dmcatbat

[dmcatbat]

Greetings!

There's a hidden cave at sea, where up-to-no-good sailors from all over exchange their ill-gotten goods for gold and other artifacts of dubious origin.

Away from prying eyes, the cave boasts the highest number of cursed items being traded left and right. And it's one of such items that the party of adventurers need to continue their quest.

Undercover, the group infiltrates the cave on their humble boat. Posing as crazy pirates, the heroes talk and barter their way into obtaining the ancient relic.

But will they escape unnoticed? Or will a small mistake put the whole cave full of pirates against them?

You can see a preview of this map’s Patreon content by clicking here.

If you liked the map I’d be extremely thankful if you considered supporting me on my Patreon, rewards include higher resolution files, gridless versions, alternate versions, line versions, PSDs and more. Thank you!

[dmcatbat]

Interesting, interesting...Time for more science!

[dmcatbat]

IMPORTANT QUESTION (for science)

[dmcatbat]

Saw this Clockwork Hydra mini by Misty Mountain Gaming at MAGfest and HAD to buy him! Instantly fell in love with him and painted him almost as soon as I got home!

He got the photoshoot treatment.

[dmcatbat]

Took a couple weeks off of art to just paint minis, including this Tarrasque by Archon! (My hot take- this guy looks WAY better than the Wizkids one.)

Anyway, I love him. But he's hard to photograph.

[dmcatbat]

Greetings!

The party has need to get dirty once again for their travels have brought them to one of the nastiest of places where they can be: the city sewers.

The labyrinthine tunnels of stone are full of nasty stuff that is better left unmentioned, and the fetid odors are enough to make someone wish to be in any other place but here.

Still, the group of heroes has to navigate this awful place and locate the exit that will bring them closer to the guarded place they need to be in.

Can the party be able to navigate this filthy sewage? And did that lump of foulness just move over there?

You can see a preview of this map’s Patreon content by clicking here.

If you liked the map I’d be extremely thankful if you considered supporting me on my Patreon, rewards include higher resolution files, gridless versions, alternate versions, line versions, PSDs and more. Thank you!

[dmcatbat]

Some minis I can finally photograph!

The first two images (night spirits by ClayBeastCreation and the dwarf ghouls by Duncan Shadow) were painted in January for my spouse's game and they were just revealed this past week!

The second two (tentacle tome from Folklore: The Affliction and the owl thief by Epics N Stuff) are part of my ongoing effort to work through my Pile of Shame!

[dmcatbat]

Maaaay have just finished a big painting project...

[dmcatbat]

Immediately I'm seeing that DM/Player preferences are like love languages. As a DM you might prefer presenting one thing and then as a player you might prefer another. It's really cute!

As a DM I LOVE making sets and props for my players. As a player, I love music and voices!

This is for explicitly DM EXTRAS! Things people dont necessarily expect from a DM but that are a fun perk when the DM does them!

This does not include things like "good story," "world building," or "session 0" as these are typically somewhat expected things, not "extras."

[dmcatbat]

Working on fixing up a sewer set, complete with resin "water."

This is just a little preview but I'm really pleased with it so far!

[dmcatbat]

This is for explicitly DM EXTRAS! Things people dont necessarily expect from a DM but that are a fun perk when the DM does them!

This does not include things like "good story," "world building," or "session 0" as these are typically somewhat expected things, not "extras."

[dmcatbat]

This week's menagerie entry continues my "lil guy" type of creatures. Say hi to the Candle pup a being that brings light and liveliness to any mage tower!

[dmcatbat]

My "Blessings of Bacchus" dice are available on etsy!

Dirty pour light purple, dark purple, white, and gold dice with holographic inserts! Inked in bright gold! This is honestly one of my favorite purple sets I've done!

Available as regular dice sets and a jumbo d20!

[dmcatbat]

Some people have asked me if I can publish my mapmaking tools. So I developed a software. 🙂

Here is the result:

[dmcatbat]

The BBC is releasing over 16,000 sound effects for free download

[dmcatbat]

Fantasy Guide to Ships, Boats and Nautical Lingo

Of all the ways to travel in fantasy and historical novels, there are two favoured ones: horses and ships. But I covered the horses already so here we have some ship terminology and kinds of ships.

Common Boat Terms

Aft/Stern - The back of a ship.

Bow - The bow is the front part of the ship, the pointy part or the place where Kate Winslet stood on in Titanic.

Port - The left side of the ship

Starboard - The right side of the ship

Windward - The wind the direction is blowing.

Hull- outside of the ship

Leeward - Or sometimes called the lee. This is the opposite direction of the wind is blowing

Boom - A horizontal pole extending from the base of the main mast. It adjusted toward the wind direction in order to harness the wind for the sails.

Rudder - The rudder is a flat piece of wood below the ship, used to steer the ship. It is connected to the wheel of the ship.

Tacking - A common sailing maneuver that involves turning the bow through the wind, to change the wind direction from one side of the ship to the other, making the boom move.

Underway- This is when the ship is moving

Astern- The ship is moving backwards

Amidships- Middle of the boat

Topside- when you move from the lower decks to the upper deck

Compartments of the ship

Most ships would have compartments inside the hull and underneath the deck.

Cabins- most war ships and merchant ships would only have one or two main cabin occupied by the captain and higher crew.

Galley- The kitchen on board the ship. The galley would be fitted with tables and cabinets. Galleys were built in such a way that they were more resistant to the heaving of the ship. Most galleys were built with special stoves to stop people from colliding with them and things from spilling out of pots and pans.

Wardroom- some ships are built with a common room for the crew. The wardroom acted as a common room as well as a dining room. It would usually be conjoined with the galley.

Sick Bay- is the compartment of the ship that is given over to the injured and sick. The sick bay would hold the medicines and medical devices and would often be under lock and key.

Hold- This will be the largest compartment in the ship were the cargo or the ship's weapons.

Crew and Positions aboard the Ship

Captain

When we think of captains we imagine them as blackhearted slave drivers (something akin to managers in the customer service industry) but on further research you will find that is not true. There are two kinds of Captains you find in history. Pirate captains and Legitimate Captains. Pirate captains were elected by their merit in battle and dedication to the crew. They were considered equal to the crew, only taking full charge during raids and battles. In the Navy or any legal-bound ship, captains were selected by rank and wealth. There was no equality between captain and crew as in pirate ships. Legal ships were Capitalists and the Pirates were Democratic.

First Mate

First Mate is the captain's deputy. They act as captain when the captain cannot. This was mainly seen in Navies and merchant ships as Pirates usually placed their quartermaster as their deputies.

Quartermaster

The Quartermaster was in charge of ensuring that the ship ran smoothly, rather like the ship's HR manager. The Quartermaster was in charge of supplies and had certain powers such as being able to punish the crew for minor infractions.

Sailing Master

These were officers in charge of piloting the ship. They would have to be educated enough to read a map and was a much desired position because it was a fair paying job. Pirates usually kidnapped sailing masters from ships they attacked to use aboard their own ships.

Gunner

Gunners were the overseers of any many qualified to load and fire guns. They were in charge of aiming cannons and making sure the crew were safely using guns. Most the guns were loaded by young boys called powder monkeys.

Boatswain

Boatswains or junior officers would act as supervisors, watching over the crew as they did their duties. If things were not going well they reported to the captain or quartermaster to punish the crew.

Surgeons

Surgeons handled any diseases and wounds. Since being at sea limited the amount of medicine available. Most ship's surgeons were forced to cut off limbs to avoid infection pike gangrene. Surgeons may not always be found on ships. Cooks or carpenters were often pressed to do amputations: meat was meat and cutting was cutting.

Cooks

All ships needed somebody to cook. Navies and merchant ships would often have trained cooks while on pirate ships it was just a crewmember who was handy in the kitchen.

Kinds of Ship

(Not a complete list, may post more later.)

Brig- A brig is the ship that one most thinks of when you think of a ship. The brig is a large vessel, set with a pair of square-rigged masts. Brigs were fast ships and highly maneuverable. They were used as merchant ships and warships.

Galley- The galley is propelled via oars. The hull is long and slender and most of them featured larger sails. Galleys often were rowed by slaves and used in war.

Galleon- Galleons were large ships, built with multiple decks, carrying three or more masts with square raised stern. The Galleon was usually rigged with square sails on the fore-mast and main-masts.

Caravel- The caravel was a small ship with triangular sails, famed for its manoeuvrability and speed.

Longship- The longships were the ships of the Vikings. They were slender ships, narrow. They were able to keep afloat in shallow waters as well as the deep sea. Longships were able to reverse quickly, a very important skill. The longship was a warship, a raider's ship propelled by oars.

Carrack- the carrack was a large ship, often built with mass cargo holds making the most popular ship to go on long voyages on. The carrack had three or four masts.

Cog- This ship was a large vessel, the hull wide and large. The ship is propelled by a great single sail flown from a tall mast.

Junk- The junk or Chinese junk was a kind of coastal or river ship used as merchant ships, pleasure ships and sometimes houseboats. They are small ships and made with battened sails rather resembling wings.

Trireme- the trireme was a slender ship set with three banks of oars pulled by one man each. The trireme had a concave hull and usually had an underwater ram at the prow of the ship.

For @viola-cola

[dmcatbat]

I’ve just published my new battle map, the Timber Brook. It’s a 44x32 remaster of the first battle map I ever published: the Autumn Stream. 🍁

→ The Timber Brook

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