A Moldy Assessment

Okay, I admit it. That was a pretty bad pun. Or it will be when you find out the topic of this latest post.

Just this morning, Adam Page (@blindgeekuk) was showing off some sample blocks from Hirst Arts® molds on Twitter. He was wondering whether it was more cost effective to buy block sets from various vendors, or just invest in the (sometimes significant) cost of the molds.  Being a big fan of Bruce's work, I encouraged him to consider investing in the molds, as the casts he could create would pay for the mold's value (relative to blocks available for sale) in a relatively short period of time. 

I informed Adam that I owned 13 Hirst Arts® molds, and that I would try to show off which ones those were.  Here's the list:

Fieldstone Wall Mold (#70)  (x2)

Fieldstone Accessories Mold (#71)

4" Round Fieldstone Mold (#72)

Dragon's Teeth Accessory Mold (#80)

Water Cavern Wall Mold (#82)

Cavern Accessory Mold (#85) 

Egyptian Pyramid Accessory Mold (#96)

Cracked Floor Tiles Mold (#203)

Flagstone Floor Tile Mold (#260)

Fieldstone Slab Mold (#261)

Cavern Floor Mold (#281)

Cavern Floor Accessory Mold (#282)

*All images from Hirst Arts® and are used without permission.



This is, by no means, the end of my wish lists for Hirst Arts® molds. I'd love to get more of the cavern molds (there's like 3 more, I think) and I'd like to get some more of the Egyptian and perhaps some specialty molds, like the small brick mold or the wooden planking mold. At $30 a piece, I've been spreading out my purchases for almost 10 years. However, if well treated, the molds last a LONG time, and you receive a very large return on you investment. That return is decreased somewhat if you use expensive dental stone or other cements (like Merlin's Magic), but if you opt for serviceable (and ordinary) Plaster of Paris, you'll get a LOT of value for your money.

For those folks out there that enjoy building their own dungeon terrain, Hirst Arts® is difficult to beat!

To Adam and any of you other dungeon terrain junkies out there, I hope this list gets you started!

Until next time...

Game excellently with one another.

Julian Becomes Vampire Jesus

Some weird things happen on Twitter.

A few months ago, one of my Twitter friends by the name of Brian Patterson (@d20Monkey) was referring to my avatar. The long hair, and "smoky" expression (I guess?) led him to refer to the icon as "Vampire Jesus". The resulting conversation was hilarious, and it led Brian to feature him in his increasingly popular RPG Web comic called, "d20 Monkey". 

When you get a chance, hit up his site, and catch up from the beginning. Then stick that comic in your RSS feed, because it will regularly give you a great laugh.

I'm flattered that Brian chose that image (and even mentioned my "handle" by name). He's a talented artist and has done guest spots for HijiNKS ENSUE and also the Caption Comics feature for Obsidian Portal. 

In case you've been living in a hole and don't recall what the avatar looks like, I'll refer you to this image:

I want to give credit where it's due. I wouldn't have access to this image if it wasn't for a generous gift by my brother-in-law (who was my DM at the time), and an artist he commissioned, to do some character sketches as rewards for a quick return on character backgrounds.

The original artist's name is lost to me. I searched for about an hour through my G-mail account, but couldn't for the life of me find the artist. If any of the old "Wanderers of Eberron" read this post, and remember, let me know. I'll edit the post and give proper credit.

The portrait is originally that of Julian Vanderdecken. An Orien courier (and general rake) from Eberron. In case you're interested, here's are some story links relevant to the character.

Julian's Background Story


A Bit of Julian's Past


Once again, I want to thank Brian for the mention, and honoring the name of "deadorcs" in his web comic.  Rock on, Dude.

UPDATE!  Thanks to my sister, I now have the name of the artist. The talented individual that provided Julian's image is Dave McNeal.  Visit his site and check out some more of his fantastic art!

Until next time...

Game excellently with one another.