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Post by wyvern on Jun 12, 2013 8:18:06 GMT -9
In my head it was more of a (possibly completely inaccurate) notion that while the nobles and kings would get themselves mummified, the average peasant, soldier and slave would just get buried. The rich and powerful would return as mummies, but the rank-and-file troops would return as bones... In terms of game mechanics, it would mean that while crawling around a mummy's tomb you'd have tough mummies as elites and bosses, and weak skeletons as minions. Ancient Mesopotamia's more my area than Egypt, so I'm not sure about this either. For Mesopotamia, where mummification wasn't used, they'd all be bones, certainly, and it makes sense that only a very select few people would be chosen for permanent preservation, given the amount of time necessary to prepare a body for mummification. As far as treasure goes, I've always found it a little odd that 4000 year old undead creatures would carry legal tender on them. Like in Skyrim when you raid a tomb and find a few hundred gold coins in the purses of all those Draugr that are as good as if they'd been minted yesterday. It makes much more sense for the treasure to be in the form of ancient jewelry that can be sold, worn or melted down and turned into something else.  Indeed. I think the universal use of coins as RPG treasure likely stems from D&D, where from the original version, everything was priced in gold pieces, and monetary treasure was always listed with coins ahead of gems & jewelery, real-world actuality notwithstanding! |
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Post by cowboyleland on Jun 12, 2013 18:59:28 GMT -9
I think I read once that just burying a body in the dry desert sand will lead to mummification and that is what inspired all of the wrapping etc. so rich or poor, in real life you are ending up a mummy. I don't care though, because these Egyptian skeletons look so cool! If push comes to shove their flesh was removed in a hideous ritual while they were still alive or it was stripped from their bones by vile carrion eating vermin. Either way these skeletons are making an appearance in one of my games some day.
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Post by hackbarth on Jun 13, 2013 4:06:00 GMT -9
My high school book on history had an account of different methods of mummification that depended on the social class/price paid. There where three methods, the most elaborated involved removal of the brain by scooping it through the nose, removal of the internal organs, substituted by embalming materials followed by preserving them in jars and all that pharaonic rituals.
The most simple was putting the body in soda for 60 days and done, mummy ready.
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Post by bravesirkevin on Jul 20, 2013 17:22:25 GMT -9
Got a brand new paper minis set due to arrive in the next couple hours. Just busy sorting out the instruction manual and debugging some issues with the layers in the PDF.  As I'm sure a lot of you are aware, I recently had a stand at a convention promoting www.papercraftdungeon.com and in the run up to that I decided I needed a little bit more variety so I created a whole bunch of dramatically different figures which I pre-printed and sold on the day. These four terrors were among them, and will be the first of that lot to be released. The set will include the four figures shown above, each of which has multiple colouring options, and is customisable using buttons built into the PDF. It also includes a page of 50mm (2 inch) diameter round bases and, of course, the instructions. I also created a few other figures like centaurs and soldiers which I've not included in this set. Apart from the fact that they don't really match the mood of this set, I have much bigger plans for them in terms of customisation options. I'll slot them in after I've finished up the Skeleton Skirmisher set which is already long overdue for release! |
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Post by pblade on Jul 20, 2013 19:06:47 GMT -9
Love the new figures, I'm sure they were popular at the booth. It's hard to tell their scale, but I'm guessing they're all between 1" & 2" tall? It's always good to have more of the Large minis.
Oh, and to drop a couple of coppers into the previous thread, the best way for me to reconcile the coinage issue in treasure is two-fold. Firstly, remember that it was rare for coins to be as uniform as they are now until relatively recently. (Look at actual doubloons, for example.) It was the weight & purity that mattered - and that's your second thing to remember. Ancient coins from the dragon's hoard might be marked 1 amount, but the actual amount received would be based on the current value of their metal by weight.
So, if a player brings the issue up, just remind them that the value quoted is the value, not necessarily the actual amount minted.
- Pb
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Post by WackyAnne on Jul 20, 2013 23:59:36 GMT -9
---snip--- As I'm sure a lot of you are aware, I recently had a stand at a convention promoting www.papercraftdungeon.com and in the run up to that I decided I needed a little bit more variety so I created a whole bunch of dramatically different figures which I pre-printed and sold on the day. These four terrors were among them, and will be the first of that lot to be released. The set will include the four figures shown above, each of which has multiple colouring options, and is customisable using buttons built into the PDF. It also includes a page of 50mm (2 inch) diameter round bases and, of course, the instructions. I also created a few other figures like centaurs and soldiers which I've not included in this set. Apart from the fact that they don't really match the mood of this set, I have much bigger plans for them in terms of customisation options. I'll slot them in after I've finished up the Skeleton Skirmisher set which is already long overdue for release! Wow, these look FANTASTIC! and quite different from your usual awesome stuff. Out of the blue, except for the fact you'd mentioned you were working on 50mm bases somewhere... Aside from your surprise, in this post you managed to answer (at least partly) two of my questions for you: 1) how did the convention go? and 2) what's up with the Skeleton Skirmisher set?  |
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Post by migibb on Jul 21, 2013 1:24:54 GMT -9
Nice mix of pics Kev - I can feel a game of "Tremors" coming on....  Anyone know of any other paper figs of graboids out there? |
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Post by bravesirkevin on Jul 21, 2013 2:29:34 GMT -9
Thanks to all of you for your support! Busy giving this set a quick quality control run before I upload it. It's hard to tell their scale, but I'm guessing they're all between 1" & 2" tall? It's always good to have more of the Large minis.  Quick scale comparison. The figs in this set stand about 2" tall, but apart from the Crested Drake, the figures represent creatures a fair bit larger. The Worm and the Wyrm have most of their bodies buried beneath the ground and the Elemental is crouching down. ]Wow, these look FANTASTIC! and quite different from your usual awesome stuff. Out of the blue, except for the fact you'd mentioned you were working on 50mm bases somewhere... Aside from your surprise, in this post you managed to answer (at least partly) two of my questions for you: 1) how did the convention go? and 2) what's up with the Skeleton Skirmisher set? The convention went rather well for a first go, though it landed up being most valuable as a learning experience. There are a few more related cons coming up that I plan on making an appearance at and I think I'll be even more successful as I apply some of those lessons learned. One thing I discovered is that the demand for sci-fi battlefield terrain is far more enormous down here than I'd ever imagined, so I'm looking into doing a lot more of that in the near future. The Skeleton Skirmishers set is mostly done, but the parts that still need attention are fairly time consuming which makes it tricky for me to sit down and wrap the whole thing up. It tends to slip down the to-do list as higher priority stuff sneaks in and mucks my plans up, but I've made a point of keeping the progress moving on it wherever I can spare the time. |
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Post by bravesirkevin on Jul 21, 2013 12:04:28 GMT -9
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Post by bravesirkevin on Jul 22, 2013 12:32:08 GMT -9
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Post by bravesirkevin on Sept 29, 2013 6:43:48 GMT -9
 This massively ambitious set has been a perpetual work-in-progress for months, and it's just dying to be released... The scale of this monumental project has its downsides though, and among them is the fact that something else always pops up keeping me from giving this set the attention it needs to take it to completion. Following the success of my recent pre-release of another set, I decided it may be worthwhile to give this set the same treatment. When the set is completed and released it will be possible to create over 10 000 completely unique skeleton paper minis from this single set and it will be going for $7.99, but you can preview it now in its infancy for only $1.99, and get access to the full version when it becomes available, as well as all versions released in between, at no additional charge! (that's an enormous saving of 75%!) Skeleton Skirmishers v0.1 now available here!In it's current state, the options are still quite limited: - 2 Attire Options: Bare Bones and Sea Dogs - 2 Right Hand Options: Empty and Rapier - 2 Left Hand Options: Empty and Main Gauche - Integrated clickable controls - Cutfile registration marks (cutfiles to follow as the work progresses) As it stands, it will allow you to create 40 unique skeletons. The next release, due some time this week, will include the Gladiator attire, right hand swords, left hand swords, right hand axes and left hand round shields, allowing for a total of 240 possible unique skeletons! The price will also jump up to $2.99 at that point, so get it early and save! |
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Post by WackyAnne on Sept 29, 2013 8:29:21 GMT -9
I'll be picking this up ASAP! I've had the set on my wishlist for nearly three months now, from when I first browsed your website. It has been lots of fun to follow the development of the Meadow Tiles, and to offer (hopefully helpful) input along the way. The experience has even trumped getting such a great bargain on a high quality set |
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Post by bravesirkevin on Sept 29, 2013 18:41:39 GMT -9
It has been lots of fun to follow the development of the Meadow Tiles, and to offer (hopefully helpful) input along the way. The experience has even trumped getting such a great bargain on a high quality set There's a surprising amount of work between a usable set and a releasable one. With a lot of sets I'll have something built and photographed and still be weeks away from release. The instructions often take a week by themselves, and there's quite a bit of work in just adding extra detail layers and the graphic design of the PDF pages themselves. It gets to be problematic when something more urgent comes up and things get stuck in development purgatory despite being almost complete... This approach definitely goes a long way towards alleviating some of those problems. An unexpected benefit has been the fact that I can get feedback while I'm working on something instead of after the fact. I can't really backtrack to old projects after they've been released or I'll never get anything new done, but it's quite easily to adjust something that's still a work-in-progress and the feedback is often very helpful! |
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Post by wyvern on Oct 7, 2013 0:34:15 GMT -9
Kev: Just wondering if any of the skeletons might be in "emerging" poses, breaking free from an assortment of ground textures maybe, like the Worm and Wyrm of the Rocklands Terrors? Or even a coffin or two? I was hunting through the downloaded minis I haven't printed-off/made up yet at the weekend, but couldn't find many undead creatures that were posed so they could even be modified convincingly to this. I have a vision of moss-draped skeletons pushing up through a swamp, so hoping for not necessarily simply dirt, grass or stones as the former burial plots!
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Post by bravesirkevin on Oct 7, 2013 5:00:27 GMT -9
Kev: Just wondering if any of the skeletons might be in "emerging" poses, breaking free from an assortment of ground textures maybe, like the Worm and Wyrm of the Rocklands Terrors? Or even a coffin or two? I was hunting through the downloaded minis I haven't printed-off/made up yet at the weekend, but couldn't find many undead creatures that were posed so they could even be modified convincingly to this. I have a vision of moss-draped skeletons pushing up through a swamp, so hoping for not necessarily simply dirt, grass or stones as the former burial plots! Not in this set, but that's definitely something that sounds like it'd be cool to do in the near future. In the mean time however, it might not be too difficult to adapt some of the skeletons in this set to that purpose. |
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Post by aaron on Oct 7, 2013 5:16:18 GMT -9
once again your work is spectacular! I love the extra detail that you put into things ! well done sir!
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Post by bravesirkevin on Oct 10, 2013 5:57:28 GMT -9
Thanks a lot Aaron!  I've put up some cutfiles for the Skeleton Skirmisher's set. These will get updated as I add more content to the set itself. As for updates, I'm busy wrapping up the artwork for the new layers and hope to get v0.2 of the Skeleton Skirmishers set up tomorrow evening. The new layers look really good and add a ton of functionality to this set... The gladiator skeletons are going to look awesome when printed out and the new weapons really give a lot of flexibility. Here's a small reminder of what they look like:  As mentioned before, V0.2 will have a small price increase when it arrives, but you can still grab v0.1 at $1.99 today and upgrade with no additional charge. |
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Post by bravesirkevin on Oct 22, 2013 16:02:58 GMT -9
I forgot to mention... Skeleton Skirmishers v0.2 is up now. If you've already purchased it, simply follow the instructions in the readme to upgrade for free, otherwise you can go and purchase it now, for only $2.99! This new version incorporates: - New Gladiator attire, - 2 new right hand options: Sword and Axe - 2 new left hand options: Sword and Round Shield. The set now allows you to create as many as 240 completely unique skeletons from this single PDF, and I'm really proud of the detail I've put into the new layers. The Gladiator armour is really characterful, and gladiator skeletons should make for some interesting adversaries on the table top. Updated cutfiles should be ready in a few days, and work on v0.3 has already begun. That will add the egyptian themed armour and weapons, and will allow for 600 possible unique skeletons, and will be available in a week or two, depending on how much time I can manage to spend on it with my current workload. |
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Post by bravesirkevin on Aug 1, 2014 8:44:45 GMT -9
Been off the grid for ages. Lots of reasons for that, but the main one has just been that I've been neck deep in a variety of big projects at my "day job" running my design business. Finally wrapped up a particularly large job (an animation for one of the largest coal mining corporations in the country) I've got some time to get back to all the various Papercraft Dungeon projects that have been drifting around on my computer waiting to be finished. Obviously, the highest priority ones are the two preview sets, so I've been giving them all of my attention.  Was considering holding off on release until I'd completely finished this set, but it still needs at least a couple more weeks to polish up the remaining options. This release adds Egyptian styling options to the set with options for Khopeshes or Slings in the right hand and new shields that have a more Egyptian look to them for the left. These new options can be mixed and matched with the others already in the set allowing you to create as many as 600 unique skeletons! If you've already purchased this set, you can download the newest version for free. Just follow the instructions in the readme file. Otherwise you can go and purchase it now, for only $3.99. |
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Post by colonelshofer on Aug 2, 2014 1:39:59 GMT -9
Lovely detail.
CS
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Post by dungeonmistress on Aug 2, 2014 7:50:05 GMT -9
I'm really liking your Egyptian Skellies, bravesirkevin. The idea of the Mummies being the bosses and tough elite, while the poor rank and file are the weak Skellies who never got mummified, seems right to me. But what about the Guard Captains, Generals, and the Pharaoh's personal guard? Wouldn't they be sort of the middle men? They would rank high enough to be mummified, but not the full fancy treatment that the Pharaoh or his courtiers would receive. Something more fitting to a lower ranking official, maybe? |
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Post by WackyAnne on Aug 2, 2014 22:18:25 GMT -9
Yay!!! These will be perfect for so many things I want to run! Pathfinder's Mummy's Mask AP, some Pulp Egypt, The Mummy movies, an Egyptian dungeon run with Billiam Babble's Vexing Sands... So happy to have you back at play - and desert-minded no less... Might we perhaps one day soon see some more, perhaps more red, deserty goodness? (or badness, as the case may be?). |
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Post by bravesirkevin on Aug 4, 2014 19:28:36 GMT -9
So happy to have you back at play - and desert-minded no less... Might we perhaps one day soon see some more, perhaps more red, deserty goodness? (or badness, as the case may be?). Well, right now I'm busy trying to finish the Meadow set. I'd almost forgotten how much work it is to set up all this stuff. The as-yet-unseen page 3 of that set has 120 layers and gives like a bajillion different combinations. After that I'll get back to the Skeletons... I've got armoured versions and versions wearing rags, and then a variety of extra accessories. Keeping mum about my plans beyond that for now.  |
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Post by bravesirkevin on Aug 4, 2014 20:11:36 GMT -9
I'm really liking your Egyptian Skellies, bravesirkevin. The idea of the Mummies being the bosses and tough elite, while the poor rank and file are the weak Skellies who never got mummified, seems right to me. But what about the Guard Captains, Generals, and the Pharaoh's personal guard? Wouldn't they be sort of the middle men? They would rank high enough to be mummified, but not the full fancy treatment that the Pharaoh or his courtiers would receive. Something more fitting to a lower ranking official, maybe? Well, just in terms of game mechanics, I see skeletons as being low-level mooks, with mummies as something a lot more powerful and infinitely more dangerous. Historically speaking, my understanding is that the theme of death and resurrection has always been of paramount importance in throughout the existence of the ancient Egyptian culture. The whole mummification thing was an important part of the rituals that ensured one's resurrection in the afterlife, so I suspect that anyone who could afford the rite would have it performed, and it might even be that they'd save up for it specifically, so it might be that an army of egyptian skeletons is completely historically inaccurate. Personally, I just think they have a cool bit of flavour I'd just like to add that if you are looking for some cool Mummies to use with the skeletons you should probably check out the Egyptian set by our long-missing brother-in-arms Jabbro Jones. It's likely to be a long while before I get around to doing my own and he did a fantastic job of them. On the subject of him, does anyone know what became of him? |
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Post by wyvern on Aug 5, 2014 7:04:02 GMT -9
...in terms of game mechanics, I see skeletons as being low-level mooks, with mummies as something a lot more powerful and infinitely more dangerous. All the talk of the new (5th edition) D&D rules has caused me to dig out some of my olde ancient D&D tomes from the late 1970s and early '80s. In one of those, the (original) Fiend Folio from 1981, there were Skeleton Warriors, essentially high-level - so, levels 10-15 in 1st edition AD&D terms - skeletons with additional strengths and powers. As I recall, there were other variants, "official" and less so, over time to increase the powers of basic skeletons too, to keep parties on their toes, so they couldn't just assume a group of skeletons were going to be easy prey. So, there seems no reason why a whole range of skeleton minis with different powers shouldn't be possible. Historically speaking, my understanding is that the theme of death and resurrection has always been of paramount importance in throughout the existence of the ancient Egyptian culture. The whole mummification thing was an important part of the rituals that ensured one's resurrection in the afterlife, so I suspect that anyone who could afford the rite would have it performed, and it might even be that they'd save up for it specifically, so it might be that an army of egyptian skeletons is completely historically inaccurate. Well, this really depends on just when you're talking about. Burials, rather than cremations, seem to have been common practice in Egypt from back in the prehistoric and predynastic periods certainly, which could suggest an importance on retaining the whole body for the afterlife, but it may be simply what the custom was, as there are no records to say. Burials went through different phases in exactly how the body might be interred and with what. Tombs and coffins seem to come in around the First Dynasty period, so roughly 3000 BC, give or take a century or two using the conventional dating (which not everyone agrees with!). There is questionable evidence that some mummification may have begun in this period - maybe accidentally - but even when it became an apparently commoner deliberate practice, during the Old Kingdom period (maybe a couple of centuries either side of 2400 BC, give or take), it seems to have been the preserve of the elite, with most burials - even where tombs and coffins were involved - of simply wrapped, not mummified, bodies. So, I'd say no shortage of options for Egyptian-style skeletons after all! I haven't checked much of it for accuracy, but the Wikipedia page on Ancient Egyptian burial customs does seem to have a reasonable, brief summary of the highlights of what was preferred practice there and when. Sadly not, nor his equally talented partner Anitangel. |
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Post by bravesirkevin on Aug 5, 2014 9:20:14 GMT -9
All the talk of the new (5th edition) D&D rules has caused me to dig out some of my olde ancient D&D tomes from the late 1970s and early '80s. In one of those, the (original) Fiend Folio from 1981, there were Skeleton Warriors, essentially high-level - so, levels 10-15 in 1st edition AD&D terms - skeletons with additional strengths and powers. As I recall, there were other variants, "official" and less so, over time to increase the powers of basic skeletons too, to keep parties on their toes, so they couldn't just assume a group of skeletons were going to be easy prey. So, there seems no reason why a whole range of skeleton minis with different powers shouldn't be possible. Good old early DnD! I really jumped on board in the 90s during second ed while I was a teen, but I actually have quite a lot of the classic material including an original Red Box. There was quite a bit of oddity during those early days... Once they'd populated the game with every monster ever recorded in mythology, the ideas took a real turn for the weird. They'd grab two mundane creatures and mash them up (Owlbears anyone?), and then they'd find some typo somewhere and give it stats (like they did with the Thoul). After that they went on this sadistic streak where they went and made a bunch of seemingly innocuous things into instant TPKs... That's where the Gelatinous Cubes came from, and also all of the things that looked low-level but were actually deadly dangerous murder machines like skeletons that were actually level 15. A little after that it actually started going in the opposite, but equally sadistic direction... They had this one creature that looked almost exactly like a Beholder but that was completely harmless unless you attacked at which point it would explode in a deadly cloud of toxic gas that would almost certainly kill you and all of your friends. I personally haven't yet looked at the 5th Edition stuff, but the way 4th edition would handle it would be to have multiple varieties of each species of monster, ranging from bottom level cannon fodder that died with one hit all the up to monstrously powerful Boss varieties for the climax of the adventure. I wouldn't be that surprised if the better parts of that idea carried through. While I'd like to pretend I gave all of this and all of the important historical considerations a lot of deep and meaningful thought, in all honesty my train of thought really followed the lines of "you know what would be cool?" That's not to say there was no strategy to it all... Mostly I was thinking in terms of being able to create a unit of at least 10 completely unique skeletons regardless of the style your chose, so you could print 5 slingers with egyptian gear and 5 with bare bones and have 10 unique skeleton slingers, for example. The gladiator style can be mixed with the armoured style to give you 10 unique armoured skeletons. The pirate style, the rags and the bare bones could be combined to give you 15 unique swashbucklerish skeletons; and so on. |
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Post by WackyAnne on Aug 6, 2014 20:16:55 GMT -9
Gas spore! love 'em BTW, 5th is trying something different from 4th, in that "low level" beasties won't lose their relevance past low PC levels. I forget the specific term, and only have a couple minutes so will let you look it up in the free Basic Rules I'm having a blast with it so far! |
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Post by squirmydad on Aug 7, 2014 18:32:01 GMT -9
I'd just like to add that if you are looking for some cool Mummies to use with the skeletons you should probably check out the Egyptian set by our long-missing brother-in-arms Jabbro Jones. It's likely to be a long while before I get around to doing my own and he did a fantastic job of them. On the subject of him, does anyone know what became of him? |
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Post by WackyAnne on Aug 7, 2014 19:54:22 GMT -9
I'd just like to add that if you are looking for some cool Mummies to use with the skeletons you should probably check out the Egyptian set by our long-missing brother-in-arms Jabbro Jones. It's likely to be a long while before I get around to doing my own and he did a fantastic job of them. On the subject of him, does anyone know what became of him? I'm a huge fan of Jabbro's work, and have tracked down and printed off a good many minis of his, but as he left before I joined, I couldn't possibly pester him to return ;( |
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