Thread: Questioning chirine ba kal - part II

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

So they shut down Dave, eh? Bad move, this, and certain to cause a certain level of annoyance out in the wider world.

On the other hand, it's also typical of the way that their personal prestige and control issues have come to rule the roost. I could tell you a lot more stories like these, but it's a nice evening and I'm enjoying painting my Romans. However, I will give you a sample of what I have to deal with...

Back a while ago, a very old and very dear friend asked me to paint his huge collection of Tekumel figures for him, in the same style as I had and was painting mine. I agreed, because he's my friend. He then offered to pay me for my time, and I told him that he should think about what he thought that it might be worth and make his decision accordingly - I did not quote him a rate or anything, because he's an old friend and I like painting figures. He happened to mention at a well-know southern Wisconsin game convention to the TF person who was there that he was doing this; I then got a rocket from the TF insisting that by "accepting any kind of compensation for the use of the Tekumel (TM) IP, I was in violation of the TF's sole and exclusive license for the commercial exploitation of the Tekumel (TM) IP" and that I was required by the TF to get a license from them and pay them a fee for said license as well as a percentage of whatever compensation my friend might choose to give me. I declined, and so my friend will get his figures painted for free; the TF, by their ham-handed tactics, will get nothing.

Please do keep in mind that these are the same people who ruined my relationship with Phil, so that they could get to where they are today.

Oh, sweet Avanthe's perfect nipples.

That's like Chevrolet expecting a royalty if you pay somebody to repaint your car. But the hassles of having a competent legal authority declare it an Officially Stupid Thing are far more than the meager bit of cash for doing a bit of painting for a friend.

He should ask you what favors, dinners, and other noncash things would be useful.

Originally Posted by Gronan of Simmerya

Honestly, I also noted a deathly fear of making a decision.

Agreed! They are the most passive of passive-aggressive people, and Tekumel is suffering badly as a result. Add in the LBTGQ agenda, and it gets even less decisive.

At least back in yours and my day, we made decisions - right or wrong, but we made decisions.

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

But, The Authority wasn't playing in Phil's campaigns then; he literally doesn't know anything about the early days. So, we don;t talk about those days, or the people who did all those publications and artwork and stuff - they done exist in the Official Approved Tekumel (TM), and will be written out of history. That's why you'll never see any of our old 'zines republished - it's an era that Does Not Exist.

Sigh!

Chirine,

When using MM Earth Red for flesh tones do you find that it's sometimes quite glossy depending on the primer used? I used Krylon's Flat White (which in fact is more of a semi-gloss than a flat) and I'm going to have to hit the flesh areas with a flat or perhaps a satin varnish to tone them down. I don't usually get this from flat whites or blacks.

Originally Posted by Gronan of Simmerya

Oh, sweet Avanthe's perfect nipples.

That's like Chevrolet expecting a royalty if you pay somebody to repaint your car. But the hassles of having a competent legal authority declare it an Officially Stupid Thing are far more than the meager bit of cash for doing a bit of painting for a friend.

He should ask you what favors, dinners, and other noncash things would be useful.

Yep; welcome to my life.

Agreed. One of these days, they are going to provoke somebody with deep pockets into litigation, and then the house of cards will come crashing down.

He did, actually, but the TF was quite adamant that ANY compensation, in ANY form, was subject to their policies and thus I had to pay them a percentage for ANYTHING I might have gotten for my painting work. Soooo, being the Mister Poo-Poo Butt that I am, I agreed to paint the figures for my friend with the proviso that I receive nothing. At all.

Likewise, by the way, if I went to some convention as a guest of that convention and I was provided a hotel room and a badge, the TF insists that I must pay them a percentage of the value of any such; they'll let me know who much I owe them, after I declare any compensation that I receive to them.

We live in fascinating times, my General.

Dogs in a manger. Won't do anything, won't let anybody else do anything.

Originally Posted by Shemek hiTankolel

Chirine,

When using MM Earth Red for flesh tones do you find that it's sometimes quite glossy depending on the primer used? I used Krylon's Flat White (which in fact is more of a semi-gloss than a flat) and I'm going to have to hit the flesh areas with a flat or perhaps a satin varnish to tone them down. I don't usually get this from flat whites or blacks.

Yes; MM #4407 can be a little touchy. I always shake the bottle for about a minute before I use it, and I re-shake it every 20 figures or so. I also put four- five BBs in as agitators. The pigment in this paint is very, very finely ground and the shaking seem to keep in suspension better. I'd use a true flat primer, too; it does seem to help with this admirable paint.

Originally Posted by Gronan of Simmerya

Dogs in a manger. Won't do anything, won't let anybody else do anything.

Nope. They are, by their own admission, dead broke and not able to get anybody to give them big piles of money so that they can go to conventions like North Texas RPG Con and be Big Names in the OSR. They just keep getting more and more desperate, as all the propaganda that they were spreading back in the 1990s and 2000s about The One True Way To Play and We're The Tekumel Elite have come home to roost.

My favorite remark made by one of them - I think you can guess who - when they got their office space was "Now we can have wine- and cheese-tasting parties!"

Huzzah!

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

Yes; MM #4407 can be a little touchy. I always shake the bottle for about a minute before I use it, and I re-shake it every 20 figures or so. I also put four- five BBs in as agitators. The pigment in this paint is very, very finely ground and the shaking seem to keep in suspension better. I'd use a true flat primer, too; it does seem to help with this admirable paint.

Ok, good it is the paint. I don't use MM that often (only for a few colours now and then), and don't really know a lot of its peculiarities. I'll toss in some BB's and make sure I keep shaking it on a regular basis. Hopefully this will work.

Thanks Chirine!

Originally Posted by Shemek hiTankolel

Ok, good it is the paint. I don't use MM that often (only for a few colours now and then), and don't really know a lot of its peculiarities. I'll toss in some BB's and make sure I keep shaking it on a regular basis. Hopefully this will work.

Thanks Chirine!

You're welcome!

I use a lot of this particular paint; I use it for all my human flesh-tones, as it's quick and easy and it's the closest thing I can find to Phil's original Floquil "Samoa". I still have a useful bottle of the latter, but I'd be terrified of opening it and losing it.

I also have a bottle of the old Armory 'Flesh Tone', which I use on people like Elves. Since I sort of assume that all of my Ancient Egyptians, Barsoomian, and Tekumelyani all look pretty much the same - I do get variations in the shading and toning with the painting methods (wet brush) - they all fit in and look fine.

I do like the Model Masters line, but they can be a little touchy; they have to be kept wet, and stirred / shaken a lot for best results.