Bluewater Comics...Holding out on Creators?

These are reports from a couple of comic-related blogs (via the Comic Shop Resources website):

Bluewater Comics has an awful contract that creators sign because they’re desperate to break into' the industry. Basically, they don’t pay you until a comic book is 'profitable' and then it’s a royalty, with no advances. Which is kind of a shitty contract in the book world, but you still see it. The difference is that in this case Bluewater owns or licenses the Intellectual Property (IP) and what they’re doing is developing that IP for other-media on the backs of young freelancers, whom they never have to pay, and that moves from being a shitty contract to exploitation.

http://comics212.net/2010/01/25/bluewater-shifty-non-payment-garbage/

In the past, when I’ve talked about Bluewater comics, it’s generally been to make fun of them. After all, they’ve made stupid, entry-level mistakes when they weren’t dementedly seizing at trends to get something, anything to sell. Their latest approach, rushing out tie-ins to whatever people are talking about politically, seems to be working for them (although once again, they made basic mistakes there as well).

Unfortunately, now word comes that the company is making money by not paying their artists. In short, they only pay the people who create the comic once they’ve made a profit … which is ripe for exploitation, since a company can keep throwing expenses against a work until nothing ever makes money (known as 'Hollywood accounting').

http://comicsworthreading.com/2010/01/25/why-i-wont-cover-bluewater/

Unfortunately I know a lot of geeks well enough to know that they wouldn't let something like non-payment of the people creating the comic books they're enjoying be a reason to not buy from that company anymore. That's just sad.

Although, are there a lot of people buying Bluewater comics?

DTRPG raised $56,000 and lost servers temporarily

Thursday, January 21, 2010

In an effort to hurriedly engage publishers and fans in a charitable relief action for the people of Haiti and the Dominican Republic (following the earthquake that devastated the region), DriveThruRPG put together the single most amazing bundle of products ever seen in the RPG hobby's history. For a $20 donation, fans are given over $1500.00 in RPG books, music, and more.

It killed their servers within hours of going live.

As one fan put it, "I've never been happier to get an error message." The generosity has been utterly overwhelming, and the collective patience of the customer base has been greatly appreciated by the folks at DriveThruRPG.

"It is an embarrassment of riches of the highest order," said Sean Patrick Fannon, Marketing & Communications Manager. "We simply had no idea how huge this would get, and how quickly it would become a massive sensation throughout the gaming world. I've never been more proud of my community or
my job."

In order to resolve the server issues, DriveThru employed a "coupon solution" that enabled customers to gain a code that would let them select each of the products in the original bundle for free download. With well
over a hundred products, however, this became a tedious and frustrating process, and the customers rightfully complained.

As of now, a new coding has been employed, and now customers are getting all of the products that go with the bundles automatically added to their download lists. The folks at DriveThruRPG care immensely for their
customers, wanting the experience to be as easy and enjoyable as possible. While the main focus is to get help to Haiti, DriveThru also wants to leave a positive and lasting impression on everyone who comes to the site.

As of this press release, DriveThruRPG has collected well over $56,000, which will be going to Doctors Without Borders for their efforts in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The "Gamers Help Haiti $20 Mega Bundle" will be available until January 31st. Other relief efforts may continue as needed.

For more information, contact Sean Patrick Fannon at sean@onebookshelf.com. Go to www.drivethrurpg.com to obtain the bundle and learn more about what DriveThruRPG is doing to help Haiti.
~~~~

The Necronomicon

Have you read any good books lately?

The One Ring RPG

PRESS RELEASE

For immediate release.

Cubicle 7 Entertainment and Sophisticated Games announce that they are developing The One Ring: The Lord of the Rings® Role-playing Game.

Cubicle 7 Entertainment and Sophisticated Games are proud to announce that they are jointly developing The One Ring: The Lord of the Rings® Role-playing Game.

“We’re tremendously excited about The One Ring,” said Dominic McDowall-Thomas, Cubicle 7 Director. “Our aim is to give our audience an authentic Middle-earth gaming experience, one that really captures the feel of Tolkien’s world.”

The designer and lead writer of this project, Francesco Nepitello, is a games industry veteran, best known for the hugely successful and critically acclaimed War of the Ring strategy board game, which he designed with The One Ring co-designer Marco Maggi and Roberto di Meglio. A recipient of the International Gamers Award, *War of the Ring* is recognised by many ‘Lord of the Rings’ enthusiasts and hobby gamers alike as one of the most engaging recreations of the world-renowned fantasy saga by J.R.R. Tolkien. Francesco and Marco are the designers of other immersive board game titles like Marvel Super Heroes and Age of Conan, but started their game-designing careers creating Lex Arcana, the most successful and popular fantasy role-playing game published in Italy.

Francesco has designed the new LOTR RPG game system to make sure that players are completely immersed in Middle-earth from the moment they begin creating their characters. As an experienced designer of games based on JRR Tolkien, as well as being a lifelong devotee of the Tolkien works, Francesco brings a dimension -and a depth- to this RPG which has probably never been seen before in a LOTR game.

Robert Hyde, head of Cambridge (UK) based Sophisticated Games said, “When we first acquired the rights from Tolkien Enterprises to publish this RPG - as part of our wider LOTR book based board game license- we had no hesitation in approaching Francesco to conceive a completely fresh LOTR and The Hobbit RPG, and for him to be the writer. We knew that he possessed both these skills and that the game would be in very safe hands. His presentation of Middle-earth, along with stunning artwork from John Howe and others, brings this incredibly evocative and exciting world to life.”

“We also approached Cubicle 7 to be our publishing partners on the new The One Ring RPG because we loved the quality of their previous publications and felt that Dominic and Angus (Abranson) had both the experience, and with the creation of Cubicle 7, the role playing game resources, to bring LOTR and The Hobbit to a very wide audience.”

For more information on The One Ring: The Lord of the Rings® Role-playing Game please contact Cubicle 7 on info@cubicle7.co.uk

The One Ring: The Lord of the Rings® Role-playing Game will be published in the second half of 2010.

*
About Cubicle 7 Entertainment Limited*

Cubicle 7 Entertainment is a British-based publisher and events company, specialising in the games industry. Founded in 2006, by Angus Abranson and Dominic McDowall-Thomas, the company has published role-playing games from a list of licensed and home-grown properties including Victoriana, Starblazer Adventure (based on DC Thomson’s 80’s Starblazer comic series), SLA Industries, Qin: The Warring States and the recent Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space (licensed from the BBC). In June 2009 Cubicle 7 announced it had joined the Rebellion Group.

Cubicle 7 Entertainment: http://www.cubicle7.co.uk

*
About Sophisticated Games*

Sophisticated Games is an international board game publisher, specialising in book based Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit games. It is also the publisher of Reiner Knizia’s Ingenious and Callisto, and has recently done Ken Follett’s Pillars of the Earth, Shakespeare and a Horrible Histories game.  Sophisticated Games is based in Cambridge UK.

Sophisticated Games: http://www.sophisticated-games.com

The One Ring, Middle-earth, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and the characters, items, events and places therein are trademarks or registered trademarks of the Saul Zaentz Company d/b/a Middle-earth Enterprises f/k/a Tolkien Enterprises and are used under license by Sophisticated Games Ltd and their licensees.

Hello Kitty!

I have officially seen everything. I leave the work to the viewer to figure out what this is.

Star Wars Burlesque: Tatooine-Styled Shenanigans at the Bordello

Star Wars Burlesque: Tatooine-Styled Shenanigans at the Bordello - Los Angeles Music - West Coast Sound

Posted using ShareThis

MODOK Holiday Special

(with special guest Tori Amos)

Bombay Holiday Party 2009 Walt & Solange

BombayHolidayParty2009Walt&Solange, originally uploaded by Enigma Bombay.

Here's a picture of me in Second Life from a holiday party the other day in world. I'm the one with the beard.

Urban Fantasy in HeroQuest 2: A Werewolf Keyword

While this keyword was influenced mostly by the Mercedes Thompson books by Patricia Briggs, it can just as easily be used in any sort of urban fantasy game with supernatural creatures like werewolves and vampires.

Werewolf
The werewolf is a primal creature, a creature of lusts and rages, more at home in the wilds and the forests than in the cities that most of them live in these days. While their transformations are rules by the power of the full moon, many wolves can control their changes and move from human to wolf forms with varying degrees of ease. The degree to which wolves are able to control themselves and their bestial nature can depend on when they were first "changed" into a werewolf and the savageness of the attack that forever changed their lives.

Werewolves have very long lives, unless their savage side overcomes them in one form or another, and can live for hundreds of years. Some older wolves can have a variety of anacronistic tells that vary from speech patterns to affectations of dress. Older wolves that have a harder time with fitting into a modern world often stick to staying within established werewolf communities rather than deal with a world that they do not understand.

Physically a werewolf is very powerful, even when in their human form and can be physically imposing and highly charismatic to normal human, who may not know that they are facing a wolf but rather something very much stronger than they are themselves. This physical power can be very sexually compelling to some individuals, whether supernatural in nature or not. In their human form, wolves are stronger and tougher than a normal human and this is only amplified when they are in their wolf form.

The senses of a werewolf are also more intense, vivid and finely honed than humans as well, even when they are not in their wolf form. This makes it difficult to lie to a wolf, as it does hiding strong emotional states like fear or arousal. The nose of a werewolf can tell them many things that others would miss.

The society of werewolves, called packs at their basic unit, are heirarchial in their nature and are based upon the dominance of the personality of the wolf. The idea of this is that it is the position within the pack of the stronger, more dominant wolves to protect those who are weaker and more submissive. Dominance in werewolf packs has to do with strength and force of personality, rather than any sort of sexual relationship, and wolves that are more submissive can often have unique niches within a pack that cannot be filled by a more dominant wolf. Submissive never equals useless in a wolf pack, as each wolf has their place within the pack. Also, as wolves mate for life, there is a difference between the strong and mystical bond between mates and those who merely have spouses. Each pack has its own territory, which can be an area as small as a remote town or as large as a region of a State or country. The pack is lead by the most dominant wolf in it, called the Alpha. As the strongest wolf in the pack, the Alpha is charged with the protection of the entire pack and has a supernatural bond with each member of the pack that allows the Alpha to know the well-being of members as well as allowing the Alpha to draw upon the strength of the pack through magical means.

Wolves are social creatures by their nature, pack animals as it were. For some though, mostly due to the savageness of their being changed into a wolf, integration into a wolf pack is not easy or even possible. These lone wolves, sometimes also called ronins, are able to wander freely around the world (as long as they extend the proper curtesies to local packs and their Alphas) but at the expense of never having that bond or feeling of belonging that comes with being a part of a pack. Lone wolves tend to be more dominant, as most packs would feel too protective of submissives to allow them to wander unprotected.

Abilities
The description of this keyword should give you a good deal of possible abilities for your HeroQuest werewolf characters. In addition it gives you an idea of what the world for this kind of werewolf is like.

Further detail of the keyword could add, for example, that in the game world that wolves have "outed" themselves and knowledge of their existence is known to the general public. There could be "PR wolves" who are purposely put out into the public eye to put forward a positive PR spin on wolves, so that the world at large would fear them less. Also, the existence of alpha wolves could denote the existence of an "Alpha of Alphas" wolf, one who is so dominant that they are put above all packs and are able to give orders to those who are the alpha of an individual pack.

Some sample abilites:

• Strong Dominant
• Drawn By The Moon
• Of A Different Age
  
• Secretive Wolf

There are a lot of possibilities that come out of our sample keyword. In future posts I will discuss some more keywords for urban fantasy, and possibly some other genre, settings. As we go I will also post some sample character write-ups as well.

Mac Tonnies: Blogger, Transhumanist and Paranormal Expert Dead

It is with a lot of sorrow that I pass along the word that Mac Tonnies, writer and blogger who ran the Posthuman Blues blog has passed away. Mac wrote about some very brilliant stuff and, the reason why he is mentioned here, is because he was the very first blogger to ever link to my blog. I hadn't spoken with him in a long while, and all of my communications with him had been virtual, but he is defintitely going to be missed.

Here are a couple of information links:

Sentient Developments: Remembering Mac Tonnies

Back in 2006 I discovered that a prominent UFOlogist had been linking to a number of articles on my blog. Even more startling was the realization that the blog in question, Posthuman Blues, was an effort to bridge transhumanist discourse with that of the UFOlogists.

Eager to break the memetic linkage between the two seemingly disparate schools of thought, I penned the article, "Unidentified Flying Idiots." It was typical of my rants, a vitriolic diatribe directed against a group of know-nothing X-Files zealots who were giving legitimate scientific studies a bad name.

UFO Mystic: Mac Tonnies Gone

It is hard to find the right words to describe my feelings at this moment.

The last time we talked was just after his appearance on Coast To Coast on September 28th. He asked if I thought he had done a good job. I said he hit one over the fence.

Mac Tonnies is a voice in these topics that will be missed.