[@wanderingwolf] The mouth is probably the one feature I would [i]solely[/i] animate with key frames. I'm not sure if you've watched "Chicken Run," but it's a claymation movie and thus works with stop motion. The mouths of the chickens were animated in an interesting way. They would have several beaks made up for every possible sound they could make and then just swapped them out when the frame called for it. The blender equivalent of this would be setting "shape keys" for your characters mouth and selecting the right one for the right frame. Upfront time investment would be high, but would make animating the character's mouth easier down the road. Though it doesn't seem like smooth animation is your goal here, which is fine. I would be quite happy if my tabletop group did something like this. 

As for what I've been working on, none of it is very impressive. I dabble in blender and it's mostly to do still images or high-poly models. I use blender to make changes to models I want to print and occasionally do tutorials. The closest thing I have to an animation is a pot of boiling water, and I don't even know if I have that on my computer anymore. I have been meaning to get back into it, maybe I'll show you something one day. I really just know a bit more than a casual observer when it comes to making films in blender.