D&D LORE

You remember that post about the homestuck t-shirt design contest collaborating with hot topic? And how Hot Topic are the biggest art thieves?  This is recent.  As you can see above, I stumbled upon Hot Topic’s website and they are selling a very popular fan art put on a t-shirt, and did not ask permission from the original artist (rismo).

BY AGREEING TO TERMS AND CONDITIONS ON DEVIANT ART.

THEY SOLD IT TO A THIRD PARTY ROYALTY-FREE.

I’m still bringing it up because DA is still a shithead and it does still have bullshit in it’s ToS that it’s worth being aware of:

“d) the right to sublicense to any other person or company any of the licensed rights in the Artist Materials, or any part of them, subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement.

e) Artist acknowledges that Artist will not have any right, title, or interest in any other materials with which Artist Materials may be combined or into which all or any portion of Artist Materials may be incorporated.“

People might feel a bit safer with the addition of:

5. Limitation Of Rights The rights and licenses granted to deviantART under sections 3 and 4 of this Agreement require deviantART to obtain Artist consent before deviantART makes any commercial agreement with anyone else to separately buy, license, re-sell or re-publish or commercially use any Artist Materials not in association with deviantART but as an individual work of art or as a group of works from a single Artist in isolation from any other works.

Dust their hands off and go: “well that’s that, DA wouldn’t steal my art”. While I doubt they’re running around re-licencing your work to Hot Topic, they are still free to use your work in a commercial setting without your permission. It just needs to be “in collaboration with/sponsored by/casually glanced at by deviantart” or some shit, and that’s the end of that “safety net”.

In fact, DA has done this to me personally. Every once and a while I get congratulated by a fan who recognized my work in a “feature” in a publication or something and it turns out it’s actually an ad that DA’s used my work in or “in collaboration with deviantart” type bullshit being sold by a third party. You know how DA likes to spam your inbox now with third party ads disguised as site events and news? DA does the same thing with other companies and their products. We’re not talking a thumbnail on a “browse DA” page in an Ipad graphic or something. We’re talking sometimes full page spread of only my artwork and a statement about how awesome XYZ is (if you want to check out an example of a full page false advertisement fakeout, look for an a “sponsored content” styled ad using my art and code work in ImagineFX Issue 70). DA has not once asked for permission to use my work or even notified me when it was used. They don’t have to, and they won’t, contrary to their PR statments. As a bonus, you may also be interested to know that they have also included a clause that allows them to edit out your watermarks and signatures and stuff when they pull this shit.

You wouldn’t think it would be all that inconvenient to go “Yo! We’re making an ad and we want to use your work as the ad.” But there you go.

It’s comforting to know that big blowups like the hot topic thing arn’t really DA being scummy in that one instance, but it’s worth remembering that they still are scummy when it suits them and it’s always good to know exactly what you’re signing, especially on a site with such a bad community respect track record like deviantart.

These are the characters that were requested on the last (shorter) livestream on my channel at Picarto.

I’ll be doing this every Sunday at 4 PM GMT -4, where I raffle 4 slots per stream for you to request your d&d character!

Also, if you don’t catch a free slot for a drawing, you can commission a $20 USD full figure lineart+basic coloring piece of your D&D (or other fantasy game) character, only while the stream is live.

So, the characters are:

Nameless, an Apkallu

Thalia, a human brawler

My D&D character, Mahon, an elven Rogue… with House Mormont’s sigil on his face as my nod to my Westerosi loyalty. XD

As DMs, we have all had the experience of planning out a cinematic encounter straight out of our favorite epics, with fast-paced action, moving combat, and beautiful/brutal displays of violence. And thus, as DMs, we have all had the experience of seeing our plans fall to shambles before our eyes.

If you have ever had your ancient golem cornered and beaten on until its death- if your mercenary shoot out has ever turned into a battleship-esque roll crucnher- or if your tactical environmental set-up has never been used, then this post is for you.

Players are both the greatest and the worst of all things in this universe at the same time, from the DMs view, but the real responsibility falls on us, and no matter how much we want to nay-say our players, we are the only ones that have the power to make our encounters memorable and epic.

To begin this process, we have to have our plan in mind, which, surprisingly turns out to be the simple part. 

The difficulties begin to arise when it comes to execution.

Encounters happen quickly, before our very eyes even, and we want to be able to get our point across before the antags and the protags square off an idly beat on each other in the middle of the grid.

The first key is description. If, as a DM, you are looking for those special twists, you are going to want to describe the environment as well as possible, give neat little descriptions of everything, and use an ancient writer trick, highlighting.

Highlighting is a simple concept- you want to point out something to your players, make it apparent without making it obvious, thus talk more about it.

Discuss the large red barrels in the room, or the loose series of ropes dangling from the ceiling, or the big lever, or perhaps the rock formation that “looks like it could be climbed”, and the pathways above it.

This will intrigue the players and direct their attention, even if they do not use these environmental particulars in the way you would want them to, the originality they put to the test is what makes the game incredible; one of the most important philosophies of the DM is such: one must not railroad their players through their story- the players must have an influence as great as the DM, or else the game degrades fast, the DM is not there to tell their story, they are not writing a book. This is a cooperative experience. Be together.

Another issue with these great encounters falling to subpar standards can also be blamed on the DM. Perhaps your players are not behaving in the way you would like them to act in the encounter. They aren’t blowing up the barrels, they are not using the mining carts down the tunnels, very well, give them a taste of their prepared (but not consumed) medicine. Let the enemies take advantage of the surroundings.

Move the enemies frequently to establish a sense of fast-paced combat, and let them utilize their surroundings, this will clue the players in; “if they can do it we can do it” sort of an attitude.

And if your players will not stick to anything but the basics, box them into situations outside their comfort zones, let the enemies shift them around a bit, change up the environment, or through in some wild traps to dodge.

There is a final ingredient as well, that serves as a sort of cherry on top of the metaphorical dessert.

You need to add an unconventiality. Every player and their ancestors has seen the typicals. Fantasy and tabletop role playing games as a whole are rapidly approaching a new age, and we need outside of the box ideas to fuel the way there.

Instead of traditional goblins, take a page out of Chris Perkins’ book and strapped some powder kegs to their backs. Let enemies try to flee. Perhaps the princess did not need saving, perhaps she was the true villain and the dragon was that who had been under the spell? There are infinite twists that can be applied.

Put your own spin on a trope and watch it create a memorable experience. 

I just mentioned those explosive goblins, I used them in a one-shot recently and my players continue to talk about them and the memories they experienced with them. 

Take this tips to heart when building your own boisterous & badass encounters.

This is Moira Mistvail, a gnome illusionist.

I already drew her one time, but she has some important coronation to attend, and a kimono seems fitting to the occasion. 

Dragonborn Ranger