artikid
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Post by artikid on Apr 30, 2020 0:37:24 GMT -6
You'll be interested to know that a bunch of your art from the Sine Nomine art packs is included in Night Shift, and you can bet I'll be buying more in the future! Thank you, Jason!
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artikid
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Post by artikid on Apr 24, 2020 4:34:12 GMT -6
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artikid
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Post by artikid on Feb 5, 2020 14:07:00 GMT -6
Aaaaah... Everything I could say is a spoiler XD Amber is probably one of my favorite series ever. You are in for a treat!
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artikid
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Post by artikid on Jan 23, 2020 3:02:54 GMT -6
It's been a long time since I last read them, so memories are hazy. I liked the first three original books, and the newer ones a little less so. But a very interesting read nonetheless, all in all. What did I like? That it was more or less "unheroic", it runs contrary to a lot of fantasy stereotypes. I liked the idea of the archipelago and the cultures in it and I didn't find the names that hard. If I had to pick a fault, it's the writing. At times it sounds a little bit condescending to the reader IMHO, like "OK, kids take my hand so you don't get lost in this. Oh, here comes a storm. Storms are baaaaad for you". Rowling lifting Harry Potter from Earthsea? can't say, haven't read HP, just saw the movies. But it's not like HP is so incredibly innovative as to themes, content or plot. It's a well told rehash of a thousand fantastic fiction tropes.
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artikid
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Post by artikid on Nov 18, 2019 3:48:13 GMT -6
I'd describe the game as more intrigue, romance, chases, exploration and (some) duels. And since half your party is made up by woman you could reverse the Carter stereotype to "save the prince". And since Barsoom history is almost completely forgotten, you can make up things: other forgotten gods than Issus, weird science buried in the ruins of forgotten city-states, and so on...
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artikid
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Post by artikid on Nov 17, 2019 6:24:59 GMT -6
Talking about RPGs, my first experiment at writing one when I was 15 was a Shannara d20-based Runequest clone. And BTW, isn't that map from a number of Dragon Magazine? I remember they did a Shannara adaptation article during the d20 Era. Also, take a look at this if you haven't before, it's a TEDx talk by Brooks himself youtu.be/fExrstN8TEg
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artikid
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Post by artikid on Nov 16, 2019 6:56:04 GMT -6
@rafael Love that map! Consider I read the books in Italian, so the First King might be a better book than I actually remember it to be. If I had to suggest one single book it would probably be Elfstones. On the Stee Jans/Garet Jax conundrum: I didn't even think of it at all before I found the theory on the web. And while both Stee and Garet have always been favorites in the family (my older brother is a gamer too, he lifted the whole Capaal siege thing for a D&D adventure bitd, we learned to dread Goblin drums!), we didn't think of them as one and the same, ever. Thanks for the thread, it's a nice trip down memory lane, and it actually sent me over to ebay to chase down a copy of the Heirs' Omnibus! (I think it may deserve a second chance) All the best Luigi
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artikid
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Post by artikid on Nov 12, 2019 16:01:30 GMT -6
Very nice thread! Sword was my first fantasy novel in 1978, I was 6 and I still love it (and all the first trilogy) a lot, even though it is so derivative of Tolkien and LotR. I do agree that Elfstones is an excellent book and Wishsong was the perfect closure to the story up to that point. I tried Scions and all the Heritage series: it had a great start, very powerful but it sort of ended with a whimper. Can't really say what the problem was (I read it bitd, memories are hazy) but it felt disjointed, like it wanted to tell too many stories at once. Some of which not so interesting IMHO. The last book I read was First King, and I still have it for completeness sake but I think it was very weak. The main isuues I had with it, is that it tried to hard to tie together all the lose ends (like the "Creel" family) and it's something I hate. Little misteries make for great tales. I never read the rest as my interest in fantasy novels has a little waned and a little changed (I'm definitely more of an SF guy these days, and have been for the last 20-30 years). But I loved Swords and the Allanon cycle so much I've very recently started reading Sword to my 5yrs old daughter. Gotta keep traditions alive. And now the classic question: are Stee Jans and Garet Jax the same person?
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artikid
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Post by artikid on Nov 4, 2019 16:08:10 GMT -6
Well my previous comments on what I would've changed are very much an expression of personal tastes. However, I think we can agree that 2e's DMG is the worst ever over 5 editions (well 5.5) of the game? Lots of material copied from the PHB, lots of ranting, very little guidance on actual adventure (and most notably dungeon) design.
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artikid
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Post by artikid on Oct 26, 2019 8:07:30 GMT -6
Yes Huge Birthright fan here. I think that rules-wise 2e works best as a reorganization of 1e. With the exclusion of settings, I stuck to the following set-up and never had issues: The three core rulebooks The Tome of Magic The Complete books of Humanoids
If I had to make a criticism, it would be about three things: 1.NWPs could have been simpler and integrated with Thief skills/climbing/ hearing noises 2.I would have used BX stat modifiers 3. Level caps for demi humans were too high for my tastes, I would have lowered the caps and allowed to rise in levels after the cap at a 50% XP penalty
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artikid
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Post by artikid on Aug 14, 2019 1:53:10 GMT -6
Mythic Battles Pantheon, Pandora's Box. A nice and quick skirmish game with a Mythic Greece theme (but there's a Norse version coming). You can also play campaign games and there's also co-op or solo scenarios with a lot of nice twists. The game is published by Monolyth games.
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artikid
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Post by artikid on Aug 12, 2019 7:52:30 GMT -6
Barrowmaze I is pretty cool, the follow-up modules BM II and BM Complete are too "Mega" for my tastes. Many gates of the Gann is not really Mega, but is a good, weird dungeon.
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artikid
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Post by artikid on Aug 6, 2019 3:09:59 GMT -6
I concur with all that's been said so far. I do not own a copy of OD&D, but between AD&D and B/X, AD&D has the most tools to generate random Dungeons. However B/X has a very concise part on devising adventures that really gets my immagination going. And you know what? You don't have to chose. It's not an either/or proposition. Use both!!!!! Mix and match at your leisure.
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artikid
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Post by artikid on Apr 14, 2019 8:36:22 GMT -6
I rather liked Rogue One and Solo. But for me there is no "rethinking things" on Disney's part that can save VII, VIII and - I think - IX. To those that liked the sequels I can only say I'm happy for you, go for it!
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artikid
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Post by artikid on Apr 3, 2019 4:00:24 GMT -6
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artikid
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Post by artikid on Mar 9, 2019 10:14:12 GMT -6
Ten little wizards, a Lord Darcy novel by Michael Kurland.
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artikid
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Posts: 70
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Post by artikid on Feb 14, 2019 15:05:16 GMT -6
Advanced Adventures are hard to beat IMHO. There should be four print collections available on Lulu.
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artikid
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Post by artikid on Oct 19, 2018 0:57:03 GMT -6
Enna, Italy. Rome before that.
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artikid
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Post by artikid on Sept 23, 2018 10:11:51 GMT -6
Rome, spring 1980: The caves of Tanakon. My cousin the DM wrote his own Mega-Dungeon. The group was composed of me (a Cleric) and my brother (a Fighter), a giant rat killed me one room short of getting out of the dungeon. So much for the crystal skull of disintegration I wanted to find.
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artikid
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Posts: 70
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Post by artikid on Sept 12, 2018 6:29:29 GMT -6
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artikid
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Post by artikid on Jun 8, 2018 1:57:42 GMT -6
Played it a couple of times in the 80s, I sort of liked it. I also played second edition a few times, it had a few things straightened up, but it introduced S. D. C.and other things from "modern" Palladium games that I didn't like.
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artikid
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Post by artikid on May 23, 2018 11:31:45 GMT -6
Either WBFMAG or S&W Core. Can't really chose.
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artikid
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Post by artikid on Oct 22, 2017 0:48:12 GMT -6
I've sold a lot of stuff via eBay, it worked OK. BTW if you have any Birthright stuff I might be interested.
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artikid
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Post by artikid on Oct 15, 2017 2:02:59 GMT -6
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artikid
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Post by artikid on Oct 15, 2017 1:06:11 GMT -6
As an artist:
We need to know what the deadline is.
Rights. Do I keep publishing rights? Do you? This affects rates very much
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artikid
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Post by artikid on Oct 4, 2017 2:05:36 GMT -6
The original Pern trilogy. Interesting, original, but kind of slow moving.
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artikid
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Post by artikid on Aug 9, 2017 0:56:06 GMT -6
A 5thish level chaotic thief with rather average stats and low strength.
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artikid
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Post by artikid on Jun 29, 2017 4:03:44 GMT -6
I think Gronan was making a joke. Uranus... ahem. In English, Uranus has a few meanings. Not sure about Italian. Nevertheless, I look forward to your post. I didn't mean to downplay your hypothesis at all, as I know nothing about the various etymologies being discussed. If Gronan's comment wasn't a joke.. well then.. I am disappointed!! Blast me for being a pompous, self-important ass! I hadn't realized that, well I guess the joke's one me ;P Sidenote: Your art is really great. You are very talented. Everyone should check out the link in artikid's signature. Thank you very much, I try to do my best Now, regarding the Uranus/Ymir thing. First things first: I'm not a lit graduate nor an anthropologist nor a historian, just a guy that likes mythology and has read a few books and connected some dots in his mind. The only kind of studies I made on this stuff is when I studied humanities in high school (italian high school has a humanities curricula that you can chose and that's all about greek, latin, philosophy and greek/latin lit). So, caveats out of the way, indo-european cultures, languages and religions are a huge stirring brew of recurring ideas and themes that tribes west of India and east of Portugal have mixed and matched since about 4000 BC. So many characters and themes keep coming up in new but familiar combinations in places that are thousands of miles and hundreds of years apart. To make a few extreme examples Sanskrit and ancient greek are considered very similar languages, and there are deities in India that are very similar to the Dioskouroi Castor and Pollux. The antinomy of gods and anti-gods exists in Scandinavia as well in Greece and in India... and in the Amber novels But things cannot always be 100% superimposed one on the other. We usually think of Latins "using" Greek religion, but that's not exactly true: Saturn and Cronos are more different that one might think, for example and lots of latin deities had, originally at least, more in common with the Etruscans than with the Greek. The tribes that had settled Greece by the beginning of the iron age originally looked a lot more barbaric than we usually think of when we think of Greece (we usually think of 5th century BC classic Greeks). Google "bronze age greeks" and be surprised. Keep in mind also that when we think of greek or norse creation myth, we usually think of the work of one author that gave us a standardized and sometimes partial version of a much older -and wider- oral tradition. Such is the case of Hesiod and Snorri. Let's come to Uranus and Ymir. First living being of the universe? Check Spanning a void? Check: Tartarus/Ginnungagap. Hermaphroditic? Kinda. Uranus gets castrated so we could say he becomes a member of the third-sex, Ymir's name is considered to have fully hermaphroditic implications Generate a female deity by itself? Uranus's blood falling from the sky after it gets castrated creates Venus, Ymir somehow is the forefather or generator of Bestla (Odin's mother). By this event the above point about Uranus/Ymir being hermaphroditic is reinforced. Generates monsters from his body? Check (both generate many-limbed monstrous giants) Generate a progeny of gigantic/divine beings? Check (Titans/Giants) Its progeny splits in two antithetical families of divine beings? Check (Titans vs. Olympians, Aesirs vs. Giants) Gets assaulted and/or killed by its progeny? Check (Cronus castrates Uranus to become Lord of the Universe, it is subsequently incarcerated in Tartarus/ Odin, Vili and Ve kill Ymir and build the Universe using its body as building materials to fill the void Ginnungagap). I think one could delve deeper and find even more similarities here and there. I'm pretty sure one can find similarities to the Indian deities Brahma, Purusa and Prajapati as well. BTW if you check Wikipedia you'll also discover that historians and anthropologists seem to disagree with Tacitus, Odin is considered to have some Varuna-like traits. Varuna is an indian deity connected to Saturn (kinda like Cronus)... and Uranus Cheers L
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artikid
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Post by artikid on Jun 28, 2017 14:57:04 GMT -6
Not sure about that,just my conjecture, but I'm pretty sure Romans thought Odin=Hermes. To this day Wednesday in italian is Mercoledì (day of Mercury) Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear... It's not just a matter of days' names, Roman historians themselves made the connection. The comparison is made in the Germania by Tacitus (I checked). On the Uranus/Ymir connection (and more) I'll make a post tomorrow, but that's 100% my idea.
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artikid
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Post by artikid on Jun 27, 2017 11:30:56 GMT -6
Uranus is connected to Ymir, hurr hurr hurr... Not sure about that,just my conjecture, but I'm pretty sure Romans thought Odin=Hermes. To this day Wednesday in italian is Mercoledì (day of Mercury)
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