Disqus - Latest Comments for ScutigeraColeoptrata

Re: Counter Monkey – D&D 5th Edition Review (Part 2)

ScutigeraColeoptrata — Sun, 24 Aug 2014 11:29:36 -0000

I must confess that I haven't reviewed the rules for 5th Edition at all, and so I'm just going by what Spoony said in this video.

While I can definitely understand having a strong reaction to heavily streamlining gameplay, based on what Spoony said 5th Ed might actually appeal to me. I'm someone who was warned off 4th Ed because of how many people said it was slow and combat was plodding, which is something I try to minimize in my games (some have said that's unfair and I should try it for myself, but I just never felt the motivation to do so). Typically, the groups I've roleplayed with were far more into roleplaying than combat or min maxing, so the idea of a straightforward, super-streamlined version of D&D seems like it might be a good fit.

If I can go on a tangent for a minute, I think where some game designers of tabletop games might go wrong is when they try to emulate an MMO or other type of modern RPG video game. In a well-made MMO, you have an interface that can easily juggle all kinds of abilities, stat boosts, effects, etc. Trying to replicate that on paper, however, seems to frequently lead to player frustration, at least in my experience. I don't claim to be any kind of expert as to what makes a game balanced or streamlined, but just going by my experience I prefer a simpler rules set that anyone can learn in half an hour to one that has a ton of customization options that you could spend all day working out.

Just my two cents.

Re: Bogleech Blog, Mortasheen - Pestilouse (completely digital)

ScutigeraColeoptrata — Wed, 11 Dec 2013 12:05:20 -0000

You know, I liked the original Pestilouse and thought the design was fine, but this one is so darn cute I can't help but love it.

I think the colouring looks great and the drawing has a lot of very nice details (the sagging flesh is especially nice). I'm not sure how the perspective is working for some of the limbs, and I think a simple background would be good to include if you're going to do digital drawings from now on. The line work, while nice, could also stand to be smoothed out more, as presently the line width seems to vary at random.

It's pretty darn good vector work though (better than where I'm at currently, honestly). While I like your pencil work, I think the digital art has a lot of potential.

Re: Bogleech Blog

ScutigeraColeoptrata — Wed, 11 Dec 2013 10:50:17 -0000

I love the little wave.

Re: Bogleech Blog, "I hope the “real” film and television industry crumbles and dies in our lifetimes anyway, so arguments from the perspective of those industries are hardly going to impress me." Coul...

ScutigeraColeoptrata — Wed, 11 Dec 2013 09:35:34 -0000

While I certainly can't argue against the tyrannical norms of mainstream media or the tremendous boon the Internet has been to artists (myself included), I do feel the need to play devil's advocate here and point out that, without the mainstream media, artistic training and artistic exposure would largely cease to exist (or rather cease to exist until another form of mainstream media took its place).

Someone who produces charming, funny and creative content, like say Pendleton Ward, learns his or her trade through official channels (he went to the California Institute of the Arts) and applies his or her trade through official channels, either directly or indirectly. Mainstream media allows artistic work to have exposure, even now in the age of the Internet, and from that exposure the discipline of art stays lucrative and healthy. You've already discussed the negative side of that, but the positives are that people can earn a respectable living creating artistic works for a large audience without having to pay for every aspect of distributing and presenting their artistic work. There is also the plus side that, as long as people with progressive ideas stay working within mainstream media, the standards of appropriate content can and have changed for the better.

There's also the issue of art training itself. Without reopening that argument (too late), formal art training and the body of knowledge such training contains is beneficial to all artists, even ones who have never attended an art college. If you want to know how to draw shadows in perspective, there's a whole body of knowledge about that subject available at your fingertips because of art training and the art media that keeps the education funded. Without that help, it would be like trying to learn mathematics without a text book; it's possible, but far less convenient than having concepts and theories developed over thousands of years explained clearly and concisely. We all stand on the shoulders of giants, and art is no exception.

So yeah, what I'm saying is that mainstream media is neither good nor bad; it's ambiguous but necessary, just like so many things.

Re: Bogleech Blog, OMFG series 5 illustrated by my friend Joe...

ScutigeraColeoptrata — Tue, 10 Dec 2013 20:34:16 -0000

TenCan looks downright sassy.

Re: Bogleech Blog, racieb: misterbowser: Spiders are mostly...

ScutigeraColeoptrata — Tue, 10 Dec 2013 19:31:36 -0000

I have read that, in the US, approximately 26 people die from dog attacks on average in a year (it's estimated that most of these attacks are the result of cruelty or neglect).

By comparison, spiders of the genus Latrodectus (which includes Black Widows) are reported to only have killed sixty-three people in the United States between 1950 and 1989.

Re: Bogleech Blog, quezycoatl: smoppet: hydreigon: ...

ScutigeraColeoptrata — Mon, 09 Dec 2013 21:31:46 -0000

I think the reason art teachers advise students to learn the basics of anatomy, perspective, shading, etc. is to avoid unintentionally emulating the stylization of an existing artist. When I was first learning to draw people, I was in love with anime at the time, and so tried to draw people in the style of my favourite anime artists. I didn't realize until years later that those early drawings copied the highly inaccurate proportions and details as well, such as overly long legs, large heads, etc. Now that I'm a bit more comfortable drawing realistic people, I feel as though I can approach stylizing them in a more original fashion.

That being said, there is no perfect way to learn art; most self-taught artists, myself included, learn by doing, and there are many roads to finding a skill set and creating original content. I think every artist is wise to study the technical side of art, but getting to the point where one is confident and professional in his/her work is by no means a straight line.

Re: Britannia Burns – Richard Garriott Interview, Part 2

ScutigeraColeoptrata — Mon, 09 Dec 2013 20:43:41 -0000

I'm not sure I really see what point is being made by adding mandatory child murder to a game; yes, it certainly does provoke an emotional response, but so does any shock youtube video. As for starting a passionate debate, I think that, generally speaking, most people agree that killing children is bad.

MAYBE you could do some interesting roleplaying scenarios with that idea, but by itself it seems pretty much like nonsensical shock value.

Re: How to Make Apple II Artwork

ScutigeraColeoptrata — Mon, 09 Dec 2013 16:52:11 -0000

This is a remarkably useful approach for how to design an RPG with a small staff and limited resources. I wish all of these notes, diagrams and writings would be published in some compendium, as it would be both very cool to have and very useful for aspiring game designers.

Re: Bogleech Blog, Ace Ventura was so widely embraced and worshiped...

ScutigeraColeoptrata — Mon, 09 Dec 2013 12:39:37 -0000

I was one of the few kids in my school who never saw this movie; at the time I thought it just looked really dumb and immature. Seeing the ending now after reading Natalie Reed's article and with no context for the rest of the movie is absolutely horrifying; it's a man beating and humiliating a transwoman while she cries as her life is being destroyed. I would hope that today anyone watching the film would be horrified by this, and I honestly can't believe that anyone ever found it funny.

It's especially horrifying when you learn that shaming, abuse and murder of transpeople is not only still a reality, but commonplace.

Re: O British, Where Art Thou?

ScutigeraColeoptrata — Mon, 09 Dec 2013 00:51:58 -0000

This is glorious. This so needs to be a sitcom.

Re: Bogleech Blog, An angry tirade about one comic

ScutigeraColeoptrata — Wed, 04 Dec 2013 00:32:24 -0000

In my experience, most of the people who use the Internet on their phones while taking mass transit do so to check their email for work and school assignments, rather than post trivial items to Twitter or whatnot. Mass transit is a big time drain, so it makes perfect sense to make use of that time for work activities. The people I work with communicate with emails from their phones all the time, because they are on the move very often.

The idea that everyone who uses the Internet wastes their time on trivial matters and does so only to seek validation for an egocentric, socially immature existence is, at best, patronizing. I believe I understand the writer's intended statement about Internet addiction and people starved for social interaction and validation, but the Internet is not responsible for problems that have always plagued certain individuals. In fact, the mass communication provided by the Internet has raised awareness of these problems, and can be a source of vital help for those suffering from depression and a lack of meaning in their lives.

Re: Bogleech Blog, catminthime: moshita: anatomical chocolate ...

ScutigeraColeoptrata — Mon, 02 Dec 2013 14:13:32 -0000

It's the way to someone's heart.

Re: Bogleech Blog, Adult Swim has put up the first episode of Rick...

ScutigeraColeoptrata — Sun, 01 Dec 2013 12:04:10 -0000

I have a suspicion that Rick might be Jonathan in 50 years.

Re: Bogleech Blog, Am I the only one who wonders long and hard what...

ScutigeraColeoptrata — Sat, 30 Nov 2013 01:34:21 -0000

I imagine we'd find a way to simplify our features into something that reminds us of ourselves, without all the complexities involved. We experience the phenomenon of "Pareidolia" when we recognize two dots and a line as a human face, even though a human face is considerably more complex. Similarly, our art is composed of light and shadow designed to create the illusion of a three-dimensional image, which, on closer inspection, is merely a collection of colours and values, also devoid of complexity. So long as we can find a way to capture the essence of what we look like, we can always simplify our forms into animation.

Indeed, simplifying things with animation is often preferable to trying to make animation look realistic, as animated characters with realistic features tend to look less attractive to us, falling into the 'uncanny valley'. Animated characters with too many details can even look downright repulsive, since the limitations of traditional animation to capture light and value highlight every line and crease.

Re: Britannia Burns – Richard Garriott Interview, Part 1

ScutigeraColeoptrata — Tue, 26 Nov 2013 02:27:03 -0000

Yes, there is a real trade off between realism and ease of gameplay. Another very unrealistic thing about many gaming worlds is that most quests don't really have a time limit; you can spend months of time in-game running around the world, and a farmer's quest to run down to the store will still be active. This is obviously done for the player's benefit, as nobody wants to frantically run around doing errands before nightfall, but it is one of those things that strains suspension of disbelief.

Re: Britannia Burns – Richard Garriott Interview, Part 1

ScutigeraColeoptrata — Sat, 23 Nov 2013 01:29:19 -0000

Richard Garriott seems like a great guy, in addition to being one of the most influential game designers of all time. I'd certainly love to see him and Spoony review something together.

To be honest, I've never really thought about modern RPG conventions as a 'crutch' as much as a convenience; there are a lot of things about older games that could be extremely frustrating. Mapping out areas by hand and trying to remember quest objectives required a big time investment, and, now that I'm older, even modern 'ultra convenient' RPGs are something I have to kind of schedule in rather than just pick up and play. Having quest objectives clearly spelled out after putting down a game for months is a huge help.

Having said that, I am all for immersion in an RPG; if I'm just playing a game 'on autopilot' by following a dotted line to each objective, I find that the experience is far less rewarding than if I can pick my own destination and accomplish goals my own way. I think that the future of RPGs will be to embrace a non-linear experience that doesn't hold the player's hand, but does allow the player a lot of opportunities to find his or her own way to succeed (or fail).

Re: Bogleech Blog, laughingsquid: A Barbary Ram Yelling Like a...

ScutigeraColeoptrata — Wed, 20 Nov 2013 22:05:03 -0000

I was going to write a Creepypasta about a human brain being transferred into the body of a Barbary Ram, but it seems nature has stolen my idea.

Re: Bogleech Blog, neonationalist: I am the embodiment of...

ScutigeraColeoptrata — Tue, 19 Nov 2013 18:50:11 -0000

I read through some of his blog; it's full of rather tortured logic about how fascism creates a true meritocracy, while arguing that race exists and is the indicator of superiority. In other words, certain groups of people should enjoy privilege in a dictatorial society due to their "innate worth", rather than any demonstrated ability that actually does occur in a democracy.

So basically, the argument is that if you can do something and get away with it, you are morally correct...Until someone comes along and beats you, in which case the "degeneracy" has won.

Re: Bogleech Blog, So apparently this interview with the creator of...

ScutigeraColeoptrata — Tue, 12 Nov 2013 18:25:58 -0000

I haven't seen much of this series and I only have a cursory understanding of the plot; I had heard it was a 'dark' take on the magical girls genre, which is a concept that has been done before many times, and it came out long after I had stopped watching anime, so I didn't have much interest until I heard about how popular it was.

Taking a closer look at the series, however, I think it's easy to see why it has audience appeal; the shows 'dark' qualities are not designed to shock the viewer, but rather show an equal and opposite reaction to the positive aspects of the characters, as Gen Urobuchi has pointed out. This isn't really a defeatist attitude either, but rather the understanding that every action has consequences, and wisdom and maturity comes from learning to accept the consequences of those actions.

Re: The most unequal place in America

ScutigeraColeoptrata — Sun, 03 Nov 2013 14:27:37 -0000

I'm certain you mean well, and I wish the matter was simply a lack of education. A lack of education is a huge problem today, even in the first world, and a good, competitive education is vital for having a shot at any kind of a better life. It's also true that some people, including people who are gainfully employed, act foolishly with money, leading to their own misfortune.

However, education and financial wisdom are not the only concerns; the poor have to deal not only with ignorance of how to succeed, but also unplanned pregnancies, substance abuse, domestic violence, elitism, malnutrition, and a host of other problems that are, truly, beyond their control. It's not fair, and until those problems are fixed they will not have a fair chance at a better life.

We who are employed and have pretty good lives do have a responsibility to the poor; not to 'throw money' at their problems, and not to live their lives for them, but to use what we have to improve living conditions where life is intolerable. I completely agree that a strong work ethic should be taught, and there are many stories of people who have succeeded despite their disadvantages. I have however personally met homeless people who chase shifts and live in shelters because, no matter how hard they seem to work, they cannot make enough money to afford any place of their own to stay. They lack a competitive skill set, and they do not have the means by which to obtain one.

What I'm saying is, this is a very complex problem, and the solution cannot and should not be boiled down to 'people need to work harder' or 'give all our money to the poor'. Social programs that assist the poor and work to reduce poverty should address the large range of demographic and social issues that are involved, and make use of the latest data and information to effectively give everyone an equal chance at a better life, whether they choose to take it or not.

Re: BOO-GLEECH

ScutigeraColeoptrata — Sun, 03 Nov 2013 10:55:22 -0000

Yes! I've had an idea now for this year's competition since December of last year, and now I can finally start writing it!

Oh, and sorry about the text formatting; this year I'll send a plain txt.

Re: Bogleech Blog, My 2013 Costume

ScutigeraColeoptrata — Fri, 01 Nov 2013 12:39:40 -0000

This costume is a thing of beauty; it seriously looks like something you would have to pay, at minimum, several hundred dollars for, and you created something this cool on a very tight budget. If you ever want to stop running Bogleech, you definitely have a future as a costume designer.

Re: BOGLEECH COMICS

ScutigeraColeoptrata — Sun, 27 Oct 2013 16:16:14 -0000

This is the best comic.

Re: BOO-GLEECH

ScutigeraColeoptrata — Fri, 25 Oct 2013 23:31:27 -0000

I love the personalities you came up with fore these guys; I'd actually like to see them appear in a series together.