D&D 40th Anniversary Blog Hop Challenge + Day 7

7. First D&D product you ever bought. Do you still have it?

That would be a close call between the D&D Red (Mentzer) Box or a some Grenadier miniatures. They came in blister packs and boxed sets. This was the beginning of my painting career. I still have some of those miniatures!

D&D 40th Anniversary Blog Hop Challenge + Day 6

6. First character death. How did you handle it?

I cannot recall the first character death. I lost a lot of characters in the early days. There are so many dumb ways to die when you only have a handful of hit points! Some notable early deaths:

1. Sam Lightfoot, my brave Hobbit (Lvl 2), slaughtered by Simon's Myrmidon after searching through the treasure without leave. Lesson learned the hard way. Thievery within the party is best left to the Fighter and Elf classes!

2. Grimm the Dwarf (Lvl 3), drowned in a well he was trying to swim across. Given that he was wearing chainmail (and the well was filled with green bubbling water and tentacles), it would have been wiser to run around it. Or did he take off his chainmail first? Anyway, his body was never recovered.

3. Malkraz, Elf (Lvl 4). A failure to Save vs. Dragon Breath results in ashes for this unfortunate elven adventurer. He did not die in vain. His death was a warning to the party that there were dragons about!

4. Willow Weeping By The Water, an (Oriental Adventures) elven Wu Jen (Lvl 2). After investigating glowing lights in the marshes (in an effort to communicate with the spirits), she is slain by will-o'-the-wisp. The party gathered her body and used a wish ring to bring her back to life. Alas, a critical (00) failure. Her body disappears in a puff of cosmic dust with a faint smell of sulphur. Now that I recall this character's death, her name (after a line in a Pink Floyd song), is rather poetic and prophetic.

The best way to handle character death? Roll up a new character!

D&D 40th Anniversary Blog Hop Challenge + Day 5

5. First character to go from 1st level to the highest level possible in a given edition? Or, what's the highest level character you've ever ran?

I've never had a character go to the highest level, except in computer games. I guess that's because all editions are limitless? Or, more likely, because characters/campaigns tend to die or retire around name level (9-11) in Dungeons & Dragons.

The longest character I've run in a campaign is Toll Quicksilver, an elven mage (College of Air Magics). He's been around for over twenty years now, although the game has taken breaks, sometimes for years. The game system is Dragon Quest (SPI), so I'm not sure of his level, although I could probably convert him to AD&D stats.

D&D 40th Anniversary Blog Hop Challenge + Day 4

4. The first dragon my character slew (or other powerful monster)?

I don't think I've played a character that slew a dragon, although I do recall one that died horribly from dragon's breath. It was a 4th level Elf called Malkraz. While investigating a castle well, he stepped onto a ledge and failed his saving throw. Ashes. It was a "gotcha" move on the DM's part. Thanks Geoff Holland!

Mr Holland (an English teacher) ran a gaming club at the high school on Sunday afternoons. It began with a dozen of us (students) playing in his dungeons. Then we began running our own groups as the numbers grew. My Elf character had come from another campaign DM'd by Steve Ganaway. However, Geoff didn't approve of one of the magic items on the character sheet, so Malkraz was toast.

That dungeon was a monster! It was an enormous dungeon, underneath castle ruins, dominated by a family of red dragons.

D&D 40th Anniversary Blog Hop Challenge + Day 3

3: First dungeon you explored as a PC or ran as a DM?
I'm unsure of the caverns we first explored in that first dungeon. They may have been from a module, or created by Mr Roberts. 

The first dungeon I ever ran was in the DM book of the Redbox.

D&D 40th Anniversary Blog Hop Challenge + Day 2

Ok, so I'm late out of the gate with this one:

D&D 40th Anniversary Blog Hop Challenge!

1a: First person who introduced you to D&D (which edition)? 

Mr Roberts, our primary school teacher, took the whole class on an afternoon D&D adventure. I believe it was using the basic set, Holmes edition.

1b: Your first Character?

A hobbit named Bilbo. Yes, I was a Tolkien fan from way back!

2a: First person YOU introduced to D&D (which edition)? 

Soon after that, it seemed like every kid was playing D&D. I purchased the Redbox (Mentzer) edition and my group of school friends were always keen for a game.

2b: THEIR first character?

Out of all the characters we rolled up, the most memorable character had to be Claris the Cleric, played by my friend Alex. Claris had a knack of surviving.

Hasslefree Dwarf + Chainmail Elf

Here we have a couple of female adventurers. Haela (Hasslefree Miniatures), a dwarf axe-maiden and a deadly wood elf, from the D&D Chainmail game.

The wood elf was painted a few years ago and shows my first experiment with snow. Haela was painted yesterday for a D&D game tomorrow night.

I used similar painting techniques on their armour; gold base coat, sepia wash for definition between the plates, a chestnut brown wash followed by shining gold highlights.

Both of these miniatures have amazing detail and fine features. I applied the paint in thin coats!