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Post by tauster on Oct 24, 2018 16:53:36 GMT
Found a nice magic item in the Vault of Arcane Secrets, a pay what you want pdf on dmsguild.com:
I'll convert that into a 2E spell or magic item for my Halloween one-shot, and made a few eyestalks for the game table.
Sculpting them is so simple that the term 'sculpting' barely applies: Mix a bit of Milliput or Greenstuff, roll it over a tentacle maker, press a small bead in, bend it into shape. You can add tiny tentacles or toothpick spikes around the eye if you want, texture the tentacle in any way you like (or not at all), put them on bases or not. One idea, thousand variations. Heck, you could make a swarm if you want. Or add tiny wings.
I'll probably introduce them as magic item the party will loot after their first battle this evening, so they'll encounter these eyestalks at first without knowing what this is. Since it won't attack, they'll probably write it off as harmless underdark critter (the party members are monsters native to the Underdark, so they are used to weird creatures).
If they do attack them, I'm tempted to let the owner cast spells through their roaming eyes. But that would give the players the same attack later on. To balance this, I could make them take spend character points to buy a feat required to cast spells through the eyes.
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Post by tauster on Oct 26, 2018 20:24:24 GMT
Not much progress, just glued 'em all to magnet bases.
How to:
- squirt some hotglue on a non-sticky surface like wax paper
- push the magnet in then quickly. Don't push it all the way to the bottom; instead leave a bottom layer of hotglue so that the magnet can't fall out under the base.
- as long as the glue is still hot, position the tentacle around it
- add a bit of texture in the hotglue.
- done.
Now on to painting. I'm tempted to apply the usual flesh-and-blood color combo, but a dark purple wouldn't be too bad either. Since I have enough eyestalks, I might as well try out both options.
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Post by erho on Oct 26, 2018 20:36:59 GMT
Disgusting! They look great!
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Post by tauster on Oct 27, 2018 18:23:02 GMT
Two differently panited sets are done. I might go over the right variety with glossy varnish to give them a wet sheen.
And I am entirely in the dark about how to continue with the eyes. So far all they got is a metallic black base color... Any ideas?
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Post by sgtslag on Oct 29, 2018 17:55:42 GMT
Revolting! I love it! I also like the beads as eyes. I am planning an old-school 1e Purple Worm , completely above ground, with stinger tail, and it will need a couple of eyes. Those beads should work nicely. Cheers!
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Post by SpielMeisterKev! on Oct 30, 2018 14:51:14 GMT
Howdy,
Wings and stingers...
Just sayin',
Kev!
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Post by tauster on May 31, 2019 11:23:58 GMT
Over half a year without any live in this thread - high time for some tentacle goodness!  Our Underdark campaign will soon-ishly (we're talking about two or three sessions, which translates into 1-2 years with our sad rate of playing) or find themselves on the shore of the Glimmersea, a huge subterranean ocean. So I need all kinds of aquatic monsters. The weirder the better. Of course weird is what I can do best: I can churn out tons of abberrations - but I couldn't make a creature with a decent humanoid anatomy.
TL;DR: Here's a handful members of the Shellfolk, a race I just invented.
Two different sizes each of shells and styrofoam balls for the eyes, a few pre-made milliput/greenstuff tentacles and hotglue: The list of materials is pleasantly short.
Fors and Cale find themselves surrounded by weird creatures. A common situation the unfortunate duo. Detail shot
Priming the tantacles with a mix of dark green and metallic black. The metallic is very much subdued after the color dried, so I'll have to add some pearlescent drybrushing later on. Basepainted the fleshy parts with skin tone (a premade color, you could mix it with orange and pink). I should have painted the fleshy parts first because after the skin color a dark pink wash is required to get that 'bloody flesh' look, and that means I'll have to basecoat most of the tentacles again.  I'll make the Shellfolk talk via telepathy, which will be a common trait among the inhabitants below the dark waves. The main threat and center of the campaign is a city of Aboleth, the most powerful psionic race in DnD, so having lowlevel psionic races living nearby in the same environment seems to fit. It also spares me (and my players) the headache of coming up with means of communication, so we can concentrate of a) surviving below the waves and b) destroying an aboleth city without those guys smelling the rat before it is too late.
The party, with some diplomacy, will be able to get not only information and lore about their surroundings from these weird races but also support that they won't expect beforehand: powerful poisons, rare inks for scribing scrolls and spellbooks, pearls of exceptional quality (used in identify spells that don't take a day's time but mere rounds -alleviating 2nd editions pet peeve of this spell - and other stuff I have yet to come up with. Any ideas are welcome! |
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Post by sgtslag on May 31, 2019 14:34:24 GMT
Been playing 2e since it came out, in 1989. Never noticed the 8 hours of item preparation, nor the Constitution loss. I've been playing it by 1e rules -- I think... Since I started in 1980. Oops!
I understand the "why", of 2e's re-writing of the spell, but it is too burdensome to bother with, for me. If you are the DM, hand-wave it away... "They're more like guidelines, really..." Just make sure no one ever says, "Parlay?" Cheers!
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Post by tauster on May 31, 2019 17:19:52 GMT
Been playing 2e since it came out, in 1989. Never noticed the 8 hours of item preparation, nor the Constitution loss. I've been playing it by 1e rules -- I think... Since I started in 1980. Oops! I understand the "why", of 2e's re-writing of the spell, but it is too burdensome to bother with, for me. If you are the DM, hand-wave it away... " They're more like guidelines, really..." Just make sure no one ever says, " Parlay?" Cheers!
That's the way we handle rules we agree on that we don't like, usually. But finding an in-game way to adress those problems is even more appealing. Like here: Instead of handwaving the required time, I give the players a 'power component' that speeds up the spellcasting. |
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Post by tauster on Jun 2, 2019 19:56:32 GMT
I really hadn't expected to finish the Shellfolk this weekend, but here they are. Enjoy another shot of Fors and Cale meeting hitherto unknown creatures, and possibly, their doom. A situation the duo is far too accustomed to, even for their own tastes.
One of the creatures has some scrap metal underneath (a piece of an old xcato blade) so I can use it on a fly base. These critters are to be used in subaquatic encounters, so being able to 'fly' makes only sense. The real reason was that the tentacles sagged while the hotglue cooled, making this creature topple constantly. Which wouldn't induce much wonder in the players, really.
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Post by tauster on Oct 3, 2019 17:07:56 GMT
Pot marygold seeds are great for toothed barbs and thorns, so I made some magnetized tentacles for ...whatever I can use them for. Tentacle wall spells, monsters, weird vegetation the players will probably try to avoid.
The tentacles are super simple to make: Twisted tin foil as a core, a magnet glued below as a base, then texture the whole thing with hotglue. You get better (i.e. less smooth and thus more interesting) textures when you dip the glue in cold water shortly after you applied it.
After that, glue in the seeds. There are different kinds of seeds, the more round-ish ones I filled in with glue so that they look like bulbs or sacks ready to burst at the seam. Gives the whole thing more visual interest, and the option of spore cloud effects when the tentacle is hit in melee.
Now it is off to priming them. I think I'll go for greens, with brown & beige for the thorns, who will get some blood red or brown highlights from the blood of their victims. Just in case the players need a hint that is more explicit then the hooked barbs.
Based in Caliban Green:
Drybrushed with various shades of grey green, plus a beige for the thorns, who will get more treatment later on to blend them back in.
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Post by sgtslag on Oct 3, 2019 19:05:29 GMT
Very cool! Kind of seems like Venus Fly Trap plants, on steroids: Martian Man Killers, perhaps?  Cheers! |
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Post by tauster on Oct 3, 2019 20:51:40 GMT
Blended the thorns in, and added some blood on the tips, and barbs.
And the surrounding areas. And spatterings of blood in more distant areas. Basically, I made a happy little tree bloodbath.
When the red has thoroughly dried (i.e. tomorrow), I'll try to add some varnish over it. Leaving the non-red areas unglossy will be kind of hard, but it should be worth the hassle, as it should underscore the point of the blood being wet, i.e. fresh.
Man, that is one of the funnest quick projects ever! I started this afternoon, worked on it in three short sessions between 15 and 30 minutes and will likely wrap it up tomorrow.  |
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Post by tauster on Oct 4, 2019 9:09:35 GMT
Finished!
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Post by sgtslag on Oct 4, 2019 13:56:52 GMT
 Martian Man Killers... Definitely.  Cheers!
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Post by tauster on Oct 4, 2019 20:41:57 GMT
It seems to me like I've beaten around the bush for several years, always finding a reason not to make an aboleth mini. These creatures are the center of my Night Below campaign (fear not, I won't go into detail again. Not today.  ) but I just couldn't make myself into making them. My favourite reason was that I didn't have a fish-like body that I could use as the base which would then be sculpted into a proper aboleth. So last summer I got a silicone mold of a goldfish, but I misread the description and it turned out too small. My next try was a p air of gold-colored karps that are supposed to be swimming on your wall. Not sure what kind of people put fish on their wall next to their grammophone,... ...but all I really cared for was that they seemed to be the only available options for me to make a mold of. The plan was to make a hotglue fish that would easily be remodelled afterwards, simply by melting into the glue and adding stuff. It took the fish the usual 2 months to arrive from china (and luckily they survived almost intact with only one fin broken off), so I made a mold out of the usual silikone-cornstarch-baby oil-acrylic color mix. And then, when I had the mold for the base body, I pushed the project aside for no reason at all and simply ignored the mold on my desk. There are times when you really want to make a project happen and still don't find the energy to get it started. Then there are projects that practically start themselves but you never seem to get them done. All of that can be frustrating at times, but since this is a hobby to relax, I don't need to stick to a disciplined aproach.
Long story short: Today for whatever reason I finally made the first hotglue karp and turned into an aboleth. It took less then 90 minutes and was a cakewalk. Apart from a major hotglue burn (due to stupidity) there were no complications, neither with the shapes nor with the materials. In hindsight, I honestly don't know what took me so long.
Some wooden beads for the three eyes and the lateral orifices you see on some illustrations. Two examples from 2nd edition ADnD; I didn't like the eyes then but the openings at the sides were cool ('cool' in a perverse way, but that is what these critters are about at all). I didn't get the distance between all thre eyes right, but that's OK I hope.
I added a larger ridge above and behond the eyes, as seen on many illustrations like this one:
Then I used the gluegun nozzle to make a few holes in the top of the ridge to add visual interest, ...and options for more nasty stuff I can throw at my players.
I also melted two long holes into the sides of the head with the nozzle, and inserted large drinking straws (Ø 1cm) to make those wonderfuly weird tubes. What are they anyways?
- Propulsion holes? Nothing says 'apex predator' like having a body with jet propulsion!
- Do the aboleth excrete their mucus out of these (I always thought smaller holes at the sides were the mucus glands...),
- or do they feed through them (not very likely, as they have large maws and I'm not sure they require physical food anyways).
I blended these holes in the main body as good as possible to hide the straws, then made two pairs of tentacles...
...and glued them in where I felt they looked right:
And that's where the critter stands. Or swims. Fors and Cale already encountered it and took the only correct action: Trying to get away from it. Which of course won't help them one bit.
This is probably a sight that not many survived, with their mind intact.
Now I need some kind of stand to prob this baddie up on a fly/swim stand, but it also needs to be flush with the table for regular encounters.
I think I'll paint it in dark blue/green metallic tones, a bit similar to the zombie sharks, but I feel like they'll need a few special color accents. That will be a question for later - feel free to share your ideas! |
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Post by factoriatabletop on Oct 5, 2019 11:41:34 GMT
awesome!!
cant wait to see the way you Paint it!!
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Post by tauster on Oct 6, 2019 10:50:46 GMT
Primed in black:
Black metallic mixed with dark green:
I added a dark purple wash, but it is barely visible. I'm tempted to add some weird golden accents somewhere, perhaps drybrushed. Not sure which road I go...
[update] I didn't like the apprearance, so I gave it a heavy drybrush of Kabalite Green,...
...then a lighter drybrush of a selfmade metallic turquoise:
The new goal is to end up somewhere along these lines, color-wise. I think a few more layers of warmer greens, plus a brown wash. Then some more metallic or pearlescent highlights, but lets see where the journey goes.
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Post by tauster on Oct 6, 2019 16:45:41 GMT
I'm tempted to call this one done: The eyes are lacking details, so I might touch them up alter on (any ideas how to improve them are more than welcome!), and I really love how the golden accents turned out.
I added a heavy drybrush with a non-metallic dark green, hiding much but not all of the metallic tones.
Then I added several drybrush layers of successively warmer green shades, ending with a warm gold on the tentacles.
The eyes were filled completely with a dark red. No pupils for weirdness.
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Cheers!
Martian Man Killers... 
Cheers!
) but I just couldn't make myself into making them. My favourite reason was that I didn't have a fish-like body that I could use as the base which would then be sculpted into a proper aboleth.
