Dungeons & Wrestling or WWE & Dragons?

Before I was ever a fan of geekdom I was a wrestling fan. Yes, I know it is not real, but neither are most Porn Stars' tits and you like them just the same I imagine as the pile of used tissues on your floor would have me believe.  For more on this I urge you to watch this video on YouTube. I mean the discussion on wrestling, not Porn Star tits, I am sure who have better suggestions then I could offer. No seriously, if you do please email me....

Now you would think a game about magic and dragons would have nothing to do with everyone's favorite sport involving big sweaty men. That is where you would be wrong. Watching Wrestling can make you a better roleplayer, heck even a DM. In this two part series I am going to look at wrestling's effect on players and in my next article I will focus on the DM.

1. Backstory, perhaps this is due to my Adventure League/PFS experiences, but most characters are a bundle of mechanics and not much more. Heck, they might not even have a name. You would think wrestling is just Big Sweaty Man #1 vs. Shorter Wider Big Sweaty Man #2.  Currently in wrestling we have a Cult Leader who seems to obtain his powers from the remains of his dead sister, another wrestler who receives a burst of power becoming the actual King of Demons, oh and there are two guys, one of whom is a dancer that both work as detectives dealing with issues of fashion! That sure sounds a great deal more interesting then saying "I'm a fighter." Just the few examples mentioned above all apply to guys who kick, punch, and essentially deal melee damage.

You can figure out who is who right?

2 .Gimic, this could also fall under backstory, but wrestlers have something they are known for. Style of dress, mannerisms, names of their moves, and even catch phases. These are all ways to dress up your play. Instead of saying I swing with my sword and crit, instead you used your patented overhead twisting slash that you call your sliced bread #4 (no shit, is  the name of an actual finishing move). Instead of saying "I hold my attack to wait for him to turn around", you could say :I swing my torso in 180 degrees and fall to the floor punching the ground and wait to strike." Perhaps your male wizard is known for being flamboyant and wearing a feathered gown.

Casting a Fireball...woo!

3. Define your stats/stlye of play. Do you want to know what St 18, Dex 14, Con 10 and Cha 6 look like?

See that little bastard behind him? That is what happens when you have the backing of a CHA 18 bard.

There are some wrestlers who can't work a mic to save their lives and others who can make reading the phone book be one of the most exciting experiences ever. Consider this when roleplaying your character. The mannerisms of these athletes can really help flesh out what the numbers mean. Next time you tell your DM you want to make an acrobatics check to avoid hitting the ground, use this example. Shoot ever wonder how a pyrotechnic spell, Darkness, and a Bard can support an intimidation check. Look up the Undead Wizard known as Undertaker for inspiration (I shit you not, there is an undead Wizard in wrestling.)

4.Put Over your party. The ending to wrestling matches are pre scripted, however the two athletes work off of one another. The guy who wins does so because the other guy allowed him to (as opposed to a real fight where the toughest guy wins) and this in the business is known as "putting someone over." In your group you as the player should be willing to put over the other players. Give the other guys time to shine and encourage them to utilize the skills they excel at. Imagine you are in a bar and pick a fight with an Orc as the wizard this would be a good time to encourage the party's barbarian to solve the situation you just started because unlike yourself...they can take a punch.

A move like this requires cooperation from both parties

5. Don't be John Cena!

Seriously, I know he gets to make the sexy time with her, but just don't.

For the last 10 years Cena has been a main eventer in the WWE and holding the championship on too many occasions often at the expense of other better wrestlers. Chances are your table has had a Cena at one time or another, the type of player that always has to be the center of attention, They have all the skills, all their stats are high, and they have the best magic items.  These type of players are the worst and automatically suck the fun out of the game. Don't be them!

Been gone a long time...Real Life and Commissions

Wow, I have missed you guys, oh hell...guy. I doubt anyone even follows my Blog, this is mostly an ego project. That being said, I need to do a better job of keeping this blog updated. My biggest issue has always been want, and I never want to write. Finding ways to best construct words in my head and put them on the screen has always been a struggle, I need to get better.

For the past 6 weeks I have been working on this monstrosity for a client. I have stopped playing GW a long time ago, but recently I have gotten back into GW as they have better changed their business model and more importantly seem...FUN. A gentleman I painted for back in the day approached me to do armies for him. I have not been a fan of such large lots, but I have bills to pay...and the wife wanted a deck for the house.

The army is the Kharadon Dwarves for Ages of Sigmar. I was excited by these models when I first saw them. I love the aesthetic. But after the 10th box I was like....please, make it stop. This was the largest commission that I have undertaken and I suspect there will be more. This is what I have learned.

1. It is a marathon, not a race. At writing of this I am 5'5 250, so yes I am fat, meaning I know fuck all about running, but I have friends who do and I understand the principals. This army is not going to be done in a week or two. You have to pace yourself.

2. Assembly line painting is a thing. I have always done assembly line painting: The brown on the palette id used on model's A hair and then on model B's Boots. That is why if you ever look at my auction lots, you can see the same 30 colors used at various intervals. With an army like this, you might spend 2-3 hours just doing eye lenses, which I did.

3. Colored Spray is your friend. I am breaking down and buying an airbrush as it seems like I will be doing more army work like this in the future. Blocking out large surfaces at once is a time saver.

4. Assemble....everywhere. I was working on putting these models together during my prep period at my teaching job, during Friday Night Magic, and during my weekly  D&D game. Although I always work on models during D&D to help me focus. ADD sucks.

5.Take breaks. In the time I was working on these models I still knocked out a few small lots for other people, ebay, and my own gaming. Projects like that helped me keep my sanity, Painting something like a naked barbarian chick or SF model helped me keep my sanity.

6, Know when to stop, there comes a time at night where you need to shut your desk lamp off and walk away, which is what I ended up doing often.

7, Background distractions are important. During the time of working on these mdoels I polished off season 5 of House of cards, my usual shows on Netflix, and a ton of YouTube podcasts. Shout out to Word Funk.

I am sure there are people who can better eloquently explain the process, but as I said...EGO.

Let's Talk About Racks

Oh, sorry, not that kind. My "special file" must have gotten confused with the clip art I use for this blog. Sorry Marie Claude Bourbonnais.

Instead I want to talk about Paint Racks. I recently received a pretty cool laser cut MDF rack from NEWay Designs and I thought it would be a good time to talk about what and why I use what I use. Here is my current set up. As you can see I use various racks from different companies. There is a homemade wrack consisting of drilled 2x2 to accommodate dropper bottles, a Paintier 80 turning wrack, and an acrylic nail polish rack bought on Ebay from my wife. I told her I wanted either a 3 way with Amy Schumer, to be right for just one day, or the rack. Guess what I got?

The Paintier 80 has by far been my longest use storage device. I can easily move it via the handle on the top and I have owned it for about 20 years or so and it turns just as good the day I got it. It still bears the damage of paint strokes gone wrong and while it can hold dropper bottles they can easily get knocked over. It is more so meant for GW bottles hence the reason I bought it many years ago. The wood rack was made for me by a friend who shall we say has a problem when it comes to Woodworking...he must own all the tools. Based on his expertise and arsenal was able to knock out the thing in under an hour. It sat unused for a long time as I did not have the space for it. Now with my newer setup it holds all my metallic paints.  For the longest time I had a hogepodge of GW, alcohol metallics, and P3 that sat cramped on my Paintier 80 for the longest time I am now able to spread them out. Based on my set up I hope you can draw a few conclusions. I am a creature of  habit, I desire function over form, I am cheap, and if it ain't broke don't fix it.

The NEWay tray I was fortunate to win via a Facebook contest. Which is great, because my luck is crap (you should see me roll dice). The rack holds 27 paints and is meant to be modular combining with elements from their other lines to create an entire paint station for your desk. The rack consist of 6 Laser Cut Plywood sheets that easily and snugly fit together.

I can hold it on its side and it will not slide apart. I imagine a good bead of wood glue would make thing super sturdy. It holds any normal 18ML dropper bottle, modeled here by Army Painter Reaper MS, and Vellejo. There is a decent amount of room on the top if you want to store your larger paints, glue, or current projects

The cost for this item on their website (link above) is 19.95.

Pros:
Made in the USA by gamers
Sturdy construction
Holds all major brands of dropper paint
Modular
Aesthetically pleasing (my opinion)

Cons:
Does not fill my needs (see below)
Cost (see below)

Final Thoughts.
Giving me this item is like giving me a new Lamborghini. I am going to be appreciative, but I might not be the right audience for it. As stated I like to be cheap, and I need things to have a purpose regardless of how they might look. I own simply too many paints and have a system in place for this item to be of use for me. To accommodate my current collection I would be dropping over a 140 bucks and still not have a place for my larger paints. I have been since been contacted by one of the owners who CAN CUT TRAYS TO GW AND OTHER NON DROPPER BOTTLES, my mistake.

However that being said I would totally recommend this rack to a more hobby based beginning painter with better self control. This rack can easily be filled with paints and left on a shelf until needed and 20 bucks is not bad if you plan to keep your collection small. Our hobby is a great deal smaller than you think and when you buy from an artist you are not just purchasing their knowledge and skill, but a small piece of their heart and soul. The fact this item is made by people who are part of OUR hobby, put their name out there and on this product should be final evidence as to the worth of this product.