Great News!

 So, I've talked a bit in the past about the ordeal my wife has been going through for the past few years. Essentially complications from a back injury led to a chronic pain condition in the form of constant, crippling headaches. This has persisted since around 2010 and had only been getting worse, year after year. She was on a heavy regime of medication as well as daily injections of local anesthetic in the occipital nerve to try and keep the pain down.

That sucked.

Well, about a year ago, after seeing a pain specialist in an attempt to get approval for some kind of treatment (we didn't have anything in mind, we were just desperate), they mentioned off-handedly that we could ask our psych doctor about trying something called Olanzapine. It's an anti-psychotic med that had shown some promise in helping to reduce headaches. We felt like we were being brushed off because that was literally the only suggestion. But like I said, we were desperate and so we mentioned it and while our psych doctor said he couldn't imagine how it would help, it shouldn't hurt anything and he'd be willing to take a shot in the dark with us.

Well, we did. And it worked. Literally the day after we started a 50% reduction in pain with further reduction as she continued taking it. We upped the dose a bit and suddenly she could go hours without pain relief treatment and things were getting markedly better. We started to go off of our other pain medications and then we saw a doctor up in Portland who mentioned that, since we were now off of the heavy pain meds we could try an anti-migraine medication called Topiramate that might help us.

Now, she's virtually pain free. It's been over a month since her last anesthetic injection. We're off muscle relaxers and painkillers and are transitioning off of nerve medication which no longer seems to be needed. We went to the zoo last month. We took a weekend to go visit her sister a town over. We are doing things that would have literally been impossible this time next year.

And now, she's drawing again. After six years, she has the drive to make art again. It took a while...that's a long time to be out of practice and it's easy to shake your confidence when you've just recovered from a long-term injury, so there were some starts and stops. But today, on the first of September she has posted her first update to her webcomic Emergency Exit in the last 6 years. It's just a short gag comic, something that had been scanned years ago and was just waiting for coloring and inking but for us this is a huge step. We've started working together on scripting out comics for Emergency Exit's real restart in 2018 and she's been busily working on sketches and stories.

So, I can't tell you how happy it makes me to shoot her a link today:

Emergency Exit Comics

Happy New Year

So you know you're off to a great start when you resolve to post to your blog more regularly in 2017 and your first post of the year is still more than two weeks into January.

So, happy new year to everyone. So far, 2017 is shaping up pretty good for me and mine. As mentioned previously my wife has been struggling with a chronic pain condition and finally we found something that can help her. She's now able to get by with minimal medication and she's starting to draw and get out of the house again.

So yeah, that's pretty damn good.

Since she's doing better we're also getting back into face-to-face gaming, specifically a game of Shadowrun (using the Savage Worlds system) with NJ and her friend Amy. So I've been putting way too much effort into making lots of paper terrain and minis. Glue and tiny paper bits everywhere.

And I'm on the 6th draft of Badass Kung Fu Demigods and its finally starting to feel complete, although playtesting is still showing some holes. Next post will probably be some more details on the new version.

Sketches I made at work

Just a few sketches I found and scanned while moving.

The first couple here are villains from a brief pirate-based playtest I ran for Battle Royale.

These next two are a bit less clear. You ever find something you did a while ago and you can't figure out why? Or what the hell inspired it?

Some Aberrant doodles by NJ

We've been getting into the Aberrant game and NJ is finally recovering enough to draw again (she had a sprained rib joint from an incompetent chiropractor) so she's been producing some doodles of her Aberrant character and mine. For context I'm the pretty one, she's playing the chubby guy who transforms into the giant monster. They fight crime!

Jimmy and Rubeto hang out
Jimmy and Rubeto hang out EVEN MORE
Rubeto's transformations

More Toast

Just finished up a colored version of my zombie toast horde picture. I'll probably turn this into a new blog logo (blogo?) at some point. As always you can click for the full-sized image.

NaGaDeMo failed...but here's some art!

So, clearly didn't successfully complete DICE. Ah well, it'll still get done I just won't stress over it quit as much. I've ordered a laptop to make writing things like that easier and less restrictive. It came this weekend and it' very nice but somehow the company I purchased from failed to include an AC adapter. So now I've got to wait until they can ship that to me (white people problems, I know.)

Anyway. Last month I did manage to produce a fair sized update for Beyond Reality so check that out if you're interested. Also did a bit of additional art. Not all of it is completed and colored yet but here's a piece of fanart I did for the very cool rogue-like game Dungeons of Dredmor. And a weird space-angel-cat thing. Click the pic for full size.

My Lord of Blades

I've been caught up reading the latest Terry Pratchett book, Snuff, so I haven't had much time to think about things to post. So I figured I'd post my version of the Lord of Blades to pass the time:

click for full size

Pretty close to the original design, but modified to make him look less like a psychotic can opener. This is in keeping with my personal take on the Lord of Blades. In my campaign I'm hoping to make him a more sympathetic and reasonable antagonist rather than his original "robo-Hitler" characterization.

My group, drawn.

NJ has always planned on doing some drawings of our RPG group. Unfortunately she never got around to doing the party for our deadlands game and for the longest time it seemed like the same would happen with the Order of Magnitude. However, she's recently found some time to produce drawings of a few of the players so far. You can click for a full size version. 

Nolan

Glorin

Magnus and his homunculus "little M"

The  rest of the Order is still a work-in-progress (some recent character deaths and switch-outs have led to some changes in the party line-up). The Deadlands characters probably won't be seen at this point but she did do a quick drawing of her own character, Max:

Preview pictures

Here's some very quick illustrations I drew of highlights from the Order's last game. The recording of that game came out very well and I'm in the process of editing the tape now. It'll shine more light on the pictures but for now you can consider them previews of what is to come. 

The first is their fight with the world's largest rust monster, the second is magnus riding a hill giant. You can click both for the full sized version.

month old birthday picture

Just some art I made for NJ for her birthday about a month and a half ago. Other than NJ herself all the characters are from her comic Emergency Exit. As always click for the full sized picture.

Gallery of Rejection 3

The newest entry into the gallery was submitted to Somethingawful's Next Top Module contest. Sadly I did not win, but looking at some of those who did win I completely understand. There were some amazing entries. Since they still seem to be planning to merge all the submissions into a single "megadungeon" style adventure I'll just post the art I submitted for now and I'll update it later with the room I submitted. Click the picture for the full sized version.

Dice as characters

So, this is the result of a pretty random train of thought that started when I was thinking about how closely linked certain dice were to certain character classes in D&D and Pathfinder. This led to the desire to draw some very silly things.

D12s The Dice of Rage: D12s are big, chunky dice for big, chunky heroes. They give the barbarian their Hit Dice and damage from their trusty greataxes (barbarians who don't use greataxes are really just grumpy fighters). Like the barbarian the d12 is an outsider, rarely used and only barely tolerated in civilized dice bags. 

D10s The Warrior Dice: Lean, mean and pointy. No dice epitomizes the fighter class better. It gives them their hit points and decorates the damage section when they wield their shiny bastard swords and waraxes alongside their shields. 

D8's The Dice of the Faithful: Although everyone likes the d8 it really shines in the hands of divine classes, those who spend their time contemplating the mysteries of ∞. clerics use the d8 for their hit points while both clerics and paladins use it for the majority of their healing and damage spells, and their trusty heavy maces and longswords. The d8 is also the die of nature. Druids use it almost as often as clerics while rangers use their longbows to pepper their enemies with d8s. Both also use it to give their animal companions their Hit Dice. 

 







D6's The Dice of Secrets: No other dice is so involved in mysterious hidden worlds as the d6. In the mundane world it is a sneaky bastard: working alongside rogues to give them their hit points and take away those of their enemies with trusty short-swords and sneak attacks. In the world of the mystical the d6 is even more powerful. Wizards would hardly be seen dead without a trusty quarterstaff and their spells usually involve several handfuls of them at once!

D20's The Party Dice: Everyone loves the d20. From attack rolls to skill checks to saving throws the d20 is always there for you. However, if there's one class that the d20 loves best it's the Bard. The bard may flirt wildly with every other dice out there (except the d12, ugh) but in the end they always come crawling back to the d20. Not only do they use the d20 for their many, many skill checks but their primary use in the party is to make the d20 work well with everyone else.

The Humble D4: The d4 sees little use for anyone other than the commoner for both hit points and the damage of their puny slings and daggers. Sure, some adventurers flirt with the d4 in their lower levels but as time goes on they move away towards mightier dice, leaving the d4 to go back to working the fields. 

The Dread D3: The d3 is a dice that Was Never Meant To Be. A horrific, non-euclidean sin against proper geometry the d3 has no place in any proper game. However it somehow manages to always creep its way in to the dark corners and shadowy edges of the rules. Beware the d3 for it plots against all higher dice values waiting till the stars are right and it can finally break into our realm. If one day you find a d3 in your dice bag you will know true madness. 

The Divine d100: If any one die can truly represent the power of the Game Master it is the d100. Wandering monsters and treasure hordes all bow before it's mighty roll. With the right table the d100 can be used to create anything: monsters, cities, countries...even entire worlds. This is truly the dice of creation itself!

Very silly. However, the longer I worked on this stuff the more it began to inspire me in very odd ways. I don't know if I'm fully in my right mind at the moment but I have conceived of perhaps the most generic role-playing game ever: DICE the RPG! Your class is your die type, representing not only combat effectiveness but also your hit points. You may call it mad, but I say it is genius! I shall create this game and no one will stop me!

Doodles

Some quick, simple doodles of the Order. Should I ever feel the urge to illustrate any of their adventures I'll probably use this style of art.

Gallery of Rejection 2

The second entry in the Gallery of Rejection comes from an art contest I entered in the Cracked.com forums a few weeks ago. The contest started with 32 artists, pairing them up in "duels" against one another based on a short "inspiration" phrase. After the art is produced there's a vote to see who continues.

This isn't a proper Gallery of Rejection entry because I actually made it to the third round and I'm thrilled about that. There were a lot of great artists in the competition and a lot of people far worthier than I got eliminated in the early rounds. This is more of an excuse to post the art I created.

In order, the inspirations were: It's Good to Be Back, Secret Places, and Regret. Click the images to see the full size versions.

Looking at the final entry it's pretty obvious why I lost. Well, actually I lost because my opponent did really great work, but clearly the last one is not the top of my game. Had far too much on my plate that weekend including finishing up the latest Beyond Reality update and submitting an entry to Somethingawful's Steve's Next Top Module contest (which I'm sure will be showing up in the Gallery once the results for that contest come through).

Some art comparison and the first entry in the gallery of rejection

So I've been drawing Beyond Reality now (off and on obviously) for about 8 years and although the progress with the story has tended to falter I've always enjoyed seeing how my ability to draw has evolved. I know many artists are immensely critical of their own work but for some reason the art style I've cobbled together is one I've always enjoyed. Sure I can see it's full of technical flaws and I know there's lots of room for improvement but I seem to be in the rare position of actually being able to enjoy my own art. Of course that's probably just self-delusion considering I thought most of my first drawings were pretty good. Lets take a look:

 

Hopefully eight years from now I can look back on my current art and see that I've improved just as much. Anyway, that's the last old art I'll force on anyone here. Which brings me to my second item:

THE GALLERY OF REJECTION

For the last several years most of my energy has been going into finding and keeping a job that can pay the bills and help me knock a few chips out of my student loans. Fortunately I've recently gotten a new position which has not only better pay but more freedom so I'm left with a lot more energy I can devote to my other interests: attaining internet fame and making a living from my writing. Along with restarting Beyond Reality and creating this blog I've resolved to get involved in more events, contests and schemes to help hone my skills and spread myself around. That way I seem less like a crazy person speaking into the cold, endless void of the internet. Yelling into an endless well of advertisements and pornography. 

As part of this I'm creating the Gallery of Rejection showcasing all of my failed attempts and rejected submissions. Please understand this isn't meant to be a place where I gripe about how "I should have won" or complain about those who rejected me. It's the internet and there are thousands and thousands of immensely talented people out there trying to do the same thing, many of them much more talented and deserving of recognition than I am. Rejection is inevitable and I can't deal with it I have no business trying in the first place. Instead this is more of a place where I, and hopefully others, can look back on what I've tried in the past without feeling angsty or discouraged. Some of these entries will be for contests or events with major stakes, others might be nothing more than friendly competitions. In the Gallery, all are equal.

The first item in the Gallery comes from a contest at Piazo publishing called RPG super-star. I entered, along with hundreds of other aspiring RPG writers. The first stage of the competition involves the creation of an original magical item, complete with stats. It's worth noting that as part of the terms of the contest this item does belong to Piazo now. My submission was the Cape of the Night Stalker.

Cape of the Night Stalker

Aura: Moderate Evocation and Transmutation; CL: 11th

Slot: Shoulders; Price: 27,000 gp; Weight: 1 lb.

This lightweight cape is fashioned from pitch-black cloth and has a clasp decorated with obsidian. The cape grants the wearer 60 foot darkvision so long as the cape is worn and also draws upon the power of darkness and shadow to enhance the wearer’s physical and mental abilities. When the wearer is in an area of dim light they receive a +2 enhancement bonus to both Strength and Charisma. In areas of darkness the bonus increases to +4. Treat these as temporary ability bonuses. 

 

Once per day the wearer may speak a command word that causes the cloak to dissolve into an insubstantial fog of pure shadow. This functions as a deeper darkness spell which radiates from the wearer continually until a second command word is spoken, causing the cape to reform around the wearer’s shoulders. While transformed the cloak ceases to grant any other bonuses to the wearer.

Construction

Requirements: Craft Wondrous Items, Deeper Darkness, Darkvision, Bull's Strength, Eagle's Splendor; Cost: 13,500 gp 

There you go, the first of many to come. By the way, if anyone knows of any other interesting writing or art contests, especially those related to webcomics or role-playing games feel free to let me know.