So I have this idea I'm working on. It may never go anywhere. But I'm thinking of putting together a webzine called "Beamers & Bolters," a "Guns & Ammo" homage set in Anarchy Online. I'm thinking about four articles a month, plus maybe a letter column and maybe a few ads, real and fake. I want to do the cover story of the first issue on Assault Rifles, because of the insane variety in the database, and how few of them are worth diddly. I figure I can have some fun with it.

Here's what I need:

What I'd like for free (although of course you'll be credited in the story) is some short in-character anecdotes about fun you've had with particular models of assault rifle, or horror stories about particular models of assault rifles.

What I'll pay the most in-game money for is a cover model. I'm looking for a high-res screenshot of an attractive female character, in swimwear or really good looking social clothes, posing with a Nova Flow against a visually interesting background. (That's right, I want "Girls With Guns!" for the covers.) I want no chat text or game interface items where I can't crop them out, but I will be aiming for "portrait" orientation on this picture. It doesn't have to be that a high QL Nova Flow, since nobody can tell. My fixer character, InfamousBrad, will pay 50,000 credits to the model whose picture is selected ... and of course, she'll be credited, launching her (secondary) career as a cover model.

I'd like a couple of lower-res shots of soldiers using assault rifles. Again, I want the user interface elements hidden or croppable, and that includes the names over everything but the targeted mob, all chat, the toolbar, the floating windows, and everything. Just for the photo or two, turn off all the chat messages like the ones that show you how much damage you're doing, others are doing, and you're taking, please? These will be cropped square (and if need be resampled) down to much smaller size, and will have text wrapped around them. I'm looking for people in viable armor, of course, using a wider variety of weapons, including the gatling saw (if anybody uses it), the flashpoint, the gripo-com akr, that new bow/assault rifle that has all five special attacks, and so on. I will pay 5000 credits per photo used for action shots and article illustrations. Hint: The more uncommon the weapon, the better-matched your armor, and the better-composed the screenshot, the more likely you are to be chosen.

Other articles tentatively slated for the first issue are "Vektor ND Closeup: Hype or Only Hope?", "Armor for Atroxes," and "B&B Sneak Preview: Web Cloaks!" Anecdotes and action shots for those weapons and armor are wanted, but not as many of them are needed, so fewer will be chosen. (I specifically don't want web cloak photos, obviously.)

Oh, and since the editor character is a Clanner, I don't want to see Omni-Pol armor on the attackers, and I don't want to see "Clan" in the name on the HUD of the people down-range, or recognizable Clan PCs. It's my contest, my magazine, my rules.

If you want to enter the photo contest, send a private message to me with the URLs to where you store the photos, or email them to me at info@us-shamanics.com. You can post your in-character anecdotes in this thread, or (I'd prefer) personal message me or email me at the same addresses.