I'm really poor. I live on 5 dollars a day. My family has been in absolute financial distress since 2004, and there's little to do but perfect my Poser Art while the Computer Graphics Society condemns us all poser and DAZ Studio users.
No more.
Since I'm so poor, I figure I have really nothing to lose on a risky venture. So, writing an adventure using kobolds as the antagonists, I noticed that I ran into a snag while planning all the Poser 3D Art. Sixus Studios' Raptorian is missing and Rawn's lizard men for M4/V4 isn't really something you can rely on for kobolds. They are too humanoid.
Faced with a choice of being cheap or going all out, I could either get someone to draw B&W art for me. Or I can risk it all in a Kickstart and have the Kobold created as a 3D poser figure. I talked to Chikako of Mirye Software and Meshbox on the possibility of having a kobold created with clothes to my specifications.
The price tag for creating the Kobold in 3D Studio MAX and having it painted in Mudbox, along with a selection of clothes and weapons is $4,200 dollars (that includes transfer of Copyright). I'm having the Copyright transferred to me for several reasons -- this figure cannot achieve it's full potential if either Meshbox or I kept it shut in a Copyright chest. I'll be selling it through Meshbox, Mirye Software, and Renderosity with a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License (the least restrictive of the Creative Commons licenses).
Yes, I can see your mouths drop. "$4,200 dollars? Where are you going to get that kind of money?!" you say. Others are saying, "Your going to put a Creative License on your Kobold figure, you're crazy!"
The answer to the first question: through Kickstart.
Since the Kobold is going to be the single most expensive item in making this adventure, I'm making it my mascot. So, I checked to see if a d20/Pathfinder/D&D 5e publisher existed under Kobold Publishing. Well, the name isn't registered. There is a Kobold Quarterly, but no Kobold Publishing.
I'm doing this for a couple of reasons.
Today, I'm having a conversation with Rite Publishing on doing pro bono work as an intern for doing their layouts. It would be great if my family is more prosperous to just intern, but since we are in financial distress I need to do something to ease the distress. I'm going to take the intern job while raising money for the adventure.
So I am announcing my intentions of forming Kobold Publishing, Ltd. Kobold Publishing, Ltd. works on producing Adventures for the Pathfinder roleplaying game. Each adventure will have the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License as well as being produced under the OGL. Our mascot is the kobold that I'm spending so much money on making a reality.
Each adventure will be produced in a heroic fantasy vein. Some will feature psionics, some not. But it will be all adventure. Plus, with the Creative Commons license, Wizards of the Coast can publish one of my adventures for D&D Next, Paizo can make a competing copy, and many other possibilities. The possibilities are endless when you grant FREEDOM OF THE PRESS.
I am writing an adventure where an elven village and a human village are slowly merging into one town, and are invaded by kobolds. But leave the kobolds out of it for now. Here, you have two wildly different populations growing into each other.
The Elven Town of Aquarin has built a forest in a desert valley using magic and science. Man has tamed the wild valley to make it bring forth fruit. But to the south is Aquarin, built on a gently rising slope. To the north is Hunter Village. The two populations have been growing together, and the elves of Aquarin have realized that they couldn't stop it, so they gave a Kobold King's ransom to Hunter Village, and the resulting money has caused the village to literally explode.
Do you think that there are still conservative elves? Or do you think there are more liberals among them? How, would you think that the humans would feel?
The setting is a creatively Anachronistic Salt Lake Valley, to lead into my Amazons of the Desert ideas. :) This is the not the first time a writer uses a real world location as creative license. May I remind you of Xanth?
While commenting on sodomites in the White House giving Reagan the bird, a commenter said that Barrack Hussein Obama was our first gay president. Really, I do believe that James Buchannan was our first homosexual President.
Here are some facts about our 15th President.
a. He was a long life bachelor. He was engaged, but his fiancé broke off his engagement and died soon after.
b. He had a relationship with William Rufus King. A letter had this quote about his life long, special friend:
"I am now 'solitary and alone,' having no companion in the house with me. I have gone a wooing to several gentlemen, but have not succeeded with any one of them. I feel that it is not good for man to be alone; and should not be astonished to find myself married to some old maid who can nurse me when I am sick, provide good dinners for me when I am well, and not expect from me any very ardent or romantic affection."
c. His niece acted as First Lady during his time as President.
James Buchanan was mostly a good President for the united states of America. The only thing I have against him was the Utah War and the signing of laws that forbid the practice of Plural Marriage among the Latter-day Saints -- as it was a strike against the First Amendment. But this was when the President of the united states could act by himself and without undue influence by his peers, or by those who handle him as an Asset.
Barack Hussein Obama is not his own man. He is an Asset controlled by foreign interests. He is smart, but he is also not wise. Buchanan was wise, and his platform was "The object of my administration will be to destroy sectional party, North or South, and to restore harmony to the Union under a national and conservative government".
I know it has been a while since I kept this blog up.
The problem is that I'm embroiled in personal dramas that has kept me from up keeping this blog. As of now though:
School work is not so much as easy as it is time consuming. I'm learning web design in 4 weeks: i.e. how to use Dreamweaver. The amount of school work on dreamweaver takes up 6 hours of my time.
I'm planning on creating my online portfolio. From what I'm learning about Dreamweaver, I kinda laughed when I got Advertisement Design and Dreamweaver together. In Advertisement Design, they are starting to push us towards building our own online portfolios.
And there are other stuff that is happening. Sorry to not to keep you in light of what is happening. I don't think my Portfolio will include a link to this personal blog until I can get it back on track. :) I think the day I can actually work for a living will be a great day indeed (and actually get paid for it).
My players wanted me to run them through Shadowruns. So, guess what? I spent the last week crashing through the books.
Crashing through Shadowrun Anniversary Edition
GASP!
Shadowrun is 20 years old! :)
Anyway, for those that don't know . . . yes, Robin, I'm including you . . . Shadowrun is what happens when you cross Dungeons & Dragons with the Cyberpunk genre including the movies Blade Runner and Minority Report.
So, you get elves, dwarves, orcs, and trolls running around in a Technopic-dystopia! Not only that, but add dragons, morrows, cockatrices, harpies, vampire bats, barghests, shape shifters, vampires, and loupe garou.
Bringing you up to Speed
Okay, in 1989, hackers and matrix cowboys surfed the interwebs when the Internet was represented by America OnLine, Compuserve, and you used a plain modem to get online. These cowboys, instead of using a computer with a modem, use a Cyberdeck -- an item the size of a MacBook with datajack you plug into your head; or electrodes you put on your head.
Well, in the last twenty years we have Cable Internet, Wide Fidelity Radio LANS, iPods, iMacs, and iPhones. Especially since the iPhone and it's Android competitors can connect to the Internet via wireless radio. As long as you are receiving (dubiously) safe Radio waves from cellphone towers and are not out of their maximum range.
So, when you are Shadowrunning, the Matrix has expanded to allow hackers and matrix jockeys to connect to the Matrix completely wirelessly. No more plugging a datajack to your craniums, boys and girls! And now your friendly neighborhood hacker can participate in your friendly neighborhood Shadowrun fight.
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The number of race selections now include a number of Infected and something called Changelings. No, these aren't Eberron Changelings or Changelings from Changeling: the Lost. Nope. Here's what a Changeling in Shadowrun looks like -- and this is the 3rd degree Changeling.
Wow, what does this look like to you? Yep, a furry. What happened when Halley's Comet arrived, the Earth reacted magically and magic once again erupted across the world. Now you have furries, gnomes, satyrs, Minotaurs, blah, blah, blah in the world. The Sixth World got even stranger.
Nope, no change there. Oh yeah, you can play a mage in Shadowrun. But I'm sure you knew that. Oh, yeah, you can relate magic to the physical world now. So you can enchant Cyberware. Yes.
Back in the 1990s, Shadowtech introduced Bioware as a form of Augmentation. Instead of stealing essence, you gained a Body count that can't go over your Essence so it didn't affect your magic.
Now it's 20 years later, and they decided that it still impacts your essence (never you mind it's ALIVE!). Still, instead of getting just new organs, you can get Body Sculpting! And yes, people in the Gameworld has both sexes!
Still, instead of getting an implanted cyberdeck (cranial cyberdeck) you can have a Commlink implanted into your body. But that's not even the weirdest part of living in 2071 in the Sixth World.
What if you didn't need a computer, or heck even a Commlink to jack in and ride the matrix wirelessly? What if your brain was capable of receiving Radio Waves and sending Radio Waves? In fact, why not just connect to the computer network using only your nervous system? That is what Technomancers can do. They can jack in to the matrix with their Cerebri.
They aren't Techno-Wizards from Rifts, these guys can just see and read the matrix without a commlink. No invasive cyberware or Augmented Reality needed. How would you like that? Well, now you are completely unwired and you can hack into the Internet.
How does that make you feel?
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Rule System
There is hardly any major changes to the Rule System I'm used too, except that the regular way of creating a character for the sixth World is that you buy it with Build Points. Yep, Priorities are long gone.
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Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Orks, and Trolls
Okay. So you are playing D&D. Your intrepid Gamemaster is improvising the story as you go along (which, anyone knows, is improv). Orcs are nasty barbarians. Trolls are regenerating suck uglies that can throw you across the room, elves treat you like dirt, and Dwarves mine and that kind of stuff.
what do you get in Shadowrun? Well there is one rule you need to remember. Those stereotypes don't exist.
In the Street Samurai Catalog, you have four metahuman types representing the Street Samurai. All of them are dressed to the nines. Three of them are dressed to the nines in GEAR. This is the Elf, who looks like a Bishounen reject, the Dwarf, and the Troll. The Ork is dressed to the nines as well -- except he was wearing a double breasted business suit and tie and talked like he came out of Wall Street.
Look at this Elf --
Doesn't he look like he can chop you to bits? But hey, that's nothing. It's worse when an ork can out face you. and what I mean about face is what this guy did in the A-Team.
So, number 1. There is no Chaotic Evil orks, trolls, dwarves, or elves in Shadowrun. Get it? Good. And Orks can be as personable as Elves, only Elves can do it better. Got it? Good. Still, the world of Shadowrun is a Techno-Dystopia so you can forget those silly little alignment rules dealing with race.
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So, is there anything about the races that are bad?
Well, you can have a dwarf be the evil nice French Jerk. An Ork be the rich dude from Monte Carlo, and the Troll in the boardroom. As for Elves -- the Elves took over Ireland and Oregon. Not all Elves in Shadowrun are stuffy, up your nose types that would call you a "silly English type!" but only the immortal ones are -- the other Elves think the immortal ones aren't with the times.
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Tomorrow: Playing Back in Business -- a Shadowrun Scenario.
Hmm, I have recently got a claim that all 3D art is soulless, and Stinted. Well, let me show you a few renders out of the thinking box:
These four images are from the CG Society. Are you going to stand by your opinion that CG is stilted, soulless, and non-dynamic? Or are you going to retract your previous statement?
I have done nigh over 700 images using DAZ Studio in all hopes of working for Paizo or Wizards, essentially, I shouldn't be doing them for free. However, the BIG TWO for D&D publishing are a company of curmudgeons. There are, in some ways, a 3D Render can absolutely be used to illustrate scenes.
So what is the purpose of the Character and Portrait Folio? To show off what 3D rendering scenes can and will do.
for instance:
These two were created using DAZ Studio. The purpose of which is for you to use in your scenes or to represent your characters. ;) I can do more complex scenes too. Warriors fighting dragons, Gaeles, Lilends, and soon angels and demons. :) Each image is Creative Commons licensed for sharing. Why do so? Well, one of the crazy things about Copyright is that I have the right to use the media I create as I see fit. If I designate that it can be shared, then I can do so.
After all, it lives in your minds. If they are shared, they can propagate through many channels over the internet.
You've quested for photo-realism using DAZ Studio. Many people have claimed that the 3Delight Renderer is subpar to Firefly. And in your quest for the perfect photorealistic render you have done everything possible. You've played with regular surfaces. You manipulated the glossiness of your Specularity channel and you've played with the Human Surface Shader, but nothing. You may have even dabbled in Reality voodoo, but . . . nothing can prepare you for . . . THE UBER SURFACE SHADER!
The UberSurface Shader is about as different from the Human Surface Shader as D&D 3.5 is to the Pathfinder RPG. But as you can see above, you can get some interesting results. So, where is this confection of culinary 3D delights for 3D confectionary magic?
It's been sitting in your Shader Presets folder, all along.
Above, Kytana, the Iconic Kineticist for PSIONICS UNLEASHED!!! was molded and rendered with this shader for prepared use for a Pathfinder Portfolio and Character Portrait product. In the next few posts, I'll reveal the secrets of this shader. In the meantime, I'll petition the makers of Mental Ray to produce a pay for product version of their renderer for DAZ Studio.
After all, this is the shader that can slice, dice, and render your surfaces to perfection. Join us, in the next few posts for UBER SURFACE MAGIC! :)
Recently, I gave a Sita Sings the Blues talk to a roomful of 15-to-17-year-olds. Near the end I explained Free Culture and my stance against copyright, which led to some interesting discussion. Turns out most of them are manga fans, and familiar with publishers’ complaints about scanned and translated manga shared freely online. They all read them anyway (except one, who prefers to read entire manga in the bookstore). I asked them how they would choose to support artists they liked (once they had some disposable income) and they said:
Donate buttons – with the qualification that they want to know as much as possible about where the donation is going. They said honesty and transparency are important.
Kickstarter – They all knew about it (which was notable because none of them had heard of Flattr) and valued pitch videos that explained how the money would be used.
Custom drawings
Merch
Physical copies
Live Shared Experiences, including ballet, museum exhibits, and concerts. The event aspect was important; they wanted to be able to say, “Remember that one time when that awesome show was here…” They agreed seeing things in person is a more powerful experience than seeing things online, and worth spending more on. One said she would buy CD at a live show because “it reminds you of the show.”
One said he would support artists by promoting their work to his friends.
Semi-related, I took an informal poll of how many would prefer to read a book on paper vs. an e-reader. The vast majority said paper, but what they really seemed to want was dual formats: paper copies to read comfortably and collect, and digital copies to search and reference. Makes sense to me. Only two of them had iPads, and none used them for “enhanced eBooks.”
My favorite quote of the afternoon, from a 15-year-old girl:
“We don’t want everything for free. We just want everything.
A Christian is simple, he has taken upon himself the name of Christ. Yahushua ben Yosif, called Jesus Christ in English. Jesus has no meaning in Hebrew, the name Yahushua transliterates to Joshua in English and not "Jesus." Jesus in Greek is pronounced: "Hey Zeus!" Christ is Christos in Greek, and it means the anointed one.
However, since Yahushua ben Yosif introduces himself as Jesus Christ in the scriptures (Behold, I am Jesus Christ . . . on at least two separate occasions) we will use Jesus. So, a Christian has taken upon himself the name of Jesus Christ; something that usually happens at Baptism.
So, what does it mean to take upon yourself the name of Jesus Christ? Well, since the second commandment is "Thou shalt not take my name in vain" there is something in there that is telling. It means your thoughts, your words, your actions, and your character. When we take upon ourselves the name of Christ, we are expected to act in a way parallel or liken unto the Christ.
Although as for myself, some people may judge me through my images that I have not been doing so. This is wrong, I stopped making actual adult images a long time ago with the goal of titilation. :) This also doesn't include roleplaying games -- Creation is a godly act. When we play D&D, we are co-creating with each other a story, so it's still godly.
The Path of the Mystic
The Good Shepherd, an archetype for Christ
As Christians, we should be achieving the status of a mystic. This doesn't mean we run around casting spells and reading minds. It basically means that we work on our own Trees of Life. The Tree of Life, although a real tree, is a personal symbol for each of us. We can nurture the Tree or we can let it die.
Another aspect of the Mystic is gaining the understanding who we are. This is understanding the Law. Call it Attraction, call it something else; the Law of Cause of Effect is how we, as intelligent beings; interact with the Universe.
Thirdly, there is the relationship between you, Christ, and his Father (and our Father). We are to be friends of the Gods that are (presumably) high above. When we achieve this relationship, and maintain it, we can achieve a potential greater than we can ever imagine.
Lastly, we have to realize who we really are and seek oneness with the Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost, or the Father. Wait, I know you are probably confused -- I capitalized Father twice right? The relationship between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost has been greatly confused by the Nicaean Creed. But we aren't going to diverge into God the Father, God the Great Eternal Father, and Jesus Christ (to do so would confuse you further since this is an introduction on what a Christian is).
The Mystic and the Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments, the holy writ given to Moses by Yahweh (and yes, it's a spectacular thing when you can write on stone with your index finger), are consequences by living a Mystic Life in tune with our Father in Heaven. By having a powerful relationship with Jesus Christ and his Father, you shall not do the following -- in general:
worship other gods. This is includes cars, sports figures, hollywood actors, hollywood producers, President Obama (he's worshipped as a God, you know), etc. But it also includes other supernatural gods such as Thoth, Anubis, Osiris, Ishtar, Ashtoreth, Brigid, and the Creation itself.
make a graven image. As a mystic and friend of Jesus Christ, you will see his Face in his own due time. You don't need to make a Christus statue to worship and to be in awe about. Nor do you need a likeness of Christ to remind you of what he looks like.
Not bow down to the other gods or to graven images. When you do so, you are showing your devotion to someone else, and the Christ usually interprets this as hate being projected towards him.
not take the name of Christ in vain. As a mystic on the inside, so you will be on the outside. What is inside is usually projected outwards. When you have a positive relationship with the Christ, you will generally not live as a Christian in vain. Christians who focus on the outward appearance of being a Christian and are something else on the inside are, as you guess, hypocrites.
This is not a provision against profane speech, however. It's perfectly alright to say "fuck" or "fuckin'" if you have to. As long as people don't regard you as having a potty mouth (a mystic usually doesn't resort to these words or words like them, however).
remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. A mystic, as he understands what the Sabbath is for (Man doing God's work) will seek to make each and every day a Sabbath day. However, learning this principle, you should know that Sunday, the 1st day of our week; isn't reserved for the sabbath. The Sabbath is generally on the first new moon after the Vernal Equinox (according to the Parowan Prophet).
you will honor thy father and thy mother. The Mystic regards his parents highly and seeks to make their name a blessing in the Earth.
you won't commit murder. As a Mystic, human life is sacred to you; and as such you will not take human life -- or animal life for sport or for fun. Or out of fear, or revenge, etc.
you won't adulterate your marriage. Adultery is making profane the marriage bed -- having sexual relations outside your marriage. Although this also includes homosexual relationships, promiscuous relationships, fornication, masturbation (although someone experimented with this and found he isn't cut off from feeling the Spirit), sodomy, and onanism (coitus interruptus), etc.
you won't steal. As a mystic, what belongs to your neighbor is his, and you won't take it. After all, if you understood yourself correctly, why would you need to?
bear false witness against thy neighbor. This is basically perjury; but lying (distorting the facts, misrepresenting the facts, making up new facts -- ie. fiction) is something you won't do as a Mystic. Nor as a Mystic would you purjure against or for your neighbor.
thou shalt not covet your neighbor's belongings. Generally, Economics teaches a Scarcity mindset when it comes to resources. However, the opposite is true to the Mystic. The Mystic generally thinks in abundance terms and therefore there is enough for all (enough fish in the sea).
Jesus Christ came to Earth to show us the way. He showed us by example how we are to live and regard each other. And Jesus Christ and Yahweh are simply the same entity (being -- Christ doesn't respect Person). So the same god that commanded Joshua and the Israelites to go cleanse the land of Canaan of it's inhabitants is also the Man that taught us how to live through his life on Earth. Yahweh also is the name Man that died on the Cross for our sins as well as your sins.
As Christians, we believe on his name and we believe in his Sacrifice. As Christians, we are expected to live our lives, Believe in his atonement for us that will cover us, and to live our life as the best us as we know how and Christ and our relationship to him will cover our sins and our garments are made white as snow; even as they were scarlet. Christians are actually the most free people ever.
Next: British Israelitism, Jew Israelitism, and Afro-Israelitism and why I feel British Israelitism is the correct way of viewing the Lost Ten Tribes.
