Author Archives: AFDStudios

Character Contest 61 Winners?

First, thanks to everyone who entered Character Contest 61. We had some fabulous images, and I sincerely appreciate your willingness to share your creativity with everyone.

Second, I had a very tough time deciding on the final winner this week. I'll go into the reasons at the end of the post, but suffice it to say that literally as I am typing this, I still haven't decided. Before I do, I thought I'd just post all of the Finalists, and then make my decision after seeing them all on the page at the same time.
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AKA “The Streak”

(From "Champ Comics" Number 13.)

Way to go, “Fighting Prejudice Man”!

(From "Champ Comics" number 13.)

Power User Profile: Myro

This week's "Power User Profile" features frequent commenter and "recipe" builder Myro!
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Try selling THAT to your Champions GM!

(From "Triple Threat Comics".)

Sharing Day, nerd rage edition

I need a break from Open Critique Days (they'll return next week), but in the meantime I thought it would be fun to have another Sharing Day! We've talked before about geek moments that got you sad or weepy, but today I wanted to talk about nerd-dom's dark underbelly: rage.

Here’s the deal:

You can ask me any question you like about whatever you like, which I will answer either completely truthfully or not at all (in which case you can ask something else). I say that because, come on, there are some things no one should have to know.

But you can only do so if you answer the following question about yourself (note that you don't have to ask me anything, if you'd rather not, but I'd still be interested in your answer):

What's the angriest you've gotten over a piece of geekery, whether it be an RPG session, computer game, movie, novel, or what have you?

Here's my answer for that one:

I think I've mentioned this before, but to this day I still get angry over "Superman III". It was such a desecration of an institution I love that I could feel my face getting flush, my hands clenching into fists, and an uncontrollable urge to find the producers and punch them in the face. Non-geeky friends sometimes ask me why I'm not planning on seeing a given super-hero movie, and "Superman III" is why. When you love something so much, seeing it done poorly is much more painful than just sitting through a random bad movie.

I'm getting pissed just thinking about it, almost thirty years later! What an awful, putrid, offensive train-wreck of a movie. I think the entire Superman movie franchise still hasn't overcome the unholy stench of that film splashed all over the character. Bastards.

Now it’s your turn -- let the stories of anger spill forth!

(Image at the top available as a T-shirt from TeeNormous.com.)

Cocky!

(From "Champ Comics" number 13.)

HM3: Text loading and intro screen live

The HeroMachine 3 Alpha has had a major upgrade, and now allows you to load or save characters as text strings to make emailing them back and forth easier.

I've also added a new "Intro" screen to make it easier for new folks to use, and faster for you as well by eliminating the need to load an item set before you can get to the load screen:

Hopefully that all makes sense ... I'm sure I'll be tweaking it as we go, but it's a good starting point for now. Let me know in comments if you have any issues with it, or suggestions on how to make it better, or a good recipe for bread pudding.

Writer’s Room: Introductions

I'm taking a break from the "Choose Your Own Adventure" stories this week to try something a bit different.

A lot of folks out there use HeroMachine to create visuals for stories they're writing, so instead of showcasing your artistic abilities, now's your chance to exhibit your writing. Take one paragraph (I was thinking the very first one, but if that doesn't work for you then pick another) from a story you're writing and put it in the comments below, along with the title (if known) and a one-sentence synopsis of what the story or novel is about. Think of it as the blurb they'd put as a teaser promo in a review magazine, along with that one paragraph as a writing sample.

Here's one from me, from my long-unfinished novel "Exile":

The twelve boys step from the black mouth of the alley with a swagger in their step, the bright lights of the glow stones making wicked gleams dance and leap on the tips of their daggers. I tense – there is something different about them, the scent of blood in the air like there has never been in any of our other encounters. They will not settle for bruises this time, or cruel words – they have hatred in their eyes and a hunger in their mouths that the small pains of the past will not satisfy. I have dealt with their unseen hands pushing me from behind when I pass and their feet tripping me in hallways for the past year, but from the set of Yasha’s shoulders he is intent on more than petty humiliations.

The back of my ears begin to sweat; something here is very, very wrong.

I haven't looked at this stuff in years and the writing is pretty rough, but in the usual spirit of honesty I try to engender here, I'm sharing it anyway.

And I suppose the one-sentence synopsis would be "A young boy on a desert world ruled by a god who cares nothing for his subjects fights to reclaim his family's honor."

Junior heroes, ask yourself, “Would Batman do this?” And if the answer is “No”, do not do that thing.

(From "KO Comics" number 1, featuring "The Duke of Darkness".)