Glitterboy2098

sorry for the lack of updates in the last few years.. graduated with masters. moved. got job. lost job (due to change of requirements.) have moved several times and been working part time at several jobs since.

Rifts Scandinavia is still being worked on.. progress has slowed some due to the need to adjust things to new information in recent worldbooks (triax 2 and Rifts Sovietski mainly). a prequel work of sorts is also in the works.. trying to work up a more detailed timeline and background for the region kinda snowballed into a Chaos Earth book.

currently on the lookout for a job again, and being on a thin budget and shaky internet hasn't helped.

well, in the several months since my last one, i've had a few interesting things happen.
first, i created a new section for my Webpage ( sites.google.com/site/thetempl… ), A 'Robotech Annex' with stuff for the Robotech RPG 2nd edition by palladium Books. As a fan of Robotech, sometimes despite its fandom, i love the new RPG, and part of the reason for creating that Annex was to house helpful game material (like what Protoculture is according to the show, or notes to 'fill in the gaps' caused by authors not always anticipating the kinds of questions players might ask, like fuel tank sizes on a VF-1. (something that gets kind of important in the New Generation Era of the game, since the fuel the VF-1 uses becomes very rare, but the advantages in firepower and relative stealth a VF-1 can offer make getting that fuel worthwhile)
Effectively, this was the same reasoning that made me create the Phase World Annex, housing all my space oriented materials. and that section now houses the start of an entire setting and a set of space travel and combat rules that are being adopted by a number of players who frequent the Palladium Books Forums.

I've also started an online webcast, Gateway to the Megaverse: Chrome (www.youtube.com/playlist?list=…), an official spinoff of the original Gateway to the Megaverse Podcast on Talkshoe (www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/…), run by my freind Matthew Daye. back when GttM was a regularly held podcast, i was one the assistant hosts, along with Jeffram Denkar. we had a lot of fun discussing the games of palladium Books and concepts relating to playing them, but as often happens, real life called and Matthew Daye wasn't able to do live shows for some time. then it went on a (hopefully temporary) Hiatus last year.  So only weeks ago, having grown a bit restless about the lack of new GttM material, i sought permission to do an official spinoff on youtube and recoded my first shows. More material is planned, and if the Talkshoe podcast starts up again i hope to continue 'Chrome' on youtube regardless, since that format is a bit more accessable to the average listener.

Work on RIFTS:Scandinavia continues, at the moment i'm rewriting some of the older background sections to match up with newer elements in the setting (the publishing of Rifts World Book 31: Triax 2 resulted in me having to do some tweaking and gave me a reason to introduce some elements i'd originally shelved as possibly too advanced.) i've also got ideas for a new type of Elf never before seen in palladium games, based on scandianvian mythology and folklore, and i still need to transcribe the cold weather rules from the Robotech New Generation Sourcebook onto my master document for Rifts: Scandinavia.. the robotech book has the most concise version of the cold weather rules i've found.

i'm not going to promise to try and post journals more often, since i'd probably be lying.

almost six months from my last one? geez.

well, time for an update.

first up, classes have been tough but fun. Masters level courses take up a lot of time, so i've not produced much in the way of artwork. it doesn't help that DOGA-L3 now requires registration to use, and due to budget, i won't be able to pay the registration fee for a few months. until then the program won't function, so i can't make anything with it. rather annoying, actually.

some personal events over the last few months haven't helped much either. loosing family members is never easy, but to loose two so close together really hits hard.

hopefully next year will be more productive from a writing and artwork perspective, not just a classwork one.

been busy with class, so i haven't had much to post here, nor anything new artwise. sorry about that.

ti do have some cool news though. city of heroes will be switching to a Free-to-play system soon. free accounts will be limited in their available character slots and options, but for those wanting to play a great MMO, free is a darn good thing, even with limits. and many of those limits can be unlocked with points you can purchase through the NCsoft store. those who have lapsed accounts (accounts that are inactive) become premium players in the new system, and get to keep all their previously unlocked characters and options, but as a free account your options from then on would still have limitations.
those players with active accounts and which continue to pay their monthly fee, become VIP players, with access to the full range of nomral options...and 400 points a month (cumulative) to unlock special options.

City of Heroes was the first MMO i really tried. i'd gotten a copy of the Good Vs. Evil starter edition for christmas from my parents..who didn't realize it was an online only game. since i didn't have internet at the time, it languished on a shelf for a year until the next christmas. staying with my parents for the vacation, i decided to celebrate my birthday by trying it out. knowing that i'd have a lot of updates to get before i could play, i installed and updated the day before. i created a simple magic origin Brawler with the broadsword powerset, named Tyr's Hand, on the virtue server. and i had FUN. normally i'm not much for the superhero genra. but CoH really hooked me. it's lack of "economy" and decent mission writing made it fun. and the community seemed very nice. i hit level 10 pretty quick (i admit to playing nearly every waking moment..)

sadly after a week or so i had to go home, so i had to let my account lapse. i'd planned to renew it as soon as i could get internet, but various things made that not work out. but now i live in a place with highspeed internet, and the stuff being talked about for future releases looks to be awesome.

which was why i reactivated my old account and set up a monthly payment plan.
Tyr's hand is coming back!

wow, it's been almost a year since i last wrote one of these..sorry about that. Student teaching and Graduation really took up alot of time, and then i got stuck living in a spot with zero affordable internet access.

so, what news?
first, i graduated. i am now the holder of a Bachelors of Arts in History, with an education minor.

second, i am now enrolled in Pittsburg State University (in kansas), for a History Masters program. (which makes me a PSU gorrilla.. )

third, i am now living in Pittsburg, Kansas, in an apartment complex with high speed internet. so hopefully i'll be able to update a bit more often now.

fourth, i've started playing around with DOGA-L3, a free 3D modelling program which provides pre-supplied components which can be assembled and modified in a multitude of ways to create some surprisingly detailed models. I've found the program to be intuitive and fairly easy to use. maybe it's all the practice i've had building lego models (both real and virtual) growing up.

Fifth, i've gotten alot done on my RIFTS book. i've only got to rewrite and expand a few more sections, and my portion of the book should be ready for submission. That said, my co-writer is working on several large sections himself, as well as at least three other freelancer projects, so when the complete manuscript is finished is still up in the air.
most of the stuff currently being worked on is "fluff text", the descriptions of the people, places, and events of the region. so it is unlikely that i'll be doing much more concept art for the book. however, it is possible i might doodle something in the future.