Or maybe put it under the General heading? I just wonder if everyone follows the Site Design stuff...

That would work too. I was just thinking somewhere more general and not tied to a game.

Agreed. I just can't decide the best spot for it. I'm going to put it under Site Design after all. I'm fickle.

Now can I have some Avatar art, pretty please? 

Once the site is up and running, I will have more time to make art for folks.

What do you want for the avatars?

And now I get to pick on you for breaking the forums and not just China. Your reply broke the page formatting.

It's worrisome, how easy it is for that to happen. 

I meant Edison Palmer.

Considering this is the third one in a week, I'd say it was fairly easy. I don't mind fixing them, though it could pose a problem down the line once the forums are more active.

Did you have something specific in mind?

We could always edit the banner so it has pics of actual characters in actual games here on the site. That's what PS or GIMP are for! Or, when/if there is more than one game in play here, pics representing the different campaigns.

I like this idea a lot. I wouldn't mind seeing this even though I like the current banner because I'm madly in love with the chick in the second pic from the left. Something about that white collar turns my crank.

Well, then--quick! Introduce a character who looks like that. Then we can keep that image in the banner.

There! Problem solved.

I didn't have anything specific in mind, though I like the general idea of the banner I threw together real quick - something that suggests a bunch of different kinds of adventures. I can't draw, and I didn't want to use copyrighted images in such a prominent place, so I was limited to some public domain art I had on hand. But it all has a retro vibe. We need art that's more "next gen" I think.

So Richard, hold on to this just in case:

http://img291.imageshack.us/my.php?image=exciting6901jz1.jpg

[quote=sinanju]We could always edit the banner so it has pics of actual characters in actual games here on the site. That's what PS or GIMP are for! Or, when/if there is more than one game in play here, pics representing the different campaigns.[/quote]

That would be super cool. 

I have an idea or two bouncing around in my head. I'll see what I can do.

Originally we were going for multi-genre.  A couple of fantasy pics, a couple of hero pics, a couple of sci-fi pcs, a horror pic, pulp, manga.  Thumbnails from various genres to indicate that we're all games.

I do really like the idea of character pics rotating in and out of the banner...but, I'm thinking using actual bodycast pictures is a bad idea.  It draws too much attention to us borrowing pics.  :)  ...and I don't know the rules concerning using the images created by the hero software that some people used.  ...but if we could get actual character art, that was legit to use, that would be so awesome.

I have plans to get some character art for the players in my game but it might take a while.  ...and KL mentioned maybe being able to help with that.  ...and I know JShowell can draw too... but don't know if he has time any more.

I'm eager to see what KL comes up with!  I think as long as we keep the banner the same except for the pics or thumbnail art that floats in and out of it, we should be fine for site consistency or branding or whatever.  But I agree the retro comics have to go, maybe one can stay to represent golden age heroes or whatever.  ...but retro clashes with nextgen. 

It would be cool to have multiple banners that automatically rotated.

I should have posted this link yesterday: you can download gigs and gigs of old comic books that have fallen into the public domain at Golden Age Comics.

I know the guy who created the software people are using, I can find out for you what his take on using the pics it creates on our site is. He's a really nice guy and unless there is a very good reason for him not to allow it I don't see him saying no.

Having pics or thumbnail art that floats in and out of the banner would require a javascript solution to implement that would rotate the art work. Otherwise you're looking at creating a new banner whenever you wanted to change the pics included. I think a static banner would be a much better solution.

Cool!  That would be great.

I got the answer. As long as we're not for-profit we're good to go using the pictures on our site. He would appreciate a link/credit for heromachine.com though he says it is not a requirement.

I wanted to bump this thread with the links to some image sites that allow us to use them free and clear.

I'd like to encourage my players, in my games, to use this if you can think of something that might add to the feel of a game move.  I of course reserve the right to delete them, if i disagree.  :)  ...but I doubt that'll happen often.

I need to do directions...but there are two methods to upload pics using the editor.  One is the Mountain Icon in the second row of buttons, the other is the Image Assist button, near the color palet in the last row.  I'll try to write up the instructions on using these, complete with screen shots soon!