Archive for July, 2009
Character Concept: Human Barbarian
Jul 31st
I’m going to start a new thing here where I throw a character render out into the aether as-is, straight from DAZ Studio without backstory or stats 1. Feel free to use and abuse as you want – make it your character portrait, crop and mangle it in Photoshop and generally do what you will.
Consider ‘em concept art to (hopefully) kickstart your creative juices.
Enjoy!
Over the weekend I’ll be finishing my promised tutorial showing how to make your own character portraits in DAZ Studio. It will be a whistle-stop tour so I recommend checking out my DAZ Studio tutorials for a more thorough guide to how to use this wonderful, free 3d rendering program.
- Translation: I’m kinda busy, ok? ↩
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Mech and Manga out now!
Jul 31st
From the Short & Sweet Dep’t: Mech & Manga for Mutants & Masterminds is available via PDF from RPG Now. I’m liking what I see so far, and expect a full review Real Soon. In the meantime, go drool over the Preview content here, here, here and here. As is typical of M&M supplements it’s chock full of awesome and provides a thorough, well researched and (above all) fun coverage of the genre.
Or perhaps that should be meta-genre – this supplement covers everything from Wuxia to battlemechs, from schoolgirls battling demons to fighting with pokedigipetamons in arenas, from Dragonball Z to Bleach and far beyond.Even if manga ain’t your thang, there’s more than enough goodness within to inspire and improve your M&M game, whatever the genre, style or setting.
First impressions: I like.
This one’s mine!
Faded Mem'ries
Jul 30th
DAZ Studio and postwork in Photoshop. Click to enlarge.
This rather nifty Egyptia Dress and Textures are available for free from ShareCG. Which is nice.
Allegorically speaking, of course
Jul 30th
I posted this as a comment in another blog (I’ve forgotten which, so please shout out and I’ll linkie), and think it’s worth repeating and throwing open for discussion:
Imagine a world where MacDonalds suddenly realized that by selling Quarter Pounders and Big Macs, they’re competing with themselves! Oh noes!
So, they decide to stop selling Quarter Pounders and only sell Big Macs. Nothing but Big Macs (and fries, of course. Gotta have fries!).
Inexplicably, sales go down. Other companies appear offering products which look remarkably like the old MacDonalds Quarter Pounder. These companies flourish.
MacDonalds scratch their heads. Surely everyone should be buying Big Macs……..
This would, of course, be a version of MacDonalds run by total idiots. It would never happen.
Because all the idiots already have a job, elsewhere.
She walks where the wild things go
Jul 29th
How times have changed
Jul 27th
I’m reading my battered and falling apart at the seams copy of the Best Of White Dwarf Articles volume 1. This was printed back in 1980 and brought together some of the best articles from White Dwarf’s first three years of publication. This was when the magazine was independent, entirely UK based and long before it became the corporate lovechild of the Warhammer universe.
Not that there’s anything wrong with the White Dwarf mag now – I grab a copy occasionally and it’s full of pure enthusiasm for the hobby and is refreshingly honest about it’s placement as a 100% marketing mouthpiece for Warhammer – but that’s balanced with pictures of real fans having real fun, so what’s not to love.
And it’s a still a real printed-on-paper magazine, meaning it’s drawing new folks to the hobby every single frickin’ month. Unlike a pair of “magazines” from a certain group of sorcerers on the beach.
But anyhow, I’m not bitter. Back to 1980 and the Best of……
Let’s talk about the math. Oh boy. This was before netbooks, iPhones and Google. You’d be lucky if you owned a calculator, let alone one of the ultra-rare computers. This is two years before the launch of the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64, folks.
Here’s the kind of math we’re talking about. This is example from The Monstermark System, which is a method of calculating something very like a Challenge Rating, for Classic D&D:
Ahem.
‘Nuff said!
That first cautious touch of love
Jul 27th
Sculpted Bruiser
Jul 25th
Things not to say at the Temple of Pelor
Jul 24th
“Actually, I’m more of a night person.”
“Ouch! Too bright! Draw the curtains will ya?!”
“We undead have rights too you know!”
“Phew! We could do with rain. It’s too darned hot!”
“I don’t know what all the fuss is about. It’s just a giant ball of gas.”
“Ha! My barbarian friend here could beat all you wuss Paladins with one arm tied behind his back!”
Can you suggest any more?
