Bones Kickstarter + some old monsters

You all probably know about this, but just in case you don't AND you're a big mini fan like me, you might want to get on board.

At the $100 pledge level, you now get ALL THIS --

SERIOUSLY!!  That's 133 minis or something ridiculous!  Wow!  

You also get the option to buy a bunch of other add ons for really low prices, typically $1 per mini.

Check it out if you are interested!

If not, here are a couple of monsters I created in the '80s.  Enjoy!

Savage Worlds Wizard Tips

My wife played the wizard in the Savage Worlds party.  In order to help her track her "power" or "mana" points, I made a little bead tracker using a pipe cleaner and some pony beads.

I color coded them so she'd know when she was running out and also to prevent the accidental "flipping around" of the tracker to "refresh" the power points.  :)

Also, at the Dollar Store I found these little "spell books" from a CCG called Zatch Bell (?).  They work out REALLY well for a game like SW.  You can print shorthand versions of each spell the caster knows (and they typically don't know that many" and put them in the book.

You can also store magic item cards/scrolls/etc in the book if you'd like.  You can see a Paizo item card peeking out from behind her spells...

Savage Worlds Monster Cards

One thing I remember about Savage Worlds was using a deck of cards for Initiative in combat.  Nice idea and it works well in the game.

I found that as I dealt out cards to each player, I wanted to deal out cards to each group of monsters.  I initially had trouble keeping track of what monster group had what card.

Then I struck upon an idea -- make cards for each monster!

Using godeckyourself.com I made a set of monster cards.  Some monsters have more than one card because they are complicated :( but that's OK.

Here's what it might look like on my side of the table after I deal the cards --

Each player gets a card then I deal these out in order at the end.  Works well and serves as a visual reminder of who has gone and who still needs to act.  The card is removed when the monsters turn comes up.

If you want a copy of my monster cards you can download them below.  Enjoy!

Savage Worlds Monster Set 1

Savage Worlds Monster Set 2

"Savage" Keep on the Borderlands

Recently got an email from Dan F who asked for my notes about my "Savaged" Keep on the Borderlands.

When I started this blog over two years ago, I was playing Savage Worlds semi-weekly with my grandkids and family.  Then I discovered the OSR and I started playing Microlite20, then Swords and Wizardry and now Labyrinth Lord.

The Savage Worlds game kinda fell by the wayside and honestly, I'd need to brush up on the rules to even describe this post in a lot of detail.  :)

Anyway, here's a 1PD that I did once the party entered the Shrine of Evil Chaos.

I think the descriptions are pretty generic and may be useful for any game.  The party encountered some other creatures in the Caves of Chaos.  Notably the owlbear in the shunned cavern (?) and a troll named "Maw" that the kobolds convinced the party to kill for them.  Good times.  

My grandson Matt still talks about "Maw" every once in awhile.  :)

I had this idea to use plain manilla folders as "module" covers, so I bought one of those customizable stamps at Staples and made a Savage Worlds monster template out of it.  You just stamp the profile on the inside of the folder and fill it out by hand.  Works pretty well.  Could easily be adapted to the standard OSR monster template as well.

Here's page 1

Page 2

There's a room in the Shrine called the "Potion Brewery."  The chart on the top right corner of this page is where I tracked the potions they made.  I made four little color coded "vat" minis out of wood bowls from Michaels.  Worked well.  The party did end up mixing all four colors together and created a caustic, toxic mess...

Well Dan, I don't know if that's of any value at all, but I will tell you that the module did convert to SW very well and a good time was had by all.  Have fun!

Bones Kickstarter

I don't know how many of you out there LOVE minis, but the good folks at Reaper are doing a Kickstarter to expand their Bones plastic mini line.

Click here to check it out!

The stretch goals are AMAZING and if $9000 more dollars are raised, the "Vampire" level will receive 97 minis for $100.  Wow!  Here's a pic of what you get so far --

At $215,000, you get 20 Orcs!

There are other sweet perks too you can buy for extra cash, like Fire Giants and Frost Giants...

Jump on board if you like minis!