June 2007
128 posts
Reign's One Roll Chargen in the Realms
I’ve been wanting to tinker with Reign’s ORE chargen since I first rolled up a character with it and putting it in the realms was just too easy. So, here’s the thread on RPG.net. And I got to paw through the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting book, which is really a pretty tome that I have never used. (via The Book of Judd)
Random Squid Sketch
Yep, that be a squid. Ever had one of those days (or weeks for that matter) that every time you tried to work on your hobbies you got interrupted? No? Well, I guess it’s just me then. (via The Fuzzy Slug)
"Luke, I'm your father."
I remember talking about Empire Strikes Back with my dad, discussing the scene where Vader is tempting Luke to join him. My dad told me that if Vader promised not to hurt his friends and if he got access to a cool ship and leggy women, he’d have gone to the Dark Side right there and then. Luke: Can I get a cool ship? Vader: Son, Sith always ride around in the pimpenest of rides. Luke:...
A giant project...
Giants is a game being developed by thelostgm. It will be part of the Ashcan Front… http://www.ashcanfront.net/ Sketch got approved yesterday… and here it is… http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y35/Storn/Gcoversk.jpg Over the next week or so, I will do the underpainting, then take it to digital to do light washes. I’ll try to provide a few interim steps as I go along. (via...
Friday thing.
Reading: I left 1421 at home and ended up picking up Unclean, a Forgotten Realms novel about Thay, with points of view from muckety muck Red Wizards to slaves and everyone in between. It is a fun read so far. Planning: Putting books in boxes and getting them over to the new joint tonight and just starting to pack more in general. Wearing: A green button down shirt, dark jeans and under the shirt...
And Then There Were Three
NINE DAYS LEFT… tags: 7th Son jchutchins podcasts podiobooks7th Son , jchutchins, podcasts, podiobooks Share This
(via Unquiet Desperation)
Progress... so... slow...
Try to do as much of this as possible over the next 4 workdays: Review the detail beginnings of Chad’s DF Matrix for Things That Go Bump Pay off speeding ticket (I was talking to Mom, and Dulles speed limits are bullshit) Convert “craptop” to be road-ready to take to Origins, etc Finalize Finis work If possible, do [Project Name Encrypted] layout work Work on Indie...
The Indie Passport
Still a work in progress: http://www.deadlyfredly.com/gencon07/passport-peek.pdf (via In the big car of life…)
Crazy Thursday
Thursday is the day when the mad people come out to play. That is why I like it to be my day off. Today the parade included; The raggedy old woman who stands outside waiting for my colleague and then tries to force him to take her gold ring. She chases him up the street trying to put it in his pocket. We suggested that he just takes it and sells it. He is worried about the inevitable curse that...
Episode LV
The idea of taking a God Emperor of Dune stick to Star Wars is stuck in my head. Nothing concrete, just tons of little ideas. It is fun to play with the ole Star Wars toys, melting the figures a little bit, blurring up the plastic. Sith nobles having parties where everyone gathers via hologram due to paranoid fear of assassination. I picture them in this space opera Elizabethan costuming,...
Loving the Desktop
I’m loving my new desktop setup. Really digging this new wallapaer I found up at DeviantArt, and Yahoo widgets have supplanted any use I might have made of the Mac Dashboard. Upgraded my copy of Pathfinder, Skype and such, and installed the new software updates from Apple this morning.
Now..if only Leopard would come out…
it’s a tricky, coming up with a desktop that suits you. I want my...
5 O’clock Shadow: 21 June 2007
It’s been a while since I posted a 5 O’clock Shadow picture. This one is from a week ago and it was probably closer to 7 o’clock. Over my right shoulder you can see Optimus Prime rolling southbound on I-271. Over my left shoulder, a minivan cruises north, toward I-90.
Minivans are neither Autobots nor Decepticons; they — along with station wagons and most mid-size...
The Forge Menu - Final Peek
This is the final peek at the Forge Menu (not the same as the passport — that’s still under development). Basically this is going to manifest as two 8.5x11 sheets of paper, folded into digest sized booklets each, one with the pricelist on it, one with the demo menu on it. I’ll probably do a different color of paper for the demo menu, letting the pricelist be white or something...
To-Do Listery
Try to do as much of this as possible over the next 4 workdays: Review the detail beginnings of Chad’s DF Matrix for Things That Go Bump Pay off speeding ticket (I was talking to Mom, and Dulles speed limits are bullshit) Convert “craptop” to be road-ready to take to Origins, etc Finalize Finis work If possible, do [Encrypted] layout work Work on Indie Games passport...
Publicity that makes me a ancient southern senator...
In the Tompkins Weekly, there was an article on some of the classes and events that I’m involved with. There is a space about the old Holton drug store, where artists studios are and a big common room. A little art collective has popped up. The “Upstairs Artists”. Yoga, figure drawing and even a class taught by yours truly on comic book/graphic novels have been going on for...
Star Wars Saga
Yeah, I ordered it along with the third book in the Captain Alatriste series. Naturally, I’m thinking about what to do with it: Star Wars Episode LV The Skywalker Dynasty, enforced by the brutal nobles of the Sith Court, has ruled the Galaxy for a Thousand Years of tyranny. The Sith Courtiers have grown Coruscant like a cyclopean technological flower, with five Death Star satellites guarding...
Happy Birthday, Don't Rest Your Head!
My wee little first commercially sold game, Don’t Rest Your Head, turns one year old (in terms of release date anniversaries and first sale on Lulu) today. I expected this little game to sell maybe 50-100 copies. I’m betting with the conclusion of the second quarter it’ll look more like it’s sold near to or over 700 copies (PDF and print combined) since June 27th, 2006 —...
SOTC may not be up for an Origins award...
… but it is up for a Groovy Gamers of Ohio award! The following press release has been posted to RPGnews.com, RPG.net, and GamingReport.com: Announcing the Gamers Guild of Ohio Groovy Games Awards finalists! The GGO initiated the Groovy Games Awards to recognize games that have created a lot of buzz and enjoyment in our community. The finalists were chosen from a list of games nominated by...
Don't Rest Your Fred
*Looks at the clock* *Looks at his energy level* *Looks at the amount of stuff he’s been doing lately* I wrote Don’t Rest Your Head? Really? I wonder why. *Heads off to try to sleep again; with luck, the clock will stay away from Thirteen* (via In the big car of life…)
Squid + Pie is Complete
Euryale the squid looks much better with some shading, don’t you think? Oh, and I gave her a few fishy friends in the background to nibble on her pie scraps. Technical Details Medium: Pitt pens, colored in Photoshop Paper: Bristol paper Physical Size: 9in X 12in Digital Size: 4000 x 3000px @ 300px per inch Time: unknown (via The Fuzzy Slug)
BB009 - Waiting on the World to Change
Download the podcast here
(30m 24s) Fred talks with Ryan Macklin about Finis: A Book of Endings to Give People New Beginnings. Also, updates on various Jim-Butcher.Com news items from Priscellie, and a TV show news update — such as it is — from Mickey Finn.
New Blurbs - Captain’s Fury and It’s My Birthday Too: News Item!
Heorot: News Item!
The Laws of Magic Series on Dresden Files...
Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday Rae’s Blog. One year old already. Actually a bit more than a year…but I forgot. Have a slice of cake
(via Rae’s Blog)
gobi gets the ball rolling; i give it a shove
Alexander Cherry, creator of Fastlane and a generally cool member of the gaming community, just had friggin’ BRAIN SURGERY. He’s recovering very well, but the medical expenses will make a trip to GenCon Indy this year somewhat prohibitive. Let’s pitch in and help him out! Check it here and spread the word.Alexander Cherry has exerted a subtle influence on some of my earlier...
Non Sequitur: Vuelva a la Biblioteca!
I’m back in good graces with my local library, so I’ve been a multimedia fiend for the past couple of weeks. Here’s a list of the audio, video and printified goodness that I’ve enjoyed recently or will be enjoying shortly: Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman. Read by Lenny Henry. Gaiman’s follow up to American Gods focuses on African and West Indian deities. Anansi Boys has a...
I've been Chaddooed!
So a while back I signed chadu on board as a Dresden Files RPG collaborator. In short, he’s been working on reading the nine currently available novels and four short stories (two of them as yet unpublished) to build the “this is what lives in the Dresdenverse” sections spanning two (apparently due to be massive) chapters of the RPG. He recently concluded his *preparatory...
Big Can Be Beautiful
In my time I have worked for a couple of big companies. I have loved working for both of them. When a time came that I loved them less, I moved on. So far so what? Well exactly. So what?
I don’t understand the stigma or inverse snobbery attached to working for a big company. Tonight I met with some other people who deal with the same products as me and when one found out who I worked for...
Male Model sketches...[NOT WORK SAFE! NUDE MODEL]
Got a chance to have an awesome male model last week. http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y35/Storn/Fig4.jpg http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y35/Storn/Fig05.jpg And I even pulled out the watercolors for this 45 min pose. Yikes! Watercolors for figure work is really, really damn hard. totally humbling. Skin tones in oil become a nightmare to try and match in watercolor… and the broad...
Geek Fu Action Grip
For those of you who have not heard, Geek Fu is on indefinite hiatus. Hear it directly from Mur on ths site. Sad? Sure. But given how Mur’s career has changed and grown, I can completely understand. I started Unquiet Desperation when I had time, and then everything blasted off. She’s amazing for having made it so far. So, while we’re sorry to see it go, it heralds new things coming, like her new...
Podcast: Volcanicast
Volcanicast is the latest podcast from Planet RetCon Radio, and it ventures where none of the other RetCon shows have gone before: reality. Volcanicast is a round table discussion of all the search terms classified as “volcanic” by Google Hot Trends in the past week; everything from celebrity arrests to phallic bivalves. In the beginning, Volcanicast was hosted by Wesley & Bob,...
Weekend
So very tired. Friday night at Suzy’s was great. I actually managed to finish a song on Guitar Heroes (on Easy, but shush!), and we watched lots of Green Wing while drinking and having pizza. Saturday we helped Janto move out of his apartment in town. Afterwards we went back to our place for Scion. Scion rocks. The system is different enough to what I’ve run and played before...
Gamestuff: Free RPG Day
Today was the first annual Free RPG Day, during which nearly 300 hobby gaming stores across the United States gave away free role playing game quickstart rules and adventures modules to their customers. A handful of stores in the Cleveland area participated, including I’m Game, an excellent gaming store in the Great Northern Mall (about 45 minutes from the International House of Johnson). I...
DexCon 10
The DexCon 10 Master Schedule went up last night around midnight. I’ve submitted my choices, *generally* avoiding morning games because some of my evenings are running late, but also because I want to keep some of that groovy “time just to chat” going. But in the process, I extracted most of the indie track (I’m not sure if I omitted a few things) for helping with my...
TV Stuff: Censorship Gone Wild
I just witnessed what may be the dumbest bleep in the history of bleeps. The show: Comedy Central Presents. The comedienne: Megan Mooney. The joke: Dad calls Megan and her sister “ladies”. “Thanks a lot, coach,” Megan says. The bleep: “You just earned yourself another clipboard for Father’s Day, a-<bleep>.” Now, I want to point out that Megan did...
That's new!
I’ve been invited to be a part of Dragonmeet 2007, December 1st, in the Londonish area. Sure, it won’t be a summer trip to England, but it will be a chance to see or do a few things while I’m there outside of that particular Saturday. So, suggestions? :) (via In the big car of life…)
Misfit Brew Episode 22
Download this episode! This episode features the largest collection of Misfits yet! We’ve got ‘10 Tips for Soon-to-Be Geek Dads’ with Ken Newquist, more ‘Journey to Independednce’ with Mark Reed, information about a new book from Ryan Macklin called Finis - with a story from the book written and recorded by Paul Tevis, an essay […] (via Musings of a Misfit Monkey)
Random Rabid Robot
Fear their metal might You will submit or be squished Robot overlords ________________________________ Try to say that three times fast! Random Rabid Robot Random Rabid Robot Random Rabbit… crap… Anyway, in case you haven’t figured it out, this is a random drawing I did upon a, um… random whim. I don’t know why, I just felt like drawing a robot. It happens. Perhaps I...
Friday already.
Reading: I’m going back and forth between 1421: The Year China Discovered America (along with an academic journal refuting the book’s historical accuracy) and the second book in the Captain Alatriste series, Purity of Blood, taking a break from the Westmark series but ready to read the third book once I’ve finished these two. Wearing: Dark jeans, my awesome Batman belt buckle...
Rex
My parents are bringing the dog to the vet to be put to sleep tonight. He’s stopped eating and drinking altogether, so this is the best thing for him. My sister’s really upset, so is my mum. I’m okay. I knew it was coming, and while I’m sad, Rex made it 16 years in a loving home. (via Word Factory)
Better Percolate Than Never
Don’t Rest Your Head showed up on RPGNow this morning: http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=22292 … which is great! But I can’t tell if there’s any way at all for me to access sales stats on the rpgnow.com side of things. I go to “My Account” and it’s still… My Account. No publisher controls to speak of showing up in any obvious...
Musical Tourette's
Next week I am taking part in the Dunfermline G&S Summer concert which is a songs from the shows extravaganza (and no Chirpy, I’m not going to try to make you come and see it).
http://www.dgass.org.uk/nextshow.htm
It promises to be a “special” evening where we all get a chance to show off our varied talents. I get to show off in the Les Mis Medley at the end with my...
Light and the Equinox: a blessing
To those who live in light and love: May everything the light touches bring you joy. May you find all the proper paths within yourself. May you know the beauty of every breath. May you come at last to the end of this day, balanced between the darkness and the light, and be received into the soft cool embrace of Night. May you find equal wonder in the moon and the stars, and the sparkle of the eyes...
In the Company of Fish
Vacation Day 4: After getting some excellent French pastries for breakfast at the Paris Bakery and Cafe downtown Monterey, we headed over to the aquarium. This was my fourth or fifth time visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Andy’s third time. This place is by far the best aquarium I have been to. Upon entering the aquarium, you are immediately greeted by this huge kelp forest tank. I...
Fred the dolphin says "eee ee eeee e e ee!"
If you’re inclined to listen to a whole lot of me yapping about Don’t Rest Your Head and… well, pretty much everything else the school of pirhana over at The Game Master Show podcast chose to chew out of my brain, now’s your chance: http://thegamemastershow.com//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=38&Itemid=9 (via In the big car of life…)
Countdown
One year to go… (via Word Factory)
New Podcast sign added to RPG Podcasters...
New Podcast sign added to RPG Podcasters Pavillion: Master Plan Originally uploaded by SambearPoet. Here’s a new addition to the RPG Podcaster’s Pavillion on Second Life. Cool, huh? It’s the “Master Plan” podcast from http://masterplan.libsyn.com/ (via Waking in the Spring Sun)
Dipping a Toe In
So, while it hasn’t percolated over to the RPGNow.com side of things yet, I’ve dipped a toe in and uploaded Don’t Rest Your Head to “One Book Shelf” to see if RPGNow.com/DriveThruStuff.com will capture sales that my other venues of PDF sales haven’t. DRYH is nearly a year old at this point (but still making the occasional sale), so I feel like I’m in what...
Rainbow play
Rainbow play Originally uploaded by SambearPoet. This is a very vibrant piece I did with the tablet. Very fun! Happy morning! (via Waking in the Spring Sun)
Quote Time
Let the end of the world come tumbling down I’ll be the last man standing on the ground And if my shadow’s all that survives I’m still alive ~ Meat Loaf, Alive (via Word Factory)
Golden?
Vacation Day 4: So, this day we foolishly decided to drive from Eureka, CA to Monterey, CA. Not too long of a distance for a day’s drive until you take in to account that we decided to take Hwy1 north of San Francisco. Hwy1 is not known for its…. um… ease of driving. It is curvy and downright treacherous in places. We decided to go for it. That was a long, long, loooong, drive....
VAM: The Birth and Growth of A Weird Idea
Originally posted in the design blog at vegasaftermidnight.net:
It all started with a dream.
No, really. I mean it. It has not ever happened to me, before or since, but the whole idea came from a really weird dream I had one night back in 1997 or so.
I dreamed of a bunch of guys in Elvis outfits, […] (via Musings of a Misfit Monkey)