Iron Man 2′s Secret Sauce: 3-D Printing

Iron Man 2 Article from Fastcompany

clipped from www.fastcompany.com Exclusive pics of the 3-D printing process behind the Iron Man 2 costumes. Iron Man 2 opens today! Are you excited? Really? Huh. Well, keep reading anyway. You know someone’s gonna drag you into a showing. On screen, with all those suits whirling into place, you’d probably assume that the “costumes” are merely virtual. Actually, they’re not: Maybe the most cutting-edge facet of Iron Man 2‘s production was the real-life fabrication of the suits. Using 3-D printers, the film’s production company, Legacy Effects, was able to have artists draw an art concept–and then physically make that concept in just four hours. The “Eden” printers, which are made by Objet, work by using an inkjet cartridge to print a layer of powdered plastic, which is then fused with UV light. Each layer is just microns thick, and the product gets printed from the bottom up. Here’s video of the process, though not an actual Iron Man costume:

For Vin

Yeah that’s right Vin Diesel Plays Dungeons and Dragons, got a problem with that.

clipped from www.penny-arcade.com

Another Sad Day In the World Of Dungeons And Dragons

Dave Arneson, Co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons has passed today. May the gods look kindly upon him for his great works, Thank you Arneson for giving us this great game of Dungeons and Dragons. May you and Gygax both be rolling 20′s together in the Planes.

clipped from www.lordkilgore.com Grognardia posts the sad news: I’ve just received word that Dave Arneson, co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons, has passed away. Dave Arneson (1947-2009) This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 at 2:20 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Arneson has died

Welcome to the Fools Grove

Hey looking to find some strange creatures to torture your players with then you may want to send them to the Fool’s Grove. You will find creatures like the Campestri mean spirited little fungi, how about the Flail Snail for a little battery.

clipped from www.wizards.com The Dungeon Delve supplement introduces the delve style of adventure to anyone who hasn’t had the fortune to be at a convention featuring our RPGA delves. Coinciding with Dungeon Delve‘s release last month, we are pleased to offer the following “missing” delve—originally set for party level 2 1/2. In a time long before the current age of the world, fomorians began magical experimentation with myriad life forms, fey and otherwise, to produce nefarious guardians and soldiers. Such experimentation inevitably results in successes and failures. Loath to part with their failed experiments without sowing some form of wickedness, the fomorians devised mystical prisons for their underwhelming monstrosities. These they built upon or near the surface of the world, where their castoff pets could do harm to the fomorians’ enemies.

A Gentlemen’s Duel

Here is a great little animated short By Blur. It’s called “A Gentlemen’s Duel.

clipped from www.youtube.com Watch Video

From Games Information Blog

I thought this was very cool. I was checking my email today and got this great surprise my blog was used to as an example of “100 Pen and Paper Roleplaying Games You Should Play Before You Die” in fact it is the 1. Dungeons and Dragons. Thanks to Gamesinfodepot.com for using my blog.

Now shoo, go read the full list.

clipped from www.gamesinfodepot.com Games Information Blog 100 Pen and Paper Roleplaying Games You Should Play Before You Die Pen and paper roleplaying games are now a small-ish hobby. But if you’re a fan of this type of recreation, there are a few pen and paper roleplaying games which might be considered essential. Here’s my list; check off the ones you’ve played, then give the rest a try. Dungeons & Dragons – The original game that started the pen and paper roleplaying hobby. Play any and every version of it that you can. Dungeons and Dragons is fun. Fantasy Roleplaying Games All pen and paper roleplaying games are “fantasy roleplaying games”, but this particular subcategory refers to “fantasy” in terms of the more traditional sense of “sword & sorcery” type fantasy.

Gaming Humor

Here are some funny things that happen at the gaming table. These are all clipped from Wizards of the Coast, you can read more just follow the link.

clipped from www.wizards.com It helps if you pronounce the hyphen From Jacob: DM: The marilith disarms you. PC: But I’m a monk. I’m not using any weapons. DM: My bad. Let me do this again… she dis-arms you. As Columbus writes “Spain” on the right edge of the paper… DM: The passageway ends. You can go left or right. David: Let’s go left. Jacob: Wait. Let’s go right. David: Why right? Jacob: Well, I just think that because we fought the trolls back in a room that was on the right, we should go right. David: [Incredulous] What? Jacob: I’m on the edge of the paper. If we go left, I’ll run out of paper. David: OK, let’s go right. Spelling counts From Bob: A player passed me a note to tell me that he was disguised as a “pheasant.” He was extremely surprised when the bad guys entered the tavern to see his character in a bird costume, trying to be discreet.

Famous People Who Play Dungeons and Dragons

Here is a small list of famous people who play Dungeons and Dragons, on the list Stephen Colbert, Vin Diesel, Wil Wheaton, Hulk Hogan, Seth Green. Here is an URL for a larger list

clipped from thetorchonline.com Tim Duncan, Judi Dench, John McCain Mike Meyers claimed to play D&D on Inside the Actor’s Studio. Vin Diesel, a longtime player, wrote an introduction to the book Thirty Years of Adventure: Celebrating Dungeons and Dragons. Judy Dench was reportedly introduced to the game by Vin Diesel. Matthew Lillard has played (and apparently beat) kids for charity. Basketball player Tim Duncan is a long-time player. Robin Williams has played for charity, but admits to playing at home as well. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon were introduced to the game by Kevin Smith. Daryl Hannah supposedly plays (though I could find no coroberating evidence). Jesse McCarthy and Lauren Graham have at least touched a D&D box. Joss Whedon played D&D in college. Stephen Colbert was a big player as a kid and still plays now. Will Wheaton reportedly played on the set of Star Trek: The Next Generation (stop the presses!). clipped from www.youtube.com Watch Video

Freeport Shall Live In 4e

(XRP) Expeditious Retreat Press has been given the right to publish the Freeport Companion which will be compatible for 4th edition Dungeons and Dragons.

clipped from www.xrpshop.citymax.com Expeditious Retreat Press Acquires the Rights to Produce the Freeport Companion compatible with the 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons (Coshocton, OH; March 25, 2009) Expeditious Retreat Press has acquired the rights from Green Ronin Publishing, LLC to produce the Freeport Companion compatible with the 4th Edition of Dungeons & Dragons. The book will complement The Pirate’s Guide to Freeport, a systemless setting book published by Green Ronin in 2007, and make it easy for GMs to us e Freeport in their 4e campaigns. “We’re excited about the opportunity to translate Freeport into the 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons mechanics,” noted Suzi Yee, XRP’s project manager of the 4e Freeport Companion. “Freeport began as a d20 System setting,” added Green Ronin President Chris Pramas, “so it’s only natural to adapt it to the new edition and XRP is the perfect company for the job.”

The Obsidian Portal

Now here is a site for you to gather all your story and campaign moments into a living journal. The Obsidian Portal allows you create a blog and a wiki of your Dungeons and Dragons game so the you may create a better story, take hold of your creations and have a better gaming experience.

clipped from www.obsidianportal.com What is ObsidianPortal? Obsidian Portal allows you to create Dungeons and Dragons campaign websites and other tabletop role-playing games. Rather than trying to automate the playing of the game, Obsidian Portal provides tools to help facilitate the storytelling. Every campaign gets a shared blog/wiki to showcase their story, as well as integrated tools to help track NPCs, locations, treasure, and all the other minutae that makes up an RPG. Check out this video for more details.