Fighting Fantasy book 31, lotsa lizardmen and dinos

 Battleblade warrior number 31.  Great art. Mighty Lizardmen empire.  

See Spellsingers gamebook review https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgHAefgTBfQ

Time 18:45 has great pterodactyl with toothiness and leaf-end on tail, my favorite kind. 

AD&D vs 3.5e vs. D&D - Chuuls maybe came from Garbugs

I ran into the Garbug monster, doing my nightly AD&D 2e monster perusing. And the site I was using didn't have a picture. These guys had the picts up, and a nice theory about ... maybe since Garbugs disappeared after 2e AD&D and the Chuul appeared in 3e/3.5e D&D... maybe they are sort of the same monster. 

https://ravencrowking.blogspot.com/2022/08/lets-convert-fiend-folio-garbug-black.html

https://www.tumblr.com/thecreaturecodex/185094259930/garbug

A Chuul. Avg 8 ft long. 

A Garbug. They could fly a tiny bit. ~Same size as Chuul tho, 8-10 ft long. 

This guy has a Deep Dive on Chuuls. https://dumpstatadventures.com/blog/deep-dive-the-chuul

• They love to eat Lizardmen. 
• Yeah, a good story would be saving / allying with lizardfolk to rid the swamps of the Chuul monsters. 
• ***also, underdark Chuul.
• Quote: Some Chuul prefer to live underground, and they prefer the meat of troglodytes and the occasional drow. If none are around, they are more than willing to make do with you.
• 
  

Donnie Darko

Been a long time since I watched it.  Wow, what a great movie. Makes you think... a lot.   

NOTE TO PARENTS- probably need to fastforward skip that one psychiatrist scene… embarrassing. Plus all throughout, lotsa cussing.  Still is perfect probably for the college kids, as was I back on the first viewing.  

Freaky thing over house. 

Just did the directors cut… has more hints.  The link below really goes into details of the scifi aspects. 

This https://thecinemaholic.com/donnie-darko-explained/ Has some great stuff… mostly the scifi parts, but also a nice reflection on life, death, God, love, and sacrifice. 

But my thoughts are of love and self sacrifice.  Choices you make.  Save those you love, you know?  

G3 prep, random ideas from Cadash and Astyanax. Drow.

 CADASH 

Make a lava pit to go across.  See a KEY or a SIGN about FLUTE to play to make magical bridge appear.  

• Have a nice ghost  or neutral ghost… maybe fey elf ghost  say this is your trial. Evil to be defeated… first pass this test  … recieve award to help you defeat those dark ones from under the deep ground.
• It appears behind the Maw door? Something emotional drags you toward it  
• You see a flute over there not too far  
• But who plays? It matters whi h PC  
• Optional way to achieve success is… magic toort over to x  ? Or blocked? Or makes you tport incorrectly. Dangerous 
• FLY wont work.. magic winds pull u down  
• So how?

(Have a DOOR or two)  that looks like a giant MAW of a lion or something… only teeth and mouth visible.  

A BLOB of fire that floats fwd… it’s a fire elemental of sorts. 

A walking boulder w a face… an EARTH ELEMENTAL of sorts.  

ASTYANAX

Red skellies. Immune fire.  One hit die cold. A WHOLE ROOM of them. You’ll get swarmed. 

BLACK DRAGON GAME

Fossils in wall.  Horseshoecrab. Ammonite.  Giant monster, dino like.

A FLAME FACED dude w horns.  Flaming legs.  Throws fire circle.  

DROW

Floating bluewhite disk… the priestess rides above all, thinking herself better.

A gnome tries to speak, says “speeter wabs” instewd of spider webs.  

Cadash arcade game had a Roper, Black Pudding. What else?

 See Vanguard’s arcade video time 4:45 or so for the first Roper. A Black Pudding boss was before that.  

But a Roper!? Seriously surprised… has to be the only game to unofficially have one.  

https://www.youtube.com/live/YZA4k-LeWa8

What else, what other monsters are clearly inspired by dnd? Where the bone throwers just trolls? Actual useful game links below:

• Ropers https://thekingofgrabs.com/2023/02/13/cadash-arcade/#jp-carousel-237880
• Black pudding
• Small slime/oozes
• Maybe trolls, but man sized https://thekingofgrabs.com/2023/02/13/cadash-arcade/#jp-carousel-237878
• Pigmen, probably are orcs https://thekingofgrabs.com/2023/02/13/cadash-arcade/#jp-carousel-237814
• Rock hand spell, forgetting name https://thekingofgrabs.com/2023/02/13/cadash-arcade/#jp-carousel-237886
• Weird sea Beholders with crab claws… I think they are in dnd somewhere https://thekingofgrabs.com/2023/02/13/cadash-arcade/#jp-carousel-237931
• 
  

Check out the big red flying blob here… not seeing it in motion it already gives me dnd ideas.  A Lovecraft monster? Or almost like a firey blob elemental… sounds like a fun new monster to spring on the party in G3’s firey areas.  

https://thekingofgrabs.com/2023/02/13/cadash-arcade/

https://thekingofgrabs.com/2023/02/13/cadash-arcade/#jp-carousel-237822

And

https://thekingofgrabs.com/2023/02/13/cadash-arcade/#jp-carousel-237812

Oops, i think it is just death gore animations, see here.. https://thekingofgrabs.com/2023/02/13/cadash-arcade/#jp-carousel-237816

But that’s ok, still cool looking.  

PLAYING CADASH INFO, best info here https://retromaggedon.com/index.php/cadash-tg16-walkthrough-2/#CadashTG16gameplay

Chitine monster in dnd, Esper’s analysis on more monsters

 Since 2e.  See Esper’s yt…near 20 min mark.  

They are 4 armed spidermen.  

30:20 Rakshasa. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sg_Z4GoJ54g

Line art in 2e AD&D - A Paladin in Hell (spoilers)

 I love me some line art... and AD&D second edition just has spectacular art [mostly] all around. Take this for instance, out of the "A Paladin in Hell":

That bone devil's skull-face is mostly white, but it works. All those detailed lines in other areas are tremendous. I'm not sure what the fuzzy white squares are... maybe some issue with a scan. 

These two are, I think, Pit Fiends. Probably the best versions of them I've run into. 

BTW, this is one hard module. https://www.sfsite.com/10b/pal43.htm

And https://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/classic/rev_1254.phtml

"At first it may seem like a 100% hack-fest, but that's a trick. Tactics and smart thinking are the only way for a player to win this adventure. This adventure is great for a gaming group who have characters that they have worked up to level 20 or so and find that there seems to be no more challenges. Well this module is a challenge and if completed it will give the players something the talk about for years."

How to SPOT AI slop art - this is not by Philippe Druillet

 

So I am here to help you identify fake art, made by AI... that steals the work of others, not to mention your SOUL.  Yes, AI art is really getting on my nerves. This fake Druillet-StarWars piece is all over the internet, tricking people into thinking it is really by Druillet. It cannot be, and I'll point out many reasons... logical and visual. 

1. Logical - How could this be the inspiration for Star Wars... it makes no sense. There was never one artist who came up with Darth Vader, the Death Star, Stormtroopers, and some other ships all in one fell swoop. No this never happened... search for Star Wars original concept art, and you'll see rough sketches and that sort of thing, along with some nice near-finished products. 
2. Visual - Why is Vader's head tiny? Makes him look simian... no way, I can't believe an artist who liked Vader would do that. 
3. Visual - Why are the stormtroopers' heads turned into Giger-esque Alien bio-mech things that disappear into eternity? Not at all a Star Wars vibe. 
4. Visual - Stormtroopers... where are their hands... those horizontal lines? Do their shoulders make any sense at all? The one on the far right is especially confusing... where is his torso/shoulder/whatever?
5. Logical - Why is the Death Star lined up like a planet next to small planets and a sun? It makes no sense... the Deathstar was never shown that way... it is a destroyer, not a friend of other planets. And it isn't 10 times bigger than average planets either, it's the size of a moon at best. 
6. Visual - Why is the reflection in Vader's eyes inconsistent... wouldn't they be identical or nearly? 

Here is some real original concept art for Star Wars; the first link has maybe all of them (page thru at bottom), the second has a few:

https://www.sickchirpse.com/original-star-wars-concept-art/39/

https://www.belloflostsouls.net/2022/12/star-wars-stunning-concept-art-of-the-original-trilogy.html

Love this one with the monstrous aliens. 

Stormtrooper with lightsaber (and shields) was a weird thought back then, if you hadn't seen this. Also, I might have read that the monster behind the good guys was an early version of Chewie. 

One more of early Chewie, yeah pretty sure that's who it is. I think I've read that Han+Luke was one character at one time. And everybody knows the droids were central to the story (Lucas talked about Kurasawa's Hidden Fortress's two low tier guys and the story from their point of view), and that C-3P0 was based on the old movie Metropolis. Love the funky R2-D2 arm, so wonky. Was that a blond Leia? 

Earlier Vader concepts. Notice the Samurai helmet style, not the tiny brain simian style. Oh man, lots more info on Vader's look here, awesome. I see Nazi, Japan, etc., but didn't know about Lawrence of Arabia. 

Lunchbox front cover from school, oh yeah. 

What kind of Undead is this

What kind of undead is this? At first glance, I thought it was a skeleton. But look at the hands... not very skeletal. And check the teeth... extremely pointy.

Data privacy - vehicles

Could tesla still sell data if u turn off no data sharing? Hard to trust em. 

Seems that 25+ car dealers are all guilty of selling data to car insurance co.s.  Half of the data is BS… like near misses when u stop,formyour pet in the driveway.  See video on it.  Lexisnexis is a place to check for ur bs score.  

*** Consumers who are interested in what driving data has been collected about them can request their LexisNexis reports.)

Request here

https://consumer.risk.lexisnexis.com/request

Acknowledgment Message

Your request has been received. You will receive a message via US Mail within the timeframe allowed by law. We will verify the information you provided with information in our records. We may not be able to comply with your request if we are unable to confirm your identity or to connect the information you submit in your request with personal information in our possession. If you do not receive a message via US Mail within 10 days, please contact the LexisNexis Consumer Center at 888-497-0011.

• The not so nice phone apps that also sell to insurance co.s https://financebuzz.com/apps-selling-driver-insurance-data
• Life360, used by parents to track kids' locations.
• MyRadar
• GasBuddy
• Probably others
• Gas Buddy, which helps drivers find gas stations that offer the cheapest fuel; and MyRadar, which tracks storms and inclement weather, all have opt-in driving analysis features that rely on sensor and motion data transmitted by smartphones, according to the report.      The opt-in feature for Gas Buddy gives users information on the fuel efficiency for their drives — a technology that is “powered by Arity.”
• A GasBuddy spokesperson said that Arity offers “enhanced services” and “personalized offerings” to users “who choose to opt in.”
• Life360.. opt-in function which collects drivers’ geolocation and mobile device sensor data ... shares it with Arity “so they can work with participating insurance companies to better understand how you behave behind the wheel and make offers based on how you drive.” Via NYTimes. 
• LexisNexis DEFINITELY CARES about acceleration. 
• From NYTimes: "During that same trip, the LexisNexis report recorded two instances of rapid acceleration and two incidents of hard braking." Got it from GM ONstar. 
• Lexus the car company... OPT OUT is a call in? WTF?
• If you have questions or concerns about this Privacy Notice, or would like to request deactivation of data transmission, update your Account Information, or opt-in or opt-out from particular features, please contact us.
• 
  
• Phone:(800) 255-3987 Link:https://www.lexus.com/contact Support Request Link:https://support.lexus.com/s/questions-comments Address:Lexus P.O. Box 259001 - Mail Drop E1-5A Plano, TX 75025-9001
• **** BUT THEN... The other day I went to renew my remote start service. It gave me the option to not have them collect my data. When I selected that option, they said that I couldn’t have remote start. So basically if you subscribe to any of their services you have give them your data.
• Honda, etc. via NYTimes...
• Ford will only share driver behavior data with an insurance company if the driver gives explicit consent via an in-vehicle touch screen, according to a company spokesperson.
• Kia, Mitsubishi, Hyundai, Honda and Acura enable drivers to turn off data collection relating to on-road behavior in their apps.
• Telsa... watch out
• Here is how they can say they don't share your data; they share a "Driving Score" calculated from your driving data. Of course this "Driving Score" shared with insurance companies will drive up your costs (or in theory down if you drive safely). So I think it's a bit disingenuous of Tesla when they do share a proxy for your driving data with insurance companies. The issue is do they make this very obvious to you when you opt in. From what I've seen, I think Tesla may be better at making this clear to us than other car companies that bury it in the fine print.
• Stop cars from stealing data maybe: https://www.consumerreports.org/electronics/personal-information/how-to-stop-your-car-from-collecting-sharing-driving-data-a1233378612/
• 2024 info on it https://insurancenewsnet.com/innarticle/lawsuits-target-use-of-driver-data-by-insurers-automakers
• Disable GM onstar (reminds me, I read one guy had the hardware disabled or ripped out, and GM warranty was voided, he was totally fine with it) https://www.silveradosierra.com/threads/disable-onstar-completely-22-24-1500.760765/
• Yt documentary on car company's stealing your data, incr insurance costs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAfjQKT3vBU&list=LL&index=2&t=17s&pp=gAQBiAQB

UPDATE: Read Tesla's safety score rules they use (supposedly only if you buy Tesla insurance, not sure I believe it): https://www.tesla.com/support/insurance/safety-score#version-2.2   and see https://www.makeuseof.com/see-tesla-safety-score/

1. Things like, hard braking, counts a little I think. 
1. Funny b/c autopilot will slam on its brakes at the last minute when ppl are stopped far ahead. 
2. Close following, counts for way more I think. 
1. And says, if following 1 second behind or worse, that counts. Something about compared to your 3 second or better following. ONLY at speeds 50 mph or more. Funny, b/c their autopilot drives way closer than 2 seconds very frequently. 
3. No seatbelt, counts for a good chunk. 
4. Excessive speeding it weird:
1. Excessive Speeding is defined as the proportion of time spent driving in excess of 85 mph or driving 20% faster than the vehicle in front of you, when that vehicle is going over 25 mph and is within 100 meters of your vehicle. This value is expressed as a percentage of total driving time and is capped at 10.0% in the Safety Score Beta formula. Speeding while on Autopilot is not factored into the Safety Score Beta formula.
5. Late night driving, 11PM-4AM.
6. "forced autopilot disengage" 
1. The Autopilot system disengages for the remainder of a trip after the driver has received three audio and visual warnings. These warnings occur when your Tesla vehicle has determined that the driver has not applied sufficient resistance to the steering wheel or has become inattentive. Forced Autopilot Disengagement is introduced into the Safety Score Beta formula as a 1 or 0 indicator. The value is 1 if the Autopilot system is forcibly disengaged during a trip, and 0 otherwise.
7. Interesting... Tesla doesn't count fast acceleration as a thing, so they say at least. 

Note these things in Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/nax9mu/why_you_might_want_to_order_your_lexisnexis/

pteridoid

4y ago

Used to work at LexisNexis Risk Solutions. This does not surprise me. For years, their MO was quantity over quality. They got paid per record collected, and there was almost zero oversight to make sure their records were accurate.

G3 prep for next time (tonight?)

 Once party leaves… on way back in the Drow have…

• 1. Set an alarm spell or tripwires around perimeter to alert guards, new guards, near entrance.  
• 2. Guards yell out “ we r rdy for u!”
• .. what kinda guards? Maybe more than just giants.  Something cool. 
• .. so how party get back in if front door wellguarded?
• .. 

Jest Duh Eat. Some music. Polish Moonheadface.

 Just Do it? 

Maromaro1337 the guitar dude from poland on yt. I like the moonface comedy one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4k1t1Misrk

Wizardry ASCII art (not that kinda ASCII) is awesome

 See https://x.com/PanelPerDay/status/1620971510235295745 

The artist's name is Jun Suemi, she works for Nintendo still a lot it seems.