#I must go take a sabbatical to go study game design

[verocitea]

So I got the funniest hate comment today

#bad news guys #I must go take a sabbatical to go study game design #all because I drew sonic and Kirby standing next to each other #i speak occasionally #obvious bait but wow some people just really have nothing better to do huh? #there’s one other comment but I’ll leave it at this lol

[africanfemalearchitects]

AFA Open- Chat Series with Tosin Oshinowo pt 1

Listen to the important advices and conversation shared in this IG Live conversation with @tosin.oshinowo about the practice, being a woman in the field to planning ahead your career.

Moderator: Today, we are chatting with Tosin Oshinowo a Nigerian architect, creative entrepreneur, public speaker and author. Find introductory background on Tosin Oshinowo here.

Moderator: Tosin, you're welcome. Thank you so much for being here, and accepting our invite at the last minute.

Tosin: It's nice to physically see you. You've created an amazing platform. Well done! It's so important to create these converging spaces, you know; and finally to realize that you're not alone.

Moderator: Yes, definitely! That is one of the main reasons I'm going to keep it going; since it's connecting more than one person. Otherwise, this would be just a blog about architects, but it's becoming a hub, and a networking platform. Tosin, please, tell us a bit about yourself.

Tosin: My name's Tosin Oshinowo, I'm from Nigeria. I registered CmDesignAtelier in 2011, but I didn't start operations until 2012. Everyone approaches business very differently: some people have a clear game-plan from the very beginning; but I didn't have one yet. I had registered a company, but I was still working for another practice. I was still finding my feet; you know, that fear - 'Are you doing the right thing?' or 'Should I really be doing this or stay where I am?'. It did take me a while to step out; and even when I did, it took me a while to accept that I wasn't going back to work. At the time I set up my company, I was going through a few life changes, as well. I was looking for something that, I felt, that rooted a background I hadn't had in Academia with, and the work life. A lot of people do have that problem where they do big designs and all of a sudden, they get to the office and have to make it straight. Something contradictory to what I was taught in that utopian-ideal of design school that doesn't exist in real life. It's a surprise when I tell people this. I actually took a sabbatical year. Because I felt I was soul-searching more than anything. Moderator: That's important! Tosin: And I had a safety net, if it didn't work out; well, at least, I know I would have tried. As you're older, you also have responsibilities. You've things you've to do with money, it's not just to be happy with your job, so I needed that security. In looking for that, I created this safety net for myself. When I knew it was going to work, I went and told my boss; you know what, I'm not going to come back! But I had to be certain for myself, that the decisions I was making, were going to pay off. Moderator: That's wise. Funny thing though, you said you started your practice in 2011 - I think I was just entering university. Tosin: Haha aw, you just made me feel old! I think it's important to let people understand with everything in life- especially, with creative design and maybe not innovative business models to-do-with technology that makes you think everything must be quick, and easy to adapt with and to. With The principles behind technology and the people who are starting it: there are so much that goes in it. There might be something that first worked or didn't that led to another path. I think it's important to realize in life that everything is about picking your iceberg. There's so much that happens underneath the water line that shouldn't be underestimated as less important. It might not appear overtime to be of value, but I promise you it makes a massive difference.

I was talking with someone over the weekend. We just got featured in Wallpaper Architecture Issue, which is a big deal! I was telling the person that the building that was featured - I did it in a weekend! And he said; the years of training and practice is what allowed you to do in a weekend. It's not the fact that you did it in the weekend. Now when I think about it like that, that's a valid point. It's a combination of experiences, exposure, practice, labor, and time that allows it to happen in the weekend. Moderator: It's also passion-fueled, and perseverance within the field to even be able to allow yourself to go through that process and to reach this level. About your beginnings, what were the struggles and challenges when you were entering the market - in-between contractors, consultancy?

"It's important to have that safety net of working for someone to understand the nuances and the businesses and the market, that you're relating in..."

Tosin: It's a very wide question. That's why you have to have so many roads before you start. I worked in a firm for four years when I came back to Nigeria, before I set up on my own. I had met people. I didn't realize at the time, that's where I formed a network of people that I work with. I work with the same structural engineer ever since, unless if the client imposes one. I met him on a project, and he was working for a structural company at the time - so it's seamless; you grow with your network. The work we were doing has changed, but we have the same base, which I think is important. We met the QS then, the services consultants, etc - you learn how to maneuver your industry when you work for someone else; especially in Africa where things aren't straight forward. A lot of things are about relationships here. It's not like the yellow pages you can open and say, I need to find this person. It's important to have that safety net of working for someone to understand the nuances and the businesses and the market, that you're relating in; and the people you'll eventually work with; because we don't do this alone.

You grow with your network.

Of course, it was challenging starting business, and as a woman, I was then exposed to things that I was not exposed to when I was working for someone else. When you work for somebody else, most of the time, by the time the project gets to your desk as a project architect; any discussion in relationships with clients have been done. You literally get the design brief, and this is your client and you start your work. When you work for yourself, and you have to do those relationships discussions with clients: it's a completely different board-game. I'm not married, so people start saying silly things here and there - and you have to learn very quickly as a woman how to maneuver that space, without creating offense; because at the end of the day - business is about relationships; and people work with people who they like. If you come across as difficult, or stiff no matter how good you are, people won't gravitate towards you. But as a woman, you have to learn very quickly, how to ensure that you're not giving them an encouraging green light to misbehave. But you don't want to create an awkward tension that makes them think you're not easy-to-relate with. I don't know if this is the same anywhere else in the world, but I can say categorically for Nigeria, that people do not seem to understand a woman in work and a woman they're trying to have a relationship with. It is not the same thing! And people in this environment, because you're friendly and unapproachable; you're giving them the green light. I'm not giving you a green-light, I'm just trying to do my job. In The Chat: It's an African-thing! Moderator: Have you faced any form of discrimination in the field, and how did you deal with it?

you have to learn very quickly as a woman how to maneuver that space, without creating offense...

Tosin: Of course, we face discrimination everyday. To be Honest, I actually have not been assigned a project because I'm a woman; and somebody's wife was not comfortable, I mean what do you do? We all have our handicaps in life. So, I make sure I push boundaries. I don't think people do this consciously. It's not an intentional prejudice. But if a client is telling you, you're a pretty girl, and my wife is not going to be comfortable. So what am I going to do with that? Scar my face so that your wife doesn't worry? Haha, It's just the reality. I know that there are certain works I will not get, but the ones that I do get, I'll make sure that I do it well, and hopefully see that as a reference point, for people who are interested in that kind of work, will ask for my service.

Moderator: It doesn't matter which field you're in, as a woman that definitely happens. There's a job I had to cancel due to the same reasons. Tosin: It makes you wonder how many other opportunities have you not been told; because it's not a pleasant conversation to have. The irony that it is a woman causing another woman not to get work, for instance. It is what it is. There's no point in crying on work you don't get. Work that you get, you kill it! Just make sure that it counts, because you also know you have this potential handicap - where you might not have the same opportunities as your male colleague; so you make the best of your situation.

"It's just the reality. I know that there are certain works I will not get because I'm a woman..."

Moderator: Keep moving! In Nigeria, how does a young female graduate architect find a tribe or community? Tosin: For example, I was an awkward person, in the sense that I went to school in the UK, and I count how many people I knew who were black in the UK, or studying architecture less alone Nigerian. When I came back to Nigeria, I was a fish out the water - I didn't know anyone; but I worked in an office; whether intentionally or unintentionally; I built a network. There are people here, when they see me in that community they were surprised I didn't go to school in Nigeria: you have to be intentional! You have to seek people out! You have to befriend people. If you're looking for a community, you have to make that effort. In my case, I met the community through initial networks of working in a local practice and then, finding my feet and meeting people; and I grew from then. Now, I don't focus on my Nigerian community alone, I'm focusing on my global community, and make an intentional effort. Look at this interview, you told me, and I made sure that this is important, that I want to do this - that I'm building the network. I'm very intentional. Anyone who wants to get ahead, needs to be intentional. You have to learn how it works elsewhere, and you learn from these relationships. Things are not always the same, and other things are.

If you're looking for a community, you have to make that effort. Anyone who wants to get ahead, needs to be intentional. You have to learn how it works elsewhere.

Moderator: Everyone who is at the beginning of their career, currently, this is what we are struggling with. We have to push ourselves, be uncomfortable, and make those connections. Also, don't think just locally. There's a way with African Female Architects or outside of Africa, as an example, I hope we are going to create or find ways to reach out and connect with each other, work together and support each other. What is your perspective on African and local Architecture- in your country, and the practice ?

We were brought into modernism. Modernism was populated across the whole world not just in Africa, yes, in many terms it took the climate into consideration : modernism in Europe look absolutely different from Modernism in Tropical, to North and South Africa; and there are certain consistencies of modernism. But if we are looking for specific identities: I think we are just beginning.

To continue reading part 2

#architects #african female architects #architecture #africa #nigeria #Tosin Oshinowo #women empowerment #resources

[safestsephiroth]

Seeking Answers

Nicotine didn’t do as much for him in undeath as it had in life, but a drop of blood mixed in each cigarette was enough to satisfy his addiction. It was a crude solution, something more befitting one of the uncouth Brujah (who smoked everything that could be smoked) or the hated Assamite (who had been smoking before anyone else had). He knew of some who had purged their bodies of addiction with Thaumaturgic rituals designed to cleanse the undying body of impurity.

He had a low opinion of all of them.

Thaumaturgy, he reasoned, was the divine right of the Tremere and only of the Tremere. This made it sacred. He had been a deeply religious man in life and had come to accept that in becoming one of the Kindred he was damned for all eternity in the eyes of God. It had been a hard conclusion to come to terms with, once, but that was over two centuries past. His religious fervor found a new home when applied to his studies and categorization of the field of Thaumaturgy and all its myriad branches and paths. He knew more about its origins than many of the clan, always choosing to use the favors he curried to further his knowledge of the arts. In learning, he knew, he gained power that his peers lacked. Christoph knew the Lure of Flames, Jacobi knew The Movement of the Mind, but neither knew both. They guarded their knowledge jealously, but had surrendered it to him for saving their lives separately.

And oh, how he had saved their lives. Boiling the blood of their attackers. Staking the undead among them through the heart, keeping them for further questioning. He made a hero of himself that night.

He was an unquestioned hero. He had faithfully served Clan Tremere longer than he had lived as a mortal by a factor of ten. In that time he had been granted the right to found his own Chantry, choosing the site of a developing city on Lake Michigan: Chicago. He always planned for the long game. Kindred lived forever, and planning accordingly was the only way to get ahead.

He was above the petty fears of those inferior to him. He was above the fear of death. And that was why, after another deep drag, he put his cigarette out on the shriveled husk before him.

The shriveled man was chained at the wrists and ankles to the wall behind him, completely naked, with a broken table leg shoved into his chest, piercing his heart. The room, lit with a simple electric lantern, smelled of mildew and mold. He knew this fool, this utter fool, had a fear of water. Drips of moisture came down from the ceiling; they were beneath the all-important lake above. He had no fear of drowning, no fear of water. He had no fear whatsoever. He was going to get what he wanted.

“Take the stake out,” he instructed his minion. The ghoul was a rare sort; he possessed a will too powerful to be dominated like a simple mortal, yet was every bit as susceptible to a blood bond as anyone else. It was a good combination for his purposes.

“As you command, master Reynauld.” The ghoul was strong, too. A fine specimen, really. Reynauld lit another cigarette as the ghoul withdrew the stake, keeping it at the ready. The man chained to the wall reconstituted rapidly, his skin returning to the flushed red it had been before, the flesh filling back in. This one looked like a mortal. It was why Reynauld had underestimated him. The man chained to the wall gasped for air. Reynauld realized, then, how utterly young the man must be. A vampire who still gasped for air!

“Hello.”

“What the FUCK?” the man yelled, pain coursing through his face from the cigarette burn, agony through his soul as the echoes of torpor faded from his mind.

“Hit him.”

“As you command, master Reynauld.” The ghoul bashed the man in the face with the broken table leg. His nose caved in. The man screamed.

“You’re going to tell me your name. You’re going to tell me who sent you.  You’re going to undo the ritual. Do this, and I will grant you a merciful death.”

“Fuck you. You’re already staked. All I have to do is wait and you’re gonna shrivel up and die, old man.”

“We’re beneath Lake Michigan right now. This is one of a hundred similar rooms I maintain. Every single one is isolated from the others by a very complicated set of machinery that lets me seal it off from the others. Do you know why?”

The man seemed to grow the slightest bit more pale. That was good.

“Why?”

“Because I can collapse this ceiling any time I like and leave you deep beneath the lake, drowning forever. Would you like that?”

“Fuck you.”

“Oh dear. I don’t think you understand. All that I need to do is call in a favor and have a dear friend dig the shards out of my flesh. But you? You aren’t going to be saved. Your boss sold you out. That’s what the Sabbat does. You’re meat to them. Expendable. Maybe if your sire had been someone of value you’d have a chance of getting out of this alive, but as it stands you’re just a useless little pawn in a game bigger than you can imagine. And this is where your part ends. You get to decide if it’s painless or not. I’m going to give you until I finish my cigarette, and then I’m going to leave. When I leave, my associate will flood the chamber. When my associate floods the chamber, it’s never going to be opened again. So think carefully on what I’ve asked of you.”

“Isaac.”

“Isaac?”

“My name’s Isaac. Isaac Hill.”

Reynauld smiled. There was no humor in it.

“There we are.”

#chicago inspiration #vampire: the masquerade

[theonyxpath]

Tomorrow! Tuesday, March 21st at 12 noon Eastern US time!

The Kickstarter for Prince’s Gambit goes live!

This is a description from the KS page:

Designed by long-time Vampire: the Masquerade tabletop RPG developer Justin Achilli, Prince’s Gambit is a fast-paced social deduction game set within the world of Vampire: the Masquerade, but which requires no special knowledge to play. Players must cooperate to gain the favor of the Prince while deducing who among them are secretly the traitorous Sabbat infiltrators.

And here’s a link to our Prince’s Gambit Example of Play video, hosted by Justin Achilli himself, with a special guest appearance by our own Eddy Webb. It’s about 10 minutes long, but goes through the important set-up and highlights how a typical game plays: https://youtu.be/b9SSpeli5JE 

I mentioned last week that this is a pretty big Kickstarter for us as it is for our first non-book sort of project. We’ve studied a lot of other card game Kickstarters and tried to adapt what seemed to work for them into the parameters of Prince’s Gambit.

It is also the first time we are structuring the pledges so that shipping amounts are added after the KS is over. We’re hoping this can enable much more accurate costs, particularly for our international backers. It’s only after having put together a handful of other KSs using BackerKit (as our platform for after a KS campaign is over) that I feel comfortable with handling shipping through the BackerKit interface.

The good news for anybody in our community that is interested in our other game lines, is that we’re very much looking at this first foray into card game Kickstarters as a massive learning experience for the whole team. We have every intent of applying what we learn doing this to further card game KSs in the future. That means pricing, pledges, what sort of Stretch Goals get folks excited, do the same press groups get interested, how fast (if at all) do we hit the funding amount, you name it!

Speaking of what gets folks excited, we’ll be holding an Ask Me (Us) Anything on Reddit next Wednesday the 29th starting around 12 noon EDT. Various developers and Onyx Path folks will be on throughout the day, and Justin Achilli will pop on in the evening after he gets done his day job to talk about Prince’s Gambit. So if you want all the inside info, that’s the place to go next week! I might even be on there answering important, secret, stuff if I can figure out the razzin-frazzin’ scrolling of the threads!

    Lore of the Bloodlines illustration by Ken Meyer, Jr

    Following up from last week’s MMN blog, our friends at DriveThruRPG have resolved our clogged physical book Pod creation process and I’ve ordered PoD proofs of a half-dozen projects (see the project progress updates below in the BLURBS! section). Some of them are already on their way here to Onyx home base as I write this. Now, will any of them get here in time to go on sale this week? We’ll just have to wait and see.

Mighty Matt McElroy, our Operations Head-Honcho, just got back from the GAMA trade show in Vegas, and the word is that lots of folks want to talk with Onyx Path for all kinds of business deals!

Always nice to hear, and I’m really glad Matt got a chance to touch base with our friends from the new White Wolf Publishing, Jason and Dhaunae, and the guys from Indy Press Revolution (IPR) and Q-Workshop. We’ve really enjoyed working with them so far, and it sounds like big things are afoot for the future.

Meanwhile, Impish Ian Watson, lord of all things Trinity Continuum, hosted an Onyx Path Q&A at CAiNE in Canada that looked a bit quiet for a few worrisome minutes but then all the folks whose games had run late poured in and lots of great questioning and answering, too, ensued!

    Tattoo Totem for Mage20 Book of Secrets by Preston Stone

  Just to recap a few questions from this last week:

#1 We don’t have any current plans to create LARP rules for Chronicles of Darkness because, a) we actually don’t have the LARP license, just tabletop RPG, and b) it is the new White Wolf‘s call on whether any other WW settings get LARP rules. If they decide they want to, and we can help, we’d be glad to.

#2 Yes, we do know how concerned you are about the Exalted 3rd release schedule, and we are too. As I noted late last year or early in January, we are working on a new plan for a couple of our lines, and a couple of specific books, and EX3 is at the top of the list for serious changes to how we’ve been doing things up until now. I also know that actions and delivery speak loader than words, and you will be seeing things actually happen in the next couple of weeks.

#3 Yes, we are still planning the Trinity Continuum Kickstarter for this year. We’re just cagey about which month.

#4 Is Dark Eras Companion‘s PDF ever going to go to backers, you ask? Sometime this week!

  Dark Eras Companion art by Vince Locke

  Hopefully, I’ll see a bunch of you tomorrow as the Prince’s Gambit KS goes live at 12 noon!

    BLURBS!

KICKSTARTER!

Unless we’re attacked by Sabbat infiltrators, we will be going live with our Kickstarter for Justin Achilli’s Prince’s Gambit casual Vampire card game on Tuesday, March 21st at 12 noon Eastern US time!

Designed by long-time Vampire: the Masquerade tabletop RPG developer Justin Achilli, Prince’s Gambit is a fast-paced social deduction game set within the world of Vampire, but which requires no special knowledge to play. Players must cooperate to gain the favor of the Prince while deducing who among them are secretly the traitorous Sabbat infiltrators.

Next, the Monarchies of Mau KS is scheduled come after Gambit.

  ON SALE!

    Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books? Here’s the link to the press release we put out about how Onyx Path is now selling through Indie Press Revolution: http://ift.tt/1ZlTT6z

You can now order wave 2 of our Deluxe and Prestige print overrun books, including Deluxe Mage 20th Anniversary, and Deluxe V20 Dark Ages!

    The Secrets of the Covenants for Vampire: the Requiem 2nd REVEALED this Wednesday on DTRPG! Physical copy PoD version coming to DTRPG: http://ift.tt/2gbQjus

Vampires gather under many banners. But five have endured the tumult of Western history better than any other. The Carthian Movement. The Circle of the Crone. The Invictus. The Lancea et Sanctum. The Ordo Dracul. Each has its fierce devotees, its jealous rivals, and its relentless enemies. Now,for the first time, the covenants speak for themselves.

This book includes:

A variety of stories from each of the covenants, all told in their own words.

Never-before revealed secrets, like the fate of the Prince of New Orleans.

New blood sorcery, oaths, and other hidden powers of the covenants.

    From the massive Chronicles of Darkness: Dark Eras main book, we have pulled this single chapter, Dark Eras: Fallen Blossoms (Hunter 1640-1660 Japan). Japan is moving into the Edo Period. New laws and new ways of thinking wash over the land, and with a new order come new threats to humanity. Take a look at the Vigil in a time where samurai transition from warlords to bureaucrats, Japan massively and lethally rejects outside influence, and when Edo rapidly grows into a world power.

Continuing our individual Dark Eras chapters, we offer you Dark Eras: Fallen Blossoms on in PDF and physical copy PoD versions on DTRPG! http://ift.tt/2mfc1F1

    From the massive Chronicles of Darkness: Dark Eras main book, we have pulled this single chapter, Dark Eras: Doubting Souls (Hunter 1690-1695 Salem). Immigrants and tribes struggled to co-exist on the Eastern Seaboard in the ever-expanding Colonies. Violent clashes, supernatural beliefs, and demonic influences spelled disaster for Salem Village and its surrounding towns, while others fought werewolves and vampires on the frontier. With so much at risk, only god-fearing men and women were deemed innocent — and those were few indeed.

Available in PDF and physical copy PoD versions on DTRPG: http://ift.tt/2kKOrfm

    From the massive Chronicles of Darkness: Dark Eras main book, we have pulled this single chapter, Dark Eras: The Bowery Dogs (Werewolf 1969-1979 NYC). New York City in the 1970s. Crime. Drugs. Gang violence. Vast economic disparity. And werewolves. It’s a lean, ugly time to be alive, and the lone wolf doesn’t stand a chance out there. In the end, all you really have is family.

Available in PDF and physical copy PoD versions on DTRPG: http://ift.tt/2lM0Tzv

    The Locker is open; the Chronicles of Darkness: Hurt Locker, that is! PDF and physical copy PoDs are now available on DTRPG! http://ift.tt/2gbM9me

Hurt Locker features:

Treatment of violence in the Chronicles of Darkness. Lasting trauma, scene framing, and other tools for making your stories hurt.

Many new player options, including Merits, supernatural knacks, and even new character types like psychic vampires and sleeper cell soldiers.

Expanded equipment and equipment rules.

Hurt Locker requires the Chronicles of Darkness Rulebook or any other standalone Chronicles of Darkness rulebook such as Vampire: The Requiem, Werewolf: The Forsaken, or Beast: The Primordial to use.

      Both the Beast: the Primordial http://ift.tt/2fEMsdO & Promethean: the Created 2nd Edition Condition Cards http://ift.tt/2iSein1 are now on sale on DTRPG in PDF and physical card PoD versions! Great for keeping track of the Conditions that are on your characters!

      From the massive Chronicles of Darkness: Dark Eras main book, we have pulled this single chapter, Dark Eras: Ruins of Empire (Mummy 1893-1924). Perhaps the quintessential era of the mummy in the minds of Westerners, this period saw the decline of the two greatest empires of the age: British and Ottoman. Walk with the Arisen as they bear witness to the death of the Victorian age, to pivotal mortal discoveries in Egypt, and to the horrors of the Great War.

Available in PDF and physical copy PoD versions on DTRPG. http://ift.tt/2k0XDhX

    From the massive Chronicles of Darkness: Dark Eras main book, we have pulled this single chapter, Dark Eras: The Sundered World (Werewolf and Mage 5500-5000 BCE). At the birth of civilization, in the shadow of the Fall, the Awakened stand as champions and protectors of the agricultural villages spread across the Balkans. In a world without a Gauntlet, where Shadow and flesh mingle, the steady taming of the world by humanity conflicts with the half-spirit children of Father Wolf.

Available in PDF and physical copy PoD versions on DTRPG. http://ift.tt/2k16mRj

    Night Horrors: Conquering Heroes for Beast: the Primordial is available now as an Advance PDF: http://ift.tt/2j7p7lO

This book includes: 

An in-depth look at how Heroes hunt and what makes a Hero, with eleven new Heroes to drop into any chronicle.

A brief look at why Beasts may antagonize one another, with seven new Beasts to drop into any chronicle.

Rules for Insatiables, ancient creatures born of the Primordial Dream intent on hunting down Beasts to fill a hunger without end, featuring six examples ready to use in any chronicle.

    The PDF and physical book PoD versions of Reap the Whirlwind, the Vampire: the Requiem 2nd Edition Jumpstart swirls into being on DTRPG! http://ift.tt/2i1WPpD

You are a vampire, a junkie. Every night, you beg and you borrow and you steal just a little more life, just a few more sweet moments. But there’s a guy at the top. The Prince. He’s got everything. The money, the secrets, the blood.

Tonight, you’re going to take it from him. Tomorrow, there’ll be hell to pay.

This updated edition of Reap the Whirlwind features revisions to match the core rulebook for Vampire: the Requiem 2nd Edition. Text edits and rules clarifications have also been updated.

Reap the Whirlwind Revised includes:

Rules for creating and playing vampires in the Chronicles of Darkness

The first two levels of every clan Discipline, the dark powers of the dead

A complete adventure by noted horror author Chuck Wendig

This new revised Reap the Whirlwind Revised includes an updated booklet, 7 condition cards, and the interactive Vampire: the Requiem 2nd Edition character sheet.

      Open the V20 Dark Ages: Tome of Secrets now on DTRPG! Both PDF and physical book PoD versions are now available! http://ift.tt/2i1XOXd

The Tome of Secrets is a treatment of numerous topics about Cainites and stranger things in the Dark Medieval World. It’s about peeling back the curtain, and digging a little deeper. Inside, you’ll find:

• Expanded treatment of Assamite Sorcery, Koldunic Sorcery, Necromancy, and Setite Sorcery

• A look at Cainite knightly orders, faith movements, and even human witchcraft

• Letters and diaries from all over the Dark Medieval World

              CONVENTIONS!

Discussing GenCon plans. August 17th – 20th, Indianapolis. Every chance the booth will actually be 20? x 30? this year that we’ll be sharing with friends. We’re looking at new displays this year, like a back drop and magazine racks for the brochure(s).

In November, we’ll be at Game Hole Con in Madison, WI. More news as we have it, and here’s their website: http://ift.tt/RIm6qP

        And now, the new project status updates!

    DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM ROLLICKING ROSE (projects in bold have changed status since last week):

First Draft (The first phase of a project that is about the work being done by writers, not dev prep)

Exalted 3rd Novel by Matt Forbeck (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Trinity Continuum: Aeon Rulebook (The Trinity Continuum)

M20 Gods and Monsters (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

M20 Book of the Fallen (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

M20 Cookbook (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Ex Novel 2 (Aaron Rosenberg) (Exalted 3rd Edition)

C20 Novel (Jackie Cassada) (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition)

Pugmire Fiction Anthology (Pugmire)

Monarchies of Mau Early Access (Pugmire)

Hunter: the Vigil 2e core (Hunter: the Vigil 2nd Edition)

  Redlines

Scion: Origins (Scion 2nd Edition)

Scion: Hero (Scion 2nd Edition)

Kithbook Boggans (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition)

WoD Ghost Hunters (World of Darkness)

Trinity Continuum Core Rulebook (The Trinity Continuum)

  Second Draft

The Realm (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Dragon-Blooded (Exalted 3rd Edition)

V20 Dark Ages Jumpstart (Vampire: the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition)

GtS Geist 2e core (Geist: the Sin-Eaters Second Edition)

CtD C20 Jumpstart (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition)

Pugmire Pan’s Guide for New Pioneers (Pugmire)

VtR Half-Damned (Vampire: the Requiem 2nd Edition)

  Development

W20 Changing Ways (Werewolf: the Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition)

Signs of Sorcery (Mage: the Awakening Second Edition)

SL Ring of Spiragos (Pathfinder – Scarred Lands 2nd Edition)

Ring of Spiragos (5e – Scarred Lands 2nd Edition)

SL Dagger of Spiragos (Pathfinder – Scarred Lands 2nd Edition)

Dagger of Spiragos (5e– Scarred Lands 2nd Edition)

Arms of the Chosen (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Changeling: the Lost 2nd Edition, featuring the Huntsmen Chronicle (Changeling: the Lost 2nd Edition)

Book of Freeholds (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition)

BtP Beast Player’s Guide (Beast: the Primordial)

  Editing:

CtD C20 Anthology (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition)

Wraith: the Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition

M20 Art Book (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

BtP Building a Legend (Beast: the Primordial)

  Post-Editing Development:

CtL fiction anthology (Changeling: the Lost 2nd Edition)

  Indexing:

Pugmire

      ART DIRECTION FROM MIRTHFUL MIKE:

In Art Direction

Beckett’s Jyhad Diary – new stuff AD’d

W20 Pentex Employee Indoctrination Handbook

V20 Dark Ages Companion – Artist shenanigans.

Dagger of Spiragos  – Finals in progress… and maps are progressing.

VTR: Thousand Years of Night – Contracted

Cavaliers of Mars – AD’d(ish)

Monarchies of Mau Early Access – Pat’s in.

BtP Building a Legend – Sending out notes to artists…

April Fool’s thing – Leblanc should be cranking out the cover for the (REDACTED) thing this week.

Wraith 20 – Notes out to KMJ…

  Marketing Stuff

  In Layout

Prince’s Gambit – Making the remainder of graphics this week.

C20 – With Aileen

M20 Book of Secrets – Layout in progress.

1000 Years of Night

Pugmire Screen – Awaiting specs from Printer.

Pugmire Cards – Working on these.

  Proofing

EX3 Tomb of Dreams Jumpstart – first proof.

W20 Song of Unmaking – Out to WW for approval

  At Press

Ex 3 Screen – Shipping.

Ex 3 core book – Shipping along with map and bookmarks.

W20 Shattered Dreams – Shipping.

Shattered Dreams Screen – Shipping.

Beckett Screen – Shipped to shipper.

Beast Conquering Heroes – PoD proof ordered.

Mortal Remains: Beast- Red In Tooth and Claw – PoD proof ordered.

Dark Eras: Beneath the Skin – PoD proof ordered.

Dark Eras: Out of the Cold – PoD proof ordered.

Necropolis Rio – PoD proof ordered.

V20 Lore of the Bloodlines – PDF out to backers, gathering errata

Dark Eras Companion – Backer PDF going out to Dark Eras KS backers this week.

      TODAY’S REASON TO CELEBRATE: Today, let’s celebrate the constant effort put out by the team at DriveThruRPG.com. Our friends over there are always juggling the needs of hundreds of publishers and tens of thousands of customers and manage to do so with some of the friendliest customer service around. Even their CEO, Steve Wieck, will crack a smile if his programming dictates it. Specifically, thanks to them for coming at the stalled PoDs problem so fast and with all hands on deck!

#Onyx Path Publishing

[whiskeyworen]

Name: Tenna

Race: Asura

Gender: Female

College: Synergetics

Class: Holosmith Engineer

Allies:  Cyrus, Verula Faithbreaker, Moryggan Deralith,

Relationships:  Youngest of three siblings. Strained relationship with elder siblings Miriya and Sonnya due to personal experiments. No known relationships, though is close with all members of her team.

Weapons: Holosmith Saber and Alchemist's Shield. Has a pair of Alchemists pistols tucked away in hidden pockets for emergencies. Prefers using her battleharness with its Elixir gun, Grenade launcher and Siege Cannon mounts, though her Holosmith weapons are a delight.

Tenna is the youngest of her sisters, and perhaps the most unstable of them. She loves tinkering with things, as well as explosives, and while her skills are undeniable, she tends to alienate others with her outside-the-box lateral thinking. As tall as her oldest sister Sonnya, but as slim as her middle sister Miriya, Tenna had the unfortunate luck to be tall and lanky, even by Asuran standards. Her gangliness led her to be teased by her classmates, as well as naturally be slightly more clumsy, which earned her more derision. Even among her sisters, Tenna is still very different; with long hair the color of a deep red wine, she stood out from her siblings. A genetic quirk also flipped her skin tones, making her the figurative and literal black sheep of her family. They still love her, but in public other Asura secretly wonder if she's not of their family, and was merely adopted.

Sufficed to say, Sonnya has always managed to curtail those rumors, being the super-protective older sibling, but they still left their mark on young Tenna. Even as a Synergetics college student, she kept to herself mostly, with a small circle of friends and no actual Krewe to be part of.

Her skills with record systems and design philosophy were of interest to the Durmand Priory, who outsourced to her. A member of the Priory, she was never called on missions; her only job was to create and administer incoming data while at the same time maintaining her studies in the college. Being alone took quite a toll on her. Already edgy about being without a Krewe, she got to watch her sisters advance out of their respective colleges and go out into the world, while she was stuck in her dorm, sorting files and trying desperately to invent things that would catch the eye of the Council, or at the very least, one of her professors who might bump it up the line. Sleep was troubled, and paranoia set in; she became convinced she was so much weaker than her sisters that she was bound to die in some horrible circumstance. Whether it was a lab explosion or accident, an Inquest raid on the workshops, or the far-distant but ever present threat of a Dragon assault or something worse, her fears dug deep into her. That was when the sample rolled across her desk. A sample of tainted plasma from an unknown subject. Most of the data about it had been lost as it had bounced from lab to lab, but it finally ended up on her desk, a curiousity of the Priory. Examining it, she found potentially a solution to her problem. The blood contained a viral agent. Something half-magic, half-chaos, half-again actual virus. It was clear that whoever was infected was going to be in a lot of trouble if the virus kept up its self-metamorphic changes, but that didn't matter to her at all. All that mattered was that the virus also changed its host to suit it, to keep it alive. Stripping away the chaotic and magical aspects of the virus was simple. What was left was a crippled thing that still made genetic tweaks, but not in a fashion unmanagable. Things like enhanced strength, speed, vision... altered vision, neural modification to accomodate for those changes. It also had markers for more unique things. Like regeneration. A fully organic, non-necrotic regeneration. It wasn't long before she injected it into herself and began culturing more 'clean' virus in self-maintaining portable mechanisms. Oh, she got her wish; she was no longer weak. Not by a long shot. Wounds healed in seconds. Terrible injuries reset within minutes. Aided by an auto-injector, Tenna suspected she'd be able to regenerate from almost anything. But there was a price to pay, she found. For every injury she sustained, whether it was a cut, a burnmark, or what have you, she found herself getting hungrier. Normal food wasn't working; she could eat it and be fine, but it didn't scratch the itch. She didn't need to sleep as much anymore, but as the virus affected her, she found herself weakened again, drawn, and gaunt. Something was wrong. That was when an Inquest agent tried to raid her private dorm for Priory secrets. In a fit of fear and rage, she instinctively went for his throat. It was a horrible, terrible thing...but after it was over, she felt more alive than she'd ever felt. Was that the secret? Blood?

One quick body-disposal later, she'd checked the virus again, this time delving deeper into its structure. There it was; a marker for hemophagia, only slightly altered by her attempts to clean the virus. She couldn't remove the marker; when she tried, the virus just fell apart. It was the lynchpin. The original virus would compell its victim to seek blood to sate the virus. HER virus however, as crippled and damaged as it was, needed iron as fuel. For every injury she'd sustain, it would burn iron as a fuelsource for the regeneration, coopting the ATP production of her own body to accelerate the healing process. If she calculated right, she could lose an entire limb or more, and regenerate completely from it...but be left a ravening beast hungry for blood and meat to replace what she'd lost. At least...till she had enough. She could work with that. Easily.

By that point, a number of her inventions had come back from the Council, not with endorsements, but with strict warnings and heavy seals, Cease and Desists, and Edicts from the Tyrian Royalty as well as the Charr Imperator. Her ideas, her...weapons... were considered far too dangerous and heinous to consider. What could be used of them would be used, and she would recieve the proceeds, but her best items were under strict lock and key.

Again, that was fine. She could work with that. She didn't intend for anyone else to have her toys now, anyway. Not when she'd finally gotten the strength she needed.

She sent a note of sabbatical to the Priory, claiming 'personal issues', and left the College entirely. Already rumors were circulating about her, and the fact she hadn't slept in weeks by that point. It mattered little to Tenna. Nothing really mattered except she was finally free from her fear. It's unknown how she met the others of her group, but her contact with Cyrus is at least partially known. Both were associated with the Priory, so it's assumed she contacted him. Another outcast by choice, Cyrus agreed. He must have had some connections, because soon after Moryggan and Verula joined their team. Both seemed familiar with Cyrus, and had no issue with Tenna.

When the topic of her viral agent came up, not one of them balked. All three were outcasts of their own design, for lateral thinking, disagreement, etc. None of them were surprised or horrified by Tenna's experiment, or the price she'd pay for it. If she needed help getting meat and blood when she was low, it was just another thing that made Tenna...well... Tenna.

She had a krewe now. And for the first time, a place to belong. ---- (Notes from Me: When I made Tenna, I’d already made one of every job class. I had an extra slot and thought “Hmm...well Dhangalor is an Engie, but I kinda really specialized him as a Juggernaut Flamethrower. I wanna try out the other kits, but I don’t wanna retrait him.” Back then, retraiting cost money and time and stuff. It was before the trait trees permanently opened and stayed modifiable. So I decided to make another Engie. Choosing a race was easy; I wanted to make a demolitionist Asura. But the connection to Miriya and Sonnya... That took some thought. Initially I wanted to make a male Asura so I could keep the Male/female balance I had going. It was almost a perfect balance, but Sonnya threw it off by being one additional female. But the male Asura were just...ugly...to me. So I decided that my duo sisters were actually a Trio, and then made her. She looked exactly like them at first, until I remembered I had a Makeover kit that gives access to rare hairs and eye colors and stuff. So in a flash, gone was her chinese bun hair, her green eyes, and her skin tone that perfectly mimicked her sisters. In her place, I made the OTHER sister. The one I have grown to love because she’s so chaotic. Glowing orange-gold eyes, hair of Cabernet Sauvignon, darker completion.... Setting her story up was almost an accident. I was brainstorming for the other two, and decided that all three sisters had grown apart over the years, and that Tenna had gone through a personal breakdown crisis that resulted in her doing something to herself. When I came up with the viral infection in Maeva (who I have yet to post), I realized I had an opportunity to make a watered down version of the vampiric elementalist. Instead of being just vampiric, Tenna would also be intensely CARNIVOROUS as a result of her infection. I literally wanted her to be a cannibal, because... well, it’d creep her sisters out especially, and it made her an outcast, to be teamed up with other outcasts. It worked perfectly. Tenna in-game is a disturbingly powerful condi Engie who’s bombs, grenades, and siege cannon work phenomenally well. And when I found the trait that auto-calls an Orbital Strike laser... Oh boy, I SO had to add that to her story. That it’s a prototype weapon she designed that was kiboshed by the Council and others. That the Inquest can’t take it away because it’s too well defended in orbit, and they can’t kill her to get it because it’d wipe them out in retaliation. That, and after the infection, it’s now tremendously HARD to kill her. One of these days, I’ll commission someone to draw her, either casually lobbing an entire belt full of armed grenades, a devious, very toothy grin on her face, or in the midst of bloodthirst after a battle, armor shredded but wounds healing, and intensely HUNGRY for blood and flesh. Both images in my head are glorious. I may even commission a pic someday of her feeding more casually on someone who gave permission; neck nibbles kinda thing. If you’ve got close enough friends who are willing to do that, you treat them gently, and Tenna definitely would, if they were willing to give her a blood meal when she needed it. )

#GW2 #Guild Wars 2 #Asura #Asura Engineer #Asura Holosmith #Holosmith #Engineer #My Characters #tenna danae

[airoasis]

Nine Techniques to Awaken Intrinsic Inspiration (+ Dan Pink's Reading List).

"The way to get started is to give up talking and begin doing."

[The Walt Disney Company]

Life exposes us to all type of chances, choices, and pressures. To sustain success we need a method that helps us filter through all possibilities and seize on those that allow us to give our best. But only 20 percent of us get to do exactly what we do best every day.

This suggests that the rest of the world feels they're not. In the same research, the Gallup company found that concentrating on unlocking strengths assists us increase performance. Marcus Buckingham championed the concept that finding our strengths is the shortest course to success.

In Making development on meaningful work remains in itself a strong source of motivation.4.

Take a Sagmeister

Designer Stefan Sagmeister chose he was going to spray 5 of the common years Westerners take for retirement (25 years usually) throughout his working life, instead of at the end. Every 7 years, Sagmeister closes store for a year sabbatical. He states some of his finest thinking came from those experiences.

"I had all sorts of worries that we would lose clients, be forgotten or have to go back to square one. And none of these worries came to life.

[...] it is an easy time-planning event. I put the strategy in the agenda, work out the finances and inform the customers."

Sagmeister's list of works spans from album covers to full-blown visual identities for the Rolling Stones, Lou Reed, The Talking Heads, The Guggenheim Museum, and numerous others. In the beginning it was tough to take the time off his own organisation, but having a strategy helped.Most people regret not having taken a trip more when in their prime, or taking part in intriguing jobs, or even having more area to believe. Time is the perpetrator. Being masters of our own lives also implies understanding when we have to restore.5. Offer yourself a performance evaluation This means precisely what it seems like, except we do the objectives and the review ourselves and do it routinely to see how we're doing. Honesty is necessary, due to the fact that it's easy to trick ourselves, or to become complacent. The idea is to surpass gaining from mistakes, to learning to make less of them. Frequency helps us get over the idea of doing the reviews ... and it keeps us on track.Imagine attempting to lose weight and weighing yourself just when a year! It would not help much.6. Get unstuck by doing oblique Brian Eno

and Peter Schmidt released a set of 100 cards with methods to conquer the pressure-packed moments of

due dates in 1975. The cards are concerns or statements that, when plucked random, can help us get our of a rut. Each card uses a tough constraint planned to assist artists break innovative blocks by motivating lateral thinking.Some examples of idea triggers from the cards: The most essential thing is the thing most quickly forgotten.Go outside. Shut the door. Make an exhaustive list of whatever you might do and do the last thing on the list. Look closely at the most humiliating details and amplify them.What would

your closest good friend do?The cards assist us utilize the power of an open mind.7. Move five steps more detailed to mastery Anders Ericsson isa professor at Florida State University. He

says "purposeful practice"is a "lifelong period of effort to improve efficiency in a specific domain,"and is essential to achieve proficiency. Its goal is to enhance performance.Characteristics of purposeful practice are repetition and looking for continuous critical feedback.

We need to prepare for the procedure to be mentally and physically tiring. Which is the reason it works and couple of do it. This isRise on a Tide of Benefit" > how successful individuals rise on a tide of benefit. We have to start with skill, for this reason strengths matter. But to get much better, we require intentional practice.8. Take a page from Webber and a card from your pocket In Rules of Thumb, Alan Webber, co-founder of Quick Company publication, shares a simple way to assessif we're on the course of autonomy, mastery, and purpose.On a 3 x 5 card, we should respond to" What gets you up in the early morning?"

On the back of the same card, write the answer

to up during the night?"The key is paring the answers to a simple sentence each, and lining up both answers.When we don't like one or both of these responses with time, we can ask"What are you going to do about it? "9. Produce your own motivational poster Some websites offer templates we can utilize for this. Exactly what would your inspirational poster state? Fun and video games aside, the interesting element of this exercise is to think about exactly what inspires us.

Together with practical exercises, Dan Pink consists of a list of fifteen books vital to discovering and encouraging our intrinsicmotivation. Many of them are favorites.1. In Finite and Infinite Games: A Vision of Life as Play and Possibility, James P. Carse says there are at least two type of games-- he calls one limited, the other infinite.

The distinction in between the 2 is that we play a finite game for the purpose of winning, a limitlessvideo game for the purpose of continuing to play." Finite players play within borders; unlimited players play with borders."2. In Talent Is Overrated: Exactly What Actually Separates

First-rate Entertainers from Everyone Else, Geoff Colvin says Deliberate Practice is designed to improve performance, overcomes repetition, counts on consistent feedback for improvement, it's difficult and therefore psychologically requiring, needs a mutual understanding of objectives to ladder actions to obtain there."If you set a goal of becoming an expert in your company, you would instantly begin by doing all examples you don't do now. "3. InCirculation: The Psychology of Ideal Experience, Csikszentmihalyi brightens the type of life we must all be living. He argues that one of the greatest

states

of take the blame.10. In The Amateurs: The Story of 4 Boyand Their Mission for an Olympic Gold Medal, David Halberstam chronicles the relationship and challenge endured by the rowing group throughout the 1984 U.S. trials. What drives these males to withstand a physical discomfort understood to no other sport? Who are they? Where do they originate from? How do they regard themselves and their rivals? What have they compromised, and what inner demons have they appeased?"No chartered airplanes or buses transported the professional athletes into Princeton. No team supervisors hustled their luggage from the bus to the hotel desk and made arrangements so that at mealtime they need only reveal up and . Often we require to steel ourselves through a bad draft of something for long enough to absolutely no in on the form that is on the within.14. In Radical: The Success Story Behind the World's Many Unusual Office, Ricardo Semler speaks about how he turned his household's service, the aging Semco corporation of Brazil, into the most revolutionary service success story of our time. By eliminating uneeded layers of management and enabling staff members extraordinary democracy in the work environment, he produced a company that challenged the old methods and scorchinged a path to success in an unpredictable economy. "I desire everybody at Semco to be self-dependent. The business is organized-- well, perhaps that's not the right word for us-- not to depend upon any specific, specifically me.

I take it as a point of pride that twice on my return from long trips my workplace had been moved-- and each time it got smaller."In The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of The Learning Company, Peter Senge introduces"finding out organizations"-- where autonomous thinking and shared visions for the future are not only urged, but are thought about essential to the health of the organization."People with a high level of individual mastery are able to regularly recognize the outcomes that matter most deeply to them-- in impact, they approach

their life as an artist would approach an artwork. They do that by ending up being committed to their own lifelong knowing. "Management specialist Margaret Wheatley studies organizational behavior. She says," Although employee capability and motivation are damaged when leaders choose power over efficiency, it appears that employers would rather be in control than have the company work well."Her approach includes systems believing, theories of change, mayhem theory, leadership and the discovering company-- especially its capacity to self-organize. Why wait for another person to make decisions on our behalf? It's up to us to remain determined and to utilize our

strengths. For more on intrinsic inspiration in the workplace, see the Zen of compensation. ven though worker capability and inspiration are ruined when leaders select power over productivity, it appears that bosses would rather be in control than have the organization work well. Learn more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/margaret_j_wheatley_286360?src=t_motivati."For more on intrinsic inspiration, see the Zen of Compensation.

[yhteong]

The Past, Present and Future of AI in Marketing

"If a machine can think, it might think more intelligently than we do, and then where should we be? Even if we could keep the machines in a subservient position, for instance by turning off the power at strategic moments, we should, as a species, feel greatly humbled.” – Alan Turing, the father of modern computing, in a 1951 talk on BBC Radio

IBM’s artificial intelligence (AI) platform, Watson, is loquacious; it can tell jokes, answer questions and write songs. Google’s AI can now read lips better than a professional and can master video games within hours. MIT’s AI can predict action on video two seconds before it begins. Tesla’s AI powers the company’s innovative self-driving car. All seem to propel us closer to Turing’s world of machines with more intelligence than humans.

If Turing’s words now ring true, should we feel humbled or anxious? For many marketers, the anxiety and existential fear has given way to hope and excitement for a new tomorrow.

“It’s exciting, isn’t it?” says Doug Dome, who has been studying data’s impact on marketing for 30 years. Dome, who works as a marketing consultant and adjunct professor at University of Chicago’s Graham School, grows excited as he talks about the possibility of AI: the time it could save marketers, how it can bring companies closer to consumers and its potential to catch customers in stride, saving effort on the business and consumer side. As an integrated marketing communications professional, his excitement about the potential of AI has given way to the belief that AI will completely change branding, marketing, advertising and perhaps the world.

“Just think about all the innovations, all the promise of technology,” Dome says. “Is your life now really that much more convenient? Is it easier? I don’t know that it is. … I think in order to be able to fully benefit from a data-driven marketplace, marketers will have to take a broader perspective on problem resolution, and the tribal approaches that Pedro Domingos has articulated are the solution.”

Dome is referring to Pedro Domingos’ book​, The Master Algorithm. This is the future of marketing, he believes. Dome animatedly spins his fingers around a circular chart within the book that explains the need to bring unique tribes—or philosophies—of machine learning together, each with their own algorithm.

So certain is Dome that AI is the future of marketing that he has banked his time and money on it with Core7, what he calls his “entrepreneurial sabbatical.” Core7 is, in theory, a marketing platform that applies AI to marketing ecosystems via a “master algorithm.” The algorithm would be licensed to brands and agencies, which he says would create a hyper-speed version of a fully integrated marketing ecosystem. However, Dome has been unable to get the company off the ground; investors have not yet been on board with the idea. It’s an ambitious goal, he admits, and when he first started pitching the idea two years ago, it was downright audacious. The Core7 team was developing the platform and algorithm and ready to go further, but thus far, Dome has been left to study AI from the outside.  

Dome still believes he’s on the path to finding marketing AI’s master algorithm. “It may not be me, but it will be somebody like me that will ultimately develop an applicable master algorithm in marketing,” he says. “I’m disheartened to some degree, but at the same time I know I am on the cutting edge of where the marketing industry is headed. I know that philosophically, I’m there.”

What Is Marketing AI?

For many marketers, terms like AI, machine learning and master algorithm may seem akin to a foreign language. In Domingos’ words, the “master algorithm” would work much like a key that could open every lock. A professor of computer science at University of Washington, Domingos says this is the big difference between the machine learning he writes about—which functions as the limitless key—and traditional programming. To keep the comparison consistent, new keys must be created for every lock in traditional programming; if marketers want to track a certain subsegment of customers, they must create a new algorithm for each.

“The beauty of machine learning,” Domingos says, “is you don’t have to program the computer to do any of these things. The same algorithm will learn to do all of them depending on the data you give it.”

Domingos describes AI as a subset of computer science, in which computers can undertake reasoning and common sense tasks—such as vision and knowledge—which were formerly only undertaken by humans.

Stuart Russell, professor of computer science and Smith-Zadeh professor in engineering at University of California, Berkeley, describes AI a bit differently on his website: “It’s the study of methods for making computers behave intelligently. Roughly speaking, a computer is intelligent to the extent that it does the right thing rather than the wrong thing. The right thing is whatever action is most likely to achieve the goal, or, in more technical terms, the action that maximizes expected utility. AI includes tasks such as learning, reasoning, planning, perception, language understanding and robotics.”

Machine learning is a subset of AI that allows computers to learn the same way people do, only faster, without being explicitly programmed, Domingos says. Machines can rapidly change, grow and create when new data is inputted into the system. In theory, this means a program might be able to do years of work in the span of days or even moments. It is, Domingos says, the fulcrum of AI and what gives computers potential to learn, hold conversations, seem human and potentially create their own marketing algorithms.

“AI is the goal; AI is the planet we’re headed to,” says Domingos. “Machine learning is the rocket that’s going to get us there. And Big Data is the fuel.”

The central idea for Domingos’ “master algorithm” is to take algorithms from the five machine learning schools of thought (Bayesians, Evolutionaries, Connectionists, Symbolists and Analogizers) and meld them into one. The Core7 concept would shrink this down to an industry-specific basis, Dome says. For example, the automotive industry could have a single master algorithm, as the customer journey is essentially the same at each company. This master algorithm would, in theory, add efficiency, increase ROI and allow brands to develop a customized relationship at the consumer level that would revolutionize branding. While Dome’s dream has yet to be fulfilled, Domingos already sees an entryway within the marketing industry. He believes that in five to 10 years, machine learning will be used beyond marketing and across entire companies.

“The first can be segmentation … but then it spreads to everything else,” he says. “When you look at companies like Amazon and Google—the most advanced in machine learning—they use machine learning in every nook and cranny of what they do.”

In fact, Amazon has become so good at machine learning that a third of its business comes from a machine learning-powered function: recommended purchases. Similarly, Domingos says approximately three-fourths of movies watched on Netflix come from the company’s recommendation system, which also runs on machine learning.

“The recommended system is very famous at Amazon, but it’s one of many,” he says, calling this “quintessential machine learning.” “They’ve become good enough at this that they’re starting to roll out what they call ‘predictive delivery,’ in which they send you stuff before you even order it. They’re so confident you want it that they just put it on the truck. I’ve asked them, ‘What happens if I get this and I don’t want it?’ They say, ‘Well, we’ll just let you have it for free.’ This is how confident they’ve become in their ability.”

While Domingos says Amazon has yet to pinpoint exact future purchases, the company is adept at stocking items on the delivery truck with the knowledge that someone will order that item within hours.

This concept could solve a real challenge marketers have: hitting the customer “in stride,” not just having them come to you, but knowing when they stop and start, where they travel and what they need. Knowing their desires, more or less, and having the ability to communicate with them via AI chatbot programs or automated messages without wasting employee time. The potential of AI allows companies to use data already at their disposal to measure in real time, learn more about the customer and anticipate what happens next.

“Today is very much a race to who can develop the master algorithm first,” Dome says.

Marketing’s Quest for Singularity

“Our technology, our machines, are part of our humanity. We created them to extend ourselves, and that is what is unique about human beings.” - Ray Kurzweil, futurist, computer scientist and inventor

When Markus Giesler was a child, he was floored by the idea of the profoundly villainous HAL 9000, a conceptual AI from Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey.” He was so titillated by the idea that he and a friend tried to recreate a good-natured version of HAL in his own home. For weeks, Giesler would videotape his parents as they entered and exited rooms. He analyzed their language and noted their moods, realizing his AI would have to be tailored to his parents’ experiences to deliver the realism of HAL.

“About a month or two later, we had finally established a constellation that worked: every time our parents entered the room they were able to have a one-minute conversation with a computer. Not really the most elaborate chat but enough to impress them—and the occasional guests,” Giesler writes on his blog.

Giesler, who is the chair of the marketing department at York University’s Schulich School of Business and director of the Big Design Lab, researches AI concepts further down the path of his childhood creation, such as smart homes and driverless cars. However, humans were interested in AI long before his adventures with HAL, all the way back to antiquity before the Middle Ages, he says. There has always been a longing for what he calls “technology with a spirit.”

“It’s surprising to me that we’re only now beginning to see AI as a marketing construct and as something to look into from a marketing and customer experience design standpoint,” he says. “It makes sense for it to become more mainstream now when you consider the influx of AI algorithms, apps and mechanisms coming into everyday consumption, but artificial intelligence is not necessarily a new thing.”

What has changed is the awareness of AI, particularly in marketing. This awareness seemed to begin with a bang in 2012 with the infamous story of Target accidentally figuring out a young woman was pregnant before her father did by automatically analyzing her shopping habits and sending her advertisements for baby necessities. Now, perhaps startled by the technology’s abilities, companies have convinced themselves of AI’s impact. In a June 2016 report, Weber Shandwick found that 68% of CMOs report their company is “planning for business in the AI era” with 55% of CMOs expecting AI to have a “greater impact on marketing and communications than social media ever had.” This change in awareness may go a long way toward marketing and other industries accepting AI. Giesler says a shift in the decision-making process takes as much change in humans as it does in technology.

“I am most fascinated with AI in marketing when it’s invisible,” he says. “It’s one thing to talk about AI as this [creation of] applications that totally immerse consumers into these extraordinary experiences. It’s another to see how AI has invisibly crept into some of the most taken-for-granted aspects of everyday consumption to shape who we are as individuals, who we are as families, how we think about safety, togetherness and all this. One level on which we see that is cellphones having become an extension of who we are.

“AI is dramatically reshaping and redefining not only the market and what companies can or cannot do with customer experience, but who we are as individuals and groups,” Giesler says.

Writer Robots

In a towering office building off of the Chicago River sits a notable example of AI’s current and potential capabilities. Narrative Science, a natural language generator, has become well-known by marketers for its ability to produce written stories within seconds based off analytics. The company’s AI can use data from Google Analytics, for example, and write sentences like: “New users spent 16 fewer seconds on your site than returning users did last month. This could indicate that your new users didn’t find the information they needed or came to the site expecting something else.”

Katy De Leon, vice president of marketing at Narrative Science, says she couldn’t believe the company’s claim when she first read the job ad four years ago. “It just sounded incredulous to me,” she says. “I needed to talk to someone about it because I just couldn’t believe it.”

After four years of seeing AI in action, De Leon is a believer in not just Narrative Science, but in the potential for AI in marketing. AI has come at the right time with the explosion of Big Data, she says, and her company’s capabilities are especially mind-boggling at first glance for those on the outside. Narrative Science, born at Northwestern University as a collaboration between a computer science class and a journalism class, received coverage early in its existence when journalists at The New York Times and other publications were awed by a tool that could put together sentences from raw data—in this case, reports from sporting events. Now, the most lucrative customers of Narrative Science are in the government and the financial industry—think Fortune 1,000—as well as web analysts and small to medium-sized marketers.

Eyes across the industry are on the marketing tech landscape, which even De Leon admits is getting crowded and noisy. However, with increasing access to data, it’s never been more important for organizations to make sense of the noise. AI is another tool marketers can have at their disposal with potential for saving money, increasing efficiency and improving business.

“When you have 20,000 customers and you want to communicate with them as if you know them very well and … communicate something relative to them—something they care about—we can enable them to get to that level of personalization at a scale that wouldn’t be possible with people,” she says.

Where is Marketing AI Going?

Marketers should expect quick changes with AI’s potential to build upon and grow itself, experts say. Businesses and marketing departments are already vigorously moving ahead with the adoption of AI technology, according to Meabh Quoirin, co-owner and CEO of the Foresight Factory & Future Foundation. They are eager to see its promised benefits come to fruition.

“It’s not just about automation for automation’s sake, but if we can go faster, there’s more money to be made,” she says of the average company’s mentality.

How humans view technology, especially in marketing, has progressed over the past five years, Quoirin says, and it’s likely to keep progressing at breakneck speed. There are many possibilities for AI in marketing, health, entertainment and business; the technology is just starting to bear fruit, she says.

One possibility sure to entice across industries is what Quoirin calls “beyond human” AI, which can be used to “cheat death,” as well as add human bio-enhancements, prosthetics or implants. This could work well in the medical field, of course, but she says it may also work from a customer experience perspective. Marketers could find interest in tools for performance improvements for the average person; ways to burn calories, eat well, work faster and move better, especially considering the success of gadgets such as the FitBit.

“Broadly speaking, we tend to find that as soon as people are using [technology] like this in a context where it helps them get things done faster, they adjust to that convenience very quickly,” she says. “What we see is that it is a question of ‘when’ rather than ‘if’ with AI. But it will happen bit by bit. A lot of the things we worry about will just gently recede as we get used to being better humans.”

AI advancements may also change the concept of who we are and how marketers interact with humans and their technological extensions. Giesler says how consumers represent themselves online, how machines become an extension of who we are and whether marketers should market to these technologies once they gain a certain kind of sentience are all concepts he actively studies. “That’s wicked, right?” he says with a laugh.

Gieseler has done his own research on where humans end and where machines begin, which he says is an unbelievably fascinating and terribly scary new frontier to study. This inevitably leads to questions about how people live, how their habits are measured and how they’re watched by government-run AI technology, such as facial-recognition software—another budding AI concept. This brings to light existential fears of society becoming a bit too similar to George Orwell’s novel 1984, causing many to demur at the thought of AI’s rapid progress. Through all of these possibilities and theories, Giesler believes marketers can take center stage in redefining and renegotiating the boundaries of where the human ends and where technology begins. It’s an onerous duty filled with opportunity.

“We are the ones who best understand the human technological interfaces and how to design markets that are truly better than the sum of their parts when it comes to these redesigned interfaces,” he says.

Apple is the best example of this thus far, Giesler says. He’s assisted in Apple’s research and says Apple TV—a recent advancement that Steve Jobs called simply a “hobby”—is reshaping in-home entertainment and branding with AI concepts.  

“For a long time, Apple adopted this top-box approach where you have the Apple TV box next to other cable boxes. That probably didn’t work,” Giesler says. “The difference came when Apple recognized that consumption is really more a matrix than an individual box with a person looking at a TV screen. If you want to conquer the living room, you really need to spread all through the home.”

By seeing the market as more of a matrix, he says Apple cleared the path for marketers to use interfaces that let consumers better navigate their lives. Enabled by AI, Apple and researchers made these advancements after looking through the lens of today’s technology-enabled world.

“AI leads to changes in the way we do marketing, not just in the tech space literally, but also metaphorically, in terms of how we understand brands, customers and market segments,” he says.

Will Marketing Jobs Be Safe?

Upon hearing about AI’s capabilities, many will ask, “What’s the catch?” There are the existential fears expressed by Bill Gates and Elon Musk that computers could become too smart and take over the world. There are fears that AI could occupy the citizenry’s space too heavily and be seen as an invasion of privacy. Then there are palpable fears of AI taking jobs away from marketing and many other industries. After all, robots and computers don’t make a yearly salary.

According to a June 2016 report from Forrester, AI, machine learning, robots and automation will mean a net loss of 7% of U.S. jobs by 2025. The technology will mainly eat away at office and administrative support staff. New jobs, such as content curators, data scientists and robot monitoring professionals, will be created, but the losses will be greater than the gains.

“I think there will be an impact on jobs; we call this trend de-pop in the sense that working at large is going to change,” Quoirin says. “There will be competition for jobs. Equally, the new jobs will create new demands … We do see a shift in that.”

Even with fears of job loss looming in marketing and across other industries, Domingos says humans will still be necessary due to a paucity of data scientists, or those who automate the work of computer scientists and create AI algorithms. These algorithms have potential to take jobs—a factor of 1 million, when you talk about automating the jobs of computer scientists, Domingos says—from many people, but there’s a lack of data scientist talent.

“The war for talent is really raging,” he says. “One reason the demand has exploded and the supply changed quickly is you need people with a Ph.D.; that takes five years. ... The irony is a lot of the professors are moving to the industry level, which is good in the short term but it’s actually eating the seed corn. There are not enough people to train the students.”

This may come as a breath of relief for marketers, but Quoirin says marketers should expect the necessity for a transition of skill set and talent management to more creative and conceptual endeavors, areas where humans thrive over machines.

“Let’s not be too vanilla on this: If we take a sector like finance or retail baking, there will be an eye on how many tellers can be replaced,” she says. “Those numbers of cost cutting will have been done already. But let’s face it, without even a hint of what’s to come in AI, those jobs were under threat. Simple computer processing and mobile banking have already threatened those kinds of things. Artificial intelligence is much beyond that level of cost cutting. People are mostly thinking about how they can rechannel mundane jobs.” Although Quoirin believes AI will be “unstoppable,” she says humans will still be needed to interpret AI’s signals and numbers.

AI is expected to keep growing. Neuroscientist and author Sam Harris, who presented a TED Talk on humanity’s potential to lose control of AI, said on his podcast “Waking Up” that AI’s growth will keep advancing unless something much worse happens to society first. For this reason, Quoirin believes menial jobs will eventually be replaced by the robots, which may mean an alternate solution, such as a minimum salary for all, needs to be considered.

“There is, of course, also the future where we just work less,” she says. “And we get longer weekends. Wouldn’t that be fantastic?”

The Way Forward: Excitement or Fear?

“Some people worry that artificial intelligence will make us feel inferior, but then, anybody in his right mind should have an inferiority complex every time he looks at a flower.” – Alan Kay, computer scientist

AI’s marketing moment may be coming soon, if it isn’t already here. Domingos says Silicon Valley had its AI tipping point five years ago but kept it to themselves as a “secret sauce,” of sorts, for competitive advantage. Now, the proverbial cat is out of the bag and he says CEOs of Fortune 500 companies demand AI. “I don’t know what it is yet, but I know we need it,” Domingos says, doing his best CEO impression. However, he believes adopting AI will be easier for digitally native companies—such as Facebook and Google—or industries like marketing or finance where data has been essential from the start.

“The companies furthest along also happen to be in sectors where they have profit margins large enough for them for afford machine learning efforts,” he says. “If you’re Google and you [essentially] print money, you can afford to spend money on machine learning and you do. If your profit margins [are 1% or 2%], then it’s harder. They can only afford to do it so much because they don’t have money to do more.”

For the Doug Domes of the world, this makes AI look that much more enticing. Dome believes AI has “limitless” potential for profitability and says the positives of the technology will be immense, even if there are some ethical and moral bugs to work out.

In Giesler’s view, the negative predictions of AI have always been around; he’s always heard that his beloved HAL 9000 would be created in real life. However, despite advancement, he thinks AI is still far away from the ability to snuff out humans.

“There is something about being human that is unique,” he says. “There are simple mechanisms we can use to unmask the technology as what it is: a stupid series of algorithms that doesn’t really get it. That’s still pretty much the reality of everything we have around us.

“All the beautiful things we associate with marketing, they are and will continue to be the human actors and the human participants, not so much the technology,” Giesler says. “The beauty of real technology is that it’s like a mirror: We look inside it and what we see is who we are as human beings. Markets are human. The technology helps us get closer to the beauty of that principle.”

The post was originally posted by American Marketing Association at https://www.ama.org/publications/MarketingNews/Pages/past-present-future-ai-marketing.aspx

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