Dungeons and Dragons with the family

[Bearwoodman]

My friend has offered to run a D&D campaign for me and another mate with the aim of involving not just our sons (who are happy to play wargames with us) but also our daughters. So we can get straight into the action the GM has issued us with ready made characters. He has also offered to provide miniatures, but I saw this an an excuse to make a couple of small dents in the lead pile and asked my children to pick a figure from the stash and promised to paint it for them.

My son will be using a figure he painted himself, but my youngest daughter, who will be an Elven Fighter, picked a figure from the Reaper Reaper Bones 4 Core set. My daughter specified a black cloak, big boots and lots of weapons, and this lady seems to fit the bill:


My eldest daughter will be playing a Halfling Rogue and she picked a figure from a previous Bad Squiddo Kickstarter. Technically she is meant to be a Dwarf I think but seeing as she has no beard (I have read Pratchett on the subject) I think she will pass as a halfling. With more time I might have tried some OSL effects:


I will be assuming the character of an Elf Wizard. I scoured my unpainted miniatures and found very few Elves. I think they are a bit too tall and pretty for my tastes (I am more of a Gnome/Goblin person) but I did find this chap, who is definitely Elven. He doesn't look particularly wizard-like, to be honest, but I thought by adjusting his pose so that his left hand was raised as if about to cast a spell, and by painting his sword to look magical I hope he will do the job.


How will this little band fare on their adventure? Will the girls lose interest and watch Strictly instead? We will find out tonight!

[Ogrob]

Very nice!

[Chief Lackey Rich]

Looks nice, particularly your elven wizard's sword, the colors really pop on that one.

[Grumpy Gnome]

Great stuf. Lovin’ it!

[Bearwoodman]

Thanks guys, glad you like them!

You will be glad to know that we had a good session, involving an audience withe the mayor, delivering a consignment of provisions (and getting paid for it), chatting to various characters and even a punch up outside a tavern. Apart from being slightly concerned by the two 8 year old girl players who were insisting their characters wanted to go to the pub to get drunk, it was good fun and everyone is looking forward to the next session.

Looks nice, particularly your elven wizard's sword, the colors really pop on that one.

Thanks @Chief Lackey Rich. It is not a perfectly smooth blend but I was pleased with it and it looks fine from tabletop distance - particularly last night when we played around a large table lit only by flickering (LED) candles!

[Chief Lackey Rich]

Thanks @Chief Lackey Rich. It is not a perfectly smooth blend but I was pleased with it and it looks fine from tabletop distance - particularly last night when we played around a large table lit only by flickering (LED) candles!

It certainly photographs well too.  Really quite impressed.

[Blackwolf]

Lovely work Bear

[Little Odo]

Great work on those three figures. Any in-game shots taken of the figures in action so we can see what else you got onto the table (scenery, other minis etc.?)

[LouieN]

Well done

[Bearwoodman]

Thanks all!

@ Little Odo - the game itself was very miniatures light in the end. Each player had a figure representing themselves but there was no board or scenery and movement generally involved the players consulting a map of the village and deciding which location to visit next. The GM described each scene and the characters we encountered and we decided who to speak to.

The game drew to a close as our party entered a secret underground entrance to a ruined castle, however, and I understand the next episode will be played on a board and be more of a dungeon crawl. If I remember to take pictures I will post them!

[CookAndrewB]

Bear,

Our D&D group has been using Loke battle maps and they have been well received and very useful. http://www.lokebattlemats.com/bigbook.html

I went ahead and bought both big books for fantasy, and then some scenery/scatter clings as well. I have to say that I've been pleased with the quality and utility of everything. For me, it beats making a ton of terrain for doing the "visiting shops and talking to locals" parts of the game. We mostly use the maps and figures for combat. It does help to visualize what is going on.

[Bearwoodman]

Thanks for the recommendation CookAndrewB, they do look neat and useful and are certainly a big step up from previous homemade efforts I have used made with squared paper and coloured pencils! I will show those to our GM as he is organising the sessions and providing maps, boards and any scenary required - all I contributed was a few figures!

[CookAndrewB]

Somehow I missed your girls wanting to go get drunk at the pub. That is magnificent!

... and probably nothing to worry about in the future

My son (22) was the driver for getting our current campaign together. I'm appreciative that he still wants to hang out and roll dice with the old man.