Announcing the New Blogger Initiative (NBI)

I am extremely proud to announce the launch of the one-month Newbie Blogger Initiative! What is it you say? Well if you haven’t already heard about this initiative on the 70 other blogs, it’s the brain child of a good friend of mine: Syp of Bio Break and Massively fame!

The idea Syp had was to encourage and promote any prospective new bloggers into the arena – and what better mentors than a massive (excuse the pun) gathering of bloggers?

I have to admit it isn’t quite a new idea as I recall a few years back we were all involved in a similar venture of his design for the WAR Blog Community push back when we were all Warhammer Online Bloggers. Gee I sure miss my Tome of Knowledge days! *sniff*

SO Enough with the Nostalgia!

What’s this all about?

For the month of May, you’ll hear from many, MANY other blogs about this initiative as well as a collection of articles from myself and the other bloggers with various bits of advice and tips on starting your own blog. Got a passion for something in gaming, geek culture, yak herding, or perhaps Pacific Rim political relations within a western economy? Then maybe a blog is for you!!

If you have an idea (or perhaps just the desire to start a blog), then keep watching the list of blogs for various tips and helpful articles. In addition to the blogging community, go over and register at:

http://nbihq.freeforums.org

Syp has set up that community space for both “newbie” bloggers and blog sponsors. Already there are a variety of articles, discussion topics, and cool thought-provoking stuff to get you well on your way to starting your own blog.

Once there’s a full list of all the contributing bloggers, I’ll be sure to post them up with their respective links.

As for my contribution, check back here regularly for some advice articles and tutorials with a distinctive artistic flair for those of you who may be keen to start posting up your own art, webcomic, or fan fiction. Do you have some artistic skill and you’ve been excited to share your creations with others? Love comics and have always wanted to break into the career? Well, although I’m not a professional by any stretch of the imagination, I do happen to know that webcomics are making a huge impact on the comics industry and I’ve managed to meet a few fellow webcomic artists who are making a decent name for themselves. Indie webcomics are popping up quicker than zombies in Georgia and I’ve got some key steps to share on how to break into this brand new field of online narrative art.

I’ll also talk a bit about blog promotion and what specific steps I take whenever I post up new Jedi Gambit issues.

So here’s to a great community push to all of you new prospective bloggers out there. And hey! – if you started your blogging journey here by reading this article, be sure to drop me a note via Twitter (@RackhamGreg) – I’d love to hear from you!

UPDATE May 2, 2012:

Syp has posted up a great set of links for us of the participating Sponsor blogs:

Games and Geekery
The Wild Boar Inn
MMO Fallout
Tastes Like Battle Chicken
Grimnir’s Grudge
Roll One Hundred
Dragonchasers
Ardwulf’s Lair
Inventory Full
Jaded Alt
Ark’s Ark
Tremayne’s Law
Blog de la Burro
Just One MMOre
DocHoliday’s MMO Saloon
High Latency Life
MMO Gamer Chick
Skycandy
Nomnom.info
Hunter’s Insight
Life is a Mind Bending Puzzle
Berath’s Brain Burps
Epic Slant
 Bullet Points
 Professor Beej
Journeys with Jaye
 Screaming Monkeys
 Welcome to Spinksville
 Vicarious Existence
 Casual is as Casual Does
 Star Shadow
 I Have Touched The Sky
 The Ancient Gaming Noob
 Just One More Unlock
 A Ding World
 Yeebo Fernbottom’s MMO Love In
 Stropp’s World
 Kill Ten Rats
 The Jedi Gambit
 Beau Hindman
 Blue Kae
 Gankalicious
 Live Like a Nerd
 Casual Stroll to Mordor
 Tish Tosh Tesh
 Casting a Shaddoe
 A Green Mushroom
 ALT:ernative
 Parallel Context
 ETCmmo
 Avatars of Steel
 Tales of the Aggronaut
 West Karana
 Contains Moderate Peril
 The Stories of O
 Levelcapped
 LOTRO Fashion
 Mr. Meh’s Supplication
 Malchome’s Mind/Restokin
 Nerdy Bookahs
 T.R. Red Skies
 Wadstomp
 Scary Worlds
 MMO Compendium
Shards of Imagination
 Ardent Defender
 Blog of the Vagabond
 Creep the Prophet
 Gamer BC
Gamer LadyP
 Psychochild

 

Legacy 1.2: You’re all clear kid…

Turns out the fans’s were heard and, in true supportive fashion, Bioware amended their Legacy 1.2 promotion. In a post earlier today! Greg Zeschuk announced that Bioware was expanding their recognition of their “legacy” fans to those who have reached Legacy level 6 (or will reach by April 22nd).

I have to admit, I am both impressed and surprised by Bioware’s stunning re-cant and applaud the extra incurred cost they’ll have from this ammendment. This is indeed great news and has left the sour taste noted in my previous post all the more sweeter.

Just like Han Solo coming back at the last minute of the trench run in a New Hope: Nice save, Bioware! Nice save.

Legacy Update 1.2 is Finally Here…..what?!?

Yes folks, after much waiting, Game Update 1.2 is finally here and live on the servers. There is a ton of excitement over the new patch, but sadly it isn’t entirely over the Legacy system, or the new customizable UI interface, or even the new Operation: Explosive Conflict! Heck, all the excitement I’m hearing about isn’t even about the mini Tauntaun pet!!

The excitement I’m hearing about is the free month of playtime! Yes folks Bioware is letting you play for a month for free – BUT WAIT!

What’s this in the fine print? Only those with a level 50 character are eligible for the free month.

Let’s let that settle in for a moment people.

Only those who have had the time to level an alt to 50 – and yes I know there are plenty of people with multiple 50s out already – but ONLY those with a level 50 is eligible for a free month?

So….. what about people who have played the game from the start? Who have taken their time and played through all the starter zones, tried out different alts? Those who may be roleplayers and didn’t devote all their time rushing to endgame?

What about those people who can’t devote a ton of time to playing? Those with a family? Or perhaps a demanding job?

Or perhaps *cough* a webcomic?

*Cough* People like me?

Yes folks – I do NOT have a level 50 yet. I have purposefully been taking my time and I the highest level character I have is a lvl 42 Jedi Guardian. You may have heard of him: Kylun Dross.

So does that means I get a free month of playtime??? Guess not.

Can’t say it didn’t spoil the whole “shiny” factor of the new update for me. It’s left a somewhat sour taste in my mouth to be perfectly honest.
It’s safe to say this is a blunder on Bioware or EA’s part if you ask me.

Well for those of you who are taking advantage of the free month of playtime. Congrats and enjoy it. It’s a rare treat and should be enjoyed for what it is. A marketing move.

For all those other folks, like myself, who won’t be partaking in the free month, at least Bioware has given us a video to enjoy:

And of course our Tauntaun pet….

The Jedi Gambit: Prison Break

In these latest pages, the Jedi Kylun Dross has some help from a rather unlikely associate!

Issue 2 is wrapping up soon! Stay tuned for the last few pages of the Jedi Gambit series.

I sense a disturbance in the Force

A big thanks and safe travels to Lethality and the gang at AskAJedi.com
– I am truly sad to see you shut your fantastic site down. You were a huge supporter of the SWTOR community and Lethality, you will always be a great friend in my books. May the Force be with you, friend, in whatever future brings.

Cheers,
Greg “Rackham” Moran

Lasty,:
Are you planning on visiting the Emerald City Comic Con this year? Be sure to be on the look out for me!
Be sure to tell your friends, tweet about the Jedi Gambit with the hash-tag #JediGambit, follow my Twitter(@RackhamGreg) or leave a comment below!

The Jedi Gambit: Your Weapon is Your Life!

What’s this?? I’ve come back from the dead?? I’m not completely lost playing SW:TOR?!

Well not exactly. I HAVE been playing a huge amount of SW:TOR, but it’s about bloody time I got off my Jedi-robed duff and got you fine folks another issue of the Jedi Gambit. *cough* albeit long overdue!

Now, for those of you who may have forgotten, in our last issue of The Jedi Gambit: Kylun Dross, had been captured by the Chiss Imperial Agent, Fallsa. Our Jedi hero, was thrown into a gladiatorial ring on Nal Hutta operated by Nem’ro the Hutt. Once Kylun had defeated two rather nasty k’lor’slugs, he had made an attempt to leap up to the balcony where Nem’ro and Fallsa were sitting, however his lightsaber had shorted out unexpectedly.

So with that quick recap, here is the latest installment of The Jedi Gambit:

Stay tuned! I’m back on track and I have already started work on the next issue and should have that up in a few days!
Be sure to tell your friends, tweet about the Jedi Gambit with the hash-tag #JediGambit, follow my Twitter(@RackhamGreg) or leave a comment below!

The Jedi Gambit 2nd Portrait Contest: Winning Portraits!

The winners have been selected and their portraits are now done and available now for all to see. I must say each one was great fun and it was especially nice to see what classes the three winners chose.

So without further adieu, here are the portraits:

Zoralaran : Mirialan Smuggler

A quick wit and quick blaster keeps this Mirialan Smuggler on her toes and eager for that next credit job. Mirialan’s seem to be a top pick for Smugglers (at least as far as these portraits are concerned) – I may have to look into the reasons! Maybe it’s because they’re so cool looking or perhaps they’re culture of personal perfection?

Human Sith Inquisitor

I had an absolute blast (no pun intended) creating this artwork. The challenge of the lightning and the pure electric glow it had on the Inquisitor was a great artistic challenge. Here’s hoping I pulled it off!

And lastly, for my fellow Corellian League member, I give you:

Tarvon : Human Trooper

This was a fun portrait to work on. Tarvon’s look is great in-game and I had a blast rendering him here in this artwork. His medical droid was also a nice touch and added that extra element.

Once again, a BIG ol’ CONGRATS to our three winners! They’re now the proud owners of their very own SW:TOR portraits. Eager to get a SW:TOR portrait done for yourself? Then stay tuned and check back often for the next Jedi Gambit Portrait Contest!!

Also, stay tuned later this week for the continued adventures of Kylun Dross in Issue Two of the Jedi Gambit!

Custom Portraits and The Mandalorian Girl

Well the 2nd Jedi Gambit Portrait contest is now officially closed and two winners have been selected and contacted via Twitter Direct message.

They are:

@JoeaFranklin

and

@dunfalach

They have a week to respond back to me and get started on creating their SWTOR character custom portraits. If either or both of them don’t get back to me within a week’s time, I’ll be selecting a new winner from the previous entries.

Also a big congratulations to my fellow Corellian Leaguer: Tarvon – who was selected as the guild-mate winner!

Always an exciting time to get these character descriptions and start planning how that character would look. Stay tuned for future updates!!

And what would the custom portrait look like you might ask? Well first, you can check out the previous winners or you can see some latest artwork I created for fellow SWTOR blogger: Mandalorian Girl!

For those of you who may not be aware of this great fan fiction site, Mandalorian Girl has written an exhaustive collection of fan fiction of her Old Republic character: Na’sha along with her jedi companion: Aiden. I highly recommend taking some time to read her blog: http://mandaloriangirl.wordpress.com/
Her stories are amazingly well written, the characters are highly evolved and personable, and the quality of her storytelling is unmatched.

Here’s the custom portrait I did for Mandalorian Girl: I had to make the exception of “one character only” because Aiden is SUCH a big part of the stories that I couldn’t have Na’sha without Aiden close by.