Thursday, September 30, 2021

Orb of Safekeeping

Props & Beyond produces 3D models of tabletop RPG props.  They have a cool selection of items, including this Cryptex-style "Orb of Safekeeping".

 


 

Wednesday, September 29, 2021

Something Wicked This Way Comes

This fantastic creature costume is how Stephen Canfield is teasing a Halloween Mythos-themed LARP event.


 

Tuesday, September 28, 2021

Cthulhu Fhtagn! Sebs Edition

 This custom Cthulhu idol comes to us from Sebs Customs.  



 

Monday, September 27, 2021

Skyrim Daggers

 Arsynal Props returns to our pages with this cool collection of daggers from Skyrim.


 

Thursday, September 23, 2021

Red Lyrium

 Ammnra brings us these recreations of the red lyrium crystals from the Dragon Age videogame series.


 

Wednesday, September 22, 2021

Scarab Amulet

This scarab amulet from Burned Raven Tales is great, but the presentation really kicks it up a notch.



 

Tuesday, September 21, 2021

Miskatonic University Abyssinian Expedition

While the missions to Antarctica and Australia get most of the attention, Miskatonic University mounted dozens of expeditions to locations around the world.  Andrea Bonazzi brings us this photograph of two intriguing figures discovered during the 1926 Abyssinian project.


 

Monday, September 20, 2021

Witcher Trophy

Sander Propworx took a break from their excellent LARP weapons to create this monstrous trophy head inspired by the Witcher series.  Crafted from foam, epoxy, and faux fur.



 

Thursday, September 16, 2021

A Tall Ship, and a Star to Steer Her By

  For gamers of a certain age, the Imperial Type-S Scout/Courier is iconic.  It was one of the go-to player ships in Traveller, the first major science fiction role-playing game.  I spent many a weekend roaming around the Spinward Marches in a Type-S in the 70s and 80s, and it's been a part of every single edition of the game since then.  

  That's one of the reasons I was intrigued by 2nd Dynasty's Kickstarter to produce a tabletop scale miniature of the ship.  They've made a specialty of producing digital spacecraft models designed for 3D printing and sized for the gaming table.  How cool is that?

  Now Seth Skorkowski has provided an in-depth review of the model.   He's one of my favorite YouTubers, thanks in large part to his focus on scenarios for the Call of Cthulhu RPG.  His review embraces the inherent awesomeness of the Type-S miniature, but it's tempered with some caveats.  That includes the sheer amount of effort, including 450 hours (!) of 3D printing time, needed to create the model.  In response, 2nd Dynasty posted a video addressing those concerns.  Both videos are worth a watch.

  I love the possibilities of a project like this, but I'm not sure if the technology is quite there yet.  In the video you can see the filament printed parts have the distinctive striations produced as the hot plastic is deposited on the master, something that bugs me to no end.  Those artifacts make me think conventional resin casting would be a better approach for at least some of the parts in a model like this. 

 

Cthulhu Altar

George Tsougkouzidis is no stranger to these pages.  His latest is this colorful take on his Cthulhu altar sculpt, demonstrating that he's as good with a paintbrush as he is with clay.



 

Wednesday, September 15, 2021

Mummified Fairy

Elsie Wright is the amateur photographer who captured the infamous photos of the Cottingley Fairies.  Dan Baines of Lebanon Circle has uncovered some convincing evidence she captured far more than some intriguing pictures.  This mummified fairy was reportedly discovered in a sewing box once owned by Ms. Wright.



 

Tuesday, September 14, 2021

Servants of the Empire

 I've said it before, but it bears repeating.  Russian Warhammer LARPs are insane.  This amazingly costumed unit of Imperial forces comes to us from the appropriately named Russian LARP.


 

Monday, September 13, 2021

Lich's Phylactery

Jeff Devine of The Museum of Intrigue was kind enough to send over these shots of a lich's phylactery that featured prominently in an event over the weekend.

I work for the Museum of Intrigue (an innovative hybrid "excaperoom") in Syracuse, NY, and we have just started doing a new special after hours spookie game, The Haunt.

The game is limited to just 10 players and is played with the lights out in our 9,000 sqft Museum. The players need to identify and dispel an unknown entity from the Museum. Since we are only running the game a few times a month, we can change the type of entity (and the way to dispel it) for each game.

This Sunday yours truly gets to be the monster, a Litch in this case, and I decided to spend a little time and cobble together a phylactery.

It is made from the thigh bone of a Whitetailed Deer, banded in hand forged copper, and doodled upon with a Sharpie.


 

Friday, September 10, 2021

Mandrake

Note: The earlier post from today contained a spoiler for an event taking place this weekend.  To maintain the mystery I've rescheduled it for Monday morning.

 Russian artist Max Ovanesyants brings us this well-preserved mandrake specimen.



 

Thursday, September 9, 2021

Assassin's Creed Valhalla Axes

Artist Victoria Hofferson crafted these recreations of the axes from Assassin's Creed Valhalla for an upcoming fan project.  They were digitally sculpted, 3D printed, molded in silicone, and then cast in foam.  Foam!


 

Wednesday, September 8, 2021

Crow Spirit

The Fey are by nature capricious, but they can be downright vicious when they're defending their young.  Alice Tochylovska returns to our pages with this crow spirit and its offspring.


 

Tuesday, September 7, 2021

Great Grimoire

 Alex Libris returns to our pages with this wonderful hand-crafted tome.  Featuring a tooled leather cover, custom embossment, and brass hardware.


 

Monday, September 6, 2021

At the Mountains of Madness Diorama

This is insanely cool.  "Billn53" at the BritModeller forums created this diorama of the Miskatonic University expedition to Antarctica, featuring the fateful flight to the Elder Thing city.  I could quibble with the use of a Ford Trimotor instead of the canon Dornier Wal, but that would be picayune.  To the average person the Trimotor is far more familiar, having played a vital part in Byrd's 1929 expedition.

There's so much to like here.  You really have to click through and check out the full gallery.  The diorama is filled with amazing details and easter eggs, including the story's giant albino penguins, the all-too-descriptive wall carvings, and a hungry shoggoth.




Friday, September 3, 2021

Great Cthulhu

Artist Evan Tortorelli brings us this massive Cthulhu figure.  The original was sculpted digitally and then 3D printed on a high resolution resin printer.



 

Thursday, September 2, 2021

War Axe

 This cool LARP safe war axe comes to use from Boros Props.  


 

Wednesday, September 1, 2021

Crown of Eyes

 This creepy crown of eyes comes to us from Karen Main.  I love the organic texture work.