https://www.dmsguild.com/product/194578/The-Saurials-of-the-Lost-Vale?
I'm very pleased with it, but then again, I'm horribly biased. :D
Thursday, September 29, 2016
Sunday, September 25, 2016
Thursday, September 22, 2016
The Saurials of the Lost Vale Coming out Next Week.
My latest Project is in the final stages, and should be out on Sept 29th, 2016 on the Dungeonmasters Guild:
Here is the Elevator Speech:
The Saurials of the Lost Vale
From the depths of time, The Saurials have descended upon the Forgotten Realms. This ancient primal race has been quiet for at least 2 editions. They are silent no more as their secrets have been unveiled from their Lost Vale at last.
- The History of the Saurials and what has happened to them since the Finder Stone trilogy.
- The Saurials, now updated for 5e Dungeons and Dragons.
- The Lost Vale - gateway to Anauroch.
- The Saurial Homeworld - rediscovered and fleshed out.
- New class options for Saurials.
- New monsters revealed and old monsters redefined.
- and much, much more.
Sunday, September 11, 2016
Space Janitor's of Fate - Part 16 - Hallucinatory Donuts and Rocket Ships
https://www.twitch.tv/rpglory/v/88882781
Due to lack of nurse, RD and Mike recruit a new buddy to help with the various schemes, and it goes about as well as expected. and a long forgotten secret rears it's ugly head.
Due to lack of nurse, RD and Mike recruit a new buddy to help with the various schemes, and it goes about as well as expected. and a long forgotten secret rears it's ugly head.
Thursday, September 8, 2016
Fighting Games and You.
I like fighting games.
I've been playing them for a long time.
I enjoy spending time on the couch challenging a good friend as we try to out fight one another.
Recently we got access to king of fighters XIV
We also rant and critique fighting games and it seemed like a good excuse to post this.
Here are my stipulations to assist in future fighting game design and to explain what works and what doesn't:
1. Couch co-op: While multiplayer online can be fun, I honestly prefer to be in the same room as my opponent.
**JAY says: We’re pretty old school that way.
2. kof's Controller Select: While not a deal breaker, picking your characters in street fighter IV often required us to swap controllers. King of Fighters still has the best select for controllers as you pick which side before you start the game. All fighting games should have this.
**JAY says: This is for couch co-op, when in SFIV playing vs. if you pushed start to soon you’d switch sides on the screen. Strange, strange quirk.
3. A good random mode: In my opinion, people who play a single character are essentially eating lucky charms and only eating the blue diamonds. Part of the fun of fighting Games is rolling and having to fight with a character that you might not be familiar with. However, this does mean...
4. All character's need to be balanced: If any characters are broken, this will make point 3 really unfun.
**JAY says: Where SFV did get it right is re-balancing some weird quirks early on. Good Job! Each character feels pretty balanced.
5. Characters need personality. part of the fun of fighting games is playing interesting characters. While it isn't completely necessary. KOF XIII did it brilliantly by having not only custom final comments depending on whom was beat, but also included silly openers in the arcade mode that showed this interaction. KOF XIV took this a step further by having comedy sketches with some of their characters when they interact. I'd include both. It should follow what I call "professional wrestling storytelling." Namely setting up the reason for the fight to lay down better interaction and more emotional heft for the fight itself.
6. Online chaos mode: this is an extension of 3. There should be a mode where you are tested, not on your skill with a single character, but on your ability to adapt to any character that is selected randomly. Any bonuses obtained from normal tournament would be tripled.
**JAY says: This is just probably us talking though 😊 However, out of all the chaotic and insane things MKX gave us, it didn’t really have this.
7. It should be easy to read: A side effect of the improvement of screen is smaller and smaller text. Make sure your game is easy to read, especially when it should contain move lists.
**JAY says: WHY is HD mean your text is 2 point font, and even on the big 50’’ TV still blurry, small and neigh impossible to read without sticking your nose on the TV. If the game is for the PC, I kind of understand this is something companies cheap out on changing. But console only games have no excuse. I miss 20 point bolded comic sans and sans serif from PS1.
What they shouldn't do is.
1. make achievements controller dependent: We tried the new Mortal Kombat and were immediately cheezed off by the need to unlock everything twice, unless we "payed to win." Simply put, this is unacceptable.
**JAY says: Way, way back during the ushering in of the new (now old) consoles, like PS3, I recall seeing an interview with some business reps saying that the era of the $100 game was just around the corner and that market would happily accept micro-transactions for virtually everything, including stuff that use to be standard features. They totally called it. Can’t find the original video, but here’s a newer one a lot of folks know about.
2. Be too shiny? Marvel vs Capcom 3 was one of the biggest disappointments involving fighting games, not only for the shabby game play, but also for the fact that the screen induced severe headaches in myself. Other culprits include the Sony playstation game, Keep it toned down, and we'll play your game more.
**JAY says: That would be Playstation All-Stars. Both where trying too hard to be Smash Bros. which was a bit of lightning in the bottle.
3) Forget to make online stable:
**JAY says: OK after SFIV, MKX, DC: Injustice, KOFXIII, KOFXIV, and some other older figthers working just fine online, why does the SFV (the new pinnacle of tournament fighters, at least that’s how its selling itself) have such issues online? I have frame dropoff, ghosting, input delays, screen jumping and just about anything else that makes it virtually impossible to play. Testing my connection and ensuring everything was running smoothly didn’t fix the problem.
4) Forget the open architecture and stick with disk locks:
**JAY says: Yes I know many companies have started to limit on disk DLC locks after getting their knuckles wrapped a bit…though perhaps not hard enough. But if your going to give us online unlocks they have to be meaningful and inexpensive. Ensure you build your game to grow for at least 3-4 years without a full rebuy. This really will make those seasons passes matter.
5) Make season passes that are as expensive as the game:
**JAY says: This is for ALL GAMES, and not just fighting games. But for fighting games, adding another $60 to $80 cnd for a 3 or 4 characters and some skins is NOT the same as getting entire new levels or kingdoms to play through in say a RPG. So far, most have been smart is using micro-transactions so you don’t notice the build up.
6) Forget the new players:
**JAY says: This does not mean you have to make the game easy mode. But certain things need to be done to get new players into the property (which means more $$, duh). There has to be happy balance of easy to use, but hard to master; its been essential for all good fighting games. For online, make sure that rank matches make sense and are even as possible. As for casual mode, well see Chaos mode above for a possible solution to a near perfect player walking over newbies in “causal” matches of horrid beat downs.
What you as the consumer should do is…
1) Wait:
**JAY says: If you are buying a really established title that will most likely not be cycled off a server, wait 6 to 8 months for a price drop. This is especially true of revamps or updates, and things with ridiculously priced season packs. SFV is finally falling to around $45 cnd (from about $70) and with a reasonable season pass cost you can get virtually all the extra content…though some things you will either have to earn or pay for still….
2) Limit:
**JAY says: Yep, with not a lot of money to spend and too many things to get, I now limit myself to 2 triple A full priced games a year, max. This means a lot of deserving, and probably good titles will be passed over, but that’s the way the market wants it. So try to find the not so big players and support them first before the big serial titles.
Sunday, September 4, 2016
Space Ninjas - Episode 1 - Go Ni Go, Don't flub any more!
Thursday, September 1, 2016
About Movies - When is a remake justified?
With special thanks for those people at Spacebattles.com
https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/examples-of-successful-reboots.422960/
These are a common thing that has happened since the beginning of time.
While people complain that it's gotten worse, the simple fact that we've been retelling stories for generations.
But what do you need for a successful remake to happen?
I've been stewing on it and come up with the following rules to have a successful remake.
1. It needs to justify why it's a remake. Robocop and Ghostbusters can't justify a remake because honestly, minimal issues with both in their proper context and remaking them means you'll always be comparing them to the original. That's a high bar that is virtually impossible to beat. Do not try to remake these unless your incredibly sure it will succeed, and also don't come crying when it doesn't.
2. If they are full flops, unless there was an outside of the movie reason (ex. John Carter's exploding budget and crappy marketing campaign), it is probably a good idea to not do it.
3. They need a hook or be otherwise novel that makes it different. A current popular actor that would be perfect for a specific character, a distinctive director whose normal take would bring something new, or a new animation technique that brings something fictional to life (ex. the cgi balrog from fellowship). make sure it's there before you start. Heck a fad could justify it's remake if it really does tie into it.
It's often easier to do a lateral reboot so it has the name, but not the baggage.
4. A remake that jumps between cultures has to be treaded lightly as it may lose what made it awesome in the first place.
5. Whom is your demographic?: There will always be a balancing act between the original material and any remake of material. Your remake needs to be able to draw in the original fans as well as open it up to a new generation. If you start insulting either, you've already lost.
With that in mind, the best remake fodder are "near misses."
For me it is the borderline flops that you can honestly say "if they only did <insert action here> it would be way better" that should be your 1st choices for remakes.
It also gives you more wiggle room to make it your own.
1. Ben-Hur (1959 film): technically a remake of the 1925 silent movie. It's the definitive version and is the high point of an era (that ended with a funny thing happened to the way to the forum). It works because of it's era, the expense spent and it is a cultural touch point for a generation.
2. The Thing (1982): A remake of Howard Hawks' 1951 film of the same name and a re-adaptation of the John W. Campbell Jr. story. While it ultimately it was a flop and became a cult movie, it is an example of the overall quality and is better remembered because of it.
3. Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992): Bela Lugosi's Dracula defined the character for over 70 years, and while there have been many remakes of it, I'm bringing up this version as it was high budget, had a different feel then the original, and gave it its own spin.
4. Ocean's 11 (2001): This one shouldn't have worked, but it does. The original was the rat pack in their prime and honestly, it only worked because it was several generations later.
5. King Kong (2005): The original is a stop animation classic, and I had my misgivings about this remake, but was very pleasantly surprised. It was slow, but well defined and Peter Jackson obviously loved the original source material.
6. True Grit (2010): The John Wayne classic is another one of those "if there wasn't generations between the two"., it could have flopped hard. Instead its one of the better western movies of the last 10 years.
7. Dredd (2012): Is both an overwhelming success and a cautionary tale at the same time. It was a fantastic movie that was forced to compete with not only the 90's Sylvester Stallone movie in 1995, but an Indonesian action movie called the raid, that had a very similar plot. While commercially a flop, it erased the stigma of the original movie and they have been lobbying hard to continue the franchise. I wish them good fortune as it was much better that the 1995 version.
8. Batman Begins (2005): Batman and Robin almost completely destroyed not only the character, but the entire superhero genre. After the successes of Blade, X-men and Spiderman, they managed to successfully retool Batman for a new generation.
9. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015): This movie was in developmental hell for almost a generation. It almost became an animated movie and the original star of the movies was estranged from Hollywood. Then it comes out and not only it was good, it is arguably the best of the franchise. It is a very simple chase movie with a ton of personality.
10. Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015): While my opinion of the movie is mixed, it is an example of a movie reboot after bad prequels. They even used another franchise to test out material (Guardians of the Galaxy) to test out the storytelling and stayed with a Conservative storytelling. While only time will tell how good it is, the ground work has been laid.
11. My Fair Lady (1964): This is a story that was told since ancient times and is an example of how a story changes from Pygmalion to Pretty Woman.
Other examples of successful movie reboots
A Fistful of Dollars (per un Pugno di Dollari)(1964), Assault on Precient 13 (1976), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), The Evil Dead (2013), Gamera: Guardian of the Universe (1995),
Invasion of the body snatchers (1978), Jurassic World (2015), Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), Scarface (1983), The Fly (1986),
2. Buffy the Vampire Hunter: This one is unusual is that it is based on a silly movie and got redefined and ended up creating a successful tv show with amazing characters, excellent dialogue and even one equally good spin off series (angel)
3. Doctor Who: The relaunch of doctor who in 2008 was the return of an old friend. While I haven't agreed with every single change, I am impressed that it was returned with a vengeance, after a long hiatus. In many ways, it is not so much a reboot as a continuation of the original series as they consider previous episodes are canon (as much as they ever get).
4. Star Trek: The Next Generation: The original star trek could have been an anomaly that was easily forgotten. It was beaten hard in the ratings by Lost in Space, a campy scifi comedy, to the point it was cancelled prematurely, but somehow it arose from the ashes to become the definitive scifi that all others are measured. I consider the next generation more definitive a reboot then even the movies as 1. they had a completely new cast and 2. they were a continuation a generation later of the original series, thus giving them both material and freedom to do their own thing. It started shaky and even cringeworthy, but it defined star trek for at least a decade, especially with it's sequal series.
5. Transformers: Beast Wars: Transformers was dead as a concept when mainframe entertainment did this series and they breathed it new life with excellent characters and superior storytelling.
Blakes 7 (TV Series 1978–1981): This series could be argued that it's been rebooted already. It has had the influence on the following shows: Outlaw Star, Firefly, and more recently Dark Matter. While nobody will be able to fill Avon's boots, it would be fun to see where an official reboot would occur.
Damnation Alley (1977): It's main reason for flopping hard is that it went head to head with Star Wars. Give it a cgi budget for monsters, make it a tad closer to the book, update the Landmaster and treat it like a road movie. hell Fury Road just cleared the way for it to jump on it's coat tails.
John Carter (2012): Some movies end up in development hell. This one ended up in development hell for decades and was sabotaged at every step of the way. I would recommend John Carter and the Gods of Hollywood for the full details. It breaks my heart that the book series that all action movies are based on was sabotaged. I think a solid reboot could vindicate how good a series this really is.
Robotech (1985): For a generation, this defined anime, but it's star and controversal origins, have left it in limbo. If the robotech licence to be redone as it's own series and allowed macross to be released in north america, I think it would be awesome.
Runaway (1984): This was requested by an associate and it would be fun to see a remake. It's base premise could easily be updated with todays technology and it's not well known.
Tank Girl (1995): With the success of fury road, this movie would be awesome remade in a similar manner. It was a flop with potential.
https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/examples-of-successful-reboots.422960/
These are a common thing that has happened since the beginning of time.
While people complain that it's gotten worse, the simple fact that we've been retelling stories for generations.
But what do you need for a successful remake to happen?
I've been stewing on it and come up with the following rules to have a successful remake.
1. It needs to justify why it's a remake. Robocop and Ghostbusters can't justify a remake because honestly, minimal issues with both in their proper context and remaking them means you'll always be comparing them to the original. That's a high bar that is virtually impossible to beat. Do not try to remake these unless your incredibly sure it will succeed, and also don't come crying when it doesn't.
2. If they are full flops, unless there was an outside of the movie reason (ex. John Carter's exploding budget and crappy marketing campaign), it is probably a good idea to not do it.
3. They need a hook or be otherwise novel that makes it different. A current popular actor that would be perfect for a specific character, a distinctive director whose normal take would bring something new, or a new animation technique that brings something fictional to life (ex. the cgi balrog from fellowship). make sure it's there before you start. Heck a fad could justify it's remake if it really does tie into it.
It's often easier to do a lateral reboot so it has the name, but not the baggage.
4. A remake that jumps between cultures has to be treaded lightly as it may lose what made it awesome in the first place.
5. Whom is your demographic?: There will always be a balancing act between the original material and any remake of material. Your remake needs to be able to draw in the original fans as well as open it up to a new generation. If you start insulting either, you've already lost.
With that in mind, the best remake fodder are "near misses."
For me it is the borderline flops that you can honestly say "if they only did <insert action here> it would be way better" that should be your 1st choices for remakes.
It also gives you more wiggle room to make it your own.
Examples of great reboots:
Examples of successful reboots (as far as movies go) include.1. Ben-Hur (1959 film): technically a remake of the 1925 silent movie. It's the definitive version and is the high point of an era (that ended with a funny thing happened to the way to the forum). It works because of it's era, the expense spent and it is a cultural touch point for a generation.
2. The Thing (1982): A remake of Howard Hawks' 1951 film of the same name and a re-adaptation of the John W. Campbell Jr. story. While it ultimately it was a flop and became a cult movie, it is an example of the overall quality and is better remembered because of it.
3. Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992): Bela Lugosi's Dracula defined the character for over 70 years, and while there have been many remakes of it, I'm bringing up this version as it was high budget, had a different feel then the original, and gave it its own spin.
4. Ocean's 11 (2001): This one shouldn't have worked, but it does. The original was the rat pack in their prime and honestly, it only worked because it was several generations later.
5. King Kong (2005): The original is a stop animation classic, and I had my misgivings about this remake, but was very pleasantly surprised. It was slow, but well defined and Peter Jackson obviously loved the original source material.
6. True Grit (2010): The John Wayne classic is another one of those "if there wasn't generations between the two"., it could have flopped hard. Instead its one of the better western movies of the last 10 years.
7. Dredd (2012): Is both an overwhelming success and a cautionary tale at the same time. It was a fantastic movie that was forced to compete with not only the 90's Sylvester Stallone movie in 1995, but an Indonesian action movie called the raid, that had a very similar plot. While commercially a flop, it erased the stigma of the original movie and they have been lobbying hard to continue the franchise. I wish them good fortune as it was much better that the 1995 version.
8. Batman Begins (2005): Batman and Robin almost completely destroyed not only the character, but the entire superhero genre. After the successes of Blade, X-men and Spiderman, they managed to successfully retool Batman for a new generation.
9. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015): This movie was in developmental hell for almost a generation. It almost became an animated movie and the original star of the movies was estranged from Hollywood. Then it comes out and not only it was good, it is arguably the best of the franchise. It is a very simple chase movie with a ton of personality.
10. Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015): While my opinion of the movie is mixed, it is an example of a movie reboot after bad prequels. They even used another franchise to test out material (Guardians of the Galaxy) to test out the storytelling and stayed with a Conservative storytelling. While only time will tell how good it is, the ground work has been laid.
11. My Fair Lady (1964): This is a story that was told since ancient times and is an example of how a story changes from Pygmalion to Pretty Woman.
Other examples of successful movie reboots
A Fistful of Dollars (per un Pugno di Dollari)(1964), Assault on Precient 13 (1976), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), The Evil Dead (2013), Gamera: Guardian of the Universe (1995),
Invasion of the body snatchers (1978), Jurassic World (2015), Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), Scarface (1983), The Fly (1986),
TV Reboots
1. Battlestar Galactica: The reboot of a cheesy early 80's scifi into a grim space survival story was amazing, even if the ending kinda stunk.2. Buffy the Vampire Hunter: This one is unusual is that it is based on a silly movie and got redefined and ended up creating a successful tv show with amazing characters, excellent dialogue and even one equally good spin off series (angel)
3. Doctor Who: The relaunch of doctor who in 2008 was the return of an old friend. While I haven't agreed with every single change, I am impressed that it was returned with a vengeance, after a long hiatus. In many ways, it is not so much a reboot as a continuation of the original series as they consider previous episodes are canon (as much as they ever get).
4. Star Trek: The Next Generation: The original star trek could have been an anomaly that was easily forgotten. It was beaten hard in the ratings by Lost in Space, a campy scifi comedy, to the point it was cancelled prematurely, but somehow it arose from the ashes to become the definitive scifi that all others are measured. I consider the next generation more definitive a reboot then even the movies as 1. they had a completely new cast and 2. they were a continuation a generation later of the original series, thus giving them both material and freedom to do their own thing. It started shaky and even cringeworthy, but it defined star trek for at least a decade, especially with it's sequal series.
5. Transformers: Beast Wars: Transformers was dead as a concept when mainframe entertainment did this series and they breathed it new life with excellent characters and superior storytelling.
What Could be a Great Remake?
Blakes 7 (TV Series 1978–1981): This series could be argued that it's been rebooted already. It has had the influence on the following shows: Outlaw Star, Firefly, and more recently Dark Matter. While nobody will be able to fill Avon's boots, it would be fun to see where an official reboot would occur.
Damnation Alley (1977): It's main reason for flopping hard is that it went head to head with Star Wars. Give it a cgi budget for monsters, make it a tad closer to the book, update the Landmaster and treat it like a road movie. hell Fury Road just cleared the way for it to jump on it's coat tails.
John Carter (2012): Some movies end up in development hell. This one ended up in development hell for decades and was sabotaged at every step of the way. I would recommend John Carter and the Gods of Hollywood for the full details. It breaks my heart that the book series that all action movies are based on was sabotaged. I think a solid reboot could vindicate how good a series this really is.
Robotech (1985): For a generation, this defined anime, but it's star and controversal origins, have left it in limbo. If the robotech licence to be redone as it's own series and allowed macross to be released in north america, I think it would be awesome.
Runaway (1984): This was requested by an associate and it would be fun to see a remake. It's base premise could easily be updated with todays technology and it's not well known.
Tank Girl (1995): With the success of fury road, this movie would be awesome remade in a similar manner. It was a flop with potential.
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