Monday, March 9, 2015

'Antihero' from DavidB - 'Seeker and Ranger'


Back in my youth, my friends and I played Dungeons & Dragons. One of my friends introduced us to RuneQuest which was a more elegant D&D rule set. RuneQuest did not have a lot of modules and our adventures all came from Blaine's imagination. I don't like elves, but I was given an Elven Seeker to play. Seekers are guardians of the Elven land and masters of sword and bow. They can cast magic that is matched to their swordsmanship, and their archery skills are also magnified through spells and the "heartbow" which they grow themselves.  A great evil destroyed the land and my character barely escaped with his twin blades. Still a good archer, the heartbow was lost in the fight.


Rangers exist in Blaine's campaign, but a Ranger's primary role is to kill elves that venture from the elven realm. A cousin played a ranger who seen first hand the fall of the kingdom and what came next. Her skill with a bow was only overshadowed by her sarcasm, which never helped us in diplomacy! Enduring long running feuds between the two characters, our party toppled kingdoms of men, ruined towns and caused all sorts of problems for the realms. All while chasing down obscure artifacts that would seal the rift leading to the realm of demons. These two characters would often agree only on using violence to achieve party goals when diplomacy could have prevented the endless parade of bounty hunters and would be heroes trying to take out this unlikely duo. Sorta like Outlaw Josey Wales! ;)

My kids actually picked these out while I was restocking paint. I was looking for the Reaper mini not-Josey Wells, but the FLGS only carried fantasy, GW, and Privateer Press stuff. Not a single cowboy, mobster, or even historical mini to be found! Still, these Reaper minis represent well some old PC's and mine was heavily inspired by that iconic Clint Eastwood character! He even wore a hood and scarf to hide his elven features! The Ranger was labeled a deserter and worse by her former friends and also was wanted for punishment. No wonder they were both very violent!


I used the same colors on the ranger's cloak as the camouflage that was used on Terra Force. Since the ranger's had no magic, they relied on color shifting cloaks to hide from the elves they stalked. The elves never let on that only human eyes were affected by them!


My character, the Seeker. Seekers are like an elfish  SpecOps.
I began experimenting with gold NMM with this one. This fellow can increase speed, damage, and even rebound magic once he gets his spells going. No armor or shields needed for Seekers.


Check that out! He also has a hood to match the scarf. (Okay, so the Reaper mini is wearing more of a balaclava, but it is sooooo close to my old PC!)


A couple of wanted fugitives destined for Curt's Case.
two 28mm Curtgeld

9 comments:

  1. Cool back story sounds like a fun campaign makes me nostalgic for the old days playing D&D. Two very nice figures.

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    1. Thank you, Adam! It was a very fun campaign and very far removed from shining armor and damsels in distress...some of the damsels were apt to distress the party! ;)

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  2. A great back story to these two characters - it sounds like you and your cousin had great fun playing that campaign :)

    ps - you only get the extra Curtgeld points for one of the figures, not both! ;)

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    1. Thank you, Tamsin! We did have a blast with the characters! She would refer to my character as a vile, pointed ear, demon; I would refer to her and the rest of the party as ignorant monkeys. ;)
      I figured as a matched set of ne'er do wells, it'd probably be better to have them both in eyesight! Plus a partial payment for the past challenges that I commented on but didn't enter. ;)

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  3. Fantastic stuff David. I like that you went with a personal recollection/interpretation of the antihero theme. The camo on the cloak of the Ranger is great - it reminds me of the scheme you used for some of your 15mm modern stuff this year.

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    1. Thank you, Curt! I couldn't find Tecumseh ( but I consider him a hero without the anti!) It was serendipity that my kid's found these while I was looking for the not- Josey Wells.
      The party visited lots of mayhem, but still aided the defenseless... If it didn't interfere much with the mission! ;)

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  4. Nice work David. Excellent back story and one that was created over time no doubt. cheers

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    1. Thank you! Blaine did put a lot of work in the world he created. His villains were all more PCs than NPCs! They would return often and seemed to advance in skill as much as the party did. His Blood Mage the "Puppet Master" was one that I'd still like to find and totally end!

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