#PDF demo

[randomsporefacts]

a while ago i posted about a screenshot found in a pdf of an example animation grid with some old maxis creatures. in both screenshots its called the AVG Test Suite

the content creation in spore pdf found on Andrew Willmott's site had yet another screenshot of this turns out ! though it shows a lot less stuff. it also seems clear that this is from a much earlier version of the game, and in fact the top bar says its from january 23 2007 (the other screenshot is from april 8 2008)

the creatures here are from the test drive seemingly, instead of their actual pngs like in that other screenshot, and none of them seem to be maxis creatures as in the final game (even though a lot of them have already existed by 2007)

mouth_b1_200 and longlimbs_B1_100 are kind of curious because the way the parts are colored resembles the older renders found in the comic book creator for example, like with alderbrook here. which checks out with this being from early 2007

these animation names are heavily condensed and i dont think any of them exist in final under these names. it seems like theyre civ stage animations though

while trying to find one of these animations by just a distinct string in it i found this in properties.trigger lmaooo

edit: oh wait the animation names actually refer directly to curmudgeon, flowery and kissass! so this is related! the animations still dont exist in final though

[door-insurance]

Ahm, hello Life is Strange fandom- I got an announcement

I have been working on my own LiS fan visual novel

This is VortexVN,

You play as Victoria waking up from a hangover with no memory of the week prior, you are tasked with piecing together what happened between her and one of the 4 love interests.

And of course the love interests are:

-Chloe (Chaseprice)

-Max (Chasefield)

-Kate (Chasemarsh)

-Rachel (Amberchase)

The game starts with a quiz; you unlock a route by picking answers related to the character you wanna romance (they are very obvious)

It takes place in an AU where the events of LiS1 and BtS didn't really happen and there are no special powers, Victoria's still a bi tch- I guess that's her special powers.

Think of this game as a spiritual successor to Love is Strange by Team Rumblebee rather than Life is Strange 1

Gameplay so far is your typical point and click visual novel affair, you will be given options to explore rooms, examine objects and talk to other characters- the interactions will play a crucial part in how the game ends,

You can win the girl or get rejected or worse... It will depend on how Victoria carried herself throughout the game,

Mistreating certain characters may prove to be a dealbreaker for the love interest,

Each girl has two close friends in the dorm that you should not upset (I'll reveal who in the guide pdf)

This game is also perfect for Victoria haters as you can ruin her life

The game has its own journal system that will be different depending on who you're romancing, it also comes with a read button (I blurred most of the text so you can get curious and play the game)

Read button will display the journal content in Open Dyslexic font

In the demo you'll only get to explore Victoria's room and the dorm hallways and you'll get two encounters from Juliet (Showers) and Alyssa (Hallway)

VortexVN is still in development, I have finished part.1 of the project and will start polishing it soon- the initial build of part.1 will be available to play as a demo!

The cutscenes lack color and proper shading at the moment and you will find placeholders as well, the art style is all over the place- this will change after the polishing phase

Download links:

Mac and Windows

Web browser ver (I don't recommend that you play it on mobile, also the web version lacks animation and takes forever to load graphics)

programs used:

-Renpy (visual novel engine)

-Photoshop CS5 (Drawing/rendering/animating/designing)

-Clips studio (Texturing)

-tablet: XP-Pen Artist 13

Note: I'm not monetizing this project nor do I claim ownership of the Life is Strange ip, all materials and assets presented in this visual novel were either created by me or are royalty free- I did not lift anything from the games via data mining or by leaks

This game is not a response to or a gotcha at Life is Strange Double Exposure or Deck Nine, I didn't really dislike the game

Besides, I've had the idea of a Victoria centric fan game since the first LiS back in 2015

I'm open for feedbacks! You can DM me or reblog this with a review or something- maybe write a comment.

[nostalgebraist]

In other uncanny-valley AI voice news...

Google has this new thing called "NotebookLM," which allows you to upload any document, click a button, and then a few minutes later receive an entire AI-generated podcast episode (!) about the document. The generation seems to occur somewhat faster than real-time.

(This is currently offered for free as a demo, all you need is a Google account.)

These podcast episodes are... they're not, uh, good. In fact, they're terrible – so cringe-y and inane that I find them painful to listen to.

But – unlike with the "AI-generated content" of even the very recent past – the problem with this stuff isn't that it's unrealistic. It's perfectly realistic. The podcasters sound like real people! Everything they say is perfectly coherent! It's just coherently ... bad.

It's a perfect imitation of superficial, formulaic, cringe-y media commentary podcasts. The content isn't good, but it's a type of bad content that exists, and the AI mimics it expertly.

The badness is authentic. The dumb shit they say is exactly the sort of dumb shit that humans would say on this sort of podcast, and they say it with the exact sorts of inflections that people would use when saying that dumb shit on that sort of podcast, and... and everything.

(Advanced Voice Mode feels a lot like this too. And – much as with Advanced Voice Mode – if Google can do this, then they can presumably do lots of things that are more interesting and artistically impressive.

But even if no one especially likes this kind of slop, it's highly inoffensive – palatable to everyone, not likely to confuse anyone or piss anyone off – and so it's what we get, for now, while these companies are still cautiously testing the waters.)

----

Anyway.

The first thing I tried was my novel Almost Nowhere, as a PDF file.

This seemed to throw the whole "NotebookLM" system for a loop, to some extent because it's a confusing book (even to humans), but also to some extent because it's very long.

I saw several different "NotebookLM" features spit out different attempts to summarize/describe it that seemed to be working off of different subsets of the text.

In the case of the generated podcast, the podcasters appear to have only "seen" the first 8 (?) chapters.

And their discussion of those early chapters is... like I said, pretty bad. They get some basic things wrong, and the commentary is painfully basic even when it's not actually inaccurate. But it's still uncanny that something like this is possible.

(Spoilers for the first ~8 chapters of Almost Nowhere)

The second thing I tried was my previous novel, The Northern Caves.

The Northern Caves is a much shorter book, and there were no length-related issues this time.

It's also a book that uses a found-media format and includes a fictitious podcast transcript.

And, possibly because of this, NotebookLM "decided" to generate a podcast that treated the story and characters as though they existed in the real world – effectively, creating fanfiction as opposed to commentary!

(Spoilers for The Northern Caves.)

----

Related links:

I tried OpenAI's Advanced Voice Mode ChatGPT feature and wrote a post about my experiences

I asked NotebookLM to make a podcast about my Advanced Voice Mode post, with surreal results

Tumblr user ralfmaximus takes this to the limit, creating NotebookLM podcast about the very post you're reading now

[literaryvein-reblogs]

A List of "Beautiful" Ancient Greek Words

for your next poem/story

Andreios - brave

Arete - virtue

Aristos - best

Asmenos - glad

Asphales - safe

Boetheia - help

Deinos - terrible

Demos - people

Doron - gift

Eirene - peace

Eleutheria - freedom

Elpis - hope

Eros - love

Ethos - custom

Glykus; Hedys - sweet

Hebe - youth

Hedone - pleasure

Hegemon - leader

Hesychaios - quiet

Isos - equal

Kalos - beautiful, good

Kardia - heart

Katharos - pure

Kephale - head

Kleos; Kydos - glory

Kosmos - order, adornment

Kratos - strength, might

Krites - judge

Lampros - bright

Olbos - wealth, happiness

Ophelia - help

Psyche - soul

Schole - leisure

Soteria - safety

Stephanos - garland

Telos - end

Thauma - wonder

Theos, thea - god, goddess

Tyche - chance, fate

Xenos - stranger

Source ⚜ More: Word Lists ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

[mayskalih]

howl au for gojohime au zine

leftover sales are open: https://gojohimeauzine.bigcartel.com/

P.S. I did a very spicy nsfw priest!Gojo and demoness!Utahime which I won't be sharing here but you can still buy pdf nsfw zine!

[furiarossa]

27th lineart for this year's @green-with-envy-phandom-event! 

Half mad scientist, he awakens and stitches together the souls of dead animals, and half warrior, agile despite his size and enormous muscles, and maybe even a bit of a wizard... Plasmius is one of the most fearsome Overlords of the Ghost Zone, despite not being one of the oldest. And to think that he is not even a full ghost! But that's how the world works: strength is found in unexpected places, and the genetic strength of hybrids sometimes exceeds that of the "pure" species from which they descend.

Lines by Furia, color by Mimma (colored pencils ;)). The original duo is back again, baby!

And here's a new feature! Since we're working on a card game, and we want to give all the other participants (and spectators of this event) a fun "demo", we've decided that each of the completed illustrations will be used to make a "Let's Play! Overlord" (more details in the future) card.

All the cards will then be collected at the end in a pdf file and will be freely available to everyone, becoming a print-to-play game that we hope will be fun, and that will include easter eggs and other little treats, but will also be perfectly playable within the main game. 

So here is the 27th card of this special promo set: The Plasmius.

[Oh, and a lot more of our Danny Phantom fanarts: Here’s our tag]

★ FurAffinity|Deviantart|Commission prices|Tapas|Pillowfort★

[rivkae-winters]

Edit: the app launched and Is down- I have the initial apology video in a post here and I’m working on getting a full archive of their TikTok up ASAP. I’m letting the rest of this post remain since I do still stand by most of it and also don’t like altering things already in circulation.

Warning for criticism and what I’d consider some harsh to outright mean words:

So I’ve just been made aware of the project known of as ‘lore.fm’ and I’m not a fan for multiple reasons. For one this ‘accessibility’ tool complicates the process of essentially just using a screen reader (something native to all I phones specifically because this is a proposed IOS app) in utterly needless and inaccessible ways. From what I have been seeing on Reddit they have been shielding themselves (or fans of the project have been defending them) with this claim of being an accessibility tool as well to which is infuriating for so many reasons.

I plan to make a longer post explaining why this is a terrible idea later but I’ll keep it short for tonight with my main three criticisms and a few extras:

1. Your service requires people to copy a url for a fic then open your app then paste it into your app and click a button then wait for your audio to be prepared to use. This is needlessly complicating a process that exists on IOS already and can be done IN BROWSER using an overlay that you can fully control the placement of.

2. This is potentially killing your own fandom if it catches on with the proposed target market of xreader smut enjoyers because of only needing the link as mentioned above. You don’t have to open a fic to get a link this the author may potentially not even get any hits much less any other feedback. At least when you download a pdf you leave a hit: the download button is on the page with the fic for a reason. Fandom is a self sustaining eco system and many authors get discouraged and post less/even stop writing all together if they get low interaction.

3. Maybe we shouldn’t put something marketed as turning smut fanfic into audio books on the IOS App Store right now. Maybe with KOSA that’s a bad idea? Just maybe? Sarcasm aside we could see fan fiction be under even more legal threat if minors use this to listen to the content we know they all consume via sites like ao3 (even if we ask them not to) and are caught with it. Auditory content has historically been considered much more obscene/inappropriate than written content: this is a recipe for a disaster and more internet regulations we are trying to avoid.

I also have many issues with the fact that this is obviously redistributing fanfiction (thus violating the copyright we hold over our words and our plots) and removing control the author should have over their content and digital footprint. Then there is the fact that even though the creator on TikTok SAYS you can email to have your fic ‘excluded’ based on the way the demo works (pasting a link) I’m gonna assume that’s just to cover her ass/is utter bullshit. I know that’s harsh but if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck it’s probably a duck.

I am all for women in stem- I’ve BEEN a woman in Stem- but this is not a cool girl boss moment. This is someone naive enough to think this will go over well at best or many other things (security risks especially) at worst.

In conclusion for tonight: I hope this person is a troll but there is enough hype and enough paid for web domains that I don’t think that’s the case. There are a litany of reasons every fanfic reader and writer should be against something like this existing and I’ll outline them all in several other posts later.

Do not email their opt out email address there is no saying what is actually happening with that data and it is simply not worth the risks it could bring up. I hate treating seemingly well meaning people like potential cyber criminals but I’ve seen enough shit by now that it’s better to be safe than sorry. You’re much safer just locking all your fics to account only. I haven’t yet but I may in the future if that is the only option.

If anyone wants a screen reader tutorial and a walk through of my free favorites as well as the native IOS screen reader I can post that later as well. Sorry for the heavy content I know it’s not my normal fare.

[asphodelles]

i made a simplified tutorial for how i paint generally, available on my You-Know-Where page. includes the following:

- 1 PDF walkthrough of my process

- 1 PSD and 1 CSP file of the painting used in this demo

- 1 live recording of the process, about 2.5 hr long

available to patrons of all paid tiers, or for individual $3 purchase ($4.50 on IOS so uh try not to get it through that if you can)

[anim-ttrpgs]

Cover your eyes! Announcing the Gorgon Initiative for Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy

(promotional art by @theblackwarden, one of our team artists)

Okay so, we had a bunch of stretch goals in the Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy Kickstarter, and we actually did hit more of them than expected, but there was one of them we didn’t hit, the playable gorgon.

The gorgon being a playable monster type was stuck at the very back of the stretch goal list, mainly because we thought of it way later than all the other stretch goals, but honestly it was one of the possibilities that I was most excited for, and apparently, so were a whole lot of our fans. The gorgon monster type would perfectly round out Eureka’s roster of playable supernatural creatures, and we would really like to make it happen, despite not really having the budget for it since we didn’t hit the stretch goal.

Here are a few of what the gorgon’s key features would have been:

>Anyone who makes direct eye-contact with the gorgon turns to stone.

>A venomous bite, making them gorgon the second playable monster type to be able to inflict a poison effect.

>Cold-blooded. Won’t feel great in low temperature environments, but won’t show up on thermal sensors either.

>Scaly skin.

>Snake hair optional.

>Claws.

>Eating people like a snake.

And all this wrapped up in Eureka’s unique humanity-focused approach to monsters. How will your PC cope with their power to instantly kill anyone who looks at them wrong, whether they want to or not? That’s the kind of character development you can look forward to with a gorgon in the party.

So here is what we are going to do to make it happen despite the budget not accounting for it. It’s going to be a patreon initiative.

(promotional art by @qsycomplainsalot, one of our team artists)

If we can get up to 50 total paid patreon subscribers by the end of June, we will put the gorgon in the game. Currently, we have 33, so if y'all can manage to make that climb to 50 by July 1st, we will promise to make time and budget to add the gorgon in to the rulebook before final release. Ultimately, even 20-ish more patreon subscribers is less money than the stretch goal would have been, but we feel that it would be a good enough addition to the game to justify, especially because it's what the fans want, and because long-term patreon support is very valuable. You get regular Eureka rulebook PDFs as a part of the patreon, and even though there is also a free demo, the more more-updates copies or Eureka floating around, the better. We want people actually playing this game, and playing better and better versions of it. We’d release it all for free if we didn’t need the money to “earn a living.”

Supporting us on patreon isn’t pure charity either. At the $3 tier, you get access to our patreon discord server where our team discusses development of the game and gets feedback from fans, as well in a vote on which projects we tackle next.

At the $5 tier and beyond, you get that, plus regular PDFs of the most current and up-to-date version of our projects. In addition to a version of the Eureka rulebook with many more features than the current free version, there’s stuff you currently can’t get anywhere else, like Eureka adventure modules, short stories, and even a novella, all unreleased anywhere else.

So, sign up to our patreon, it’s only a few dollars a month, and help out with the gorgon initiative. At the time of writing this, we have 33/50 paid subscribers, and I’ll update the goal as we go.

And below the cut, I’ll show you the current changelog for the Eureka rulebook, so you can see what all $5+ patreon subscribers are going to get in the next big patreon update coming Thursday, June 6th. This changelog isn’t even fully conclusive, as work will continue on the rulebook throughout the week to make it even better before Thursday. That's a whole lot for just $5! I will also post the rough notes that exist for the gorgon mechanics as they appear right now.

(A new version of Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy will be coming to $5+ patreon subscribers on the first Thursday of the month every month until final release, and after that you'll start getting the beta versions of whatever our next project turns out to be.)

CHANGELOG

CHAPTER 1

Have started working on replacing the examples of play with updated ones that actually fit the current and slightly more stable version of the rules. These will be found in various chapters. You can see them in the table of contents.

Added a Foreword, a section on other media to offer you inspiration when playing eureka, and a section on some of the subtler themes of eureka

Copy-edited Foreword

A few minor clarifications in the Making Rolls section

Added a chart explaining the percentage chances of failures, partial successes, and full successes for modifiers from -7 to +7. 

Added Heat optional rule. A whole new set of mechanics for tracking how much police attention the investigators may be drawing, as well as how law enforcement will respond. Currently a work-in-progress, but mostly functional already.

CHAPTER 2

Added the Forgery skill to write-in skills

Many new snoops have been added. 

Removed the “Seating” stat for vehicles, you know how many people can safely fit in a car

Removed the placeholder boat entries from the item list because we did not hit that kickstarter stretch goal

Added Skateboard to item list. 

Added four-wheeler to item list. 

Added Acceleration values to all vehicles in the vehicle list. Acceleration is a new stat used with the new way that Speed is calculated for Chases.

Adjusted the Driving bonus of motorcycles and dirtbikes.

Changed Large Mansion cost to 25 Wealth Points in character creation.

Started copy-editing this chapter.

CHAPTER 3

Added vehicle crashes to irregular forms of damage section

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

Completely revamped the way that Speed is calculated. 

Added a mechanic to determine how many nodes ahead a fleeing character starts.

Added an optional rule for bringing an end to chases 

Added vehicle attack rules for use during car chases

Added more guidelines for how to make your own obstacles

Added recommended numbers of nodes for chases and recommended distance between obstacles 

Added the work-in-progress random obstacle tables

On-Foot Urban Chase Obstacles table is finished but not edited

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 8

Increased capacity of an unfurled thing from beyond’s ‘stomach’ from three to fourteen.

Thing from beyond can now more easily attempt to engulf more victims after already containing one or more. This now prompts an escape attempt by victims inside rather than automatic escape.

Thing from beyond can now get a bonus to mimicry attempts by consuming a sample of the intended mimicry target’s DNA. 

Thing from beyond can now attempt to mimic a person they have never seen or heard by consuming a sample of their DNA, but narrator makes a hidden roll about it, so accuracy of mimicry will be unknown.

Gave acceleration value to witch’s brooms and other flying transportation

Gave Acceleration of +6 to Superhuman Speed trait

Gave vampire small bat manifestation +2 Acceleration

Gave vampire wolf manifestation +4 Acceleration 

Gave vampire massive bat beast manifestation +4 Acceleration

Gave wolfman wolf form +4 Acceleration

Gave lycanthrope wolf form +4 Acceleration

Added ability to resist curses to fairy and witch

Added ability for fairy to transfer curses to different names as a means of protecting themselves from curses. This gives them more of an incentive to collect names. 

Added a tiny bit about the fairy world

Added Monsters Eating Monsters section to provide rulings for some edge cases where monsters might eat other monsters and what would happen if they did

ROUGH GORGON DESIGN NOTES

[Notes: Turn people to stone by looking them in the eye. Definitely not a power that the Gorgon can turn on and off, they will have to cover their eyes somehow, such as dark sunglasses or a veil, to prevent it happening to everyone they make eye contact with. Also works the other way around so you could protect yourself by wearing dark sunglasses. Still works even if the Gorgon is dead, like in the legends. Does not work through cameras, reflections, images, etc. Turning to stone is permanent, basically instant kill? Works like the witch curse except with infinite duration unless a witch undoes it like a curse. If there is no eye protection, could be a reflex roll on the gorgon’s part or on an aware victim’s part to break eye-contact quickly enough for the curse not to take effect. Also, they could have some kind of bonus to Threaten because all the legends say that they look particularly frightening.

Have claws and maybe scaly skin or scales in patches, maybe snake-like eyes and snake tongue that can taste air? Sharp teeth and maybe venomous snake fangs? People will really really want their gorgons to have snake hair even though in the legends, it was only Medusa herself that had snake hair. Compromise by making it an optional rule agreed upon by narrator and player that they have snake hair. Snakes may have venomous bite attack but the trade off is that it makes it way harder to conceal the gorgon’s identity as a Gorgon.

Gorgons do not regain composure points from turning people to stone, all other monsters regain composure points by *consuming* their victims in some way, except for fairies who regain composure from playing mean pranks because it makes them happy. Keeping with the rule of monsters eating people and also the fact that the legends always describe gorgons as having snake-like trait, maybe they swallow victims whole like a snake? Great horror concept but takes a long time. Could mechanically work very very similar to thing from beyond’s composure restoration where they gain 1 composure point each day for however many days. Could advise loose and bulky clothing to cover this up. Cannot really decide how to codify this because the most obvious way would make it pretty impossible to hide for a very long time. Could probably make multiple optional rules that regain composure at different rates and digest victims at different rates. One option that gets a lot more composure over time from a single victim like the thing from beyond but is very conspicuous that entire time. Other option that digests the whole victim extremely fast so they are only conspicious for a short time but ultimately less composure from a single kill. No option to regain composure from victim without killing them, like thing from beyond. No composure restoration from normal food but can eat it to stay alive, like the thing from beyond?

Do they have proper weaknesses besides just the normal things that everybody is weak to, like sharp objects? Probably should not have the Unkillable trait, but need to come up with at least one weakness that does not stray too far from the legends. Maybe they are cold-blooded, following the snake theme? Makes them very vulnerable to cold temperatures, and jackets and blankets don’t help because they don’t produce their own body heat. Big Physical skill penalties when they are in cold environments?

What is their second mandatory monster trait? They don’t *need* one but every other monster has their powers split across two monster traits.] 

Actually it would be pretty good if they had to make a Monster(fear) Composure check if they saw their face in the mirror

Their blood is either healing or poisonous depending on if it is from the left or right side. left side kills, right side heals. Make it  veinous vs arterial blood.....  But this would have no effect on vampires 

We have GOT to get the gorgon in if we have time, it’s such a good idea

Elegantly designed and thoroughly playtested, Eureka represents the culmination of three years of near-daily work from our team, as well as a lot of our own money. If you’re just now reading this and learning about Eureka for the first time, you missed the crowdfunding window unfortunately, but our Kickstarter page is still the best place to learn more about what Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy actually is, as that is where we have all the fancy art assets, the animated trailer, links to video reviews by podcasts and youtubers, and where we post regular updates on the status of our progress finishing the game and getting it ready for final release.

Beta Copies through the Patreon

If you want more than just status updates, going forward you can download regularly updated playable beta versions of Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy and it’s adventure modules by subscribing to our Patreon at the $5 tier or higher. Subscribing to our patreon also grants you access to our patreon discord server where you can talk to us directly and offer valuable feedback on our progress and projects.

The A.N.I.M. TTRPG Book Club

If you would like to meet the A.N.I.M. team and even have a chance to play Eureka with us, you can join the A.N.I.M. TTRPG Book Club discord server. It’s also just a great place to talk and discuss TTRPGs, so there is no schedule obligation, but the main purpose of it is to nominate, vote on, then read, discuss, and play different indie TTRPGs. We put playgroups together based on scheduling compatibility, so it’s all extremely flexible. This is a free discord server, separate from our patreon exclusive one. https://discord.gg/7jdP8FBPes

Other Stuff

We also have a ko-fi and merchandise if you just wanna give us more money for any reason.

We hope to see you there, and that you will help our dreams come true and launch our careers as indie TTRPG developers with a bang by getting us to our base goal and blowing those stretch goals out of the water, and fight back against WotC's monopoly on the entire hobby. Wish us luck.

[oldschoolfrp]

Ernie Gygax (Ernest Gary Gygax Jr), oldest son of Gary Gygax, has died. A highly polarizing figure in later life, he contributed to D&D's very early history by playing the character Tenser in home games and receiving credit as a playtester or occasionally coauthor when his father incorporated his ideas into publications. He also ran TSR's Dungeon Hobby Shop in Lake Geneva, WI, introducing many new customers to the game with demo sessions exploring his Hobby Shop Dungeon.

In 2012 he co-founded a new "TSR" with younger brother Luke and a diverse group of contributors including many familiar names from the AD&D days. Their Gygax Magazine produced 6 issues, ending after Gary's widow Gail sued the group for infringing copyrights and using the family name.

A 2015 Kickstarter for a published version of Ernie's Hobby Shop Dungeon titled Marmoreal Tomb went unfulfilled for many years before being turned over to Troll Lord Games for completion.

For many his legacy will be the convoluted, nasty history of "NuTSR" which directly led to a more sharply divided gaming community. These events were documented in detail by those who watched it unfold, including this thorough summary of events on EN World.

According to numerous accounts, Ernie was prominently involved in forming a third "TSR" in 2021 which claimed to be a continuation of the original company and attempted to license the TSR name to others and publish a new version of Star Frontiers. This venture split apart under legal pressure from other former members of the 2nd TSR and from WOTC which claimed IP infringement on the original Star Frontiers game which was still for sale as PDFs. The group also generated a storm of self-inflicted bad publicity through a series of bigoted anti "woke" social media posts and leaked product documents with overtly racist content. In interviews Ernie stood by the group's public positions, claiming their "playing style" was under attack by politically motivated persons. Major conventions quickly rejected the group, and Luke Gygax and many other TSR2 and OSR creators publicly repudiated TSR3's statements and spurious legal claims.

[tonkable-art]

✷ Tonk's Art Resources ✷

Hi! No one asked but I wanted to make a big list of art resources I use because I like to try and help people be creative! Not everything I list is free (mostly the books & some PDFs), but I’ll try my best to keep a big portion of it unpaid.

I've also made a carrd with the same links and a set of software links + prices but I'll be updating this with more things I find that I think would be helpful. :)

Drawing

GES DRAW PARTY - Timed model videos

Drawing Tutorials Online - Figure drawing tutorials (& fun SVA student sketchbook videos)

Line of Action - Timed model Photos

3 tips to improve your PEOPLE SKETCHING (fast urban sketching techniques), Sketching Scottie

Creating Backgrounds, Tim Mcburnie

Drawabox

Reference Angle

Kaycem

Colour Theory

Why Color Studies Are So Powerful, Light Ponderings

Marco Bucci

Colour Tips and Tricks, Iniro (PDF)

This post

Animation

The Animator’s Survival Kit, Richard E. Williams (book) - I think this one is a pretty obvious must-have

How to Animate Night In The Woods [Scribble Kibble #103], Crowne Prince - Helped me get a grip on After Effects

Little Miss Hellraiser Toon Boom Harmony Rig, Edu Bruks - Free Toon Boom Harmony rig

Alex Grigg // Animation for Anyone

BaM Animation

Storyboarding

Exploring Storyboarding, Wendy Tumminello (book)

Storyboarding Essentials: SCAD Creative Essentials, David Harland Rousseau & Benjamin Reid Phillips (book)

Storyboard Pro Crash Course/Tips for beginners, OhJeeToriG

A Guide To Storyboards, MagicBunnyArt (PDF)

Character Design

Character Design Crash Course - A huge free course document with assignments you can work through

Delicious in Dungeon - Fundamentals of Character Design, lines in motion

Writing

Writing for Animation, Comics, and Games, Christy Marx (book)

Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting, Syd Field (book) - I have the 1987 edition

Reedsy

How to Plot a Comic From Start to Finish!, McKay & Gray

Portfolio Tips

How to make a Character Design Portfolio, Jackie Droujko

Top Tips on How to Kickstart Your Storyboard Portfolio, Brown Bag Films

25 Tips to Create an Animation Demo Reel, Sir Wade Neistadt

Extras

PuccaNoodles’ Animation/Art Resource Sheet

My Study References Pinterest board

Motivation Station - Playlist of sketchbook videos and some speedpaints that I use to motivate & inspire me

The Illustrated Freelancer’s Guide, Heather Parry & Maria Stoian (PDF) - Really useful for freelancers in the UK

Software substitution chart

Adobe Suite substitute chart

Remember to check out the carrd, it might have a more updated list!

[trickengf]

New Journal 3 fonts found!

By getting a snippet of an editable PDF version of the Spanish edition, I just found another couple of fonts used for the Gravity Falls Journal 3:

ITC American Typewriter, designed by Joel Kaden and Tony Stan, used for the Oregon Parks Department note, & Smudger designed by Andrew Smith, used to highlight some Ford text in capital letters. Both published by ITC.

*Comparisons made with demos of the fonts for demonstration purposes only.*

In the PDF there were some other fonts that I still need to confirm if they come from the original version or were additions from the Spanish one, if I verify that they do, I will make an update.

[sanctus-ingenium]

Book's out! It comes as a pdf or an epub with 3 maps (1 of which is brand new) and 1 bonus tarot card art (repainted from the old demo version)

Synopsis: "Félix Ortega is the survivor of a childhood werewolf hunt, a deeply unpopular middle manager of a thieves’ guild, and the Púca’s newest toy. Félix’s death by exposure one cold winter’s night is reversed by the Black Horse’s hand, and he returns to a world that has moved on without him. While his oldest childhood friends from the guild struggle to accept him back into their lives after the argument that tore their friendship apart, the tyrannical lycanthrope monarchy of Inver chooses its newest victims.

SAID THE BLACK HORSE is a gaslamp fantasy inspired by Irish folklore and oral tradition set in a world pushed uncomfortably close to the margins of the faery realm."

[tales-of-wocdes]

Status update: C3 and Tales From The Past

It feels like forever, since we have done sneak peeks :D Probably since I got popular enough to have a pretty constant stream of asks to answer :D Thank you all for that.

----------------------------------------

Chapter 3 update

Unfortunately, C3 will take some time. I have stuff going on irl, that takes priority. I think, C3 is currently standing at roughly 22.8 k words (might include some notes), and there is more to be written. So that is ~5k more words that in December, so slow progress. Most of the 22.8 k needs to be implemented into twine and the coding needs to be done. During that, there is probably some additional flavor text etc. to be added, then proofreading and editing.

So it will be a while. That is it for C3. I think

---------------------------

Tales From the Past update

The demo is currently at about 19k browser plays :D That is awesome, and thank you all.

I did promise more when 20 k is reached, did I not?

Therefore, the Havard story part 2 (~11 500 words) is now available in pdf form for kofi supporters. Then once 20 k is actually reached, and I have converted it all to twine, it will be made available to all.

So currently, Tales From the Past is about ~22 500 words.

[theresattrpgforthat]

Do you know any solo RPGs that are about exploring an unknown world? Preferrably with some support for intriguing flora and fauna.

THEME: Exploratory Solo Games

Hello there! I have quite a few games here that are exploratory in some way shape or form. Some have creatures, some have plants, and some have something else! I hope you find something here that works for you.

The Verge, by Gordie Murphy.

You have found your way into the Verge, that edge of the forest beyond its edge. In the midst of the woods that stretch horizon to horizon, getting lost is easy, no matter how clearly the sun may seem to burn. The Verge doesn’t want you there, no more than it wanted me there. Whatever desperate hope you may hold in the Verge, once the sun has set it will be too late–without sacrificing more than you may be willing to sacrifice.

Heed me: the Ritual you must complete is intricate, and must be performed with precision. The pieces of this Ritual can only be found within the Verge.

Be cautious, as the Verge will surely tell you falsehoods. Walk with trepidation, for the Verge will seek to ensnare you. Fortify yourself, for the Verge will ask everything of you. But seek furiously, for the rewards are unfathomable.

The Verge uses the Carta System, which employs a deck of cards laid out in a grid, to represent a map that your character slowly explores. As you turn the cards over, you'll find new strange things in the forest you are traveling through: and in this case, strange plants and ritual elements will dot your path, in both beautiful and eerie ways.

Homeward, by rejamison.

In the After, hope has died out. The few of us left wander desperate and afraid. We scavenge and squabble over the abandoned scraps of a dead civilization. Can you light a spark of hope?

You were born in the After, you have never known a world full of people, but are daily reminded of Before by that strange world's artifacts strewn haphazardly across an endless wilderness.

A few, like you, remain…but feral. Scratching for survival, as likely to offer a fist as an open hand.

You do not know what came between the Before and After, does it haunt the world still? Survival in the wilds is test enough…what else lurks?

Homeward is not just about exploration. It's also about survival. To include the feeling of struggle and danger, you'll need to track time on a chart that represents a 10-month calendar, and also monitor a number of various resources that are meant to keep you alive. Your character will use a deck of cards to explore the world around them, coming across both opportunities and dangers, and then return to their settlement to build it up over time.

While you play the game solo, your character will also meet new folks and develop alliances, which are integral to survival. If you're interested, the title link is for the demo of the game; a more full version is available on Kickstarter.

Coiled.Space, by Aether Corp Games.

Coiled.Spæce is a solo journalling game for up to 4 players.

It's a none-too-serious, sci-fi game in which you Jump® around a deteriorating universe collecting energy from its inhabitants by rolling full sets of polyhedral dice to generate everything from your vessel & crew to star systems and energy emitting bodies (EEB).

Coiled.Space really gives you your bang for your buck. Buying the game on Itch gets you a training manual PDF, a log book to record your journey in, the console & scanner PDFs, bookmarks for easy reference, monochrome versions and spread layout versions, as well as a little list of all of the Easter eggs hidden throughout the game.

The game itself is a loop: generate a vessel & a harvester, jump to a star system, navigate between orbits, scan an EEB, harvest energy, and return home. You use different dice to generate your vessels, resources, and other prompts, allowing you to expereince the tactile joy of playing with as many different dice as possible.

Exploration is only a small piece of Coiled.Space. Just as important is your ability to manage resources, as you won't be able to make a jump across star systems if you don't have enough energy in your ship. You'll also need to watch your vessel stability, or your ship may fall apart and you may barely escape with your life.

Whispers on the Rails, by shadowcrunch.

Whispers on the Rails is a journaling game wherein you board a mysterious train, destination unknown. There are two included versions, one using a prompt table system, the other using a deck of tarot cards. As you travel through the train cars, you use the prompts or tarot cards to describe the interior and exterior of the next train car, and each train car will be its own journal entry, with the potential to be a completely different world or environment. As the prompts or tarot cards paint a picture of your surroundings in the train car, you should imagine yourself there, take a moment to reflect on how this train car makes you feel. Use your journal to briefly describe what you see, then your feelings or thoughts and how this new environment affects you.

I really appreciate the thought and effort the author of Whispers on the Rails put into the game, creating a way to play it with either tarot cards or dice. The prompts that you roll or draw for shape the interior of the car that you're in, as well as the world around you. Your character will have some kind of problem or obstacle to overcome, and as you write your journal entry, you'll be integrating the problem into the description of the environment around you.

While you are exploring the train that you've found yourself on, I think that Whispers on the Rails is also meant to be rather reflective; your character will be on a journey of self-discovery as well.

H.A.V.O.C: Extraplanar Escapade, by kumori.

Welcome to H.A.V.O.C.- the Habitat for Anomalous Vagrant Otherworldly Creatures! As the nonprofit's newest hire, you've been assigned an on-site training in the OuterPlane for a hands-on experience with capturing injured anomalies to receive care back at the facility. Do you think you have what it takes?

While the focus of H.A.V.O.C. is around things called anomalies, there's a number of elements that feel adjacent to the Pokemon game series to me. H.A.V.O.C. is a journalling game that has you exploring the "field", finding and capturing anomalies, and trying to keep yourself rested enough that you can make it back to home base in one piece. You'll need to monitor your inventory of capture orbs, treats, and other gear that will help you gain the trust of the anomalies you're attempting to bring medical care.

Watch the Whispers, by Galaxycryptid.

You play as a Park ranger who has just started working at the Whispering Pines Woods. After discovering the notes left by the previous Park Ranger, you realize that the woods are inhabited by something else: cryptids.

Roll to see what prompt you get while you work, make friends, explore the woods and meet cryptids.

You'll need a d10 and a d20 for this game. Each round of play represents a week of work as a ranger, in which you roll on a number of tables to discover strange signs and new cryptids roaming your park. Your ranger will balance their duties with new encounters, in different locations and with various NPCs. The game feels like a balance between a cozy nature game and an eerie surreal setting, as you can choose to befriend the cryptids in your park, or instead to capture them. Alternatively, you can ignore them - but choose this route and you're likely going to stumble across dead bodies, strangely quiet parts of the wood, and the smells of things long passed.

Untold Creatures, by oddpress.

Beyond the borders of civilization, there are places that hide unique, fascinating, and sometimes terrifying creatures. As a Explorer, your mission is to venture into the unknown, facing challenging journeys in search of these extraordinary beings. Pack your backpack, your notebook, and, of course, your supplies. The road awaits you—it’s time to explore!

Untold Creatures is a short eight-page solo journaling game about exploring a fantastical world in search of unknown creatures. You’ll journey through distant lands, encounter creatures never seen before, and record everything in your journal.

You can print this game on a single piece of paper and fold it into a zine, with a number of small d6 roll-tables that act as an oracle to generate prompts. This game is all about finding and learning about strange creatures, with an end-game determined by a list of goals for your character to complete. These goals include items such as documenting 10 different creatures, finding 3 artifacts, and forming a deep bond with at least 5 different critters.

Wanderer - Travels Through The Hidden Lands, by Beamesy

You move through a strange landscape, filled with things familiar and unknown, mysterious and mundane. You cannot say what brought you to this place, nor how or even whether you might be able to find a way home again. You have only the clothes on your back, a notebook and the few other items you carried with you when you came here.

What will the story of your journey be?

You find yourself in the Hidden Lands, a place beyond, or perhaps it is rather behind, the world we know. It is another plane of existence, but one to which many things can travel, if only by accident. A world in its own right, the Hidden Lands sits somehow adjacent to our own and is filled with places, things and even people that have become lost.

There's certain things I expect from journalling games, and Wanderer looks like it checks all the boxes: a deck of playing cards, likely to present you with prompts, a d6 for randomization, and the expectation that you'll be writing in a journal as you play. The setting feels a little bit like an isekai-style story: you find yourself in another world, and have to figure out how to get back home. I don't think the game specifically focuses on flora & fauna; in general the landscape is the primary focus.

Other Things to Check Out…

EZ.CARGO.T, by Garlickatsu.

Colostle, by Nich Angell.

Ruins of Dim Kalduhr, by Demon Toad Games.

Courier, by Sasquatch Games.

Salvager, by TEU Games.

The Land Beyond, by Cezar Capacle.

Wonderfall, by Catscratcher Studio.

Solo Worldbuilding Recommendation Post

If you like what I do and want to leave a tip, you can check out my Ko-Fi!

[physalian]

Hey so you can format your ebook in MS Word.

This is a *very* quick demo that I threw together as an example. These are for publshing on places that use PDFs, not .epubs, like Ko-Fi. I use .epubs so I'm not super knowledgable on which sites prefer PDFs.

And the crucial part and appeal of ebooks is that the're reflowable. Which means that the end user picks the font size and shape for their e-reader and personal experience. A regular MS Word PDF isn't reflowable.

There are ways to do it fully, and tediously, to make it reflowable with Word, I just didn't bother, but there are tutorials out there. This is post is specifically for PDFs.

If you're not loading a book into an e-reader, you can use MS word to still make your PDF *look* like a print book.

Saying this now because in trying to read a book printed on 8.5x11 legal paper with those margins is a little tough.

And it's not hard, either. You just go into the layout settings and change it from "Letter" to something more fitting of a standard book page size. I picked A5 for this example.

Drop-Cap is also a super simple option, then set the text to align justified, add your page numbers, and boom.

I will say, though, that as someone with a pretty intense need for full creative freedom, MS Word is infamous for being finnicky and difficult when you try to get complicated beyond black and white text on the page, doing any sort of fancy formatting especially with images.

This is what I did in Adobe InDesign, a program built for the layout and design of print media used by professionals across industries:

I made that chapter art and my first chapter pages don't have page numbers by choice. This is the full print-ready page of the PDF I send to my printers, not the .epub file.

You do not need InDesign, there are plenty of programs out there (like Vellum) with less of a learning curve and more plug-and-play options. ID is just what I use because I already know it.

MS Word is good enough for what it's good for, and if you are giving people PDFs to read, it doesn't take much to make their reading experience that much more enjoyable by making it *look* like an actual book, not just a Word document.