#muireannschosen

[tossinghydras]

Workbench Monthly

Now that I’m getting back into the swing of things I wanted a more consistent way to keep people updated on just what I am working on. Workbench Wednesday is already a great thing in many circles (Especially the people who found me through my miniature work), so I came up with a concept I am calling Workbench Monthly.  This will release on the first Wednesday of the month and will contain a comprehensive overview of what I have been working on during that period and any concepts I’m kicking around for future projects.

This doesn’t mean I won’t be doing other periodic updates if I want feedback or to tease certain work, but hopefully, this will help people get a better idea of the progress of my various projects.

Miniatures

Honestly, most of these are on hold now due to lack of funds, but the creative juices are still flowing. Many people have been following me for the Wraith Fleet work I’ve done (especially on twitter) and I have really enjoyed doing those nautically themed water spirits.  So much so that I’d like to do something similar for each Grand Alliance at some point. To do this I’ve made some changes to the project.

First, I’m changing the name to Muireann’s Chosen and will make an overall campaign/army book for it under this name (Wanted one for my projects ever since seeing some great custom ones online for tournaments). Besides lore and such this will be divided between the Wraithfleet (Death), Marijke’s Children (Destruction), The Stormcalled Reavers (Chaos) and Niyda Radahad’s Privateers (Order).

The goal is to convert up a 1000 pts of each faction, though I plan to bring the Wraithfleet up to at least 2000 as it is the force I want to play with. To that end I’ve been kicking around some army list ideas so they won’t be completely useless on the tabletop, but fluff and design are my main concerns. So, let's take a look at each faction.

Wraithfleet: This is what I’m most known for, though haven’t made any new progress lately. The big addition to this is the land-based section I’ve designed around a reborn Isabella von Carstein. I’ve also drawn up a rough idea of a display board that I might try to get done for Armies on Parade 2019.

Marijke’s Children: So full disclaimer… I have been watching a lot of Pirate Coast videos for Total War: Warhammer.  And I LOVE the designs made in that game. The idea for this one right now is an Arachnarok Junk Ship named Marijke and the spider cult that worships her and her hermit spider children. So far this includes Marijke herself, Spider Riders converted to have hermit crab shells and Ogors converted up to fill the ranks as a sudo-animated hulk/spider baby incubator.

The Stormcalled Reavers: I couldn’t come up with a concept for Chaos for a long time. I didn’t really want to do deamons partially because I couldn’t pick a patron god and partially because I’ll probably revive an old Slaannesh project when their new stuff drops. Then enter the Godsworn Hunt. I’ve always liked the design of the Darkoath Queen and with this new warband for Underworlds it inspired me to do something around them.  So far, the concept is a maori-ish tribe who seek to slay great beasts. Beyond getting the warband and adding the Chieftain and Queen I’m thinking of throwing in a warshrine done up as a salvaged airship/whaling barge.

Niyda Radahad’s Privateers: I’m still undecided with this, though I am leaning towards some kind of Elvish themed Overlords or maybe a mixed list with KO and Elves riding giant seabirds. Unfortunately, this faction has the least design input so far.

Keep an eye out for updates on these as I develop their lore.

Next up a friend of mine picked up the Kill Team 2 player set this weekend so I’m currently kicking around plans for that. I will probably go with the Inquisition/Guard Kill Team I used when my local group was playing the Heralds of Ruin ruleset. I never got to finish it as the group stopped playing before I got it where I liked.  Basic conversions using Empire Greatswords and Cadians. Will probably have to come up with a few new units considering how different GW’s KT is compared to HoR.

Other than that, I have plans to build a scenery board for our family Christmas village we set up every year, which I will probably post on here as well.

 Tabletop

Alright onto the meat of this month’s article. As many who follow the blog know I had some setbacks early in the year.  First, my computer died and then I lost a notebook full of notes, so it has taken quite a while to recreate those ideas and afford a new computer.  But I am now back up and working.

First let’s look at the project I’ve made the least progress on: Savage Stuffing.

I’ve cleaned up the initial document and believe I have a working resolution system for the game. I need to organise a destruction playtest to see if this works before expanding on the other mechanics. I’ve also outlined the various sections in the book, initial magic and equipment as well as the playtest adventure. Probably won’t see any real work done on this project in 2018.

Now let’s take a look at my main project: Goblins & Kobolds.

So, I’ve added an upgrade to my office in the form of a project board and have taken another look at the overall project to get a feel of the financial and creative obligations to make the project what I wanted and to keep myself focus on the design points.  While working on this I have once again changed the scope of the project.

Between the Goblin’s book and Kobold’s book I realized I had a new subclass for 6 classes, 3 in each book. I eventually decided to increase that to 4 in each book and add a few new subclasses and racial subtypes to the final book, which I hadn’t planned on doing originally.

This means that Book 1 for each arch will have the race, 3 racial subtypes, 1 subclass for 4 different classes (themed either racially or to the setting) as well as items and equipment themed for those environments. The mega dungeon book will also include 1 subclass for 4 different classes and an additional racial subtype themed to a more nautical location.

 Now let’s look at the progress for book 1 in the Winter Trilogy: Fistful of Silver.

Managed to get quite a bit done. The Goblin PC race is complete, including its subtypes. I have also completed work on the Destruction Domain (Cleric) and Goblin Outrider (Fighter).  Sapper (Rogue) and Witchling (Sorcerer) have been outlined, but I’m still adjusting them for fit and balance, so they aren’t quite ready but are about 90% complete.

The Equipment and Item section has been outlined with everything I plan to include, just working on some stats and pricing. Probably about 60% done here.

I’ve outlined the crafting system and environmental hazards but that’s all for these sections.

For the Adventure, I have all the locales designed and prototype maps drawn up (which you may have seen on my Instagram or Twitter). I have also written out the progression for the adventure and noted what monsters appear where, so all the preliminary work is complete.  All that remains now is to flesh out the writing and stat up the unique monsters that appear in the adventure, so I’d say 50% complete here.

I’m happy with the progress so far. Not quite as far along as I planned to be this year, but it is almost ready for playtesting. The plan right now is to finish the writing by the end of 2018 and then begin playtesting after the holidays, so mid-late January.

 I have also written out a rough design draft for the Sand Trilogy Book 1: Run, Kobold, Run.

Everything is in the early design phase, but I do have design concepts written up for the following;

Kobold race (Common, Winged, Sand)

Scorpion Hunter (Monk), Dragonshield (Paladin), Dustblight (Ranger), Wyrm Priest (Warlock)

Adventure Setting

Basic Adventure plot and progression.

 Overall things are progressing at an acceptable pace. If you have any ideas, questions or feedback feel free to drop me a message on any of my social media and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.

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