The very first weapon forged with a Lock and a Sacred Flame was for Salty Sloan Invader of Islands, who received The Pirate King sword. (September 2022)
The Gold and Quantum weapons were unleashed today, as part of the Great Forging. Dotta was excited to see new legendary weapons, as well as fewer Sacred Flames. To kick things off, Acideater created a golden cutlass for her honorary warrior, and end0xiii created a Quantum sword. Several others followed in the next few hours.
Theo (Snoopdoug's son) won the Summer Kid's Art Contest (judged by Elf). September 2022.
Cosmo was the primary artist for the legendary weapons and new backgrounds animations, and Elf was in charge of naming all the potential new weapons. It appears that the lock type affects the weapon, and the spell affects the new animated backgrounds. Niski and Kneeshaw were involved on the smart contract side, which accepts the component materials, and upgraded the NFT metadata with the appropriate details. Dotta considers this Forgotten Rune's first foray into dynamic NFTs.
Later in the Wizard Wednesday (WW), Elf returned to the forging topic. Bearsnake acknowledged that because of the limited nature of the Locks, there will be many who feel FOMO and won’t be able to participate. Magic Machine tries to vary who they target with different events and airdrops, and assured the audience that there are events coming up that will have a wider reach. Dotta said that in a couple months, there will be an event that releases 14 “pieces of gold” that are akin to the Locks. However, they won’t have Spells involved with them; they are gold items to create gilded weapons.
Dotta said that there are no future plans for Locks - the Forging is the only event that will make use of them. However, there will be 2 other events this year where all holders can participate, and Bearsnake hinted that even some non-holders will be able to get involved.
Dr. Slurp and Cookie Tree hosted a special livestream featuring glitch visuals and sounds to accompany the creation of Heaven's Bass, a legendary weapon. (September 2022)
In response to a question about whether this use for the Locks was planned from the start, Elf said that this came from one of the many archetypes that form the basis for Forgotten Runes. He recounted the Gate to the 7th Realm event, which involved teamwork between a Key-holding Wizard and a Spell-using Wizard. This was intended to help build connections and the community, and is the aspect that Elf liked the most.
Community Announcements
Today (or at least this week) we had birthdays of community stalwarts Jitcy and Wise Sam!
Artxie and Daniela Ilustra are making a comic, and are looking for community members’ characters to appear in it. The comic will be from the point of view of a tavern barman. Every story will incorporate 12 characters, so there are plenty of spots available. Artxie will select from applicants based on the traits of the characters, depending on the needs of each comic story. DM Artxie if interested in having your characters included.
The beginning of Dotta's thread describing the Dreammaster bot, a Stable Diffusion-based tool created by TheOneWhoRings with assistance from Jitcy.The kid’s art contest organized by Snoopdoug closed today. Elf selected a winner (he was asked to do so by SnoopDoug). Elf had misgivings about being a judge of artwork; he wants everyone to know that he doesn’t think the non-winners are bad, and he loves children’s drawings overall, due to how it reveals a child’s thought-process and the raw creative energy involved. Ultimately, Elf chose a winner based on which work made him the most curious and pushed the boundaries of the creative process. It was Theo’s (age 8) piece , which included both painting and sculpture within one creation.
Dr. Slurp announced that right after WW, he & fiance Cookie Tree would host a Twitch stream to upgrade the bass from his honorary warrior.
Other Magic Machine News
Comic book issue #1 previews will be coming out soon.
Elf also mentioned that he, Bearsnake, and Dotta will appear on the Altcoin Daily Youtube show in the coming days.
Dotta mentioned the Axios article that came out this past week, which included extensive quotes from him. Elf felt it was too negative. Dotta felt that he was honest with his thoughts, that if you want to start an NFT project, you need to think about the plan after the initial mint, because your holders will have expectations. He didn’t mean for any of it to feel resentful. The newsletter version included additional info and some examples of Community Cult content.
Dreammaster Bot Follow-up Discussion
Madotsuki shared a collection of physical Forgotten Runes objects that have been collected since the start of the project. (September 2022).
Dotta compared the descriptions of traits as “word pixels” and the ability to coax good results from the AI as a skill akin to coding. Being able to create these prompts will be a skill in the future. Currently Wizards and (and now Warriors!) are supported, with plans for Souls and Ponies soon. And the overall bot is still being refined as well, so even if you aren’t totally happy with the initial results for your particular character, check back in later on.
Dotta acknowledged that artist commissions seemed to have gone down in recent months. A lot of it is probably due to the bear market, but he wonders whether the rise of these AI services have contributed as well. He stressed that the bots cannot fully replace human art creation. Jitcy said that he thinks it’s complementary - like a stepping stone or a prototyping tool that can help you flesh out your ideas at a lower cost. Elf noted that the bot’s weakness is hands, and to some extent, arms and legs. In a similar way, dreams tend to distort these things as well.
Mafriends released a new illustration in a new style with a great color palette.
Lore Reading and Homework Assignment
Lorepunk read a poem she created about the upcoming forging of Dr. Slurp's bass into a legendary weapon.
Finally, a HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT straight from Elf: Watch at least the first episode of the new Lords of the Rings (Rings of Power) and Game of Thrones (House of the Dragon) shows. Elf says they both get better as they go along, and are good examples of world-building. Elf would like to hold a discussion around these next week.
