d4d6d8d10d12d20 - A Gaming / RPG Blog © David Clunie

Polydice You Can Print! (Sort of)

poly@d4d6d8d10d12d20.com (david clunie) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 12:08:14 PST

I've got an interest in 3d printing as I've done 3d modeling on occasion, my work on turbosquid, and over at thingiverse they have these awesome polyhedrons you can print if you have one of those awesome 3d printers! While not true dice, it shouldn't be too long before we can print out our own dice at home! Woop!

That d20 not rolling for ya, send it to oblivion below a sledgeMake sure you do it in front of your other dice to "Teach them a lesson") ;) and then print out a brand new one! Make some "test luck rolls" and you're in business! Or you can attempt these steps from the guys in Knights of the Dinner Table:

There are even those who suggest that if you rub a die on adead game designer’s tombstone, the bad luck will immediate-ly be discharged only to be replaced by good luck. Such acharged-die is said to be the luckiest of all dice (other thanthose made from the bones of a hall of fame game designer).
According to Norman Bowzer, who has tried this approachon numerous occasions, it simply doesn’t work. He recom-mends leaving the die on the tombstone for two nights undera full moon in order to give the bad luck time to dissipate.Since this particular method is the subject of dispute we pres-ent it here with proper notice that it may or may not useful.

Hope you enjoyed this post and thanks for stopping by!

Dragon Age: Redemption - Episode 6 - Last One!

poly@d4d6d8d10d12d20.com (david clunie) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 09:00:00 PST

Oh No's! Looks like Felicia Day's Dragon Age based web series, called Dragon Age : Redemption, ends with this last episode, episode 6! This episode is a doozy! So enjoy now 13:44 min of epic climatic battle! Too bad its over :(

Don't forget to check out Greg Aronowitz's blog barnyardfx. He's got a whole bunch of of new pics from the most recent episode and lots of behind scenes and the making of's that went into the series.

Hope you enjoyed this post and thanks for stopping by!

Dragon Age: Redemption - Episode 5

poly@d4d6d8d10d12d20.com (david clunie) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 20:45:22 PST

Felicia Day, is back with Episode 5 of her Dragon Age based web series called Dragon Age : Redemption! Check out the video below. There's some nice bar brawling in this episode as well as secrets and true motives revealed, if a bit cliché. Even so its another great suspense filled episode that ends with a bit of a cliff hanger! Andraste's ass indeed!

Don't forget to check out Greg Aronowitz's blog barnyardfx. He's got a whole bunch of of new pics from the most recent episode and lots of behind scenes and the making of's that went into the series.

Hope you enjoyed this post and thanks for stopping by!

Dragon Age: Redemption - Episode 4

poly@d4d6d8d10d12d20.com (david clunie) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 19:47:56 PDT

Felicia Day, is back with Episode 4 of her Dragon Age based web series called Dragon Age : Redemption! Check out the video below. The video is a bit dark at first, literally, but "It gets betta!" This episode seems to be the traditional "tavern" setup and the group "bonds" over a good meal and a stiff drink! But where there is drink there is always going to be a fight for one reason or another! Hehe.

Don't forget to check out Greg Aronowitz's blog barnyardfx. He's got a whole bunch of of new pics from the most recent episode and lots of behind scenes and the making of's that went into the series.

Hope you enjoyed this post and thanks for stopping by!

Dragon Age: Redemption - Episode 3

poly@d4d6d8d10d12d20.com (david clunie) — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 09:00:05 PDT

Felicia Day, is back with Episode 3 of her Dragon Age based web series called Dragon Age : Redemption! Check out the video below and, yes, it's the most action packed yet! Also if you've missed Episode 1 or 2 check'em out here to catch up!

Don't forget to check out Greg Aronowitz's blog barnyardfx. He's got a whole bunch of of new pics from the most recent episode and lots of behind scenes and the making of's that went into the series.

Hope you enjoyed this post and thanks for stopping by!

Dragon Age: Redemption - Episode 1 and Episode 2

poly@d4d6d8d10d12d20.com (david clunie) — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 07:13:42 PDT

cinemagraph by Aaron M on G+

Felicia Day, one of geekdoms smartest and hottest red heads, is staring in a new video series that she wrote based in BioWare's Dragon Age Game Setting and is titled Dragon Age : Redemption!

Funny my current campaign is called Planescape : Redemption, its been going on for three years now.

Unlike her series The Guild, this story is based AND executed within a high fantasy world! So if you like your redheads slim and a little "dev-elvish", see what I did there, oh oh I know, LAME, anyways... check out the first two episodes below! There pretty good!

If you're keen on seeing how some of the creature effects and costumes are done check out Greg Aronowitz's blog barnyardfx. He's got a whole bunch of pics from the shoots and the making of's. You might also recognize Greg from some of the other "The Guild" builds, such as the costumes and props for the "Date My Avatar Video". Also he help create "The Guild Sells Out" series which includes the awesome vork bank!

Hope you enjoyed this post and thanks for stopping by!

King Of The Who... - Monty Python And The Holy Grail In Lego!

poly@d4d6d8d10d12d20.com (david clunie) — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 12:03:41 PDT

Over on Flickr user geekytom has built a nice recreation of the guys from Monty Python from the movie Monty Python And The Holy Grail. Check out his entire recreation of figures here in close up detail! They were made for BrickCon 2011.

bonus: here is the lego video from years gone by of the Camelot Scene all done in Lego too!

Hope you enjoyed this post and thanks for stopping by!

Faraday Electronic Battery-less Die Roller!

poly@d4d6d8d10d12d20.com (david clunie) — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 09:39:25 PDT

Over on instructibles user Gadre created a electronic die roller that uses no batteries! The concept is the same as those Faraday flashlights that use a bit of coiled wire and some rare earth magnets. The magnets slide back and forth through the coiled wire to create an electric current!

I usually frown on electronic dice rollers, some are just annoying, some take forever, and some are just idiotic. This one however is none of those, and pretty cool in so much as it keeps the shaking motion when you're rolling dice! Shooka, shooka, shooka. This motion is needed to induce the electric current! I'd say this is certainly one electronic die roller that has heart and soul!

Check out the instructible for a few extras such how to build your own roller, pcb's of the a finished board, and a finished pcb of the two dice roller version. I'm going to see if I can make a three dice version, as everyone knows you need at least three for stat gen! Maybe even do a four version where the lowest is automatically dropped(the led's go out on that one)!

Here is a video of it in operation:

Hope you enjoyed this post and thanks for stopping by!

The Guild - Now As Soda! Thanks!, Jones Soda Co.

poly@d4d6d8d10d12d20.com (david clunie) — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 12:27:56 PDT

Just saw this and its Awesome! The Guild has been turned into Soda Flavors! WOOT!

Over at Jones Soda Co., the ones who also gave us our Dungeons and Dragons and Buffy The Vampire Slayer Soda Fix, comes The Guild Limited Edition Soda 6-pack for $12.99. Now you can mix up the gaming goodness at your next LAN Party, Dungeon Crawl, or Board Game Night with some tasty beverages!

Flavors include:

Vork Green Apple Soda
Codex Strawberry Lime
Bladezz Cola
Clara Berry
Tinkerballa Grape
Zaboo Blue Bubblegum

Get them while they last!

Hope you enjoyed this post and thanks for stopping by!

Celebrity D&D Game At Gen Con 2010

poly@d4d6d8d10d12d20.com (david clunie) — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 09:00:03 PDT

Yes this is from 2010 not 2011. We're still all waiting for those videos to appear. Apparently this is something I missed the first time it was posted to the Wizards of the Coast youtube channel dndwizards. I also gather that many of you might have missed it too, so I've compiled the videos here for you to view at your leisure.

The videos are after the jump, are of a game of Dungeons and Dragons played gaming celebrities Ed Greenwood creator of The Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, Larry Elmore artist of Snarfquest; also Dragonlance Campaign Setting, Bob Salvatore author of the Dark Elf Trilogy including many others staring Drizzt Do'Urden, and DM'd by none other than the DM to the "stars" Chris Perkins!

Wow, that's some line up! Also as you'll see three lucky guests from the audience get to roll the funny multi-sided plastic dice alongside these fantasy illuminaries. (Illuminaries or Illuminati?!)

The encounter itself revolves around the release of the "new" red box, or should I say just after the events of the red box. Chris Perkins created an adventure that was given as a handout at the event and takes place just after the completion of the adventure in the "new" red box.

If you would like to DM the encounter you can find and download via this link here. (If you want to play this adventure then you might want to skip the videos as it would then contain spoilers, so to speak, and certainly don't download and read through the adventure, just forward the link onto your DM).

Here are the videos:

Hope you enjoyed this post and thanks for stopping by!

Yogscast Plays D and D - Kinda

poly@d4d6d8d10d12d20.com (david clunie) — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 22:28:34 PDT

While we wait for the vids to be posted from the LIVE play event of Dungeon and Dragons at PAX here is a slightly similar video/series to tide us over.

The following video follows another of our favorite band of adventurers, namely the three personalities from "The Yogscast" Lewis, Simon, and Hannah! This video is an animation done by a Yogscast fan, who's done many other treatments of the "yogpods" aka podcasts. Now lets tune in and see how the group handles the start of their adventure, which I think is in Eberron. Or tune in and see how they don't really get anywhere fast, hehe.

Hope you enjoyed this post and thanks for stopping by!

Dungeons And Dragons Is Rubbish!

poly@d4d6d8d10d12d20.com (david clunie) — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 20:14:25 PDT

Well according to Nikolas Llyod that is. Nikolas has posted a few videos(after the jump) regarding the evolution of Dungeons and Dragons over time and perhaps a better system for "role playing" is Runequest, or so he prefered in his earlier days of gaming. Nikolas even considers 4th Edition to be nothing more than a "miniatures skirmish game", a view held by many.

While Nikolas does have a few good points, overall I'd say that his viewpoint, like many others out there, regarding the various forms of D&D are a bit miss guided. It appears most of these people with similar views considers D&D to be literally played the way they are written, as if playing monopoly or scrabble. Which if for anyone who's been playing actively for a long period of time and DM'ing knows isn't the case. Even Gary said on many occasions that the rules are just guidelines. One example of this as Nikolas points out is that he indicates that in Runequest one character makes a roll to see if he hits, while the other makes a roll to see if he parries. While indeed this is more "true to life" it also bogs down game play. I certainly don't need to know how every spear thrust from a kobold unfolds, especially if this is an encounter that doesn't necessarily go with the story line. With that said I must admit to times where I too fall back upon this thinking while playing when my players ask over and over again about very mundane or extremely fanciful things. "Will I get burned if I jump on the fire elemental's back?", "What do the rules say?".

The original D&D was very simple to learn and play and why, if you craved more details and granularity, you would eventually move up to AD&D. However in D&D combat rounds were things where many things would take place not just "my character swings once and hits once" throughout the combat round your character was dancing, making feints, dodging, etc., all resulting in the culmination of your die roll which indicated if you scored a significant hit in which to cause harm. Now a lot of DMs don't elaborate on what else could be going on and just announce "you've hit" or "you've missed" in a combat, but other DMs will illustrate a story of the round if its worthy of the story, especially early on when characters are being established.

Just like with 4th edition, a lot of people dismiss it as "a WOW table top experience", and to some extent it is just that, but its also is much more, if you allow it to be. Nikolas even mentions that one play of 4th edition that the DM didn't allow for an action because "there were no rules for it" and he himself thought that "can't you just make some abstract roll for me to attempt?" Sadly that DM didn't allow for such a contingency, but that my friends is the mark of a poor DM rather than a good DM.

You see because these rules are guidelines you can "attempt" anything, whether you "succeed" well that's up to the dice gawds and your DM! You put in as much "role playing" as you like in any of these games. If a group you play with doesn't like the level of role playing you're craving, then I'd suggest either working with the DM and group, or find another group to play with.

Here now are the videos:

Hope you enjoyed this post and thanks for stopping by!

Yes, Female Armor Sucks!

poly@d4d6d8d10d12d20.com (david clunie) — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 15:52:00 PDT

This video is pretty much the conversation that goes on when you get a girl to join your campaign and they start to look at the armor options for females in the various role playing games or female miniatures.

Even though it has gotten better over the years, I've always been a bit peeved at the illustrators and sculptors for not offering more practical clothing and miniatures for the female gamers out there.

Now some of the girls I've played RPG's with did enjoy a little skin and sex appeal to their characters, the majority if not ALL, pointed out the absurdity of the "chain mail bikini". In addition not being able to find one mini to their liking that wasn't a busty robed wizard, or a busty elf maiden, or busty halfling serving wench, etc. It would seem that in most of the fantasy game worlds half of the population is running around topless with breast sizes that would make most of southern California blush! No wonder the number of women playing RPG's is in the minority, sheesh! Well here is a little video that clearly points out the absurdity of a "chain mail bikini"...

Stay for the ending when the roles are reversed! Woot!

Hope you enjoyed this post and thanks for stopping by!

Self-loading Lego dice tower!

poly@d4d6d8d10d12d20.com (david clunie) — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 05:25:41 PDT

Normally I don't care for "dice towers" in that they usually lack any kind of dice rolling soul. You pick up some dice place them in the top of one of these things and that all the interaction you have, no flicking your wrist this way or that, no spinning the dice counter clock wise, etc. It a good system for rolling lots of dice in a pretty random fashion but when your dice misbehaves and rolls poorly who's to blame? You can't blame the tower its has no soul! If you're going to buy one of those pre built store ones at least put a little heart into it and throw some stickers on the thing or something...

OR

You could make one of these! A Lego Dice Tower! While its true there is no user interaction beyond the initial dice into the tray, you do have to admit that its got plenty of soul! Is there anything that Lego's can't do!

Hope you enjoyed this post and thanks for stopping by!

The Most Hardcore Sadomasochistic Awesome Dice EVA! - Thorn Dice!

poly@d4d6d8d10d12d20.com (david clunie) — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 22:00:49 PDT

Check out these awesome, kick ass, and hard core dice I've ever seen.

These are from the user Ceramicwombat over at Shapeways. He's got pages of dice!! All are so amazing!

Shapeways is a 3d Printing site/service which allows you to sell your own 3d designs or purchase from artists their creations. It's a great site. There are lots of awesome and functional polyhedrons up for sale as well! I wish I could own them all! (and some day I will Mwhahaha!) You can never have enough dice!

Here is another artist, Huan80, who's also making some neat dice! Hope he continues on and makes a full set and get the refining process down so the gears actually turn! How cool would that be!

Hope you enjoyed this post and thanks for stopping by!

You're Going To Go INSANE!

poly@d4d6d8d10d12d20.com (david clunie) — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 15:50:05 PST

Looks like the latest game from Fantasy Flight Games is Mansions of Madness! This game isn't an expansion to Arkham Horror but a entirely new game, which sounds very similar to Betrayal At House On The Hill from Avalon Hill. This game however is packed full of goodies! The 30 figures themselves look AWESOME! They would be a boon to have for any Cthulhu based games! I'd love to get my hands on one of these to review!

Check out the video below!

Hope you enjoyed this post and thanks for stopping by!

The "Ultimate" History Of Dungeons and Dragons

poly@d4d6d8d10d12d20.com (david clunie) — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 03:52:14 PST

I'm not sure where this originated but it's pretty decent accounting of the history of Dungeons and Dragons game. I don't think it's the "ultimate" accounting however, as the posting doesn't have various details like how Dave found the polyhedrons to include in box sets and how GenCon 0 was held in Gary's basement. Anywho, Click on the image below for a larger version!

Hope you enjoyed this post and thanks for stopping by!

Roll for Initiative!

poly@d4d6d8d10d12d20.com (david clunie) — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 18:19:38 PST

Bill Amend who draws FoxTrot (One of the best comics ever!) Posted the following strip on his site:

He also notes that he's aware of d20's having triangular sides and indicates he's a moron for drawing the d20's wrong! Don't worry Bill every DM has his "off" days ;) For more great "geek" humor head over to Bill's site, he's got great strips on video games, MMORPGS, etc.!

Hope you enjoyed this post and thanks for stopping by!

Dune! Finally A Version I Can Watch!

poly@d4d6d8d10d12d20.com (david clunie) — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 18:06:32 PST

I think I could watch this version of dune in a single afternoon! Hilarious!

Hope you enjoyed this post and thanks for stopping by!

Moving Papercraft Mech!

poly@d4d6d8d10d12d20.com (david clunie) — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 10:07:50 PST

Over on Instructables website there is a article on how to build and then automate a moving mech! Its pretty slick model of a Madcat in a walk cycle. Check it out! Build your own, and post links to your masterpiece in the comments selection below!

Hope you enjoyed this post and thanks for stopping by!

Attacking The Darkness - Dead Alewives Text To Movie Mashup!

poly@d4d6d8d10d12d20.com (david clunie) — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 09:53:27 PDT

So the other night I saw an article about Text to Movies and how you can make your own! I've see a few of these videos before but didn't know that you could just go to their site, type in a few lines of text add some camera direction and sound effects and essentially get a dead pan funny movie out of it!

So of course as a gaming geek the first thing I thought of was to mashup the old "Attacking the Darkness" DnD skit from the Dead Alewives troop! So here is my creation in all of its Text-To-Movie greatness! (note I did do some re-editing of the script to make it "fit" more for two actors as that was the restriction for the "free" text to movie edition)

Hope you enjoyed this post and thanks for stopping by!

bonus: Here is the original audio source for the DnD Skit, and did you know there was also a sequel? You can fine both below:

Original

Sequel

Happy Halloween

poly@d4d6d8d10d12d20.com (david clunie) — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 21:46:03 PDT

Kind of a late find but the user "splith" on flicker made this jack-o-lantern.

Why yes, it IS a Beholder Pumpkin! Now roll for initiative!

Hope you had a safe and fun Halloween!

Oregon Trail, wait no its the ORGAN TRAIL!

poly@d4d6d8d10d12d20.com (david clunie) — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 14:26:11 PDT

As the United States is turned upside-down by a strange plague-like event in which millions of corpses arise from the dead, and start eating people, you have to escape from the DC area make your way to Oregon! The only problem is you have to do so via the ancient and deadly OREGON TRAIL wait that's THE ORGAN TRAIL!

This is a great game! Played in your browser and takes you back to when you wish you died only of dysentery! Its hours of fun! Can you SURVIVE!

The Men Who Wear Many Hats created this Oregon Trail Like game where you scavenge for supplies, and try to get out of DC. You can find the link here!

Hope you enjoyed this post and thanks for stopping by!

*note this is reprinted here from my video gaming blog, PTSuks Uncanny World , as I found it appropriate for this blog as well.*

FREE - Laboratory or Alchemist Equipment Models for Your RPG!

poly@d4d6d8d10d12d20.com (david clunie) — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 02:01:18 PDT

(click to embiggen)

In the previous post I created a set of easy to construct papercraft tables for you to use with your favorite RPG. Here is the accompanying accessory which is a set of Jars with ingredients, a alembic (or still), and some laboratory equipment (modern). You can use these for most all RPG's as decoration in a tavern, alchemist lab, or evil mad scientist lair.

You can print them out at 300 dpi on 110 lbs cardstock and construct a base, if needed, out of a squished drop of hot glue (or regular glue but then you have to wait forever for it to dry fully) between two pieces of parchment paper.

What I did was use set my printer to print on a transparency to give a "glass like" effect, which turned out especially well on glass jars but "ok" on the other two. Experiment and let me know in the comments how you use these in your campaigns or even put up the urls to some action shots!

(click to embiggen and save the image or right click and "save as" the image)

Hope you enjoyed this post and thanks for stopping by!

FREE - Paper Model Tables For Your RPG!

poly@d4d6d8d10d12d20.com (david clunie) — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 04:34:32 PDT

(click to embiggen)

Recently my gaming group was nearing an alchemist lab I had placed in a wizards tower so I needed some tables and alchemist gear to give the idea of a sinister laboratory. I wanted a basic design and came up with more or less a couple of "boxes", so they are easy to build, and you can knock out a bunch in a sitting or two. Downloads for both a clean set and a grunged up set after the jump...

Here are the dimensions, 1 in. x 2 in. x 1/4 in. thick top portion which sit upon two block 1/2 x 1/2 x 1/2 cubes that get inserted into the table top so that table top is 1/2 in. in height. If you want a taller table just don't cut out the support sections squares (marked black) and glue the supports directly to the table top bottom which will give you an additional height factor.

I also created some of the laboratory equipment to go on top of the tables and used a transparency sheet for a see through effect. So be sure to check back as I'll post that on Wed or Friday.

Just print on some 110 card stock and use either normal or hot glue to assemble, then edge the score lines/folds with some brown, terra cotta or black colored markers and you've got a nice set of tables to use for a wizards laboratory, tavern, cartographer's office or any such place where you might need some clean or mis used long tables. (Click on the images below to embiggen or right click to save as)

Clean Set

Grunge Set

Hope you enjoyed this post and thanks for stopping by!