Battleon

A little treat for the roleplayer reader ; as I still was digging for more rpg links I found this little gem called Battleon - the graphics are nice-looking (manga like) ; the game itself is Flash based - and it took less than 5mn from the character registration phase to the first level up of my brand new fighter ... the game seems to have loads of options and quests - and is very addictive.

Battleon: AdventureQuest

Playing the DM again (part 3)

So to recap, what you need for a good ol'fun D&D party using "freakin' brilliant map" :

1. Some ideas for a scenario - you can find plot, quest, characters or complete dungeons generator on this website ~> www.colugo.org
2. The Battle for Wesnoth Map editor - that can be found here ~> www.wesnoth.org/wiki/Download
3. A bitmap editor to tweak the image just a bit ;I recommend The Gimp (of course)
4. A group of friends

Have fun !!

Playing the DM again (part 2)

More fun with Wesnoth Map editor, and within the dragon's lair now

Same principles as previous post drawing a map - then using Gimp adding some monster and numbers -

Here's the Map's legend :

1. some goblins with some information on the lieutenant - he was captured a while ago and has upset the dragon and no-one know where the lieutenant is now
2. a goblin with a short sword and one with a bow
they have a few potion and some gold's coin
3. the Dragon is now sleeping and unless the group is attacking - he won't move.
He's quite powerful and being agressive with him would be a bad idea.
4. a few goblins with scimitar
5. a few orcs with axes - but no treasure
6. a few mid-level goblin guarding the throne
7. a mighty troll is guarding the stone bridge to exit the cave
8. the throne were a high-level goblin is standing - he has a magic sword and a few potion
he can tell that the lieutenant when he was there has upset the dragon that casts a spell on him changing his looks ... and give some hints that there was a Yeti wandering around after that day.
9. some spiders and a few skeletons
A. entrance to a secret level -- feel free to continue this cave ; so the fun can continue --

Now, the funny twist in this story is that the lieutenant was actually transformed into a yeti - by the dragon's "polymorph" spell.

I always like when the player are acting with diplomacy and aren't killing all monsters in the area for the sake of experience and collecting treasure - in fact, if they frag all monsters they will never find the lieutenant ...

Playing the DM again

First of all, Happy Xmas nice reader and today I will share with you some fun you can have with the map editor of Wesnoth - Yes, it's brilliant -

If you ever played "Dungeon and Dragons" as a GM (Game Master) or DM (Dungeon Master as they called it back then) you know how painful it is to draw good looking maps ... But here on the left is one hell of a campaign map done in less than 15 mn ... now you just have to add number and put legends to the map -

in (1) a lonely wizard that might join the group
in (2) a tavern where the group will get valuable informations and tips and might even trade some equipment
in (3) a bunch of mercenaries up to no good
in (4) a local warlord with a quest - one of his lieutenant has disappeared while exploring a cave in the south ....

Wacom : pressure sensitivity

After modifying the /etc/X11/xorg.conf and rebooting there was no noticeable change in the wacom stylus behavior whether in Gimp or Inkscape ... I was confused - but then digging in both applications options I found that the mouse was still the selected input devices and so I just had to disable it and select the stylus and eraser and put them on Screen mode (see picture on the left) -- and it worked !

So now the last thing is to setup the eraser to actually erase ... ;)

configuration was LinuxMint 17 

Wacom Pressure sensitivity

So far, it's workable - but still need tweaking :
1. the pressure sensitivity

# Option "PressCurve" "0,75,25,100" #Softest curve (loose pressure)
# Option "PressCurve" "0,50,50,100"
# Option "PressCurve" "0,25,75,100"
Option "PressCurve" "0,0,100,100" #linear curve (default)
# Option "PressCurve" "25,0,100,75"
# Option "PressCurve" "50,0,100,50"
# Option "PressCurve" "75,0,100,25" #firmest curve (hard pressure)

2. the "eraser" option

On the left is a paintbrush version of the previous post's Elvish fighter with a shield - that wasn't there in the previous version.

Wacom Bamboo fun setup

In fact it was not so difficult to have the wacom working under Linux/Debian
I followed this blog entry - and it works now.
Except that I can figure how to make Gimp recognize the eraser on the pen.

Here on the left is another test with the Bamboo fun - still using ArtRage2 - I think I'm just starting having fun with it.

I made a variation using paintbrush - which is more rough looking but still looks nice.

Using the Wacom is still a bit difficult, holding the pen the right way, not touching the tablet while hovering ... is a bit challenging.

I think the key is the speed, when using a real pen - the speed is faster, and so I guess sometime I will have to refrain going too fast.

Bamboo Wacom test drive

This is atrociously twisted character on the left is actually my first attempt with my new Wacom Bamboo fun and ArtRage2 (provided free of charge).

I will try to keep some posts - dedicated to this topic.

PS : Tried to use it "out of the box" with my Linux unit - but then basically the tablet was recognized as an USB synaptic device ... and act pretty much like a very slow mouse ... so it will require some tweakings first. Will post more on this, probably next week (?!)

Xmas mix - contact sheet

Almost same result as in the previous post - but this time, the left picture was produced by a Gimp's script.

link to Robin Gilham's script
http://registry.gimp.org/node/120

Works perfectly -

You just have to copy the file contactsheet.py in the plugin folder (/home/username/.gimp-2.4/plug-ins) and make sure it is executable.

Then you'll find in the Toolbox window under "Xtns/Batch/Contact Sheet"

Openclipart Xmas mix

Little experiment today with a few opencliparts related to Santa and Xmas

the picture on the left was generated
from 8 cliparts with the following command (using the great tool imagemagick)

montage -label %f -frame 5 -geometry +4+4 *.png xmas.jpg


Here's the link of the various clipart : [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]

screencasters.heathenx.org introduces Microsodes

screencasters.heathenx.org introduces Microsodes (micro episodes):

Maybe you're already familiar with Screencasters.heathenx.org which goal is to provide a means, through a simple website, of allowing new users in the Inkscape community to watch some basic and intermediate tutorials.

I watched a couple of their videos and learned a lot.

And was very happy today because they just introduced a brand new section with "the quick and dirty mini episodes (aka: microsodes)" illustrating just the fundamentals of Inkscape or things we consider too short for an entire episode.

kudos !

Crash course on the financial crisis

Found this little gem in the flickr gimp and inkscape group

This is a one page "comic" where Jesse Jane is explaining basic economic background of the current financial crisis.

Here's the link to the full size page : financial crisis 101

There's already another page posted with Jenna Jameson talking about Buddhism.

I like the attempt, firstly because it shows a different aspect of these "pron stars", secondly because funnily enough even if the topic is boring you want to read it and thirdly because it uses open source software.

Hopefully the author will keep posting more ...

More on the subject of using comics book to fight against ignorance : this article on Wired.

Open Clip Art Library Jingle Bells

Open Clip Art Library Jingle Bells: "Jingle Bells Christmas decoration"

Deck the halls with boughs of holly
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
'Tis the season to be jolly
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la