Saturnus

A video blog detailing what wondrous items I received for Christmas.

Cartoony Minimalism

The best way to follow an exceptionally lame post about such boring topic as shadows I might as well go ahead in my search for blog fame by insulting someone or possibly a whole (sub)culture. Recently there was produced a line of shoes for D&D. Instead of something looking completley bad ass, they decided that the best route was something completely lame. They say you're not a star wars fan until you have livid hate for one of the films, and my hate lays upon the terribly ugly Clone Wars. Spawn as well has been blasphemed with this similar mess, the adventures of spawn.

It’s merely a matter of taste, and where better to house one’s tastes than extremist elitism. I’ll just go out and say it: I have a apprehension or strong dislike towards anime or manga or whatever bullshit you want to name it. Sure there’s been a few keepers out there, but I dare not name them and suck us into some tangent – let us focus on the point. I hate the style and not just strictly anime but more some of the terrible siblings I loosely and possibly incorrectly blame for creating. Any style that has some bug eyed, cutesy cartoon child-appealing minimalism needs to be stripped, raped and strangled, and not exactly in that order and more so with some metaphorical paint brush that will turn this disneyfied ass hattery into something that destroys retinas, minds possibly souls and most hopefully trends, codes, conventions and norms.

As stated its merely a matter of taste. From a point of studying graphic design, everything has its place, its seat – everything has its season. As I learn and make more mistakes and drive my foot mouthward, I can admit this “cartoony minimalism” can be used and done. In context this can be done well. There is a different approach for whatever idea is being executed. Whatever you’re selling, whatever you’re depicting it deserves the proper approach that evokes and speaks the core of that idea.

I was inspired to write this very rant from my emotional response to a thread on some forum depicting a version of this cartoony minimalism. I didn’t run in and start insulting everyone because that’s poor form. In hindsight I don’t have too many insults left over except to the style in and of itself.

Sometimes cartoony minimalism, it works! The images do show certain levels of expression, emotion and interest. Being used for a web comics which is the intention, it can work! In this medium, it can work really well. Penny arcade has been doing some really well done and really well executed “web comics” that really are escaping their medium. Their execution of cartoony minimalism works really really well, so well it escapes its’ medium. That is good execution, that is well placement. That is how graphic solutions should be done.

All in all I hate this direction and hope to no longer see people produce this work and use it to represent D&D. I hope to look and critique further into how D&D is presented to the world, and I feel someone in the marketing department has been making some terrible mistakes, or at least one: the goblin stompers.

What do you think of Cartoony Minimalism? Do you like this? Do you like D&D being represented by this?

The Further Adventures of Brax & Bruticus

I'm running a friend through Keep On The Shadowfell, he's running two characters and I'm running some NPC backup for him. I'll go into further detail in the future. Here's a video blog. It is broken into two parts because of its length which I'll try to cut down with future videos.

The Shadowed Edge

The final project of the semester came down to a five day hell of creating a website. I literally stopped to take short naps over a weekend and a couple days. I quickly learned how my profession as a graphic designer can have it's challenges when crossing between mediums. This case being from print to web.

A big difference between web and print is that of gradients. In print we're told and I agree that gradients are a big taboo thing. Maybe there's some room for argument that they can be done tastefully. Usually the result is something that looks like a those god-awful-club-cards. Gradients in print don't work usually because they lack an organic feel.

When you move to web though - gradients are tool of the trade. Web is rarely organic. They're used to really give a presence to text, a sort of depth to imagery and design. Really, what gradients do is a good job of polishing a web design off. Giving it that finished look.

Check this website, link given to me from a teacher. It has great tips about the cleaning off and finishing of a web design:

http://psd.tutsplus.com/designing-tutorials/elements-of-great-web-design-the-polish/

One thing I've noticed in design regardless of the medium - whether its an print ad, a web page, or an illustration is the shadowed edge.

A shadowed edge works in taking away a flat feeling from the design. It works in giving a good feeling of depth and somewhat a feeling of warmth. That little glow. It also works in bringing the attention, drawing the eye into the piece. It's a very directive tool.

Here on the right is a couple stages in on a design, the final product not really showcasing the shadowed edge. I didn't really do it too strongly, but the shadowed edge is there.

When it comes to print though it's entering that taboo I mentioned earlier: the gradient. In this medium I think it works because its an actual mock-element of an organic thing (shadows) and the focus isn't on the gradient. It's pushing the eye away from itself entirely.

When it comes to the shadowed edge though - how far is too far?

When has the design world become too saturated and a new direction is needed?

Please take a look at http://dndcraft.com/ It actually has a lot of cool stuff and a community of excellent artists.

This site looks good, it looks excellent in fact. In being a D&D website it stands out even more as many D&D related sites are poorly designed.

Looking at it though the question haunts me, is this overkill? Has the shadowed edge been overdone? Something seems almost glitchy about it - though it follows a lot of the so-called-rules of thumb that are laid out in properly approaching a web design.

I would really pull back a bit. Don't get me wrong - it looks damn good. It's an A + project.

The question I would love to explore is how far is too far?

As a designer and anyone else who likes to put together things with a bit more of a professional appeal what are your feelings on the shadowed edge?

Have you seen too much of it? Does it have its place?

It all starts somewhere, right?

I'm fairly new to D&D, and roleplaying games in general. This is when you compare me with the majority of those who have been in the hobby, at least 10 plus years. Some people have been at it since it's conception. I can't measure myself against such level of experience and immersion in the hobby.

This can be intimidating at times for some but really it can be looked at as welcoming in other ways. If a hobby can garner such following, it must have some nugget of gold just waiting to be discovered. This niche culture and this niche game really is that: a nugget of gold. I'm glad to be in such a position of exploring and learning about the hobby. D&D to me has such a rich depth to it way beyond any realm of personal expectation.

I don't know where the final push came from that nudged me into the hobby I knew nothing about. It was a compounding of elements of course that drew my curiousity. I was curious towards the hobby from a young age. Not to enter any tangents or reveal anything too personal, it was demonized in it's portrayal to me. The views left over from the eighties still poke their little heads out once in a while. My cousin played it and this was told to me in a negative way. The negative portrayal only created a deeper curiousity for such a mysterious hobby that could supposedly ruin people's lives.

Mystery really is the word of the day for discussing my interest in the game known as Dungeons & Dragons. I knew nothing about it, but enough that made me want to know more.

In high school I borrowed and still have this AD&D computer game which is based in the Dark Sun setting. It installed, launched and ran through DOS and was terribly hard complicated and confusing. I also saw and enjoyed the Dungeons & Dragons movie in theatres, which supposedly was a terrible portrayal of the game. It was an adventurous movie from my recollection and its an adventurous game, so maybe the details weren't exactly right.

I also looked on with curiousity at this mysterious red box my one friend had. Of course we never played it because "it takes too long to figure out/it's too complicated" etc. If you're interested and want to get a taste of the hobby don't let the fear of complication hold you back. It may take a little investment of time, but the complication really isn't there when you get the gist of it. There's online communities everywhere who love to talk and teach the many elements of the game. Game systems can be found for free online. The reward you can reap from the hobby is ten-fold compared to a little tinkering over the rules.

Of course a level of interest in fantasy itself of course drew me into the game as well. Everybody who had a little interest in this direction hopped on the Lord of the Rings franchise. I think I got the trilogy (the books themselves) for christmas. I had recently read the Hobbit and did a book report for school on it. I also was pushing my way through the mammoth saga that is the Wheel of Time. A couple other books that don't need mentioning were on my shelf as well. About ten years later and the majority of my shelf is taken up by fantasy itself. I fell in love with Kull and Conan and anything R.E. Howard had to offer. I finally found my way through the Silmarillion which stands as something, to me, greater than the Lord of the Rings itself.

Fast-forward in history, its about two or three weeks before the official release of Fourth Edition. I of course was completely oblivious to this. I just knew it as D&D with no numbers attached.

As I wave hands left and right at all the little things that drew me towards the hobby - it all centered back on Dark Sun. Something I look forward to playing one day. I found in my local comic shop's bargain bin a Dark Sun adventure. I grabbed the thing up for like less than five bucks and brought it home. It was Marauders of Nibenay. I read the thing cover to cover and was hooked. It was in a durable flipbook style built with heavy cardstock. It read like a choose-your-own-adventure, but still had so much room for what I saw as self-development of the story. I'll save the rest of my observations for its own proper blog post concerning the adventure. The thing I'd like to stress is it was aesthetically pleasing format wise. Like I said about the flipbooks - they were durable. I find this is something lacking in current development of the new edition. The go-to adventure for introducing the new edition is falling apart on my shelf as we speak. It's made of flimsy glossy stock - magazine paper at best. Moving to the next part of my personal introduction to D&D, and scathing of presentation: where's the basic box?

I then stuck my head into that place that has a certain level of intimidation to it called a game shop. I asked about the basic game. I don't know where I heard of it - but I knew about basic games and D&D had basic games, so where's the basic game? The shop of course didn't know exactly what I was looking for - they asked if I was looking for some new edition I knew nothing about and offered for me to come in for a drop-in night. This offer was eventually taken up of course with some initial frustration and eventual pleasure. (more to be told in future posts)

I ordered off mighty-amazon the basic game that was released under 3.5 and the player's kit. I received these two boxes by some deliveryman and I like a kid at christmas tore into them.

If I could recall my initial thoughts to the paperback PHB I now owned, or my first experiences handling dice that don't have six sides I would love to relate them. I however can't exactly remember. I remember though the basic game. I played this out with my fiancee and she hated it. I think in hindsight I'd like to lay some hate on that experience as well. I basically dragged her through this game that was set up for four to five people and a thrilling DM. I had no idea how a game was properly run and how to make it fun. I think I had two characters and she had two as well. I had fun I know in my own little way. I think I still had the glow of that Dark Sun adventure in my mind and what this game could be. It was really - I guess now looking at in hindsight a total grind, a total drag. Getting used to the system was hard for me, and maybe this is why they don't have basic games. I think they should though - but make it cohesive and thrilling and grabbing. I'll give you more words with no real meaning - but I guess I'm trying to say - make a fun basic game that gives the idea of the game and not a total panorama. A total panorama is too "complicated/confusing" - it should have a set up for "playing with only one other person?" in big bold letters. It should have "Want a quick pick-up game?" attitude. Whatever happened that fateful evening between my fiancée, the basic game and I didn't bring a new fan to the hobby. So hire some market executives for a couple months - get some focus groups that have no idea what the game is!! I don't know. I guess the point I'd like to stress and with this blog is just that - how marketable is this nugget of gold?

After the basic game experience and getting my hands eventually on that new fandangled edition I knew nothing about I played a couple 3.5 sessions and I've ghosted forums and I've read books and made characters and even played all by my lonesome. I learned all about these weird edition wars that were going on (and still are) and how passionate people were about the hobby. About how deep the pool can get.

At the moment I am now reading through all the rules from first edition, which is redrawing the game for me with new perspectives and ideas.

I hope to keep dropping in on a 4E game at a game shop and get back into DM sessions soloing a friend through the go-to-intro adventure for Fourth Edition: Keep on the Shadowfell.

I might get some 3.5 action out of some other friend who has an interesting campaign set up he’s been working on.

I don't know how well with this long rambled post if I drew a good enough picture of my descent in the dungeons and the dragons - but a real curiousity drove me further in. It's this curiousity I hope to cater to with this blog and hopefully through my intermediate noob-dom bring myself a deeper understanding of the game and get others involved. The length of this entry may detract from that intention - but its my first post. I'll flesh and smooth things out as I go along.