They do look like a fetus- penultimate DW sketch!

Here we are, the Zygon!

An amazing monster that only saw one story with Tom Baker then nothing until their amazing reappearance in the fiftieth anniversary story "Day of the Doctor". They even got a second story with Peter Capaldi. A fantastic creation that should have seen more use in classic Who, and had thankfully made the transition to new Who. and yes, it does look a bit like a fetus.

"It must have been a nasty accident" Doctor Who day 29!

A quick quip from the peerless Pyramids of Mars!

I bring you, mummy!
Of course, their have been other mummies in Doctor Who, most notably the recent Mummy on the Orient Express! so show me what you've got, looking forward to seeing what you do.

Almost there! Doctor Who Sketch day 28

The vervoid!

One of the best costumes from Colin Baker's final season, the vervoid (a sentient plant) seeks to add corpses to its compost heap. Lovely.

Snakes and Ladders DW Sketch day 27

The Mara!

From one of my favorite Peter Davison stories (Kinda) we have the mara. in the story, the mara pulls Tegan into a limbo where it is trapped. all it wants to do is use her body for a bit. Great story with some creepy elements in there. You owe it to yourself to check it out!

Snakes and Ladders DW Sketch day 27

The Mara!

From one of my favorite Peter Davison stories (Kinda) we have the mara. in the story, the mara pulls Tegan into a limbo where it is trapped. all it wants to do is use her body for a bit. Great story with some creepy elements in there. You owe it to yourself to check it out!

squeal like a pig- DW Sketch number 26

Mr Sin

Brought from the future by Magnus Greel, he pretended to be Li Hsen Chan's ventriloquist dummy. Originally known as the Peking Homonculus, it is a cyborg with the cerebral correct cortex of a pig. all in all a real creepy character.

Life is better, down where it's wetter! DW Sketch

In an effort to be on the correct day, I present

The sea devils!
     An aquatic offshoot the silurians, they featured in a story involving the Master and Pertwee's Doctor titled the Sea Devils.  They would later team up with their silurian cousins against humanity and Davison's Doctor in Warriors of the Deep.

DW Sketch- Galactic, Psychic Butthole

The Nestene Consciousness

During  filming of Spearhead from Space, a plastic bag was used in the construction of the Nestene prop. Unfortunately it ended looking like a pulsing sphincter. Otherwise, the idea of a psychic alien entity that can have it's consciousness inserted in a piece of plastic is pretty innovative for the time. Let's see what you guys come up with.

DW sketch- wirrn

From Tom Baker's second story

The wirrn!

     An insectoid race that stiffs through space, the queen plants her eggs in living hosts. This story helped set the pace for the first part of Tom  Baker's tenure on the program.

Got my sketches mixed up, this should have been 22

The haemovore!

Sadly, Sylvester McCoy didn't have many truly amazing stories. The haemovores (a bold sucking offshoot of humanity from the distant future) is featured in one of those stories. The Curse of Fenric has the titular Cillian bringing these vampiric beasties from the future to 1940's North Umberland to defeat the Doctor. Some of them, like the one I sketched, spent some time under water and become bloated and grew barnacles . Let's see what you've got and I'll get back on schedule .

Life in plastic, it's fantastic! DW Sketch day 22

Here we have the auton!

The hive mind foot soldier constructs of the nestene conscious, they are typically mannequin- like. An  advanced process can produce a protects replica of an individual. They appeared in two classic Who stories, Pertwee's first story (Spearhead from Space) and his second season opener and the Master's intro (Terror of the Autons) Let's see what you got. Later  guys

DW Sketch 21- rutan, tootin good time

Yeah, that was bad.

So, the rutans are at war with the sontarans, basically all the time. They've only actually shown up one time in classic Who and have yet to make the transition to the new series. If you haven't seen it, the Horror of Fang Rock is an amazing piece of Classic Who. There you are, later  guys!

Day twenty sketch- caught in the talons of Weng Chiang

Magnus Greel! The butcher of Brisbane

Today we have a double sketch for Doctor Who Monster October! To escape his crimes in the 51st century, Minister of Justice (Greel) used a time cabinet from the questionable sigma experiments to flee into the past. Horribly disfigured, he was mistaken for the Chinese God of pestilence Weng Chiang.

     If you haven't watched the fantastic story, what are you waiting for? Do it now!

Doctor Who Sketch Challenge 2016! Day 19

The silurians!

Introduced during Pertwee's first season, they reappeared years later with Peter Davison. They've made a successful transition to new Who and a newfound popularity with the character of Madame Vastra.

Sketchy Doctor Who, day eighteen

Here we have the repulsively charismatic

Sil!
     One of the few interesting characters to come out of Colin Baker's tenure, he was a mentor from the planet Thoros Beta. Introduced in Vengeance on Varos, we got to see his home world during the Mind Warp segment of the Trial of a Time Lord. What do you fine folks think of this little sadist. Let me know.

DW sketch day 17

Debuting in Tomb of the Cybermen!

The cybermat! Used of and on during the classic series, they were successfully updated for the new series.

DWS day 16

Just part the halfway point, ice warriors!

The warrior race from Mars got their start during Patrick Troughton's tenure and got a couple of stories with Pertwee. It was great seeing their return with Matt Smith in Cold War.

Number Fifteen DW Sketch

Adipose!

They helped usher in the Donna Noble season of the tenth Doctor. Well, let's see what you've got?

Doctor Who Sketch number fourteen- they are so cute and fluffy!

The yeti!

They debuted alongside the Great Intelligence during Patrick Troughton's monster/ base under side Era. Their second appearance introduced to Colonel Lethbridge Stewart. The cute cuddliness masks hidden dangers and is typically indicative of the Intelligence's cruel and creepy presence.

DW Sketch- lucky thirteen slitheen

Woot!

Day thirteen showcases the Slitheen family from Raxacoricofallapatorius. Unfortunately I do not own a spring green pen, so I tried a little pointilism. Oh well, let's see what you all got! 

Doctor Who Sketch twelve, caught up

Here is a sensorite

They live in an area of the galaxy known as the sense sphere, which is also home to the ood! Also, the story they featured in showcased one of the few times Susan displayed her psychic abilities.

Doctor Who sketch number eleven

Just a day late, yipes!

Here is your draconian for the day. They featured prominently in big six part Pertwee story Frontier in Space. The had had a galactic empire and a strict code of honor, as far as I can remember.

Doctor Who Sketches day ten

One third of the way through

The sontarans! The clone race introduced at the end of Pertwee's Era (and Sarah Jane's intro story) Also they almost had a sourcebook for the FASA rpg, but the line was cancelled before it could be finished. Sigh! Let's see what you've got.

Doctor Who sc day nine

Callback to Keys of Marinus!

     The voord fancied themselves the future rulers of Marinus. Unfortunately the Doctor and his companions happened along. Also, the show's creators hoped the voord would be the next big thing (ie. the daleks) but they were mistaken.

     Let's see what you got!

DWMO-Day eight!

And here, at the last minute we have...

A tenth planet cyberman!
There are plenty of ways to portray these menacing monstrosities, and I was tempted to go through all the classic who designs but time ran out. Let's see what you guys come up with. Wow me!

Doctor Who SC! Day seven

Here we are..

The Tereleptil! An alien from Peter Davison's reign on the program, they featured in The Visitation and were mentioned in The Awakening due to their connection to tinclavic. Apparently they were known for mining the malleable metal and therefore when a ball of it was found, the Doctor casually name dropped the tereleptils. Come on, show me what you've got!

Doctor Who Sketch- day six

Wait, what was I talking about?

Oh yeah, the Silence! As always, I look forward to seeing what you all come up with.

Doctor Who Sketch day five- Space Crabs (Macra)

Here we go,  a classic monster that got the New Who treatment in Gridlock.

The Macra! Apparently future space colonies run the risk of infection by space crabs. Looking forward to what you guys do with this, good luck!

Doctor Who Sketch day 4

Here we are

Our second new Who monster, I hope I've gorgeous the mix just right. So far I have only seen a few people participating, I really thought there would be more. Let me know what you guys think.

Sketch Challenge Day 3- Nimon

     Wow!

     My (main) memories of Horns of Nimon are Graham Crowden laughing like a madman during his death scene and Romana's sonic screwdriver.

     Looking forward to seeing what you all make of this guy. Come on, wow me.

Day two- Dalek

BOOM

Come on folks, show me what you've got

Day one sketch, the Ood

Here we are, day one.

When I put this list together, I wanted a mix of classic and new Who so people wouldn't feel left out. So let's see what you guys have for today. To see what others have done you should be able to search #dwmonsteroctober on whatever social media you want to post your pics to. Thanks everyone!

Doctor Who Monster October Sketch Challenge

 

     So, for the month of October I've come up with this challenge. Each day is a different creature for you to sketch in whatever medium you want to use. Please use the hashtag dwmonsteroctober and hopefully I'll be able to set it up so they may all be viewed at a single location. Also, if anyone knows how to do that, please let me know. Thanks guys, I'm looking forward to seeing what you folks come up with.

Doctor Who Monster October Sketch Challenge

 

     So, for the month of October I've come up with this challenge. Each day is a different creature for you to sketch in whatever medium you want to use. Please use the hashtag dwmonsteroctober and hopefully I'll be able to set it up so they may all be viewed at a single location. Also, if anyone knows how to do that, please let me know. Thanks guys, I'm looking forward to seeing what you folks come up with.

We will resume our irregular broadcast.....

     Here we are, hopefully moving back to (somewhat) normal. Getting rooms painted, things fixed around here in anticipation of moving in a couple of years. Got the office back, for a couple of weeks it was my bedroom. Hard to get to writing with no room to sit, but plenty to lay down, maybe take a nap. *sigh*

     This weekend is Gary Con VIII in all it's glory, taunting me from the interwebs. Chris Perkins is there as well as Satine Phoenix from I Hit It With My Axe and art for Machinations of a Space Princess.Several friends and acquaintances are there and I envy them. Maybe next year. I am hoping that since I plan to start making prints of my work, that maybe some of my friends and I may get a table at next year's event. Anyone wanna volunteer to lead the charge with me?

     Origins is June 15th-19th this year, and I have heard a few unflattering comments about it's appearance in recent years. That the dealer's hall resembles a flea market. Though isn't Origins supposed to be the convention you come to play games? Gen Con is more for seeing the new hotness, but people showed up to Origins for tournaments or just to play and socialize. I am hoping to run or play in some games this year. Of course I missed registering any games so anything I run will be off the grid.
  
     Also, earlier today I picked up some Appendix N literature that I am really excited about. Mostly because I have never seen any physical books by either of these authors. 

Many Wade Wellman and Poul Anderson, two books from each. I have read stories from Tolkien, Howard, Lovecraft, and Leiber; so expanding my reading with these guys should be fantastic.

     In regards to the BX Campaign challenge, things have slowed but continue to move forward. Being creative can be crazy at times, because I keep having ideas for different projects but I need to buckle down and knock the challenge out first.

     Enough for now, gotta get back to work. take care and have fun guys!

Ground Hog Gaming Retreat 2016

     So yesterday I went up to Hudson, Ohio to attend GHD and run a game at four o'clock. Well, the game did not get going but there was plenty of board gaming. This was the first year they did role playing, so next year I will be back and I will at least have recruited some folks to play.My friends Super Dave and Tabitha Radzik were there, with a pile of Mayfair games ready to play with all interested parties.

Here we have the two of them showing me how to play Pompeii, which is a lot of fun. Especially the little volcano in the lower left corner of the picture. You start off populating the city with your people, and then when the volcano becomes active you try to escape. You get to toss the pieces that don't make it into Vesuvius.

Here is Super Dave, our friend Robert Kelly and myself playing Flip City. You start with a deck of ten cards and work on building your city by buying cards and flipping them for improvements. The publishers for this are Tasty Minstrel Games, whose site can be found here. We also played Star Trek Five Year Mission, a card and dice game. You flip cards and "solve" them by rolling dice of different colors and trying to match them to the corresponding dice pictured on the card. You take on the roles of Original Series or Next Gen Trek, each having a different game affecting ability. This was another Mayfair game. Finally, there was Wonky. A block stacking game that uses cards to determine what block you place, which direction play moves, and whether you can skip placing a piece altogether. I'm not a fan of these manual dexterity games, so I didn't care for it. Just not my thing.

They had a vendor there selling dice, and I decided to pick up a new 30 sider and a pig d6. The d30 is smaller then my other two, and the d6 goes with my other animal dice.

     All in all, despite not running my game, I had a fun night. As I said before, I'll be back next year, hopefully with a player or two in tow. So if you are in the North East Ohio area, and you like games, you should plan to come out and have some fun! Hopefully I will see some of you next year.

Ground Hog Day Gaming and Doctor Who

     So here we are, the day before the event and I am getting my stuff together for it, as well as maintaining my fastidious lifestyle. Ha, that last bit was a joke, because things have been a bit messy around here, I have had to play catch up. Enough of that, you are reading this because you are either bored or curious. Well if you can make it to the Ground Hog Day Gaming Retreat tomorrow, at 4'o clock I will be running Naukograd for whomever wants to play. The pre gens will most likely be from new who, there isn't a set of old Who character pdf's (there should be) and I wont have time to type them all up. If I am feeling froggy, maybe the fourth Doctor and Sara Jane, we'll see. Here is the link to the GHD Facebook page and the main registration page, though registration is over at this time there will be passes available there. I can't wait to see you all there.

Mall Maul Yesterday...

     Got down to Cincinnati on time, started setting up. Felt a bit nervous, just performance anxiety, new venue, new crowd. There were at least one, maybe two of my friends who would be attending (they both made it) Otherwise it was people I may have spoken briefly to or complete strangers. Once we got rolling, there were seven people in attendance. 

As I have noted previously, I am not good at getting pictures taken. This was snapped as people were getting their stuff together to head out the door. All of the players were fantastic, and really got into the setting. Here is all who showed up; Andy Fix, Chris Schieffer, James Smith, Rick Hull, Jim Wampler, Beth and her son Luke.

     They made their way to the mall and 28 entered, eventually they came out with only a handful (five, maybe) of casualties and Jim Wampler's dwarf shepherd had a stylish sheep. It wore a pink scarf/bandanna and pink tutu. I'll have to work harder next time.

     Of course, I had to do a little exploring while I was down there. Apparently there is this amazing store (Jungle Jim's) with a fantastic international foods section (I will be taste testing the different bags of jelly babies I got there) and a monster beer section.

This was one of the beers I picked up last night, and I drank it while typing this up, yay. Here are a few pictures of some of the animatronics they had around the store. They were set to start up every five minutes or so.

Robin Hood here was above the British food section, cute. Catch you all later, and remember I am running a Doctor Who game next Friday at Ground Hog Day gaming retreat. Still need to get the pre gens together. Take care!

Mall Maul, This Saturday!! Gateway Games and More!!

     Here we are, counting down the last few days until the big game. Looking forward to running this down in Cincinnati, hopefully it will be a hit and I will do it more often. Got my kit almost set up, here is a peek at my set up, so to speak.

     I have forty 0 level pre gens, so if someone burns through their initial three or four they can find a new one. Now zero level funnels typically don't need all the fancy dice, maybe a d3, but like having all of them there. I printed off eight 0 level enthusiast sheets from Purple Sorcerer's website which also is where the pre gens came from. So everyone who rolls a crit/fumble can know whether to cheer or groan. I'll bring all of my Crawling Under a Broken Moon zines, the most important being #3 where the adventure is.

     I am very excited, so if you are able you should come on over to Gateway Games this Saturday the 23rd at noon and join us. I have plenty of characters to go around and there will be some Road Crew swag available from this past year. Take care and I hope to see you all there!

Origins 2016!

     So here we are, 2016 and nothing happening(for me) during Origins weekend. So I will be able to attend Origins in my capacity as blogger. Is there something going on that you would like to hear more about, anyone you would me to interview? Let me know and I will see what I can do. I may be talked into running a game or two there, as well.

     Which brings me to next weekend and Reid San Filippo's Mall Maul DCC funnel that I will be running at noon, Saturday the 23rd of January. The amazing Gateway Games & more is the place to be for this great experience, pregens will be available (courtesy of the Purple Sorcerer) so come on over to 960 Kennedys Lndg, Cincinnati, Ohio 45245. I'll be waiting for ya. Take care, and I can't wait to see you there!

PS. There will be some freebies available, just letting you guys know.

Ahn'Zhyyr slowly takes form

     And by slowly, I mean I have some notes and sparks of ideas that I hope to breathe into new life. The BX Campaign Challenge has begun and we are moving right along. I feel a bit sheepish, since I have not shared much of what I have, since what that amounts to is a few notes.Others in the group have been sharing all kinds of bits and pieces, and I salute them, but for me I need to build up a bit more before hoping to show any of this.

     What began as a straight up setting book, mimicking the old gazeteers and such, has twisted into something a bit different. I had started my project looking for rpg supplements for info on playing/running a game in the jungle and found nothing substantial. I then hit the library and got some books out, starting with the Amazon rain forest and I hope to find something about the Congo next. There will still be the remains of a troll civilization, gladiatorial combat, and some dark magic. Just with some randomness thrown in there. I hope this will be for those folks who do not want everything explained, something that they can mold into something special for their players. Well, wish me luck!

Addendum: It's funny that while I am writing about steamy jungles, we have finally gotten our first snow here. Ha!

Happy New Year, 2016!

      Welcome to 2016, and post number 300! This is the first day of the BX Campaign Challenge that is going on right now on Google+. I have three reference books I am reading to get myself acquainted with the part of the world I am fleshing out, ie. what a jungle is really like. Then I feel I can play with the reality of jungle life and maybe turn it on it's head a bit. Hopefully.

     Set up my work space, with a Crosley portable turntable to my left. This and Lego Dimensions Doctor Who pack were a Christmas gift, despite not having the actual game that it is a part of. The Lego figs are cool because I can have Capaldi riding K-9 like he was a motorcycle and the TARDIS can spin around on whatever record I am playing at the moment.

     My reference reading begins with Ed Stafford's Walking the Amazon: 860 days. One step at a time. So far it is interesting, though they have crossed the Andes (Peru) and are descending into the Amazon basin. Get to the jungle! I'm chomping at the bit for some action! Getting the basic ideas I have down, then once I have read through some of these I will add to it and twist some things around.

     Also, Have to sign up and register my game(s) for Ground Hog Day gaming. Feeling especially motivated since I just picked up the new core rule book. Even if I don't stay up there, I will at least go up to run my game.

     Enough of this, back to work! Take care everyone and Happy New Year!!