In Kamandi #25 from 1975, Kamandi and his friend Ben Boxer encounter this huge monster lurking in a tidal pool.
It only appears in three panels. Kamandi and his friends make a hasty escape.
If you look closely it has a similar appearance to the Froghemoth which first showed up in the AD&D module Expedition to the Barrier Peaks from 1980.
It's amphibious. It has three eyes on top of it's head. The coloration is practically the same. And the triple tongues could have easily been converted to tentacles.
I wonder if Gary Gygax or Erol Otus were inspired by this Kirby creature or other comics in general?
Here's my take on it. Kind of a combination of the two illustrations.
Just out of curiosity, I wanted to see how basic Basic D&D is.
After characters are created and before experience points are awarded, there are about 23 basic rules.
For this list I'm looking at situations during the game in which the outcome of a decision is determined by a die roll. The only exception to this are the rules for movement.
Also not included are the various modifiers to rolls.
I'm just listing the bare bones.
1. Clerics vs. Undead
2. Thieves' Abilities
3. Dwarves can find slanting passages, traps, shifting walls, and new construction
4. Halflings can hide
5. Movement with encumbrance
6. Force open a door
7. Find a secret door
8. Listening
9. Retainer reactions
10. Retainer loyalty
11. Triggering a trap
12. Finding a trap
13. Wandering monster roll
14. Encounter distance roll
15. Surprise check
16. Initiative check
17. Monster reactions
18. Monsters stopping pursuit for food or treasure
19. Attack roll
20. Damage roll
21. Healing wounds
22. Saving throws
23. Morale check (optional)
I really want to play something easy. This idea uses the Basic Set, Gamma World 1st edition and a few good ideas swiped from other blogs.
Here's the big idea: The gods are actually aliens. Some call them the Shapers. They are responsible for mutations, introducing technology, clerical magic and anything else I can't think of right now.
This world is like an experiment or even a game to the Shapers.
Any other details are developed as I go along.
Character Classes:
CLERIC: Combining ideas swiped from Alternate Science Cleric for OSR D&D at Strange Magic and Six Gods of Mangalla at Jeff's Game Blog.
Clerics are humans who have been abducted by the Shapers and altered for mysterious purposes.
They have strange implants that grant them their cleric abilities and spells. Most of the implants look like jeweled diadems or bracelets and small metallic plates and cables embedded in the skin.
I've made a little progress on my skaven I've put together.
I have applied a base coat and two basic colors for the fur and skin.
No washes or dry brushing yet. That's the next step.
I have two groups of three figures. They each have a different color combination.
Okay, it's hard to tell the variation in color from these pictures.
The skin tone on first group with the throwing stars is a little lighter.
Next steps: Base colors on the clothing and finding the details of the faces and equipment.
I collect comic books and games I rarely play.
I haven't found a group around here to play anything with, so I just buy the games and read them.
One of the reasons I started blogging is to share my interest in gaming.
Anyone out there just buy games to read or for nostalgia?
Happy Columbus Day!
I had some time off today and decided to mess around with some minis.
I bought the Mordheim game a few years ago and never got around to building all the models. I glued some of the buildings together. That was a pain in the butt. They have fallen apart since then. I'll have to repair them or start on some scratch built.
I also put together the eight humans and painted them. I have some left over arms and heads to use in a future bits box project.
Originally I based them on the small square bases included in the box. But I wasn't satisfied with the size, so today I remounted them on standard sized round bases.
And here are the ten skaven from the set. I chose the weapon combinations I wanted but the bodies, legs, heads and tails were basically chosen at random.
I just hope they hold up to play after they are painted. Normally I would pin parts together as I glue them. With these I just scored the plastic of both surfaces I was gluing. Maybe the paint layers will help hold them together.
There you have it. Mordheim mini Monday.
I plan on doing a step-by-step blog as I paint these skaven and maybe making some new buildings and scenery.
Yarr!
