DOCSLIB.ORG

Preparing for Play

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Preparing for Play Extreme Option: The Demon Weave AUTHOR’S FOREWORD Lolth’s attempt to build the Demon Weave was Council of Spiders Revisited is a resource many years before the events of Extreme Drowess. designed to offer a range of utility. You can use this If folding your campaign into the world of Extreme book to directly convert the events and encounters Drowess, the central conflict should be over Matron from Council of Spiders for play in the 5e rule Mother Rauvaena Dyrr Do’Urden’s attempt to bring set. The basic conversion is intended to preserve males into the Ruling Council, pushing her vision of tier 1 playability, so it includes several Underdark a more equitable culture in Menzoberranzan. This antagonists balanced for challenging, but survivable shift should have little impact on the events of the tier 1 play. This book also includes narrative notes for story, other than to shift the motivations of the NPCs setting the conflict in a version of Faerûn that appears involved accordingly. The stakes remain the same – Will on the Extreme Drowess twitch show/podcast, a the drow city adapt, stamp down change in favor of possible version of the Forgotten Realms. The setting tradition, or tear itself apart in chaotic disharmony? as presented in the Extreme Option sidebars stems Updated Magic Items from the actions of the characters and NPCs on that d20 Result show, and is the fruit of, at the time of this writing, 60 episodes of gameplay. On one hand, it is a developed 1 2 potions of healing world with cause and effect, stemming off of the 2 armor (+1) canonical Forgotten Realms timeline at a very crucial 3 weapon (+1) and important moment in time. On the other hand, it 4 ring of protection is super nerdy drow fanfiction by a couple of freelance 5 wand of smiles (XGtE) writers and their cosplayer buddies, many of whom 6 driftglobe were new to Dungeons and Dragons when this stream started. 7 brooch of shielding 8 amulet of health In this version, the events of Out of the Abyss played out in one of the worst imaginable ways, 9 piwafi (OotA) ensuring the destruction of a significant portion of 10 gloves of thievery the City of Spiders. This book looks at the actions 11 weapon of warning of a group of drow survivors in the aftermath of that 12 2 shiver-strike ammunition (see below) destruction and the effort to rebuild the city and the 13 2 unbreakable arrows (XGtE) society of the people who call it home. Naturally, there 14 elven chain are spoilers for the story of Extreme Drowess. 15 potion of invisibility But you didn’t pick this up to read my ramblings. 16 eyes of charming Let’s play some D&D! 17 lapis lazuli spell gem (OotA) Travis Legge 18 moon-touched sword (XGtE) 19 wand of viscid globes (OotA) PREPARING FOR PLAY 20 Roll twice more (reroll if 20 comes up again) Shiver Strike Ammunition As you prepare for your converted Council of Spiders adventure, make the following changes: Weapon, very rare • Ignore Renown Shiver Strike ammunition is special metallic ammunition • Use the Updated Magic Items Table instead of the Trea- designed to burst upon impact, tossing shrapnel into nearby sure Table on p. 3. For armor and weapons assign choices creatures. When a target is hit with shiver strike ammunition, the player characters are proficient with. Most items on the target and all creatures within 10 feet of the target must this table appear in the DMG. Exceptions have an abbrevia- make a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw, taking 1d6 piercing tion after their name on the table (OotA = Out of the Abyss, damage on a failure, or half as much on a success. If the target XGtE = Xanathar’s Guide to Everything) of the initial attack is a creature, they make this saving throw at Sampledisadvantage. file Higher Tier Play If an attack made with Shiver Strike ammunition misses, the Several creatures listed in this conversion have DM may choose to have the item hit a wall or barrier behind (Reduced Threat) in their title. To challenge higher tier the intended target. If the DM chooses to do so, all creatures parties, use the standard versions of these creatures within 10 feet of the impact must make a Dexterity saving found in 5e D&D books! throw as detailed above. BY TRAVIS LEGGE 3 Finally, the following actions taken in the course Session 0: Character Creation of the adventure can modify a character’s Station, as shown on the table below. Create your characters according to the rules and guidelines presented in 5e. Drow characters are Station Modifiers recommended, but not necessary. While it is true that Action Station Modifier traditional depictions of the drow depict them as evil, Survive an ambush +2 do not feel beholden to any alignment choices. Your Gain a level +1 drow can be of any alignment. Drow culture certainly Display a weak emotion (love, kindness) –1 incorporates numerous evil elements, but there is no reason that the characters in your name can’t stray Refusing to recognize the Station of a drow –1 commoner or noble from those cultural norms. You might secretly adhere to stronger morals, disagreeing with the inhumane Refusing to recognize the Station of a –2 excesses of drow culture. Or, you might be a brave priestess of Lolth or a wizard provocateur, who openly challenges the status quo as Back down from a conflict –2 much as you can, flirting with the executioner’s axe in Show mercy –2 the name of progress. Refusing to recognize the station of a high –3 priestess of Lolth or a Matron Mother Extreme Option: Alignment and Religion Speak ill of Lolth –3 The events of Extreme Drowess saw an active upswing Strike a drow female –3 in the worship of Eilistraee thanks to the evangelism Disobey a priestess of Lolth –4 and heroism of High Priestess Liahana Yaeldrin. There is an incredibly uneasy truce between the Each time the adventurers complete a house goal Spider Queen’s followers and those who worship Lady (including a goal of Bregan D’aerthe), the members of Silverhair, but her worship is no longer punishable that house gain +1 Station. Station does not come into by death in Menzoberranzan. Other members of play much in this adventure, but for a hard and fast the Dark Seldarine may receive varying degrees of rule, you can permit characters of higher Station to worship as well. Even the Eberron deity Vulkoor may have advantage on social rolls against those of lower have worshipers among the drow, due to events of the Station, provided both parties recognize the other’s podcast. Station Station Chapter 1 Council of Spiders includes a mechanic called This section covers the encounters and story Worth, which is a measure of your character’s presented in Chapter 1. Any text not mentioned standing in drow society. If you wish to include it, herein from the original adventure may be presented you may do so. The following mechanic replaces unchanged. Worth, if you wish to use it instead, or you may ignore this aspect of play. Note that Station in drow society Session 1: Monster Cave still harbors ideas of sexism and racism, and that progressive drow frequently ignore or subvert Station The basics of this encounter remain unchanged with in the name of building a better society. the following exceptions: • Change “Perception DC 18: A larger creature of the Starting Station same sort lurks near the ceiling on the far side of the cav- Condition Station Modifier ern.” to “Characters who make a successful DC 15 Wisdom Female +3 (Perception) check notice that a larger creature of the same Male –3 sort lurks near the ceiling on the far side of the cavern” • Creatures: Use the stat blocks included herein for the Member of House Xorlarrin or House +1 creatures in this encounter. Replace the cave fisher angler Melarn with the cave fisher, replace the ochre jelly with the ochre PriestessSample+3 jelly, and replace the cave fisherfile spawn with the juvenile Wizard +2 cave fisher. • Features of the Area: Replace the text in that section with Fighter +1 the Monster Cave Features sidebar. Over the course of the campaign, characters’ Station is modified by their actions. 4 THE COUNCIL OF SPIDERS Monster Cave Features Cave Fisher, Juvenile Light: Phosphorescent mushrooms scattered Small monstrosity, unaligned throughout the area provide a small amount of green Armor Class 13 (natural armor) light, filing the cave with dim light. Hit Points 44 (8d6 + 16) Speed 20 ft., climb 20 ft. Cliff: The cliff rises 10 feet (DC 10 Strength (Athletics) to climb) to the eastern side of the cavern. STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 13(+1) 13(+1) 14(+2) 3(−4) 10(+0) 3(−4) The walls of the cavern stretch up 20 feet to an Ceiling: Skills Perception +2 arched ceiling, so it’s 10 feet above the eastern side of Senses blindsight 60 ft., passive Perception 12 the cavern. A creature clinging to the ceiling has half Languages — cover from stalactites. Challenge 1/4 (50 XP) Floors: The mushroom patches and the piles of fallen Flammable Blood. If the juvenile cave fisher drops to half its hit rock are difficult terrain. points or fewer, it gains vulnerability to fire damage. Spider Climb. The cave fisher can climb difficult surfaces, Cave Fisher including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check. Medium monstrosity, unaligned Armor Class 16 (natural armor) Actions Hit Points 58 (9d8 + 18) Claw.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Last of the Dinosaurs
    020063_TimeMachine22.qxd 8/7/01 3:26 PM Page 1 020063_TimeMachine22.qxd 8/7/01 3:26 PM Page 2 This book is your passport into time. Can you survive in the Age of Dinosaurs? Turn the page to find out. 020063_TimeMachine22.qxd 8/7/01 3:26 PM Page 3 The Last of the Dinosaurs by Peter Lerangis illustrated by Doug Henderson A Byron Preiss Book 020063_TimeMachine22.qxd 8/7/01 3:26 PM Page 4 To Peter G. Hayes, for his friendship, interest, and help Copyright @ 1988, 2001 by Byron Preiss Visual Publications “Time Machine” is a registered trademark of Byron Preiss Visual Publications, Inc. Registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark office. Cover painting by Mark Hallett Cover design by Alex Jay An ipicturebooks.com ebook ipicturebooks.com 24 West 25th St., 11th fl. NY, NY 10010 The ipicturebooks World Wide Web Site Address is: http://www.ipicturebooks.com Original ISBN: 0-553-27007-9 eISBN: 1-59019-087-4 This Text Converted to eBook Format for the Microsoft® Reader. 020063_TimeMachine22.qxd 8/7/01 3:26 PM Page 5 ATTENTION TIME TRAVELER! This book is your time machine. Do not read it through from beginning to end. In a moment you will receive a mission, a special task that will take you to another time period. As you face the dan- gers of history, the Time Machine often will give you options of where to go or what to do. This book also contains a Data Bank to tell you about the age you are going to visit.
    [Show full text]
  • Exploring the Social, Moral, and Temporal Qualities of Pre-Service
    Exploring the Social, Moral, and Temporal Qualities of Pre-Service Teachers’ Narratives of Evolution Deirdre Hahn Division of Psychology in Education, College of Education, Arizona State University, PO Box 878409, Tempe, Arizona 85287 [email protected] Sarah K Brem Division of Psychology in Education, College of Education, Arizona State University, PO Box 870611, Tempe, Arizona 85287 [email protected] Steven Semken Department of Geological Sciences, Arizona State University, PO Box 871404, Tempe, Arizona 85287 [email protected] ABSTRACT consequences of accepting evolutionary theory. That is, both evolutionists and creationists tend to believe that Elementary, middle, and secondary school teachers may accepting evolutionary theory will result in a greater experience considerable unease when teaching evolution ability to justify or engage in racist or selfish behavior, in the context of the Earth or life sciences (Griffith and and will reduce people's sense of purpose and Brem, in press). Many factors may contribute to their self-determination. Further, Griffith and Brem (in press) discomfort, including personal conceptualizations of the found that in-service science teachers frequently share evolutionary process - especially human evolution, the these same beliefs and to avoid controversy in the most controversial aspect of evolutionary theory. classroom, the teachers created their own boundaries in Knowing more about the mental representations of an curriculum and teaching practices. evolutionary process could help researchers to There is a historical precedent for uneasiness around understand the challenges educators face in addressing evolutionary theory, particularly given its use to explain scientific principles. These insights could inform and justify actions performed in the name of science.
    [Show full text]
  • Humanoid Robots Are Perceived As an Evolutionary Threat
    bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.08.13.456053; this version posted August 13, 2021. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. Humanoid robots are perceived as an evolutionary threat Zhengde Wei1, +, Ying Chen 2, +, Jiecheng Ren1, Yi Piao1, Pengyu Zhang1, Rujing Zha1, Bensheng Qiu3, Daren Zhang1, Yanchao Bi4, Shihui Han5, Chunbo Li6 *, Xiaochu Zhang1, 2, 3, 7 * 1 Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale and School of Life Sciences, Division of Life Science and Medicine, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230027, China 2 School of Humanities & Social Science, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China 3 Centers for Biomedical Engineering, School of Information Science and Technology, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230027, China 4 State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China 5 School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China 6 Shanghai Key Laboratory of Psychotic Disorders, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200030, China 7 Academy of Psychology and Behavior, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China + These authors contributed equally to this work Correspondence: [email protected]; [email protected] 1 bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.08.13.456053; this version posted August 13, 2021. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder. All rights reserved.
    [Show full text]
  • Valkyrie: NASA's First Bipedal Humanoid Robot
    Valkyrie: NASA's First Bipedal Humanoid Robot Nicolaus A. Radford, Philip Strawser, Kimberly Hambuchen, Joshua S. Mehling, William K. Verdeyen, Stuart Donnan, James Holley, Jairo Sanchez, Vienny Nguyen, Lyndon Bridgwater, Reginald Berka, Robert Ambrose∗ NASA Johnson Space Center Christopher McQuin NASA Jet Propulsion Lab John D. Yamokoski Stephen Hart, Raymond Guo Institute of Human Machine Cognition General Motors Adam Parsons, Brian Wightman, Paul Dinh, Barrett Ames, Charles Blakely, Courtney Edmonson, Brett Sommers, Rochelle Rea, Chad Tobler, Heather Bibby Oceaneering Space Systems Brice Howard, Lei Nui, Andrew Lee, David Chesney Robert Platt Jr. Michael Conover, Lily Truong Wyle Laboratories Northeastern University Jacobs Engineering Gwendolyn Johnson, Chien-Liang Fok, Eric Cousineau, Ryan Sinnet, Nicholas Paine, Luis Sentis Jordan Lack, Matthew Powell, University of Texas Austin Benjamin Morris, Aaron Ames Texas A&M University ∗Due to the large number of contributors toward this work, email addresses and physical addresses have been omitted. Please contact Kris Verdeyen from NASA-JSC at [email protected] with any inquiries. Abstract In December 2013, sixteen teams from around the world gathered at Homestead Speedway near Miami, FL to participate in the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) Trials, an aggressive robotics competition, partly inspired by the aftermath of the Fukushima Daiichi reactor incident. While the focus of the DRC Trials is to advance robotics for use in austere and inhospitable environments, the objectives of the DRC are to progress the areas of supervised autonomy and mobile manipulation for everyday robotics. NASA's Johnson Space Center led a team comprised of numerous partners to develop Valkyrie, NASA's first bipedal humanoid robot.
    [Show full text]
  • The Significant Other: a Literary History of Elves
    1616796596 The Significant Other: a Literary History of Elves By Jenni Bergman Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Cardiff School of English, Communication and Philosophy Cardiff University 2011 UMI Number: U516593 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U516593 Published by ProQuest LLC 2013. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 DECLARATION This work has not previously been accepted in substance for any degree and is not concurrently submitted on candidature for any degree. Signed .(candidate) Date. STATEMENT 1 This thesis is being submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of PhD. (candidate) Date. STATEMENT 2 This thesis is the result of my own independent work/investigation, except where otherwise stated. Other sources are acknowledged by explicit references. Signed. (candidate) Date. 3/A W/ STATEMENT 3 I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter-library loan, and for the title and summary to be made available to outside organisations. Signed (candidate) Date. STATEMENT 4 - BAR ON ACCESS APPROVED I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter-library loan after expiry of a bar on accessapproved bv the Graduate Development Committee.
    [Show full text]
  • Maps, Myths, and Monsters
    Maps, Myths, and Monsters Completed By: 1 Introduction When Sebastian Munster was making maps in the early 1500s, he wanted to include pictures of people and animals from far away. But Munster didn’t have photographs or the internet to help him-- instead he had to rely on stories from explorers and very old books for his information. Munster lived during a time period we call the Renaissance, which lasted from about 1450 to 1600. Europe was discovering a lot about the world during the Renaissance, but there was still a lot that they misunderstood. Directions: Find the following images of mythical characters and creatures on the Renaissance maps and illustrations provided. Make sure to note the item numbers when you find the images. Part One: Myths Myths are stories that include supernatural beings or events in order to explain how nature, ideas, or practices came into existence. Medieval Myths In the Middle Ages, people were taught to believe that the only source of truth was the Catholic Church. Even though map people during the Renaissance began to believe that science and logic were the keys to knowledge, many medieval myths were still widely accepted. 1. If you asked most Europeans during the Middle Ages how human beings came to exist, they would likely tell you the story of Adam and Eve, found in the Book of Genesis, which is included in the Bible. According to Genesis, the first man, Adam was created from dust by god. The first woman, Eve, was created from a rib of Adams. In the Medieval worldview, all human beings are descendants of Adam.
    [Show full text]
  • Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 Edition Index – Monsters – Sorted by HD
    Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 Edition Index – Monsters – sorted by HD http://www.crystalkeep.com/d20 Report Suggestions or Errors at http://www.crystalkeep.com/forums/index.php Collected by Chet Erez ([email protected]) August 31, 2006 Table of Contents Page Aberrations........................................................................................................................................................................................... 2 Animals................................................................................................................................................................................................ 5 Constructs .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 11 Deathless............................................................................................................................................................................................ 14 Dragons.............................................................................................................................................................................................. 14 Elementals.......................................................................................................................................................................................... 31 Fey ....................................................................................................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • The Natural History Museum Resounded with the Roar of a Dinosaur the “Bad Breath” Tyrannosaurus Is Much Loved by People!
    “Doukoku”“Actroid”, and“Pet Robot” are registered trademarks of Kokoro. The Natural History Museum resounded with the roar of a dinosaur The “bad breath” Tyrannosaurus is much loved by people! A giant dinosaur appeared on the front page of various newspapers in the U.K. on February 7, 2001. The dinosaur which captured the hearts of visitors to the museum was Kokoro’s animatronic Tyrannosaurus, one of the top stars among our products. The NHM has been exhibiting a lot of Kokoro’s animatronics so far as our agent in Europe. Dinosaurs are the most popular among them and approximately 100 animatronics are exhibited in Europe. The Tyrannosaurus in the photos is the latest dinosaur robot with a body length of 6.5m which has been scaled up equipped with the air servo system developed by Kokoro. In addition to the towering giant body and more powerful movements than ever, “dinosaur’s bad breath” developed by the NHM was added to the dinosaur robot. With its overwhelming punch, this “giant and smelly” Tyrannosaurus satisfies even discriminating dinosaur fans who have seen a lot of dinosaur robots in many scenes. Its dynamism can be seen even from the photos, like roaring at visitors with its mouth wide open and letting out its bad breath when visitors approach it. At first, it was exhibited in the entrance hall of the NHM for only a limited time in 2000. However, it gained unexpectedly so much popularity that the NHM had a flood of inquiries asking “Where has the dinosaur gone?” when the dinosaur robot was removed for the next exhibition.
    [Show full text]
  • Eiglophian Lodge
    Conceptualized by JACK VANCE and E. GARY GYGAX Additional Material by SHADRAC MQ Edited by GREG GORGONMILK Afterword by GREYHARP ABOVE ILLUSTRATION BY MOEBIUS EIGLOPHIAN LODGE E G L 0 0 3 M A R C H 2 0 1 3 This humble book of magical lore is hereby dedicated to BLAIR OF ALGOL, DAVID MACAULY and MATT SCHMEER and all the other OSR gurus who cast green fireballs on my imagination. FIGHT ON! 2 C O N T E N T S TURJAN OF MIIR 5 Fiction by JACK VANCE MAZIRIAN THE MAGE 20 Fiction by JACK VANCE THE D&D MAGIC SYSTEM 37 Non-fiction by E. GARY GYGAX ROLE-PLAYING: REALISM VS GAME LOGIC 43 Non-fiction by E. GARY GYGAX AD&D'S MAGIC SYSTEM: HOW AND WHY IT WORKS 52 Non-fiction by E. GARY GYGAX 3 JACK VANCE AND THE D&D GAME 58 Non-fiction by E. GARY GYGAX DYING EARTH SPELLS FOR D&D 63 Optional Rules by SHADRAC MQ AFTERWORD 91 by GREYHARP SOURCES 92 ILLUSTRATION BY MICHAEL HUTTER 4 TURJAN OF MIIR by JACK VANCE TURJAN SAT IN HIS WORKROOM, legs sprawled out from the stool, back against and elbows on the bench. Across the room was a cage; into this Turjan gazed with rueful vexation. The creature in the cage returned the scrutiny with emotions beyond conjecture. It was a thing to arouse pity—a great head on a small spindly body, with weak rheumy eyes and a flabby button of a nose. The mouth hung slackly wet, the skin glistened waxy pink.
    [Show full text]
  • Tauric Races
    ADVENTURER’S OPTION: TAURIC RACES Sample file A player character race supplement for 5TH EDITION RULES ADVENTURER’S OPTION: TAURIC RACES Contents Introduction . 2. Tauric Races in your Campaign . 3. Creating and Playing Tauric Races . 5. Tauric Race Outlines . 7. Backgrounds and Customization . 13. Races . 14. Final Words & Author’s Notes . 20. Concept, Writing, and Layout by Oliver Bollmann Proofreading by Aaron Bertrand DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, Wizards of the Coast, Forgotten Realms, the dragon ampersand, and all other Wizards of the Coast product names, and their respective logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast in the USA and other countries. This work contains material that is copyright Wizards of the Coast and/or other authors. Such material is used with permission under the Community Content Agreement for Dungeon Masters Guild. All artwork used within was obtained through public domain searches. Cover image by LadyofHats, made available under CC 0 public domain licence. All other original material in this work is copyright 2017 by Oliver Bollmann and published under the Community ContentSample Agreement for Dungeon Masters Guild. file K A N N I K STUDIOS Introduction HE mighty CENTAUR IS A well- have found themselves described, expanded, and known mythical beast, easily recognized occasionally offered up as a player race with varying by gamer and non-gamer alike. At their degrees of success. mention, familiar images are likely to With the arrival of the 5th edition of D&D, the allure spring to mind: the famed half-human/ of tauric races has not abated. This supplement is half-horse charging valiantly over the intended to make available a wide variety of playable Thills, powerfully carrying someone tauric races within the 5th Edition ruleset, bringing away through the forest; or perhaps even dancing with them their uniqueness and special forms delightfully in a Fantasia-induced vision.
    [Show full text]
  • Humanoid Whole-Body Movement Optimization from Retargeted
    Humanoid Whole-Body Movement Optimization from Retargeted Human Motions Waldez Gomes, Vishnu Radhakrishnan, Luigi Penco, Valerio Modugno, Jean-Baptiste Mouret, Serena Ivaldi To cite this version: Waldez Gomes, Vishnu Radhakrishnan, Luigi Penco, Valerio Modugno, Jean-Baptiste Mouret, et al.. Humanoid Whole-Body Movement Optimization from Retargeted Human Motions. IEEE/RAS Int. Conf. on Humanoid Robots, Oct 2019, Toronto, Canada. hal-02290473 HAL Id: hal-02290473 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02290473 Submitted on 17 Sep 2019 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Humanoid Whole-Body Movement Optimization from Retargeted Human Motions Waldez Gomes1, Vishnu Radhakrishnan1, Luigi Penco1, Valerio Modugno2, Jean-Baptiste Mouret1, Serena Ivaldi1 Abstract— Motion retargeting and teleoperation are powerful tools to demonstrate complex whole-body movements to hu- manoid robots: in a sense, they are the equivalent of kinesthetic teaching for manipulators. However, retargeted motions may not be optimal for the robot: because of different kinematics and dynamics, there could be other robot trajectories that perform the same task more efficiently, for example with less power consumption. We propose to use the retargeted trajectories to bootstrap a learning process aimed at optimizing the whole-body trajectories w.r.t.
    [Show full text]
  • Ecocriticism and the Trans-Corporeal : Agency, Language, and Vibrant
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Montclair State University Digital Commons Montclair State University Montclair State University Digital Commons Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects 1-2019 Ecocriticism and the Trans-Corporeal : Agency, Language, and Vibrant Matter of the Environmental “Other” in J.R.R Tolkien’s Middle Earth Garrett aV n Curen Montclair State University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/etd Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Van Curen, Garrett, "Ecocriticism and the Trans-Corporeal : Agency, Language, and Vibrant Matter of the Environmental “Other” in J.R.R Tolkien’s Middle Earth" (2019). Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects. 224. https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/etd/224 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Montclair State University Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects by an authorized administrator of Montclair State University Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ABSTRACT This paper explores J.R.R Tolkien’s Middle Earth in light of the material ecocritical notions of trans-corporeality, vibrant matter, and intrinsic language. Namely, this paper asserts that Tolkien’s treatment of plants, specifically trees, deconstructs an otherwise unflattering and over-simplified binary that separates the natural world from the human, while highlighting important nuances sometimes overlooked in Tolkien’s natural world. The two sides of this affixed binary, as this paper asserts, are intermeshed in Tolkien’s conception of Middle Earth in what Stacy Alaimo terms a “trans-corporeal” process.
    [Show full text]