Wednesday, December 27, 2023

[Secret Santicorn!!] A second, more serious oracle for character simulation: The Methodical Oracle

As promised, a more serious offering for Kirt Dankmeyr, based on his request of a "A small oracle for solo OSR play oriented toward simulating party members and not the GM. Tho bonus points for a GM replacement oracle that dovetails with the first one".


The Methodical Oracle!

The point of this small oracle is to aid the solo GM in "in-character" decision making.

Create a Profile for each player character in the party by assigning one of the five Methods to each slot:

Profile types:

Balanced

Focused

Hyperfocused

Method slots

2-3

2

2

Rare

4-5

3-5

3-4

Secondary

6-8

6-8

5-9

Main

9-10

9-11

10-11

Secondary

11-12

12

12

Rare

The five Methods:

Violence

Direct confrontation, brute-forcing

Diplomacy

Smooth-talking, bartering, calling in other parties (e.g. NPCs)

Knowledge

Monster lore, survivalism, arts & crafts, history & politics

Trickery

Exploitation of the space, devices, creative use of objects, falsehoods

Magic

Spell-slinging, prayer to higher forces, decipherment of arcane clues, activation of weird objects


The Procedure:

At any decision point, pick or randomize a lead character. Then roll 2d6 and consult the character’s Profile to see which Method they offer.

To make things more interesting, pick or randomize a second character and cross-check their Method using the same roll result as the lead’s (so if you rolled 6 for the lead, check what’s a 6 on the second character’s Profile). Describe the conflict or the synthesis of their Methods. You can use a standard Reaction roll to see whether the other character likes or dislikes the alternative proposal.

 

Example Profiles:

Bubba the Wizard

Hyperfocused

Method

2

Violence

3-4

Knowledge

5-9

Magic

10-11

Trickery

12

Diplomacy

 

Morax the Duelist

Focused

Method

2

Knowledge

3-5

Trickery

6-8

Diplomacy

9-11

Violence

12

Magic

 

Example Decisions:

Situation 1.

The party enters a cave, the lair of a dozen goblins. The goblins are surprised. Bubba the Wizard takes the lead, and, after some deliberations (2d6: 11 = Trickery), offers to sneak by them. Morax the Duelist (11 = Violence) might offer to take advantage of the situation and charge the unaware goblins.

Situation 2.

The party is looking for their patron’s stolen ring in the big city. Morax the Duelist takes the lead and comes up with the ingenious plan (2d6: 5 = Trickery) to create a fake ring. Bubba the Wizard (5 = Magic, Reaction roll: 9 = Positive) agrees and checks his books for an illusion spell to help with the plan.




Friday, December 15, 2023

[Secret Santicorn!!] Player simulation oracle for solo games

It's Santicorn-time on the OSR discord server!

Kirt Dankmyer requested "A small oracle for solo OSR play oriented toward simulating party members and not the GM. Tho bonus points for a GM replacement oracle that dovetails with the first one."

Okay, my entry here is a bit of a stretch... But to truly replicate the OSR (and RPG...) experience, you need to account for the whims of the players themselves! So, you, as the solo DM, present the situation, then roll to see just how you, the solo player, are interested in this stuff...

THE PLAYER REACTION CHART (2D6)

 

 

Sample quip (1d5)

2

deal with it begrudgingly


1.    “Mehh, I think riddles are stupid”

2.    “Sure, although this is not how Jeff runs it”

3.    “This fight is a slog, I stab myself”

4.    “Ugh, not *another* ‘you start in a tavern’ session”

5.    “This goes against all established lore though”


3-5

scatterbrain


1.    “Sorry, I thought this was still Elsa’s turn”

2.    “Remind me, who is this guy again”

3.    “Wait, what do I roll for that?”

4.    “Yeah, it’s on my character sheet. Or this piece of scratch paper. I just can’t read it”

5.    “Can I borrow your dice?”


6-8

acknowledge & participate


1.    “Yes, this is all part of the game”

2.    “Fair enough, I hit it with my sword”

3.    “I ask the wizard if he knows the location of Castle whatsitsname”

4.    “My thief checks the lock for traps”

5.    “We ascend the stairs”


9-11

honest interest


1.    “Oh, I have this in my notes!”

2.    “Let’s try and befriend these goblins, we need allies against the Fish Lords”

3.    “That blacksmith is quite a character, I’m sure we can ask about her battlescars AFTER we are done with what we had planned”

4.    “What a quirky trap! We reset it to lure the next monster into it”

5.    “And I have just the spell we need!”


12

HYPERFIXATE


1.    “OMG so adorable let’s adopt this random gnome fighter”

2.    “We could make so much money by bottling the healing water from this random pool! Leave dungeon crawling behind”

3.    “I check for secret doors and traps every 5’ instead of 10’. There MUST be something here”

4.    “No, these broken chairs cannot simply be dungeon dressing. The GM mentioned them for a reason”

5.    “Okay, I examine the next book. And the next. The next one too…”


  



Thursday, December 7, 2023

More adventures in miniature painting

I painted a couple more miniatures. I'm taking it slow, savoring the process... Soon I will have enough for a warband or two, to play some skirmish games. I'm building terrain/ruins as well. I might play Frostgrave or Song of Blades and Heroes. 


So who do we have here? From left to right:
  • Witch, casting a fire spell from a scroll! A Frostgrave Wizards II figurine. I'm quite happy with how she turned out. The burning scroll in particular. I didn't intend her to be so Dragonbally, but these things happen...
  • Skeleton, champion of the oppressed! A Wargames Atlantic skeleton. The horned skull is supposed to be for the standard, but looks good on the model too.
  • Skeleton, laughing and chilling! A Wargames Atlantic Late Roman soldier, with a skull. I particularly like the casual pose.
  • Tiger-man warrior! A Wargames Atlantic Dark Age Irish body combined with a goblin head. Initially I wanted to do an orc, but then decided to do a beast-person instead! 

Friday, December 1, 2023

[Review] The Shattered Circle by Bruce R. Cordell (1998, AD&D 2e)

I’m finally taking the time to finish this review, because Jenx told me it’s a good practice to review adventure’s you’ve run. And I agree.


The Shattered Circle is a Dungeon.

It is a pretty solid dungeon.

It is also often overlooked, despite having been written by a pretttty famous designer, Bruce R. Cordell. It came out towards the end-times of TSR D&D (for AD&D 2e), and, among that batch of adventures, it is overshadowed by his works for later editions, or the Sahuagin or the Illithid Trilogies.

When compared to those adventure cycles, The Shattered Circle is different in scope and aim. It’s supposed to be a true adventure MODULE, one that you can easily slot into your own world. So, while I was also drawn to the over-the-top beauty of, say, Cordell’s The Gates of Firestorm Peak, I picked this one when I needed a medium-sized dungeon complex to slot into the 5e campaign I ran back when (there is a Classic Modules Today supplement available). It’s almost setting-neutral. And the dungeon’s connections to the overworld are easy to tailor to your own liking. And you probably should, because the hooks offered in the book are, hmm, underwhelming/uninspiring. However, as this was an on-going campaign, with established conflicts and NPCs, I just modified a couple of things as needed.

 

--- From here on be spoilers ---

 

What did I change? Surprisingly little. I put the campaign-driving portal to the Feywild the party was seeking down in the deepest room of the dungeon. I got rid of two or three empty rooms, and the riddle-based tests in one of the areas – I don’t generally like riddles.

What did this leave me with? A lot of fun stuff.

This is a 75-room dungeon, spread out over three levels. The Upper and Lower levels are part of an ancient dungeon complex/arcane laboratory. To keep things varied, they are separated by a middle area, which is a large cave, with one of the best set pieces of this module. There is one main entrance into the complex, but after that there are many passages to follow, with alternative ways of access to deeper levels.

The main sentient creatures are the arachno-humanoid Chitines, split into two opposing factions. You get a lot of variety from the other monsters and wanderers: from the more common undead to freakin dinosaurs and gibbering mouthers. So there is definitely a cool weird tinge to this place. The presence of all of them is explained, and there is ample space in the dungeon between their main lairs, so there is no “monster hotel” effect.

Speaking of ample space: I love it when the cramped corridors of the upper zone give way to the caverns below. And in the central cave, there is the magnificent set piece of the Chitine city, a gigantic spherical mass of webbing suspended mid-air. Comes with a great illustration to boot!!

The dungeon also presents a variety of challenges: from combat through diplomacy to navigational challenges. There is even a flooded sub-zone. One of the challenges is a three-component “key search”, which might feel a bit computer-gamey, but my players actually enjoyed it (and it forced them to face their greatest fear, the aforementioned flooded area, for some cool underwater action).

I ran this from a PDF, and printed out the maps for ease of reference. The publication is overwritten by today’s OSR standards, but many important details are highlighted, and the room keys are structured in a uniform, predictable way, so there shouldn’t be much trouble running it after a read-through of the whole thing. Yes, there is boxed text, generally kept to a sensible length (3-4 sentences), and evocatively written, so I used some of the phrases and sentences as-is. They give a good description of the initial impression the party gets from the room.

Overall, I definitely recommend this adventure. It is a good fit for modern or old-school games, quite versatile, and evocative. The tone veers towards dark fantasy, with some Lovecraftian touches you can emphasize if needed.

Wednesday, November 1, 2023

Painting my first miniature (after a 16-year hiatus)

And it feels good to be back! Ah, the familiar smells...

I decided to pick up miniature painting again. It's something I'd enjoyed a lot in the past. Converting, painting, kitbashing. Playing I enjoyed too, especially skirmish stuff like Mordheim.

For now, I just plan to concentrate on returning to the artistic/creative side. I need a hobby that isn't connected to a computer screen :)

I picked up some supplies and a an assortment of figurines. I went with Wargames Atlantic, because some of the models spoke to me --- especially the Classic Fantasy Lizardmen! You know it's the good kind of classic fantasy when the lizardmen come with assault rifles and gas masks...

For my first effort, I chose a lizard dude with an open pose and a blade. I dropped it once and broke the index finger... Here's the result! There are still some rough patches, but overall, it was a fun process, and I'm satisfied with the result! Beware the Newt-men of Carcosa!



Sunday, October 22, 2023

[Dungeon] The Red Bastion - old-school adventure

Last week, I wrote about my process of drawing dungeon maps. Now I stocked the "tutorial map" and turned it into a proper little adventure location!

The Red Bastion - the prison of a dwarf ghost princess... A 15-room dungeon for levels 2-3.

Grab the PDF here!



Tuesday, October 17, 2023

How do I make dungeon maps? A tutorial...

People ask me from time to time about my digital dungeon drawing method. Here’s a write-up! I hope it’s useful.




The Process:
I use GIMP, which is an open-source graphic editor. Photoshop can do the same. Basically, you need any graphic software that can do layers and brushes.


I learned the basis of my approach from this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_agst3lSQ7A&ab_channel=P3RPLEX3D
P3RPLEX3D explains very well how to do basic wall outlines and fill it with a grid pattern. Thanks!

I use custom brushes for dungeon symbols. I downloaded a set from a blog many years ago, and cannot find it :( The file was shared openly, so I feel mildly comfortable including it here.

Then I add everything else on top… Here’s my process:
  1. I put on some music (“Hejira” by Joni Mitchell today)
  2. I sketch out the map on paper. This is not the final version, but it’s good to have the general layout from the start
  3. I open GIMP
  4. I already have a blank map file, so that I don’t have to go through basic setup every time. This blank has several layers:
    a. Background
    b. Dungeon wall outline
    c. Dungeon grid
    d. Symbols
    e. A group of text labels
    f. Optional layers to contain stuff like water, overlays, or cover-ups for secrets and traps if I want to create a players’ map
  5. I set the editor’s grid to 70 x 70. This is the standard scale for Roll20 digital maps, but you can use any scale you want
  6. I draw all the walls
    a. Brush size for walls is 8 pixels
    b. For built architecture, I switch on “snap to grid”. Sometimes you have to adjust the grid to 35 x 35 etc., as needed. For natural cave areas, I switch “snap to grid” off
  7. I leave gaps for doors and similar features
  8. Fill up the dungeon with the grid pattern (see the video tutorial above)
  9. Draw the rest of the fckin owl Add in symbols for doors, secret doors, traps, main room features like statues and coffins
  10. Add “indoor” cliffs, bodies of water – these all go on extra layers. The slider for layer opacity helps a LOT!
  11. Add labels and room numbers on top. I always number the rooms on my paper sketch first, and only after that add the digital labels. I use Jost, font size 54 for room numbers, 40 for smaller notes

And so on. There’s a lot of trial-and-error, janky additions and overlays, mistakes happy coincidences. But overall, this is a relatively easy method of creating usable digital dungeon maps without resorting to specialized software. And I like the flexibility it offers.

Step-by-step illustrations:

1. Sketch:

2. Digital outlines:
3. Grid fill:

4. Symbols and extra layers:
5. Labels and finishing touches:

6. TIME TO STOCK IT!

Sunday, October 15, 2023

[Dungeon] Delver's Delight - "lost world" level complete!

Another update to my dungeon, Delver's Delight! This time I added a large "lost world" style level, called Land of Dusk. It has a stronger overarching theme than the previous dungeony dungeon levels. Weird dino jungle & lake in a hollow earth cavity!

This is Level 3A.

Level 3B is also in the works, it's a dungeon/fortress area that connects up with the Land of Dusk.

Grab it here!



Sunday, October 8, 2023

[Dungeon] Delver's Delight, a very dungeony dungeon, now with a second level!

I added level 2 to Delver's Delight! 32 more rooms. The method and feel are similar: traps, monsters, weird rooms, it doesn't make too much sense, but it's fun... I use random generators to get going and fill up rooms, then refine them, add more ideas.



Wednesday, October 4, 2023

[Dungeon] Delver's Delight, Level 1 - a very dungeony dungeon adventure!

I made a dungeon module. It's very "dungeony", it doesn't have much logic or reason behind it, but it has fun rooms, traps, treasure and monsterrrrs. Stocked with OSRIC/AD&D.

Update, Oct. 8, 2023: NOW WITH TWO LEVELS!

GRAB IT HERE!

Have fun!



Tuesday, October 3, 2023

7 more carousing mishaps/events in the jungle

A follow-up to the first 1d6! Our Isle of Dread campaign is about to end soon, but we cannot end without a big reckless carousing session, so we need MOAR weird stuff. So I put on some tacky exotica music (courtesy of Soma FM), got some inspiration from TVTropes, and came up with seven more entries. Yeah, that's a d13... But we play online, so that doesn't really matter...

  1. A handsome young fellow/lass clad in a leopard-skin loincloth/bikini teaches you how to swing effectively on vines. You get a +2 on rolls of this type from now on. But deep down you are also hopelessly in love with the mysterious jungle boy/girl.
  2. You are bitten by something slithering and nasty. Save against Poison or suffer an effect until the end of the next session. Roll d4 – 1: double vision, -2 on ranged attacks, 2: muscle cramps, -2 on all attacks, 3: fatigue, encumbrance counts as one level worse, 4: you become immune to all poisons for the duration!
  3. A highly intelligent but hapless explorer/scientist falls into quicksand! If you rescue them, they follow you around for a session, providing helpful insight, according to their field of expertise. Which is a 5-in-6 in a random skill, roll d4 – 1: Architecture, 2: Bushcraft, 3: Languages, 4: Explosives.
  4. You step into a clever little snare. Take d6 damage, save against Paralysis for half. If you succeed on your save with a roll of 16 or more, you learn how to craft such snares! It takes 10 minutes, some rope and some sticks to set up one.
  5. Drums! Drums in the night! Check Languages to see if you can decipher and learn the rhythmic code.
  6. That cactus juice really packs a punch! Once during the session, you can question the very nature of reality and, like, walk through a solid wall or something. Afterwards, save against Poison or fall unconscious for an hour.
  7. You find a large gold nugget, reach for it, only to realize that it’s inside a giant Venus flytrap! Save against Paralyze: on success, you retrieve the nugget (worth d6 x 100 sp), on failure, you lose your arm.
To be continued?..



Sunday, September 24, 2023

1d10 pirate rumors and superstitions

For weird nautical and pirate campaigns!

  1. The blood of a sea serpent can be used to create an infallible compass.
  2. Commander Noland’s treasure is buried under the breeding ground of the man-eating crabs.
  3. In calm weather on midsummer day, the reflection of your ship is real and you can climb over there to find all the treasure that was stolen from you.
  4. Captain Kate “Ruthless” Hawk ascended to the night sky and became a patron saint. Pray to her every day, and she shall send down a mist to cover your escape route.
  5. Patch up your sails with captured flags and ride the winds twice as fast.
  6. The old pirate king is still alive, imprisoned in the Imperial fortress! The new pirate king is illegitimate!
  7. Some shanties are nasty enough to dislodge nails from wood.
  8. Every ghost ship has a heart. Steal it to claim command over the vessel!
  9. The pearl divers of Taboo Island can talk to fish.
  10. You can capture thunder in a brass bell. But beware, you can only keep it imprisoned for a week!




Monday, August 21, 2023

1d6 carousing mishaps/random happenings in the jungle

Wrote these for our Isle of Dread game.
  1. Stumbling through the jungle, you fall into a spike pit. Seriously, who digs all these? Some people are just mean. Take d8 damage, save against Paralysis for half.
  2. You are finally invited to the cool kids’ party. Turns out, the cool kids are necromancer cannibals. They are about to do a sick ritual. Peer pressure is strong. If you agree to cut off one of your fingers and eat somebody else’s, you gain the ability to cast a random spell (of levels 1, 2 or 3) once per day.
  3. You find a cannibal recipe book. Don’t ask what the parchment is made of. A day of studying the book teaches how to extract the double amount of rations from a human body.
  4. You find a valuable golden idol. However, a handsome fellow in a hat holds you at gunpoint and takes away the idol, saying that it “belongs in a museum”. At least you steal his whip from him.
  5. A giant ape takes fancy to you. The next time when an attack would kill you or knock you out, the ape swoops in and takes the damage instead. After this, it loses interest in you.
  6. A giant flying creature picks you up and takes you to its nest. After some struggles, you escape, with (d6): 1-3 a lot of scratches, d3 damage, 4 an unhatched egg, 5 a bunch of shiny colorful feathers, 6 a gem worth 100 sp.



Friday, August 18, 2023

[Dungeon] Oracle of the Laughing Prophet - a small OSR location

I ran my procedurally-generated science fantasy hexcrawl over the weekend. The party happened upon a cave in a jungle hex, surrounded by psychic echoes, so we took a small break and I came up with a dungeon. Now I'm sharing it with y'all.
So if you need a small 6-room lair to put down in your hexcrawl, feel free to use this! It has a mad prophet and a Green Dragon in it...


Anecdote: we had a near-TPK (3 dead, 1 unconscious), because they made too much noise and the Dragon woke up... So the group continued the game playing as the Deep Ones, and eventually managed to leave with the loot!


 

Tuesday, August 8, 2023

[Solo] The Magnificent Adventuring Circus, Session 5: The Wolfman’s Turn

Introduction and links to other sessions can be found here.

The cast of characters:

  • Julia Maxima, the Bearded Lady (Dwarf Cleric 1). Stern leader and cook of the circus.
  • Pointy Kid, the Knife Thrower (Halfling Thief 1). Sly acrobat with a pipeweed addiction.
  • Callisto, Master of Illusions (Human Magic-User 1). Archmage of the Highest Order, Keeper of Forbidden Knowledge. Obviously, he has a creepy ventriloquist dummy.
  • Sheila, the Odalisque (Elf Fighter/Magic-User 1). Exotic dancer and all-around cool girl. She won’t agree to be sawn into two halves.

Day 6 [travel from 3508 to 3408 (barren hills on west bank, lightly forested hills on east bank), weather worsening, no random encounter]

The terrain on the east bank of the river becomes less rugged, more of a hill than a mountain. The weather, however, becomes worse: the first cold of Mid-Winter sets in. The first snowflakes also appear – early scouts of the oncoming storms and impassable roads. So, the Circus tries to pick up speed.

They get their hopes up when they see the outlines of buildings in the distance at the bend of the river – but as they get closer, they notice, that there is no smoke rising from the chimneys. It is just the ruins and remains of an abandoned hamlet, half a dozen empty, dilapidated buildings. Most are beyond repair. Some might be restored to livable conditions.

The deserted place gives everybody the creeps. It’s that uncanny feeling, when a place that should be “lived in” instead stands empty. “I feel like we are being observed,” shudders Callisto, and glances backwards, but can’t see anybody. The party decides to not search the buildings, and instead roll on towards a hopefully populated settlement.

+ [travel from 3408 to 3509 (barren hills on west bank, densely forested plains on east bank), weather worsening, random encounter: the Lycanthropes, party not surprised, creatures surprised)

The terrain on the east bank evens out, but the forest gets thicker. The snowfall intensifies. The branches of ancient trees look like skeletal arms outstretched against the gray, clouded sky.

Pointy Kid drives the wagon. Griswold volunteered to be on watch – which means sitting on top of the wagon – not the most pleasant position in the winter. The others huddle in relative “comfort” inside the cabin.

“I tell you, I don’t like this Griswold fella,” Callisto grumbles. “His words are pleasant, but his eyes are just not right. I recognize this type… He is a liar and a con-man, that’s what he is.”

“Birds of a feather, aye?” Julia pokes him in the side.

“First of all, I’m not a con-man, I’m a con-artist, and a master of illusions, not a liar. But yes, I’ve seen people like him before. I bet that tale about his traveling companions getting killed by monsters is a great big lie. They are either following us, or, hell, for what we know, he killed them himself and will do the same to us! And why did he volunteer for watch duty?! In this damn cold?”

“All right, all right, I’ll check on him, just stop nagging me!” Julia Maxima gives in.

A little trapdoor built into the ceiling leads to the top of the wagon, the “sentry post”. Julia Maxima climbs up the ladder, and emerges from the hatch, but not completely yet. She looks around.

Griswold kneels on the roof of the wagon, with his back to the trapdoor. And he is… waving? Gesturing? Signaling to somebody in the distance behind the wagon! Julia Maxima barely makes out three figures trotting after the wagon. Three dark figures… Wolves? WOLVES!

Julia drops back into the wagon and secures the trapdoor below.

“You were right, Callisto. I’m sorry. To arms, everybody! There’s a pack of…”

Her words are interrupted by a blood-curdling howl from above --- which is answered by a choir from the distance.

“…wolves. Or something worse,” Julia Maxima finishes the sentence and starts donning her chain shirt.

There’s another howl, and the sound of claws scraping against the roof of the wagon.

“POINTY! Pointy, look out! Behind you!” Sheila screams, hoping that her voice will penetrate through the wall of the wagon.

Pointy Kid turns around just in time to gaze into the gaping maw of a gigantic wolf perched behind him over the driver’s box… Instinctively, he hits it with his only weapon at hand – the whip! The leather strap would scare any other creature – but this monstrosity doesn’t even flinch – and it lunges forward – and misses! The sudden movement brings the creature dangerously close the edge, but it stays on top of the wagon. Pointy throws the reins and stands up to face the monster. Bamboo the horse needs no urging by this point, as she feels the horrible smell of the werewolf. She strains to go as fast as possible.

Meanwhile, below in the wagon Julia Maxima is still struggling with her chain shirt. Sheila grabs her scimitar. “I cannot let Pointy fight that… thing… all alone!” She opens up the back window of the wagon, crawls out, and pulls herself up onto the top. As a trained dancer, she manages this little acrobatic feat alright… But she also sees that the three wolves are gaining. Callisto watches in horror at the pursuers and tries to come up with a clever idea.

Up top, the monstrous wolf prepares for another attack. But first, Pointy Kid lashes out with the whip once more – this time he tries to hook it around the creature’s leg, but only causes some mild annoyance. Luckily, he doesn’t lose his balance. Griswold (or rather, “Griswolf”…) charges again – but Pointy Kid sidesteps, and the wolf jumps straight off the carriage!!

Callisto tries to use his only trick, and “throws” his voice, towards the approaching wolves. On a hunch, he imitates Griswold’s monotone speech: “Fall back! This prey is no good!” And, to the Grand Illusionist’s great surprise… the trick works! At least, the three pursuing wolves stop and look around in confusion.

Sheila and Pointy look below and try to find the wolf.

At the same time, Griswolf “resurfaces” from under the speeding wagon and snarls at Callisto (who is still standing at the open back window). And then the monster jumps, tries to latch onto the vehicle – his vicious claws miss the window just by a couple of inches.

Pointy climbs back into the driver’s box and takes up the reins. Sheila stays on top of the wagon to see how things unfold.

Griswolf snarls angrily, shakes himself – and turns back into a person! “You haven’t seen the last of us, carnies!!” he shouts after the wagon, then, butt naked, runs off into the snow-covered forest to find his pack.

Julia Maxima finally finishes putting on her chainmail. “I’m never taking this off again,” she says.

The wagon speeds on, pulled by the panicking Bamboo, in an unknown direction…


Cool Michael Stroganoff wolf encounter diorama by Taipeh