Cover image source files
If it weren’t for POV-Ray, Mr. Seven is what the graphics for Gods & Monsters would look like.
Starting with The Vale of the Azure Sun, I’m also releasing the source files used to create the cover image of these books. I use the Persistence of Vision Raytracer for most of the cover images. POV-Ray is the best tool I’ve found for people who can’t draw but can program.
I’ve included here the best drawing I’ve ever done by hand (not including maps or other things for which rulers and compasses work). It’s done in colored pencil, my favorite medium when the game master is on the phone. Compare Mr. Seven to the covers on every Gods & Monsters book except The Lost Castle of the Astronomers. If I can use Persistence of Vision, anybody can.
One of the nice things about 3D source files is that you can add objects, re-use objects, and change the perspective of the scene very easily. That can make such a tool useful for generating adventure images once you’re comfortable with it.
For example, when I decided I wanted an image for Silver Sails, I was able to re-use the image I used for Simple Photorealism using Persistence of Vision. I went out on the web to find some ancient ship models, added them in flying through space, and in a few minutes had a graphic of far better quality than Mr. Seven.
While it may not come out for a while, The House of Lisport will have a cover designed using GIMP, which is also an impressive software package, and released under the GPL. Although it isn’t quite as useful for you as a 3D source, I’ll be including the GIMP document along with that adventure when I release it. I also used GIMP to create the terrain of the Vale.
I’ve been planning on uploading the scene files for the other books for quite a while, but haven’t gotten around to it. I hope to do so at some point, but because the files are strewn about my home folder, it will take some time to break through my natural procrastination, organize them, and write the instructions.
- Men & Supermen
- The game of heroes and superheroes. A superhero role-playing game designed to allow a wide variation of power levels, and with guidelines allowing wide player latitude in character creation.
- POV-Ray: Persistence of Vision Development Team
- POV-Ray is a ray-tracing program for Macintosh, Unix, DOS, and Windows. It is very powerful, full-featured, reliable, and free. It also uses a “programmer-style” interface rather than a graphical one. The tutorial that comes with it is well-written, so it’s worth a look .Persistence of Vision is very useful for those of us who like to automate our image creation. It uses a simple scripting language to build up complex 3-dimensional imagery.
- GIMP
- The GIMP image manipulation program is one of the best free software packages of any kind. Fully multi-platform, the GIMP “is suitable for a variety of image manipulation tasks, including photo retouching, image composition, and image construction”.
- The Vale of the Azure Sun
- There are things in this world that defy all logic. Places that no door enters and no road goes, where the maps exist only in the minds of madmen.
- Silver sail and gold, above a dappled sea
- The lands of Mars, Venus, and beyond, where strange creatures dwell in vast oases of floating vinous balls. Space is a cross between Lovecraft’s Dreamlands and Burroughs’ Martian adventures. Within the outer reaches of the world, ships of driftwood and sailcloth ride the solar winds.
- Persistence of Text
- A series of useful Persistence of Vision tutorials, starting with the very basics of simple object creation and progressing to automation and the usefulness of math.
- Simple Photorealism using Persistence of Vision
- A simple tutorial on using the Persistence of Vision raytracer, for people who cannot draw to save their life!
More gaming tools
- Constructing encounter tables using Nisus
- Here’s a Nisus Writer macro that makes it a little easier to create encounter tables.
- How to use hex maps
- Rob Conley describes the benefits and tricks of using hex maps.
- Online die roller
- In need of a quick die roll to pass the time? Look no further!
- Portable speakers for Adventure Guides
- If you have audio in your adventures, there are a lot of portable speakers available designed to work with MP3 players.
- New character sheets, maps, and reference sheets
- The character sheets and reference sheets have been converted to Scribus, and new map grids are availble in Inkscape. All are also made available as PDF files.
- Nine more pages with the topic gaming tools, and other related pages
If you’ve subscribed to the Gods & Monsters RSS feed in your podcast reader, you’ll find the Simple Photorealism tutorial waiting for you there. Go ahead and try it: it’s a lot of fun.