then was rock'n and was she's the perfect Sonja in my opinion with all the conviction and fireworks that Neilson lacked in the movie.  Even at 61 Wendy's still got it!  Check out the video below and stick around for the bonus video after the jump!

Cthulhu - Possible Bubbles of Spacetime Curvature + Bonus Video

Mathematician Benjamin K. Tippett has written a paper which has been published as a PDF at the his website regarding Cthulhu and the possibility and plausibility of bubbles of warped spacetime curvature required for such an entity and explains “non-Euclidean geometry”!

From the paper "any civilization with mastery over such matter would be able to construct warp drives, cloaking devices, and other exotic geometries required to conveniently travel through the cosmos."

So in prep of our new tentacled overlords here is a bonus video: 

Hope you enjoyed this post and thanks for stopping by!

Deities And Demigods ; Zak's Awesome Take On A Classic!

So over at the blog "Playing D&D With Porn Stars" (need I mention its NSFW?), Zak, artist, published author, porn star, and of course DM Extraordinaire, has an article up on why you should be using the classic book Deities And Demigods of 1st edition Dungeons & Dragons in ALL of your campaigns.


Here is an excerpt from the article:

Let's take a look at the entry for a god we all know......the principle here is: the characteristics of the faith reflect the characteristics of the deity.
So, you pack of mewling quims, take a look at about 3/4s of the way down where it says "Cleric/Druid", "Fighter", "Magic User/Illusionist", etc.
These are actually the chances that a given cultist of Loki will be a member of that class. You start with the highest and work your way down until you get one. So, the highest level is illusionist, and there's a 20% chance. Roll roll...nope. Now we move to assassin--15% chance...roll roll...nope, then Cleric, Druid and Ranger, roll for each in a random order...aaaand bing this Loki cultist is a ranger. If you get no results that means the cultist is an unlevelled schmuck.
This fits the pattern in the book: more powerful gods have more classes and more levels and, therefore, their cultists tend to be classier and more various. 

He's got more goodness about how you can use the book for various purposes, such as rolling up cultists on the spot, how strong a god's pull is in a certain area of a world is, etc.  Its an excellent article all around and one worth bookmarking, or printing out, to have at hand for your next dnd session.

Zak's also the author of Vornheim : The Complete City Kit and for a mere 5 euros you too can own the .pdf masterpiece!

If you have an article you'd like to shine a spotlight on feel free to email me at the link in the contact section above!

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Video : One Ring To SPIN Them All! (or 10!)

A reader, and friend of the blog, Evil Miss Monkey, suggested via email that I check it out this very cool kickstarter project by Aaron and Sam of "Crit Success!"  

It's a set of rings that you can spin for d4 to d20 results!  If you're ever in a pickle and don't have dice on hand, so to speak, you can just look down to yer ring fingers and spin away! 20! Yes! I just crit that Ogre!!!



So this is a new take on an old idea, but with modern tech and manufacturing these guys took the initiative to create a pretty awesome project/product.

There are a few things I'd wish they would have done differently in the design, rather than have the inner band, which spins, ride on top of the ring, I'd rather have it inset to the outer band and flush, similar to various other "gears" and geeky type rings of late, e.g., see images to the left...

Don't get me wrong I really like this idea and can't wait to get my hands on some of these.

Did I mention I love dice? Hehe.  

If you too have a suggestion for and article feel free to email me at the address in the contact section above!

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I'm Between Realms Hehehe...

While I'm actually not "between realms" going back over some old Penny Arcade web strips I found this series. "The Conflux" (click the link to go to the start) 

 [click to embiggen ]

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Video : Simple Mold Making Bonus Azmodan Sculpture!

So one Jason Babler who is an a creative director over at Make Magazine created this awesome Azmodan Sculpture and molds from the video game Diablo III, and I believe is selling copies from his website Mantle Studios.

Jason took the time and created a "how to" video on how to make a simple silicone one part mold. This video shows you how to  create copies of something pretty simple, say maybe a casting of a tile from a gaming system that you just want a few more hall tiles of and not a whole set, or painted differently than what comes in the box but don't have the heart to re-appropriate a few pieces from the set.  Or say you want to make your own custom bases for your minifigs.  

This video will show you a simple and straight forward way on creating a one part mold. Thanks Jason!



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