White Dwarf Wednesday #21

Miss me?  Sorry for the delay last week.  This has been a busy time at work and I have been taking it home with me at night to do instead of this.
Let's get down to business. 

Issue #21 is from Oct/Nov 1980 and it is off to a good start with some cool late 70s/early 80s wizard art.  A lone star focused through gems reveals a fighter in battle.  If it were redone today the gem would be d20 shaped.

We have an ad for Ariel games which in a bit of neat synchronicity features a game reviewed earlier today by James at Grognardia, The Mystic Wood.  This and four other pages of ads follow.

The editorial is another "Ripped from todays blog roll" on whether or not the Vancian magic system is outdated.  Interesting really.  This is 1980, not 2012 and the D&DNext playtest discussion.  Though maybe they should read this editorial.  Not that the offered solution, the power point system in RuneQuest, is much more modern today, but it bears thinking about.
There is also a note about their production artist, Robert Owens, who was killed in a crash.  

Andrew Finch gives us a new D&D class based on The Chronicle of Thomas Covenant.  "Lore of the Land" features the Lore Lords.  They are an uber spell casting class that can combine their spell casting levels to cast more powerful spells and increasing the fighting ability of others.  Something like a hyper-bard. Also detailed are Rhadmaerl, or a new type of magic user based on the Lore of Stone and the Hirebrand or Lillianrill, magic uses based on the Lore of Wood. And finally the Bloodgurd, a type of fighter.  If you are a fan of the novels then these might be fine, but as character classes they look a little over powered, with the exception of the Bloodguard.

Roger E. Moore gives us a bit on Merchants.  Including what they do and an NPC class for them. Very much an example of the early days when every profession had to be detailed as a class.

Open Box review Azhanti High Lightning, one of the classic classics of Travleler. Andy Slack gives it 8/10, James gives it a little bit more detail.  Roger Sandell reviews Intruder from Task Force Games, giving it a 6/10. He states it is a "good idea, but needs improvement".   John Lambshed reviews another Task Force Games entry, Valkenburg Castle.  This one fares better at 8/10.

Letters deals with important issues like alignment and why does a lantern burn for 24 hours but the same flask of oil thrown lasts only a round.

Up nest is another complete mini-game Survival by Bob McWilliams. Seems simple and quick to play.

Treasure chest is upping their game this issue with a bunch (15) new spells.

Fiend Factory gets a huge makeover this issue.  For starters the layout is better and the monsters are all grouped by a theme. In this case wilderness monsters for characters of 5th to 7th level.
The font used to write the monsters' names is now a plain one, not the stylized art font unique to every monster.  Monstermarks are still included.  The monsters themselves also seem to have been taking up a notch in terms of design.  The jokey monsters are gone, replaced with real threats. This issue gives us The Brothers of the Pine (undead full of magical pine sap), Chthon (a living rock), Enslaver (a small pool of mercury that controls others), Micemen (the results of Brownie/Orc crossbreeding), Dragon Warriors (created from the teeth of dragons), Grey Sqaargs (a race of evil automata) and a Cyclops.

Starbase, the Traveller feature, continues with a mini "situation" for Traveller.  We would call these an Encounter today.

S. Hartley presents the Tomb of the Maharaja, an AD&D mini-module for 6-10 3rd and 4th level characters.  It is a nice little dungeon crawl that could be completed in one night.

Up next are some ads, including this one from Games Workshop that really got my attention.

Remember when I said at the start of this that anything British was automatically cool in my teenaged mind.
Here is a better scan of the Doctor Who board game that I mentioned last time.

With issues 20 and 21 we see a shift in WD to a more mature gaming magazine.  The jokey monsters and classes are going away and focus on other games, like Traveller, is keeping the focus more of serious gaming material.

Let's see if this trend continues.

Links
Some links to other White Dwarf retrospective reviews

An older RPG Net thread that goes issue by issue
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?405199-In-which-I-read-White-Dwarf-from-issue-1

A newer EN World one that reviews 10 issues at a time to get a better perspective on the overall trends.
http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/325009-white-dwarf-first-100-issues-read-through-review.html

And other Magazine retrospectives:

Grognardia takes us back to the future every Tuesday with his Ares retrospectives.

Land of Nod does Dragon by Dragon every Sunday.

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Should Cosplayers be paid?

So recently, this certain status update by Jaroukasama from Philippines kind of triggered a passionate discussion on Facebook.

I'm here to share my opinions and also to give objective reasons why I feel Cosplayers should be paid if they are invited or recruited to 'work' for an organisation/club/ any form of Media.

The 'work' discussed here can be defined as menial tasks such as giving out flyers , being a Party Entertainment or  appearing on any form of Media for interviews or as background decorations.

In case you haven't sensed my drift. I am for it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against Commercialism, I’m just against exploitation. I believe labour should be paid regardless of who the individual is. Unless of course, if it is for a charitable cause.

My points below.

1) Making costumes is expensive

Costume making in Singapore is expensive.

 
Photo by Brian Lim

While it's not hard to see how those elaborate costume with yards of cloth can cost a lot. A lot of people will justify not paying the cosplayers by assuming that since the costume is already made, it doesn't make any difference to them. No extra cost is induced thus the cosplayers have no right to be paid.

Following this theory, does it mean if you own a car and paid up all the instalments, you should just lend it to someone (you don't personally know) for free ? Would you?

Cosplayers paid for the costumes with either cold hard cash or through their manual labour. To deprive someone else the rewards of their hard work is unreasonable. Especially if you are earning through them.

2) Cleaning costume is expensive/troublesome

It's easy to understand that costumes don't come easy but few understand that these special costumes require maintenance too.

Some costumes require dry cleaning while others need to be hand washed. Regardless of the way it will be cleaned, we can all agree that every wear will contribute to the “withering” lifespan of a costume.

And if the work requires entertaining a crowd or walking near slippery mud. There is a fair chance some nasty strangers will help spoil it.

While some can argue that the diminishing of a costume is inevitable, oxygen and dust alone can help break it down. But please bear in mind that cosplayers wear their costumes to have fun and fulfil their own desires. Why should they risk their costumes to promote you?

Food for thought?

3) Wearing a costume is exhausting & time consuming

While I agree, not all costume is uncomfortable. But I'm sure most seasoned Cosplayers will agree with me that no cosplay is ever really comfortable.

 
Kira shot this omake shot of us which really reflect our personality. Zeph = enthusiastic, Me = always tired xD

Even if it's not the bulky armour or heavy sword, it's the skimpy bust line. Even if it's not the 4 inch killer heels, it's the winter boots in tropical climate. Even if it's not the heavy hair piece, it's the skull constricting wig net. Even if it's not the 1059837551 spikey accessories, it's the dropping ribbon on your thigh.

I don't know about you, but it takes me an average of 2 – 3 hours to get everything on. And that few hours is always a panicky and stressful period for me.

 
“Srsly, fu*k ruffles. Not only are they difficult to make, they are a pain to iron too”

Each of us is given 24 hours per day and the recommended sleeping hour is 7 hours. 3 divided by 17 (24 - 7) hours in a day is more than 17% of your entire day. Below is an estimation of the time a cosplayer would need to dedicate.

• 0.5 hour – Packing, prepping and ironing costume
• 1 hour - transport time to and fro
• 2.5 hours - prep time
• 2 hours - work time

A whooping total of 6 hours ! Effectively , that is half a work day and 35% of waking time. And after the cosplay, more time wasted on cleaning the costumes.

Why should anyone go through the hassle of dressing up to fulfil the desire of an organisation they don't personally know ? Would you exchange 6 hours of your time for someone you don't know ?

4) Time is money

Firstly, time is precious. People always tend to undermine the importance of something they cannot see. But really, if there is one thing you should cherish in life, then that is time.

 
Photo by Brian Lim

Time is an appreciating asset that grows more and more important as you realise you have lesser and lesser of it. The cruel fact is, everyone was born to die. When the ending is the same for everyone, the only difference comes in the way you live it.

And time, unfortunately is something a lot of people assume cosplayers have a lot of. And henceforth, cheap.

Many people assume all cosplayers are teeny students. Which is not entirely wrong because the majority of the Cosplayers Demographics are student. But as the hobby progresses and mature, many of the teenagers have now become young adults with a job. Even if they really are students, their time is better spent revising their textbooks.

I have mentioned many times on different accounts that maintaining this blog, this youtube channel and my own cosplays has been very challenging. Writing this entry alone has taken me well beyond a few days because I mostly only have time to blog a few hours a day.

I'm not mad busy but I'm not exactly keen to volunteer my time to insincere individuals/organisations either. I don’t know how to put my honest opinion across more politely but no, I’m not interested in helping out in your event and “ Promote Cosplay to the public” for free.

That said, if both parties can come to an agreement that benefits both sides then all’s great. I don’t know how a cosplayer can benefit from a commercial organiser in any ways other than cash and products but you get my drift.

5) Someone is earning through you

Probably the one most important and teeth grinding point. The event/ TV station/ media parties are paid big bucks to create entertaining content. Depending on the time slot and channel, a single 30 second advertisement can easily cost more than 6 digits!

If their content includes you, shouldn’t you get some sort of compensation for your involvement ?

Event organisers are paid by their clients to make sure everything for the event runs smoothly and there is sufficient attention on it. To put it simply, Event organising companies are also paid to create hype for the event.

And some times that hype is you, shouldn’t you get some sort of compensation for your involvement?

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I’ve once again exhausted myself writing >,< . How do you feel about this topic? Comment and share with us =)

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EN World Game Day Sign-up

The Sign-ups are now open at EN World for Ghosts of Albion on Chicago Game Day 32.

http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/325572-chicago-gameday-32-july-14th-sign-up-play.html

Stop by and post to sign up for Ghosts of Albion!

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Wig making from scratch

Since midsummer celebration provided few extra days off work, I decided to start one of the bigger projects concerning our troll costumes. That is one more wig in crazy color scheme and wild styling. I styled two previous wigs from ones I've bought to make sure we have enough of them in case of urgent need… not like I’m a hoarder or anything. But this third one I decided to build from scratch, since it’s something that I haven’t ever done before. And I happened to find really cheap jumbo fiber, which might have affected the decision.

I started from the cap. I bought lining that is used on sportswear, pretty similar to fabric in hockey shirts. I used a wig head as a model when deciding where to make seams, keeping in mind that the Styrofoam head is smaller than normal human head. 

The basic shape contains three pieces, sides and the top. Forehead piece is double as well as the small pieces on the back of the neck, the temples and piece on forehead marking the hairline.

Then I started sewing wefts. Whole lot of them, from the three packages of fiber I had purchased. I used iron-on interfacing as the “root”. In my experience the weft is rather solid after ironing and doesn’t suffer from hair loss as much as tulle weft would. I even brushed the wefts quite heavily and only few strands came off from each.

The jumbo fiber is creped since it’s usually used in braids or dreadlocks, which actually works with my intentions. But still I wanted the top layer of the fiber to be smoother. I’ve scorched some wigs in the past, so I was extra careful when choosing the straightening method. I decided to give the iron a go, because I’m inpatient person when it comes to costume making. Waiting the wig to dry would have been a torture for me, if I had used the method of pouring hot water on the wig. 

I sprayed the weft with the iron and gave it few presses of steam to pre-heat it, not letting the iron’s bottom plate to touch the fibers. Then I placed the weft between layers of pattern paper; two layers under and two on top. Holding the weft from the root I pressed down the iron and at the same time pulled the weft under it. The trick is to keep the weft moving. If you only press the iron on the weft it will most likely start to melt. Been there, done that.

Then I repeated as many times as needed, spraying the wefts with water if they seemed too dry. And the iron was quite hot, between two and three dots.

I sew the wefts on the cap by hand. It seemed the easiest solution and didn’t mess the fibers too much. To prevent creating a tangled mess, I sprayed the wig with balsamspray from Gliss. It works with the synthetic hair almost as well as real hair. I highly recommend spraying the wig either outside or covering the floor under your working area. The spray makes the floor quite slippery and adds to the risk of cosplay casualties.

After I had sewn all the wefts, both straightened and untreated ones, I took a blow dryer, sprayed the wig again with the balsam and went through the fibers with a wig brush. This relaxed the creped fibers a bit and made the wig look bit more tamed.

Then I tried with some braiding techniques. I think I found the right one to use, but before I actually manage to fit the wig on the person who will wear it, I will keep the regular braids on it. I will report in when I have finished the green goblin. 

Making a wig from scratch isn’t actually that hard if you have styled wigs before and don’t bother sewing a whole lot of wefts. I might even give wig making a go in the future with straight fibers. The most crucial part might be making the cap, especially if you are making it to someone else. Thank goodness the head sizes don’t vary that much. I say and cross my fingers.

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Victoriana 1st Edition

Back when I was working on Ghosts of Albion I became aware of the game Victoriana.

I picked up the game, but since I was deep into playing Ghosts at the time I didn't look at it much.  Finally I did and then learned a 2nd Ed was going to come out.  Of course I did eventually get the 2nd edition (and signed no less!) and know I hear there is a 3rd Edition on the way.

I spent some time reading the 1st Edition rules and thought it was interesting, if odd.  For starters I am not sure why there was no U.S. Civil War. I was also not a fan of the Fuzion system.  I liked all the odd races for the game (even if it did lead to the infamous Orc from Africa debate) and felt like it was, as it has been later described, Victorian Age Steampunk.

The thing that struck me though is how similar that cover is to the Ghosts of Albion BBC logo.  In particular the silhouettes of  William and Tamara.   I am sure it is nothing but coincidence,  but I could not help but notice it all the same.  Save for the pointy ears on the Victoriana cover that *could* be Tamara and William.

I still like this game though.  It has a soft spot in my heart really.  It is like Ghosts of Albion gone all gonzo and turned up to 11.  Plus it is one of the few games I always try to play at Gen Con; well it or 2nd Ed.


Here are the books I own.   What I feel they lack in system, they make up for in style. They can be used with the 2nd Edition of the game with the conversion guide in the back of the 2nd Ed core book.


Victoriana: 1867 Edition
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/1612/Victoriana%3A-1867-Edition?src=s_pi&affiliate_id=10748
This is the core book of the "1867" or 1st edition rules.

The Hounds of Fate
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/2241/The-Hounds-of-Hate%2C-A-Penny-Dreadful-for-Victoriana?affiliate_id=10748

What if "Hounds of the Baskervilles" was a true story?  Well in the world of Victoriana, it can be!
This is a "Penny Dreadful" or an adventure for Victoriana 1st Edition (aka 1867 Edition).
This adventure though is based more on the old legends of the Black Dog or Old Shuck on the English countryside.  As such it is a good adventure for any Victorian era game with a heavy emphasis on magic or the supernatural. One could easily run this under Ghosts of Albion or Cthulhu by Gaslight.


The Smoke: 1867 Edition
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/2240/The-Smoke%3A-1867-Edition?affiliate_id=10748

This is one of the best Victoriana 1st Ed products.  At 128 pages it is a very comprehensive guide to London in 1867.
Granted there is the Victoriana-universe spin on everything, but otherwise it is perfect for use with ANY Victorian era game.  It especially works well with the 2nd Edition of the Victoriana game.   The book is sans-game stats, so there is no system conversion to worry about, just thematic conversions.

The maps are fantastic and I especially enjoyed the descriptions of all the neighborhoods.
Very good resource indeed.


The Dragon in the Smoke
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/1613/The-Dragon-In-The-Smoke?affiliate_id=10748

Another adventure for Victoriana 1st Ed.  The set up is very nice and it captures the feel of the game right away.
The adventure itself deals with strange eastern magic and mysticism, missing children and a cursed statute.   Plenty of really good plot elements to keep your players guessing.
This adventure also includes some rules on using martial arts.

While I am not likely to play Victoriana 1st Ed these days, it still holds a special place for me.  Though these products listed here are my favorite.

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Do we need these?

The 1st Edition reprints are on their way and I am quite excited about it.

WotC just also announced new reprints of the 3.5 version of D&D.
http://www.wizards.com/DnD/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4news/20120625

This one has me scratching my head.  I can still buy 3.5 books new at my FLGS.  My 3.5 books are actually in really good shape (picked up the leather bound ones a while back).

I think I would rather see the Rules Cyclopedia reprinted than 3.5.

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Kingdom Hearts Figurine Giveaway results !

Sorry for the delay guys but I’m here with the result for the giveaway! Yes I am giving away the very cute chibi Axel above!

 

Congratulations to xAoiSora for winning chibi Axel ! Please email me at elpheal @gmail.com and let me know your mailing address and recipient name soon ^_^.

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