Pulp Era Gun Deck

My Gun Deck for Deadlands worked so well I decided to design one for my pulp games. Using more modern weapons and ammunition required some changes to my design formulas, but they seem to work.

As with the Deadland's deck I needed to add more guns than are listed in the Savage World's rule set. Many of the weapons I chose are from the Indiana Jones and Mummy movies.

The Pulp deck also includes a tuck box pattern to store the cards.

Both decks and the design instructions can be found on the Game Files page of my website: http://dasspielunker.com/

Deluxe GM Screen

Over the years I have had many GM screens. I still have my hardboard 1st edition D & D screen, plus many of the variations that have been released over the years. Plus ones for Star Wars, Kingdoms of Kalamar, Eberon, and many other RPG's. Several years ago I purchased a vinyl one, much like a three-ring binder, that I could customize for my games. That was my favorite since I could pick my artwork and make the tables I wanted.

As a woodworker I knew I could make something better than a generic plastic screen. I've had the basic design for a number of years, but as many of my projects it just sat as a design. I knew what I wanted in a screen: changable panels, storage space, a low profile, and a nice look. The problem I was having with the design was with the storage space since I was envisioning doors. Last fall I saw an episode on Gnome Stew by Patrick Benson that was the answer to the problem - sliding panels!

So here it is: red oak frame for a nice look; leather straps which let me transport it easily; sliding panels for storage space to carry all those gaming neccesities like minies, templates, dice, bennies, action decks; and one of my favorite parts - metal panels. By using sheet metal panels I can easily change the look an information of each panel to fit the game. I print the panels on magnetic sheeting made for running through my printer. I have art and information for Deadlands, Rippers, fantasy and pulp for my Savage Worlds games.
I think it turned out well.

Gatling Pistol

Over the past few months I've been working on a little project - a Gatling pistol. My daughter has enjoyed steam punk for a number of years now; over 10 I believe. In fact this past May we attended the World of Steam Expo up in Michigan. Over the years I have made her several additions to her costume: a holster for her pistol, glowing test tubes, and a book purse. Since I play Deadlands and sell my AmmoCounters I thought it would be nice to make a Gatling pistol for myself. So here it is.

I began with the grip. It was modeled on a Remington 1875 Army pistol that I had the design schematics to. By using the dimensions for an actual gun I think it has a more realistic feel. The Gatling portion is based on art from the Savage World's core rulebook and Deadlands.

Since I'm a woodworker and not a metalworker the gun is made primarily from hardwoods. The barrels are brass tubing, along with brass screws and a piece of brass sheeting.

The holster took a bit of work since I wanted it open to view the gun.

Here are the results.

Gun Deck

A few months ago, while reading my current issue of Knights of the Dinner Table a came across an accessory for Aces & Eights - a deck of cards with various guns and there game stats. Now I'm not an Aces & Eights player, but I am a Savage Worlds: Deadlands one. So I thought that a Gun Deck for Savage Worlds would be pretty useful. Just like the one for Ace & Eights it could be used to generate random weapons at the general store, for NPC's, and handle the statistics for when a player takes a gun from someone else and doesn't have time to look up the stats (my players keep their record sheets up-to-date so they would never need to use these for regular play - yeah, right.)

Plus, over the years I've developed a formula that allows me to generate the game stats for most guns that my players might wish to use. It produces results that are pretty close to those found in Savage Worlds; not 100%, but close enough that it works.

The files for the cards, tuck box, instructions, and formulas can be found at http://www.dasspielunker.com/ on the Game Files page.

Enjoy.

Zeppelin For Sale!

Have you ever wanted your own zeppelin? Well, now is your chance. I need to make room in my game room so a few things will need to go to some new homes. One of these items is my zeppelin, the Empire Star. While looking over my game collection I realized the she hasn't been off the shelf in almost two years - a sad fate for the old girl. She was designed for my Crimson Eagles game, but would work well for a number of minature air combat games. If you look back in this blog you can see more pictures of her; in game and under construction.

As you can see, one of the neat things about this model is that it can be made to show damage.

Be aware, she is a handcrafted mini; made of stryafoam, cardstock, tape and bits. She isn't a professionally made model.

Included are all the parts, damage and undamage, the stand and the hanger plane.

The difficult part will be in getting it to a buyer. the Zep really can't be shipped. I have a box for her that lets me take it to conventions, but she would never travel by mail. So if you want her you will need to come to Ohio and get her, or possibly I could bring her down to Origins if the buyer was coming there and wanted to wait until the end of June.

I am asking $100 as a starting price, so contact me if you are interested and make an offer.

New Star Fleet Battle Manual Energy Board: Dreadnought

I have posted another of the deluxe Energy Boards for Lou Zocchi's Star Fleet Battle Manual. This time it's the Dreadnought. I've also updated the ship dials to include the Dreadnought silhouette. They can be found on the Gaming Files page of my website Dasspielunker.com.

Fight of the Flying Wing

Ok, so it's been a few months since Origins 2010, and it is only now that I am finally posting more information on my .45 Adventure scenario, Fight of the Flying Wing. I've been busy, but here it is, sort of. I'm terrible about taking pictures when I run a game at a convention. I try to stay focused on running the game. My usual assistants helped set up and pack up, but were off playing games of their own during the game. So what you see here are pictures from one of the games I ran on a typical game night with some set ups to recreate some of the Origin's game. It will give you a feel of the scenario.

This was the second year that I have run an Indiana Jones flavored .45 Adventure's scenario at Origins. It was also the second year that my game was the only .45 Adventure game scheduled for Origins which was too bad. Both times my games have sold out with in a couple of hours of being posted. Both times I have had a good audience to watch, and lots of potential players waiting with their generic tickets in the hopes that a player won't show. I know it's not GenCon, but with around 12,000 attendance it isn't small either, and when you figure that only 1/3 of Origins attendees go to GenCon you are missing a lot of potential customers. Maybe next year. I am planning on taking both of my scenarios to Origins '11 and I have plans for a third - I hope.

So here are some pictures.

The scenario is not a strict recreation of the movie - that would only involve Indy and the Germans. To make it a four player game I added another American and a group of Desert Defenders for a nod to the Mummy.

The Americans where Mick O'Reilly (another nod to the Mummy) and Pennsylvania Smith, both grade 3's. So the Americans were run by two players with a total team strength of six. The Germans were commanded by Maj. Oberst Unter (grade 3) with a commando team of three grade 1's. This was a rouge German team bent on earning points with Hitler by capturing the Ark for themselves, and thus were free to attack any German guards. The Desert Defenders were lead by Hassen Ben Eezy (grade 3) and his team of three grade 1 henchmen. Their job was to protect the hiding place of the Ark and eliminate all witnesses. Add the German mechanic who is simply minding his own business tuning up the flying wing, the pilot, and of course the German sergeant/prize fighter asleep in the tent; these were for my to have some fun with.

Scattered randomly about the field were some extra weapons (grenades, a panzerfaust, etc.), a sink hole (Who thought it was a smart idea to build an airfield on top of some ancient ruins?) asps (Snakes - why'd it have to be snakes?) a short lived dust devil/prop wash, and of course the Ark. Plus a mix of blanks and some other useful items. I don't want to give to much away.

The big attention grabber was the flying wing. Not a great model, I only made it out of a chunk of Styrofoam, some cardboard, a few bit from my bit box, and some wooden wheels. It is roughly to scale with the exception of the wheel - I used ones large enough to move minis under the model without needing to lay them down. The props are held on with magnets so that they can be changed for spinning prop discs when the engines come on. I also made some wheel block that need to be removed and double as weapons. In every game I've run the mechanic always gets pushed back into the prop.

Put in plenty of explosions markers, leaking fuel drums, trucks that no one ever seems able to drive, and a time limit if any large explosions occur (the German base is alerted) and you have a fun game

This year I used the AmmoCounters which added a great visual to the game, plus the fun of having the players ammo run down. They really brought a lot of additional attention to the game. Each gun had it's own type of counter, from Pennsylvania's revolver, to the German Luggers, to the submachine guns. They don't really make .45 Adventures more difficult to run - you just take out bullets as you roll shots. And the sound of all the brass hitting the pile is cool.

So that's it for Origins '10. Those of you that got to play, thanks for a fun game and I hope to see you at Origins '11.