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NEWS
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Things happen in the world
every day. Important things. But that is not the kind of news we are going to be
reporting here. No, here we will specifically focus on Dark-Platypus News,
things that happen in our little corner of the world that might (or might not)
be significant to you. We hope you find this information to be
informative, educational, or at least time-killing.
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SHOCKED
AND CONFUSIONED
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1/22/08 - Had a great
time at this year's High Voltage Confusion sci-fi
convention here in Michigan, and it was fantastic to see
all my old friends again! Don't forget to drop
me a line when you get a chance, guys!
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BIKINI
BABES AND BITEY BEASTIES --NEW DUNGEON LIFE MINIS!
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a few new mini designs all cast up and ready for
sale! These fine new lead free pewter minis include:
Kreela, the barbarian pitfighter, the sexy Shield
Maiden, some sting-y Small Monstrous Scorpions, and
some bite-y Summoned Badgers! Check them out --and
our other cool Dungeon Life Minis...on the Miniatures
Page! |
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PILLARS
OF THE DUNGEON COMMUNITY
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Enhance your Bendy
Dungeon Walls dungeons by giving your monsters
something to hide behind! Hold up the (imaginary) ceiling
with these excellent pre-painted resin-cast pillars!
Great for adding an air of mystery and majesty to any
dungeon setting. Each pillar is about 1.75 inches high,
and about a half-inch thick. A package of six pillars is
only $9.99, and you can find them on our Bendy
Dungeons page, in the Accessories
section! |
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GAMING
STYLE IS IN THE BAG!
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And not
just style...also DICE! We've completely redesigned
our dice bag page, and added more than a dozen new
offerings, culled from some of our favorite classic
Dark-Platypus images! These new dice bags are a
great way for any gamer to carry around their
required implements of destruction (dice), and also
a great way to say that they are cooler than all the
other gamers at the table! We've also added a second
style of bag available for purchase: the Token Bag.
These smaller bags can also be used to hold dice,
but they really shine as a convenient way to carry
your Dark-Platypus Gaming Tokens and Life Counter!
You can even get 'em as a Deluxe Game Pack, with
matching tokens and counters included! Check out all
the cool new options on our Dice
Bags page! |
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BENDY DUNGEON
WALLS HAVE ARRIVED!
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It's a Dungeon Life! And for everyone else who
lives a Dungeon Life, making really cool 3D dungeon environments
has just gotten a LOT easier! So easy, in fact, you can build
your dungeons while you play! The answer is Bendy
Dungeon Walls, and as a lifelong Dungeons &
Dragons player, it's the gaming terrain I've been waiting all my
life for! For more information, and to actually buy
some go to our Bendy
Dungeon Walls page!
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THE
WACKIEST SECRET SOCIETY OF ALL!
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| The Illuminati, as
everyone knows, is the mysterious and deadly secret
society that really controls the whole world from
behind the scenes. A member of such a group, if it
even exists, would never publicly reveal himself to
the world. The Illumi-Nuttys, on the other hand, is
the not so secret and completely harmless group of
people who really control nothing, and are proud of
it! Announce your membership to the world with this
cool new Illumi-Nutty Pendant! It features a smilin'
pyramid, complete with big googly eye, in front of a
full-color background emblazoned with the words
"Illumi-Nutty". How much more NOT secret
can you get?!? Heck, all your friends need to belong
too! It's a real bargain at $9.99, and you can find
it and other cool pendants on our Jewelry
page! |
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NEW
TOKEN DESIGNS STRAIGHT FROM THE WOODS!
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Lorwyn, the
newest set for Magic: The Gathering, brings home the power
of the woods, and we think that's a good idea! So good, in
fact, that we whipped up a couple forest-animal themed
tokens: The White Elemental Stag, and the deadly Wolf!
Both new images are available in all the standard token
and life counter varieties, and the Wolf pic came out so
cool we also put it on a Dice bag and Token Bag!
Check out all the token varieties on the Gaming Tokens page! |
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PRICE ADJUSTMENTS
ON GAMER BITS IN EFFECT
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Dark-Platypus
Studio’s popular like of
pewter life counters and gaming tokens have gotten adjusted prices effective January 22, 2008. These price
changes are a sad reality owing entirely to the
skyrocketing price of metal.
Gaming token sets of
10 have raised a dollar in price, from $11.99 to
$12.99. Life counters (which use the most metal) have seen
the biggest increase, from $11.99 to $14.99. The various
combo pack and token set options also have corresponding increases.
Other Dark-Platypus
products –mainly the stuff not made out of metal-have
not raised in price. This includes full-color dice
bags and the Bendy Dungeon Walls line.
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FREE FLOOR
TILES FOR BENDY DUNGEON WALLS!
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Bendy Dungeon
Walls is a fantastic 3D dungeon mapping aid! However, In
order to make them really useful, you're going to need a
battle-mat! Whether you are the rare gamer that actually
doesn't already own such a mat (freak!), or you just want
a really cool playing surface that's been designed to look
great with your new Bendy Dungeons, these new downloadable
floor tiles are for you! These two designs are available
for FREE on our Bendy
Dungeon page! |
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SERF's UP!!!
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In Magic the Gathering (and
many other great games out there!), even the lowliest of
peasants can become a force to be reckoned with. To that
end, we have created this awesome new Serf Gaming Token
design, which is also available of course in all the
standard token and life counter styles! This
scythe-wielding baddie may be reaping more than wheat if
you bring him to your game...he may end up chopping down
your opponents! Check out the rest of your token options
on our Gaming Tokens page! |
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T'S TOKEN
TIME!....ER, I MEAN, IT'S A TIME TOKEN!
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| Everyone could always use more time, but these
days, everyone could also use more Time Tokens, too! The recent
Magic the Gathering Time Spiral block added tons of new cards
that use and manipulate Time Counters,
so I stepped up to the challenge and created this cool hourglass
image, showing the sands of the universe falling away. Be the
coolest kid on your block by actually having tokens and counters
that look like what they represent! Find the Time
Counters here, and check out the rest of your token options
on our Gaming Tokens page! |
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THE GELATINOUS
CUBE...IT'S HAVING YOU FOR DESSERT!!
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It's among the
most classic and fondly remembered of the old-school
D&D monsters --the Gelatinous
Cube. This roving square of acidic goo strips
clean the dungeon as it wanders through the halls,
completely filling them with it's 10'x10'x10' girth. I
have created a really cool mini to do this creature
justice on my -and your gaming table! You can find it on
the Gelatinous Cube page, and check
out a bunch of the other cool minis I have available for
sale on the Role-Playing page! |
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New
Homepage Design Implemented Dateline:
August 31, 2007, Andrew Barlow Reporting
That's
right, folks! I'm actually doing some work over here! I have tons of new stuff
to get up in the coming weeks, and sections of the site will be getting
overhauls as I get to them! Don't Panic! All is proceeding according to plan!
(What Plan?)
Actually,
there is at least a little bit of a plan. The new front page has been designed
with actual text blocks, instead of text inside of images, to make it easier for
search engines to find us. Also, the new design should be much easier for me to
update, which will hopefully lead to much more frequent updates! Any questions,
comments or criticisms, do drop
me a line and let me know! I will happily answer any questions, file any
comments and ignore any criticisms! ;)
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Some Minor Gliches...help me
find 'em! Dateline:
June 8, 2007, Andrew Barlow Reporting
Okay,
as reported below, I have changed the web server over. This mostly went okay,
but in the process I seem to have misplaced a few images, and maybe broken a
link or two. If you notice any problems on the site or any of my ebay
auctions, do drop
me a line and let me know! I'll fix 'em as soon as I get a chance! Thanks!
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Changing Web Hosting...Cross
Your Fingers!!! Dateline:
June 2, 2007, Andrew Barlow Reporting
I've
been putting it off for a while, but the time has come to change my website over
to the new hosting package I bought. This new package is not only less
expensive, it also allows me to have several different webspaces, so I can host
multiple websites. I mainly got this so I could set up my brother's site, www.barlowfinecarpentry.com
. I got that set up okay, but never got around to switching my site over, so
I've been paying for two hosting packages for a while....
Anyhoo,
I don't really know what I'm doing here, so here's hoping everything goes okay!
(Emails to me during this time period may be delayed a bit, but I'm told they
should still reach me), Thanks!
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New Token and Life Counter
Designs Added Dateline:
October 17, 2006, Andrew Barlow Reporting
Okay,
putting new artwork designs up on the web isn't half as much fun as drawing them
in the first place! That's probably why it took me so long to add these great
images --created for Gen Con a couple months back! As well as adding seven new
artwork designs, I also dropped in to more Power Modifiers tokens... +1/-1
and -1/+1 Counters! The artwork designs seen below can be found in each
section of Gamer Bits: all of these new images are available as Gaming Tokens,
Jumbo Tokens, Micro Counters, Life Counters and Combo Packs. A couple are even
available as Dice Bags!
      
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3Df Flexible
Dungeon System is coming!!! Dateline:
August 15, 2006, Andrew Barlow Reporting
I just
got back from Gen Con Indy, where the new product I was debuting proved to be a
big hit! I won't go into too much detail now, but for those who were there and
saw it, fear not, I will be getting it up on the web here very soon now! For
everyone else who is curious, please hold on just a little bit longer; I promise
it will be worth it!
Right
now I am just exhausted from Gen Con, and from the month-long ordeal of getting
ready for Gen Con. The work isn't stopping either, though, so I will be working
on putting up the new products in-between resting and trying to keep caught up
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Free Saprolings Continue Through
Spring Dateline:
March 14, 2006, Andrew Barlow Reporting
People
really liked getting those free Saprolings all through fall and winter, so we're
going to continue making them the bonus token of choice for a while longer!!!
For
every $5 you spend on any of our products, we will include a shiny bonus Saproling
Gaming Token with your order! There is absolutely no limit to the number of
bonus Saprolings you can get this way! You
don't have to enter any coupon or promotion codes, or even mention the sale when
ordering...we'll just chuck those extra Saprolings in there! If however,
Saprolings aren't exactly up your tree for whatever reason, do feel free to include a
note with your order telling us to give you any of the other 60-odd Gaming Token
designs we carry as your Bonus Tokens! We'll ship that instead. We're cool like
that. :)
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This Fall and winter, the
Saprolings Arrive! Dateline:
November 1, 2005, Andrew Barlow Reporting
Our
summer Squirrel promotion was so successful, we thought we'd carry it over into
the fall, with a twist! With the release of Ravnica, Saprolings have come back
big time, and everyone's gonna want some. Well, we'll hook you up!
For
every $5 you spend on any of our products, we will include a shiny bonus Saproling
Gaming Token with your order! There is absolutely no limit to the number of
bonus Saprolings you can get this way! You
don't have to enter any coupon or promotion codes, or even mention the sale when
ordering...we'll just chuck those extra Saprolings in there! If however,
Saprolings aren't exactly up your tree for whatever reason, do feel free to include a
note with your order telling us to give you any of the other 60-odd Gaming Token
designs we carry as your Bonus Tokens! We'll ship that instead. We're cool like
that. :)
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Squirrels Overrun Orders This
Summer! Dateline:
June 6 2005, Andrew Barlow Reporting
Dark-Platypus
Studio is proud to announce our first ever sales promotion here on our website!
For
every $5 you spend on any of our products, we will include a shiny bonus Squirrel
Gaming Token with your order! There is absolutely no limit to the number of
bonus Squirrels you can get this way! Order $500 worth of product, and we will
happily (very happily!) send you 100 bonus Squirrels! You
don't have to enter any coupon or promotion codes, or even mention the sale when
ordering...we'll just chuck those extra Squirrels in there! If however,
Squirrels aren't your bag of nuts for whatever reason, do feel free to include a
note with your order telling us to give you any of the other 60-odd Gaming Token
designs we carry as your Bonus Tokens! We'll ship that instead. We're cool like
that. :) |
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NOW IN STORES!!! Dateline:
June 6 2005, Andrew Barlow Reporting
That's
right, we've finally gone Big Time.
Dark-Platypus
Studio has teamed with Z-Man Games, who
is acting as our publisher as we release our Gaming Tokens and Life counters to
the World! 12
different token packs are included in our initial release, as well as 5 of our
most popular Life Counter designs. The life counter designs being released in
this first set are: Cthulhu, Red Dragon, Dragon Mage, Skull, and Faerie. The
token packs each include 10 Gaming Tokens, and a black velour carrying bag. The
sets include Angels, Demons, Elves, Goblins, Rats, Red Dragons, Skulls, Snakes,
Soldiers and Spirits, as well as an Assortment Pack that includes one of each of
the aforementioned tokens. The final token pack is a Power Modifiers pack, which
includes four +1/+1 tokens, two -1/-1, and one each +0/+1, +1/+0, -0/-1, and
-1/-0. As
of this writing, initial orders have been shipped out to distributors and should
be arriving in stores any minute now! Both the life counters and token packs
retail for $11.99 each. If
you are a retailer interested in carrying our product, contact your local
distributor! If you are distributor, get in touch with Z-Man Games! If you would
like to be listed in our Retailers and Favorite links section, drop me
a line! |
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MKIII Life Counter Design
--Now with Metal Dials! Dateline:
June 6 2005, Andrew Barlow Reporting
With
the impending worldwide distribution release only a short time away, my buddy
Jeff Acker and myself started talking about making improvements to my life
counter design. What we really wanted to do was make it so that they assembled
with screws, instead of glue, so that they would be much more durable.
"But
why stop there?" Jeff suggested. "How about making metal number
dials?"
"Yes."
I said. Before I had even stopped to consider the cost ramifications, or whether
such a thing was even possible. I had long wanted to do metal dials, but thought
it was impossible to make work. But Jeff was the mold-maker, and he seemed to
think it could be done. Turned
out to not be easy, but it could be done. Jeff got to work on his computer
making some 3-D models, and then taught his CNC machine a few new tricks.
We made up a few masters, and then I sculpted some filigree in. We made molds,
they didn't work. We made adjustments, resculpted the filigree, and tried again.
Didn't work. Rinse. Repeat. Eventually,
we got, and I gotta say, they turned out great! Take a look at the Life
Counters Section and see for yourself! The new designs are bigger, sturdier
and heavier than the old ones, with a fantastic feel. The trim, filigree and
overall design is sharper and crisper. The MKIII still features two number
dials, both numbering from 0 to 30, but now the dials are made of pewter, just
like the rest of the thing. The numbers are inked in high-contrast black for
easy visibility, and the dials have a really good turning action to them. From
this point forward, the MK 2.5 Life Counter is officially discontinued, and all
life counter orders, whether placed here or on ebay, will be filled with MK III
Life Counters. |
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We've Moved! Dateline:
May 15 2005, Andrew Barlow Reporting
Andy,
Erica, Bailey, Pauly, Squeaky and now Mouse have taken up residence in our shiny
new Condo in Brownstown, Michigan. The move was difficult, but according to
most, well worth it. Squeaky in particular took issue with the new digs,
and protested by spending nearly a week in a closet. Even she has come around
finally, though, and now roams about the much larger place with abandon. Now if
only we could get Mouse to come out during the day.... Special
thanks are due to everyone who helped us move, and who stuck with us even when
it turned out we had much more stuff than even we realized! |
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Jewelry Designs Added Dateline:
January 15 2005, Andrew Barlow Reporting
Our
first four fantasy-themed jewelry pieces are now available for viewing and
purchase in the JEWELRY section. Included in this
upload are pendants featuring images of Cthulhu, a Dragon, a Fiery Phoenix, and
a leaping Dolphin. All pieces were sculpted by myself and are hand-finished for
a truly unique look.
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News Page Created Dateline:
January 2005, Andrew Barlow Reporting
Today I
have created the News page. In order so that there is something on it, and to
tell you of some things that have happened in the last several months, I am
going to retroactively post some news items. The dates are all approximate, as
one of the many things I can't remember well is Time. |
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Website Redesigned Dateline:
January 2005, Andrew Barlow Reporting
The
entire Dark-Platypus.com website underwent a major redesign recently, which went
live just a short time ago. The new design is meant to be cleaner, more
attractive, and still remain easy to use and navigate.
Further,
the look of the new site is meant to convey many of the things that we are all
about. The graph paper background is there as a nod to my early days of gaming,
when graph paper represented the Power to Create Worlds. The menu bar, info
boxes, title bars and other bits have all been designed to look like they were
made out of pewter, because that is what we do here. Headlines and page titles
appear in purple, because that is my favorite color. Some things, of course,
have very little meaning at all. I made all the buttons change color when moused
over just because I thought that was cool. It should be noted that none of
Dark-Platypus's product will actually turn to gold under any circumstance,
unless you have some high level of skill with Alchemy.
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New Product Added Dateline:
January 2005, Andrew Barlow Reporting
Along
with the site redesign, many new products have been added.
There
are a few new designs in each of the Gaming Tokens, Jumbo Tokens, and Life
Counters sections. The MICRO Counters section is entirely new, and we are very
excited to be able to offer this super new tiny life counter designs. We also
have added to the 2-sided Token line, giving you the option of creating any
two-sided tokens you desire from our entire line of images.
Outside
the realm of Gamer Bits, several new Art Prints have been added, and that whole
section of the site has been upgraded with better navigation and more
information on the prints themselves. We have also added the Role-Playing
section, which includes some cool gaming miniatures that are available for
purchase. Lastly, the jewelry section has been added, which will have our new
line of fantasy jewelry available for sale. As of this writing, our first pieces
are at the mold-makers, so watch for an update very soon.
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Micro Life Counters Released Dateline:
December 2005, Andrew Barlow Reporting
After
much sculpting, engineering, and general fiddling about to perfect the design,
we have finally released our new Micro Counters. These things are tiny compared
to our regular counters, just an inch and half long at their widest. We still
managed to fit in two number dials, though, each with numbers ranging from 0 to
20. I'm really happy with how these things turned out, and I hope all of you
will be too!
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Designs Resculpted Dateline:
July 2005, Andrew Barlow Reporting
In order
to take advantage of the higher quality level our new spin-caster can produce,
all of Dark-Platypus's token and life counter designs have been resculpted. The
base tokens and life counter were crafted in a 3-d rendering program and
computer-cut with a cnc machine for perfect lines, planes and dimensions. The
filigree patterns were then hand-sculpted into each piece. The difference
between the new pieces and the old is like night at day:
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Old Gaming Token Sculpt vs. New Gaming Token
Sculpt
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The PlatCaster Cometh Dateline:
May 2005, Andrew Barlow Reporting
Dark-Platypus
Studios has acquired a used Spin-caster! This has been a dream since we first
started and it is finally realized.
A
spin-caster is a really cool machine about the size of a washing machine. It
allows you to make much higher-quality casts by using centrifugal force to, well
force the metal into the mold cavities under pressure, thus ensuring that
every little detail comes out perfect. Not only does it vastly increase quality,
but the 9" circular molds that it uses also contain room to make many
tokens all at the same time, thus greatly increasing productivity as well.
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