Archive for the ‘projects’ Category
Yes – I like to color. Here’s a quick job I was working on this morning. The original is from the Outland Arts Dungeon Portals 1 Set - a great publisher stock art product.
Original
and my practice attempt at coloring. I was using some tips from an ImagineFX issue. It turned out alright but practice makes perfect!
On a few boards I’ve been asked, “What is Realms of Eldrath going to be like?” I’m going to let you in on a secret. I’ve never once made my own campaign world. Realms of Eldrath is actually my first attempt. I’m combining years worth of mini-ideas into a semi-coherent whole. The reason for saying “semi-coherent” is that I actually do not like the campaign point approach presented in the Pinnacle offerings. The campaign story is built around what the characters do during their adventures not a pre-defined template that shoehorns the players into what needs to be done.
That being said the Realms of Eldrath will present an 50,000 ft. overview vs. containing detailed secrets. Game related influences include:
- The Greyhawk Boxed Set – 1984- One of my most beloved purchases. Even as I read it and questioned, “What the hell is this?” at the root of it I understood what it was. Poorly organized it laid a little more groundwork than just the background in the modules and strengthened the framework of Greyhawk. Every game that each DM ran in Greyhawk was theirs but the shared world allowed others to have conversations like “Do you remember killing Stalman Klim?” – and those who had played The Slaver’s Series knew what you were talking about.
- The Arcanum - 1984 – hmmm – 1984 again must have been a good year- Another personal favorite. This D&D clone was better put together than the TSR PHB. The default world, a proto-Earth where Atlantis still remained above the waves and knights existed in Albion along with barbarians from Hyberborea, meshed well with the classes and races presented. The rules-set added some D&D-esque house rules like damage reducing armor, pre 2nd edition AD&D non-weapon proficiencies and a non-fire-and-forget magic system but it just felt “right”.
From a fantasy fiction standpoint I’ve always enjoyed the monomyth and bildungsroman type stories – you know, farmboy orhpan off on an adventure saves world. While RoE won’t focus on that it will follow the standard assumption that the adventurers are just starting their adventuring careers. So this would be as good as any bibliography for The Realms of Eldrath:
- The Dragonbone Chair (Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, Book 1)
– a low-magic series with very good characters and plot. It really made me re-think the “orphan with unknown lineage comes into great power” meme that I’d become comfortable with.
- Daggerspell (Deverry Series, Book One)
– even though it’s sometimes a confusing series (lots of flashbacks) it intertwines magic, past lives, and curses into a very good series of books.
- Assassin’s Apprentice/Royal Assassin
– neat magic background, good characterization and a very intriguing social structure kept me entranced while on a two week training course in San Diego.
What sets these books apart from The Wheel of Time or even some of the Midkemian books is that the main characters really aren’t out to save the world. Their aspirations aren’t that lofty and while there are big-bads in the books none of the protagonists are wielding the power of gods or tossing magic aroundwilly-nilly.
So these are some influences and opinions on what’s gotten me where I’m at.
I’m just getting back into the swing of things after my dad. I apologize for the lack of updates lately. I’ve gotten next to nothing done except for two more pre-gens, some ideas for the cards and a little bit done on the layout.
While the stuff I put together usually looks pretty good I’m still getting up to speed on all of the technologies. Some days it goes well and others it’s just monotonous. I’m relatively creative when it comes to background but marrying it to the rules-set sometimes bogs me down. I worry about balance too much.
While proofing some of my son’s homework I put about 5 minutes into making the Dragon Warriors PDF fillable -
it’s nothing earth-shattering but my handwriting is so poor I find fillable things alot easier to use.
It’s been a while since I’ve posted. I’ve been extremely busy getting organized both at my real job and my hobby. I’m making a concerted effort to reduce my gaming collection and thereby reducing potential distractions so I can actually produce something for sale by 2009.
Projects that I’ve been working on:
Coloring
I don’t know if that’s the correct word for it but I own alot of publisher stock art that’s for the most part uncolored. Adding coloring can add something to a product, in my opinion, that makes the it stand out from the rest.
On the left is my first work-in-progress. I know it’s unfinished and the cloak hood is currently the wrong color but hey. I’m suprised I’ve got it this far! As of now I’m using:
Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0 and a Bamboo pad from Wacom.
I’m still watching some YouTube videos on coloring and I’m not using as many layers as I could to speed this up. The other resources I’ve been using so far have been the ImagineFX magazine which comes with a DVD with tutorials, extra brushes, sample art, etc and I’ve purchased quite a few books off of Amazon in the last few years regarding Fantasy Art.
It’s been a busy few weeks. I’ve started running Pathfinder for the new online group. This is the 5th total group I’ve run using Fantasy Grounds and I’m going to have to admit I’ve had excellent luck with groups. Most of the players are 21+ ,usually have careers (or full time students which is really a career) and are technically savvy – plus, and this is the biggest plus they truly want to play. I only wish my flea-like attention span would not get split by real world intrusions like work:).
I’ve been waiting for a couple SRD/OGL licensing things to get hammered out and one finally clicked – the True20 licensing agreement was finally updated. Now to start delving into that rules-set. I’m vaguely familiar with it from running Mutant & Masterminds but there’s obviously some twists. I think I own all of the True20 products in either print or pdf format (note to self – I’ve got to take inventory one of these days because I know I’ve purchased things twice as of late).
I’m still waiting the d6 SRD to come out from WEG but we’ll have to see how that goes with the Septimus cancellation and have high hopes of putting out a PDF for a simple fantasy game, i.e. heartbreaker, using the rules along with a concise and precise magic supplement – which was severely lacking from the d6 Fantasy Game.
