This post will focus on the roleplaying work that I will be working on. Most of the roleplaying output I have is Icar (free Sci Fi RPG) related content.

The two things I am focussing on at the moment are the Equipment Index and the Society book.

Equipment has always been core to Icar but it has been plagued by being set up as a series of JPG sheets. This made individual items easy to download but to print the lot was a nightmare. It took a good week of evenings to convert most of the files and I'm working through the hand-drawn equipment that didn't get through to 3D. Here's the latest Loki equipment Contact sheet I finished last night:


(clicky for biggy)

The upshot of the Contact Sheet/Table investigation was that most people wanted both. They needed the ability to browse and use it as a reference too. It is more work to do that but I don't mind too much, I can mindlessly compile a table after a hard day at work.

For Society (the core background book), I need to finish off the graphics. I find that I need to do a lot of graphics because it's a lot easier to describe things in terms of images. Also, I like doing graphics. ;-) There needs to be a bringing-it-all-together section at the back of the book but I am not sure what form that might take just yet. Perhaps some relationship diagrams and outlining themes to include in campaigns.

Good stuff, even the medium you chose to do your graphics lends itself to sci-fi.  I have used a program called omniformat with some success.  I don't if that would help you at all or not.

This is all great stuff, Rob!

Very nice.

Regards,
David R

Thanks for the comments, guys. It's odd how much of a difference it makes to have a few people take an interest.

ancientgamer, thanks for hot tip. It might have been really useful about 3 months ago and will keep it in mind in the future.

I had a productive-ish weekend but didn't do as much Icar as I wanted. I am looking to finish off the Equipment Index so I can move back onto doing graphics for the Society (background) book and to include a 'tying things together' chapter.

click for biggy

Here's a work in progress contact sheet for some new tech items. I find that have a certain limit on what I can do when 3d-ifying previously drawn items (original pencil drawing here). My long standing players would be a little bit miffed if I made things look very different from the original drawings. As one player once noted, it wouldn't feel right. The sheets not finished (thus, the big blank bit) but there are a few bits on there I'm proud of.

Comments and critique always welcome!

No problem Rob.  Let me know if that tip helps or not.  Also, if I didn't make it clear before, you're doing a great job here.

Thanks for the kind words, ancientgamer (and all the others). Keeps me tipping along.

I've added another two pages to the Equipment Index (including completing the image above), which has been hard work due to all the new renders and models I've had to do.

Throughout the Icar books, I'm put in little images to break up the text a bit. I did a conglomeration of the different tech items to put in but it looked nice in it's more complete format, so here it is for your viewing pleasure.


Click for biggy


For those that want to know more, you can download it at the Icar site (for free, natch).


Click to go to the download page

Just a small update, I've improved the front page of the Icar website. It does suffer from being VERY blue, so I thought a bit of colour might spruce it up. I haven't tested in IE7 (I haven't installed it on this PC, will check monday).

All thoughts and critique welcome!

Quote from: Rob LangJust a small update, I've improved the front page of the Icar website. It does suffer from being VERY blue, so I thought a bit of colour might spruce it up. I haven't tested in IE7 (I haven't installed it on this PC, will check monday).

All thoughts and critique welcome!

Looks excellent, Rob! Sweet!

-clash

Thanks mate! Nice to get a bit of feedback. I often do these graphics and in my own hollow mind, it seems like a really good idea!

Equipment Index Version 7 released!
It's been a long time coming but I have finally got to the point where I can say the Equipment Index is out of Alpha and is finally released. I can draw a line under this version and move on, happy in the knowledge that it will do in its current state for now. It's at the point where I am happy and that's all I can say for the moment. All critique and comment is gratefully accepted!

Now to get on with the next version of the Society book. Most of the text is there, just needs more graphics.

Here are a couple of renders I have done this weekend. Click for a larger version.

This moon render is for the Society book. It shows a Grav Car crossing a lake towards a huge moon. Very atmospheric.


This render is one of the test renders I did for the new Icar front page. The composition is a little odd because it had to fit in with the style of the page. I still like it, though.

The problem with big worlds is that there is a lot to explain. Icar is no exception. The background book (called Society) has been updated to have a summary at the start and then drills down from the very highest point of view down to day to day life. One of the aspects (about halfway through) are the prefabricated cities call Mex cities. They were the solution to an enormous refugee influx. I normally like to make fully-rendered images with textures so that it looks 'real'. I tried this for Mex cities and the detail made it difficult to describe what was going on. Instead, I created this:



Obviously, the buildings aren't primary colours but I found it a lot easier to describe in text what was going on. It's something of a step back, to go from doing high detail renders back to something quite simple such as a diagram.

I think the Society book is going to need a whole load more pictures before I am happy with it. Description is ok in Icar but I prefer to keep the image density high - after all I'm only paying for it with time and possible full colour Print On Demand costs.

So, when are you going to run a game online for some therpgsiters? I will even lend you :viking:

I am very tempted but I am not sure if I know how. I've done a fair amount of PBP on the Desert Realm (as Moggle) but I've not GM'd online. I shall give a read through some of the other games and see what it involves.

Are there any PBP you think might be good examples?