Hey, I just stopped over to RPGnow and noticed that a work I did freelance for Louis Porter Jr. is at the top sales slot, and a follow-up piece is also in the top 20. Thanks to everybody who bought a copy of Two Dozen Dangers: Haunts, as well as everybody who picked up Two Dozen Dangers: Poisons. I've got a Traps supplement on deck next in the line.
Also, Mark just put up Beggars & Bandits, a fun little sourcebook about Goblin PCs. Go check that one out two, and see if I can get three releases in the top 20!
Also, expect a short Lifer sourcebook soon. I'm also putting the finishing touches on a few longer Otherverse America releases, not to mention a couple of Psi-Watch supplements.
Talk to you later,
CHRIS
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Monday, August 16, 2010
Random Comic Book Thoughts
Okay, I found that image over at Jim Lee's deviant art page. He did that in 10 minutes on a graphics tablet. Ten minutes. I try to draw and something similar would take me about three hours and would look absolutely shitty in comparison. Ten minutes! Seriously, I'm amazed, and I've got that image as my desktop wallpaper right now.
I read Blackest Night (DC) finally. My review: not fuckin' good. Seriously, I've been reading DC for 20+ years now and the story was all but incomprehensible to me, and I can only imagine what that mess would of been like for a first time reader. The art though, was AMAZING. Ivan Reis did amazing work. The story seemed like it was an excuse to create a bunch of awesome variant costumes of major DCU characters to sell toys rather than show character. In that sense, it worked well. Reis' designs for the Black Lanterns, Orange Lantern Lex Luthor and some of the others are really cool, and his art reminds me alot of Jim Lee's... which as you can see from the image heading this post, I consider a VERY good thing. So even though the story was crap, the art more than redeemed it, and I can flip through those issues and be entertained.
Still, the story.... I've shit out things better thought out than this non-sense. The whole 'zombie superheroes raised by a necromancer' has been done before. I remember a great LOSH story from the 5 Year Gap era about Mordu doing that. Story was done in 5 issues of the series, had genuine repercussions, was creepy as hell and made sense. Blackest Night was the exact same thing, but MADE NO SENSE!
First and foremost the main villain of the piece was the least original thing I've ever seen. Now, he's a necromancer raising superhero zombies so I can't expect much originality, but come on: His name is Necron, he's a big zombie Satan thing with a scythe that wears all black. Skeletor had a more compelling and original design than this dude. Plus, I don't actually think he was sentient, but more on that later.
It also seemed like the 'rules' for zombies kept changing. First the black rings raise the zombies. Than it's revealed that Necron can control anyone who has ever died and come back... somehow. Never really explains that one. And then Donna Troy gets bit and starts turning. Is that how it works now?
Also, the whole point of the story was to bring back a lot of dead Silver Age heroes at the end of the whole mess, which means displacing and often killing the more racially diverse successors to their names currently holding the job. I think Comic Alliance did a great post about the racial politics about this, and I sorta discounted it up till now. But seriously: you completely fuck up the new Firestorm, kill off his girlfriend in a really, really horrific scene, and replace him with the old white-guy Firestorm.... who by the way actually killed the girl while zombified. And in the end the zombies are driven back by the White Power of the White Lantern Corps... which is composed mostly of resurrected white superheroes. Seriously, are you fucking JOKING? Did nobody in the DC office catch the unintentional subtext to that one?
And while we're on the subject of bad writing, lets forget that during the middle of this huge zombie invasion, the heroes would stop, pause and have heart-to-heart and slightly snarky dialog about the nature of heroism. Seriously. Fucking stop it, Flash. Just go punch a fuckin' zombie, you asshole. And the Purple Lanterns. A bunch of self-righteous space Communists who can supercharge the other lanterns so they can hurt the zombies... which talk mostly in gibberish. Seriously, take your NOK, NOK and shove it up your utterly boring ass.
And where the FUCK did all these other lantern corps come from anyway? Since the beginning of the DCU we've got the GLC. Then the Sinestro Corps form, and I can sorta buy that, a rival army staging a galactic rebellion. But now there's Red, Purple, Blue and Orange (but I really think that's just one guy).... it's getting ridiculous at this point.
And the end. Aside from the rise of White Power! (HEIL!)... the hero's plan was to resurrect the Anti-Monitor to stop Necron? Seriously, that's your idea. Necron doesn't seem all that bad by comparison: he just wants to kill everybody in one universe and make them zombies to... eat God or something. By comparison, A-M successfully destroyed millions of entire realties and ate millions of alternate Gods. By that scale, Necron is a chump. It's like ressurecting Hitler to chase down Osama Bin Laden. It just isn't going to fucking WORK.
What did I like? The art, as mentioned. And the Atom gets some great lines. His explanation of how the Black Lanterns' rings worked, and the structural similarities between dead bones and dark matter was kinda chilling. I've always liked Atom and his amazing levels of sheer COMPETENCE, and they're on full display here.
I also kinda got the idea that Necron isn't really sentient. He can talk, sure, but I don't think he is genuinely intelligent. I get the impression he's more like a virus. He uses his preys' emotions to replicate the black lantern rings (as he did by having Zombie-Firestorm feed on Jason's emotions) so he can create more zombies/vectors for infection. Necron can replicate himself endlessly from any zombie in his horde, and his whole plan seems to be simple exponential spread, until he destroys the host body... in this case the "host body" is the entire universe/God. I kinda like the character more as some kind of cosmic HIV rather than a thinking being.
Anyway, what I've been up to work wise:
I just finished the draft for Sexually Transmitted Future, the meta-porn sourcebook. It's about 40K words, and the Eleusinian Covenant sourcebook is about 30K. I'm waiting for art to trickle in on both of them.
I've got about 4K words of a short sourcebook about Lifer street criminals/cyberpunks done, and will be expanding that one, maybe out to 10K or 15K words. Expect this book first, because I can illustrate it exclusively with stock art.
Just last night I finished a 3K race splat about Goblins as Pathfinder PCs. It's fucking HILARIOUS. I wrote the thing entirely in character, and I'll be laying it out tonight or tomorrow. Expect it by this weekend if all goes well.
Blessed Be,
CHRIS
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Lots of New Stuff
Okay, I just finished up some freelancer work for Louis. Two of my projects: Blood & Sand: The Gladiator Sourcebook and Two Dozen Dangers: Haunts are on sale at RPGNOW.com. Nice fun, quick projects- I'm especially pleased with the gladiator sourcebook, it's some really well researched fun gaming inspiration, and I convinced Louis to go with an amazing piece of classic art for the cover.
Right now, I'm waiting on some art and once I have it in hand, I'll put out my Eleusinian Covenant sourcebook. Expect that one to be around 40 pages.
After that, my Otherverse America meta-porn sourcebook will be out. I'll be revisiting and revising the genetic engineering rules from Otherverse America, the same way I released Psi-Watch Unlimited Edition. The changes will be minor overall, but include a lot more flexibility and clean up some design problems. Since that sourcebook will include the genemod rules, expect it to be a much fatter sourcebook.
In the mean time, I'll probaly release a few more short fantasy, Psi-Watch or Galaxy Command supplements, to keep fan interest up and the money rolling in. If any body has any suggestions for sourcebooks they'd like to see, let me know.
Finally, I'm thinking of setting up a kickstarter for a re-released, art heavy version of Freeform Anthrpomorphica. I'll have to ask Louis, who has some experience with such how it worked out for him, get his advice.
Blessed Be,
CHRIS
Right now, I'm waiting on some art and once I have it in hand, I'll put out my Eleusinian Covenant sourcebook. Expect that one to be around 40 pages.
After that, my Otherverse America meta-porn sourcebook will be out. I'll be revisiting and revising the genetic engineering rules from Otherverse America, the same way I released Psi-Watch Unlimited Edition. The changes will be minor overall, but include a lot more flexibility and clean up some design problems. Since that sourcebook will include the genemod rules, expect it to be a much fatter sourcebook.
In the mean time, I'll probaly release a few more short fantasy, Psi-Watch or Galaxy Command supplements, to keep fan interest up and the money rolling in. If any body has any suggestions for sourcebooks they'd like to see, let me know.
Finally, I'm thinking of setting up a kickstarter for a re-released, art heavy version of Freeform Anthrpomorphica. I'll have to ask Louis, who has some experience with such how it worked out for him, get his advice.
Blessed Be,
CHRIS
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Thoughts on Obsidian Twilight (LPJ Designs)
I told you guys I purchased Obsidian Twilight and I read through it yesterday. I feel uncomfortable posting an actual review because I've written for Louis in the past, am currently working on a project for him, and definitely want to write O.T. in the near future. But I want to talk about the setting.
Damn good. If I were giving it a starred review, I'd give it a 4/5. Everything that was there- with a couple of minor exceptions- was high quality. The comissioned artwork Louis arranged for O.T. was excellent- all the new racial and class illustrations rocked, and I like the fact the three biggest and most powerful NPC villains of the setting (Isa Magnor, Celix and Zedibiah) get big, pretty 3/4 page illustrations and full stats. All three of those fuckers, by the way top CR 30, which is great. They are as badass by the game rules as they are in the fiction, and I can see taking any of 'em out as the capstone for a campaign.
Plus, the stock art Louis used was really well displayed and fit visually with the paid-for stuff. The layout was really pretty- I like the curling page borders and layouts. I have to say though, that the gothic purple font Louis used for the paragraph headers and spell names got on my nerves very fast. It looked good, but for some of the spell names especially, was really hard to read.
The world itself is nice, and has a lot of possibilities. When he first told me about the setting, he said to think of it as Dark Sun meets Ravenloft, which it achieves. Not just a rip off, O.T. has got enough originality to stand on its own.
Things I liked about the setting: the big three baddies mentioned above. I liked their history, their plans and the fact that there is a good reason that Zedibiah (the closest thing the setting has to a hero or messiah) can't just solve everything on his own. Despite the fact that thing is CR 30, it's still geased and epic cursed into uselessness- it can be a backer or adviser for the heroes, but it can't be the dues ex machina.... unless the GM really, really wants it to be. Good planning.
The races with two exceptions, which I'll get to in a minute were uniformly excellent. I like the write ups detailing how the standard races fit into the setting (but where was the half-orc write up? I know they're similar to the Harrowed, but I still missed the tusky bastards). The gnomes were a personal favorite- they're cowardly collaborators with the undead lords- think the Vichy French or trusties in a hellhole prison. (And Louis, if you're reading this, as soon as I'm done with the gladiator book, I want a commission to write up a splatbook about the O.T. gnomes.) Halflings got screwed hard in the apocalypse- they're twichy, feral little monsters. But I like the fact they're not the badass cannibal headhunters from Dark Sun... O.T.'s halflings are more like abused, half starved feral children. Very creepy and cool... basically imagine an entire race that's like the Children Under the Stairs.
The new races were awesome- the Rajin were a personal favorite. They reminded me forcibly of Ghost Rider, in that they have a racial ability that is effectively the penance stare. Like Ghost Rider, they're assholes but they kill demons. So rock on. The Exalted and Osirians were also cool. The flavor fiction explaining the Exalted's birthmarks as their heavenly blood warring in their bodies with their sinful flesh is a bit too much of a Christian concept for me. I wouldn't have gone that route, but in the context of the fiction, this eerie and highly visual take on original sin works. If I run an O.T. campaign, I would play up the Exalted's birthmarks/tats- they'd constantly shift and give a clue to the Exalt's mood, like Rorschach's mask in Watchmen.
The Lycians.... points off for the kinda plain name. I can think of half dozen fictional works that call their big scary wolf men Lycians. Still, the culture and some of the racial feats for the big furballs was pretty good. However, I don't think Louis made the case they deserved to retain the shapeshifter subtype, even if these fixed-form wolfmen were originally descended from werewolves. If I'd written it, I'd of given them the plain Monstrous Humanoid type, kept their ancestral vulnerabilities because the flavor behind them is cool, and included a Lycian specific prestige class that gives them their shapeshifter talents back. To each their own, though.
The race I had the most problem with though was the Khymer. I think those guys were an excellent concept (the living blood of those killed by the great disaster that animates corpses as containment suits/temporary host bodies). I'm not sure if these guys should have been a PC race, though they are definitely interesting. The problem is their racial write up leaves too many holes. It's not specifically said in their write up, but is hinted at in other racial feats, that the Khymer turn the host body they possess into a duplicate of the creature they were in life. I would have rather made the Khymer a kind of template that can be added to any existing creature that takes over the mind, but uses the body as is- you've got more flexibility as a GM and can easily run scenarios like John Carpenter's The Thing.
On the heroic front, I would of also liked a feat or Khymer prestige class that would allow you to keep some or all of the body's abilties. Also, the racial write up mentions that when down to their last few HP, the Khymer can leave their old host body and try to jump into a new one. So how many HP does the Khymer have in it's new body? Is it still wounded, or does it heal some or all of its damage when body hopping? That's a BIG question that needs to be answered. If there's O.T. errata, that has got to be at the top of the list.
EDIT: I realized I'd missed the part in the racial description where they mentioned the Khymer did exactly what I expected: They turn their host bodies into a duplicate of their original form. Sorry, I just skipped that paragraph!
Feats and spells were amazingly sick. I liked the emphasis on the gross and the dangerous- most of the new spells were necromancy, and add alot of flavor to the campaign. Some of them are so hilariously broken I can't wait to use them. There are some GREAT damage dealing and curse spells in here. Crucify Foe(mass).... Sunfire Tomb, any new spell of 6th level or above. These things kick ass! Oh, and Vacate Bowels- you know back in my AD&D days, I misused Command (Me to GM: I yell out "SHIT!" ) to do the same thing, so I got a kick out of it.
The mini-monster manual in the back was dominated by the three big bads, and included a pair of other monsters, both of which were CR 8 with CR11 advanced versions. To all the monsters were either epic level or mid level, with nothing high but not epic, and nothing for starting characters to fight. I figure Louis is saving some content for a follow up release, but I would have liked to seen a more even distribution of monsters in the core book, especially at least 1-3 low level threats to start a campaign off right.
Something else I would have liked to of seen was more world info, though what was told explicitly and what was implied by the spells, feats and classes was excellent. Tell me a bit more about Celix' kingdom, it's laws, its cruel punishments, its peasant rebellions, ect. I'm hoping there's a gazetteer or atlas for the setting coming soon.
So I dropped 15 bucks on this beast of a core book, and I definately got my money's worth and more. A couple of problems with two of the new races, a desire for more, but other than a damn good book. Louis did good on this one.
Talk to you later,
CHRIS
Damn good. If I were giving it a starred review, I'd give it a 4/5. Everything that was there- with a couple of minor exceptions- was high quality. The comissioned artwork Louis arranged for O.T. was excellent- all the new racial and class illustrations rocked, and I like the fact the three biggest and most powerful NPC villains of the setting (Isa Magnor, Celix and Zedibiah) get big, pretty 3/4 page illustrations and full stats. All three of those fuckers, by the way top CR 30, which is great. They are as badass by the game rules as they are in the fiction, and I can see taking any of 'em out as the capstone for a campaign.
Plus, the stock art Louis used was really well displayed and fit visually with the paid-for stuff. The layout was really pretty- I like the curling page borders and layouts. I have to say though, that the gothic purple font Louis used for the paragraph headers and spell names got on my nerves very fast. It looked good, but for some of the spell names especially, was really hard to read.
The world itself is nice, and has a lot of possibilities. When he first told me about the setting, he said to think of it as Dark Sun meets Ravenloft, which it achieves. Not just a rip off, O.T. has got enough originality to stand on its own.
Things I liked about the setting: the big three baddies mentioned above. I liked their history, their plans and the fact that there is a good reason that Zedibiah (the closest thing the setting has to a hero or messiah) can't just solve everything on his own. Despite the fact that thing is CR 30, it's still geased and epic cursed into uselessness- it can be a backer or adviser for the heroes, but it can't be the dues ex machina.... unless the GM really, really wants it to be. Good planning.
The races with two exceptions, which I'll get to in a minute were uniformly excellent. I like the write ups detailing how the standard races fit into the setting (but where was the half-orc write up? I know they're similar to the Harrowed, but I still missed the tusky bastards). The gnomes were a personal favorite- they're cowardly collaborators with the undead lords- think the Vichy French or trusties in a hellhole prison. (And Louis, if you're reading this, as soon as I'm done with the gladiator book, I want a commission to write up a splatbook about the O.T. gnomes.) Halflings got screwed hard in the apocalypse- they're twichy, feral little monsters. But I like the fact they're not the badass cannibal headhunters from Dark Sun... O.T.'s halflings are more like abused, half starved feral children. Very creepy and cool... basically imagine an entire race that's like the Children Under the Stairs.
The new races were awesome- the Rajin were a personal favorite. They reminded me forcibly of Ghost Rider, in that they have a racial ability that is effectively the penance stare. Like Ghost Rider, they're assholes but they kill demons. So rock on. The Exalted and Osirians were also cool. The flavor fiction explaining the Exalted's birthmarks as their heavenly blood warring in their bodies with their sinful flesh is a bit too much of a Christian concept for me. I wouldn't have gone that route, but in the context of the fiction, this eerie and highly visual take on original sin works. If I run an O.T. campaign, I would play up the Exalted's birthmarks/tats- they'd constantly shift and give a clue to the Exalt's mood, like Rorschach's mask in Watchmen.
The Lycians.... points off for the kinda plain name. I can think of half dozen fictional works that call their big scary wolf men Lycians. Still, the culture and some of the racial feats for the big furballs was pretty good. However, I don't think Louis made the case they deserved to retain the shapeshifter subtype, even if these fixed-form wolfmen were originally descended from werewolves. If I'd written it, I'd of given them the plain Monstrous Humanoid type, kept their ancestral vulnerabilities because the flavor behind them is cool, and included a Lycian specific prestige class that gives them their shapeshifter talents back. To each their own, though.
The race I had the most problem with though was the Khymer. I think those guys were an excellent concept (the living blood of those killed by the great disaster that animates corpses as containment suits/temporary host bodies). I'm not sure if these guys should have been a PC race, though they are definitely interesting. The problem is their racial write up leaves too many holes. It's not specifically said in their write up, but is hinted at in other racial feats, that the Khymer turn the host body they possess into a duplicate of the creature they were in life. I would have rather made the Khymer a kind of template that can be added to any existing creature that takes over the mind, but uses the body as is- you've got more flexibility as a GM and can easily run scenarios like John Carpenter's The Thing.
On the heroic front, I would of also liked a feat or Khymer prestige class that would allow you to keep some or all of the body's abilties. Also, the racial write up mentions that when down to their last few HP, the Khymer can leave their old host body and try to jump into a new one. So how many HP does the Khymer have in it's new body? Is it still wounded, or does it heal some or all of its damage when body hopping? That's a BIG question that needs to be answered. If there's O.T. errata, that has got to be at the top of the list.
EDIT: I realized I'd missed the part in the racial description where they mentioned the Khymer did exactly what I expected: They turn their host bodies into a duplicate of their original form. Sorry, I just skipped that paragraph!
Feats and spells were amazingly sick. I liked the emphasis on the gross and the dangerous- most of the new spells were necromancy, and add alot of flavor to the campaign. Some of them are so hilariously broken I can't wait to use them. There are some GREAT damage dealing and curse spells in here. Crucify Foe(mass).... Sunfire Tomb, any new spell of 6th level or above. These things kick ass! Oh, and Vacate Bowels- you know back in my AD&D days, I misused Command (Me to GM: I yell out "SHIT!" ) to do the same thing, so I got a kick out of it.
The mini-monster manual in the back was dominated by the three big bads, and included a pair of other monsters, both of which were CR 8 with CR11 advanced versions. To all the monsters were either epic level or mid level, with nothing high but not epic, and nothing for starting characters to fight. I figure Louis is saving some content for a follow up release, but I would have liked to seen a more even distribution of monsters in the core book, especially at least 1-3 low level threats to start a campaign off right.
Something else I would have liked to of seen was more world info, though what was told explicitly and what was implied by the spells, feats and classes was excellent. Tell me a bit more about Celix' kingdom, it's laws, its cruel punishments, its peasant rebellions, ect. I'm hoping there's a gazetteer or atlas for the setting coming soon.
So I dropped 15 bucks on this beast of a core book, and I definately got my money's worth and more. A couple of problems with two of the new races, a desire for more, but other than a damn good book. Louis did good on this one.
Talk to you later,
CHRIS
Friday, July 16, 2010
Gladiators, Dragons and Futuristic Demeter Worshipers!
Pretty interesting mix of topics, huh?
Okay, the Dragonbound Core Class is out and seems to be selling pretty well. For the last couple of days it's been bouncing around the 30-40 region of RPGNow's Top 100, which is gratifying, and hopefully it will have the long term sticking power of Adventurer's Essentials: The Common Tongue.
I just purchased Obsidian Twilight with some of the proceeds, so I'm sure it's continued sales make Louis pretty happy too.
Speaking of Louis Porter, I got an email from him this past weekend. I've got a freelance project on deck- a generic campaign option type sourcebook about gladiators. He wants 10-15 K words- something on the order of 40-50 pages depending on how he lays it out.
I started researching, which is always my favorite part of any project. Hit up Wikipeida, all the links that site has for references, hit my local Half Price Books for some history texts... borrowed my brother's copy of Gladiator and have it on a continual loop on my DVD player. So far, I've got some really neat ideas and I've laid down about 2,500 words of mostly non-fiction background info. Mostly context about Roman gladiators, historical facts. It's good bit of writing, but I might shave a bit off if I start approaching my word cap.
After the historical stuff, which I'm almost done with, I plan to have another section on how fantasy cultures react to gladiators. In addition to realistic gladiator types, I want to do something with different styles of gladiator based on fantasy classes and fighting styles. After that, I've already got some great ideas for magic items and feats, spells, the usual D20 crunchiness. SHould be a fun project, and I'll probably have a draft to Louis in a week or two.
I've finished the script for the Eleusinian Covenant, and I've got a free 6 page preview going up on RPGNow soon. I'm going to wait up a couple of weeks to get some money together for art. Though I've been doing decent sales wise, the last few months most of the profits have been going to mundane upkeep and expenses, not back into the art budget. So I now have to wait a bit for The Eleusinian Covenant to come out. No big. Hopefully the preview will tide you over and get some interest out there.
Anyhow, talk to you all later,
CHRIS
Okay, the Dragonbound Core Class is out and seems to be selling pretty well. For the last couple of days it's been bouncing around the 30-40 region of RPGNow's Top 100, which is gratifying, and hopefully it will have the long term sticking power of Adventurer's Essentials: The Common Tongue.
I just purchased Obsidian Twilight with some of the proceeds, so I'm sure it's continued sales make Louis pretty happy too.
Speaking of Louis Porter, I got an email from him this past weekend. I've got a freelance project on deck- a generic campaign option type sourcebook about gladiators. He wants 10-15 K words- something on the order of 40-50 pages depending on how he lays it out.
I started researching, which is always my favorite part of any project. Hit up Wikipeida, all the links that site has for references, hit my local Half Price Books for some history texts... borrowed my brother's copy of Gladiator and have it on a continual loop on my DVD player. So far, I've got some really neat ideas and I've laid down about 2,500 words of mostly non-fiction background info. Mostly context about Roman gladiators, historical facts. It's good bit of writing, but I might shave a bit off if I start approaching my word cap.
After the historical stuff, which I'm almost done with, I plan to have another section on how fantasy cultures react to gladiators. In addition to realistic gladiator types, I want to do something with different styles of gladiator based on fantasy classes and fighting styles. After that, I've already got some great ideas for magic items and feats, spells, the usual D20 crunchiness. SHould be a fun project, and I'll probably have a draft to Louis in a week or two.
I've finished the script for the Eleusinian Covenant, and I've got a free 6 page preview going up on RPGNow soon. I'm going to wait up a couple of weeks to get some money together for art. Though I've been doing decent sales wise, the last few months most of the profits have been going to mundane upkeep and expenses, not back into the art budget. So I now have to wait a bit for The Eleusinian Covenant to come out. No big. Hopefully the preview will tide you over and get some interest out there.
Anyhow, talk to you all later,
CHRIS
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
The Dragonbound Core Class is done!
Last night, I finished up the Dragonbound Core Class. I ended up expanding it to about 35 pages, plus front and back covers, title page and OGL for a total of 38 pages of nice, dragon-ridey goodness. I had originally planned it as a 15 pager, but I ended up finding a lot of great stock illustrations, and some extra inspiration hit.
I picked up the 2nd Edition Monstrous Manual, which is one of the greatest gaming sourcebooks of all damn time at my local used bookstore last week. I wanted to make something fantasy-related that was half that cool.
So the Dragonbound should be up soon, I sent her off to Mark earlier today, and I've got another couple of releases in the pipeline, ready to hit. Expect a short Psi-Watch supplement (that actually gets referenced in Dragonbound!)and another Adventurer Essential, once Mark sorts out the cover layout and gives it a few final tweeks.
Right now, I'm playing around with a few Otherverse America releases. Take a look at this image I've been working on. It's a photomanip of stock art I found at SXC, and will likely become the cover to the meta-porn industry sourcebook. I'll be doing some more work on it before publication, but I kinda like how it looks now.
Finally, check out this awesome video I found of a public performance in LA. The girls are absolutely adorable, the cuteness is overwhelming and I can't get this fucking song out of my head. Enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTSxsYHZXm8
Talk to you later,
CHRIS
Monday, June 28, 2010
Charts are still my nemesis....
My least favorite part of laying out a PDF is doing the charts. Especially since my Adobe Pagemaker from my old harddrive no longer works quite right with my new operating system. The charts are only printing every third letter now, right in the middle of the text no matter what I do.
So I just downloaded Cute PDF and some other free PDF production software and I'm going to see what works. I've been having good luck with freeware lately. I downloaded GIMP 2.6 last week, and I really like it. It does everything my old Corel Photo-Paint did, and the interface is pretty intuitive.
Today and tomorrow I'm going to spend learning Cute PDF and seeing if I can pull a few short releases together. If it works, expect a new adventurers essential release and a short Psi-Watch supplement: think a D20 version of Marvel Zombies. I'm almost done with the Eleusinian Covenant sourcebook. As it stands right now, it's about 30 pages, and is pretty much complete. However, I sorta have an instinct about when a sourcebook is 'done' and this one isn't quite there yet. It's missing one or two pages of text, one or two additional concepts.... hopefully I'll add those in and release it in the next couple of days.
After that, I've got another Otherverse America release on deck, focusing on the post-human porn industry. Should be a fun one. I expect it to run about 40-50 pages, and at about the same time I want to release another 10-12 page PDF on minor Lifer street criminals and that subculture.
Beyond that, expect some fantasy.
Anyway, talk to you all later.
Blessed Be,
CHRIS
So I just downloaded Cute PDF and some other free PDF production software and I'm going to see what works. I've been having good luck with freeware lately. I downloaded GIMP 2.6 last week, and I really like it. It does everything my old Corel Photo-Paint did, and the interface is pretty intuitive.
Today and tomorrow I'm going to spend learning Cute PDF and seeing if I can pull a few short releases together. If it works, expect a new adventurers essential release and a short Psi-Watch supplement: think a D20 version of Marvel Zombies. I'm almost done with the Eleusinian Covenant sourcebook. As it stands right now, it's about 30 pages, and is pretty much complete. However, I sorta have an instinct about when a sourcebook is 'done' and this one isn't quite there yet. It's missing one or two pages of text, one or two additional concepts.... hopefully I'll add those in and release it in the next couple of days.
After that, I've got another Otherverse America release on deck, focusing on the post-human porn industry. Should be a fun one. I expect it to run about 40-50 pages, and at about the same time I want to release another 10-12 page PDF on minor Lifer street criminals and that subculture.
Beyond that, expect some fantasy.
Anyway, talk to you all later.
Blessed Be,
CHRIS
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