Long Island Role Players

And get on with it I shall Caitlin.

   The first thing to consider once you have your mini selected is the process that it was made.  Sculptors hand carves green resin clay carefully adding detail by detail these minis are called “Greens”.  It is a painstaking process and one not to be taken lightly.  Sculpting is an art form; I can appreciate every button of a vest to the flaring nostrils of an angered face.  When painting, you are essentially finishing what the sculptor began by adding your interpretation to what the mini should look like.  After the sculptor is finished a mold is made from the original “Green”.  The material used in the process of casting can be pewter or any other soft metals, some minis of old were also combined with lead which made the minis more affordable.  Large Companies have since done away with the practice.  Children with lead poisoning, ah yes the possibilities are endless.  The metal material is heated to boiling and poured into the moldings.  These moldings are usually two halves of the mini compressed together with an air hole to drain the air out and allow the molten metal in.  If you look closely at your mini you can see the remains of the molding process, where the air holes (I know a couple of air holes needless to say) existed and where the mini was compressed together.  These extra little pieces of the mini are called flashing (not the kind your thinking of either you gutter mind), they are indeed extra in the idea that the sculptor never intended for them to exist, this brings us to our second part of mini painting; grinding.

* Grind down all the extra pieces of the mini.

   To remove all the flashing from you mini can be tricky and takes time.  An average mini take me 3-4 hours of lightly grinding with several files that you can purchase at Ravenblood Games.  After the extra pieces are lightly removed go over the areas again with a light sandpaper and once again with steel wool.  Once all the grinding is done you will have a nicely polished, yet dirty mini (that’s mini not martini).  To resolve this issue wash the mini with dishwashing liquid (to remove all the oil that your hands may have applied while sanding)  and wrap the wet mini in a towel to dry overnight.

Robert Uncategorized

   There are those that tire of a mundane existence of mediocrity, or at least I was there staring boredom in the face with a sigh.  I was always so busy in my life.  A day in the life of a New Yorker Get up at 5:00am to feed and walk the dog, shower shave out the door in a heartbeat and not able to return home until 10:00pm to walk the dog grab a bite to eat and head out to meet with friends, sleep was limited to 3-4 hours a night.  My mind though drifted to the world of fantasy.  I went to some odd item shops to find a pewter figure of a gargoyle or dragon.  I was left wide eyed, if only I could take these metal masterpieces’ and bring them to life with color.  I looked through magazines to see those advertisements of painted minis.  I always dismissed that I might even posses a sliver of talent to be able to paint a mini.  One day, in Manhattan I passed a gaming store saw a display of beautiful minis painted.  I asked the store owner if I could buy one, and he told me that they were not for sale.  I was offended, this was New York, and everything was for sale!  He guided me to some starter panting kits and told me that painting minis was part of the hobby.  I tried my little heart out on my first mini, and I fell in love.  That love still burns today with the same intensity as it did the first day I picked up a brush.  My nephew, as fate would have it was extremely impressed with my work and commanded me to find a way to play with them.  This brought me to table top RPGing and DMing.  Electives with directing and acting in college came to the forefront and the call to be a DM was undeniable.  I looked around for people who shared the same passion that I have.  I was blessed to find the LIRPers.  They are the best crew of gamers a fella could ever ask for.

   Painting minis are a thing of passion, and I am here to share that passion with all of you.  I will post a step by step guide to mini painting.  I think that Caitlin’s dilemma with her mini inspired me to show you all some tips and tricks to painting.  I will eventually create a DVD that you can see live the techniques I am posting here with words and pictures.  My next posting with be of a blank mini and I’ll take you step by step through the process.  So this leads to the first step of mini painting:

Step One: Find a cool mini!

Robert Miniatures

In my opinion, there are different levels of (scary) geekiness. For example:

Video Games: Low

Card Games: (Such as Munchkin and Fluxx) Low

Board Games: Low- High, depending on game. (Clue, Catan—Low. Starcraft: The Board Game—High.)

MMOs: Medium (or High, depending on game)

Dice-Based RPGs: Medium to High.

TCGs: High

Costumed Vampire LARP: Extremely High

I’ve always fallen into the Medium-High shades. I’ve occasionally strayed into “High,” but now I have to admit, I’m officially in the “High” zone again.

I’ve bought a mini.

Read more…

Caitlin Firefly/Serenity, Miniatures

It’s a bad time to be a pig in Egypt. If you’re of a porcine persuasion you’d best curly-tail it outta there—you’re not even going to make it to the frying pan if you stick around.

Speaking of unfairly persecuted minority groups. . .

It’s a bad time to be a fan of the X-Men.

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Caitlin Marvel Comics, Movies, Wolverine

Hi, my name is Caitlin, and I’m an RP addict.

*Pause for inevitable “Hi Caitlin,” response.*

It has occurred to me recently that in terms of gaming, I am a desperate woman trying to get a fix. I love characters and stories and RPing is a natural way to play a character and create a story. Over the years I’ve participated in no less than 9 PbP games (Seven of which have been X-Men based; currently I’m only participating in a BTVS and a Serenity game) which is REALLY how I got my start RPing. I LIKE PbP because you don’t have a set chunk of hours in which you have to play. I HATE PbP because, lord almighty, some people can’t post for their lives. Or post at a snails pace.

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Caitlin Firefly/Serenity, PBP, White Wolf

Here is the very first adventure I wrote for Reeves and my first campaign in the Ft. Tottan saga/Kardis arc. As an introductory adventure for many players, (as well as for myself) I chose to keep it nice and simple while still building toward our campaign’s grand story. Much of this is an outline of a campaign hook wherein once the players accept one quest they will likely become interlaced and vested in the continuation and resolution of the events which take place. Many of the more mundane or incidental details should be filled in my the Dungeon Master, perhaps with the players’ interests, personalities, senses of humor or goals in mind. In addition, you might consider some general facets of your game. For instance, how prevalent should magical items be? Sold at every town market or only buried in ancient dungeons? Consider why this might be in either case. Consider instating some optional systems such as piety or role-play experience charts- remember to make your game your own!

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Tom 4E, Adventures, Dungeons & Dragons 4E, Adventure, Dungeons & Dragons

If you’ve got something to say about gaming then WE want to hear about it!

We are looking for contributing writers to send us articles to post here on the LIRP blog.

What is the scope of the LIRP? We aren’t JUST role playing games, but that is our primary focus here. If you’ve got an opinion about a video game, a review of a computer game, an army list for a miniature game, or a session summary from a board game then send it our way!

If you’ve got:

• Story Hooks
• Adventure Seeds
• Full Length Adventures
• Campaign Settings
• NPCs
• Session Summaries
• Game Reviews
• Game Previews
• House Rules
• Custom Classes

Then we want to hear about it!

Reeves News and Updates

Winners, they don't use drugs.

Reeves News and Updates Arcade, Humor