The Gallantry

Inspiration 1: Space Battleship Yamato - when I was introduced to this retro series, I wasn't at all convinced I would like it. The show had stale graphics, everything was bland, and the dialogue didn't seem too involving. But after watching it through, I can see that drama and simplicity is what made this series a hit. It didn't try to be more then it was originally intended for, and I think that is one of the largest elements in what made this show great. Grabbing this particular element and infusing it in certain parts of my campaign that I believe 'simplicity makes best' will certainly be a welcome change from the way I have done my previous campaigns. The vessel used in this series was that from the Japanese Battleship Yamato, which went down during WWII. That itself made the whole premise very interesting, since the Yamato was a symbol of Japan's naval power during that time period.

Inspiration 2: The Irresponsible Captain Tylor - another anime series. I wasn't too intent on watching this one either. Although more up to date (circa 1996 I believe) then Yamato, I didn't feel a humorous series could capture the drama elements that made Yamato so great. But the profound nature of this series (when watched in its entirety) really struck close to home with me. I found myself almost instantaneously contriving new ideas that I had never even contemplated before. Intermixing my current story lines, I was thinking of ways something like this could be introduced. This was by far, one of the primary inspirations for The Gallantry. The ship here was actually a parody of Yamato called the 'Soyokaze', but it distinguished itself enough to where you wouldn't actually notice. I knew that these two inspirational series would be the foundation for The Gallantry storyline, and the graphics themselves.

Yamato Inspiration

Soyokaze Inspiration

Graphical Inspiration: Having the concept for what I wanted the ship to look like from the very beginning helped to save us an enormous amount of time. Knowing that the ship would be a naval-like 'battleship' of sorts, I submitted several of these conceptual images to resident graphic artist Joel Steudler. I knew if any one could make the ship I wanted, he could. Joel quickly took to the task and worked long and hard producing a ship which would be appropriate. The raw model itself looked like a fish, as many of the Gallantry staff would testify to. But soon, textures and more ship moldings occured, and at last, the Gallantry herself was completed.

The Gallantry

With the Gallantry completed, a new sense of direction set forth. The ship itself became an inspirational model for everything we were to accomplish. And by we, I mean the good people who have made The Gallantry possible.

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