Living in the Shadows: Special Projects, Extra Karma points for LITS PCs Options

[Mister Juan]

The very best would be if you could give me an exact list of photos you would need. I can also take pictures of stuff that could pass for "any place". Like the inside of a coffee shop, outside/inside of a bar/club, parks, night or day city skyline, corporate looking buildings, etc....

What I do know I have, that could be of some use would be:
-Irish Pub picutres (bar)
-Few downtown buildings
-Few shots of a city at night
-Decrepit looking old factory/warehouse
-Old tug boat
-Parks
-Pier
-Streets (night)
-Construction site
-subway
-sky/clouds

[WinterRat1]

Hey I could definitely use that 'decrepit looking old factory/warehouse' for Cao Jaan's Warehouse! If Sedna's willing to take it, that was one of the pictures I was going to hunt for to give her.

[Mister Juan]

I'll try to get a small gallery up and running so I can show you what I have.
Unfortunately, they're only exterior shots (cause I got busted by security trying to sneak in ;)) and it's of an old sugar factory if I'm not mistaken.

EDIT: Damn it... my domain is being transfered at the moment, so I can't upload crap. Anyone else has an ftp where I could upload web galleries?

[WinterRat1]

From Aug. 28:

[Sedna]

In case it hasn't become really obvious, I don't naturally think in imagery -- and in fact I hardly ever think visually. Suggestions such as those which have just been thrown up help immensely in me trying to think what images might work.

Uploading: the livingintheshadows.org domain has tons of space and unlimited bandwidth, feel free to use it. I think you already have access?

[Sedna]

Cover: any other colour combinations people want to test? Saturday will be the dedicated cover-overhauling day. (Tomorrow is an actual scheduled day off! I'll read, but late.)

[WinterRat1]

[WinterRat1]

Character Descriptions

Avalanche

[ Spoiler ]

Height: 5’3�
Weight: 185
Physical: Male dwarf, Black hair, pale skin (albino), pink irises.

3) Does your character have an ethnic background?
Richard is a mixed breed Anglo. He is ¼ English, and that’s about the extent he knows of his ethnic background.

4) What does your character look like?
Richard stands about 5’3� tall, fairly tall for a dwarf. His dark hair contrasts sharply with his pale albino skin, and his pink eyes unsettle some people.

5) What does your character dress like?
Never on the cutting edge of fashion, Richard’s only really vital piece of clothing is his armor jacket, which he wears nearly every day even when he’s just working the shop. He washes it regularly. Everything else is just the first clean item of clothing he lays his hands on in the morning.

6) Does your character have physical quirks?
Like all albinos, Richard is sensitive to sunlight. He also suffers from night blindness. Were it not for his thermo vision, he would have a much harder time seeing anything in the dark.

Blaze

[ Spoiler ]

3) Does your character have an ethnic background?
No ethnic background except that of brief instruction in the ways of a leopard shaman.

4) What does your character look like?
Blaze is a tall Human, standing 6’2� he weighs about 190 lbs. He has very light blond hair and blue eyes. His hair is kept cut short, and his eyes are almost always covered by his custom shades, left to him by his brother by way of mail.

5) What does your character dress like?
Blaze has a trademarked and distinctive style. Both on the job and when just on his own he has a bright red secure long coat that he wears. His other clothing is both fine and tres chic clothes. He is always in red no matter what the occasion. He wears the clothing to represent the blood that he and all others have spilt bringing justice to the corporations. He feels that this is something he must do.

6) Does your character have physical quirks?
Physically Blaze is Almost the exact definition of average. He has only one real physical quirk; along his right forearm he has a series of deep scars that are all he has left of the assassination that killed his parents. The scars were from the flying glass after the explosion that was blamed on illegal experiments. The scars run up along his are from just above his wrist to his elbow.

Klaus Ebert

[ Spoiler ]

Metatype: Troll
Sex: Male
Height: 216
Weight: 172
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blond

3) Does your character have an ethic background?
White german trolls.

Hans description:
Hans is a blond haired, blue eyed troll, a little over seven feet tall, and about 350 (exatly Shaquile O'Neil's size). He has very fine features for a troll, and is even considered good looking by some humans. Put horns on Kluas Kinsky's head, and you've pretty much got him (hey, how many trolls have a charisma of 4?). He wears his hair combed straight back. His horns come from the side of his head and go sideways before they go up, more like a bulls than a goats. His hat wears the same as a normal human does.

His clothes are the best that can be bought at Lordstroms, although nothing that would be considered "tres chic". Typical would be a dark blue suit, with a lighter blue shirt, a striped tie with both shades of blue, as well as black and silver. Dress shoes with soft soles for running and sneaking complete the basic suit, with a wide brimmed fedora and overcoat to block the ever present Seattle rain over the top when outside. After years of being a cop, it's ingrained in him to wear a suit, and if he's gotta wear a suit, it may as well be a good looking suit.

4) What does your character look like?
Looks like a smallish troll in nice clothes. Long blond hair pulled straight back, bright blue eyes.

5) What does your character dress like?
Usually wears a dark suit while, plus his long coat.

6) Does your character have physical quirks?
A slight limp is all that's noticable. Has a lot of scarring on his back and his right leg from a car bomb.

Cao Jaan

[ Spoiler ]

Race: Human
Sex: Male
Age: 25
Description:
A short oriental gentleman wearing clothing that looks as if it has been recycled. Twice. His head is covered with a fine stubble of a very dark brown.
He carries a very well used rucksack with only one (evidently much repaired) strap attached.

He looks calm, except when he has missed his meditation session for the previous night. If that happens, he has a slightly edgy look, and his eyes take on a haunted appearance.

3) Does Jaan have an ethnic background?
I think the name says it all- and all it says is Chinese (Cao Cao being a famous general/warlord/leader from the Three Kingdoms legends, and Leung Jaan being a legend in the art of Wing Chun). His upbringing followed fairly traditional, then moderately traditional lines.

4) What does Mr Cao look like?
Jaan is of about average height for one of Chinese descent (at a guess, about 5'8"), with dark brown eyes and a shaved head. An oriental dragon tattoo adorns his lower left side and his back- resplendent in greens, golds, and a touch of red!

When he has not had a chance to meditate within the last day or so, his eyes take on a slightly harder set- giving him the look of a crouching tiger (and what an apt title that makes, does it not?). However, if he manages to keep up his observances, he can actually appear quite calm and amiable.

His habit of shaving his head evolved recently due to the new, slightly religious, leaning his life took after his encounter with his totem.

5) What does Jaan dress like?
The last of his silken uniforms, beautifully crafted and endowed with the green and gold dragon with blazing red eyes that marks a member of the Ascendant Dragon, was burnt some time ago as a symbolic severance of ties to the past.

Mr Cao now moves ahead with his life, wearing scavenged clothes- generally faded jeans and loose woolen jumpers, but making do with whatever is available.

6) Does Jaan have physical quirks?
Other than tending to seem fairly alert to danger, Jaan doesn't have any particularly outstanding quirks. His stealth and martial skills allowed him to retain his natural amount of limbs and other component parts, though he does have a faint scar from a knife wound on his right forearm.

Lady Cheng

[ Spoiler ]

GENDER: Female.
METASPECIES: Homo sapiens robustus.
RACE:One-half Russian; one-quarter Cantonese; one-quarter Aztlaner.
HAIR COLOR: Brown, near-black.
EYE COLOR: Blue.
HEIGHT: 190.5 cm (6’ 3�).
WEIGHT: 99 Kg (218 lbs).

3)Does your character have an ethnic background?
Yes. She’s one-half Russian, one-quarter Chinese, one-quarter Aztlaner. She
has dark brown, nearly black, hair, pale blue eyes, and surprisingly pale skin given her Oriental/Amerind ethnic background. I’ve included a pic of actress Summer Glau as a good indication of what “Cheng� probably looked like before she became a human-looking Ork.

4) What does your character look like?
See question #3 for a concise answer as to generalities. She now stands about
190 cm tall (6’2�) and her weight hovers around 85 Kg (187 lbs.) She has pronounced muscular definition due to a combination of regular exercise, her Ork physique, and her dietware bioware.

5) What does your character dress like?
It greatly depends on what the situation requires. She has an excellent grasp of
what makes her look good, and if she wants to impress socially she has a cocktail dress and somewhat more conservative business attire. High heels, she has concluded, were invented by sadistic men; besides which, she has enough height naturally to eschew them most of the time. A lot of the time when she’s more casually working, she’ll dress herself in more comfortable attire – blue jeans or cargo pants, muscle shirts, woven wool/cashmere sweaters, boots, and so forth. Usually anything she wears casually will have a number of pockets for calipers, needle-nose pliers, Swiss army knives, Leathermen toolkits, paperclips, six-inch straight-edge rulers/protractors, and other miscellanea. And she’s never caught without at least a small notepad to jot notes, even though her mnemonic enhancer usually ensures that she doesn’t forget details.

6) Does your character have physical quirks?
She smokes cigarettes – something she picked up as a kid around the vehicle
bays where her father often worked and which she still indulges in. It relaxes her, and helps her stay slim – otherwise she’d probably be gnawing on munchies often.

Durin

[ Spoiler ]

3) Does your character have an ethnic background?
No info given by player. Presumed Caucasian, possibly with Italian roots.

4) What does your character look like?
Rough features, strong jaw, large nose, brown hair, brown eyes, growing a beard (it is not a full “traditional� dwarven beard yet)

5) What does your character dress like?
Wears generic, blending clothing, Secure Jacket

6) Does your character have physical quirks?
Has a pair of half cut reading glasses, the kind you perch at the end of your nose. He pulls them out when he writes down Dwarven tradition notes.

Tin Star

[ Spoiler ]

Race: Human
Sex: Male
Age: 27
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 195lbs
Hair: Blonde
Eyes: Blue

3) Does your character have an ethnic background.

If you ask him, he'll call himself a Texan. This is not to be mistaken for being a Confederate. Texas should, and will be free.

4) What does your character look like?

Steele isn't the tallest of men, but he projects himself with a certain aura, the aura of easy confidence. The simple confidence is reflected in his eyes, steely grey to match his name. Despite the fact he's usually sporting five o'clock shadow, his raven black hair is usually cut nice and respectably short.

5) What does your character dress like?

He tends to dress like he's just stepped off the ranch. A simple pair of faded jeans, worn in cowboy boots (sans spurs), a tight black ribbed shirt, and a ten gallon hat, black, to top it off. Nice and simple.

6) Does your character have physical quirks?

The only quirk per se would be that he's rather fond of cigarillos. He always seems to have a couple on his person, and a lighter good and handy.

[Sedna]

So now there's three full page images I'd really like for the first volume, if at all possible. Deadlines ... well, obviously I'd like sooner rather than later for everything since I'm trying for a final layout, but the outside deadline is Friday.

The first is at Miner's Landing, Blaze (see WinterRat's physical description) and Margaret (think sweet middle-aged lady) sitting together at a restaurant table. Off-hand, I'm picturing a mid-upscale restaurant with tables at reasonable distances from each other (not particularly widely scattered, but definitely not as crowded as most restaurants seem to be these days). It's an emotional meeting.

The second is a female in sun-greeting pose, either standing or kneeling, but the arms should be raised. Could be as abstract as you like to play with -- in fact, I think abstract might work very well, here -- but the general build should suggest a waifish older teen with minimal breasts.

The third is WinterRat's image of the Paradigm Shift. Can I leave you two, WinterRat and Mister Juan, to try to work this one out together over the week?

Re Alleycat, if we go with the group picture: there's at least a dozen different descriptions floating out there, all of them equally accurate. She is a very youngish-looking elf, and that doesn't change. Four different ways to go here:

1. background her entirely;

2. give her any one of the described "looks" of the text (gah -- I'll spoiler them in here later);

3. go with the built-in tan (cold olive skin almost tinged with blue) high cheekbone look of Natalie Portman or Kiera Knightly (waifish direction), "chopped" mega-short white hair, wiry rather than muscled;

4. or use the look described in the astral quest, which, though still waifish, is quite a bit more mature-looking, dark dark blue eyes, long silver hair, apparently very beautiful, and comes closer to a drow than I care to really think about.

A few cover picture options will be up in about an hour. Pixelation is still an issue, but right now I'm looking for colour feedback. I've also got a few advertisements ready for feedback.

[Sedna]

Okay, with the sheer numbers and upload/download times I'm running into with a very low-speed connection (yay, dial-up), it's going to be much easier and faster if I just link to a single page with all the links. Here it is:

Book samples

I'll add in other images, advertisements, and book samples as I get to them over the next week.

(Sorry I'm later than expected. Got pulled away.)

[WinterRat1]

What about going with orange for the sunset?

Couple thoughts:

- I don't like the lights on the letters (e.g. Cover 5)
- I prefer the title plain (e.g. Cover 6)
- I prefer the title more in the middle of the page (e.g. Cover 1)

Those are a few opinions from yours truly.

[grendel]

I'm for the gray or the black covers, although I agree with WinterRat1 that the lights on the title are a no-go. Also, I've got issues with using a Colt M1911 as a picture for a Savalette Guardian, but I don't have the resources to scan in the picture of the Savalette from Fields of Fire. It would probably be more accurate to have either an AMT .44 Magnum, or an HK USP, or even an IMI Desert Eagle as the picture as the Savalette was a large handgun, but a 1911 will do I suppose.

[Mister Juan]

Canon Guns:
http://www.freewebs.com/theonerronin/canonfirearms.htm

[Sedna]

The gold behind the lettering is now gone. Title on cover has to be a bit off-centre, however. Remember, we have to allow for the binding.

Uploading a bunch of images again, including a revised Savalette: check back in a couple of hours. Also, check out the intended back page image before deciding on cover colours, by way of approximate match.