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Old 05-18-2018, 03:19 PM   #11
stefanj
 
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Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Beaverton, OR
Default Re: Can we please get a Statement from Liz Danforth on the new MELEE project?

I'll recommend Liz' Patreon. You get to see interesting blow-by-blow (stroke by stroke?) descriptions of works in progress.

Her blog:

Oakheart by Liz Danforth
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Old 05-18-2018, 04:06 PM   #12
Terquem
 
Join Date: Apr 2018
Location: Idaho Falls
Default Re: Can we please get a Statement from Liz Danforth on the new MELEE project?

And don't forget to follow her, SJGames. Rick Loomis, and my favorite, the TrollGodFather (Ken St Andre) all on Twitter.
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Old 05-18-2018, 04:34 PM   #13
Jim Kane
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Default Re: Can we please get a Statement from Liz Danforth on the new MELEE project?

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Originally Posted by Kirk View Post
Well, I for one am extremely happy Ms. Danforth stopped by to throw TFT fans a bone.

Her artwork helped inspire many young people to use their imaginations in ways perhaps they hadn't been encouraged...
I can tell you it was the Liz's Melee counter-sheet which was directly responsible for my cousin getting seriously into art and figure-drawing for a time.

The whole sequence of events came about as my cousin wanted counters for things and figures in our game which were not represented by what was among the included counters. My cousin was "okay" at drawing - none of rest of us could draw anything - and he began to imitate Liz's "one-side shaded" effect and was getting pretty good at drawing these small custom Melee counters on cardboard squares, cut from the cardboard his Dad's shirts would come back with from the dry-cleaners - which while definitely looking home-made - actually visually fit in well enough with the real counters, so as to not elicit a round of "Bronx-Cheers" and Heavy-Razzing from the rest of us - unmerciful teen-aged malcontents; one-and-all.

So from there, beginning in his last year of Junior-High, he signed up and enrolled in a real "Figure Drawing Class". Well, the strange thing was, he kept going to these "Thursday Night Art Classes" all the way trough to his Senior year in High School. None of could put two-and-two together as to why he kept re-enrolling in these different Figure Drawing Classes and so-called: Life Drawing Classes, until his mom, after cleaning his room one day, decided to look into the stacks and stacks of my cousin's sketch-pads, which he had generated over the years of taking these unending Figure Drawing Classes... and the pages and pages of sketches of the nude models who sat for the Figure Drawing Class - usually Post-Grad College-aged girls from NYU or Colombia - and the "mystery" was solved!

I think the elongated hysterical screech his mother let out upon her discovery to the mysteries contained within the sketch-books, and just what "Junior's Art Interest" was actually motivated by, is still traveling through-out space somewhere; most likely nearing Alpha-Century by now.

JK

Last edited by Jim Kane; 05-19-2018 at 04:06 AM. Reason: Typo
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Old 05-20-2018, 08:38 PM   #14
Jim Kane
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Default Re: Can we please get a Statement from Liz Danforth on the new MELEE project?

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Originally Posted by Kirk View Post
As far as I remember she did the 1st edition cover which I bought near May-June 1977. Purple "color" pass, gargoyle and fighter. Not so keen on the subsequent editions, glad I hit the first one. I saw somewhere the total production run of the 1st edition, it wasn't a lot, mint/excellent copies of this game seem to go for hundreds of dollars on ebay now.
Ah, so that is the "1st Edition, 1st Printing", and the Clark Bradley cover is the "1st Edition, 2nd Printing". And then they moved off of that cover and the poly-bag packaging, onto the boxed format. Got it. I don't recall if we did or did not have the 1st/1st as you did. I had multiples of the 1st/2nd though; that one is burnt into my mind. Would love to have one of those 1st/1st editions! Good info KIRK; thanks.

JK
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Old 05-20-2018, 10:23 PM   #15
Kirk
 
Join Date: Feb 2018
Default Re: Can we please get a Statement from Liz Danforth on the new MELEE project?

Not necessarily on topic, but thinking about being at the beginning of TFT, turning 18, and going off to college on a shoestring (no help from parents), I still remember my first arena combat that very day we brought the rules with the gargoyle and fighter on the cover home to puzzle out.

It was me and my friend and my brother and his friend, so my brother's friend and I were on one team, and reading through the rules as best we could understand them, we settled on two characters.

The thought was to bracket whatever they did so that we would be able to handle anything. ;)

My partner's character:

ST- 9
DX- 15
MA- 10
Rapier 1-1
Small Bow 1-1
Knife 1-1

My character:

ST- 15
DX- 9 (4)
MA - 10 (4)
Battleaxe 3
Hvy. Crossbow 3
Knife 1-1
Plate Armor/ 5 hits

What could possibly go wrong? You want speed and dexterity? We got it!
You want almost impenetrable armor and devastating death on a stick? Yes, sir!

And...I "cleverly" made use of the fact that you *could not have a DX lower than 5* for to hit purposes because of *critical hits* at 3, 4, or 5 so I was really only paying -4 for my plate, not -5! ;)

And not only that, when I did hit, there was half a chance it would be doubled or tripled Battleaxe or Hvy. crossbow damage. So when I hit, you were dead, dead, dead. Done and done. *And* who could penetrate plate armor, anyway?

My brother and my friend took the following:

ST- 14
DX- 10
MA - 10
Two-handed Sword 3-1
Lt. Crossbow 2
Knife 1-1


ST- 11
DX- 13 (10)
MA- 10 (6)
Shortsword 2-1
Longbow 1+2
Knife 1-1
Chainmail/ 3 hits
Sm. Shield/ 1 hit

We entered the arena to view for the very first time our Melee opponents. "We can take these guys," I said. They were armed with swords, I had my crossbow at the ready to take out one opponent, then I would clean up with my Battleaxe. My friend charged out to meet their running charge.

He, being quick and dextrous, lashed out with his stinging rapier. "Take that!", he cried, as he wisely drilled the least armored of his foes. Rolling...and success. Damage...2 pips -1 for one hit. "Hmmm...", he said.

Now for our opponents' last desperate attempts before we murderlized them. The shortsword attack, success, and 10 pips - 1 for 9, instant death!

The look on my partner's face was classic. "What?," he moaned. "That's it?" "Don't worry," I said, "they can't get to me yet and my shot has yet to come."

Snap, the shot from my crossbow flew across the arena to strike harmlessly against the far wall. "Hmmm," I thought to myself, "I guess it's two on one, but my armor will protect me while I kill them with just two blows from my axe."

They rushed me but I got my back to a wall. "Ha, eat this!"

Well, after about two more turns of them slowly whittling away my strength while I desperately swung for the stands, I collapsed from my mortal wounds, laying the first marker down for a long line of dead warriors to come and beginning my study in earnest of mathematics at the university and the bell curve.

Last edited by Kirk; 05-20-2018 at 10:31 PM.
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Old 05-21-2018, 12:02 AM   #16
Jim Kane
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Default Re: Can we please get a Statement from Liz Danforth on the new MELEE project?

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Originally Posted by Kirk View Post
... I collapsed from my mortal wounds, laying the first marker down for a long line of dead warriors to come...
Wow, you aren't kidding my friend. I must have lost 50 men easy in late August of 1977. I used to love to play Liz's Orc, with the Battle-Ax hefted over the shoulder - another bell-bottomed bruiser. I recall the first "surprise tactic" I learned, was if losing, to jump the enemy in HTH; the great equalizer... sometimes. LOL!

JK
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