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…says Wil Wheaton about his design for a new T-shirt available through J!nx.com.
"Never forget your roots.
In this modern era of Dwarven Forge terrain, full-color dungeon tiles, power cards and pre-painted minis, let's remember where we started: sitting on the floor, surrounded by books and dice, building dungeons with nothing more than a pencil, some graph paper, and our imagination."
-Wil
The shirt boasts a great design by Miguel Rojas.
I want one.
I had a great weekend this past. Saturday was a hike up to the Snow Hole near Petersburgh in the Taconic mountain range with Joe Levy and Karen Traite. I’ll be eternally grateful to them for getting me off my butt and back on a hike. It’s been nearly a decade since I’ve gone on a nature walk like Heather and I used to do, with camera in hand.
The Snow Hole hike was a good one, too. Perfect for an older naturist who hasn’t been on a real hike in too long. There were steep parts, but they only lasted long enough to make you think, “I may have to sit down in a second.” Just as I would get desperate, I’d look up and the trail would level out a few strides ahead. It would stay level long enough for me to catch my breath, then dip down or climb up again for a short period. While I was tired when we came back to the trailhead four hours after starting, I wasn’t about to fall over.
Along the way we spotted a red-tailed hawk soaring in the thermals over a small blue-berry infested meadow (which isn’t as good as it sounds when the berries are only 2mm unripe bumps). I tried to get some good pics of the hawk, but he was too fast, and all I could get were silhouettes.
The Snow Hole itself was only slightly disappointing. A deep crevice in the rocks, the Hole stays cool year round because of the thermal mass of the rocks that form its walls and the abundant shade of the trees above. Sometimes you can even find snow in early summer. We did not, and that was the only disappointing part. The hole was colder than my basement, a good 50° if I had to guess, and very damp. There was gorgeous moss everywhere, not to mention graffiti from the late 1800’s. A couple of birds flitted around, and the bugs did not. After about ten minutes down there, Karen was even getting cold.
So, we climbed out of the hole (no mean feat) and had lunch after which Karen found a geocache near her impromptu toilet. We had quick read and signed our names, lamenting the lack of snow. Then we headed back down to the car.
Here’s an album* of pictures from the walk:
Have a great week!
Q
*All photos not showing people are released under a Creative Commons 3.0 noncommercial, share-alike, attribution license. Photos of people are ©2010 Quentin Hudspeth and may not be distributed or used without my written permission.
Here's a new product that might give the iPad a run for its money. The Vega, from Innovated Converged Devices (out of Seattle), runs Android 2.0 on an NVIDIA Tegra processor. With a built in 32 GB SD hard drive, support for an expansion SD hard drive, and a firkin' huge 15 inch screen size (11 and 7 inch sizes will be available), not to mention freedom from the iPrison of Apple apps, the Vega could be the go to multimedia pad. And, come on, that docking station is just cute! Originally announced in late 2009 for a mid-2010 release, currently it appears only available in the UK with T-Mobile 3G connectivity.
The video below is lousy, but it showcases some interesting feature of the prototypical Vega. Check out the product page at ICD.
I've been working with artist Liz Radtke again on concepts for the Kalens of Star Lost. Can I just say that she so frickin rocks! Her first attempt (the golden retriever) was too dog-like and too butch. That stemmed from my inadequate description. The next iteration (the other four pix) was awesome. I don’t claim that she reached into my brain and pulled out the perfect image. I can’t because I didn’t have a fully formed image in mind, just pieces of what I knew should be there:
Kalens are a tall, svelte, furry species, most closely related to terrestrial marsupials. They are, however, asexual and androgynous…Their facial features offer an interesting mix of familiar terrestrial animals. Their ears are tall, pointy, and tufted, like a lynx‘s. Their eyes are large like those of a lemur. And their snouts are slightly extended, but short, like an affenpinscher‘s, with a wide mouth full of small, sharp front teeth, and a surfeit of wide molars in back…
From that, and a short critique on the first draft, she has managed to create a fully formed creature that looks like the best stuff you see in the special features menu of a scifi movie. Sweet!
Remember Caltrops, that first supplement from Hudspeth Games? Well, it just got its firs review over at DriveThruRPG. Here’s what NB Neil had to say:
This is a great little supplement for GMs looking to add some flavor for characters, especially the betting kind. It's a short read with two simple dice games that NPCs may be playing or more interestingly that your players can play to pass the time.
Some of my players aren't as into the roleplaying portions of the game and end up heading off to the local tavern for some gambling. Though I'm sure I could have come up with some games for them to play rather than a simple skill challenge, this supplement gives two good examples with the background that goblins often play these with marked caltrops. A little fluff and a little crunch. My kind of supplement. Break out the d4's and ante up.
Rating:[4 of 5 Stars!]
I likes me some Dragon Age. It's a pretty cool game, with a detailed world, a decent story and fairly robust mechanics. While I haven't gotten too far with it, since I don't play it very often, I've thoroughly enjoyed what I've seen so far. So, I was delighted to stumble across a link to the first episode in a new machinima series based in the Dragon Age world and using the Dragon Age animation engine. It takes place after the ending of the game, with the Darkspawn threat routed (the main objective of the game) and fleeing back to whence they came.
This series follows the life of Grey Warden Kristoff after he helps end the Darkspawn blight. The Grey Wardens are the traditional line of defense against the Darkspawn when they inevitably rise in another blight. It’s a gripping and dramatic tale, and it really makes me want to get back into the game. Some new threat appears to be rising from the ashes of the recent war
Warning!!! High Gore Content!!!
My latest supplement, Playing the Market, has just gone live at DriveThruRPG, and before I could even post this, it has a five-star review (from featured reviewer Devon Kelly):
Playing the market is a handy little supplement. At 15 pages, it's a breeze to read. The text is well written and easy to understand.
At first, the mechanic to determine availability and price of items seems very simple and not very special. But once it begins to get into determining the scarcity of an item, that's when it really shines! The system for Modern/Future is understandably more complex, but it also determines how much time will be needed to obtain an item.
I downloaded both PDF versions that were available and was pleased to see that one is formatted to read on a computer screen and the other is formatted for printing. That's a very nice plus.
This is well worth the price and is a wonderful supplement for those gamers who want to add in a little more uncertainty to the in-game shopping experience!
Rating:[5 of 5 Stars!]
Life is sweet.
