Fascination

Some enemy attacks in RPGs always cause status effects, others have variable degrees of likelihood depending on player stats.

One enemy skill that always works (as long as the player does not have an accessory to prevent it) is "Fascination" used by a number of enemies in Final Fantasy 7 and primarily Jemnezmy. 

"Fascination" is a move in which a scantily clad, attractive, young female fiend blows a kiss or something at your party, and all of a sudden all the male characters are inflicted with the status effect of "confusion".

I have never forgotten about this enemy attack! 

As a 7 year old boy the move is rather strange and you don't quite understand what the big deal is, but as you change into a man, and also as you read theology, you understand how correctly the makers of FFVII designed this enemy. She is somewhat like the Siren of Greek mythology, her beauty is a trap, it makes you lose your mind, you completely forget your goal, your telos and the Siren destroys you.

"Fascination", it is from the Latin which can actually mean confuse, but also charm or bewitch. Some might argue that fascination is a really dodgy translation or whatever the Japenese is- presumably something more like "charm" or "entice", something that evokes more clearly both that you lose your mind, and that losing your mind is as a result of the vice of lust.

All men have experienced "fascination" and what a killer it is.
St. Thomas Aquinas describes "fascination" as one of the effects of the vice of lust, we read:

"Now carnal vices, namely gluttony and lust, are concerned with pleasures of touch in matters of food and sex; and these are the most impetuous of all pleasures of the body. For this reason, these vices cause man's attention to be very firmly fixed on corporeal things … [As a] consequence man's operation in regard to intelligible (obvious) things is weakened,
[This is caused] more, however, by lust than by gluttony, forasmuch as sexual pleasures are more vehement than those of the table. Wherefore lust gives rise to blindness of mind, which excludes almost entirely the knowledge of spiritual things."

Lust makes you forget eternity, heaven, hell, salvation, the truths of the Faith, the Crucifixion of the Son of God, your own immortal soul, your vocation, your state in life- absolutely everything can so easily get forgotten about in the grip of "fascination".

What wakes you up from confusion? In FFVII it is actually being attacked! Physical pain, and the ascetic tradition says the same. Take your USB charger wire, remove your shirt, and apply a few strokes to your back, that will wake you up! Take a cold shower! Sleep with the heating off in winter! Deny yourself the pleasures of taste, and, above all, alcohol. 

In the game world there are accessories to prevent confusion from the spell of fascination, in life, for some men, there ain't any accessories that will help you, there's no tactics to defeat this enemy, and so, when you see that Jemnezmy appear on your screen, hold L1 and R1 and get out of there.

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Podcast Episode 27 - Horrors Under Tuluk - A Player's Journal

This is a VERY special episode and it's an experiment! David, player of Eadwig from my Etinerra campaign, submitted a fantastic adventurer's journal entry that I simply had to share. I've been listening to other spoken word/voice acting podcasts and thought I'd try my hand at reading the journal entry with some effects! I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed creating it! Let me know what you think!



Anchor Episode link: https://anchor.fm/the-dungeon-masters-handbook/episodes/Episode-27---Horrors-Under-Tuluk---A-Players-Journal-eak8ko

Leave me a voice message and let me know what you think or ask questions if you have them! (312) 625-8281‬ (US/Canada)

You can also leave a message on Anchor: anchor.fm/the-dungeon-masters-handbook/message 

Find episode posts and other D&D content on my blog: chgowiz-games.blogspot.com 

Intro music: Dragonaut by Bradley The Buyer (bit.ly/2ASpAlF)
Outro music: Dream by Wild Shores (bit.ly/2jbJehK)

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WHERE TO GO FROM HERE?

When we last lest off on this rather rambling discussion, we had addressed the issues regarding manufacturing plastic miniatures, the costs involved and some of the challenges a small manufacturer faces, regarding time to market, the supply chain, the customer base and profit margins. 

You can view the other conversations here:

Part 1: Well, hello there.

Part 2: A little catching up may be in order.

Part 3: The state of DFG as a business 

This is part 4: Where to go from here.

This is the last in that series of rather frank discussions. This conversation will be about the direction DreamForge will take and how I would like to handle new releases and how to keep the train rolling as much as possible while limiting delays as much as possible.

Where have I been since my last post? Working on prints, testing a few theories about mold manufacturing with an eye to efficiency, repeatability and quality.

Where to go from here…. Well, that is a rather large question with some fairly complicated moving parts. I love doing what I am doing but at the end of the day, this is a business and all paths forward must be manageable, efficient and profitable. With the other conversations behind us I can address my path forward.

•  Production will be moved in house, for cost, quality control and to allow for ease of movement from one product to the next. Should one flop, the investment will be minimal, and the next release more easily moved into, as I will be controlling the manufacturing aspects and it facilitates a far more inventory on hand friendly option. Manufacturing just what you need when you need it keeps 'dead stock' issues to a minimum. The obvious down side is that this does impact my design time as I am elbow deep in the manufacturing process.

• I will be releasing product in waves, making enough for the anticipated first product push and not returning to that product until there is a production slot open to deal with the extra run. This may cause issues where the supply does not meet the demand, but it is a necessary evil. Every kit setting on a shelf, is money tied up, money that could and should be used for the next release.

•   New kits and re-issues of older kits will be in resin, the costs to tool and run the product are far more manageable and I went over in the previous paragraphs, it allows me far more financial freedom and the ability to tailor my production and keep a more fluid release schedule on hand. Having a 500 unit minimum and a 4-6 month lead on restocks simply does not work for a company my size.)       The plastic kits are limited to stock on hand, if you want them, you might want to pick them up   while they are available, once they are gone, they are gone. They will be replaced by the resin versions in the future. The infantry will not be discounted as the supply is very limited. Any kit in stock that has too much excess inventory will see some great sales until the stock levels reach a minimal level.

• I know some of you may not have had stellar results from resin kits, I will do my best to control quality and have been experimenting with a few techniques to minimize the gate and vent size down to 1/16" (about 1mm) to help get rid of the issues with massive cleanup and destroyed details due to overly large pour gates. This process does have some drawbacks. The resin I use cannot be fast setting, which means a mold may not see more than two casts per day. To address this issue, I have worked out a means to make many copies of the same molds, quickly and efficiently. There is simply no way to match the production speed of injected plastic but considering its tooling costs and the lead time needed, it is not an option within this niche market where the 'new shiny', it what sells.  I much prefer being able to continually release great products than hope a kit has staying power to pay for the initial investment.

Would I ever consider a plastic release? Yes, given the right kit, it is still a better means of production. Having the experience, I have gained so far, I have a good feel of what will and what will not survive a long release, the only questions is whether the community will have moved on to the next game/product in the meantime.

 So, now you know the direction… What's next?

Hover StuG!

I will be doing a bit more mold testing and refining of process and then the initial run of the StuG can begin. The initial run will be 200-300 kits 

Here you can see a pre-production test!

Shadokesh!

Ferals and troopers, really cool kits, fun as hell to model these, but without a game or other driving force to push sales and no obvious 'counts as' the sales on these may be a little soft. I will keep my initial run fairly small while keeping an eye on my customers reactions.

The Ferals are shown here with all five poses, the Shadokesh trooper is one of the five, just working on the prints for the other four.

Re-Release 

Panzerjager!

These have been OOS for some time and will be the first re-release, followed closely by other infantry lines. The re-releases will be roughly in the same format, separate arms and chests, etc, but I may join up some components that were split to ease manufacturing, assembly and part count issues.

After that? The Protectorate! Honestly not doing these in plastic is a blessing and a curse. I know they would sell with enough initial volume but the freedom of not needing to respect the 'direction of pull' of a hard too means I can start to really flex some modeling muscle and make them as cool as possible.

And after that? Buildings, terrain, other vehicles, races, etc.…..

My intent is to get far more interactive with the community regarding those future releases, asking for feedback and taking critiques to make every kit the best I can. The re-releases, StuG and Shadokesh are basically done from the modeling aspect, so, they are what they are…. But I look forward to flexing the old grey matter with all of you for the future lines. Its going to be fun, its going to be cool and I hope to see many of you helping to shape the products you want!

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Super Adventures Games Of The Decade: 2010-2019

This week on Super Adventures, one final article for 2019. It's the end of a decade, so I felt like I should probably write something about that.

I've done a 'top games' post once before, but I cheated by using page views to rank the games on my site instead of picking my own list. This time though it's the real deal, my favourite games from the last ten years, and not just for games I've written about on Super Adventures. I did think about doing a specifically 'Best of Super Adventures list', but then I realised that the site's 9 years old, so I'd be an idiot not to save it for next year. Actually a 'Best Screenshots of Super Adventures' post sounds easier, I should do that next year instead.

Anyway, the trouble with 'best of' lists is that they're all wrong. I mean they're all just someone's opinion, and that person likely hasn't played every game released on every system. Plus chances are they don't love all genres and gameplay gimmicks equally either. But I've come up with an ingenious and innovative solution to this problem! I'm going to give you three lists simultaneously: one with my favourite AAA game from a certain year, one with the my favourite indie game from a certain year, and one with the game I should've picked instead. That way I've got all my bases covered and everyone's happy.

Note: for the purposes of this list I'm roughly defining 'indie' as meaning 'doesn't look like the end credits would last for literally half an hour'. Also I couldn't quite capture all the screenshots I needed this time, so I'll warn you now that a tiny handful of the images will be... less than ideal. You'll see what I mean.

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Gig At Magic Leap

This is an awesome gig at Magic Leap - Wellington (technically a JV with Weta Workshop)

https://www.magicleap.com/#/job-post/269841

They are looking for an amazing and experienced game artist to come join us on the team. Someone with great, efficient modeling skills and buckets of creativity. Unity experience very helpful.

This is a great opportunity. Put your best portfolio work forward...

Allan

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Oceanhorn 2 Demo In Nordic Game 2017!

It is news time! Oceanhorn 2: Knights of the Lost Realm will make a gameplay debut with a playable demo in Nordic Game 2017!

If you are coming to Malmö, head to Epic Games' booth and come and see what we have in store for the new Oceanhorn game! So whether you're a fan, a journalist, a publisher or a fellow game developer – we would be delighted to give you a tour on our game and talk more about Oceanhorn 2.

Oceanhorn 2: Knights of the Lost Realm is a continuation to Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas, a million selling action RPG title released for iOS, Mac, Steam, PS4, Xbox One, Android and later this year for Nintendo Switch. Oceanhorn 2 is powered by the unrivaled Unreal Engine 4.

Nordic Game 2017 17-.19.5. in Malmö, Sweden.
http://conf.nordicgame.com/

We could not be more excited about Nordic Game ourselves. In addition to Oceanhorn 2's big moment, Fumito Ueda is also going to be in Malmö! He is the mastermind behind Ico, Shadow of the Colossus and The Last Guardian and we are big fans of his work. It seems like Action RPG's are only now starting to catch up what Shadow of the Colossus did 12 years ago. The carefully crafted spirit of his games and the brilliance of his game designs are a driving force for game developers like us.

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WHERE TO GO FROM HERE - PART 2

As I eluded to in the last post, I am working through the numbers trying to decide if an episodic production and release through Kickstarter is a viable option.

So, we now have a course and a destination… Which honestly is a very welcome and refreshing change.

Why use Kickstarter?

As a marketing platform it allows to reach a wider audience, not just my current customers but those new to the hobby and those who never knew DreamForge was even a 'thing'. I think we all know that the train has stalled, and its going to take a lot of effort and lots of attention to get it rolling again. Perhaps there will be a time that I can move off the Kickstarter platform, but for now… The broader exposure is required. This exposure comes at a price, Between the Kickstarter fees, the currency transaction fees and the backer support fees in the form of a post Kickstarter service to collect shipping and allow backers to add items or options, we are looking at near 10% in fees alone.

Expectations:

Not every Kickstarter campaign will succeed, that's OK. If the demand for a particular kit is not there, then its not… No harm no foul, we move on to the next product offering. I completely expect for there to be unfunded projects that never make it to plastic and possibly (if there was enough interest) may see a resin release instead. There will be changes to how DreamForge approaches on hand inventory and even they type of products offered, not all offerings need to be Iron Core specific, it provides far more flexibility in product development than making sure each product fits neatly into the project I have already started. If I get an itch to do…well anything, it gives a platform to see if all of you are also interested.

How will that work? And what does that look like from the customers side?

The plan is to have a very focused Kickstarter for a single product, its actual production costs and any profits expected will need to be folded into the funding goal. This is a strong departure from the retail model, where revenues are gained over time and the investment/debt is front loaded.

Product availability outside the initial Kickstarter will be limited, 10% to 20% beyond the total needed to fulfill the Kickstarter will be run, some of that will be soaked up by the inevitable issues, damaged kits, mispacked or missing items from a kit and kits that never make it to the backer and get lost in transit. 

There may be re-runs offered on popular kits in future Kickstarter's, but there will be minimums that need to be met, typically a 500 unit run will be needed. If I feel that the kit will sell, I may assist with purchasing some of that re-run myself, to provide stock on hand. The best way for a customer to approach this is to buy what you want and what you think you will need at the time of the offering, I cannot make a promise that there will be a second run if the overall interest is not there.

Customers will need to pay for the actual shipping costs for the products they back.

Shipping, as we all know is stuuupid expensive from the US to anywhere outside its borders. Each Kickstarter will be shipped directly from China to mitigate the expense to the customer as much as possible, this means most of the world will likely see a drastic cost reduction, but the US will see an increase. Why don't I just ship the US from the US? Well, because it's a hidden cost, one that would need to be calculated into the Kickstarter… Someone has to pay to get it to the US before it could be sent out from our warehouse, add to this the staffing costs, the shipping package costs and overhead, and it becomes a real issue that has not been factored into the per kit price… We are running as lean as possible, to provide a per kit price that is as low as possible, there will be no room for uncalculated expenses.

How are the Kickstarter's structured?

This is open for revision, but the plan is to absorb the costs and required profits into a 1000 minimum unit run. If it costs $40,000 for the molds, production, boxes and services, then the cost of each unit would be $40.00. 

What happens if a Kickstarter goes nuts and the total funding far outstrips the required funding goal? Do you get a discount? Discounts will be offered when you pick up multiple kits, not by the overall success of a product. Those are profits that get re-invested to make DreamForge healthy, to pay for game development, to pay for additional stock, to help pay for re-release of the current line of kits, as those tools will need to be re-cut at some point. I am not pulling the discount off the table, but for the foreseeable future, I have a lot of catching up to do and core development that needs to happen for DreamForge to grow and thrive.

I want to be clear, this is not going to be a song and dance Kickstarter model, there 'may' be extras offered if there is room on the sprues, ( I will try to pack them the best that I can) but anything extra in the form of products adds to the costs and I am not bulking the costs to deal with that. I am trying to keep the price per kit to you as low as I possibly can.

Longer term with the releases and stock on hand.

Obviously, this model does is not ideal for some aspects of brand development, limited supply concerns may not be ideal but it's not unusual when we look around the industry and other companies that made their way on Kickstarter. I am not GW, I do not have their sales volume or the resources available to behave like GW. Please understand that expecting a small manufacture in plastic to be able to behave and function as one of the top two or three in the industry, may not really be a reasonable expectation. I will strive to get there, but until the financial aspect of that shift make sense, I will be doing what is best for the growth of the company with the resources available. 

I think we can all agree, that Iron Core needs at least two to three full factions, terrain and a rules set, so as we move through these requirements, I will try to weight when it becomes viable as its own free standing IP. The goal is to grow the brand, expand the product offering, make available some of the older kits and even start to offer some options for those not interested in Iron Core. Fantasy, Cyberpunk and a myriad of other avenues are available and the wider the base of offerings, the more stable the base.

All of this is dependent on me, making what you want, delivered at a reasonable price within a reasonable time.

I am very excited about the prospect and the future. I am really looking forward to exploring your 'needful things' and if they can be created and successfully funded in an episodic, backer driven environment. I hope that you join be on this new course and help guide my had in future releases.

Soooo many itches to scratch, so little time :P

I will be reaching out in a few locations looking for honest feedback and direction from all of you.

• Through surveys sent to my mailing list… So please sign up on the DreamForge-Games website if you have not.

• Through my Facebook group DreamForge-GamesArtist Retreat  (please do not try to message me here) For whatever reason FB and I do not sync well…. I must be an old fart, not a huge fan of FB or twitter :P

• On Dakka Dakka (I could start my own forum but it's a waste of energy, at least at this stage)

• And, well...here but its not very good for two way conversations.

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