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Overdue Who Review: The Keeper of Traken

Fourth Doctor, Season 18, 1981

So they took Doctor Who off Tubi but thanks to my good friend and occasional Caustic Soda Podcast guest Allan I was able to continue my journey on DVD. And so:

The Fourth Doctor and Adric are visited on the TARDIS by the wizened Keeper of Traken, who warns that a great evil has come to his planet in the form of a Melkur – a calcified statue. The Keeper is nearing the end of his reign and seeks the Doctor’s help in preventing the evil from taking control of the bio-electronic Source that is the keystone of the Traken Union‘s civilization.

The planet Traken is described as a place of such good and niceness that evil cannot exist there. This isn’t explained, and indeed the opposite is shown as some of the people are greedy and manipulative, though this could be explained by the Keeper about to expire causing a time of tumult. Anyway, the Melkur landed in a garden some time ago and one of the leading body on Traken (Kassia) has tended to its paralyzed, inert form (thanks to the goodness) for years, but in that time she has become twisted by it and now seeks to put it in place of the Keeper. She manipulates the council, and the rising evil is blamed on the Doctor, who is imprisoned, but finds an ally in the science-minded consul Tremas (also the husband of Kassia, and the father of the young lady Nyssa). I thought for sure Nyssa was going to leave the planet at the end of the story and join as a second companion, but I was wrong (but not for long, it seems).

Anyway, spoilers – the eye-laser-shooting Melkur is a vessel for the return of Doctor Who’s version of Moriarty – The Master – and for a time his plan succeeds and he becomes the Keeper. However Adric saves the day by sabotaging the bio-electronic Source. But at the very end The Master takes possession of Tremas (notice what that name is an anagram for) and further evilness is teased in upcoming episodes.

All in all this is a skippable, by-the-numbers episode, The Doctor doesn’t actually do much and there’s not much of interest to look at.

Next: Logopolis – the last Tom Baker episode.

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Okayama – Okayama Castle, Korakuen Garden, Omotechi Shopping Center

We will start this entry with me wandering around Okayama in the morning, before most shops have opened, as is my wont.

View from the hotel

A lovely canal

Everyday scenes and objects

It’s just how they park cars here!

I came across a nice lady who was just opening her shop on the streetside. I purchased a donut for breakfast

Scenes from a train ride:

Rural!

NIGHT SCENES

This is the bridge between Korakuen Gardens and Okayama Castle

The Asahi Rivers, as viewed from Tsurumi bridge to Korakuen Garden

The Asahi Rivers, as viewed from Tsurumi bridge to Korakuen Garden

COMING UP NEXT: OMOTECHO SHOPPING CENTER…

(and then, Korakuen Garden, and then, Okayama Castle)

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It’s the Most Discounty Time of the Year – Original D&D & other TTRPG Art! Hexmas Sale

These original pencil drawings (and a couple of inks) were produced for various D&D and other RPG books and are marked down from now until Christmas.

Everything listed here is on offer for $45 USD (unless you’re in Vancouver and we can arrange in person, then $45 CAD)

CONTACT ME at :

You can see more D&D art going all the way back to AD&D/2nd edition at https://torenatkinson.com/dungeons-and-dragons-original-art/ and I’ll be giving discounts on offsale stuff too if you buy two or more pieces!

Oh, you wanted Cthulhu art instead? Ok: https://torenatkinson.com/artwork/original-art-for-sale/

Shipping to the US is typically $20 and that includes tracking and stiffening boards for maximum protection.

Arbalest

From Terror in Freeport – Reikert

From If Thoughts Could Kill (Monte Cook/Malhavoc Press) – crystal consciousness amulet

From Egyptian Adventures: Hamunaptra (3.5 edition, Green Ronin)

Skull & Bones (Green Ronin)

From BONDS OF MAGIC (Malhavoc Press)

From THIEVES WORLD GAZETEER (Green Ronin)

Demonologist (slight blemish from ink bleed through on left edge)

BOOK OF ELDRITCH MIGHT

From MINDSCAPES: BEASTS OF THE ID (Malhavoc Press)

From CAVALIER HANDBOOK (Green Ronin)

Cults of Freeport (Green Ronin)

From Temple Quarter (Game Mechanics/Green Ronin)

From Advanced Players Manual (Green Ronin)

From Advanced Bestiary (Green Ronin 2004)

From Minions (Chaosium, Call of Cthulhu)

From Monte Cook Presents: Year’s Best d20 (Malhavoc Press)

From Shaman’s Handbook (Green Ronin)

From Wrath and Rage: A Guidebook to Orcs, published by Green Ronin

From Spaceship Zero: The Roleplaying Game (2001 Green Ronin)

From Liber Bestarius (Eden Studios 2003)

From Black Sails Over Freeport (Green Ronin)

From MONSTERS OF THE MIND (Green Ronin)

From Book of the Righteous (Green Ronin)

From Monte Cook’s Arcana Unearthed D&D 3rd edition pencil on paper

From Bastards & Bloodlines D&D 3rd edition (Green Ronin Publishing) pencil on paper:

From Black Company (Green Ronin Publishing):

Book of Fiends (Green Ronin Publishing)

Aasimar and Tiefling: A Guidebook to the Planetouched (Green Ronin)

Mindshadows (Green Ronin)

Noble’s Handbook (Green Ronin)

From ORK! The Roleplaying Game (Green Ronin)

From Chaositech (Malhavoc Press)

From Creature Collection (White Wolf)

From Jade Dragons and Hungry Ghosts (Green Ronin)

From Creatures of Freeport (Green Ronin)

From Denizens of Freeport (Green Ronin)

from Touched by the Gods (Atlas Games)

From Thieves World (Green Ronin)

From THIEVES QUARTER (Game Mechanics)

from Unholy Warrior’s Handbook (Green Ronin)

From HARP (High Adventure Roleplaying Game – Iron Crown Enterprises (ICE)

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How to Draw: Atmospheric Perspective

Hey if you don’t want to read the text – watch the video!

From wikipedia: Aerial perspective, or atmospheric perspective, is the effect the atmosphere has on the appearance of an object as viewed from a distance. As the distance between an object and a viewer increases, the contrast between the object and its background decreases, and the contrast of any markings or details within the object also decreases. The colours of the object also become less saturated and shift toward the background colour, which is usually bluish, but may be some other colour under certain conditions (for instance, reddish around sunrise or sunset).

So, how do you do this with your drawing/painting? Here’s my techniques:

METHOD ONE – This applies particularly with black and white line art.

Imagine your composition has 3 layers (it might have more, but let’s pretend) – the foreground, the middle ground and the background.

– Give the foreground layer the MOST DETAIL and THICKER STROKES
– Make background layer with MINIMAL DETAIL and THINNEST STROKES
– The middle layer (or layers) can have degrees in between.

EXAMPLES: Henry Justice Ford

METHOD TWO – particularly for greyscale art with tones

Let’s say you’re drawing with different pencils, or different colored markers, paints…whatever. Digital also applies of course.

– The foreground layer is the DARKEST ink/tone (or colors)
– The background layer is the LIGHTEST ink/tone (or colors)
– The middle laer (or layers) again has varying degrees between the lightest and darkest brush strokes.

Examples:

W. Heath Robinson:

Howard Pyle – the man in the foreground with the hat has some of the darkest lines and tones in the image:

Henry Justice Ford – notice how the soldiers in the midground have much less detail and the colors are washed out. The castle in the very back has very thin linework and almost no color:

Rando Internet samples:

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The 28th Episode of the Dungeons and Dragons Cartoon

What if there was a 28th episode of the 1983-85 cartoon series Dungeons and Dragons? As a fun exercise, let’s find out together!

Phase 1: We will start with a pitch, beat sheet, outline, script

Phase 2: Create designs, model sheets, backgrounds as needed

Phace 3: Record voice acting and create storyboards and animatic

THE PITCH

TITLE: SECRET OF THE SHADOW DEMON

In yet another failed attempt to acquire the Weapons of Power, Venger blames the failure on Shadow Demon. Venger proclaims that SD will be punished/imprisoned, and replaced, so SD flees. 

His replacement is a total badass, much more powerful and much more of a threat to the kids. Let’s call him Zarak (an actual toy in the 80s toy line for the show, who was never used in the show). Zarak’s first job for Venger: track down & capture Shadow Demon. 

Shadow Demon approaches the kids to help, it will be in both their interests to defeat Zarak and have SD reinstated as Venger’s spy. An unlikely alliance is formed, as the kids and SD trick both Zarak and Venger in some clever way. At the end SD is back in Venger’s good graces and the kids move on. 

In this episode we learn a bit of Shadow Demon’s backstory. Maybe we even visit the Shadow Realm.

Behind the scenes: coming up with some plot ideas:

THE BEAT SHEET (In progress)

in progress

DESIGNS

MODEL SHEET: SKYLLA, EVIL MAGIC-USER

Behind the scenes:

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A Day in Hiroshima and Miyajima

PART ONE: Getting There… (January 2025)

There’s restaurants in Hiroshima Station!

Momiji manjū is a type of wagashi that is baked. The confection is a buckwheat and rice cake shaped like a Japanese maple leaf, and is a local specialty on the island of Itsukushima (Miyajima) in Hiroshima. It is typically filled with red bean paste

We enjoyed our lunch at Kanawa ASSE かなわ, Unfortunately it appears to be permanently closed now 🙁

PART TWO: The Atomic Bomb Dome, Children’s Monument and Peace Memorial Park

A somber monument.

Life goes on!

Ota River and the Motomasu Bridge

Children’s Peace Monument

Peace memorial Park

PART 3: Miyajima Island!

The boat we took from Hiroshima to Miyajima.

At the front is a video that showcases the city as you move through. It tells you how each bridge fared the atomic blast, and other geography. I remember there was an island where people lived, and then the bomb dropped, and then a hurricane came, and then landslides. People don’t live there anymore.

It’s no Nara Deer Park – but they sure are friendly!

Miyajima Syukudou Bekken restaurant serves oysters and delicious treats!
https://maps.app.goo.gl/iHmCMaVK1XcqS9NAA

Did I mention the area is famous for oysters?

Miyajima Omotesando Shopping Street

Did I mention this place is famous for oysters?

Momiji manjū is a type of wagashi that is baked. The confection is a buckwheat and rice cake shaped like a Japanese maple leaf, and is a local specialty on the island of Itsukushima (Miyajima) in Hiroshima. It is typically filled with red bean paste. Try it!

I sense a food stacking trend!

Naturally there is a Ghibli boutique!

Itsukushima Shrine / Torii Gate

(厳島神社, Itsukushima-jinja) is a Shinto shrine on the island of Itsukushima (popularly known as Miyajima), best known for its “floating” torii.

Return to Hiroshima and Okonomiyaki

We took the train back to downtown Hiroshima

Okonomimura is a multi-storey building in Shintenchi that houses multiple teppan restaurants serving okonomiyaki – sort of like a street food stall but indoors.

Don’t worry there’s English menu too

Did I mention this place is famous for oysters?

You don’t get hashi (chopsticks) or a fork to eat your okonomiyaki – you get a personal spatula!

They even have gachapon with little okonomiyaki keychains – yes I got one!

Next Blog entry will be: Kobe!

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Why Would You Want to Hire Me as a Dungeon Master?

Hello! My name is Toren and I live in East Vancouver! I’ve been running and playing D&D since 1985! I’ve played every edition. My preferred edition is “old school” which comes in many forms, from Basic to Old School Essentials to Shadowdark (kind of sort of). I’ve also run 5th edition with dozens of groups.

MY BONA FIDES:

I’ve designed an award winning TTRPG called Spaceship Zero
I’ve worked for Wizards of the Coast as an illustrator
I’m a professional actor and voice actor
I’ve run games and tournaments at conventions, including GenCon, and at two animation studios in town.

HOW IT WORKS

I prefer in person around a physical table – but you provide the venue
I have some miniatures, terrain and battle maps if that is the kind of game you like (I do) – I even make my own terrain!
I have a car so I can drive and potentially give other players rides if need be
I welcome and can provide consent checklists to avoid any uncomfortable awkwardness
I write adventure summaries and track noteworthy items after each session
I charge $85 (CAD) for a 4 hour session with up to 4 players. Over four players is another $15 per additional player up to 6*.

An encounter with horizontal AND vertical dimensions! From my post-apocalyptic campaign

MY DM STYLE

I’ve been Dungeon Mastering since the 80s, but I play it fairly loose with the rules.
I like to start with mini-adventures that can be completed in a single session, but if the group vibes well, longer multi-session quests are a natural next step.
You can expect memorable non-player characters with distinct quirks and vocal stylings.
I welcome any help/advice/correction with regards to rules and rulings. 
Typically, I don’t worry about alignment, but advise that reputation is important with regards to interacting with civilized society (which is the source of most quests in the realm). Criminals are treated harshly in the medieval-type world! 

The Great Gingerbread Dungeon of 2015

CAVEAT
My schedule can be a challenge. I have a full time job, a wife, a dog, a rock band that’s working on a new album, freelance illustration gigs, and another ongoing professional DM gig. So I won’t be able to meet weekly, but once or twice per month is feasable.

Interested? Reach out!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2F_JzutLhl0

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Overdue Who Review: Shada – the Recently Completed Episode!

Season 17 (1979) – Fourth Doctor (TV movie)

The Doctor, Romana and K-9 are summoned to the lair of a dottering old Time Lord friend Professor Chronotis (get it? Chrono means time!) at a contemporary (1979) British university. He’s lost an important book that is the key to accessing the titular Gallifreyan prison asteroid. The evil Skagra, with inimitable fashion sense, is trying to access Shada to complete his ultimate plan of putting the entire universe into one mind – his – with the help of a cryogenically frozen inmate named Salyavin.

Skagra’s path towards this goal involves stealing the minds of important people with the aid of a floating grey sphere. His muscle is the monstrous, lumbering, silicon-based Krarg. Along for the ride with The Doctor is a student of physics who accidentally borrowed the Gallifreyan tome.

Shada was intended as the final serial of the season but filming never completed, owing to a strike. The completed version of Shada was finally released in 2017, with missing dialogue newly recorded by the original cast, using the same audio equipment employed in the initial shoot, and animated by the team that undertook the reconstruction of the 1966 serial The Power of the Daleks. 

Although this 2h18m movie could have been cut down by at least 18 minutes (just with the animated characters looking left and right alone), this is a well-written story, as Doctor Who stories go, by our good friend Douglas Adams. There are lots of his trademark witticisms delivered perfectly by Tom Baker. The Doctor manipulates the bad guy’s spaceship AI with “logic” a la Captain Kirk. There’s a chase scene where he’s riding a bicycle without a helmet. He has his memories stolen by the floating sphere when it touches his head (could this have been prevented with a bike helmet?) He has a mind control battle with the bad guy.

Sadly, Romana does precious little except to remind The Doctor of various plot points. I also had a problem with the mysterious Salyavin revealing himself for absolutely no reason at the end, to the benefit of no one but the bad guy. Animated jelly babies appear. The TARDIS goes exactly where everyone wants it to go for a change.

Oh, and the music is quite good for a change!

As a student of animation this reconstruction interests me. The animation of the human characters is stilted with fairly flat light and color, but the 2D stills of ships and backgrounds exceeds the live action sets and models. K-9 has never moved so fluidly in his CG form and even the alien Krarg are rendered in 3D to excellent effect. There’s a blog

There’s an online Doctor Who magazine called Nothing At The End of the Lane that takes a hefty, serious, thorough look at this reconstruction. I find this extremely interesting and if you watch Shada (which I recommend) you might look into it https://www.endofthelane.co.uk/Shada-Blog-1.html

Next: The Leisure Hive

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Kurashiki “Town of Storehouses” – Bikan Historical District

Kurashiki (倉敷) is located in Okayama Prefecture, not far from the prefectural capital of Okayama City. Kurashiki has a preserved canal area that dates back to the Edo Period (1603-1867), when the city served as an important rice distribution center. In fact, the name “Kurashiki” can be roughly translated as “town of storehouses” in reference to the rice storehouses.

Many of Kurashiki’s former storehouses have been converted into museums, boutiques and cafes. The Ohara Museum is the most impressive of Kurashiki’s museums, exhibiting a large collection of works by famous Western artists. The canal area is a ten minute walk from Kurashiki Station.

HERE IT IS ON GOOGLE MAPS ->[CLICK IF YOU CARE]

Shopping Arcade

Several blocks of open air covered walkway with all kinds of shops and restaurants

BETTER LIFE – a housewares shop where I bought an ogre towel

Chez Kobeya for katsu (they had lassi!)

Fun Gachapon (toy machine) shop – I bought three (none of them pictured)

Imagine if you will a shop in Japan dedicated to American kitsch. That shop is: Golden Nugget Buddies, named after the MacDonaldland characters

Strange purple yam ice cream to delight and offend the senses

Toy/Candy store run by a nice little old lady included tons of Ultraman figures I haven’t seen in the new stores – bought one! This place is called おくだ商店

Achi Jinja Shrine

It is located on the top of Mt. Tsurugata, a perfect viewing spot overlooking the Kurashiki Bikan Historical Quarter, and has a Noh stage and an ancient garden based on Horai philosophy within its grounds. The natural monument “Achi no Wisteria”, which is estimated to be 300 to 500 years old, is also worth seeing.

Unfortunately we didn’t explore this much, due to bad knees.

reverse angle courtesy Fred Bremmer

Saw koi and swans in the canal

OHOARA MUSEUM OF ART

Where you can find Rodin, Picasso, Gaugin, Monet, Signac, Lutrec, cezanne, Klee, Kandinksy, Pollock. No photos allowed inside unfortunately.

DENIM STREET

Where you can find blue cream soda flavor soft serve and blue bao.

LIVING MOMOKA peach croquette and Ghibli merch

Miffy Bakery

Momotarō (桃太郎, Japanese pronunciation: [mo.moꜜ.ta.ɾoː],[1][2] lit. ’Peach Boy’) is a popular hero of Japanese folklore. His name is often translated as Peach Boy, but is directly translated as Peach + Tarō, a common Japanese given name. Momotarō is also the title of various books, films and other works that portray the tale of this hero.

There is a popular notion that Momotarō is a local hero of Okayama Prefecture, but this claim was invented in the modern era. This notion is not accepted as consensus in scholarly circles.

Kurashiki Ivy Square

Formerly a spinning factory, now a hotel (with another koi pond)

ASOBOUYA Variety Store – lots of kaiju toys, M.U.S.C.L.E. men (Kinnikuman), Owner smelled of cigarettes. Cluttered and awesome.