Storn's Character and Art Thread

[vf-xx]

Great work Storn and co. Looks like a great world only thing is ya'll keep referencing games from the early '80's also known as my terrible twos (feel old yet?)

and now I know where my GM came up with his hoard of Boomer clones. Dreyoggs were nifty in that none of us were expecting them but we did make short work out of them in our Super's game. On the other hand they came right on the heels of just narrowly defeating Heathen. Now to figure out where they came from in our game. */me wonders off to go beat GM*

Keep up the fun!

[Storn]

Great work Storn and co. Looks like a great world only thing is ya'll keep referencing games from the early '80's also known as my terrible twos (feel old yet?)

and now I know where my GM came up with his hoard of Boomer clones. Dreyoggs were nifty in that none of us were expecting them but we did make short work out of them in our Super's game. On the other hand they came right on the heels of just narrowly defeating Heathen. Now to figure out where they came from in our game. */me wonders off to go beat GM*

Keep up the fun!

Glad you got some use out of these pics. Maybe your GM can use this duo...

Here is a private commission for I believe is a Mutants and Masterminds character... it might be Champions. The character is from the fertile imaginings of Paul Cocker. Forgive me Paul if it isn't M&M and something else.

Dragoon.

btw, the two figures are one and the same, due to mystic transformation. Although, cynical P.I. and his pet mandragon could tell a few stories I bet...

[Crackerjack]

The Secret Origin of Yonder!

Leone Beauford II comes from the media mogul Beauford family, owners of FlashNews Inc., a popular multimedia company that specializes in super related news and entertainment. Unlike his self serving relatives, Leone II always wanted to use his wealth to push humanity further and farther, "into the wild blue Yonder". He dedicated most of his great resources to NASA and funding various research projects. His family scorned his altruism and his brothers and sisters conspired to cut him out of his will. Before his father died, Leone used the family fourtune for the last time to hire and equip a proffesinal assasin with a hightech "slicksuit". Codenamed Yonder, his assasin failed to kill his siblings, and resulted in his arrest, but the conspiracy was revealed and his name was put back in the will. Now Leone commands his fourtune from a maximum security prison, and Yonder was last seen engaging in petty supercrime in Detroit.

Yonder's slicksuit has special light/shock generators that allow him to send out blasts of concussive "seizure bolts" from his hands. It also grants the ability to see in various spectrums, as well as bolster all his physical attributes.
The assasin that truly is Yonder is skilled, but out of his leauge as far as supers are concerned, and knows it. The Yonder slicksuit isnt anything special, and he doesnt exactly use his powers with much strategy. A more experienced villain would get much more bang for his buck from the slicksuit. However a combination of blackops skills and no problem with killing innocents to acheive a short term goal makes him a dangerous opponent just because of his unpredictability.


I was just inspired ^^;;;

[mrobviousjosh]

DRAGOON IS AWESOME!!!! The creature actually reminds me of something someone playing Call of Cthulhu could conceivably summon, before going insane of course. I like the mystical transformation part, it makes perfect sense.

[smiler127]

Just wondering if you have any cool city scenes, like cityscapes done and able to post Storn? I have always, loved it when artists created pictures of the city's their heroes adventured in. Soon, I will own my very own copy of Millenium City, and am sure I'll get a good fix then too!

[RDU Neil]

Great work Storn and co. Looks like a great world only thing is ya'll keep referencing games from the early '80's also known as my terrible twos (feel old yet?)

and now I know where my GM came up with his hoard of Boomer clones. Dreyoggs were nifty in that none of us were expecting them but we did make short work out of them in our Super's game. On the other hand they came right on the heels of just narrowly defeating Heathen. Now to figure out where they came from in our game. */me wonders off to go beat GM*

Keep up the fun!

Ok... ya little whippersnapper... that's enough of the OLD jokes.

Seriously, though, I can tell you that it sucks trying to maintain a geek lifestyle in your 30's. I ran Storn and some other guys in two games last week, Thursday night and all day Saturday, and I nearly incapacitated myself. Gaming is dangerous. It keeps you from exercising, and then there is all that junk food...

... I still haven't recovered.

Now beat it ya snot nosed punk.

[Storn]

Just wondering if you have any cool city scenes, like cityscapes done and able to post Storn? I have always, loved it when artists created pictures of the city's their heroes adventured in. Soon, I will own my very own copy of Millenium City, and am sure I'll get a good fix then too!

I usually only do cityscapes when I'm working for publishers and ask me for them for particular assignments. At the gaming table, there are so many characters that are begging for illustrations, that is what I tend to do when left to my own devices.

Cracker, that was a very imaginative story for "Yonder". I like it.

vf-xx: nah, I don't feel old. A little more achy after a bout of sparring, bu that's it. I'm in my prime, although I've been gaming since 1978 or thereabouts...

Anyway, here is yet another character from Neil's RDU champions game. This is a player character called Ombra ("shadow" in Italian). And is a mimic and impersonator as well as a very tough and defensive mini-"brick". Done with digital "watercolor" over pencils.

[Storn]

Here is a private commission for a fantasy game. Here is Viktor. Paladin of a sun-god. Flaming sword and shield enchanted to work without a wielder in protection of said Viktor.

Works in certain superhero settings.....

[Fazhoul]

Here is a private commission for a fantasy game. Here is Viktor. Paladin of a sun-god. Flaming sword and shield enchanted to work without a wielder in protection of said Viktor.

Works in certain superhero settings.....

Storn,
That's probably the coolest paladin I've ever seen. Makes me want to play a paladin of a sun-god in our fantasy game. There are very few times when I look at a drawing and say "Sweeet!" This was one of them. OK, enough sucking up.

Fazhoul

[chillrb]

Here is a private commission for a fantasy game. Here is Viktor. Paladin of a sun-god. Flaming sword and shield enchanted to work without a wielder in protection of said Viktor.

Works in certain superhero settings.....

Storn,
That's probably the coolest paladin I've ever seen. Makes me want to play a paladin of a sun-god in our fantasy game. There are very few times when I look at a drawing and say "Sweeet!" This was one of them. OK, enough sucking up.

Fazhoul

Fazhoul Storn inspires creativity! I swear a few of the characters I've commissioned him to draw were very 2-D until I saw the finished product. The pics helped me put the final touches on and flesh them out into very interesting characters.

[Storn]

Here is a character for my Black Ops game that has been done for awhile, Gunmetal Silk. Silk is actually a published character in Hero's Underworld Enemies 4th ed (which I actually illustrated many years ago). She became very important when a player character, Neil's Cyberblade, turned out to be Silk's twin. I haven't shown the new pic because Silk had been kidnapped by the bad guys and last night during game play, got to reveal that she was under their control.

But here is Silk. Digital color over pencils.

[Storn]

The Campaign Continues: Malta One: Friends and Foes

{GM notes: My game sorta fills in holes when we can't get Bill, our player who commutes the longest, can't make it. Due to that fact and that I've been busy, the group's logitistics have been hard to hammer out, this campaign has not been played all that much.

The other issue, was that the hierarchy, bureaucracy and military structure of UNTIL Black Ops was confining to the role playing a bit. The PCs did not have any autonomy. There wasn't a sense of teamwork within the group.

So, we had a few discussions and mentioned the idea of doing the characters as freelance mercenaries. The other concurrent discussion was about doing a "building" campaign, a situation that was a bit like Astro City in that relationships, politics and networking were more important to the story than combat.

I had been thinking about Malta as a place to have a storyline proceed anyway... but the combo of doing a "building" campaign with freelance mercenaries was just a spot-on conclusion. The idea of the PCs owning a bar as a front for clandestine, freelance services was gold. In some ways, this was returning to a style of GMing that I am familiar with... but in Fantasy gaming...were an entire campaign centered around a Dukedom.

So, the upcoming episode was to be a transition ep between the Black Ops world and the world of Malta. As the PCs started to tire of "the game", they are called into Col. Dassault's office and...}

"You're fired"
Dassault explains to Lori and Fury that budget cuts on her Black Ops dictating letting Lori and Fury go. Black Ops just weren't getting the press or the support from the United Nations the way the "bright, shiny" UNITE was. Dassault's discretionary fund was being increased to compensate, but the expenses of training, upkeep etc meant letting some operatives go. And using more freelancers.

Wanting to keep them as future Assets, Dassault pulls some strings for Lori and Fury. Fury's wanted for crimes record has been wiped everywhere except German soil. But UNTIL and Interpol will be watching Fury, but no longer actively seeking his arrest.

Lori gets intel on her twin sister Holly aka Gunmetal Silk (see above pic!). Dr. Boloz, who had contacted Desdamona Sangetti via e-mail, claimed to have Silk. His e-mails were traced back to a Malta harbor on the "Der Stachelrochen" {the Stingray}. Der Stachelrochen has been in that harbor for 3 months.

In a stroke of fantastic luck, a long (LONG) time Asset of UNTIL owns a bar overlooking the harbor that Der Stachelrochen is moored. 2 days ago, Dassault sent in another freelancer named Roy Montgomery, a surveillance, hacking, security systems expert {this is James new PC, because his Legionnaire PC was way too loyal to UNTIL to leave}.

Fury decides to tag along with Lori (partly because he is broke, Lori is not at all, being a paranoraml merc has been very good to Lori's bank account)

They arrive at the 'On The Rocks' bar. A 400 year old mishmash of terraces and moorish architecture. Charlie Hodgkins ran the bar, but is now 92. He has not had it opened in 15 years. So, it is pretty dilapdated. However, as a surveillance post, in cannot be beat. As is the 92 year old Charlie. Who was OSS during WWII and stationed here on Malta as a radio intercept specialist listening to German and Italian radio code. After the war, he bought the bar. Which became a sorta "Spook" neutral ground and occasional safehouse during the Cold War.

Roy is already set up with multiple cameras and incredibly sophisticated surveillance equipment. He had determined that Der Stachelrochen did have Dr. Boloz on board (but only came up twice, briefly, as was whiter than a bed sheet, so obviously wasnt' hanging out in the Malta sun much). And that there were 6 "guards". These gaurds were not armed, favoring white t-shirts and shorts. Fairly aryan in appearence, definitely not from around these here parts. And deep scans did indicate presence of some cybernetic enhancement. Nothing on the scale of Fury or Lori, but it was there.

The other issue was that the yacht was surrounded by 12 grapefruit size buoys, just under the surface of the water (couldn't be seen with naked eye, but reveal on IR scans). Sophisticated sonar and sensor suites were packed into those "grapefruits".

Lori decides not to act now, but rather settle in and continue surveillance. Hoping to get a sense of the "lay of the land" and learn some intel, the team starts to mingle in with Malta life.

Bryan Fury has an encounter with a fellow german. A one Maria Von Brouewer, who is pleased to talk to another german. Maria is all class, long black hair, black bathing suit, aristocratic bearing. Which is as far from Fury's life experiences as one can get... She is not so pleased at Fury's brusque manner. But Fury learns that Von Brouewer owns "the Brandenburgh", a techno-dance club in a large warehouse in the more "touristy" district.

Lori, having become fascinated in the fresh market in eye sight of the bar, has become the defacto procurer of groceries. Where she spots a man buying groceries about 35-45 (his age is tough to tell), very handsome, in great shape and sporting a company number over a Spade tattoo'd on the shoulder. Having been raised in Viet Nam, Lori knows all too well the stories of the "death card". But this man looks very young to have been in Viet Nam during american operations.

Lori approaches and speaks French, albeit with a Viet Namese accent. The man is startled and responds in French, although with nondescript accent... and introductions are made. His name is Nick Winters. Blatant flirting ensues. A date is made to visit the nearest Oriental Importer for 2 days hence. Nick climbs into a dingy and putters out to his boat, "The Bold", which happens to be the only ship of that class or bigger that has been in the harbor longer than Der Stachelrochen and is moored fairly close to Dr. Boloz's vessel. Locals refer to Nick as "the eccentric, rich American".

Meanwhile, Roy finds out from a couple of waitresses that dr. boloz has visited the island 3 months ago and was drinking heavily. He didn't have his entourage with him. He was "creepy".

[Storn]

Malta One: F&F continued....

That night, Fury and Roy decide to go check out the Brandenburgh. Which turns out to be the happening dance club, complete with a bas relief, mural replica of Berlin's famous Brandenburgh gate on the far wall. Roy quickly hits on Carol, the cute Dutch Stewardess and at the end of the evening manages to get her phone number. She will be back in town in a week.

Fury gets hit on by a diminutive French goth chick named Gaby. Literally. She tries to slap him to get his attention. Well, she got his attention and they get hammered and go back to her place.

Roy, walking back to the bar late that night, spots a feminine figure silhouetted against the moon, wearing sorta black, superheroy, flowing tunic, banded at forearm and calf. She moves so fast, more than human.. more like Lori in her full cybernetic glory. Malta has a dark prowler of the night?


The next day, Lori decides to swim out to Nick's sailing yacht to surprise him. The guards on Dr. Boloz's ship first are fascinated by this lovely creature swimming in the harbor to The Bold. But when she gets on the boat, the obviously recognize her. Nick, in the meantime, is no where to be seen. His cabin is locked....nothing that a good swift kick wouldn't solve..but Lori just leaves some wine and a note stating she stopped by.

This is all caught on tape (or disc) by Roy and the surveillance equipment. Tense hours tick by after Lori returns. The Team realizes that the reason for recognition is that the guards know her twin. They prepare for a reaction. Nothing happens.

Night falls. Around 10:30, activity on Der Stachelrochen picks up. 2 guards are starting to scan the coastline actively with high grade military binoculars. They do not spot the superbly entrenched surveillance of Roy, but they obviously are on edge over on the yacht. Suddenly, 2 black, commando clad men start loading 6 black plastic, large cargo boxes into a black dingy. They then exit the harbor, go out of sight and obviously head out down the coast line to the east.

An even tenser night passes. The team is on high alert for an attack. But morning comes without incident. Lori tries Nick's cell phone again. This time she gets him. He is on a flight coming back to Malta and is due in 2 hours. He will be on time for the one o'clock date. Lori warns him off... that his boat "might be compromised". Nick is totally rattled and quickly cancels the date and hangs up. Hmmm.....

The team decides that a logical move on the Der Stachelrochen mooks part would be to set up their own surveillance post in the rocks overlooking the harbor, trying to spot Nick, who they would obviously know of, or Lori. Fury is sent out to check it our the possible situation. While Lori and Roy prepare to use Lori as "bait" down in the market.

But then Silk makes an appearence on Der Stachelrochen deck. She has some kind of weird thing on the side of her face. Lori and Roy zoom in and see some kind of cybernetic doohicky (think 7 of 9's face attachement) with wires going into Silk's ear. Her appearence is brief, but shocking. Dr. Boloz did boast about "controlling Raven's worst enemy" in his e-mails to Desdamona.

Meanwhile, Fury doesn't find a surveillance post, but he does find the skillful camoflauging of the 6 high tech cargo crates (big enough for an arsenal!). Fury's criminal past of drug smuggling pays off and he finds the crates. One is slightly ajar, but the electronic lock is engaged. Fury and Roy working together via cell phone make quick work of the lock. Inside, surprisingly, is several changes of civilian clothes, with obviously two outfits missing. And the commando garb the two Rochen mooks wore was present in duffle bags. Not wanting to get caught, Fury closes the one case and returns to the bar.

Lori enters the marketplace with Fury shadowing her. Now they figure that the Rochen mooks are in civilian garb, but probably armed and looking for Lori.

But Roy spots on one his outlying auxilury cameras a jeep going by. In it driving, is one of the Rochen mooks... along with 4 new guys, wearing the clothes that Fury described being in the crate. The other Rochen mook is not in the car. {The 2 mooks picked up the 4 new operatives at the airport this morning}.

Fury tries to intercept, but there are so many alleyways in the Malta towns, the mooks must have taken one out of sight of Fury. And that is where we stopped the game. It was getting late in the evening.

The one bit of business I did address, sorta out of time continuity, is that Roy was trying to put cameras in various places on the rooftops to increase his surveillance. The female in black, destroyed two of his cameras, the last one, she waggles her finger in front of the camera as a no-no. She wears a Maltese Cross on her left breast (light gray against her black silk tunic).

[RDU Neil]

Intersting to note, is that while I started off playing Lori really smart... I made a major error halfway through the game. When I had Lori swim out to the yacht to see Nick, I thought I might draw some attention to her, but not as much as happened. Lori (Cyber Blade) was trying to take her time with this mission, and blew it by stirring up the hornets nest.

See, I figured that they might see a resemblance between me and my sister, but I didn't know if the mooks on the ship would have clear information about my sister. They might have been unknowing guards... but instead they proved to be well informed agents.

The second piece is, that I never realized that Storn considered Lori and her sister as TWINS. To me, and at the beginning of the concept, they were just sisters. Looking similar, but not exactly alike. Somewhere through the game, this concept has metamorphosized into "twins" concept, and this was a miscommunication between me and the GM. He had the guards see an almost identical likeness of someone they knew. I was expecting they might see a resemblance, but not enough to jump to conclusions.

Whoops. This kind of thing can happen in shared campaigns, as I'd originally introduced Gunmetal Silk in games with other characters, and Storn used her as well, and this one point was just slightly different between the two of us. Part of the medium of gaming, but it was important, last night.

I don't care... the game is fine... great really... but it really did color how I perceived the situation very differently from Storn.

Neil

[Storn]

Cripes! You mean Holly (Silk) isn't Lori's twin? wow. talk about miscommunication...

As for Lori's major mistake. Not really, it forces the bad guys to respond in ways that they aren't comfortable doing. Der Stachelrochen has been weakened in terms of numbers.... Im not so sure it was a mistake in the long run....

There was some miscalculations on what the Rochen away team was up to... but perfectly reasonable miscalculations and certainly not ones that has put the PC team in any worse position. In fact, the recon of Fury put the Team in a better position and revealed quite a bit of Intel on the Rochen Away team.

[vf-xx]

Anyway, here is yet another character from Neil's RDU champions game. This is a player character called Ombra ("shadow" in Italian). And is a mimic and impersonator as well as a very tough and defensive mini-"brick". Done with digital "watercolor" over pencils.

Wow! This guy looks almost exactly how I imagine my Darkforce generator. NICE!

[Storn]

<<<Wow! This guy looks almost exactly how I imagine my Darkforce generator. NICE!>>

Cool! That's why I post these, I hope that others can get some use of them too!

[jonson]

** bump **

gotta get my "fix" of Storn stuff.

[Dominique]

Any chance we'll get a chance to see you do some M&M material for Green Ronin? A soursce book or adventure?

[Storn]

Any chance we'll get a chance to see you do some M&M material for Green Ronin? A soursce book or adventure?

I would love to. There has been no discussion about it though. I do count Green Ronin as a client for a few of their excellent d20 products (plug, plug! Withch's Handbook, Fang and Fury, I think I did some work for the upcoming Unholy Warriors... or was it another book... sheesh, memory like a sieve.).

So, who knows... hopefully down the line?

[Inazuma]

Yes, that'd be cool to see. If Storn is good enough for Champions, he's good enough for Mutants & Masterminds!

[Dominique]

How about somethig a PDF source book for RPGnet? with the background material from your campaign?

[Dogbiter]

hey Storn. Huge fan.

Iwas reading on the internet about the character commisions that you do. I did not notice a timetable for how quick you might get the artwork to the byer. (Not to say the info wasnt there, im infamous for my ability to overlook things/lack of intelligence). Anyway just wondering how soon I could expect a picture of my character after you recived the payment.

Thanks

[jonson]

** BUMP **

When is the next scheduled get together for youse-guys???
Need by "Storn Game" fix!

[Nuadha]

We're supposed to play tonight, but I'm pretty sure that Storn's been pretty busy, so he may not be updating quickly.

-James