DnD After Action Report

Commander Traxe

The party assembled again on Saturday. I, as the faithful DM took no time in introducing Greek the Rogue & Puddle the Wizard to commander Traxe, the aformentioned commander of the crappy little defensive force of Winterhaven. Winterhaven is a fairly small town nestled in the western reaches of the Nentir Vale, two days travel from Fallcrest.

Traxe expressed his gratitude for the adventurers thwarting the attempted heist on a trade wagon the previous night.As they were talking, the trade wagon rolled into town, unscathed by bandits. Although one of the four dwarven guards did mention a kobold attack. He showed it too the wizard, who figured out it was an amulet of allegiance to some demon. Greek recognized that “some demon” was in fact Orcus, a name they have heard thrown around a lot recently.

Thrown around about as often as they throw around the decapitated head of that same demon. Only when nobody is looking though. The demon head felt heavy in Puddle’s bag as they stared at the amulet, realising someone was after the severed head they possessed, and they wanted it bad.

Traxe grimaced. If it wasn’t their own townsfolk plotting to destroy trade caravans it was those annoying Kobolds. He pleaded with the adventurers to go destroy the kobold encampment. “Alright, where is it then?”
“... I don’t know. Just wander around till they attack you.” This guy was obviously a master of strategy. He did however offer to release one of the elves from the night before, so the adventurers could be lead by a guide who knew his way around the Gardbury Downs.
Greek flatly refused. Puddle didn’t mind; if there was one thing he hated more than an elf it was wandering around aimlessly in the wilds.

As they headed out of town they suddenly realized they were walking right into the lair of a group of baddies who wanted the skull. They took stock of what they had. The Skull is encased inside a box, which seems to block the evil seeping out of the skull. It has a lock on the side, but no key. They don’t know anyone they can trust, and if they bury it “The DM will just say it’s gone when we come back, that’s the sort of thing he does.”

A startling display of metagaming took place. I don’t recall a single time I’ve made my NPCs omnipotent, but whatever, I digress.
They decided to take it with them, since if they died, it wouldn’t matter what happened to the world, it would be for other adventurers to handle.
And besides, if a bunch of Kobolds killed them, then they weren’t worthy enough to carry around a demon skull anyway.

Turns out they could cut right through the scrawny bastards. Halfway through the process they leveled up to level 4. Woo. I think I was more excited than they were. I envisioned conversations in which I proudly told other DMs that “MY players are level 4, what level are YOUR players?” of course this conversation is probably going to stay imaginary. Hardly anyone plays D&D in NZ.

They faced off against Irontooth, a Goblin, who acted as the leader of the Kobolds. At first he was joined by a spectral apparition of a man. This disappeared as soon as it was hit by a magic missile. Irontooth went down without a scratch on the adventurers. A kobold slinger did however manage to hit Puddle once, almost bloodying him. As Irontooth went down he screached out “For Orcus and Kalarel!”

Since the adventurers respect the dead they decided to relieve the fallen goblin of his valuables. On his person(goblin?) was a note. It was orders instructing him to watch out for Greek and Puddle. It also mentioned the death of Maloreth. The last main bad guy they had slaughtered unceremoniously. Seriously, my bad guys have bones of glass or something.

Whoever gave Irontooth that note really wants the skull. Probably wants to complete his collection or something. Goblins are like the trademe/craigslist of the fantasy world.
“Oh before you slay me, do you know anyone who want to be Balins flatmate? Cheap rates, Crystal Ball TV. Absolutely no fatties please. Argh, I am slain. For Balin!! *ceases to live*”

*Note, Balin payed extra for the rights of the goblins dieing breath speech.

Snow: Episode 17

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Had fun with this episode, being able to relax and do wide shots. The last set marks the 90th canvas for the series so far.
Haven't had a lot to throw on the blog recently. My time has suddenly been swallowed by uni and slacking off. I'm on the home stretch! couple months to go and I'll be a proff professional graphic designer!
Scary. I wish I could be a full time DM or something. That would be rad. Or even do Snow full time. That would be amazing.
Next week Aaron plugs our sponsors in a completely casual way!

P.s. Not canon.

Snow: Episode 16

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Me 'n Matt were both sick while writing and drawing this strip. Made for a rather unenthusiastic writing session. But I think we still managed to pump something decent out.

Based on musings about a common movie trope where they find a dramatic point to announce their arrival at a destination, when in fact they're still miles away. It's like going "We're here.. At Pak n Save." When in fact you're still at your house, that happens to overlook the big yellow store.

Just finished watching the hour long interview with the cast and crew of Firefly at comic con. That weird ass speech saying we are all part of the universe at the end made me want to write fan fiction. But in all seriousness, it was cool to see most of them all in one spot again. And rather surprising to hear that "The Shepherds Tale" is the biggest selling hardback that Darkhorse has produced. If you haven't read it and you're a Firefly fan you really should. It traces Shepherd all the way back to when he's a kid, so you find out his shady past.

Adventure Time Background

Click to see a large 1920x1080 version.

Thought that this recreation of Jake the Dog & Finn the Human from Adventure Time deserved a post of its own. Requested background by a user over on G+. I'm really covering old ground lately. Also did a quick whip up of Faith from Mirrors Edge. DICE! EA! Anybody! Make a sequel. I don't have money at the moment. But I'm sure I have some vital organs that really aren't that vital but someone else wants really bad.

Question. If you don't have an arm, can you still go in the regular Olympics? Or do you HAVE to go in the Paralympics? And won't the Paralympics be cool in the future when people are half robots, being able to jump over buildings, run as fast as cars, and lift a metric butt ton? Yeah, me 'n Becky get onto some pretty tangential subject lines.

Snow: Episode 15

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Woo, Finished the comic strip. My little finger on my right hand side feels like it's shattered into little shards. Been drawing SOLID for 12 hours with BREAKS IN. BE. TWEEN.

Elissa seems to be well received. Becky had a golden line which isn't suitable for print or for pixels unfortunately. She said "She's so cute! I want to take her home... AND FUCK HER."

I put Elissa  through the same process Aaron originally went through when I was designing him for the game. I wanted the characters to have the same roots, even if it seemed a little counter intuitive. Although the scale in which they are drawn only allows for a certain amount of detail. So drawing them with pixels allows me to only keep bold details, while dropping fancy pants fiddly ones because a ornately decorated cuff is literally impossible to draw with three pixels. Becky helped with colour selection. Another thing that serves no real purpose in the final renders in the comic, but might be good for future reference.

Barfights in Winterhaven (DnD Session)

What follows is a recounting of a DnD 4e adventure in the Nentir Vale. More specifically (as if I wasn't already being painfully specific,) in Winterhaven, Wraftons Inn. The protagonist is indeed named after the infamous Chris Perkins, and no ill or hidden stab is meant by it. Just fun.
Perkins the Fat was not having a good day. No one was taking him seriously. He stood outside the Winterhaven gates eyeballing the guards nervously. It was cheeky to hire thugs in front of guards. But he was a generally cheeky individual, or at least he liked to think he was. He was extremely expressive with his hands. Whenever he asked a question he would spread his arms, as if he was getting ready to fly, or bear hug someone.
His brother Benji the Fat was playing with a stick, throwing it in the air to make it spin, and then catching it. He seemed to be spending more time picking it up off the ground than actually catching it.
Perkins frowned. This was exactly why he needed some hired swords. Him and his brother would have no chance of raiding the supply cart making its way across the kings road from Hammerfell towards them.
“Oh finally.” he sighed inwardly. “Some drifters. They’ll probably do anything for some gold.”
“Hello!!” he said, jumping in front of them, blocking their way into town.
The two individuals he just stopped looked up warily at him. The female was short, a halfling. A bit tall for a halfling maybe? She had oriental features and carried herself with a lightfootedness, which hinted at thievery. The tall male was scruffy in every regard. He had a wooden sword and a bunch of staffs on his back. Some sort of hedge wizard perhaps. No beard or pointy hat, so it could just be a kid who has a propensity for wood.
Perkins went headlong into his pitch “Don’t you just hate it how the law always gets on top of you, and screws you out of an honest living. You work and work, and then they tax you for it! Disgusting that is. Are you feeling me? Don’t you wanna do something about it? I know I do. I even got an idea. All I need is some strong sword arms like yourselves to help me out. I can make you rich! All you have to do is help me knock off a few people by a cart. It’l be easy. So easy. I’ll even give you a cut. Want a cut? A sweet cut? Me and me little brother Benji aren’t the best fighters ya see, so we don’t mind paying for your hard work.” as he said this Benji dropped his stick again.
The strangers looked at him for a moment. “ummm.” the little one ventured. The tall one pondered for a moment then cut in “What?”
Perkins looked perplexed, then decided to lay some more information on. Hopefully abrading them with his plans would make them see how smart he was. “Well you see, this cart is coming from Hammerfell, and my cousin made a particularly big order last time. One he knew he couldn’t pay for. BUT, if we intercept it, and trickle it back into town for him, he stands to double his profits, easily.”
“Will these guards be dwarven?” asked the tall one.
“Yeah! They’l be nice and easy for you to deal with.”
“Then no thank you, I’m not interested.”
“What?” Said the short one, “Really?”
“Yeah, I’m not killing any dwarves.”
Perkins started to realize he was loosing the situation a little. Reverse psychology could work!
“I don’t need you all anyway, there are plenty of mercanaries around here, just thought you would like a favour.”
“Fine then, get someone else to do it.”
Shit. this psychology thing really doesn’t work. “... Fine. I’m going then.”
“Then go!”
“I’m leaving!”
“Good, get lost!”
“I’m gone! Come on Benji, lets go.”
Perkins was not having a good day it seemed. But this sudden dwarf drama had given him an idea. Some elvish hunters were staying at Wraftons inn. Surely they would jump at the chance of killing some dwarves.

He was right. the four elves that were clustered in a corner of Wraftons inn, near the bar, were quite eager at the chance to earn some quick gold. Apparently hunting hadn’t been good in this area recently. It really wasn’t a secret why. Kobolds had been circling Winterhaven for months, attacking practically anyone who carried a sword.
The odd couple from the gate wandered in, standing by the door for a while, surveying everything. They made their way to the bar and started to talk to Salvana Wrafton, the proprietor.
Perkins ignored them haughtily as he explained the plan to the elves. Unfortunatly Perkins the Fat was a shrill little man, and his words carried up to the rafters and back. The tall one turned to him and the elves. “You guys better not be listening to this Perkins guy. I won’t see any dwarves harmed on my watch!”
The leader of the elves turned hardly turned “Stay out of this, human. It is none of your affairs.”
Perkins felt empowered. Tough talk! He had never seen it in action up close before! “Yeah!” he chimed in, “We don’t need you and your dwarf friend, so get lost.”
“I’m a halfling!” the little one replied angrily.

Recalling events now are a little fuzzy and hard to keep a track of. Perkins remembers there being a lot of swearing and then bottle throwing. and a whole pile of dwarves upstairs coming down being lead by the tall one and bashing the hell out of the elves. One elf got trapped underneath a table getting flipped down the stairs. A human caught in the brawl got pummeled as the halfling jumped off a table and crashed her fist down onto his face. Benji took off at some point as well.

Then next thing he knew someone was screaming that the guards were coming, and suddenly the elves knocked out the two strangers at the same time and had the upper hands... Then he and the elves got arrested. Wait a minute... Then the strangers were fine. Fine enough to tell the guards about his plan. The bastards! The bastards.

Why did Benji have to go and tell the guards about this as well!? IDIOT BROTHER.

Snow: Episode 14

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Finally finished the strip. The comic in its current state would reach 25 pages now! Not including the covers and the related sundry bits and bobs. That's pretty neat I think. This one was inked using Becky's Wacom 4. I really didn't take advantage of all those buttons. There's just so many! After mapping, alt, ctrl+alt+Z, ctrl+S I just kind of ran out of hot keys I use on a regular basis.


There was a sudden death in the family yesterday. My uncle David. He was 51. We talked to a funeral director today, he was only a little older than I was. 
During the process Mum asked whether I would want a white coffin so one of my friends could graffiti on it. I said I'd rather they all signed it like it was a giant cast. "Get well soon." would be an amusing one. Mum warned that this may not be a good idea, as my friends would probably write something irreverent. All I could imagine was being dug up in a hundred years and a geologist carefully wiping away the dirt as he slowly reveals a big hairy dick scrawled on the top of my coffin. Cremation and then a loving sprinkling down Queen street it is then.

Week in Pictures

Done a whole lot this week. So I'm happy I think. Did a couple of painted chicks and I fell back into my love for the Sword & Sworcery look. Although with the unicorn image I think I've really started moving it in my own direction. It's based off a Dwarf Fortress story written by Simon Swerwer. You should check out his music! It's really good.

Used an image from DeviantArt that I should probably link.

Drawn for Beckys Colour Me Monday.

Played Skyrim some more the other day and got totally inspired to draw some nord / viking type art.

Matt stands posing atop various digital sundry for a background pic I made.

Snow: Episode 13

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Looks like a revered statue from minecraft or something on the last panel.

I started reading Locke & Key the other day. I tried jumping in half way through, but I really had no idea what was going on. So I decided to give it a fair shot by starting at the beginning. It's really quite good! If you were thinking about buying comics and didn't know where to start. Or if you finished Y: The Last Man and Fairytales then I think this is the next one to move on to.