Comic battle

I was going to stop posting these here but for some reason they seem to small on Tumblr

The End of Networking as We Know it pt 1

There was an uproar when corporate lobbying tried to destroy the internet as we know it with SOPA, PIPA and other attempts to control bandwidth or control how we use the internet. There is however another threat that we have to beware though I’m not sure what we can do about it.

Simply put corporate America has the potential of being better at the internet than the rest of us. Just as food science has made the Dorito optimised to the point of addictiveness, corporate america will find the “Bliss point” of internet activity.The reason I think this will happen is that they have the best technology, reach, and talent money can buy.

The technology means they will be much more likely to use cutting edge software, If the software isn’t developed by them they will buy it out or imitate it. The companies trying to rule the internet would be almost impossible to sue for intellectual property theft and unlikely be held to the same standards as an individual. Large companies are allowed to continue to opperate during legal disputes while individuals and small businesses can probably expect criminal charges if they attempt to continue operating before the legal dispute was resolved. If they can’t exceed it they will at least be able to match it.

Fortune 500 types will always have the best reach because they can outspend smaller businesses on advertising. Even if a smaller company has a campaign that goes viral larger companies can saturate the ad space on the youtube page hosting it. Currently new media advertising is very effective for small business, mostly because bigger companies don’t want to bother with it. Once they find an interest it will be hard to beat them there because...

Conglomerates can pay the highest wages (but don’t when they don’t have to). Sure there might be coders and designers who want to stay independent but there are lots of talented people out there who want a paycheck. And if they can’t innovate they’ll imitate the work of the indie talent and re-purpose it for their company.

With these advantages these companies that already dominate shelf space will dominate cyberspace. The social sciences of web culture are still relatively young but continue to unfold the behavior of people interacting through screens and companies will master creating or exploiting your needs in order to drive you towards the purchase of their products.

That in it’s self is not scary but you must remember that it will never be enough. The manipulation of our base desires will become more and more immersive until you spend all your time on their sites seeing what they want you to see. MSNBC rarely reported GE’s misdeeds when GE was their parent company’s parent company.

Most products Americans buy are owned by eight or so companies. These companies all have obligations to their stockholders to continue to expand to make ever larger profits. This goes on until it can’t wring another cent out and the bubble bursts.

Small startups will be even more difficult because it will nearly impossible to penetrate cyberspace when every part of it anyone really frequents is owned by a company that owns the competition for the small business.

Currently the internet is democratized by altruistic businesses that aid small business. Anyone can create an Etsy or distribute an app. But this will only continue to flourish as long as conglomerates don’t begin to see them as competition.

I see it as only a matter of time before conglomerates begin to buy up these hosting companies and dismantle them by inversing the bliss point. In other words making the sites so unusable that consumers are driven over to brand name products.

Comic battle 8

Another comic battle page I'll post when they are all up with the other artst's turns so they make more sense

Character battle 07

more... ugh my opponent times it so I have to draw the battles the same time I update Crawlers.

Character Battle 5 (EDIT)

You may have noticed a lack of Crawlers on this blog. The problem is I get Crawlers done way faster than blog writing so it was just taking up too much space. People who want to read Crawlers can just go to the website.
I added the word (edit) to the title because the other cartoonist didn't see this post and so now I have to slide another comic in there to retcon it so it takes place after his turn

But extra Crawlers themed stuff like the Character battles will still be posted here.

Mutant Groundhog

Yet another installment of my series of Mutant animal soldiers from the post-apocalyptic RPG Rifts

Mutant Groundhogs AKA ‘Chucks

The joke when developing mutant Groundhogs was that they would be the rodents answer to the Killhounds because of their burly build and their surprisingly aggressive behavior. The joke happened to have a little truth to it.

While primarily herbivores the unmodified animal will make prey of smaller animals. They are very grumpy and will attack an animal they perceive to be a threat. They can be kept as pets but they have to be conditioned to be more affectionate.

The mutant animal thus makes a loyal enough soldier but works best in solitary. Usually to set up and man outposts in the CS expansion of the west. The outposts are set up to resupply patrols and to warn impending attacks against western threats. These outposts are becoming set up more and more north because the groundhogs can tolerate a much colder climate than the Naked Mole Rats.

Geneticist of the Archeogenomics project are only vaguely aware of the Groundhogs sensitivity to time and mostly dismiss it. Mostly because Clairvoyance is not an unusual ability of mutant animals and groundhogs work primarily alone.

There are a few reports of Coalition patrols retreating to a Groundhog manned outpost and suddenly having no problem defeating the threat. On the surface it is assumed that it is simply a testament to the construction of these outpost or even the tactical superiority of the chosen location. These reports will eventually be examined more thoroughly and it will become more obvious that an abnormally high number of these reversals involved enemies manipulating time or the weather.

Alignment: Any

Attributes

IQ: 3d6

M.E.: 3d6

M.A.: 3d6

P.S.: 4d6

P.P.: 3d6

P.E.: 4d6

P.B.: 3d6 +4

Spd. 3d6  1d8 +2 digging

I.S.P.

Hp: PE +1d6 per level

S.D.C: PE +5d6 +skill bonuses

Weight 160-200

Height 5

Appearance

Animal appearance. Stocky, brown furry and adorably chubby. Because they are mostly underground dwellers their ears are smaller than that of a rat. Hands are human-like with opposable thumbs with large claws from the tips of the digits for digging.

Human Speech

Typically full but whistles a lot when talking especially if under stress..

Natural Abilities

Prowl 60% +2%

Tunneling 80% +5%

Detect Ambush  44% +2%

Identify Plants 30% +2%

Damage Bite does 3d6 SDC/HP Punch 1d6

Natural Clairvoyance 26%+2% (same as Sensitive ability)

Forecast 75% +5% (same as clairvoyance but only gives impression relating towards weather this includes Ley Line storms)

Temporal Stability: all technology or abilities that disrupt or change the flow of time have a +2 to their difficulty or must make a difficulty 14 save or have the ability negated. 25ft +5 ft per level

+2 initiative Range

Magic None

PPE 3d6

Psionics 01-25% are minor psionics select four sensitive powers (‘Chucks may also opt to take only three powers and add +40% to natural Clairvoyance

RCC Skills

Speak American 90%

Radio: Basic +10%

Land Navigation +20%

Wilderness Survival +15%

Demolitions +12%

Prospecting +10%

Basic Mechanics +9%

WP Energy Rifle

WP Knife

WP Shovel

Hand to hand: Expert

RCC Related & Secondary

Same as Mutant Rats

Standard Equipment & Money

Same as Mutant Rats.

Cybernetics None

Typical Mission:

Primarily used for setting up outpost and manning them but also used for missions along with Tunnel Rats including entrenchment, tunneling, infantry, sabotage, demolition. Female mutant groundhogs are sometimes used to lead a group of Tunnel Rats.

character battle 3 and 4

These'll make more sense when read with the other player's responses