A Delving we will go....

Since entering the war gaming hobby I have found that I missed the aspects of role playing within the game. Sure, from time to time we as players would taunt and poke fun at our opponent in terrifically manly voices, and would bring personalities to certain models. But the drive for advancement and reputation seemed to be missing.   

It wasn't until I stumbled upon "Goal System Delves" on the "Lead Adventure forum" that I realized that I may have stumbled upon a game that bridged the gaping hole between tabletop gaming and role playing. (Delves is a fantasy setting tabletop game, where you have players controlling models and a GM who controls the adventure. The players can be developed and advance in levels. I.e. Hero's quest meets D&D) I quickly fired off a PM to the creator to see if I could be apart of the play testing. To my surprise Scott was more then willing to accommodate and a beta copy of the rules were soon to follow. 

Unfortunately my timing was a little off as the summer season was just starting. Renovations and family activities took precedence to my beloved hobby. I did however keep in touch with Scott and obtained and updated copy of the rules. 

Upon receiving the rules I quickly read them from cover to cover making notes and creating my own documents from the main ruleset. In a nut shell I created documents for each of the major categories within the game for ease of use. I.e Character creation, Adventures, Hazards, etc. (One of the cool features with the system is that it gives you the ability to create new races, classes, creatures, etc. The possibilities are limitless.)

Once completed I began to work on the opening adventure for my playing group. Currently I have three players committed; Jason (AK.A. JET), Marc and Ken. They will use one model each until we are all comfortable with the system and go from there. Without giving to much away I plan on having the first adventure start in the Highlands of Pondu. This will be a frosty wilderness of sorts. 

Here is a shot of the current table I am working on. All terrain excluding the trees are scratch built. The table itself is 3x4, which is both easy to store and transport. It is fairly light weight being made from mdf. The forest templates are cut in various sizes and the trees are able to be removed if needed. I have five more templates cut that I will need to finish for this project.

This is a close up of the frozen river system. I used mdf and cut each piece around 6" excluding the angles. The ice pans are melted white wax, and the glossy covering is Modge Podge to give the 3D effect of water. The pieces are not quite finished as I need to flock and do a touch of highlighting.

The bridge over the river is made from cardboard, craft sticks (Popsicle sticks), tooth picks and four pieces from a Games Workshop Imperial Sector set. 

What would a fantasy game be without the delving into a dungeon or chasing some bandits into a underground tunnel system. To represent this I have decided to use tiles from my Descent board game by Fantasy Flight Games. 

The furniture is from the old Hero's Quest game. I have begin to paint them to bring them to life. The model is from the Vampire Wars line from West Wind Games. He is actually used for another game called Chaos in Carpathia. Another great game based on the Goal System.

Another close up of what the tiles will look like and more models from the West Wind line. I also have numerous other terrain pieces that are assembled and primed. I won't disclose them yet as I want to keep something a surprise for the players. But don't worry I will give a full report when we are able to play test.

Until next time,

Tenz