Shadowrun: Initiation Time!

Two, four, six, eight, now it's time to Initiate! My character (a Mystic Adept) and Tony's character (a Magician) get to Initiate this weekend during Episode 6 of our Shadows of Mumbai campaign. In SR, Initiation is a subtle way to spend karma (experience) and get more powerful, and one of the ways you can describe it in-game is with a quest.  Initiating as a group can be more cost effective, and it has the added benefit of involving more players.

I borrowed the story for our quest from an old Legion of Superheroes storyline from the 1980's involving Timber Wolf and the legacy of Karate Kid.  With Kid's death, Timber Wolf had to travel to the place where he was trained and plant a flower in spot considered anathema to all life. The hardest place in the world.

This story is collected in "The More Things Change" Legion trade. If you think you might have a comic shop near you, take a trip there and pick it up. Check it out; it's good. 

That's sort of what Tony and I have to do on Elephanta Island in Mumbai.  There's a shrine to Kali there where nothing grows, and it's guarded by a powerful Shadim--an evil spirit essentially.  We have to plant a flower there. Then we initiate.

I planted the seed of this tale in the last session I ran a couple of weeks back, so now under Andrew's watch it will bear fruit, or the spirit will horribly maul us!

We'll see!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Shadowrun: When Bugs Attack!

Insect spirits are one of the most dangerous foes a character can face in Shadowrun, and I have shown off my Roach Spirit earlier on this blog.  But what other models to use?  How about Heroclix Brood models?

Yes!  These nasty aliens from the X-Men comics make perfect materialized insect spirits or their transformed servants.

Check them out!

Hasti's fellow runners better show up or he's in for a hive of trouble!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Mumbai Revealed: The Eicher Guide

 I thought I would feature the resource that has helped to make the Shadows of Mumbai campaign such a success.These Eicher guides provide amazing, street-level maps of locations in their given city.  In the case of Mumbai, I was able to generate the last session's primary adventure locale (Elephanta Island) simply by browsing the book and then doing some follow-up research.

Multiple indexes allow the user to easily locate shrines, restaurants, and other spots both notable and mundane. 

If I ever do have the good fortune to travel to Mumbai one day, I will surely bring my Eicher guide along! 

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Shadowrun: Shadows of Mumbai Episode 5 Prep

What's better than having a great night of gaming to look forward to over the weekend?  Having Thursday and Friday off from work to prep for it!  I always save a bit of vacation for the end of October and beginning of November.  It's my favorite time of year, with my second favorite holiday (Halloween) leading into my favorite holiday (Thanksgiving) later in the month.  And I just love the Fall.

Anyway, Episode 5 of Shadows of Mumbai goes off tomorrow night!  There will be thrills, chills, and some revelations as the storyline advances forward.  Hopefully my players will be on their toes!

Last night I prepped a new NPC, this one for Rico's character.  She's his new animatronic companion, since his character's flesh and blood companion betrayed him, then met an untimely end. Rico's character, a renegade street doc who goes by the name of Hermes, now trusts no one outside of the runner group, so he had Lynx, the group rigger, and Verdun, the Troll hacker, juice up an artificial companion. I used the Heroclix Hope Taya mini (Superman, Uncommon) for her, and here she is:

She required minimal work, just a flesh re-paint, and a re-base. Also did her boots and glasses.

With all of the rampant drug use and the other stuff going on, our Shadowrun campaign would likely receive an NC-17 rating, but I can assure you all that it's tastefully done.  Really, trust me on this one.

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

D&D Harbinger Fire Elemental!

 I've wanted this mini since the Harbinger D&D minis set first came out years ago.  Last week my buddy Dave unloaded some of his pre-painted stuff, and I was lucky enough to snatch him up! 

I immediately decided to re-base him on a GF9 45mm MDF round. Now he's ready for action in Shadowrun as well as Goalsystem Delves!

Hasti better watch out, messing with this dude could get him burned! 

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

'Clix Trix: Another Effortless Conversion

My buddy Eric has a great game and comic shop (Bill & Walt's on 4th Avenue in Downtown Pittsburgh).  One of the best things about it are the bins of 'Clix figures just waiting to be pawed through.  Many times you'll find 'Clix detached from their bases.

That's the case with the subject of today's post, a lovely blond oozing attitude.  She screamed "Technomancer", so that's what she'll be in the Shadows of Mumbai campaign.

So meet Sophie Sim--that's her street name!

Her paint work was so solid, I did nothing but re-base her and touch a spot or two up.

So if someone knows who this gal actually was, please sound off so other folks can track her down.

Ok, so I am told she's Boom Boom Tabitha Smith (thanks, Rich!) from the Marvel Nextwave series.  Now you too can add her to your collection! 

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Shadowrun: A Portly Ork Ganger

It seems like the materials I have available keep leading me to Ork conversions for Shadowrun.  Case in point, the Star Wars Gran Raider (Clone Strike, Common) and the Spell-touched Hobgoblin Zombie (Deathknell, Common).  I took the head from the Hobgoblin and added it to the nicely characterful and dumpy body of the Gran, and I had another Ork Ganger!

Check it out!

I also ditched the floppy plastic knife and replaced it with a better one from an IG bit.

The blue pants give him a dash of color.

I had to fill in the Hobgoblin's empty eye sockets with some green stuff.

So yeah, this guy is ready for some Clockwork Orange level mayhem, Shadowrun style!  That is, until Hasti busts him up with his Killing Hands!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Another Star Wars Minis To Shadowrun Conversion

This one came about pretty organically.  I was working a shift at Phantom (my local FLGS) and I had some of my various 'Clix and Star Wars bits with me.  The Star Wars Bith Rebel (Universe, Common) was already missing his left hand from and earlier conversion, so I removed his head and replaced it with the head and left hand from a Heroclix Thug (another Common).

I decided to do a full-on re-paint on this one as the details were very sharp and really called for it. I'm loving this guy!  He has some real attitude, and could be a tech, hacker, rigger, or just some corporate crony. Or a valuable contact. We'll see!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Shadowrun: Ork Mystic Adept!

Shadows of Mumbai continued Saturday night with another installment run by Andrew--I got to play again!!!


Anyway, I thought it might be cool to finally show off my character miniature for the game.  Just as bit of background, my character is an Ork Mystic Adept named Hasti.  He was trained in a Hindu monastery and came to Mumbai when he reached adulthood to pursue his dharma.

In Saturday's session, we hunted down a Somali pirate named Shah Shaz, battling him and his crew in their watery abode (he was a Magician).  My character is slow (only 1 Initiative pass), but deadly in unarmed combat, while also adding Astral Sight and an ability to shutdown opposing magic users (lots of Counterspell and Banishing). 

I had Bob Naismith sculpt a figure of him for me, and this figure will later become available as a limited reward for backers of my buddy Joe's Ghosts of Hefei Kickstarter.  In Ghosts of Hefei he'll be The Oni--an augmented street thug with plenty of attitude!

I'll be sure to let folks know when this whole thing launches. I am consulting with Joe on the rules, but it's his project, dove-tailing off of his highly successful Department Goalsystem release from earlier this year.

Here are the pics!

He comes with a molded base, and he's mounted on a  25mm wooden circle from Litko.

Comp shot with a Judge Dredd mini.

As always, thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Shadowrun: Converted Ork Enforcer

Our Shadowrun campaign, Shadows of Mumbai continues tonight!  I have not had a lot of spare time this week, but I did manage another conversion to make an Ork Enforcer or Ganger. Here he is!

This simple conversion utilizes the body of a Star Wars Human Blaster For Hire (Bounty Hunters, Common) and the head of a D&D Minis Goblin Black Blade (War Drums, Common).  Goblin heads are often big, so it sized perfectly with this mini.  He's really cool, and I really think he as the SR aesthetic down.

Now here's hoping he doesn't gack my character tonight!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Shadowrun: Ork Street Samurai

We've been looking for more metahuman types for the Shadowrun campaign, so while at my buddy Eric's shop last week, I spied a Heroclix Black Tarantula figure--a perfect mini for an SR conversion!

I simply brought him home, popped his head off, added some green stuff for a landing point, and popped on a sawed off head from a D&D Minis Orc.  Instant Ork Street Sam!

A bit of mild re-painting, and here he is!

If I get time this week I may add some gear and pouches to further kit him out.

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Shadowrun Female Civilian Done

As per my plan, I did manage to get the Star Wars figure from Friday's post modded and re-painted for our Shadowrun games. I used a right hand from a 'Clix Polaris figure to replace the lightsaber hand.

I did the cape in a nice, bright blue to give her a bit of color.  While she has some soft details, there is enough there to work with.  She'll look great in a street scene, or as a potential adventure objective.

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

This Weekend's Plan...

This weekend I'll work on Kickstarter shipping and other issues, but I also intend to spend a little time modding another Star Wars figure for Shadowrun.  Here she is:

This is the Young Jedi (Universe, Common) figure, and my plan is to texture her base, re-paint her flesh to reflect an Indian heritage, and remove the lightsaber hand and replace it with an empty hand or closed fist.  She'll be some sort of civilian, maybe a corporate operative.

I like the outfit and the pose.

Hopefully I'll get the pics up Saturday!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Shadowrun: A Fine Ork Gentleman

Shadowrun includes many metahuman types: Humans, Orks, Elves, Dwarves, and Trolls chief among them. Finding and making human sci-fi civilians is a cinch, but the other metatypes present a challenge.  Today's post features a conversion I did using the body of a Star Wars Rodian Diplomat (Masters of the Force, Common) and the head of a D&D Miniatures Hobgoblin Impaler (Angelfire, Common). 

I think it came off quite well, and I really like the look for the Streets of Mumbai.

I did not do any real re-painting on the conversion aside from a few touch-ups and the disguise of some green-stuff work.

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Star Wars To Shadowrun Again

My order of Star Wars minis from Strikezone online arrived, and I immediately grabbed General Dodonna (Rare, Legacy of the Force) for use as a civvie for our next Shadowrun session.

I did not need to do much to him save add some base texture and touch-up his face a bit.  I also re-painted his device to a matte blue.

"Trust me, this is a commlink!"

Nice lined trench coat!

"Does anyone smell something?"

This guy could serve as a tech-type, corporate officer, or warehouse manager. He'll also look great in a crowd! 

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott