10.30.2011

Roleplaying Miniatures; Blast from the Past

About 6 years ago I participated in a roleplaying game set in a certain 'Underdark' city.

Naturally I built miniatures for all the characters.  It was great fun at the time, but since Drow tend to implode - what with all the infighting - it was only a matter of time before hurt feelings put paid to the whole thing.

Which is a shame, since I was 'winning.'  Ah, well!




There were four players, so obviously one - the Sorcerer - is missing.  These were mixed in with my brother's collection... and by that I mean dumped in a box with prepainted Star Wars minis, so there's some damage.  Most noticeably the Ranger's bow, which is missing.

What struck me about these is how well they hold up, since it's safe to say my painting skills have risen considerably since then.  Still, I had a theme - the Underdark - so I deliberately tried to keep my colors limited in tone.  That's especially evident in the Fighter on the left.

This was the Ranger, and the most obvious conversion.  As I recall, he was from another city and was considered flamboyant in dress, thus the additional colors.  I also tried to add additional gear, my favorite being the flensing knives.  As mentioned, his bow is missing.

At this magnification you can see the graininess.  My old habit was to drybrush everything, then use that as a base for layering colors.  The Master Manipulator (every store needs one) can be credited with helping me break some of my 'lazy' painting habits, though it's fair to say he's probably still irked these days!  (He's extremely technical, a perfectionist.  I take my stuff to him when I want the unvarnished truth, 'cause wisdom can be painful.)

Ugh.  The bases, the bases...

This was my character.  As a general rule, I hate gender-benders - all those dudes who want to play hot chicks creep me out a bit - but the campaign had to have a female to represent the ruling class of the House.  The Drow are matriarchal, of course.

This model was the only non-GW used, but it fit well.  I had to make a simple hand swap, since the original weapon wasn't appropriate to a Cleric.  As I recall, she used a short lash of some sort with snakes instead of whips, thus the base to represent it.

By far my favorite of the models.  This character was first-boy of our House, and he eventually became its Weapons-Master.  He had a tattoo of a spider on his face, which I think came out really well.  

This was the first model I painted, thus got the 'limited-tones' treatment I mentioned above.

There you have it!  It's a typical 'For No Apparent Reason' post of randomness, but it is what it is!

Happy Halloween!

7 comments:

  1. These are lovely and excellent representations of the characters. Nice work.

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  2. "I hate gender-benders - all those dudes who want to play hot chicks creep me out a bit."

    What about dudes who just play female characters? Is it the HAWT CHIX part that's the creeper?

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  3. I don't know, Von, it always seems like the two go hand-in-hand, you know?

    "I'm going to be a female - thank goodness there's no comeliness score anymore! I have a low CHA 'cause I'm no-nonsense, but I'm super hot and rub lotion on myself all the time..!"

    ...

    Perhaps I'm exaggerating some, but the games I've been involved in always seem to have that one socially awkward guy who plays nothing but female characters.

    And I'm not talking about Unicorns here.

    What am I missing man? Too judgmental?

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  4. Ok, now I'm starting to feel a lil' self-concious about rubbing lotion on myself all the time....
    DON'T YOU JUDGE ME!

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  5. So is that a dick of many tails, or are you just happy to see me?
    -no one

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  6. @Brent - I think you're roleplaying with creepers. I've frequently ended up playing female characters and not sunk to that kind of unpleasant who-exactly-is-this-porn-for portrayal.

    (One has been attractive (also an armed and dangerous borderline-alcoholic who resented that people saw her looks and not her gift for engineering), but the other two that I can remember were a plain 'lady of a certain age' (also she had no eyes, but then she was undead...) and a one-eyed limping mess of a woman who might just qualify as 'imposingly haughty' if she scrubbed up at all.)

    I can't be the only one who doesn't sink to that level... can I?

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  7. Von: That could very well be the case!

    I'll be the first to admit that the dudes I gamed with in my early twenties, here in the States, were fairly...

    ...creepy on some level.

    That's probably where I developed my bias!

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