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I haven't made enough progress on Series Two yet to dent the chart, but it's coming. In the meantime, please enjoy this spur of the moment wallpaper I whipped up in anticipation of Lord Of The Rings. Dave just seemed the natural one to take Frodo's place in this parody as he is the one to most likely have that quizzical look on his face that Frodo did. I'm thinking of creating some icons as well. We shall see.
I've been preparing for the movie be trying to get through Fellowship of the Rings before this weekend. I know the movie premieres on Wednesday, but I doubt I'd be able to get the day off.. no, strike that. I don't think me AND my friends here would all be able to get off to see it. This is just one of those films you HAVE to see with friends. Especially ones you have gamed with. I remember when I was in LA and the group I played with (among them was the brilliant animator of Final Fighting Fantasy, SplashKhat) went to see "Dungeons and Dragons" Sure, we barely escaped the powerful force of the black hole created by the unprecedented suck factor of that movie (I mean, I think Hawk the Slayer had more redeeming value than that thing...), but for a while it was just all of us getting together to enjoy a movie about something we love. And NOW, we get a movie that is going to be brilliant, from all reviews and opinions if read so far. Lately I haven't been up all that much on the movie experience as a whole. With huge TVs, 5-channel speakers and DVDs, it's entirely possible to enjoy a movie at home with the same, or even better quality that a theater. However, not all the movies one watches doesn't always jibe with the tastes of ones friends ('No really, guys. 'Plan 9 From Outer Space' actually gets funnier each time you see it!') This is one of those movies I think we will all be able to enjoy together, in a theater.
I'm completely looking forward to it.

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...Happy birthday to me
Happy birthday to me...

Picard: I've just had a visit from Q. ... He wants to do something nice for me.
Riker: I'll alert the crew.
???? - Qpid, Star Trek: The Next Generation

Q is definitely one of my favorite characters in a the Star Trek universe. He brought a much needed sense of humor to TNG that they needed. I so wanted the next Star Trek movie to be a Q story, and my favorite ST books are 'Q-In-Law' and 'Q-Squared' (A brilliant book by Peter David). Well, today on TNN had all Q episodes on Sunday's TNG marathon which thrilled me to no end.
I'd even love to be Q for Halloween. The only problem is that if I just show up in a Starfleet uniform, people will think I'm just a regular Starfleet officer BUT some people wouldn't get me dressed up in the 'Q-Judge' costume of the pilot and series finale. The easiest costume I wore, but the most misunderstood was when I took some shiny cardboard, cut a letter 'H' out of it, glued it to my forehead and went to a party as a hologram ala 'Red Dwarf'. I was dying for some girl to ask why they could still touch me so I could explain about 'hard light' holograms, but I never got the chance. Bummer.
I'm still working on preparing Dana's recordings of Bob's voices to plug into the files, so as soon as that happens, you'll see the Progress Table updated. Other than that, I've been working at American Players Club designing mailers, so it's been steady work. More and more hours every week, so that's cool.

Some wonderful news, Fellow Knights! Dana, the guy who voices Bob, was actually in town this last weekend for a wedding that ended up not happening, and we got together to record his lines for Series Two! The lines are recorded in the computer and are being edited to drop into the toons! Most excellent news!
Unfortunately, fellow Knights, not everyone is such a fan. Some of you may know of the Ninja Dispatch where people can send ninjas to assassinate people. If you can figure out who it is attacking you and know their e-mail address (and they're not successful in their attack) you can send a ninja back to retaliate. I got several massages before the attack was successful, as follows:

To: Andrew Babb

Ah, Gaming Guardians Prologue, eh? This is horrible!

You are a big fool. You shamed yourself on the 11th, and have yet to change your under garments.

The new cartoon style

You disgrace all humanity with your weak-minded idiocy!

Joe Cartoon will still be funnier than Series Two, Hoody Whore-chan!

The notes were signed 'Deliren' and I have no idea who that is. Aside from the Sept. 11 reference, I found the whole thing funny. Maybe one day, I will find the source of these attacks...

Hello fellow Knights. There's so much for me to say here, I'm having trouble organizing my thoughts and picking a place to start. I moved the progress table up so that the changes would be more visible. Would you rather see that first or the news posts?
I got a call yesterday from John (the voice of Brian in my cartoons). Completely out of the blue, he informs me that he has just bought himself the inventory of a hobby store and is moving it to a new location.
It's kind of interesting when you think about it. I've mentioned to some people before if not outright in my news posts how John holds some similarities to Brian, like his collection of RPG material and knowledge of rules. And now he's also becoming a Weird Pete. After thinking about it for a while, I feel this would be a natural progression for a 'Brian' anyways. Brian in KODT is in business for himself running a BBS and selling painted miniatures online. There might come a point where he'd have to expand and if not a physical storefront, then at least a storage space for extra stock.
In any case, I spent the whole of yesterday helping moving inventory. Mostly all the shelves and display cases. Very hard work. The old store was twice as large as the new location, but according to John, the old owner didn't have enough stock or business to cover the cost of the area. The new location will be right across from UNLV. I don't believe a game shop has been this close to the college so there's potential for some good business there. The shop also had a bank of computers for online game play which John plans to continue using.
The coolest part is that not only did he graciously pay me for my time moving things, he's going to pay me to design the store's website! Oooooh yeah. Just another example of how gamers look out for each other!
And, thankfully, that's not the only freelance job I've gotten. I've been able to nab a couple of other freelance graphic design jobs, and one of them even called me back today to do some more work for them. I don't know if I'll be making enough to cover rent yet, but at least some work is trickling in at last.
Not that I'll be neglecting Series Two either. In fact, I just talked to Dana (the voice of Bob) and have gleefully found that he will be coming into town next week so I can finally get him to record his lines! I haven't seen him in over a year so it will be good to see him again, too!
I've thought about the catchiness of the title 'Hoody Hoo: Series Two'. and although it could continue on the same tack with 'Hoody Hee: Series Three', I think it would not be as whimsical with Series Four. Just think about it for a while. It'll come to you.
Oh and finally, I was contacted by the International Festival of Cinema and Technology. They are holding their next film festival in LA and will soon be viewing my Knights cartoons for possible inclusion in the festival. I will definitely keep you posted on any changes in that storyline.

Hi Knights. I'm sure that like me, you have had a roadblock placed in front of your normal events due to the recent tragedy. It's hard to put into words what so many people have tried to. The best thing I can offer is the best statement from the surprisingly touching monologue by Jon Stewart on the return of Daily Show when he said "I grieve, but I do not despair."
I can even offer some good news on a personal front. With the economy as unsure as it is, and more people are out of work, I have ironically been able to find some, albiet on a temporary basis. A new Bed, Bath & Beyond is gearing to open here, and I've been working there doing good ol' physical labor, unloading shipments off of pallets and checking them with inventory. I turned in an application on Tuesday, was called Wednesday to come in and work and ended up picking up four more days. I have to work through the weekend and it might just be only a temporary gig, but now I don't have to worry about making rent this month. I'm even up for a couple of website jobs that have yet to be finalized.
I hope everything is well with all of you. I've been reading the posts on the KODT Yahoo Club and have seen how widely affected everyone is about September 11.
I'll bring more updates on recent things soon. Gotta get to sleep.

Happy Labor Day Weekend, fellow Knights!
Remember when I said the only thing worse than landing a job at Wal-Mart is NOT landing a job at Wal-Mart? Well, things are worse. I didn't get the job at Wal-Mart and I don't know why. They won't tell me.
However, I did have interviews for two jobs where I was called back for seconds. One would have been where I would have recreated logos and done some package design. But I found out that I didn't get the job. When I asked why, they told me upfront that I was too experienced. They went with someone with little experience so they could pay them less. Unfortunately, this is a common practice in Vegas.
The second job though, is still up in the air. A web design position. I heard from them yesterday and they said they were taking another week to decide.
The cartoon is NOT in a holding pattern. "Bob" has still to record his voices, but with the rest of the voices recorded and edited, I can basically 'work around' him until he chimes in.
I don't know if many of you have seen this cool series, but it's worth checking out: Final Fighting Fantasy. I met the creator of this series when I gamed with him in Los Angeles. He's a really cool guy. This series is related to RPGs if you count console RPGs. If you follow the Final Fantasy series at all there's some great in-jokes for you to discover. He even has a FAQ section that explains them for you. I even had the honor of contributing some voice work for the multi-collaborative, and aptly titled "Epic" which he is still working on, but looks to be quite cool.
As you can see, I've changed up the donation buttons slightly. They're both clearly visible now in a banner with a middle section I can easily update. I want to thank everyone who donated this week and hope to make September even more successful!
And hey, if you wanna check out something real cool, check out MaxxIM! TheJoe pointed this out to me. It's a very cool program that lets you access ICQ, AIM, Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger, and IRC, ALL in the same program! It's a fabulous space saver, and gets rid of all those pesky desktray icons. Well worth the look.

Greetings, fellow Knights.
My job search may have a temporary slowdown. On Monday I am to meet the store manager of my local *shudder* Wal-Mart. Of course I'll still be looking for a job more appropriate to my skills, but until then, it's quite possible I'll be eligible for the Wal-Mart employee discount. I'll should know tomorrow.
It's an interesting dilemma. In the timeless words of Oscar Wilde: "The only thing worse than landing a job at Wal-Mart, is not landing a job at Wal-Mart."? There's another interesting side effect. That type of job would be only enough to cover rent, food, and net connection costs. Yes, my roommate has a good computer network running but the connection still incurs fees and I contribute to that cost. So, that means that any other money I make will come from this site. From you. Kind of interesting how that could work out.
I want to show you this. All voices have been recorded except for Bob, and since he is in Colorado we are working out a way to get his voice down. While that is happening, I'm working on new versions of the Knights for Hoody Hoo: Series Two. The first time I did them, I drew the characters out on paper, inked them, scanned them in, used Adobe Streamline to convert to vector line art, color them in Illustrator, then import them into Flash. Aside from the process being too long, I could never get the look I wanted with this process. I didn't want a completely clean look, but it was still too rough for my taste. Plus, editing further would take even more time.
I am taking a more direct route and building the Knights directly in Flash, drawing with the mouse. It's a bit faster, but offers a lot more control. For instance, although it looks whole the new character is in several pieces: head, body, eyes, mouth, arms, and hands. The old B.A. was just head, eyes and mouth. Of course this means that I can be more flexible with the new characters, adding more motion as needed. The differences can be seen in the following pictures, which you can click on for a bigger picture.

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I think that, in addition to keeping all colors correct and keeping a more unified look, that it stays true to Jolly's artwork while expanding on on it.

I really wish I could be there with you all, but my situation here has forced me to stay in Las Vegas and continue to find a job. If it wasn't for that, I'd be on a flight there and checking out the con with all of you and Jolly too.
However, I have a small way to be part of the action with all of you. Jolly has said that the cartoons on this site would be shown at the KenzerCo booth during the con. All of the voices (save one) have been recorded for Hoody Hoo: Series Two and among the final lines were a lot of flubs and bloopers so I thought it would be fun to put together a few teasers. In addition to showing you the fun we had recording, the more perceptive of you might be able to glean from the lines which stories will be showing up. :) There are a total of four teasers, one for each day of the con. There's still plenty of work to go on the series as you can see by the handy chart below, but this will hopefully give you a small glimpse as to what to expect when the whole thing is ready go!

I don't have a title for this news post. I just seems a collection of ideas with no common theme.
You have already seen Amazon and PayPal buttons on this site. I've also applied to a banner program and if I'm accepted you'll have another way to swing your support. If you can't spare the cash, then give the banner a click. I'm planning to have a little summary of how the site's donations size up each month so you can see how your support has held up.
And one thing I can promise, may guarantee you, is that this money is going to cover the cost of the site and not be wasted frivolously. Anyone that's read the previous news posts knows that I already have access to enough DVDs, games, and other leisure activities to keep me from going bored during the times I'm not working on the new series.
Joe Gouge sent me this great story and I had to share it with you. It's an actual story from an actual running Hackmaster game:

GM: Okay, you enter a room. Torches light the walls and all you can see. You
esitmate it's about 100 foot by 80 foot. In the center, there are 4 pillars
"boxed" around a treasure chest.
Player: Oooh, a treasure chest! I walk towards it.
GM: Um, okay.. you're at the treasure chest.
Player: ...I open it.
GM: *hands Josh a 10 sider, and 20 sider* Roll for suprise and a dexterity
check.
Player: Uh, why?
GM: Just roll, you'll see.
Player: *rolls, fails his suprise check, and then fails his dex check*
GM: *grinning* You hear a loud sliding noise. Dumbfounded, you look up just
in time to see the 10-ton granite block meet your skull, telescoping your
spine, and crushing every bone in your body. *snickers*
Player: Uh.. do I get a saving throw?

That is so cool. I encourage all Hackmaster stories like this. I'm planning on having a section of the site dedicated to such stories called "True Tales From The Table". Hey, maybe even put up a voting system and possibly animate the highly rated ones. Could be a cool idea.
I do have my Hackmaster PHB and Hacklopedia Vol. 1 and am reading through it with pure glee. My friends want me to run a Hackmaster campaign. Running a game. And I voice B.A. in the cartoons.

I'M BECOMING B.A.!

Yeah, you thought that little "B.A." I slip in the middle of my name was just a cute little joke. But it seems an actual transformation is taking place.

As usual, are always welcome.

Just a quick note here. You may not have seen the chart below from the info page, so I decided to move it to the front page. I seem to have naturally progressed to updating the site on a more regular basis, so this chart will be no exception. I still can't put a definite finish and release date on HH:ST yet. (I'm still having to fall on the 3D Realms phrase "When it's done") so until I can nail that down, at least this will show how far along the production is going. There will probably be other tweaks and adjustments too. Some people have asked I write a 'how-I-do-it' section, and I might just do that before I get too far down the road.
Also, feel free to check out Damn Spiffy Cartoons, my new sister site. I've just fixed the for that side, so aside from a couple of e-mails, I haven't gotten any big reaction to that site yet.
As usual, are always welcome.

Job Search Update: Had two interviews last week. Didn't get one of the jobs. Haven't heard from the other. I have another one on Wednesday. In the meantime, I'm still looking at all the sites and applying where I can.

As usual,

Andrew "B.A." Babb

In other personal news, since November, I have been unemployed. Yup, as I've been telling those stalwart fans that write in, I am an official victim of the dot-com fallout, having been laid off of my job at TrafficStation. I've been searching almost everyday through the big job sites (Dice, Hot Jobs, Monster, Brass Ring) with a few nibbles, but nothing solid yet. So the long 'under construction' Info section may just be filled with my resume and portfolio. If you don't know. I don't make any money off this site, so I need to find something soon.

I have done a little creative work in the meantime. If you didn't know, I created characters for the web comic Gaming Guardians. A great site to check out. Although another artist is doing the regular strip. I do special stuff from time to time, as well as the early strips. There are even a couple of T-shirts with my designs (with Gaming Guardians characters, not Knights stuff) for sale through CafePress. In fact I have a project coming on there soon that I'll be able to reveal more about soon.

As usual,

Andrew "B.A." Babb