I’ve recently been on a AI image generation role, primarily using MidJourney to create landscapes, but there is a cost to that service (It’s a processing expensive task, so I’m OK with that).
But for the job of creating character portraits, I’ve taken to using Stable Diffusion which is an open sourced implementation which can be run locally. It’s pretty heavy on the hardware requirements, needing a GPU with 6+gb of ram, but if you can meet that the results are pretty good.
The following are some character portraits I’ve used it to create:
Here’s some more images generated using the image generating AI MidJourney.
There’s a sort of otherworldly feeling about what it generates.
Drow Priestess standing on a balconyAn Irish Woman – 1An Irish Woman – 2
For some reasons eyes remain a problem in the images which have been generated. With that in mind I thought I would try some landscapes to see how the AI would handle those.
Wandering on the Moors – 1Wandering on the Moors – 2Brook within a forest
Here’s a good video I recently got recommended describing the various versions of Dungeons & Dragons, along with the advantages/disadvantages they have and similar alternatives available.
I’ve been playing a game of Dungeons and Dragons with a group for friends for the last year or so.
Starting with the starter campaign “Dragon of Icespire Peak”, followed by the first half of “Out of the Abyss” and then into one of smaller campaigns while the players level enough to tackle either the second part of the Abyss.
For the start of the sessions I’ve taken to capturing what happened previously in image form.
Allow me to present in crude pictorial format our story so far.
Life was hard in GracklstughA final dash for freedomThe hero returnsThe Miracle Of PhandalinSay it isn’t soI’m sure it will all work out
Adding Brave Search to Firefox so that it is available in the default search options isn’t immediately obvious, since it’s not listed under the search providers under Settings->Search
And while there are a number of add-ons which provide it available, none are provided by Brave themselves.
That said the solution is surprisingly simple:
Start by going to https://search.brave.com
Then right-click the address bar
On the menu displayed, select “Add Brave Search”
Now open “Setting”, select “Search” and choose “Brave Search” under “Default Search Engine”
Right-click address bar to add to search providers
I think I’m about to go down an Atlantis rabbit-hole after watching Joe Rogan interview Randall Carson.
Randell offers an interesting premise for how a series of islands could have at one time existed in the Atlantic and what might have occurred to result in the destruction/removal of said island(s).
That’s not to say I fully buy into the idea of a sea-faring civilization; I would expect more accounts than just Plato’s. But then again who’s to say there isn’t without looking.
The full interview on Spotify embedded below, it’s worth a listen for entertainment alone. Can’t vouch either way for the science though, so I’ll leave that to you to make your own assessment.
If you buy one card game, the game you buy is Citadels.
Citadels: My well worn and abused copies
In Citadels, players take on new roles each round to represent characters they hire in order to help them acquire gold and erect buildings. The game ends at the close of a round in which a player erects his/her eighth building. Players then tally their points, and the player with the highest score wins.
This must rank as one of, if not the, most played games I have in my possession. Universally liked by both players new to board-games and those who are an old hand at them. Its a deceptively simple game with a good amount of depth.
Both versions contain beautifully illustrated cards, consisting of player role cards (the larger in the image below) and the district cards.
Citadel Cards: Get Covers for the roles. You’ll need them.
I’ve found that the player role cards are prime candidates for card protectors, we’ve played this many times in pubs and accidents happen 🙂
The aim of the game is to create a given number of districts whose costs are added up at the end of the game which occurs when the round is completed when a player places the required number of districts.
Each round consists of the players choosing a role card from a shuffled list. Then using the order of the role cards the player take their turns.
With the role cards allowing you to either hinder another player, protecting your player or effecting the districts built in that turn.
The real skill and fun comes from attempting to second guess what roles the players have taken and attempting to counter them.
One of the nice side effects of the lockdowns has been that I’ve had the opportunity to get back into playing Dungeons and Dragons.
Over the last year some friends and myself have been playing weekly and we’ve made our way through the introductory campaign “Dragon of Icespire Peak”.
Having successfully completed the afore mention campaign an interest in meeting the Drow and hence we moved onto playing “Out the Abyss”.
A few months later the party has escaped their captors (at least for now) and find themselves in a position to return to the surface.
Assuming they do return topside and don’t fancy returning to the Underdark, the plan was to allow them to work their way though the “Dungeon of the Mad Mage” which would give a nice change of pace.
It’s more a straight forward dungeon crawl in classic DnD sense, much like the old Red-Box Basic DnD set I got in long long ago.
Which got me thinking maybe now is a good time to revisit “The Keep on the Borderland” one of the starting modules which was released with the Basic Set.
I remember pouring over the original module all those years ago, so getting a chance to revisit it all these years later to really appealing.
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