Keep on the Borderlands – Maps

We’re currently playing through the Keep on the Borderlands on our weekly DnD sessions.
As such in preparation for some possible encounters which the party might have I’ve knocked up some simple maps we can use in the VTT we’re using.

These are shown below, maybe they’ll be of use to others.

The Stone Hovel – A mysterious hut in the forest.
The Forgotten Portal – An ancient inactive(?) portal.
Pit of Demise – A place of evil in the woods.

Humble Bundle – Pathfinder

If you’re new into role-playing games, then this is a pretty good deal.
The core rulebooks for both Pathfinder and Starfinder for around a fifteen euro.

Pathfinder itself comes from Dungeons and Dragons, being a port from DnD 3.5, though the second edition is move away from that original starting point.

The basic concepts remain similar between the two games with similar races, classes and mechanics.


https://www.humblebundle.com/books/give-gift-pathfinder-starfinder-paizo-books

Lord of the Rings – Dogs and Cats

Here’s a re-imagining of the principle characters from Lord of the Rings as Dogs and Cats.

Gandalf the gray
Frodo the ring-bearer
Sam the faithful companion
Merry
Pippin
Legolas the Elf
Gimli the Dwarf
Boromir of Gondor
Aragorn the ranger
Saraman the White
Nazgul, Servant of Sauron
Sauron at Barad-dûr

Generating RPG Character Assets

I’ve recently been on a AI image generation role, primarily using MidJourney to create landscapes, but there is a cost to that service (It’s a processing expensive task, so I’m OK with that).

But for the job of creating character portraits, I’ve taken to using Stable Diffusion which is an open sourced implementation which can be run locally. It’s pretty heavy on the hardware requirements, needing a GPU with 6+gb of ram, but if you can meet that the results are pretty good.

The following are some character portraits I’ve used it to create:

Return to MidJourney

Here’s some more images generated using the image generating AI MidJourney.

There’s a sort of otherworldly feeling about what it generates.

Drow Priestess standing on a balcony
An Irish Woman – 1

For some reasons eyes remain a problem in the images which have been generated.
With that in mind I thought I would try some landscapes to see how the AI would handle those.

Wandering on the Moors – 1
Wandering on the Moors – 2
Brook within a forest

MidJourney – AI Drawings

I’ve recently taken to playing with MidJourney to create AI generated drawings. They’re certainly impressive if not a little unworldly.

Here’s a few created on a theme of the games we have been playing, namely 1920s Lovecraft mythos related.

1920s investigators with torches in a dark cave

Bottom left image upscaled

This time I tried to get one for Rock and Agatha using “1920s male and female investigate haunted house”

1920s male and female investigate haunted house

Rock and Agatha

Which D&D version to play

Here’s a good video I recently got recommended describing the various versions of Dungeons & Dragons, along with the advantages/disadvantages they have and similar alternatives available.

Which D&D Edition Should You Play?

Bad DnD Art

I’ve been playing a game of Dungeons and Dragons with a group for friends for the last year or so.

Starting with the starter campaign “Dragon of Icespire Peak”, followed by the first half of “Out of the Abyss” and then into one of smaller campaigns while the players level enough to tackle either the second part of the Abyss.

For the start of the sessions I’ve taken to capturing what happened previously in image form.

Allow me to present in crude pictorial format our story so far.

Life was hard in Gracklstugh
A final dash for freedom
The hero returns
The Miracle Of Phandalin
Say it isn’t so
I’m sure it will all work out

I know what you’re thinking… breathtaking.

Best Card-Game: Citadels

If you buy one card game, the game you buy is Citadels.

Citadels: My well worn and abused copies

In Citadels, players take on new roles each round to represent characters they hire in order to help them acquire gold and erect buildings. The game ends at the close of a round in which a player erects his/her eighth building. Players then tally their points, and the player with the highest score wins.

This must rank as one of, if not the, most played games I have in my possession. Universally liked by both players new to board-games and those who are an old hand at them. Its a deceptively simple game with a good amount of depth.

Both versions contain beautifully illustrated cards, consisting of player role cards (the larger in the image below) and the district cards.

Citadel Cards: Get Covers for the roles. You’ll need them.

I’ve found that the player role cards are prime candidates for card protectors, we’ve played this many times in pubs and accidents happen 🙂

The aim of the game is to create a given number of districts whose costs are added up at the end of the game which occurs when the round is completed when a player places the required number of districts.

Each round consists of the players choosing a role card from a shuffled list.
Then using the order of the role cards the player take their turns.

With the role cards allowing you to either hinder another player, protecting your player or effecting the districts built in that turn.

The real skill and fun comes from attempting to second guess what roles the players have taken and attempting to counter them.