This gallery contains 2 photos.
This is a gallery post. Two recent projects done in DAZ Studio and Photoshop.
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The Ambush: A Tribute
The final version, with added detailing and more functional armour.
Full size version here: https://myth-o-logic.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/the-ambush-final.jpg
Draft here (Different armour): https://myth-o-logic.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/ambush.jpg
North of the Cholanti the hills rise wild, and ancient forests stand inviolate in isolation; nest and shelter to brutal powers older than time.
The Uz call it Dagori Inkarth. It is a deadly land, beyond understanding, filled with secret trails known only to the Wind and the unseeing eye of Darkness. Darkspore and whipvine fester there, no tula stone claims boundary with the wilderness, no herd or crop contends against the tyranny of branch and rock and water. Shadows fester that are servant to neither sun nor chaos moon, and the air itself whispers chill and turgid, battered by the unceasing torrent of the Sky Vent.
The Lady walks there, and the Old Bear, that one, but of the human tribe only the odaylans dare its sunless weald, and they seldom, in solitary secrecy and fear.
Braggi flat refused to lead the Lunars north, even after threats against his kin. He had earned his honour name in that shadow-haunted wild, and mead and poets’ praise in plenty, but even he refused to walk there after the season of harvest and falling leaf.
The Lunars, wrapped in silver and false confidence, headed north without a guide. A mere file, some twenty spears, and only six on horseback. Four weeks they said, to journey to the lake beneath Skyfall and to return. Four weeks.
Three seasons on, and neither word nor tale. Like so many before them, they have been swallowed by the wild.
And white-faced, Braggi returns from the Ring. By flickering flame, soft-spoke and fearful, he whispers that we must go and find them.
– Ironspike, Fire Season, 1618.
‘The Ambush’ depicts a Lunar hoplite ambushed by a troll in the wilds north of the Cholanti River. It is offered in part as a tribute to the work of Luise Perrin, who gave us a certain classic book cover, and to a splendid cover yet to come. And yes, the Lunar is left handed.
By coincidence, as I was writing this post, a friend returned my original print copy of Cults of Prax, now home after many a year. Ah, RQ2, Greg, Steve, Luise, Lisa, Ray… salut!
XENOMORPH: Thinking in Images
Here is the final version of my Xenomorph teaser, created in DAZ Studio.
It helped enormously in deciding what Pip and I wanted for the the module, and in setting a tone and theme.
We have a vaguely Australian corporation – csiro-billington environments – and a research station called RSV Shacketon. We have a security team called the Drop Bears. The render depicts a security terminal, and without going into details, close evamination will reveal suggestions of a number of character subplots.
Shackleton Security Log Station - Be Nice to M.O.T.H.E.R.
You can view a full size image at
https://myth-o-logic.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/shackleton-station-1-web.jpg
Ripley: ‘It’s a metaphor’ – Alien3 as a systemless roleplay
Alien 3 Rebooted: It's time to do it right. (The Alien in our poster is a 3D model rendered by John in DAZ Studio).
RIPLEY: “It’s just down there, in the basement.”
AARON: ” The whole place is a basement.”
RIPLEY: “It’s a metaphor.”
Alien3.
Conventions both exhaust and inspire you. In the aftermath of Phenomenon, Pip and I have decided on our major joint writing project for 2012. We’re going to tackle an rgp reboot of Alien3, the deeply confused successor to the SF classics Alien and Aliens. Cyberpunk author William Gibson did an early script for Alien3, but the project went through production hell with multiple writers and directors, changes of direction, and massive interference from Fox Studio.
We love the Alien series (though lets not talk about AVP), we respect Ripley. and we’re not going to kill off Hicks and Newt in the first thirty seconds as Alien3 did. Our reboot takes the William Gibson draft as our inspiration, though of course an RPG game has to be very different to a movie script, and we have a few ideas of our own.
The Alien series of films exhibit a high degree of self-awareness, typified by the Ripley quote above. We think the challenge plays to our design strengths: an atmosphere of constant, gritty fear and tension; character insight and development; and a chance to ask and play out a whole series of ideas about gender, embodiment, moral courage, and … parenthood! All with big guns and flashing emergency lights.
Pip and I will be posting on the module’s development over the next few months, and using it as an example of how we design a systemless game. While we won’t be giving away spoilers, we can share ideas knowing that everyone is familiar with the game background and genre. For now, we’re watching the movies and reading Dark Horse comics, the Colonial Marines Technical Manual, and a host of critical books and essays from cultural and film studies. One particular inspiration is Stephen Mulhall’s On Film: Thinking in Action, which explores how the Alien Quadrilogy grapples with a host of issues surrounding human identity.
Note: The poster above is a work-in-progress.
There There
Not a photo, but a render project I created in DAZ Studio while testing a new engine called Reality. The quote is from Radiohead – it’s been one of those years. 🙂
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