This is my blog. I reserve the right to be unreasonable on my blog. This blog is my own semi-private forum where I post what I think. I have comments enabled on my blog so that you respond to what I think.
Comments are a privilege provided by me. I provide them as a service so you can respond on how you think on what I post. I welcome any and all comments. However, this is my blog and I reserve the right to censor comments if I choose to do so. I can even close comments down. This blog does not represent a company, it does not represent the government: it represents me. One individual person. All I ask is that comments are made within context of the post. You think Creating is boring, make a comment that it is.
If you want to write a responsive argument, you may do so. I have comments enabled so you can voice your opinions on what I think. So lets take a look at what this reponse is more critically, and refute it.
"A belief in magical creation is boring because it's a childish idea that requires no thinking."
There are some key words here: magical, and childish. There is also a key phrase here -- no thinking. Lets debunk the first:
Magic, sometimes known as sorcery, is a conceptual system that asserts human ability to control or predict the natural world (including events, objects, people, and physical phenomena) through mystical, paranormal or supernatural means.
So, what is magic anyway in this context? So in this context, all I have to do is wave a wand and a woman would instantly appear, willing and able to do my bidding at every opportunity? Really? Is that magic? Has anyone really taught you the Law of Attraction and the Law of the Harvest? What do you take me for? Some kind of magician that will instantly get what he wants in physical form? Didn't you even take Quantum Physics in your university program?
Childish is b : lacking complexity in the context of that remark. Lacking in complexity? When Darwin wrote the Origin of the Species, he saw the human cell as childish. But microbiology has revealed this to be not the case. By what authority do you have to make such a remark?
. . . idea that requires no thinking. What do you mean that it requires no thinking? So, you think I don't think? By whose authority do you have to make such a judgment? Thinking is the act of creating energy. A thought is an energy construct. We do this all the time. So this idea of creation requires no thinking? What kind of a statement is that? Hasn't anyone taught you the Law of Attraction?
"t's much more interesting to solve scientific problems instead of giving up and saying god-did-it."
But, in what way are you going to apply your new knowledge? By bashing other people who want to apply it in a certain way? Is that a practical way of applying new knowledge? What does that attract to you?
"By the way, Ben Stein is a fucking idiot and a liar."
Why are you attacking Ben Stein on my blog? This isn't Ben Stein's blog, this my blog. So, you can believe and say he's a fucking idiot and a liar. But really, I think he's a courageous person for producing the documentary in the first place. It is you who is an ignorant know-it-all.
Friday, April 24, 2009
How Do We Create
"A belief in magical creation is boring because it's a childish idea that requires no thinking. It's much more interesting to solve scientific problems instead of giving up and saying god-did-it."
Its not so much the belief that I'm defending, it's the process. A man said that the process is boring, yet this process works for Darwinists as well as for Christians. Lets take a look at how a Gamemaster puts together a fantasy world for gaming as an example.
The process of designing a new world begins somewhere. and logically, it begins with a thought. Everything begins with a thought. Just a simple little thought. In world design parlance, and as well as Marketing and Advertising, this is called the hook.
After the hook comes the process of building the world around that particular theme. Often the process demands study in several fields of science since most fantasy GMs build their world around a garden world. Although, in actuality, you don't need all of this, but it makes the world more interesting if you did study. Often, you can take a top down approach -- which is what I do, or a bottom up approach, which is safer to do.
Going bottom up: The bottom up approach is safer because you start with something small. Like a town nestled in a little valley with a dungeon a league away. However, as your world grows, it can grow organically and pretty much out of control as you go bigger. There is a possibility of hapzard design if you let it go out of control.
Going Bottom Down: I take the Top down method. I build the whole planet out of whole cloth. This requires more work. Let me say that again: it requires more work. Not only do I have to build the plan (or two suns), how many planets there are, whether there is a asteroid field, an Oort cloud or not, and other considerations. For a fantasy world, I choose a yellow G2 Sun with a luminosity of 1 and put in planets and then just go on my happy way turning my focus to building the planet.
Building the planet, I have to decide what world it is. In our solar system, there is several rocky worlds. There is a desert world (Mars), a Greenhouse world (Venus), a rocky ball (mercury), and a Garden world (Earth). I pick a planet type: Garden, and continue the work. To build the world to have any sort of reality, I have to study many different disciplines of science.
A Garden planet, with its index of DNA and abundant life, is the hardest planet to design for fantasy gaming. But most people do it anyhow. After the physical world is described, you have to populate with Life.
Life means plants, animals, and monsters (in fantasy gaming, we deal with monsters a lot). Plants and animals you know. Monsters are animals with enchanted (or genetically engineered) form. After that, you do intelligent beings. Intelligent beings require more work. After doing the Hard Science building the world, Intelligent Beings demand knowledge of soft science.
you have to describe their culture, their religion, their propensity for warfare, how they move, their history, their beliefs, how they see magic, and if they call it magic or not. You have to design mythology, creation myths and so forth. And decide if they are true or not. You have to describe prenatal rights, birthing rites, childhood rites, coming of age rites, marriage rites, and burial rites.
You have to make a lot of other choices in your design. And a lot of these things are taken care of during the game. And it is this precise process, that takes many manhours, that is declared -- BORING --.
How dare you try to evangelize to me without even taking into account what I said.
Its not so much the belief that I'm defending, it's the process. A man said that the process is boring, yet this process works for Darwinists as well as for Christians. Lets take a look at how a Gamemaster puts together a fantasy world for gaming as an example.
The process of designing a new world begins somewhere. and logically, it begins with a thought. Everything begins with a thought. Just a simple little thought. In world design parlance, and as well as Marketing and Advertising, this is called the hook.
After the hook comes the process of building the world around that particular theme. Often the process demands study in several fields of science since most fantasy GMs build their world around a garden world. Although, in actuality, you don't need all of this, but it makes the world more interesting if you did study. Often, you can take a top down approach -- which is what I do, or a bottom up approach, which is safer to do.
Going bottom up: The bottom up approach is safer because you start with something small. Like a town nestled in a little valley with a dungeon a league away. However, as your world grows, it can grow organically and pretty much out of control as you go bigger. There is a possibility of hapzard design if you let it go out of control.
Going Bottom Down: I take the Top down method. I build the whole planet out of whole cloth. This requires more work. Let me say that again: it requires more work. Not only do I have to build the plan (or two suns), how many planets there are, whether there is a asteroid field, an Oort cloud or not, and other considerations. For a fantasy world, I choose a yellow G2 Sun with a luminosity of 1 and put in planets and then just go on my happy way turning my focus to building the planet.
Building the planet, I have to decide what world it is. In our solar system, there is several rocky worlds. There is a desert world (Mars), a Greenhouse world (Venus), a rocky ball (mercury), and a Garden world (Earth). I pick a planet type: Garden, and continue the work. To build the world to have any sort of reality, I have to study many different disciplines of science.
A Garden planet, with its index of DNA and abundant life, is the hardest planet to design for fantasy gaming. But most people do it anyhow. After the physical world is described, you have to populate with Life.
Life means plants, animals, and monsters (in fantasy gaming, we deal with monsters a lot). Plants and animals you know. Monsters are animals with enchanted (or genetically engineered) form. After that, you do intelligent beings. Intelligent beings require more work. After doing the Hard Science building the world, Intelligent Beings demand knowledge of soft science.
you have to describe their culture, their religion, their propensity for warfare, how they move, their history, their beliefs, how they see magic, and if they call it magic or not. You have to design mythology, creation myths and so forth. And decide if they are true or not. You have to describe prenatal rights, birthing rites, childhood rites, coming of age rites, marriage rites, and burial rites.
You have to make a lot of other choices in your design. And a lot of these things are taken care of during the game. And it is this precise process, that takes many manhours, that is declared -- BORING --.
How dare you try to evangelize to me without even taking into account what I said.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
World Building . . . BORING?!
This is a knee jerk reaction to Ben Stein's "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed" documentary on the debate between Intelligent Design and Evolution. One apologist for Darwinism said one thing that irked me: Creation is boring.
Excuse me? Creation is boring?
BORING?
Something so wonderful, so beautiful, is boring? How can he say that? I felt totally, and completely insulted at what this evolutionist said. As a game designer, I often try to design worlds that scientists would approve of. Something other world designers don't do. The Known Lands is built on a world that works on scientific principles. I studied a lot of science to do this, and there is still not a lot that I don't know.
Solar system models, planetary accretion, moon models, atmosphere and ocean dynamics, oceanography, biology, wildlife, ecology, desert ecology (I have a text book on deserts to help explain Athas' environment, the world of Dark Sun); anthropology, history, civilization. A lot of knowledge and work went into creating the Known Lands. I'm just describing it in scientific terms (then bring in the religious world view of the inhabitants). And what I do is boring? How can he say that?
Frankly, I don't know what your religious leanings are. If you are a Darwinist or not, if you play or GM D&D; you still participate in world design. I realize I do, and I actually get a beautiful rush doing it. I get high on building worlds. It makes me happy. Frankly, who has the authority to say in an authorative canonical statement that what I do is boring? It's pure and utter nonsense for one man to say that the activity that makes me happy is boring. I think this person is just monumentally naïve on how much work is put into creating a high quality, scientifically based, "fantasy" world.
The first person that stands up and says that the Known Lands is science fiction gets a candy, but I still say its built for fantasy gaming. :)
Excuse me? Creation is boring?
BORING?
Something so wonderful, so beautiful, is boring? How can he say that? I felt totally, and completely insulted at what this evolutionist said. As a game designer, I often try to design worlds that scientists would approve of. Something other world designers don't do. The Known Lands is built on a world that works on scientific principles. I studied a lot of science to do this, and there is still not a lot that I don't know.
Solar system models, planetary accretion, moon models, atmosphere and ocean dynamics, oceanography, biology, wildlife, ecology, desert ecology (I have a text book on deserts to help explain Athas' environment, the world of Dark Sun); anthropology, history, civilization. A lot of knowledge and work went into creating the Known Lands. I'm just describing it in scientific terms (then bring in the religious world view of the inhabitants). And what I do is boring? How can he say that?
Frankly, I don't know what your religious leanings are. If you are a Darwinist or not, if you play or GM D&D; you still participate in world design. I realize I do, and I actually get a beautiful rush doing it. I get high on building worlds. It makes me happy. Frankly, who has the authority to say in an authorative canonical statement that what I do is boring? It's pure and utter nonsense for one man to say that the activity that makes me happy is boring. I think this person is just monumentally naïve on how much work is put into creating a high quality, scientifically based, "fantasy" world.
The first person that stands up and says that the Known Lands is science fiction gets a candy, but I still say its built for fantasy gaming. :)
Friday, April 17, 2009
The Defender of the Jungle
Laura was a citizen of Tyr until she discovered magic. She then learned the aspects of Preserving rather than defiling. She teamed up with an old druid to protect a forgotten jungle on Athas. With the druid gone, she is sole protector of that particular jungle.
This is an Earth Defender preserver. It is also a work in progress as I work in a Frazetta style (full nudity, but this blog is also about nudism). She is a Preserver (wizard) 5/Shaper 3 according to D&D 3e. In 2nd Edition, she's simply a Preserver with the Earth Defender kit. They are about as Green Peace or in some cases, Earth Liberation Front, as you can get in Athas.
I'll do up her stats later for 2nd Edition.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Under a Dark Sun
Everyone thought Kari was crazy when she left Tyr. The Burnt Sands of Athas was a dangerous place: full of mutated wildlife, evil intelligent -- ambulatory plants, and dangerous monsters. But Kari was on a mission, for she was searching for the mythical city of Kurn.
Print on Demand, an Open Suggestion to Wizards of the Coast
To Greg Leeds,
IT has been suggested on Enworld that Wizards of the Coast should turn to Print on Demand for all of TSR's back catalog and for their 3e back catalog. I believe it is an awesome solution. It costs more to print it through lulu, but you won't be dealing with a large inventory. Although turning most 3e stuff to the open content community would work as well, PoD works better because you are making money when you do it. An open suggestion, to be sure.
This can quickly get you out of hot water with your fans: both 4e and 3e. It will also support old school gaming and give access to the D&D Basic Set to a lot of young kids. No need to reinvent the wheel, a basic product won't be necessary. A parent just needs to go to Lulu and order a copy of the Basic Set to be printed and buy a set of dice for their impressionable, precocious child. And you will have expanded the hobby by a lot.
This doesn't prevent piracy, but it is a satisfactory way to discourage piracy for both fans and production people. Just a little bit of insight into a brillant idea about regaining what you have lost through bad publicity.
Elton Robb
IT has been suggested on Enworld that Wizards of the Coast should turn to Print on Demand for all of TSR's back catalog and for their 3e back catalog. I believe it is an awesome solution. It costs more to print it through lulu, but you won't be dealing with a large inventory. Although turning most 3e stuff to the open content community would work as well, PoD works better because you are making money when you do it. An open suggestion, to be sure.
This can quickly get you out of hot water with your fans: both 4e and 3e. It will also support old school gaming and give access to the D&D Basic Set to a lot of young kids. No need to reinvent the wheel, a basic product won't be necessary. A parent just needs to go to Lulu and order a copy of the Basic Set to be printed and buy a set of dice for their impressionable, precocious child. And you will have expanded the hobby by a lot.
This doesn't prevent piracy, but it is a satisfactory way to discourage piracy for both fans and production people. Just a little bit of insight into a brillant idea about regaining what you have lost through bad publicity.
Elton Robb
Wizards of the Coast and PDFs
Okay, a lot of the Blogosphere is in buzz over how Wizards of the Coast has stopped selling their books in Adobe's Portable Document Format (.pdf): both legacy pdfs (Dungeons and Dragons original to 3rd) and current pdfs (4th Edition). Understand something important, this is an anti-piracy measure. However, its both good and bad why they pulled their products out of .pdf distribution.
LETS TALK ABOUT HOW IT IS GOOD!
The Constitution of the United States has guaranteed protection of Copyright, the right for an Author or company, in United States law. This allows the user to defend their copyright if it has been violated by a 2nd or 3rd party. Wizards of the Coast is duty bound to defend their copyright of D&D 4e (and other editions that they own).
They are currently suing eight so called pirates because they managed to "steal" copies of the 4e PHB2. Wizards of the Coast has moved in to defend their copyright of that book. Their right to distribute that book has been violated and they did the right thing in doing so.
Because, if their material enters the public domain, they will lose their copyright if it remains in the public domain. Pulling .pdfs is regarded as a sound, legal move.
So, lets now talk about how it is bad!
We've talked about how it is good. Now lets take a look at the bad side. There are a couple of things wrong with pulling .pdfs so abruptly. It was legal, but the action was immoral.
Loss of Customers: WotC has lost many of their customer base for pulling .pdfs. A lot of customers felt that they got the shaft. Me included. There is a lot of legacy stuff I wanted to buy: D&D expert, D&D companion set, D&D Master set, D&D Imortal Rules -- some second editon (AD&D) .pdfs, and some first edition (AD&D) .pdfs (including the 1st edition DMG). Buy pulling .pdfs so abruptly, Wizards are treating their customer base as theives. And most of these people are law abiding, honest citizens. This is the main reason, actually.
Bad Publicity: in our economy, a move like this attracts bad publicity. Wizards of the Coast has already gotten a heap of bad publicity due to the dick like way they handled the Game System License at first (it was the major reason why I didn't buy 4e: for me to buy 4e, 4e has to be either totally open, or totally closed. Not somewhere inbetween). Pulling the .pdfs has attracted more bad publicity than the first GSL. In the eighties and the nineties, any publicity was good publicity. However, in the midst of a depression economy, bad publicity equals no sales.
Death of the Dungeons and Dragons brand: The game won't die. The brand will because of this move. Dungeons and Dragons has always been the gateway to the hobby that appeals most to highly creative people -- Roleplaying Games. Wizards of the Coast may be the juggernaut of the hobby industry, but it doesn't mean that juggernauts can not be slain. Wizards of the Coast may be unstoppable -- but the best thing to do as a participant is to buy a copy of another game in .pdf or in physical form. Don't buy Wizards of the Coast until this thing at least has been straightened out.
Other companies, good companies, to buy from include:
Malhavoc Press (Iron Heroes is high quality)
Steve Jackson Games (their 4th edition GURPS is of much higher quality than Wizards of the Coast's Dungeons and Dragons 4e)
Iron Crown Enterprises (love it or hate it, Rolemaster Classic is the best game of it's type of RPG out there).
White Wolf (Exalted was put out for free)
Palladium Books (Hell froze over when KS decided to put his stuff out in .pdf)
Green Ronin (Mutants and Masterminds)
Mongoose Publishing (Conan)
West End Games (d6)
Morrigan Press (Atlantis: the Second Age)
You may be a 4e fan when you read this, but by supporting the "rebellion" against WotC you are helping the economy over all and the hobby industry over all by buying from these fine companies. .pdf is really the future of roleplaying games, its the most economical way of distributing RPGs for both the consumer and the producer. Show everyone that this is the truth, buy a roleplaying game in .pdf. I have Exalted for free. So I count. In the meantime, I'm planning on purchasing the 1st edition of Palladium Fantasy Roleplaying (revised) sometime in the near future. :)
LETS TALK ABOUT HOW IT IS GOOD!
The Constitution of the United States has guaranteed protection of Copyright, the right for an Author or company, in United States law. This allows the user to defend their copyright if it has been violated by a 2nd or 3rd party. Wizards of the Coast is duty bound to defend their copyright of D&D 4e (and other editions that they own).
They are currently suing eight so called pirates because they managed to "steal" copies of the 4e PHB2. Wizards of the Coast has moved in to defend their copyright of that book. Their right to distribute that book has been violated and they did the right thing in doing so.
Because, if their material enters the public domain, they will lose their copyright if it remains in the public domain. Pulling .pdfs is regarded as a sound, legal move.
So, lets now talk about how it is bad!
We've talked about how it is good. Now lets take a look at the bad side. There are a couple of things wrong with pulling .pdfs so abruptly. It was legal, but the action was immoral.
Loss of Customers: WotC has lost many of their customer base for pulling .pdfs. A lot of customers felt that they got the shaft. Me included. There is a lot of legacy stuff I wanted to buy: D&D expert, D&D companion set, D&D Master set, D&D Imortal Rules -- some second editon (AD&D) .pdfs, and some first edition (AD&D) .pdfs (including the 1st edition DMG). Buy pulling .pdfs so abruptly, Wizards are treating their customer base as theives. And most of these people are law abiding, honest citizens. This is the main reason, actually.
Bad Publicity: in our economy, a move like this attracts bad publicity. Wizards of the Coast has already gotten a heap of bad publicity due to the dick like way they handled the Game System License at first (it was the major reason why I didn't buy 4e: for me to buy 4e, 4e has to be either totally open, or totally closed. Not somewhere inbetween). Pulling the .pdfs has attracted more bad publicity than the first GSL. In the eighties and the nineties, any publicity was good publicity. However, in the midst of a depression economy, bad publicity equals no sales.
Death of the Dungeons and Dragons brand: The game won't die. The brand will because of this move. Dungeons and Dragons has always been the gateway to the hobby that appeals most to highly creative people -- Roleplaying Games. Wizards of the Coast may be the juggernaut of the hobby industry, but it doesn't mean that juggernauts can not be slain. Wizards of the Coast may be unstoppable -- but the best thing to do as a participant is to buy a copy of another game in .pdf or in physical form. Don't buy Wizards of the Coast until this thing at least has been straightened out.
Other companies, good companies, to buy from include:
Malhavoc Press (Iron Heroes is high quality)
Steve Jackson Games (their 4th edition GURPS is of much higher quality than Wizards of the Coast's Dungeons and Dragons 4e)
Iron Crown Enterprises (love it or hate it, Rolemaster Classic is the best game of it's type of RPG out there).
White Wolf (Exalted was put out for free)
Palladium Books (Hell froze over when KS decided to put his stuff out in .pdf)
Green Ronin (Mutants and Masterminds)
Mongoose Publishing (Conan)
West End Games (d6)
Morrigan Press (Atlantis: the Second Age)
You may be a 4e fan when you read this, but by supporting the "rebellion" against WotC you are helping the economy over all and the hobby industry over all by buying from these fine companies. .pdf is really the future of roleplaying games, its the most economical way of distributing RPGs for both the consumer and the producer. Show everyone that this is the truth, buy a roleplaying game in .pdf. I have Exalted for free. So I count. In the meantime, I'm planning on purchasing the 1st edition of Palladium Fantasy Roleplaying (revised) sometime in the near future. :)
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Joining the Frank Frazetta Contest
One of the best things about joining the Frank Frazetta Contest is this:
1. I haven't participated in a DAZ sponsored contest before.
It's something always kicking around that I liked Frank's style when you do Old Style D&D. The Known Lands came out of WoW, but it was also heavily influenced by Frank Frazetta and the good people at the Judges Guild. Classic fantasy (Edgar Rice Burroughs, Robert E. Howard, John Norman, etc.) is one of the biggest inspirations for Dungeons and Dragons than most people really realize.
Frank Frazetta produced paintings of gorgeous women (even though they were curvy), powerful barbarians, and fantastic locales. To this day, he's the biggest inspiration for trying a Stone Age (read: neolithic) campaign. How would a stone age campaign work?
Simple: Cavemen and magic. :)
The Neolithic Era is a fantasy, truly. We don't have much about it, except monuments like Stonehenge and archeological tools -- and a way of explaining all this through antropology's un-exact science. However, it's more than man living in caves, its about the start of agriculture, adventuring in a time when it was very dangerous for human beings (sabre-toothed cats, dire wolves both domesticated and wild, wooly mammoths, dire lions (panthera atrox) etc.)
Couple that with monsters (lesser evolved creatures -- h. habilus, h. eogaster, h. erectus), apes, and monstrous versions of normal creatures and you have a good campaign. You can make it even more fanciful if you add the dinosaurs.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Rendering Frank Frazetta
I am going to render a picture inspired by this painting. It's a Frank Frazetta, and he usually does ladies with luscious curves. If you like, I can show you step-by-step how I am going to render this. The following materials are what I'm going to use:
1. DAZ Studio
2. Lisa's Botanicals - Jungle Mist
3. Luscious Curves for V4-A4-Elite
4. Heart of the Jungle
5. Millennium Big Cat
6. Victoria 4
7. Sensual Hair V4
8. V4 Sexy Shirt Plus (Earrings source)
9. Jungle Vines
If you want to render your own jungle queen, pretty much items one through 6 and 9 are needed. :) We will go by this step by step, consider it the first of the Mastering DAZ Studio series.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Happy Belated Easter Everyone!
I wish to express happiness at Easter time. Easter is celebrated by Christianity as the morning of the First Resurrection. The morning of the First Resurrection is the time when those who are Celestial in spirit are resurrected. I.e., their spirits are joined with their bodies in an eternal basis, and ascend to the heavens.The Afternoon of the First Resurrection ensures that those who are Terrestial in spirit are resurrected also. And the evening or the Second Resurrection resurrects those who followed the Law of the Jungle -- i.e. telestially minded. Finally, those who choose error in this Life over truth are also resurrected.
The first to be resurrected is Joshua ben Joseph of Nazereth. He is known in the world as Jesus the Christ (Christ is Greek for the "annointed one.") Many other blogs have noted that the day of Easter is actually a pagan holiday. The worship of Eostre, the ancient Indo-European goddess of the dawn, took place around this time. However, Easter somehow follows the Jewish Passover on most years, so the time to worship and to remember the Resurrection is set for all us Christians.
Christianity is a religion that offers hope to many people around the world. You can't be a Christian without believing in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ -- ie. the act of Him reuniting with his body. Joshua ben Joseph is a real person. He atoned for our sins, was crucified, and was resurrected after. He is the Messiah, the Annointed One. He didn't come down to be our God, nay . . . he's our Savior instead. He taught us, through his life, how to live and obtain happiness.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Known Lands Amazon
An Amazon of the Known Lands. Done in anime style.
This is Celestia. I used my Beldandy morph and then morphed her eyes a little more. Celestia is ready for Greywulf's next collection of character portraits.
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