Fortress of Perpetual Midnight

Figure 1 is what I thought I might do next on Monday. A was originally intended to be a test for the heroine, but I intend to make her look older and more boyish than the protagonist, so I should have made her a bit less wide-eyed and skirt-wearing. I also didn't bother to think up a good design for her top or her pauldrons. As you can see, when you're over 10,000 years old, it's reasonable to expect you may have a visible battle scar. With B, I attempted to try out narrower eyes and a longer face (to emphasize how tall and slender elves are). I also tried making a design for bangs without obscuring the archetypal eyebrows. C was another attempt at a longer chin, but it looked so bad that I decided to give him a silly haircut like before.

Fig. 1	Fig. 2	Fig. 3

By Wednesday, I had further revised my idea of where to start. Of the two listed, "Final Exam" (thankfully) has no sex, or even female characters. Further, as skaven carry lots of things with warpstone in them and these ogres live close to the Great Maw, it'll be understandable if they look a bit deformed. (Interestingly, although this unsourced article claims that warpstone is common in the area, the Lazarghs are described in their army book as having their teeth and hair fall out as with radiation poisoning, contrasting with the usual Chaos warping, exemplified by the more northern ogre tyrant who has grown fingers on his head.) I may further avoid problems (particularly with cloth) by making the skaven a bit indistinct to emphasize their stealthy skills.

So, Figure 2 shows some ideas for the skaven themselves. The guys on the left were facial structure tests, but then I tried out designing a helmet and mustache. Neither is common among Clan Eshin adepts, but I'm planning to use them to distinguish certain individuals who lean in less usual directions. The one on the right is a test for body structure. As they're sneaky assassins rather than proud leaders, they're as hunched-over as any skaven. I also tried another hat for him, but not any footwear, as I wanted to make sure I can still draw the bare feet that most skaven sport. I wasn't thinking straight, so I gave him the sort of sword you may see on an old Warlord Clan rat-man. (You can see a more Eshin-style blade in the lower left.) All three show different attempts at the incisors. I think normal buck-teeth make them look a bit nerdy rather than scary, so I'm testing more fearsome designs.

As I have much more experience drawing skaven than other things, I devoted the rest of the page to weaponry. This is an important tool to differentiate the various Gutter Runners and their specialties. For instance, the kusari-gama is a compromise between the two-handed flail used by some Clan Eshin members in Mordheim (as seen in the boxed set) and a more versatile tool. (I don't know if there's any real-world background for using one as a utility item like in the original Seiken Densetsu, but this is supposed to be an over-the-top action comic, not historical fiction.) As skaven have no precedent for using kama in the first place, I added a slight hook on the end of the blade (to match typical fighting claws) and small spikes on the weight to make it more vicious-looking as per their style.

Many of the other weapons show simpler concerns. Skaven don't usually use scabbards, but one of them is secretly an assassin, whose trademark weeping blade constantly drips "corrosive venom" (presumably meaning acid). I've modeled it after a Japanese sort (notably the lack of a pointed end). I also don't know how throwing stars are supposed to be carried. (Perhaps a Pez dispenser would do.) The boomerang is another weapon that is not known to be used by skaven. I'm debating where I should put them in the spectrum between historical (based on their geographical counterparts in the real world) and original (made up or taken from elsewhere) fantasy.

Figure 3 shows my attempts at the defenders. As you can see, much of it is experimenting with proportions. (For some reason, I wanted to make it so the gut-plates completely obscure the breadth of their torsos from the front view.) The upper-right one also shows the lumpy forehead seen in some ogres (presumably knobs in the bone of the cranium?) and the fact that ogres have five toes per foot, like men but unlike skaven. The lower-left guy is the hunter, who is an outcast from the kingdom and thus hasn't suffered the radiation therapy the others constantly endure. Although the standard model has a full beard, I gave him a more typical ogre Fu Manchu and goatee to make up for the fact that the tribe doesn't have them. (Of course, I forgot to give the others no teeth, so the contrast isn't as significant.) The fact that he's wearing a cloak (with a very crude rhinox head showing) and helmet shows that he's on his way back from a hunt, not just getting out of bed as most of the surprised squatters will be (if they even manage to wake). I want to give him a fairly round skull for his plackart to match the usual ogre gut-plate style, but I haven't thought of an appropriate one yet, so I've just used a place-holder in this image. (The one obvious choice would be a giant, but those are for tyrants to enslave, not for hunters to hunt.)

The gnoblar in the upper right shows that these gits will not allow me to forgo the noses. You can also probably guess where he scavenged the shirt. The hammer shows a more distinctive variation on the classic ogre club than the one held by the upper-left fellow. As ogres are quite strong and don't mine, they often use stone weights in their clubs, with iron bands to keep them from splitting. I'll have to be careful about textures to show that. You can also see that I've put another pistol here. Although Clan Eshin use them in Mordheim, I suppose firearms are not very good for covert missions in the days before suppressors, but I'll have chances to show them off with the ogres.

As you can see, I've done a bit of sketching that I promised earlier. Mother was out all Saturday, so I was even able to lie in the living room to draw, which made things much easier. The fact that I have so few chances to do this resulted in my having planned a whole lot before drawing it, meaning that there wasn't too much sketching to do to get the general idea what I wanted. (Of course, the fact that I haven't had much practice actually drawing makes the technical proficiency rather low.) Considering where these are posted, I should draw them in landscape orientation for better formatting. (I've also linked to the photobucket page rather than the image alone this time, in case you actually want to look at the other images there.) Anyway, I need to decide what to sketch next, so I'll get the discussion (or at least my comments) started right away.

The sketch is of the Paisley Twins from "♥2♥" here. Besides what I've noted in the previous post, there were two other reasons why I chose them. First, I get two character designs for not too much more than the price of one, as all of their genetic characteristics are the same. Second, they make good models for different ways to wear the St. Katherine's uniform, something I needed to design for a number of uses.

Their inborn traits are a good microcosm of the latter concept, as I wanted to try variations on the same base to show their differences in personality (which are explained by their upbringing, as will be shown in the story). Significantly, the side on which the hair parts and the location of the birthmark (on opposite sides from one another, for balance) were added as traits that are the same for both of them and not for many other characters. The hair is wavy for the same reason and allows some variation (one who keeps it neatly trimmed, one who just pulls it back in a ponytail as I do—although in this case at the top with a scrunchy for even more femininity), but I don't think I've drawn the texture adequately here. (The only particular source to study that comes to mind is Sakura no Kiwa.)

In terms of drawing in general, you may notice that I'm trying a new way of drawing noses not seen the last time I showed sketches of humans. (Good grief, that's a long time ago, and it needs new links.) This is another attempt at a compromise between realism (nose) and æsthetics (no nose), particularly in a straight-on view (which I've used for three of the figures here because it's good to illustrate physical features, not because it looks good). The former may be better fulfilled if I go to the trouble of adding shading.

The uniform itself is just generic, with touches taken from a source that none of you will guess (particularly now that I've changed the name of the school to be less of a blatant rip-off). (I imagine the shoulder straps are the biggest giveaway—but, technically, all images and designs are copyrighted, so I should probably lose them.) The most obvious variation is how many of the pieces one wears, but although I've seen this in numerous Japanese sources, I'm thinking that may be too eclectic. I'm also a bit bothered by the wearing of a tie with an unbuttoned collar. I'm thinking of saying that Amber can get away with skipping the tie as long as she wears the blazer, which will theoretically allow a glimpse of her stylish brassière (although I don't have any ideas for when we'd see that Roxanne is wearing a more functional one). The untucked shirttails will also be an obvious point, if I ever get around to showing a rear view.

The skirt is a bit unconventional, as I've used my inspiration to make it buttoned in two columns. This makes it inconvenient to roll up (as I've heard mentioned in both American and Japanese sources), but instead allows the wearer to leave it partially unbuttoned for a slit-skirt look. (In theory, one who takes particular pride in how she looks from behind could wear it unbuttoned and backwards, although that would probably be rather uncomfortable when sitting.) Having buttons allows the skirt to have a fitted waist without needing elastic or a belt, but there isn't any real point to having two columns, other than the idiosyncrasies of the design. . . . Maybe I'll just make one side fake or something. Also, you may note that the shot in the middle shows the skirt ending a fair distance above the knee; this was just because of my inexperience with proportions. Although this is intended for a Japanese comic, it's still a Catholic school. . . . Another thing you may notice about the buttons is that you can only see the holes on the sides away from the edges when they're done up. This is because I imagine (and am too lazy to actually look for myself to see) that tension would cause a button to be pulled toward the side where it's attached to the cloth, not the side with the hole.

As you can see, although there are only two Paisley Twins, I made another scale model (on the right) to try different things. Other than the issues with Amber's necktie and skirt length, I also wanted to try a different hairstyle for Roxanne. You can see that I added earrings to the first Roxanne (as she takes more care of her appearance and thus is willing to deal with piercings—just like how Amber doesn't wear contacts), but they seemed a bit large for a Catholic school, so I tried a 'do that shows her earlobes in the first place. I suppose that means that the third sketch is of Roxanne dressing up as Amber. The fourth is of course just an attempt to see how my designs and techniques work at a less staid angle.

Overall, I'm most taken with the facial proportions in the sketch of Amber, which should be a simple matter of spending more time to get that right. More concerningly, the torsos look really bad. I shouldn't have tried to start with characters of such a buxom build, and I really need more experience to be able to draw cloth. Between these problems and the one I mentioned when I announced this task, I'm thinking "While You Were Sleeping" here would be a better place to start—hooray for thin people who wear battle bikinis!

Well, I've completed my MapTool training, but not even the one who expressed interest weighed in on the choices for which adventure to play. I've added preliminary pages (linked in that post) to help. If you don't choose, I will.

I've also considered some other things about which game to play. Star Wars has a simpler system, and thus would be more convenient for novice gamers. Warcraft, on the other hand, is a setting in which at least one of the two required player has already gamed, along with at least one other Conclave member. It also has a game system that would be extremely familiar to those who have gamed in the 3rd-Edition D&D family, although most Conclave members (including the two) have not played many sessions thereof.

Selling stuff: Even less interest than I expected. I forgot to add my extra issue of Comic YuriHime, but it's there now for posterity.

Gaming: I've added some more information here (and in some of the linked pages). Discussion (what little there is) has brought up some further points:

*I would prefer if I could get three to five players for a session. (It's hard to judge the length of time that an adventure would take without play-testing it, but I'd prefer to have six hours.) In any case, from past experience, I can probably rope in a couple more people even if they're not actually interested enough to bother to touch the keyboard.

*A more immediate problem than scheduling is the choice of adventure (and thus game system), as I need to work it to a playable point. (Given my schedule, I'd prefer about a week to do that.) It occurred to me that using a game in a setting that you'll already know, such as Star Wars or WoW would be a good place to start for novice gamers. Of those ones, my commentary includes:

"Fools' Gold [Thicker than Water]": If I'm going to be on a computer anyway, I may as well update this to the current rules. This may affect the level at which it's set (as the new classes get the powers I want at different points), but the idea is the same.

"Into the Woods": I don't have much in the way of ideas for this one beyond hack and slash, although that may be better for WoW players. . . .

"The Moon! It's Asplode!": The first footnote discusses the main issue. I think blitzcon would like this one.

"Order 65": This is another one where I just thought of a lot of character builds to kick each other's asses. I think the current edition makes it simpler to run Force-users than its predecessor, but that also means I'd have to make completely different builds. . . .

"These Aren't the Droids for Which You're Looking": I've already tried this one out (and fit it into one session), but I'd want to edition-update it, as well, so it would take about as long as any other to ready. It also by default covers the same characters as "Moon" at a later time, so it may be better to play that first. Also, since lokodraucarn was in the first run, that's one less person I could dragoon.

Anyone who is willing to contribute to the discussion gets a say in which one I'd want to play. The others are also available, if you want to look into them.

*It occurred to me that if I'm hosting, MapTool may require more bandwidth than usual, so I guess I'd go without voice chat for starters, just in case. The parts I need to learn for GMing are pretty simple, so that shouldn't be a consideration when compared to the necessary work for getting the adventure itself ready.

Edit (2009.04.10): Updated links

Continuing from before, here's a more detailed list of what I'm selling (in Roman letters, as the links can take you to the official titles and PNs anyway):

Kaiketsu Jōki Tantei-dan 1–8 (all) (Asamiya Kia)

Shin・Kaiketsu Jōki Tantei-dan 9 (Asamiya Kia) [Relationship with the original series described in the earlier post]

Hyakki Ō-koku MONSTER KINGDOM 1 (Ayaku Nī)

Comic YuriHime VOL.14 (anthology)*

Magical Antique Visual Comic Anthology (anthology)†

Comic Party 1 (Inui Sekihiko)

FLCL 1 (Ueda Hajime)

O-Takara Sagashi-tai (OMOIATARU) [Not the edition linked, but a later one, with a new cover and several other illustrations and commentary. Ms. OMOI didn't write the script for this one, so there isn't even any notable yuri in this one.]

WARCRAFT: THE SUNWELL TRILOGY 1 DRAGON HUNT (Richard A. Knaak, Jae-Hwan Kim) [Mentioned earlier; not to be confused with this edition]

MAGIC KNIGHT RAYEARTH 1–3 (all) (CLAMP)

MAGIC KNIGHT RAYEARTH 2 1–3 (all) (CLAMP)

Kami-sama no Iu Tōri! 1–2 (Konishi Aki)

Moe-Tan Magical Busters, please save the world!! (Takahashi Tetsuya) [Given this comicalize's illustrator, they at least throw out heart-marks when they touch one another, but there's significantly more tension with male characters (of which most are not even vaguely humanoid). When you consider him, it's likely that the "Nankyoku Penguin" is female, too, but it only has a cameo. Anyway, the review based on which I bought it was here.]

HUNTER×HUNTER 1 (Togashi Yoshihiro)

Cowboy Bebop 1–3 (complete) (Nanten Yutaka) [not to be confused with Shooting Star Bebop, the one with the weird character designs]

KIDDY GRADE REVERSE (Hiyo Hiyo)†

Black Cat 1 (Yabuki Kentarō)

Arabesque 3 (arc 2, first part) (Yamagishi Ryōko)‡

Ayashi no Ceres Tenkū o-Togi Sōshi? 1–2 (Watase Yu'u)‡

†These are ones I've described briefly here.

‡There are covers for these visible on the massive post where I got them. The one for this version of O-Takara Sagashi-tai isn't, but I like the new one better, personally.

You will of course be able to find more information about these on jpqueen and throughout the Web. If you're interested in any more specific comments, I can give those, too. As most of these are going to remain here to be in the next batch, I should probably put them in a more permanent place. . . .

[Edit (2009.05.21): Managed to sell some]

I was playing an RPG using the engine from WARCRAFT III (like the not-really-orc-campaign in Frozen Throne) where I seemed to be the living version of Arthas. I was going around doing quests in some castle that had a layout similar to the Tippecanoe Mall. Oddly, despite my being the good guy version, one of my quest-givers was a plague witch. One of the missions involved escorting a human lady used as a receptacle for some disease [possibly related to the neta from one of my shorts, only more gruesome]. Still, I seemed more concerned about attacking friendly NPCs so they would mob and kill me. I also thought about the fact that they had to change the names of the Steam Tank and Gyrocopter in the expansion because GW drew the line.

Sadly, this one seems to have filled my disk cache, so I forgot about the previous three that I hadn't gotten around to typing. I've got various things to post, but for the moment I'm a bit sidetracked by the rereading I did while I was looking up the subject line for the previous post. I'm done rereading the actual book, but it occurred to me that there might be more of the original Webcomic, despite the fact that there was no suggestion that there might be any continuation or even where it might be found on the Web (which might be a good way to stop tachi-yomi performers from leaving the book and just going and reading it there, but prevents publicity for what comes after). Anyway, since the book only goes up to Chapter ~20 and the oldest serial installment still available on the Web is 32, I'm thinking it'd be a good idea to make sure I read it while I'm sure I can, barring finding some comment saying that the other parts will also be published. (And yes, my kansō on this series are in the backlog too. . . .)

Speaking of last night, I feel as if I should make sure that I've taken my drugs on days when I read things by Ms. Hakamada. As a person and as someone who aspires to write himself, it's good to be able to have emotional reactions to drama, but it sure doesn't feel good.

Now that I've finished with the comics for the time being, it's time to get back to Project Cow Level. Currently, the main problem there is that no one has expressed interest in doing the coloring for me, so I'm probably having to learn to do that myself. In particular, a story about dwarven prospectors tends to have a lot of underground scenes, so I'm going to have to worry about lighting whenever they're dealing with those who don't have darkvision. (The darkvision is taken from the SRD, so it's in monochro; to make it consistent with the rest, I'm going to have to color those parts and then grayscale them. More interesting will be the parts where dwarves are looking at places that are partially lit. . . .)

If I wouldn't put off these dinky ones, I wouldn't be so backed up. . . .

The land of this particular MMORPG had the peculiarity that powerful spells were performed through rituals including singing particular tunes. I was playing a diminutive furbolg rogue by the name of Boo-Boo, learning under a more experienced character known as Yogi. For some reason, when he demonstrated a spell, he turned into Minnie Mouse.

Just as I was about ready to start on Project Cow Level, Ms. mizuno_youko happened to be getting rid of an old (but still functional for the moment) scanner, and you know how I feel about free stuff. Just for fun, I tried it out before opening it. As you can see, it's perfectly good quality for a fan-comic—to the point that I should be able to draw each page on an 8½×11 sheet and still have the content of a reasonably sized page. (I may upgrade if I ever get to the point that I can make my own projects.) Since I won't be allowed to publish this one in hard copy, I don't think there's any particular reason to keep consistent whether it's portrait or landscape orientation. Actually, I really have no idea how the Comic Genesis engine works, but it's not a big deal. I'll get to that after my proposal is accepted. (Optimism? Who am I and what have I done with archlords?)

Also, as I noted here, I did a very small number of sketches before getting distracted by new comics. (I just got a bunch more after I finished them, so there won't be any more for quite a while.) They're test designs for a couple of main characters, as well as stock tauren. Some notes: *The mask idea came from my belovèd Poisoned Wind Globadiers. However, I was thinking that dwarves don't use warp-technology like Skaven or chaos energy like gnomes and goblins, so I came up with the lower-tech idea of just using some sort of gauze as a filter. Of course, gauze porosity is rather difficult to represent in comic illustrations. More mechanically importantly, the kerchief doesn't fit well over his muzzle (and makes him look a bit too much like a bandit), so I'll probably use a more direct copy of the Globadiers'. As you can see from the sketch in the middle, I wasn't sure about the framework for the cylinder, but upon closer inspection, there's a metal ring around the end. *Dwarven goggle straps don't fit well on races that have heads extending parallel to their lines of sight. I'll probably have them integrated into a cap (again, like the Globadiers) that buckles below the chin. I like the Globadiers' slightly convex lenses, but these are supposed to be based on a standard design (only altered to fit the tauren), so I'm keeping to the original schematics, excepting logistical changes. *I don't know how to properly draw braids, which are an integral part of the character designs for the project. For Aonghus, at least, they'll be solid black, so no one will notice. (Unlike in AnthraXX, he wears colors, so I don't have to go to the trouble of adding non-black lines to delineate him.) For the others, I'll probably use the primitive method seen here. *Speaking of braids, I considered giving Aonghus eartails but nixed that so you could see the chin-strap. *I don't really like cattle's noses with their big open nostrils, so I squished them. *I'm not sure about whether I should leave Aonghus's horn stump bare or use a cap (a couple of test designs on the middle right). I suppose a metal cap would help to emphasize his cosmopolitan appearance.

I pretty much have the first few chapters laid out, so I can get to that whenever I'm less distracted. I was originally going to start with the origin story, but I think it'd be more entertaining if I jumped right into the action. I'm thinking about it putting the flashback in Chapter 2 instead (as Chapter 1 is just an introduction to the team), but I'm afraid of doing that too crudely, like in HELLSING. I at least have an idea to link it to what the characters are doing right after Chapter 1, so hopefully it'll work a bit better.

My readership appears to be at an all-time high (apparently at least two regulars!), but I've accumulated quite a lot of stuff during its absence, to say nothing of my sloth and the fact that I've built up a lot of new things due to year's-end-and-beginning splurging. So, I'd like to see if you have any requests or suggestions. What I've got in the works is as follows:

( Ridiculously long notes )

Project Cow Level in General: I've made some very brief notes on the page. I may look around and get some more interesting members of the team (a dwarf hunter and a gnome techno mage, perhaps?), because it's looking very thin at the moment.

This: I've done a few sketches, including some tests for different tauren horn structures (for variety). For logistical reasons, Aonghus's horns are in the same shape as those of a minotauros character from an old Slayers fan-story I first planned back in high school. This reminded me that arifyn might be another prospect for coloring this (on which I planned to comment, but haven't gotten around to posting), but I'd prefer if he used a different palette from our previous collaboration (to which he contributed without my knowledge).

This: Hell, even the most intellectual comic writer I know uses cheesy Scottish dialect/accent for dwarves. (When looking for that, it also occurred to me that someone has seen Alvissa and Gollum together. Also, remember that the Bridge of Khazad-dûm (dissed in the discussion of the Bridge of Khazad-Doom) was specifically designed to be hard to cross as a defense mechanism.) Come to think of it, I don't know where that stereotype originated, even after some cursory research. The legendarium apparently uses such an Anglicization, judging by the liner notes, but this isn't stated in the books, so only Tolkien scholars knew it until the live-action movies came out. The earliest well known source that comes to mind is WARCRAFT II: Tides of Darkness. Does anyone remember D&D players using cheesy Scottish accents before that?

This: In looking for other bases, I was reminded of the story of the dwarves and tauren's first altercations over Bael Modan. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, most of the description of this on Gann Stonespire and Bael Modan is just elaboration by users, as I haven't found any sources on that except the text for Gann's Reclamation. Has anyone heard anywhere reliable that it was Gann himself who tried the diplomatic efforts, or that the driving out of the tauren by the excavators and their killing by the League were two separate events? Any information related to this would be helpful. Of course, it's not terribly important, as WARCRAFT is probably the setting where the creators care the least about continuity of any I've studied, so probably not too many will mind if my story has a few inconsistencies with lore.

On the topic of the subject line: I can't believe we tried to do a skit about dialects and just used funny voices. Then again, how would one expect high school students to know multiple dialects?

On the topic of the post: you might have noticed that my comments about limited-edition products here and here seem contradictory. I don't like the concept, but I don't have much of a problem with taking advantage of it when it's convenient. With comics, I can get pretty stuff legally, and with miniatures, I have two reasons: 1. there's no point in just collecting the same miniatures everyone else has, and this helps me get something semi-(or completely, if I can think of a conversion)unique; 2. if I don't want it, I can likely sell it at a profit as a collectors' item after it goes out of production.

I of course bring this back up because this seems like a good deal. In essence, you're paying $18 for a limited edition version of a mini that normally costs $10, and you still get three issues of a magazine about a great setting and two great wargames. (The RPG is rather crudely written because the company doesn't care about it, but it's still good, as you might guess by my support for it.) I was going to try the zhevras first, but it turns out the upstarts have a great deal (in the sidebar to the right; doesn't say anything about a limited duration, but better act fast) going on, so I'll have to stop by there instead.

I'm finding WoWWiki and the RPG books very useful in research for Project Cow Level, but I'm handicapped somewhat by the fact that I haven't actually played the games much. However, I know that some of you have at least played the MMO at some length. So, if you happen to remember anything about these items, please chip in.

1. According to the information on Bael'dun, Brann's requests for tauren oversight were granted, but I don't see such a conclusion on the pages sourced. Has anyone seen any such information elsewhere? Even better, have you been to Bael'dun and seen any tauren there (other than raiders)?

2. This is more of a real-world question, but does anyone know any physical details about cave-ins or sinkholes caused by digging vertical well shafts with medieval hand tools, particularly in terrain like the Barrens? I checked Wikipedia and didn't notice any such.

3. Has there been any official word on how far the distance between Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms is? I'm imagining it's only a few thousand klicks, as it's only been 10,000 years since it was all one continent, so I don't imagine they've spread out too much.

4. Does anyone happen to know a way to access the algorithm that hides languages for people who don't speak the language? I'd like to get the fake Common for "All right, chums, let's do this," but I imagine it would be a pain to send a hired Horde player to go spy on a hired Alliance player saying it.

5. According to this, Terramok is included in the game as part of Maraudon. Has anyone seen any signs of titan architecture, runes, etc. there, or information to suggest that the entire vault is part of the instance?

I appreciate any help you can give.