Zach and I were talking about the comic, and the way we have been doing it... and are kinda at a crossroads about how we want to continue. We have been wanting to do longer panels, and tell more story driven jokes. But with the amount of time it takes to shade every panel with 3 down tones, and 2 up tones (usually) it is difficult to make time, or to realistically aim for any huge multi-page jokes.

I can move 10x's the speed now, if i could cut out the shading process... but if i look long enough at the unshaded panels, it makes me crazy. I like the sketches, i love the line art... but when i apply the "flats" (or the flat colors without shading, i think the art looks really bad. Perhaps i am imagining a problem where there is none. Maybe they look just as good without shading, (or just as bad... who knows?) but i have a hard time putting them out, for fear of you all hating it, and putting a bunch of art-hate on me for cutting corners.

But the truth is, its not exactly corner-cutting if i can pump out 3 or 4 times the story, with a reduction in lighting. Its more about time management vs. story quality... And when it comes to this. Im stuck...

I want to try not shading a few comics in the near future, to see what you all think about them. But (and i know this sounds stupid) im terrified, people are going to look at them and think im a shit artist, and bad at what i do. Which wouldnt normally bother me.... but what does bother me is that you all might think i was cutting back on quality or effort. Which i assure you isnt the case.

Not sure how Im gonna go about this... but we shall see.

-Deece

Every time we get back to town it's the same. I head off to the tavern for a drink, and get some well needed rest, meanwhile the rest of the party goes on to cause all sorts of problems and delays.

The Cleric runs off to his church to do... god knows what. Rituals, holidays, holy sites, it doesn't matter, he's so damn sanctimonious, he could pray to a lamb chop to give him dinner.

The Rogue, always with the damn thieving. He gets locked up almost every time we come back, and when he's not in jail he's getting ambushed by the local thieves for invading their turf. Last time we were in town, he said he had to go get some things enchanted. My arse! He tried stealing a huge ruby from the head of a rival guild of thieves, and wound up chained to a Hippopotamus bobbing up and down the river with people shouting for it to, "submerge already." Do you know how hard it is to drag a Hippo out of a river? Well it wasn't that hard really, but damn it was annoying.

The Mage, he might be the worst. Always running off to some library or tower, and coming back either on fire, or being chased by some conjured up problem. Why can't he just leave well enough alone? He tried to summon a demon for information one time, and it broke his little salt circle, and started punching ME in the face. My face. MY FACE! And I'm like, come on man I didn't bring you here, that guy did. We managed to banish it back to it's home plane but not before the Mage had the gall to laugh at the damage it did to my face. One day I'm going to throttle that book reading bitch-man.

The druid's not all bad though. Sometimes he even goes to the bar with me. I think he really looks up to me, always talking about how big my muscles are, and complimenting me on my sword fighting prowess. Still he is a bit odd. Last time we went out drinking he got waaay too drunk and kept pestering me to dance. I mean, I don't dance. I'm a man. I told him there were serving wenches who would dance, but he insisted I try. I eventually just went to my room. Not sure what he did after that, but we found him shape-shifted at the petting zoo the next morning, and lucky thing too. He was being assaulted by a stallion who mistook him for a real horse. I thought he might be a bit damaged afterwords but seems to have dealt with the shock fairly well.

Ah well, I wouldn't be in a party if I didn't need these guys. I suppose they'll just have to do. Until we get back to town at least.

So a little update this fourth of July, going out to any of those who may have been excited about the Deep Magic Kickstarter I mentioned last week. They are now sitting at $89,000 of their original $10,000 goal. Not sure if we've had any effect on that figure (certainly not a large one at any rate) but it's exciting to think about how far that project may now go with all the extra cash.

Since I was checking out Kickstarter I thought I'd point out some other interesting Kickstarter projects I've heard about and seen around.

1. Firstly for you JRPG fans out there I have some good news. An ambitious game designer named Mike Gale has decided to go old school and produce a game in the style of the old Playstation 1&2 era JRPG games. 

This game is called Soul Saga, and features the old blue drop down menus (for us old folks), a story driven campaign, turn based combat, and all the other things you sometimes find yourself missing from a few years ago. As if that wasn't enough he wants to include a different resource system for each character, visible monsters in the overworld and environmental puzzles just to polish this thing off.

Oh and it's already funded. Let's hope this guy can deliver. It's currently due out July of next year on Wii U, PS4, PS Vita, and Steam.

2. Nextly, for fans of the Baldur's Gate and Planescape Torment games on PC there are a couple of already completed Kickstarters for you to check out. I'll leave the details to the creators themselves, but here are the links in case you are interested. This isn't exactly news, but consider it spreading the word.

http://eternity.obsidian.net/
https://torment.inxile-entertainment.com/

3. This one is just so awesome to me. Cthulu Wars, a lovecraftian strategy board game where each player produces cultists and attempts to awake their own faction of Great Old Ones to conquer the earth. Each player uses a unique set of tools to foil his opponents and see the world writhe under his own personal vision of the apocalypse. This ones been overfunded by about 2,000% now so at this point you may just want to sit back relax and wait for the oncoming doom. However if you are feeling frisky there are still two days to throw in your lot with the rest. Not that it will matter. In the end nothing will.

4. Now, I don't know if any of you guys are LARPers but if you are then, well hurrah for you. Another already successful Kickstarter campaign has been completed, in order to fund the return of Mind's Eye Theatre, and to produce a news Mind's Eye Theatre: Vampire the Masquerade book. I am not personally familiar enough with the system or the setting to tell you much more (or at least offer an informed opinion on the topic) but there you have it. Link is in the text.

5. I'm... I'm not even really sure where to start with this one. A tabletop roleplaying game that takes place extremely far in the future on an "Oith," inhabited by giant roaches and other odd and disgusting races. The only race not present is the "Hoomanrace," although they are remembered and venerated as the progenitors of the other races. Truly I don't know what to think... but I desperately want to try it. Check out the Kickstarter for Lowlife: Rise of the Lowly.

Finally I want to share some underfunded Kickstarters and urge you all to check them out on your own time.

Storm - http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/827534456/storm?ref=category

Fire with Fire - http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/660810230/fire-with-fire-online-tower-attack-and-defense?ref=category
Frozen State - http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1683973133/frozen-state?ref=category


Data Dealer - http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cuteacute/data-dealer?ref=category

GoD Factory - http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ninedots/god-factory-wingmen?ref=category

ANTHYMN - http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/37002837/anthymn?ref=category

 Unfortunately that's it for my time, I have fireworks to eat and Barbeque to set on fire. 

Thanks for playing.
-Zach-

So last week, someone here at 1d4Rounds ( ZACH )decided to put up a web poll, asking what subject matter our next weekly comic should tackle. There were the normal options of Tabletop gaming, Video games, SciFi stuff, Nerd jokes... and "Children's struggles in the Democratic Republic of Congo."

So... Because of the overwhelming popularity of the struggles of the children of the DRC... I am forced to make a joke about a terribly sad, and horrific series of events in Africa... 

Now, I am a firm believer in the idea that anything, and I mean anything, can be funny in the right context. But the children of Congo, is a toughy even for me... So, I want to put this out there before I even begin to draw this, assuredly mean spirited, heartless mass of an image... That if you are offended by it... ITS YOUR FAULT.  You had the opportunity to save me from this... And make a nice, safe, little D&D joke.  Or a Star Wars owned by Disney joke... But you all decided to saddle me with this.

Thank you to all of our fans... I really really appreciate it. 

I'm not gonna sit around all stoic, and pretend I'm not upset about round 6's final verdict.  I am... I'm "emotionally compromised", as Spock would say.
But that's how it goes... Zach does the VS... and I get to give a little input here and there, but there is no favoritism. (Which is unfortunate...)
But to be honest... Who doesn't love Gandalf too? This weeks VS has just been murder on my gentle fanboy sensibilities... So, this week, while I weep... for our dear Locutus of Borg... Please understand, that we are coming close to the second phase of the VS.  And everything is gonna be different... Things are gonna change.  

Perhaps Locutus can make a comeback... Perhaps...? Please?

Zach: "I DONE DID SAY TO YOU HE DEDD... DAT DUDE DEDD... HE SO DONE DEDD AT DIS POINT, AINT NO NEVER MIND TO HIS GONNA COMEBACK.  DAT, DUDE, DEDD.... YOU BEST TA GO AND GET ON NOW YA HEAR?"

Deece: "//sniffles sadly//  Okay Zach... I get it... He's never coming back.  YOU'RE NOT MY REAL DAD!!! AND YOU KILLED LOCUTUS!!!"
//runs to room, and slams door//

[End dramatization]

So, 1d4 Rounds' internal hardships aside, we have a few more rounds in this bracket. So be ready for more upsets, change ups, and the new format for the next bracket of 1d4 coming in just a few weeks.

Later,
-Deece (1d4Rounds)