Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Art of "The Witch"

The Witch is done editing and now layout and art.

I have a bunch of art I have been buying over the last couple of years for this. So now comes the process of picking out images.

I have a few I really love and have meaning to me.
Note: All the art I am posting today belongs to me.  The artist holds the copyrights (it is still theirs) but I own the publication rights.  So these are not considered OPEN under the OGL or Fair Use.

Here are two that were done for me by my brother Daniel.   A Druther and a Halfling Witch.



Plus a magical Distaff,



These are from a former student of mine, Aitor Gonzalez. Two witches.





I am using some old Public Domain witch art to give is a period feel and some art from Larry Elmore.  
I make no apologies for that, I have always wanted to have a witch book out with Elmore art in it. 

There is a different set that will appear in Eldritch Witchery.

So looking forward to getting this out to you all!

Monday, September 17, 2012

Genre Favorites Blogfest

Alex J. Cavanaugh's The Genre Blogfest.



In this blogfest I need to talk about my favorite Genre of Movie, Book and Music.  Plus my guilty pleasure.

So here we go!

Movies
My favorite is still Horror.  I love all that scary stuff. I do enjoy other movies, but horror is my go to.

Music
I would have to say Classic metal or even classic rock.  I still love to listen to Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Dio.  My wife accuses me of living in the past, I prefer to think of it that my tastes are so refined that I know exactly what I want.

Books
Again, gotta say horror, but I enjoy the Modern Supernatural genre as well.  The ones where it's all teh same creatures as horror, but living in the world of today.  Things like The Dresden Files.  I do still enjoy fantasy.

Guilty Pleasure
This is a hard one.  I have so many!! Well, so many that others might call guilty, I don't feel any guilt in these.
But to narrow it down to one...well that can only be my love for really, really bad movies.  I am not talking your average B or C movie, I am talking about Z grade, unfit for human consumption.  Things they might have considered doing on MST3k, but were to bad.

What do you enjoy?
Read what others have posted too: http://alexjcavanaugh.blogspot.com/2012/08/bourne-legacy-review-ninja-news-tv.html


See what everyone else is doing!


Guest Post over at Blogging A to Z

I have a guest post up over at Blogging A to Z today.
http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/

I talk about my past participation and my new Monstrous Monday blogfest.
So far turn out has been great!


Sunday, September 16, 2012

What is going on at White Dwarf?

If you come here for my White Dwarf Wednesdays you know I am a big fan of early (pre #100) of White Dwarf.

While I was not a fan of WD after it became devoted only Warhammer I didn't fault it because that was the trend for magazines at the time.

I might be stuck still in the 80s but White Dwarf did move on, in fact there was a recent posting about how we are going to be getting a new and improved WD magazine, http://lasgunpacker.blogspot.com/2012/09/white-dwarf-relaunch.html

But it also looks like Games Workshop is having troubles with some of the older issues.  Namely being able to prove what they may or may not own.

A post over at Pork's Expanse explains it better: http://theporkster.blogspot.com/2012/09/what-gw-owns.html
As does Russ Nicholson himself, http://russnicholson.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-horror-of-it-all.html.

I really enjoyed Russ' art in WD's golden age, and I hope he can get this all sorted out.  


This and the latest Kickstarter-based-project drama though shows me one thing:
I don't have a clue about what drama is going in the various gaming blogs.  

Well, unless I start it of course.   I don't think I am being particular obtuse and I do read all the same things everyone else is (I assume).   I mean I am not reading message boards hardly anymore (ha! see what I did there) and my Google+ participation is not as high as it could be.
I'll see some good posts and think to myself, "that is a good post, but what the hell are you talking about?"

Maybe it is the nature of blogs.  We sometimes feel that everyone is reading the exact same things we are because they are reading at least some of the same things we are.

Random thoughts on a Sunday.

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Zatannurday: DC Adventures

I really enjoy the DC Adventures RPG from Green Ronin.

It is not the best Supers RPG I have ever played, but it is certainly right up there.  It is quite a bit of fun and based on the same rules as Mutants & Masterminds. (For the record, I think I enjoy Mutants & Masterminds 2n

Not a lot of material has come out for it yet as compared to the old DC Heroes or even the various Marvel Games.  But that is ok with me.  I enjoy the DC Universe so much more.

So far we have three main products:

DC ADVENTURES Hero's Handbook
The main core rules book.

DC ADVENTURES Heroes & Villains, Vol. 1 and
DC ADVENTURES Heroes & Villains, Vol. 2
Details of all the heroes and villains (or at least the major ones).

Of course all the new M&M 3rd edition materials can work with this.  In particular I found these very useful to help flesh out her world:
Mutants & Masterminds Power Profile #12: Magic Powers
Mutants & Masterminds Power Profile #13: Illusion Powers

And of course my favorite villain, Dracula.

Zatanna is featured in both the Hero's Handbook and Heroes & Villains Vol. 2.

Honestly, I love these books, even if I don't get much of a chance to play.  They remind me of the old Marvel Phile in Dragon mag and the Who's Who in The DC Universe.


I love how it describes her other costume more "traditional" than the tux and fishnets.

Reading this I had forgotten about "Bewitched".  After reading the Books of Magic, I don't think she really "hangs out" there, but is at least known.  Bewitched would be a great location in any game. Putting it in San Fran in my games would ad least gather the attention of the Charmed Ones, but in a DC/M&M game leaving  it at 666 Haight St. Though that is a real address. It would have to be like 12 Grimmauld Place in the Harry Potter books.  Magical types can see it, but the mundanes can't.

Just wish I had more time to game!

Friday, September 14, 2012

Something Wicked...

Eldritch Witchery is now down with finals edits and sent back to the publisher.

The Witch needs one last look and then finish up layout.

Things are shaping up for a very good time here at the Other Side.

You might notice a new poll in my blog sidebar.

The Witch is done, but I would love to cut down the page size a bit.   So, I am thinking of taking out the monsters.  You can still get the monsters in EW and some will be posted here.  Ultimately it depends on the layout, but I wanted to hear what you all think.

So vote and let your voice be heard.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

I am not afraid to admit this,

But I am in constant awe over the level and depths of research J. K. Rowling did for the Harry Potter series.

Just even the care and attention that went into the names of, well, everyone.

Doing some research on some other topics and it keeps coming back to something I read in Harry Potter.  That then leads me somewhere else.

I think what I need to do know is re-read all the books and I will also admit that I am looking forward to her new book, The Casual Vacancy.  It sounds, as my friend Andrew puts it, Fab".  It sounds like a good British black comedy.

I also think it is a crime there is no official Harry Potter RPG.