Since the weather has turned cold and the season has gotten a bit spookier, here is some Sunday Summer to liven up your weekend before you have to go back to work on Monday.
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“Your resume says you are a … bullet dancer?”
“That’s right”
“Did you mean ballet?”
“No”
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Man, I wished my brain would actually pick something and stick to it, rather than get distracted by shiny things (shiny things in this case being artwork that I had a sudden unexpected surge of inspiration on). Came out fine, though.
Also another, sketchier piece of artwork in progress.
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Okay, Legacy of Terror is wonderful. The lettering under the painting is maybe a bit Harry Potter, but the overall composition and sense of motion with tearing down the curtain is great.
I liked Stealth Recon, too – a good non-shooty use for her (and it even ties into her code name). Almost looked like she was flashing a peace sign at first before I recognized the finger gun. I wonder, in this case, if a PoV from a security cam (higher, a bit distorted with proximity) would work even better. I do like the card effect – when her cover is blown she takes more damage, but she’s also in a position to deal it out, too.
The quotations in both cases are a lot of fun.
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I don’t know if this is boilerplate from other cards, or in part my only general acquaintance with the game, but …
When this card is destroyed [do this stuff] until the end of your turn.
At the start of your turn, destroy this card.
… feels like it is either out of sequence, or contradictory, or something.
Infiltration always seemed like such a key component of what Alycia did that I couldn’t help but add it to her card set.
Artwork-wise, I wasn’t 100% satisfied with it, which is why it is still in such a sketchy state. I had similar ideas to what you had to punching up the artwork, but that’s still a work in progress.
As for the effect, it seemed like a fairly straight forward method of showing what she does: she sneaks around (the immunity) and if she’s found out (the card destroyed during the villain turn) she’s left vulnerable (increased damage dealt to her), while if she’s able to complete her mission (making it to the start of her next turn) she’s able to cause serious havoc (increased damage dealt by her). I always enjoy when mechanics and story line up really well.
There is no standard rubric for Sentinel cards that I am aware of (other than Powers always are the last thing on the card) but my personal one has always been:
- Effects that occur when the card enters play.
- Start of turn effect.
- Passive effects.
- Effects that occur when the card leaves play/is destroyed.
- End of turn effects.
- Powers.
The start of turn being out of sync here was supposed to give context to why you would want the card to be destroyed before telling you when it would be, but I can see this being confusing. This will probably be changed in the final version.
Quote are always one of my favorite parts, not just what is being said, but in what context. For instance, Legacy of Terror is a quote from a one-shot called Heir of Chin. I have the outline of a story in mind for that comic, which definitely has ties to the Son of Chin mentioned back in Heiress Apparent, but the important part is that all the card quotes from that particular comic involve her connection to Achilles or being somewhat wistful about her past.
Meanwhile, card from the Halcyon Nights one-shot need to sound more like they came from a buddy cop action movie.
It makes perfect sense, and I love it.
I know. And that you have this all mapped out behind the scenes gives it a great verisimilitude. Dammit, I want a complete set of all the Menagerie comics, spin-offs, and one-shots!
Oh, if only I had time to do so.
The fun part is that the side comics are ever growing to give me material to work with for the card decks. Just wait until I get to Jason’s deck. The Dinosaur Island One-shot referenced there is going to be a trip.
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Jason: Really? A hood slide? Isn’t that kinda … flashy?
Alycia: It’s faster, thus more efficient. Also, it checks for any burrs, scratches, or flaws in the hood armor. Also, it’s kind of fun.
Summer: And Otto says it tickles his nose when she does it with him.
Jason: You hood slid on Otto?
Alycia: To be fair, we were under fire at the time.
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For instance, Legacy of Terror is a quote from a one-shot called Heir of Chin. I have the outline of a story in mind for that comic, which definitely has ties to the Son of Chin mentioned back in Heiress Apparent …
FWIW, that was totally a stub with no actual plans behind it at the time, so feel free to use it as you creatively see fit. SoC could be real, elder or younger, a backup Chin had in reserve in case Alycia failed him (I think he hinted at that at one point), a clone of the man himself (again as a backup), or someone faking it to take advantage of Alycia’s unpopularity (age, gender, ability to work and play well with others) amongst Chin’s lieutenants. Or something completely different.
being somewhat wistful about her past.
Okay, tease for having that card but no image.
Though, since we just watched the Netflix adaptation of “The Old Guard” (recommended) and I reread the TPB, “Hidden Cache” made me think of this.
Thought I had posted the sketch here, but it looks like it was on Discord instead.
However, your inspiration here is much better and it may have me rethink what I am doing with it.
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Ah. I do remember that, seeing it again. I think it works fine, if you want. The other was offered just as what had come to mind.
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It is fine, but that other bit adds so much more to the presentation.
My original sketch implies “the Chin family has hidden a locker full of guns somewhere where Alycia could get to them.”
The other implies “the Chin family has hidden troves of armaments for arming their forces. And who knows if this is the only one?”
Plus compositionally, its very nice for establishing space, showing Alycia in the space, and allowing for some hidden Easter eggs among the items.
I’ll mull it over.
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And it needn’t be solely weapons, either. Robots. Vehicles. Hard cash and valuables. Bits of undefined technology.
And, of course, weapons.
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Suddenly remember this when talking about the Menagerie cameoing in other folks decks. Did I ever share Ghost Girl’s cameo here?
Escarlata is a member of the New Granwall Guardians and their pyrokinetic brawler. Her creator (Spooky Ghostwriter/Tesla_Coil) worked out a story for the crossover where the New Granwall Guardians used a talisman Everard had given them in case they needed mystical assistance, which instead brought Charlotte (given Everard’s temporal insight into things, he might have know he was never going to be the one to answer that beacon).
Escarlata shows up in Ghost Girl’s The Cost of Magick card, while Ghost Dragon (another member of the Guardians) shows up in Mystic Assistance. The Rule of Three also references the team up, being Charlotte’s initial contribution of explaining basic magical theory. The original artwork and quote for New Beginnings also had Gold Dragon expressing disbelief that Charlotte was some master of magic, but Charlotte rebukes him with saying “technically, I’m over 200 years old” (and I still wish I could work this joke in somewhere) but the art wasn’t great and I couldn’t get the joke to flow naturally in the space allowed, so I switched it to the current art and quote.
My favorite part of working with them on this crossover was this conversation, which I will paraphrase:
Tesla: So is Manny the Skull Ghost Girl’s familiar or what?
Me: No, he’s just a skull that shows up in some humorous side comics because one of my cocreators loves puns and he’s a wonderful outlet for them.
Tesla: Oh… well he’s in the card art I drew.
Me: 
And that’s the rambling story of Ghost Girl cameoing in someone else’s deck.
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Some reworking I’ve been doing on Jason’s logo. Tried to incorporate some of the feedback I got from this post, but not sure if any of these are quite clicking yet (the one on the left lacks any embellishments due to them being simpler shapes on the ones of the right).
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My two cents (take it as you will):
The ones on the left are clean and cool. If I had to choose, I’d go with the top one; it’s easier to read the name. Though the bottom one does have “Jason” neatly trapped inside of “Quill,” which is a bit metaphorical.
(I can also imagine the top one being animated in credits, with Jason sliding left into position as Quill slides right. The Quill part’s full height ascenders would be covered by the name Jason, but still be legible as shown.)
I like the “Quill” form on the right-hand ones, and the top over the bottom because the logo becomes that much more clear. I don’t care for the computer/mechanical/Borg lettering on “Jason” – it reads as something rough-hewn at a distance, and up close it’s just too busy.
I do like both better than the Indiana Jones font, which is still fitting but a bit overused. I think the “tech” is as big a distinguisher as the “adventure.”
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Another one I hammered together quickly before reading your comments, Dave.
EDIT: Weird distortion occurred in the export. Fixed and reuploaded. Odd.
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