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The Round Table of Camelyn
In ASK US ANYTHING
The Wizard
Jun 28, 2024
Been a busy few weeks since the close of the campaign. As we are readying for the opening of the late pledges on Tuesday, I find myself in the midst of the mist. It is red and there is an air of menace. I suspect violence could break out tonight at any moment. Which means I am working with InDesign again... Venerable Knight has set up the 75 mm Collectible range on Only Games division of My Mini Factory for print on demand collectible miniatures in grand scales! This includes a display piece of the Murder Crow from the original Kickstarter. Hopefully we'll get back to that game with a chance of funding it one day, but that day doesn't seem any closer from this vantage point (in the mists). I've completed the final draft of 'Raised by Wolves', 'The King in the Crypt' and 'Reaper's Hollow' since end of the campaign, and am half way through 'The Shadow Within' which concludes the Young Cormac adventures for the Cormac game. Given we want to have a prototype of Red Mist we can show off at Tabletop Scotland, I've been working on that too, and have written the bulk of the rulebook, or at least 50% of it. Paul and I have worked hard on the art for the game, to include a battle arena or two based on Henning's tiles, and utilising the Crypt. We've designed icons for the Warbands and I've created card backs for all the decks for the game. As far as the Warbands are concerned, the game contains Headhunters and Berserkers - two very aggressive warbands, guaranteeing optimum carnage. The bands each contain 1 Chief, 1 Spiritual Advisor, and 3 Warriors. Additionally the game will include six Crypt Ghouls (as seen in Reiver during our Cormac campaign). We hope to unlock some additional miniature content to surprise you with enemies interrupting even the best laid of plans. I've written the rules and attributes for the Warbands and each character, and written the warband skill decks, the traits and talents decks and am now working on Items and Spells. Paul's created a few spells for the deck too! Our problem is that in a world where there are many skirmish games, Red Mist has a lot of competition and people will inevitably ask ' what makes this one different?' or 'why do I need this, what makes it special?' to which there is no actual good answer. The truth doesn't sell. Red Mist is a skirmish game and you absolutely don't need it. If you consider the basic needs for survival, board games are not among them. If I had to answer and I inevitably will have to answer this question or one like it. I'd say Red Mist is unique as it is the only skirmish game set in Inis Fael, and it has a narrative which evolves as the game does, around what you are doing. You might even find in the end, that your goal in the final round is quite a departure from when you set out. What you end up wanting to do may be poles apart from what you thought you were about when the battle began. I don't know another skirmish game that does that. Maybe there is one. There are so many and I've only played about 20 of them over my lifetime. Red Mist introduces enemies into the fray which can really mess you up and we're working on an A.I app you can use instead of rolling dice and drawing cards. Some of them are malicious entities, unseen beings, others are demons manifest. Now this latter happens only if we get unlocks. Also Red Mist can be played solo. Your warband gains skills, traits, talents, items and spells. You increase your level as you gain souls and renown, becoming more and more feared. A Known Man. Even Crysanthe of the Ways can be a Known Man. There can be power in her name, much as there can that of MacAoghan Flesheater. In the world of the Red Mist it's deeds set you apart and put weight to your name, not what's between your legs. As always, I hope we can bring you more warbands for Red Mist in time, to include the Harbingers, an all female warrior caste of the War Goddess. There is a Harbinger Hero type in Crypt of the Charnel Court. That's another game we've completed development on, with only a few scenarios to write. But we want that game to include miniatures and we don't attract the support needed to fund a game that will be as expensive as Court or Veil yet... So back to Red Mist and miniatures. We're thinking about exploring UK production, to print on demand, adding our own 3d printed miniatures if we can get good packaging from our manufacturers. Then we'll order in dice from China, print up the minis, travel to the factory and add the dice and minis to each game individually. If we hit a decent level of funding we will switch to China and PVC production with ABS parts using steel moulds. Do you think people will be cool with that if we state this upfront? Because I don't think we'll fund if we need to cover $20,000+ of mould costs before we get out of the gate on production of units. Or we will, but all the money will go on steel moulds and we'll make no profit at all. We are looking at maybe getting 75 backers at this point, based on Cormac conversion rates, where we went in with 2,570 followers and got 292 backers. Obviously we'll hope to improve that picture before launch. But you have to be realistic about these things. However much it hurts. The above model would mean we could do as we have done, but with no printed pledges, the printing would be included until we hit that stretch goal which would open up Chinese production on miniatures. Stretch Goals will be additional warband skills and combats cards, additional trap cards, shrine powers, and talents, items and so on. What does Camelyn say to this?
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Cairn-Aisling ~ Taliesin's Breith
In ASK US ANYTHING
The Wizard
May 19, 2024
A Thorn in the Heartwood. Moonbeams filtered into the chamber, and motes of some strange confetti, as though the Midnight were in celebration of some union unknown to the beholder. Yet the feeling, the vibration, which permeated in abundance, was of inchoate sullen repose. As though dark secrets drifted here, and yet remained stilled by time, hanging rather more like musical notes killed at the moment of birth, almost outlined. Nothing but gaps between the spaces which no hope could fill, and no embrace could warm. She shivered. To touch such should revile, not excite, but there was ever a thrill in the illicit and a passion which ignited for her: it was not a choice. Her breath caught, she was ensnared, by the visuals lying before her as she walked the dark stone corridors of Redemption's Demise, an ancient thought-hold of the Barren. A place where even dreams would not dare die. Why would a dream die in a place where rebirth was unimaginable? Impossible! A choking grasp around the throat of inevitability. Folly! A dream knows better than to die in such place. But it was not this stark and chilling dankness nor the motes of sadness suspended in moonbeams which caught her gaze and held her rapt. It was the Gate. No sigils nor wards, and stonework simple but solid beneath a mantle unadorned with the splendour of fine craft. It was an unimpressive door. So why did it hold her so enthralled, so bound in the grasp of its mundane and moribund dereliction? It could collapse, this arched portal, this aged nameless wood, forbidding ingress or egress beneath. What then could truth tell of the Other Side? It was not door. The door was a construct. It was the mechanism. The centre. It cannot hold. But this centred mechanism had so far held. The key was in her possession and she had long sought this door. When an eye opens it cannot ever be closed. Not truly. It can be blinded, it can grow stale with the cataracts of the malign or disuse, and it can be sewn closed by shadow-stitch. Naevera would keep her eye open, and she would see within and without and return ere the iris expunged. She frowned. Something was off. The chamber was only seemingly fifty yards wide, the vaulted roof was a shadowed night-scape, appearing so much like diamond studded skies, it was hard to discern. Something was in here with her. She could hear it breathing. An echo. Perhaps something of the Primordial. She could pay it no mind, must not be daunted by parlous journey. Her passion was not brief, her heart was hale. But her mind!! Her mind insisted. Hungered. Her soul ached. Ached for this. What lies in the distant blind spot. Grope for it, seize it, throttle it, know it, have it. Own it. Become it. Let it become you! Her eyes went dark with lust and she moved like quicksilver, darkness to darkness, alabaster and ebony, a Shadow Dancer. She was at the door with the key in hand when the moonbeam cried out in dismay and was shattered, it was ear piercing. A hand gripped hers, and she snapped her head around to her right. ' You are sure this is what you want?' He had come to say. Those were his words. His bald head was patterned, carven with strange sigils which seemed almost to move, or pulse and glow and shift with their own baleful version of life. The opaque disc of eclipse painted his face, but his skin was pallid, almost corpse-grey. His breeches were simple, his boots of leather. His scabbard worn slung across his back at the waist. His hands were strong, large, his grip firm as the foundations of Elsewhere and that gave her pause. She pulled back her hand and he relinquished his hold, his pale eldritch eyes a blue glow beneath a brow of warning. Furrowed. 'Scharad.' She spat with disdain, the Veil Warden was a man of secrets and hidden knowledge, and she trusted him not. ' What are you doing here?' ' You know it is rude to answer a question with a question, yes?' He admonished emotionlessly. ' Get fucked.' She glowered. ' I have sought this bloody gate for an age it seems, and you will not stop me passing through.' ' You are so confident that what you hold there is the key, and that I am here to stop you exploring beyond would it were?' He smiled. She hated him. She hated that smile. Secrets and smiles. Bastard. ' This is the fucking key, and I don't care why you are here! I must know what lies beyond. Be gone, Veil Warden, ward your veil.' She could feel the seething within her, and the source around here was vast. So much shadow. So many pools of black. The midnight was ready and there for her. But Scharad was not unmanned. And Scharad was perhaps a man with his own measures and means. ' Your tongue is crass, and not to my liking Naevere, but I am here to give warning, not to hinder you, and I am here out of love, not forbiddance. I am here not as a Veil Warden.' He went tight-lipped. Then why in blazes was he here? Liar, her mind screamed. They felt like a hot barb pricking into her clutching palm. ' Warn me? Like I am some novice Dancer with no knowledge, some doe eyed girl without power? I need no warning...' She caught his gaze and felt horror. The wellspring in his eyes was sorrow! Pain. She was killing him inside or something was. She quite enjoyed it. Veil Wardens. She despised this man. Know it alls. ' Not to warn you then. To ask the question. Life consists of the burning up of questions, does it not? Do you know what you are getting into? Are you sure that key will take where you really want to go, and what do you expect to find?' She turned the wicked and spiked key of bone and sinew and thorned vine. It was macabre, but it was right and she knew it. ' It was in the well, beneath the seals.' She confessed. 'It is the key.' She smiled with defiant relish. ' And yes, Scharad, I know what lies on the other side. This is a Charnel gate and this is the Door of Night.' He caught his breath and held it, and exhaled slowly. Taking her in and he seemed deeply troubled. 'What?' She demanded. ' Out with it, or leave! I have been patient long enough and there is little of patience left in me.' ' Clearly.' He muttered. ' What is on the other side, then pray tell?' ' Whatever the key decides.' He said, and there it was. She had not expected it. ' What? What do you mean? The key decides? It is not of sentience!' She scoffed. ' I did not say it was.' He smiled again. Sly bastard. He could shove that smile where the sun doesn't shine. ' Where it leads is different for us all.' ' How the fuck would you know that?' She raged, snapping suddenly, seizing the key and preparing to slide it into the mechanism. Thrice-fold seals would soon come undone. For her. ' Because it was I who placed it in the well.' He said with pleading terror behind his azure gaze. So intense. It would break her heart, but it was almost fun to watch him suffer. It was a little late in the day for him to care now. She stopped as though thunderstruck her mind making up the distance across the constellations between them. He'd been through the door... A Veil Warden. Through the door. No.... ' Yes, Naevera, I have seen the Void beyond.' He sounded so sad. So burdened. ' Why are you warning me, Scharad, why do you care, what is in this for you? Let me be!' She cried in despair, fists balled up, feeling shadow come to her. ' Nothing.' He said after interminable silence that hung suspended like the weight of a century f judgement. ' Nothing. I simply suppose I rather like you. Am fond. Forget it, childe. You see and do not see, and now must see for yourself and I can see that!' He laughed and it was cosmic music from another age. Another time. Innocence forgotten. ' Don't play with me, Veil Warden, you bore me. Your order has a thousand riddles to exhange for one grain of wisdom and a nugget of truth. No one is making that deal. Speak plain.' ' Whatever you see, you can't unsee it. You will come back changed. If you come back at all. It would...' His voice caught. She scowled. Pathetic! Some stupid attempt to stop her with allusions of some danger unknown. She was made for the unknown! ' It would what? Forget it, Scharad, I am undeterred. I walk through the Door of Night and you cannot stop me!' And with that the Shadow Dancer slid home the key, and turned the lock, amidst an exhalation of mechanics. Metal on metal, transmutations abound, wood became rippling, shimmering darkness, and she was gone without a single glance behind. Scharad had an outstretched hand in her wake, too slow by far. He stared into the abyss. Horror on his face. A single tear rolled down his cold, painted cheek. ' It would kill you, Naevera.' He whispered. ' And I ... I don't want you to die.' The door reformed. Scharad was left suspended in a moonbeam, with a thousandfold thoughts and midnight in his mind.
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Welcome
In ASK US ANYTHING
The Wizard
May 04, 2024
I realise I've not been speaking much this last 6 months, I've not had much to say, and my head has been in business, but we're rewarding subscribers for their patience with a sneak peek at the crowdfunding contents for the game play, beyond what is demonstrated on the video playthrough, shown on the project pre-launch or mentioned anywhere across social media. But what have I been up to, I hear almost no one ask? Well, imaginary inquirer, I've been working to improve the project to satisfy the requests, suggestions and outright demands of the good, good people! I've been schmoozing with industry insiders, and gleaning what afflicts them. I've been nose to the grindstone on a top secret project. I've been improving the business and working on prototypes. I've been arranging for us to be exhibitors at the UK Games Expo and Tabletop Scotland. I've been illustrating, working with wonderful artists and our lead sculptor, extensively. Oh, and I've also been writing. A lot. I've also been designing an entirely new game or two, over the same duration. I'll soon be able to reveal more about this, but for now I must focus on Cormac Mac Airt on the Other Side of Midnight... We launch on the 14th of May and now it is upon us it feels exciting. Though I am tempering my excitement, of course, experience has taught me at least that much. I hope we do well, obviously, but it is more important to continue to learn and to develop, as a company and as an individual. That said, there are limits even to my patience. Third time is the charm, they say... If any of you will be at UKGE this year, we're in Hall 2 Booth 1003 and will be demonstrating Cormac Mac Airt, for sure, but perhaps also a little known project we call 'The Thinning Veil'. We're not selling anything, though we'll be live on Gamefound during the event. In fact our campaign will run until June 11th. The focus will be on gaming with gamers and establishing a presence on the scene. I'm able to deal much better with my social anxiety from a few years back, and I'm genuinely looking forward to the events we have in the diary. Not that I keep a diary. It is more a sort of book of grudges I stole from a dastardly rogue and I also have a grimoire, for note taking. It's like an armoire but there are less arms in it and more 'grim', really. You'll be receiving a newsletter via owl shortly. The owls are in flight this night. Hooting away across the world under the glimmer light. Maybe they'll leave something for you. Something nice, not a bloody owl pellet... Until next time Heroes, Blessed Be
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The Round Table of Camelyn
In ASK US ANYTHING
The Wizard
Jan 04, 2024
In the latter regard, I wholly agree. I could talk about the A.I thing for as long as you've got, but we are both very busy on a project! I was always fascinated by works like those of Clarke, Philip K Dick and Asimov where what it means to be human and what is truly sentience are philosophically explored. I think my eagerness to learn, to evolve myself, and recognition of this need to achieve more with my limited means and intelligence, have been a driving force for me. I still dislike use of my mobile phone, which I have owned for 2 years and made less than 2 phone calls with. As I have said, I am exploring and learning but there is only so much time. So in regards to the sumptuous art and gifted work of those possessed of talents regarding comic books, I very recently approached an artist I know. He made some comics for a game. He seemed to have stopped posting art for a long time. I came up with an idea for a comic, a medium I've not worked in as a writer, to see if it inspired him (as a means to galvanise him and a means for him to earn) and if he wanted to go in 50/50 with me. He informed me he had all but stopped, and had lost the muse. Wasn't really interested resultantly. I felt that was sad, not for me, and an idea I only had to serve a certain purpose which was not to line my own pockets, as I thought it would get him out there again and earn him some money, while I got to tell a story (and pave the way for a future game), but sad because a talent was left unused. His talent is a gift. When we have one we should share it. I am pleased to say he seems to be producing some art and drawing again. My mind did not even consider using A.I to make the comic book, though not because I'm disgusted by it. If somone wanted to do it, so long as they say it, I have no issue. I am not sure why that is, that it didn't cross my mind to entertain it, as it could be done. You'd need a lot of patience and skill with the A.I (you really would or it would be very poor). I know the amount of work it would be to embark on that using A.I. There really is a skill set to it and one I certainly wouldn't want to employ in that fashion, myself. My above 'argument' was simply to create a framework to express my stance on A.I usage. The inspiration and nucleus of the idea was to get my old friend in some work where he could make some money. Yes, I could benefit, telling my story, creating a comic - very appealing to me - and in laying groundwork for an IP. But he'd have been getting 50% of all profits from comics all the way. Now he has explained that his experience has taught him he is better making art casually, and I respect and understand that. Further pursuit of the comic idea was then abandoned. The purpose of it was in part successful anyway. My friend is drawing again.
The Round Table of Camelyn
In ASK US ANYTHING
The Wizard
Jan 04, 2024
We should have an improved English language rulebook for you tonight. I am not sure about the comics you mentioned, is there some theft argument involved? All publications but one seem to be from 2014 or earlier? In any event commercial gain from using licenced images you lack the licence for is illegal still. Rules are rules. Regarding ChatGPT, my experience (of practical use) is a singular evening, but I would love to spend another with the Texan chap in particular to explore it further. I can say without doubt that those in Hollywood have been using it since its inception and they are not alone. About 25% ( I am told the real figure is higher and it of course varies by platform and channel) of comments sections are written by bots, entire articles are A.I written and have been for some time. It is not a question of being right or wrong in regards John Howe or myslf dabbling with A.I and having our thoughts about it. That is a moral or ethical debate and in both instances that makes it personal conduct. Some want to turn it into a legal issue or intellectual copyright issue, but if there are artists who can prove theft, let them do so and for the courts to decide. That's why copyright laws exist and what the courts are there to do in these disputes. The moment Adobe created Firefly and added enhanced A.I elements to programs was the clearest signal A.I is here to stay. They are incredible, useful and even educational tools. I think people who are creative with them will find excellent ways to open doors for themselves otherwise only open to wealthier people or those precious few who master all artforms, styles and graphic design tools. If you personally use a tool to get paid to do a job you are not stealing from those not using the tool. It is like saying you are stealing from a caveman who is writing on a wall in pigment and squiggles because you are drawing with crayons or using an alphabet and language. If your client is happy with your output, you still used the tool and checked the result, and that seems to me to be fine.
The Round Table of Camelyn
In ASK US ANYTHING
The Wizard
Jan 03, 2024
Yes I mean I have never hidden our use of A.I art as I said, it was in fact a feature of the first campaign when Midjourney and other A.I art programs were in their infancy. I witnessed the joy it brought Paul to be creative with images in a way he has not been able to be for many years. I got drawn in and began to learn how to use it myself. By the time I knew what I was doing our first campaign was over. It became clear to me that if we were to continue as a company and to succeed, I needed to harness every tool to bring about my vision. Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Paint, Lightroom, Midjourney and more. Everything. I was too ignorant in technology and too old skool and my thought processes were also ill suited. I was surprised by algorithms and practices at Kickstarter which should not have surprised me. I'm smarter than that. Yet also, as it turns out, alarmingly naive, as Jes told me. Now I am a novice in these programs and their mastery. I know only what I have needed to learn to get on to the next stage of whatever I have been trying to achieve. Paul has helped me immensely to understand and been very given and patient. The day I taught him a few things on the programs though I think was an eye opener to him. I might find tech frustrating and turn the air blue on occasion, but I keep on chipping away. It is my nature. I think in regards to comics I'd not agree with you and here is my immediate thought regarding it. If a comic states upfront that it is using A.I art then the comic must be the vision of a writer who cannot pay an artist, but has an idea and a vision. Presumably, if that writer were me, that person is then using A.I sources and graphic design software for many, many hours to create the art. That art cannot be random it has to match the story. Getting an A.I to repeat a character, even if a character is good enough and doesn't have saveloy fingers or mutant eyes, is a real feat. To do enough to create your panels consistently would be a real challenge and from my experience with midjourney, you'd save time hiring an artist! That said, if you could do it and your photoshop talent was good and your InDesign skill also, you could do something. You'd be compromising sometimes I imagine, but you'd be behind the prompts and you'd be the one going through endless generations trying to get what you need. What you see as being the end goal. Lets say it is a picture of a Chinese girl in a pink dress holding blue flowers, in a cyberpunk city. And she has to appear doing many things in the story. Loses the flowers. Totes an umbrella mono-filament whip weapon. Good luck... Now we go back to the writer. The writer sees the story as a comic. Loves comics else why would that be the preferred form? Write a novel otherwise. Hasn't got the start up to pay artists. But what happens when that writer has got the funds to open the doors to pay artists? Thanks to an A.I project funding you now have a comic book writer with a comic book company looking to hire artists to continue their projects. The writer is no longer needing to rely on hours and hours of toil over image after image freeing him to work on his writing, and develop his visions with his artists. Now if you then consider the common belief that all A.I is still scraping (which is actually false) you might object over stolen art. But if A.I learns as much about imagery from movie stills, real world photographs and so on, then it is doing exactly what a human artist does. Every artist I have worked with asks for examples of concepts 'like' what I am wanting. If A.I is directly stealing art it would have been through the courts and artists who have been stolen from would be due compensation from the generating software companies. Since Adobe itself is supprting A.I with generative fills in Photoshop, its own stock images and their Firefly A.I program, they must be pretty confident no actual theft is happening. I really think people should see the benefits and stop the witch hunt and that artists can relax. Actors have more issues and writers also. This is why we have had the strikes over likeness use and voice rights. One of my favourite artists, John Howe, has been using Midjourney himself, to explore it and the capabilties as a medium and because he is clearly curious. That's the open mindedness and exploration of potential I admire. I for one would always prefer to work with an artist where able, but I do enjoy the control Midjourney gives me to create art for my games or for box art as with the TTV box art cover, where Maxim Kostin made the changes I requested to it, and added a character I wanted in it. Aside from the character I now have the skill to do everything Maxim did to the image. I have no intention to stop using Midjourney. In fact I want to evolve with it, add to my skillset and become a technomancer. At the moment I am postively too Druidic. I've had quite wonderful talks at opposite ends of this discussion with Henning, whom I love and will always seek to employ for tile art. I know much about his process and I could, in time, learn his skill set. But I have one life, and only so much time, and I know when I am in the presence of a master! I might get to half his level in a year or so, but he'll always be the magician. To my mind, these are the choices and decision we make as adults, and I am solidly behind and support all these artists, programs, and still very much see the future as human / A.I hybrid art. The future is now, after all, as the billboard stated in Fargo. As an artist myself, of miniatures, precoloured STLs and so on are only going to improve also. I don't think Angel Giraldez will be having sleepless nights over it. As a writer, I was introduced to ChatGPT by a Texan dungeon crawl fan and fellow admirer of sword and sorcery during our second run. He asked my permission to give me a tour of it and use my writing as a prompt. I happily consented and we proceeded over a wonderful evening to generate scenario ideas based on that prompt through the software. It was amazing to me that of the 10 scenarios outlined, 7 to an extent matched scenarios I'd written, except mine had twists and turns which I think outdid the A.I. In some instances by a considerable margin. However within even that short experience I realised a few things and my research picked up pace. I was a like a dog with a bone. I needed to know. I coud see that the bare bones of one of my ideas was actually common to the movie Aliens. Now the synopsis of that movie would be known to the A.I, the program is aware of the synopsis of almost every movie and book to be written. Much as I am aware of all those I have seen and read and my imagination is influenced in accordance. It was fascinating. But if you want to know why Disney TV shows contain little consistency, logic or sense, and have no theme and narrative focus with precious little understanding of symbolism and character development, you have your answer. And if you are a writer who writes for Disney and find that offensive, prove me wrong and do better, your television shows suck.
The Round Table of Camelyn
In ASK US ANYTHING
The Wizard
Jan 03, 2024
The question of whether we delay or not is probably moot now, as we were late getting some files in and so the prototypes lacked a few vital components. Our immense gratitude to the printers concerned as they pulled some hours for us during the Christmas period and we'll have the missing bits probably tomorrow or day after. Everything we have recieved is so good it is literally production quality in my view. So with that being the case, we may be on track for end of Jan / Middle of Feb. It's all good, it doesn't matter really. We simply want the prototypes we have which are being sent out to reach the content creators concerned and for them to cover the game. That's what matters. We are using the time to develop the idea of standees whether they be cardboard or acrylic. I actually prefer the round tokens to either, as I like the top down view it creates. Given the choice, as you all know, I'd rather do a miniatures game - but we are a first time creator and must establish ourselves, both with trade partners for retail and otherwise, to prove we can deliver on a product to backers. When we can assure numbers to justify paying the cost of steel moulds, then happy days. Until then, my objective, and ours as a company, is to get this game out. We have invested a great deal into the game, and we know it will only improve over time. Did anyone here play D&D in 1978 or earlier? It got better. Then it got worse again (4th). Then it got better again (5th). But the point is anything like this benefits with playtests, feedback and development. Going through this process is excellent as you learn so much. I am learning all the time and loving that. So all this means I still need to write 2 scenarios to complete the game. I have them structured, and it should be a lot of fun putting them together and then finishing the Scenario Book. In the meantime I hope to be collaborating with and assisting where necessary those who feature the game on their respective YouTube channels. The difference this makes for us is going to be huge, obviously, and more influential for the project than any amount of conventions we might visit. That said, we are going to be at some of those in 2024. Mostly Paul and I, though we'll have a few more with us (we are thinking Paul, Paul, Demon, Trine and myself) for UKGE. We are very unlikely to have anything to sell of any sort for that, so it will be demo games of Cormac only, but we are looking forward to it. It would be better if we were able to show off something more, but there is only so much time between now and then. I have a plan, but even an optimist would wonder if it can be implemented. I'll for sure try. We are working with Ser Gregoire on translations. He and his wife have been astonishing and we will find a means to reward that. He has even been schooling me on my English at times, and bless his patience for that much, it is definitely improving the product. I know 100% full well how much the rulebook alone has improved and is about to continue to, resultant of his work and feedback. Not to say our playtesters and proofreaders have not likewise given us valuable feedback. Wow, this is getting rather long again. We are preparing a few extra bits on the site: one is a section dedicated to the Cormac series and one is a section on A.I art, hybrid art, and the future as we see it. As I stated in the early days of the Thinning Veil, our artbook was not just to be an artbook. It was to be what I considered a portfolio, of design and the journey to realising a board game. Challenges, pitfalls, things to be prepare for, things that may seem obvious to some but were not to me, and so on. I think, given what I know it was to contain, that it would have been quite prophetic, though at the time I had no idea quite how quickly it would transpire to be so! I'm well aware it is a divisive topic, and our focus was on the game itself during the second campaign as we pushed to get the project realised. Some people, I think on BGG, wondered if we did not mention the A.I art we used during that run because of a perceived negative backlash from anti - A.I art people. It is actually down to the fact that by then it was not a new subject and we were posting every day about the new unlocks. It didn't even occur to us to drive that conversation forward and talk about the art specifically. We are, in house, all aligned in our thoughts regarding it, and that's by the by. We have artists we have employed who have strong feelings about A.I and would rather it never be used, and we have artists who are excited about it, and those who are indifferent. Whatever the perspective of each individual, we think it best to include on our site our journey and experience with it, and how we see it developing. The Thinning Veil, at this time, is really three games with a shared setting and unique tales. TTV, Crypt of the Charnel Court, and Cormac. Each of them has some A.I use and each of them has also artists used. So if a person absolutely will not purchase or support a product with A.I art, then we feel it important to let people know. Like a warning label 'may contain nuts' is important to those who have a nut allergy. The reality is that A.I has been used for many years in the production of media and you'd be hard pressed to find something that categorically uses none. There are A.I tools used in graphic design software, for example, and I would imagine every graphic designer uses them. Ultimately how we define art and artists is very subjective also, and not a field I want to get involved in debating or arguing. That said I'm happy to discuss my journey with it and ours, and then if people choose not to support us, that is of course, their absolute right.
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The Round Table of Camelyn
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The Wizard

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