Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Messages - James Holloway

Pages: [1] 2
1
Well, if you want to do more than just listen to a podcast, why not check out the contest? I'm asking people to make monsters from cheap toys, with the possibility of winning fabulous prizes! No particular system preferred, no model making experience required! Read on:
Monsters are great. Making monsters is doubly great. Making monsters while saving money istriply great. And making monsters, saving money and winning fabulous prizes? Has such felicity existed before now?

The first Monster Man contest celebrates the spirit of creative improvisation and adaptation that is such an important part of role-playing games. It's something I've talked about on previous episodes of the Monster Man podcast (http://monsterman.libsyn.com), and now it's time to put it into practice!

Here's how it works:

1. Find a cheap toy

When Gary Gygax needed inspiration for a new monster, he turned to the cheap plastic toys he could find in any dime store. The Bulette, Rust Monster, and Owlbear all come from these little monster models.



So head down to the pound shop (or dollar store, or flea market, or dusty corner of the attic, or wherever) and get yourself some cheap toys. These are going to be the starting point for your monster.


2. Let your imagination work

Use the toy as inspiration to create a cool monster. You can modify the toy if you like, but this isn't a conversion contest: you won't be graded on modelling skill. Expert sculpting isn't any better than sticking on a new head with hot glue, adding evil eyes with nail polish, or making spikes out of toothpicks.

3. Write up your monster

Create a Monster-Manual-style entry for your creature. It should have a description of the thing's habitat, behaviour, and so on. You should also create stats for the monster in your favourite game. It doesn't have to be AD&D -- that's the game the podcast is about, but part of the point of the show is that the Monster Manual is inspirational and informative for any gamer. A photograph of the original toy would also be great to include!

4. Submit your entry

If you have a blog or website, put your entry up there and send in a link via email, Twitter or what have you. Otherwise, email me the writeup and I'll post it here. I'm @gonzohistory on Twitter and my email address is the same thing at gmail. You have until Sunday, 26 November to submit your entry!

5. Vote for the finalists!

Check out the contest entries and leave a comment or send an email or tweet telling me your two favourites, in no particular order.

6. Finalists go to the judges

I and my team of volunteers will total up the scores, identify the 8 finalists, anonymise them and send them to the judges. Our judges will select winners for 1st through 3rd place.

7. Win fabulous prizes!

Every finalist will receive a finalist's goodie bag including a PDF scenario from Chaotic Henchmen Productions plus a bunch of other fun stuff (watch this space for further prize announcements).

The third-place winner will receive a print scenario from Chaotic Henchmen (or a selection of PDF scenarios if that's their preference), plus a £10 gift certificate from Otherworld Miniatures.

The second-place winner will receive a print scenario from Chaotic Henchmen (or PDFs as above), plus a copy of the Secrets of Shandisholm core rulebook and Barrow Ring Burning supplement from Oakbound Studios and a £20 gift certificate from Otherworld Miniatures.

And the grand prize winner will receive a print scenario and a £30 Otherworld Miniatures gift certificate. The winner will also have their creation sculpted by Geoff Solomon-Sims of Oakbound Studios!

Do you make games or game-related products? Would you like to support the creativity of Monster Man's listeners? Get in touch! You can email me at gonzohistory@gmail.com or send me a message on Twitter @gonzohistory .

This contest is made possible by the generosity of our sponsors:

Chaotic Henchmen Productions

Oakbound Studios

Otherworld Miniatures

Listen to Monster Man for announcements, future contests, and more fun stuff: http://monsterman.libsyn.com

 

2
So, scheduling and other problems make recording my old podcast, Pledge Break, difficult, but I've been working on a new one, Monster Man. It's me reading my way through the AD&D Monster Manual, but it's not an "old book lol" podcast. It's about the history, mythology, and so on of these monsters, and fun ways to use them in your games.


Any way, you can find it on Libsyn, or just search for Monster Man in your podcast app of choice. Feedback welcomed! After the first few episodes, I shorten the theme song a bit.


http://monsterman.libsyn.com/

3
ExiliCon 2016 / OK, so what can I do?
« on: June 26, 2016, 02:43:48 PM »
So, I'm supposed to be speaking at ExiliCon 2016, something I'm quite looking forward to. That being the case, what can I do to help with the con? Promote it? Once I have firmer talk details I can give them to various groups I'm part of that discuss the kind of thing I'm going to be talking about, for instance.

4
Fox Box / Re: Casting and sculpting for Fox Box and myself
« on: January 13, 2016, 05:39:06 PM »
Ah, OK. That makes sense; I think maybe I messed up his hand in transit or something. I wound up cutting off the holster and replacing it with a satchel from a Warlord WW2 Soviet infantry sprue, which are my go-to "stick a bag on this to cover up where I've hacked something off" resource.

5
Fox Box / Re: Casting and sculpting for Fox Box and myself
« on: January 11, 2016, 08:59:01 AM »
Nice! I love the idea of extending the Orks' doofy mechanical sensibility to other types of vehicle.


I have finished my last Fox Box model (well, last non-duplicate). Again, the right arm and weapon are added by me; I couldn't figure out how they were supposed to fit on the original model, as I recall. I really like this guy's head; is he meant to look like Robert Duvall? I know that sounds like I'm joking, but I really think it works.


6
Fox Box / Re: Casting and sculpting for Fox Box and myself
« on: January 07, 2016, 10:25:12 AM »
I finally finished my rebel grots -- just one more priest guy to go.


7
We've just completed our first seven-episode season, and we're now on iTunes if you like that sort of thing:

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/pledge-break/id1071711213

8
Well, when you do get around to listening, there'll be another episode for you to ... enjoy?


http://pledgebreak.libsyn.com/pledge-break-episode-four-the-masque-of-mandragora

9
On an admin note, here is fine, we also have a Doctor Who section which it might fit better in?


Whichever you think is best! I will go peruse that forum.

10
I just opened it up and skipped through the first and latest episodes and have a techy recommendation to make - if possible record your audio locally and then glue the two files together after the fact (rather than recording the massively compressed VoIP stream). After the very clear intro music the change in audio quality was extremely jarring!


You are the second person to recommend this to me, and I will definitely give it a try. The only thing I can say is that we're currently recorded pretty far in advance of what we're putting out, so don't expect the change to be immediate! Unless we pre-empt episode 5 for a yet-to-be-recorded holiday special, that is.


I really do appreciate the feedback, by the way -- one of the reasons I started doing this was just to learn how.

11
So I started a podcast. It's about classic Doctor Who, specifically but not exclusively as it relates to history. It's called Pledge Breal. and you can find it at this link here.


My cohost and I are old fans of the show and have related but generally-non-overlapping areas of nerdery, but one thing neither of us really know about is the podcast genre itself. I feel like I'm improving in technical terms (the mixing on episode 3 is better, for instance), but I'm sure there are still things missing. Comments, criticism, etc. warmly welcomed.


And of course if this isn't the right forum for a podcast, please do let me know!

12
Fox Box / Re: Casting and sculpting for Fox Box and myself
« on: August 21, 2015, 11:45:37 AM »
Not strictly relevant to casting, but here are a few of the grots done. I will try to take some better photos when I finish the lot.

(If this is not the right place, is there a place I should put them?)


13
Fox Box / Re: Casting and sculpting for Fox Box and myself
« on: August 04, 2015, 10:32:59 PM »
This behind-the-scenes look is really interesting!

I'm working on painting up the gobbos and priests right now since I'm finally clear of deadline painting projects, and I'll put up photos when I'm done.




14
The Welcome Hall - Start Here! / Re: Hello, everyone
« on: July 26, 2015, 12:17:14 AM »
'ello!
I saw your write-up and I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the minis painted. Exciting!

I've got a grot done and I'm working on some more -- but right now I'm panicking about getting my figures ready for BOYL 2015, which is next weekend, so I'm up to my ears doing that at the moment. Normal service will be resumed week after next!

15
The Welcome Hall - Start Here! / Re: Hello, everyone
« on: July 25, 2015, 11:31:27 PM »
Welcome to Exilian!

I possibly spoke to you at Exilicon? I was with The Cyril Project (I'm Liz, if you couldn't guess from the username).

Briefly, I think! A good friend of mine who is a librarian signed up and I think I was with her -- it sounds like an interesting project.

Pages: [1] 2