The Crossroads of Legend - Chapter 2 - The Death of A Father

There was a knock at the tent. The Leanora's mother answered. The man (a barbarian fighter of some renown) is apologetic and confers the news of her husband's death. He looked over to Leanora.

“Child, I'm sorry to inform you of your father's death.”

Leanora was dumbfounded. She barley knew her father, but, he had always returned from his battles. Sure he had wounds and scars, but, he always returned.

“I promised him I would deliver the news, and conduct his will.”

“His will?” asked the mother.

“Yes,” the man continued. “he asked that I give you this treasure,” he pointed, “and give his daughter this treasure,” he pointed again.

Two small chests were there. The first, for the mother contained various coins and objects, the value of which would keep her out of poverty for her life. The second chest contained some armor, a sword, and a small amount of coins and various objects.

Leanora looked at the treasure. She picked up the sword and it mesmerized her.

"A Father's Legacy" By: JameDawg

 

“A beauty, eh?” The man asked.

“Yes, it is beautiful.” Leanora replied.

“That sword was not meant to be sold, nor stay at home,” said the man. “Your father meant for you to follow in his footsteps. I promised to prepare you if you were willing.”

Leanora looked at the man with seriousness, “I am,” she said, without hesitation.

The man's name was Tarik The Bold. He was from a different, allied tribe. He completed her training. Leanora was a good student. This time she was taking it quite serious. She really did want to walk in her father's footsteps.

Within less then a month Tarik said, “That is all you need to know for now. Now it is up to you to find your place. I hear there are some caverns nearby. Perhaps you can go to Aldehuela [a small “civilized” village nearby] and pick up some companions to explore with you. I suggest you find a healer. A mage could be useful too. Of course a rouge as well. Even if they are often unsavory, they can help out a lot when exploring. One more thing, your father had that chest piece made special for you. I don't really know all the details, but, I know he went through a lot of trouble to make sure these things got to you. I leave you now, to your destiny.” and with that he left the village.

 "A Father's Legacy" by JameDawg is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

You can find other sizes at "A Father's Legacy" on Flickr



You may find the "story only" version of my blog at The Adventure Chronicles

Organic Creativity

One of the main reasons I started The Adventure Chronicles was to give a tiny bit of focus to my creative side.  I have what I like to refer to as "Organic Creativity".  Some people, including many of my friends, refer to this as ADD (or ADHD).  While that's the technical name most simply would say, "You lack focus".

Maybe that's somewhat true.  My moments of true focus are indeed fleeting.  However, as a side-effect, I often engage my "Organic Creativity".  I was working on posting something for Rocksmith.  I started playing the game, and I was messing around with the sound on my computer.  I wound up engineering and writing a few tunes (not the guitar type either, lol).

My ability to come up with lyrics is pretty solid.  My ability to create a good beat isn't bad either.  My ability to rap is so-so, and my singing generally is not good (doesn't stop me from singing at the top of my lungs occasionally though). 

I do want to post my new song(s).  I feel the beat is very good, and the lyrics are solid.  However, generally I'm a one man operation, so I had to sing/rap the song myself.  In order to tell the story I'm going to post it, probably as a video.  But, I wish I could sing a bit better (or at least find a cheap autotune that works on my windows system, not that I encourage autotune).  However, I'm thinking I may post the beat (without the vocals) separately, as I feel the beat is quite good.

After I constructed it (and a few more), I brought my keyboard out of mothballs and started playing around ("Organic Creativity", lol).  I'm probably going to be constructing quite a few more beats.  That puts the Rocksmith post kinda on the back-burner for now.

The next installment of The Adventure Chronicles is on my calender for upload on Monday the 28th.  I have the story and picture made.  But, I have to go through each for the final draft yet.  I think the story will be fine, and the picture will need some minor post processing, so, I'll probably make my (self-imposed) deadline.  If not I shouldn't be much more then a day or two late.

I'm kinda looking around for the best place to upload my music to.  I need one that can hold both CC work and that which is copyrighted (just in case) and they have to be linkable to my blog.  I've looked at a few places, I haven't settled on one yet.  Linkable video sites and likable picture sites are actually a bit easier to choose.

I have an idea for the video for my new song.  The song is called "Dragon Slayer".  I may rerecord parts of the performance, not sure yet.  I'll have to make a few more pics for the vid too.  It likely will be a moving picture video, not an animation or performance video.

My "Organic Creativity" is calling......

Welcome to the Jungle

As you can see, the last post regarding my ongoing chronicle was posted well ahead of schedule.  The next composition is coming together with some alacrity as well.

But, I've been thinking about the other stuff I'm going to post here in my "everything" blog (as opposed to The Adventure Chronicles which is more of my "story" blog).

So, I do play some counsel games on the PS3.  Currently, my top rotation is Battlefield 3, Call of Duty Black Ops II, and Rocksmith.  I also include DC Universe Online some months, and other titles not really worth mentioning.

I'm not particularly skilled in Black Ops II or Battlefield 3.  I'd say I'm better than average, but, comparing my stats with those on my friends list, I'd have to admit I'm below average.  I'm better at Battlefield 3 than Black Ops II, but, I can't stop myself from playing Black Ops II more often.  I may or may not post a vid or two featuring these two games, but, I really have to post one on Rocksmith.  I'll probably come back to the other three games from time-to-time in other posts.

Rocksmith is, hands down, the best way I've found to learn guitar for me.  You hook a real guitar into the PS3 and play it, very similarly (at it's most basic level) like guitar hero or rock band.  It impressed me so much I actually started looking for other titles by Ubisoft.  Not that hard, on average a gamer probably owns a few of these games.  I was on the fence about getting into the Assassin's Creed games and decided to buy the first one, pushed over the edge by how impressed I was by Rocksmith.

Not to mention I let my nephews play it.  The youngest had never picked up a guitar (as far as I know) and he was playing decently in under an hour.  I had a similar experience.

I tried to learn guitar briefly when I was younger.  It didn't work out.  I took some lessons and gave up in under a month.  I bought a guitar, when I got a bit older, got some books and a video.  Tried to play.  Didn't really work.  Main reason:  Learning the guitar was too dry and the learning curve was rough. 

I played guitar hero, rock band, etc.  Mostly at friend's houses and mostly as a band set up.  It was fun enough, and many people found/find it a lot of fun, but, I was not overly interested in it.

Then I saw Rocksmith.  I thought "Wow".  They had a demo running in a local store, I gave it a whirl and was mesmerized.  I realized I could finally learn to play.  Which was cool.  Because, my guitar was sitting in my closet for around 10 years, maybe more. 

I dusted it off and loaded the game and, no joke, was playing a tune in less then 30 minutes.  Not with awesome perfection, but, it was further than I got in all the other time trying to learn it combined.

The game has lots of nuances that really make it fun and a good learning tool.  I plan to post a vid or two and spend some more time talking about it.

I'm also probably going to do a short animation or two that may or may not be related to my story. 

Probably some pictures that are not related to "The Adventure Chronicles" at all, as well. 

But, the next section of "The Adventure Chronicles" is ready for post production, and I'll probably be posting it soon.  I have quite a bit of the story and the composition notes for the next few pics, so, they may pop out quicker than expected.

You can expect some conversations about my two regular RPGs as well.  I'm running one, which is a "Modern D20" / "D&D 3.5" semi-hybrid.  I'm playing in the other, a game I'm rather new to, but is quickly growing on me called Rifts.  But more about that another time.....

It's likely that I'll publish some of the articles I've written too, and some of the short stories.  No real plan there.

In the short term... Expect the next installment of "The Adventure Chronicles" and some stuff on Rocksmith.

Hope your day is ROCKEN!

-JameDawg

The Adventures Chronicles - The Crossroads of Legend - Meet Leanora

Leanora's life was simple and carefree. She lived in the forest with her tribe, The Arbaro, and more specifically her mother. She spent her youth learning the ways of the tribe. When her father returned from adventuring from time-to-time, he would educate her in the art of combat.

She was a natural in that department. But, she didn't really focus on it. She loved her tribe. She learned to make things from the forest, and how to hunt. Although womanly duties generally included making things, usually it was the males who did the hunting. However, it was the norm, not a requirement. Besides, she could keep up with any of the males her age, and she excelled at combat, even if she didn't take the training very seriously.

She was born with a natural wanderlust. But, she never ventured more than a few hours away from the village, ok, perhaps a half day. Actually, she knew how far she could go and be back before sunset.

Her life was uncomplicated and happy, until ….

Leanora Near The Arbaro Village

 

"Leanora Near The Arbaro Village" by JameDawg is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

You can find other sizes at Leanora Near The Arbaro Village on flickr



You may find the "story only" version of my blog at The Adventure Chronicles

To tide you over...and what's to come

I'm going to be posting a collection of short stories called "The Adventure Chronicle".  It will be kind of like a graphic novel, I guess.  More like a few pictures and a through story (and maybe some animation), rather than "comic" book.  I'm putting the final touches on the first picture now, and composing the second one.  I intend to post one to two pictures, along with the associated chapter, about once or twice a month.  However, some compositions take longer than others and real life sometimes interferes with things.  So, I may not maintain that schedule.

The first composition is scheduled to be uploaded on the 21st.

However, I thought I'd pull an earlier work of mine from mothballs and post it for your enjoyment.  This is an improvement on a composition I previously created that was for my mom for mother's day.  Perhaps I'll give her this improved version this year.

I believe I uploaded this to flickr in 1920 x 1080 HD, but, I'm not positive.  http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamedawg/8366109593/

This composition is licensed by me (JameDawg) under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

In the begining.....

I created this blog to talk about and display the things I like.  That, and as a place to display my digital art in an organized fashion.  It's not really intended to be a "professional" blog.  Really, it's more about having a centrally located spot to talk about and sometimes display the things I like.

What kinds of things are those?

Well, I'm a gamer, and I do like that stuff.  I like games of all kinds.  Not just video games.  I like card games, table top roll playing games, and most other games as well.  In fact, when you see me use the acronym RPG (roll playing game) it is far more likely that I'm referring to a table top game then a video game (unless the context suggests different).  Amongst my favorite games are poker, first person shooters, turn based strategy games, and many different table top roll playing games.  I've been playing table top roll playing games since around 1985.  I've been playing games on electronic devices (not including early handhelds, really talking about early video game systems and computers here) since I can remember (easily since the mid to late 70's early 80's.  I can't really pinpoint the exact date of my first "video game", but I remember it quite well.) 

I also write stories, occasional non-fiction and some technical articles, I've even been known to write a poem or two.  My favorite genre is fantasy.  I also enjoy modern and futuristic elements mixed with superheros and gods.  I enjoy contemplating fantastic powers and how people would use them for good or ill.  Then bringing them to life on screen, page, or as an element of an RPG.  Even when I'm contemplating SciFi genre, I usually do so with an eye for the fantastic over the realistic (a focus on "fantasy" powers, such as, magic, psionics, superhero abilities, or gods.  But science and super-science do have their places). 

  

I have a heavy interest in computers/computing and making things safer, easier, and less expensive in those departments. I love open-source, and working with computer graphics, and have a bit of an obsession with computer security.  My expertise is in solving software problems, but, I've been known to delve into a small amount of hardware too. I love to find new inexpensive ways to solve problems.  I have schooling in programming (though I don't do a lot of programming these days), and have been working with computers

Politically I'm going to try to keep the blog low key.  That being said, I believe in trying to bring people together and like a thoughtful discussion on political topics revolving around computers, open-source, security, and civil rights (especially digital rights) and intellectual property licensing.

I also do digital art.  Besides writing (which I consider a digital art form, for the most part), I also do some audio work, 2D/3D art, picture work, and even some minor movie work.  It's my intent for the bulk of the blog to incorporate my public work.

I have a heavy respect for intellectual property rights in regard to dissemination of works over the internet.  I try to use common sense and go beyond "the law" in regards to this.  If you see something posted here that has no licensing information, consider it copyrighted by me.  However, I intend to license the bulk of it under some sort of Creative Commons license (I typically do so).  

It is my honest intention to post only items to which I own the copyright to, are licensed for my use, or used in a "fair use" way.  I also usually go above and beyond in attributions.  The nature of the digital age can sometimes lead to errors in these efforts.  So, please contact me if you think I've posted your intellectual property without the appropriate license to do so.  I assure you, if I did so, it was an accident.  Please let me know and I will make the proper attribution, or remove it, whatever you like. 

Well, that's the jist of my intent for the blog.  I'm sure I left something out, I usually do.  I truly hope you enjoy it.