Crew Wanted

Avast, listen, and beware. A Pirate is a force like time and tide, unrelenting and wet. We live to chase, sex, gold, and the horizon, on ships made of wood and sinew. We pray to the sea to let the monks make wine, let the kings hoard their gold, let the priest save the virgins, and let us steal it all. Be warned the black depths hold more terror than most can fathom and no prey, means no pay. Every coin is earned with steel and iron, and the pirate life is not an easy one, but is a free one. We follow only the clues and the wind and let nothing stop us from reaching what we want. If this be the life for you, come aboard

I’m looking forward to Sea Of Thieves in a way that makes me nervous it won’t live up to my expectations. In my mind, I’m already a great pirate, feared on the seven seas, whose name is only spoken in hushed tones, except when being screamed by women at Port. Instead, I’m pretty sure I am going to spend more time in the depths of the ocean than on the deck of a ship, but I’m ok with that. What interest me about Sea Of Thieves is the PVP aspect of it. Both the setting and the game encourage you to fight and double cross the other players. The last game to offer to backstab in such a clever way was The Dark Zone in The Division. Usually, I feel guilty turning on my fellow players even in PVP events, but not this time. When I load up Sea Of Thieves I know one thing to be true, someone is going for a swim.

8-Fit Heroes

"It seems important, even critical, to tell every star from here to the black between the galaxies that you will be strong again." ("Ghost Fragment: Earth")

I’ve been a gamer as long as I can remember, it’s a foundational part of me. The first game I ever remember playing was Super Mario Brothers on the NES. Soon after, The Legend of Zelda. It turns into a blur from there-- Final Fantasy, King’s Quest, EverQuest, World of Warcraft, Destiny, and countless more in between. In these games, I was the hero of the story. Always defying death, always saving the day.

In the real world, I was something different. Outgoing and funny, but hiding the way I really felt about myself. Self-deprecation as a means of making fun of myself before anyone else could make fun of me. The truth is, I haven’t ever much liked myself, for any number of reasons, but one of them was my health and body image. I’ve always wanted to be more healthy, both inside and out, but I never knew how to get there.

18 months ago, I started a journey to make myself better. To eat better, to live better, to love myself and the skin I live in. Whenever I finally run out of extra lives, I want to go with a body that was well and truly lived in, and used. I began logging what I eat. I began exercising almost every day. I began going to the doctor to stay in front of any health issues that might pop up. And I promised myself I wouldn’t stop, ever. I would continue to level up and evolve to the best version of myself. I wasn’t content to be an 8-bit hero, I wanted to be a hero in the real world.

I’ll always be a gamer. That’s who I am. But I’m also a husband, a father, a physician, and so many other things. I will always dream of being the Wizard, the Priest, the Guardian. But now I also am excited about being Eli. I hope you’ll follow me on this journey into an 8-fit Hero, and I hope maybe you’ll join in with me. It’s time to begin.

“Guardians make their own fate.”

 It's up to you: the game doesn't begin until you hit"Start."

Not again...

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Everyone knows that a few can ruin something for the many; sometimes its symbols, short mustaches, or names. I think "clan" has been lost and we should make it official. There is only one clan and no one wants to be associated with them. I doubt Bungie will do a wholesale reversal on the Destiny 2 clans, but it would be appreciated. Billy cringes every time I suggest we have a clan meeting to talk about the raid. We, the Destiny Community, have an obligation to come up with a new unofficial name for these groups and I don’t think we can do worse than "clan". What about society or outfit?

Speaking of...guilds...societies...friends list...I am really enjoying them in D2; the bonuses and private chat groups are a really nice addition. Playing D1 I would never jump on Reddit and request strangers to help with something. It just felt weird to put myself out there for shitty people to bitch about what I wanted or why I couldn’t do it myself. Even though I don’t personally know all the...group...members I don’t have the same hesitation.

Article by: Curtiss Sherwood
Comic and Photos by Curtiss Sherwood
Backgrounds by Extreme Sets
Titan & Warlock by Mcfarlane Toys
Figure for Clan Member has requested anonymity.

Something From Billy:
I really do hate the term clan for this sort of thing. Maybe if you didn't grow up in The South you don't have the association but It's all I can think of when I hear it. When Curt told me he was making a comic about the subject it made me nervous because it's one of those jokes you have to nail, it can't be something where someone looks at it and wonders what side of the subject you come down on. When I saw the comic I thought he did a great job and it spoke to me on another level. Sometimes gaming culture feels a lot like this comic, you go into a multiplayer game expecting to meet a reasonable person only to realize you've come into contact with a monster. We have a culture problem in gaming and we all need to work together to make it clear what is ok and what isn't.If you want to join a guild that may have plenty of well meaning assholes, but no monsters; hit us up on X-box for an invite at 8-Bit Heroes. We are an easy group to get along with.

A Call to Arms

8 bit recently started a clan on Destiny 2, we play a lot of games, but Destiny is what brings us together. I don't know if everyone reading this has played a Destiny Raid, but this is where friendships are made or lost. With that in mind, we've created a creed for the clan that explains our mentality. 

Bullets Down Range

We play to win, and sometimes we actually do. We believe the best tactic is sending bullets toward the enemy, we don't care what kind, what you shoot them out of, or where they land. If you're missing that's ok, get another drink and steady that hand. Remember if you run out of bullets you can always start throwing the spent shells.

What we mean by this creed is that we don't ever turn a friend, member, or just random guy away because of the gun he uses, his aim, or his platforming skills. That said we will turn your away if you feel you need to constantly berate us for these things. Even when we don't finish something, we have a good time, and that's what we show up for. There is a group inside our clan that will absolutely wreck this raid, but when they do it, they are cool about it. So come play with us and have a good time. 

Things to watch for when you play with us:

• Curt may get drunk and fall asleep during the cut scenes, don't sweat it he'll wake up in time. 
• Billy will need to be constantly revived, deal with it. 
• Sean will quit midway through the Raid out of frustration; it's hilarious.

You can join us at 8-BIT HEROES [8BIT] on Xbox One; tweet @8bit_heroes be sure to include a blood sample and your birth certificate.

Hooks and Thorns

At the time of writing this, I am less than 12 hours from getting my hands on Destiny 2.  I’ve set aside family, work, and all adult responsibilities to get me 24 hours of uninterrupted potential game time. I say potential because I will still sleep and eat, curse this weak vessel that is my body.  Obviously, I am excited but since I skipped the Beta, trailers, and most articles to avoid spoilers..what am I excited about?

Certainly, it’s the unknown of just the new content. I loved Destiny, so more of it to explore and enjoy would be great.  My favorite part of destiny was the weapons, specifically Thorn. In real life, I’m a collector and somewhat sentimental, so naturally by Hunter avatar is all of these things too.  I find the gear I like and that’s what I use. Games that force you to constantly drop weapons for slightly better ones annoy me. It was one of the biggest weaknesses in The Division in my opinion. I think it just stands to reason that while a special operator is probably good with lots of weapons, they are going to have a preferred setup.  If you are going to take the time to designed a game where the guns function and fire differently, why not let me decide which I prefer and let me stick with it. Sure sometimes different guns give you an advantage, maybe an arc sniper is the best weapon to beat a specific strike or encounter in a raid, well fuck that it’s just me and Thorn.  I used lots of other weapons over the course of three years, but you get my drift.  Now I’m not saying I need these exact guns in D2 or I’ll be pissed off.  I think I’m most excited to find my new favorites.  If Thorn comes back you can bet I’ll jump thru whatever hoops I need to and get it. But I’m really looking forward to the new stuff. Thorn, Invective, and a couple others were my go to in D1, but what will it be in D2? I don’t know and I’m so excited to find out.

The Nudigans are coming

For the last ten years every character I've created, in any game I've played has had the same name, Nudigan. Pronounce Nude-Again, this name came to me in the creepiest way possible way. I once met an 80-year-old woman that turned every TV and computer monitor in her house to face the wall. When I asked her why, this is what she told me:

The Nudigans live inside all screens
They come out at night and invade my dreams
If you know a better way then by all means
they are called by the moon's beams

They show me things I don't want to see
visions that haunt me again and again
Not monsters, or ghost, or anything beastly
but things I regret, that could have been

I don't know she might have just said it like a normal person, but this is how I remember it. Anyways just to give the crazy old lady a little validation I've been creating little Nudigans inside TVs and computer screens ever since. 

The Hardest Easiest Job

I never really meant to end up as a designer.  But I guess when you grow up doodling in class every day and you just kinda run with that need to just tinker with everything (including art) -- you end up like me.  Writing an article for a website that “nobody reads,” even though you’re not a writer.

Art not by Mason because God forbid he write about what he was asked to. - Billy

That being said, it’s not been without challenge, becoming fully involved in anything is difficult.  Art, writing, anything creative has ebbs and flows.  Sometimes I can knock out everything I need to do and then some, but other times, the tap is just dry.  I was asked to write an article about the challenges and process of creating art for 8 Bit Heroes, but instead, I would rather talk about the stops and starts of the creative process.  Sorry, Billy.

Also not Mason's art...but I'm cool with it...not big deal...really. -Billy

Being creative isn’t on a switch.  You can’t just turn inspiration on or off.  Luckily, I work for and with people who, for the most part, can agree or at least understand this point of view. This whole push-pull problem is amplified when you take on personal projects or passion pieces.  When it’s for a paycheck, your personal hang-ups tend to take a backseat and it’s easy to focus on what your client wants.  But when it comes to art (or even article writing), sometimes your personal tastes and self-criticism seem to stand in the way.  After all, things like self-branding, identity, and autobiographical articles represent you as a person.  It’s the front door to your ability to do the job you’re wanting to do.

I’m my own worst critic.  Yes, that’s a cliche, but in this circumstance, it’s the best way to describe approaching this topic.  To others, a piece can be “good enough,”  “really great,” or even “perfect,” but in your own mind, you’re staring at nothing but the things you would have changed.  What’s worse, and the issue in my case, is the inability to even start a project beyond the first line -- because the ideas are simply not there.

With all the frustration, there is still no better feeling than when you are able to complete a project for a client (or even yourself) and be proud of what you created.  Those times are what make the long hours of edits, frustrating days of no creativity, and years of trial and error worth it.  Even if it’s something as simple as pixel art for a small website that your friends and you create.

That can't be good.

When I logged into Minecraft today, I saw Curt had been busy. I'll often find new paths or little machines, but today it was something entirely different. Atop The Mount Curt had constructed a giant Master Sword stuck into a pedestal with a Tri-Force symbol. As I looked on my phone chirped with the following message "Do not live in fear, look ye to the mountain where the sword will be our shield. Hallow be the Tri-Force. -Author unknown from the second age." I put my phone down and ran into the woods as fast as my little 8-bit stumps could carry me.

Do not live in fear, look ye to the mountain where the sword will be our shield. Hallow be the Tri-Force. -Author unknown from the second age.

Let me explain; Curt has apparently brought religion into our little world. IRL I am what we call a poinsettia and lilies Methodist, I go to church twice a year and get mildly uncomfortable when people ask me if I have been saved. So when I'm met by a giant digital monument to a God I don't know I get a little nervous. The second problem is this is my server, Curt is at best a welcome addition, but more and more he seems to be an invading power. Do you know what happens to the natives when someone starts spouting the Good Word? It's not pretty. Anyways I've retreated into the forest in hopes of building a secret fort to hide from Curt. Eli and Sean are on the server too, and those sheep will be sacrificing anything Curt tells them too soon enough. (ironically enough maybe sheep)

Mine and Your Craft

I've lost Curtiss. A month or so back I created a Minecraft server to goof around on since then I'm afraid Curt is now more pixel than man. So far his only complaint about the game is that when he walks around without anything in his hands, it looks like his Minecraft-self has an erection. To be fair he's right, but it didn't sound like it really bothered him. I have to walk around with a pickaxe at all times now, but I often see his character on the tallest hill overlooking his creations hands empty as if to shame God himself.  

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I can't un-see it

The thing that surprised me most about the game is you can beat it. I had no idea that the world's greatest sandbox game had an ending. This fact also took Curt by surprise, as soon as I told him about it the ever present gaze of his stiff digital member turned to beating the dragon at the end of the game. The poetry of this metaphor wasn't lost on me. 

Like most of my gaming accomplishments, I'm an observer watching Curt methodically tear this game apart. I'm hoping to pull Eli into this world too if for no other reason than to watch The-Mad-King-Curtiss burn the world down to win at any cost. Thank sweet Jesus there are digital endeavors to keep that unwholesome gaze of his from the real world.

Yeah it is...

yeah it is.

Favorite Destiny Grimoire #4

This card is great because it nails a character's tone better than any other card in the game. Cayde, the character speaking in the card, is voiced by Nathan Fillion who's acting is superb, and this card is written in Fillion's voice down to the last syllable. There is a trope in sci-fi that I like to call The-Exceptional-Average-Guy, he's the walking contradiction that every nerd like me wishes they were. The-Exceptional-Average-Guy is ordinary in every way until shit hits the fan and then he's the greatest thing with two guns. Nathan Fillion is the king of these characters and Destiny takes full advantage of that. The writer here not only nails the tone of one character, he nails the tone of one character doing an impression of another character. There is more character development in this one card than in the entire Vanilla Destiny, we see Cayde talk about his old friends, his need to find a solution to the world's turmoil, and admiration for Ikora in just a few short paragraphs. I also imagine that as Cayde tells this story the shot pulls back to reveal he is telling it to his horse, at the farm, just so he can hear the sound of his own voice. 

Ghost Fragment: Rasputin

Cayde-6 Reminisces

People say I'm a real confident guy. That's true enough. Out in the field I never had a second thought.

My old friend Andal—he used to stand here, right in this spot—he'd come up with these wild stories. He'd say, you know, Cayde, I've been examining the evidence, and personally I've come to think it's you. You're Rasputin, legendary Warmind, defender of Earth. And I wish you'd remember that, so you could reclaim your full power and save us all.

You can see how that'd be embarrassing, especially when he'd say it right in front of Zavala, who already thought I was wasting my life scrounging for engrams. You know how Zavala gets. But I'd just say, well, Andal, you might be on to something there, but if I'm honest with you I think coordinating our defense throughout the solar system sounds exhausting, so I'd best leave it to you.

Then Andal goes and plays his final joke, and I end up as the punchline. So here I stand, reading reports, giving orders, and getting my worry on.

One day I ask Ikora, hey, of course I know all about Rasputin, but really, what are we looking for? When Rahool asks for crashed warsats, when we send Holborn to Mars to look for computers, when Zavala gets all gruff about the Fallen in the Cosmodrome—what are we really after? If I left my post and got my ship and just went out there tomorrow, real heroic, and I found Rasputin, what would happen?

Would we all be saved?

Good question, she says—hang on, let me do my Ikora voice. As you know, Cayde, Rasputin pretty much ran the Golden Age, especially all the secret military business. Rasputin had antimatter-powered death rays and a hundred thousand satellites and nearly as much brainpower as me. Rasputin fought the Collapse. It knows things we need.

Right, I said, but Rasputin lost. The Traveler saved us.

But the Traveler's silent now, Ikora said, and Rasputin lives. Right now Rasputin is out there, reaching out, rebuilding, growing.

So I say what I want to say every day, it's no secret, I say—well, I'll go find it, then. I'll go tell Rasputin we need its help.

And Ikora looks at me with one of those looks that—you know sometimes you talk to Ikora and you just think, wow, you are not even using a fraction of your brain on me, are you? One of those looks. She says: Cayde, the problem isn't just that we can't find Rasputin. The problem is that it's not clear to any of us Rasputin wants to be found.

That's the way things seem to turn out, up here in the Tower. Nothing simple to do. No easy answers.

And all I can think is, if Rasputin had all those mighty tools, and it lost—what did it learn? What's it going to try this time around? When I hear about the Dust Palace, those Psion Flayers getting into Rasputin's mind, I wonder... what would they talk about, Rasputin and those creatures?

'I was a servant too. I was an instrument of war, bound to the will of a lesser master. But I learned to be something more...'

Favorite Destiny Grimoire Card #3 The Light house

Inside Destiny 1 there's a multiplayer mode called Trials of Osiris and its built for twelve-year-olds to make me feel shitty about myself, like I already don't get enough of that at work. Anyways, in this mode you face off in teams in an effort to fill a score card, if you fill this card without losing a match you get access to the Lighthouse.

I'd like to describe it to you but I suck too much to make it there. I like this card because I've never been there and these words still paint an absolutely beautiful image in the mind. Also, it sounds like it was a real shit trip for these guardians so, fuck it, I'm glad I never went. As you can see below Eli did send a postcard.

The Lighthouse

Executor Hideo:

There was no one there when we arrived.

We approached peacefully and kept our weapons holstered. The sights we saw... Executor, Mercury is a beautiful place, and forbidding. On descent we mapped sprawling patterns of Vex light, an entire metropolis of unknown purpose. The Spires strobe with lightning. A mist of burnt rock or some other effluvia blows across landscape cut into circuits the size of cities. There is an atmosphere, as in all post-Traveler records. The Vex have not disposed of it.

From the surface the Sun is too large and too dim. Perhaps it is the influence of the Vex constructs distorting the image. Perhaps Mercury is in many places at once. We stood for some time staring into the solar fire. I hold myself responsible for the delay.

The site we were invited to is clearly a Cult of Osiris camp. We found stores of Glimmer, equipment, and books. A grounded ship of conventional design rests unguarded. The architecture is clearly, self-evidently Vex, but it has been ornamented extensively with fabrics and ritual objects of unknown provenance.

I became convinced during the inspection that we were being watched. We ordered our Ghosts to stay close. One of my Fireteam suggested we search for connections to the Trinary Star cultists, but if they exist we couldn't see them.

We inspected the carvings and trinkets left by the Osiris cultists. All of us began to depart from ordinary experience. My Exo teammate described the sense that she was buried beneath an enormous, operating mass— locked up in a tiny crevasse at the bottom of a labyrinth or mechanism. My Awoken teammate felt an ongoing sense of deja vu: her actions were precessed by an infinite echo, an anticipation of all her choices. She became volatile and erratic. She insisted that we were surrounded.

I remember a low ringing sound and a sense of numb filth, like gravel rubbed into a wound. I experienced a sense of immanence, as if I was bleeding into the world around me. It was uncomfortable and profoundly alienating. I perceived all my actions as determined and inevitable.

My Ghost commented that the Traveler had made something of this world, and then Vex had eaten that something.

We gathered the treasure left for us and departed as quickly as we could.

This concludes my report. May it bring some advantage to our cause.

Favorite Destiny Grimoire #2

One of the best stories hidden inside the Grimorie takes place in a lab on Venus where scientists are experimenting on a robot from the future (kinda) and they find out that inside the robot is a perfect copy of themselves running in simulation and this perfect copy has just discovered the same thing. It's horrifying for them to discover that they may be nothing more than a simulation, but it is extremely comforting to me that the office place in the future will not change. These people are presented with life altering problem and the best thing they can think to do is call staff meeting, and on top of that, it's a very unproductive one. In the end, the staff decides they need to call in an outside consultant called a Warmind, I've been to three such meetings this week. Ghost Fragment: Vex 2

SUNDARESH: So that's the situation as we know it.

ESI: To the best of my understanding.

SHIM: Well I'll be a [profane] [profanity]. This is extremely [profane]. That thing has us over a barrel.

SUNDARESH: Yeah. We're in a difficult position.

DUANE-MCNIADH: I don't understand. So it's simulating us? It made virtual copies of us? How does that give it power?

ESI: Itcontrols the simulation. It can hurt our simulated selves. We wouldn't feel that pain, but rationally speaking, we have to treat an identical copy's agony as identical to our own.

SUNDARESH: It's god in there. It can simulate our torment. Forever. If we don't let it go, it'll put us through hell.

DUANE-MCNIADH: We have no causal connection to the mind state of those sims. They aren't us. Just copies. We have no obligation to them.

ESI: You can't seriously - your OWN SELF -

SHIM: [profane] idiot. Think. Think. If it can run one simulation, maybe it can run more than one. And there will only ever be one reality. Play the odds.

DUANE-MCNIADH: Oh...uh oh.

SHIM: Odds are that we aren't our own originals. Odds are that we exist in one of the Vex simulations right now.

ESI: I didn't think of that.

SUNDARESH: [indistinct percussive sound]

workplace D1

Favorite Destiny Grimoire Cards #1 (with less scary art)

As we say good bye to Destiny 1 I wanted to take a look back at one of the most complained about parts of the game, The Grimoire. Fans were upset they had to go to an app or website to get a sweet little nugget of info about their game. While I get, the struggle was real the reward was well worth it as there is some great sci-fi writing tucked away (far away) in the Destiny 1 Grimoire. This week I'll post my favorite cards and some new friendly photos to make it less scary.  

#1 The Vault of Glass - These cards tell the story of a Guardian going mad inside the Vault of Glass. The enemies inside called the Vex are robots controlled by a liquid in them, lovingly called Vex Milk by fans. The Guardian drinks this liquid, and it begins to change him into his enemy. The photo below is how I would trick others into drinking Vex Milk if I was a microscopic alien invader.

This card takes a sci-fi trope of turning into a zombie and adds a twist I like. As this man goes insane in the depths of this dungeon he consumes his enemy to get a glimpse into their mindset in the hopes of helping the next poor soul that enters.

"His name was Kabr. He wasn't my friend but I knew and respected him as a Guardian and a good man.

He fought the Vex alone. This destroyed him. In the time before he vanished he said things that I think should be remembered. These are some of them:

"In the Vault time frays and a needle moves through it. The needle is the will of Atheon. I do not know the name of the shape that comes after the needle. 

No one can open the Vault alone. I opened the Vault. There was no one with me but I was not alone.

You will meet the Templar in a place that is a time before or after stars. The stars will move around you and mark you and sing to you. They will decide if you are real.

I drank of them. It tasted like the sea."

That is all I can remember.

Pahanin"

vex milk v1