Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Fantasy Adventures => Topic started by: PhilB on September 01, 2019, 10:11:46 AM
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Edit: changed the title again.
I've got a rather strange request to make, so bear with me.
I'm putting together a Pathfinder 2 module that I intend to publish under their compatibility licence, and I'm stymied by artwork. I'm not a graphic artist, and I can't use random pics DLed on the internet without permission.
My clever idea was to take my own photos using miniatures and decor from my collection. I've just got one problem: I need a photo of a red-haired pirate woman, and don't have any suitable miniatures.
So I'm making a photo request here. Is there anyone willing to supply me with a nice photo of a red-haired pirate-type female figure that I can use, preferably with either a sailing ship background, or a tavern-style background. Of course I'll credit the photo to you, but since this is my first for-profit effort I don't expect to make much from this adventure module. In the scene where she appears, she is in a tavern threatening an old man, but any reasonable-quality photo of a red-haired pirate woman will do.
Just to give a little more background, this adventure module is based on my first Pathfinder 2 game two weeks ago, and you can read a little about that adventure here:
https://dragontoothgrognard.blogspot.com/2019/08/normal-0-21-false-false-false-fr-zh-cn.html
The character in question appears under the section heading "Act Two, encounter mode: What happened one night."
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Blond hair with a red hat any good?
(http://www.orctrader.co.uk/Images/Pirates/BlackScorpion/Fem1.jpg)
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That's a great figure, with wonderful painting and shadowing. Maybe I should just change the text to make her have blonde hair. <g>
And wearing a bandanna to cover her features.
I will PM you for contact information.
What I should really do is get some more minis and paint one up, but I'd like to finish this project in the next few days.
More soon.
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I have a couple of possibilities. I will try and take pictures tomorrow, once I track them down to their lair (danged pirates).
-Michael
P.S. Love the job you did on that Black Scorpion figure, Orctader.
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MWeaver, I'd really appreciate that. Especially if you have a red-haired pirate woman figure you can share.
I suppose I can always change the text to match whatever figure ends up being the best choice.
Here are a few of the tavern pics I just did up:
(https://gdurl.com/AETi)
General scene of the tavern
(https://gdurl.com/Fajt)
The waitress, that I might end up using for a halfling NPC (despite the lack of furry feet in evidence)
(https://gdurl.com/Ir7i)
Fredegar, the tavernkeeper at The Crooked Hand
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OK, I have pictures of the two figures. Is there a way I can post them directly here from my hard drive, or do I need to post them somewhere on teh interwebs first and then insert the link?
-Michael
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OK, I have pictures of the two figures. Is there a way I can post them directly here from my hard drive...
Hi,
Click on reply...
Click on the "Attachments and other options...
Click "Browse" next to "attach:" and select you image
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Thanks, Orctrader. I was looking at all the buttons at the top of the box.
Looks like the files are too large. When Aardtacha arrives home in a bit I will ask her about how to fix that problem. She has the knowing of that sort of thing better than I.
-Michael
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Here is the first one. She is a Freebooter miniature. With the scarf, it is a bit hard to tell her hair color.
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And here is the second one, a Reaper miniature. You can see more of her hair than you can of the previous one.
-Michael
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Oh, dear, looks like someone has had too much to drink. I wonder why the second picture was flipped, but not the first one. They are both righ-tside up on my 'puter. Let me see what I can do...
ARRRRGH! I flipped and saved it, then loaded that version, and it is still upside down. Sigh.
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Those are great figures, even if one of them is upside-down. <g> And the second one is much closer to the description given in the text. I think that photo will be perfect. I'll PM for details.
And here she is, right side up!
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Many thanks to Orctrader and Mweaver for their kind assistance with the photos.
I needed a cover photo, so today I went into my sunny back yard and set up this village.
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Couldn't use all the pics, but here's another one. Or three.
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Nice setup! I think I may like the next to last best. Although the last one would also work well if you put the title at the bottom.
-Michael
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Would you need permission of the miniature manufacturer to use with your module?
Personally, as someone who's reviewed PDFs of modules on RPG.net, I don't have any use for art. It's pretty, but most RPG art is non-functional and just takes up space and printer ink. Some creators do put art as handouts or profile pictures, but an amazing number don't. Personally, I look for good layout (at the least, no widows and orphans, and put tables near the text that uses them, and realizing that some GM's cut up PDFs for various reasons (eg. to use sections as impromptu player aids). Do have a version for printing, and one for non-printing.
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Hmmm. Let's see... Many of them are from group packs (Town Folk, Adventurers, Thieves Guild) from Johnny Lauck's Mega Miniatures and the pirates are from Wargames Foundry.
But there are some old odds & ends in there. A wagon from some historical line purchased at GenCon IX (iirc).
And the scenery includes a few bits from Dwarven Forge, a kitbashed version of the Warhammer/Citadel Laketown house, two kitbashed house kits from Tabletop Basement, one fully scratchbuilt halftimbered house (all four with fully detailed interiors, that you can't see in the picture <g>), two scratchbuilt ships, one rowboat from the laketown house...
I hadn't thought about it before, but I suppose I need to list all those credits.
But seriously, *would* I need permission from the miniature manufacturers? I mean the primary reason why I decided to photograph minis from my own collection was to avoir using random pictures downloaded from Google. This self-publishing quest is becoming trickier than I'd imagined.
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Generally, no.
Could someone raise a fuss? Sure, and then you'd change up some pictures. I have checked with a number of manufacturers when I've done stuff like this before - just to be sure. But for a small time product that isn't going to be rivaling any industry giants it's a bit of a non-factor.
Legally, I'm not entirely sure. You own the figure, it's your paint, etc. Some companies are good at responding to this request, others are not.
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> But seriously, *would* I need permission from the miniature manufacturers?
My gut reaction is yes since they have rights to their own artwork, but I figure IANAL. If you plan to publish with a publisher, you could always ask what they think. You can self-publish on DriveThruRPG, and run this question past their customer service. I don't remember any RPG modules I reviewed that used photographs of miniatures. Some used royalty-free images to avoid costs. Of the miniatures photographed I have seen in game rules (miniature wargames), the miniatures belonged to or were associated with the publisher in some way.
As Elbows says, it's not always practical for small companies to enforce their rights. But I don't think that just because you can get away with something, you should. You could turn this into an opportunity by contacting manufacturers you like for permission and if they have any (free) product they could send to you to paint and show off in your work. (Throw some free publicity on LA while you're at it!)
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Thanks for your kind advice.
Of course I don't want to infringe on anybody's rights, especially people whose work I deeply respect, like Stefan Pokorny at Dwarven Forge, Johnny Lauck and his old Mega Miniatures line and the fine folks at Wargames Foundry. So I've taken your advice and written asking for permission prior to publication.
As long as I'm here posting about this, does anyone know offhand which sculptor did the Foundry Pirates and Swashbucklers line? I've included several figures from different packs, but this guy is from CUT-024 Bloody Bill's Butcher Boys.
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While I'm at it, many of the other figures I'm using are from three packs from Johnny Lauck's Mega Miniatures, Town Folk, Thieves Guild and Swords for Hire. I understand that all or nearly all of these figures came from Hobby Products Metal Magic Fantasy line before moving on to Mega Miniatures. Does anyone know the name of the scuptor(s) who did these fine vintage figures?
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FWIW, I heard from Johnny Lauck and have contacted Midlam Miniatures and Turnkey Miniatures, who have the figures from the old Metal Magic Fantasy line (Town Folk, Thieves Guild and Swords for Hire). The quest for permission continues.
Midlam and Turnkey have most of the figures listed with the sculptor attributed.
Michael Immig is the original sculptor for some of these figures, like the innkeeper.
Josef Ochmann for others.
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The quest for self-publishing is complete. I received photo permission from all of the manufacturers of the figures and terrain I used in the photos (except Games Workshop, who I understand rarely answer queries) and managed to get the thing up on DrivethruRPG. Many thanks to everybody who took the time to comment, and especially to mweaver and Orctrader who proposed miniature pics to fill in a gap I had.
Anyone who is interested in Pathfinder Second Edition can read about our first session on my blog (https://dragontoothgrognard.blogspot.com/2019/08/normal-0-21-false-false-false-fr-zh-cn.html), and if you'd like to give my 10-page tutorial adventure, "Pirates and Plunder, One Night at the Crooked Hand (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/289095/Pirates-and-Plunder-One-night-at-The-Crooked-Hand-PF2) a whirl, you can find it on DrivethruRPG.
Our RPG group has really been enjoying our first sessions with Pathfinder Second Edition. Its predecessor was the direct successor to D&D 3.5, and maintained most of those rules while tweaking things here and there. Ten years later, PF2 is a completely different game. The core concepts are of course all the same, but their implementation has become far more intuitive and easy to manage, especially for new players. And, of course, painted figures and terrain make it that much more fun, as players try to turn the terrain to their advantage.
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sample file up on DTrpg looks very good.