From t3h Space

I still have a blog

2010-03-22T09:05:00.000-07:00

I am just not in the habit of updating it. It's kind of interesting, actually. It took a month of writing updates to get me in the habit of writing in this thing, but then maybe a week, two weeks tops, before I fell out of the habit of updating every day. After that, it seemed inevitable that whole months would go by before I said anything further.

But enough of that.

Since I last wrote, I've had some firsthand experience at using some of the techniques I've been theorizing about since reading the DMG 2 and musing on it.

Thus far, I have

Run a behind-the-scenes skill challenge

Used a skill challenge to transition between encounter areas

Created opportunities which would nurture the Explorer player type

Used failed skill challenges to propel the story forward

Allowed the PCs to be victorious, though ultimately their side lost

I have learned a great deal from them. After class, I'll update on the first few of these, and talk about what I have found works, and what seems like I could do a bit more tweaking.

Okay three, two, one, let's jam.

2010-02-11T19:32:00.001-08:00

So I've been thinking a little more about how to bring about an epic feel to combats in D&D.

Most of what I've come up with so far is from when I ran an Exalted game. It was incredibly fun, and managed to have some phenomenal moments. It was certainly something that helped me grow as a GM, and I'm hoping to put some of the lessons I learned from it to good use.

For now, while I'm not sure how to make an appropriately iconic fight in D&D (it may well be that the mechanics and style of fights I'm talking about aren't what D&D is about) I can work towards the goal of making the entire game feel epic.

Or rather, like an epic. I've been learning a little about sagas of late, and well, let me just say they are pretty cool. I think I can translate the feel and focus on character. So far, that's kind of been how sessions have played out, the characters have started building relationships with each other, and also with some of the NPCs in the little village.

In related news, I'm playing a monk tomorrow. I am fairly sure that combat will go a little something like this:

Round One: I MURDILATE SOMETHING
Rounds Two and On: I AM ENTERTAINED

It's similar to the philosophy behind Bruce Lee's fighting, the whole intercepting fist thing. My monk will be all about ending the fight as soon as it starts. So if someone starts something, I go, and then unleash a devastating attack. Afterward I'll be entertained in the fight, because the powers I have are entertaining to me, so there's another plus.

So far, what I've come up with is that my guy's fighting style is all about finding the flow of breath/spirit which ties all living things together, and either balancing/centering it (in the case of stuff I do) or disrupting someone's energy (when I stabinate them with my fists). Top that off by being Githzerai and having crazy Mental Discipline, and I'm all set for fun.

Oh and he's named Zuo.

If you do one thing today...

2010-02-10T12:50:00.000-08:00

Then you must go beyond the impossible and kick reason to the curb. That's the team Gurren way.

Epic Batt3l

2010-02-03T16:31:00.000-08:00

Holy cow. That looks totally awesome!

I want you to try something. Take a minute and picture in your mind the most epic battles you can think of. Go on. Close your eyes and see it unfolding upon the canvas of your imagination.

Now, think about what it was you imagined. What makes this fight stand out in your mind? What puts it up there among iconic fights like this one:

"It is your destiny!"

Or this one:

"A day of wolves and shattered shields"

Of finally, this one:

"Who the hell do you think I am?!"

It boils down to one thing. Not size, nor scale, nor spectacle, but it comes down to the ideas driving each of the fight. When all else is said and done, and every other option has been taken, it all boils down to two people duking it out for the fate of their ideals.

With Luke and Vader, it's both sides of the Force warring for redemption or corruption. With Aragorn, it's his fight to prove the strength of Men and reclaim his throne. With Simon, it is a fight for his humanity and drive to pierce the heavens.

That's what helps a fight transcend "just another fight" and become something memorable, something personal that reaches in and grabs you by the heart making you jump up and shout YEAH when the good guys win, or sit at the edge of your seat when you're not sure what will happen. It's what grabs us.

Now the only way for something like this to have that much meaning is for it to be the end of a larger struggle. It wouldn't be as cool if Luke and Vader fought one another without the context of the rebel alliance and the empire, or if the Dai Gurren Brigade just stomped all over some tough enemies without having come as far as they did. These fights signify the end of a journey and the start of a new one.

This transcends medium as well, because it works just as well in books, movies, or if it's done well, video games (if you've never seen the end of Okami, go play it now, beat it, and oh man).

What I wonder is... how well would this work for D&D? How to pull it off?

Teh Failures

2010-01-20T23:27:00.000-08:00

Let us talk about failure.

~~Tomorrow, after I sleep.~~

Man, I sure slept alot.

But I digress. Back to failure. What I aim to do in this post is to take a look at how when the PCs fail in your campaign, it's something that can not only drive the game forward, but it can make for more memorable moments in your game. Knowing that they can suffer consequences for failure, but that it won't shut down what they can do, helps to establish the game world as more real for the players.

Before I go much further, however, I am reminded that we are talking about driving the game forward, which means we must avoid things that stop it. So let's take a look at some things to avoid:

The PCs encounter a mystic riddle which they must solve in order to get through to the next room where the guardian of the Staff of Doom awaits to give them their final test. Now say you've come up with a cunning riddle or puzzle and the players just don't have a clue... say you even made it a skill check (or challenge) and that the PCs just don't seem to have the proper skills. So they stare frustratingly at the wall, and get more and more agitated as you keep prompting them to try again. That's boring, agonizing, and nobody likes trying the same thing over and over again (I'll talk about how this applies to skill challenges later.) So what can you do?

It's all about the consequences. Sure, they may not be able to puzzle their way through the mystic ward, but even if they can't do that, they've got to get through to the next room. So instead of making the consequence of failure "you don't get past" why not have it be something else, like, "monsters attack" or "you take a penalty to certain skill checks with the guardian."

This makes it less about whether or not the characters succeed, but more about how much it costs them to do so. This is where the majority of the tension stems from when we're engaged in any other kind of story. We know the hero of the book (probably) won't die, and that she'll ultimately succeed, right? But what keeps us turning the page is finding out how she will use her skills and abilities to ultimately triumph and what it will cost her to do so.

Let's take another example: The PCs are negotiating a peace accord, so that they can fight a greater foe. Now, here if they fail, one consequence could be "peace isn't achieved" which means that the battle with the greater foe can still happen, it's just harder as the PCs don't have the allies they need. Another thing you could do, however, is increase the cost of peace. Perhaps the PCs must end the negotiation in favor of one of the opposing sides, when they'd really just want a balanced or even oppositely weighted decision.

Or suppose they are trying to pick the lock on a door, but fail... they can still get through the door, but they might open it just as guards are coming around the corner.

This option works in combat as well. Suppose the PCs are out to try and stop an evil horde of goblins, and in an encounter with some particularly powerful goblin casters, they end up having to retreat. You can have the goblins become a little more empowered, making for slightly harder fights in the next few encounters, or even create an "against the horde" encounter as they rally behind their mighty warcasters.

The possibilities are limitless, but remember... ultimately, what keeps us going in these things is to find out how the heroes win.

I am still talking about D&D

2010-01-19T08:24:00.000-08:00

More specifically, dungeon-building. I'm going to be putting together one, you see, and so I've been compiling lists of encounters and how they all flow together and so on. As you know, I've been talking about how I would encourage explorers in a game, which, even if my players aren't Explorers by nature, I'd still like to do because it gives them the opportunity to be rewarded by investigating the world they live in; and rewards are something that appeal to all player types. For the power gamer or slayer it is a chance to use new and different powers to defeat their foes (through terrain powers which I'll talk about shortly), storytellers and actors might find their characters feel a little easier to inhabit when the world comes to life for them, and they can see how directly it can be affected. Thinkers and Explorers are both rewarded by the fact that there's new stuff to incorporate into their plans, and a mechanics-based incentive to not spend every action making an attack. Watchers get the opportunity to try something new, which can be exciting.

So anyway, with that in mind, I've been looking at how I would encourage players to go beyond their lists of powers in fights. My friend Frank, who is an awesome guy, suggested that I design fights where mastering the terrain becomes more important than defeating the monsters. Essentially, I'd be making the terrain as great a threat as the monsters. I think this is a fantastic idea, and I've been putting together an encounter with that in mind.

I've also been thinking about giving players more options which are revealed through exploration. This is where using the player's passive perception/insight scores comes in handy, because I can give them a subtle hint that something bears further investigation. On top of that, it makes them feel like their skill choices were worthwhile, which I'm always down with.

Now one way I'll do this is through terrain powers. These are powers, usually attacks, that are granted by taking an action of some kind to interact with a piece of terrain/dungeon dressing/room feature. Here's an example:

An evil cult has inscribed a mystic circle on the floor, at the center of which is an iron brazier filled with smoldering (smouldering if you are British or a jerk) coals. Around the brazier, the evil cultists chant, using their fell magics to empower some dark ritual with fell and dark and dark and fell energies, that are also dark, but strangely, not fell. So a hero, fed up with how many fells, but not darks strangely enough, the cult just used, shows up and rather than rushing at the cultists with his sword, rushes at the brazier and pushes it onto the cultists.

So now I would describe the coals and flame spilling out onto the cultists, and the chaos that ensues, and to back me up, I can give the brazier a terrain power. I can say that the player makes an attack at something like, his level + 3 vs. Reflex in a close blast 3. Targets hit take 1d6 + Level Fire Damage and are knocked prone, with half damage on a miss. Then, depending on how tough the fight has been for the PCs I can give them another boost here by having the spilled coals act as difficult terrain that causes 5 points per tier of fire damage if you move through more than one square in the zone on your turn. This lets me help the party out in a tough spot without being obvious, and the opposite is true as well. By having monsters employ terrain powers, I can make a fight tougher if it looks like the players have it too easy.

Terrain powers are useful tools that help you both spice up an encounter, and allow you a greater degree of behind the scenes control. And for my style of running games, I like to keep my meddling with the plot and the way the action goes as behind the scenes as I can, so I think these are fantastic. The trick here is in revealing these to your players without coming flat out and saying, if you do this, X happens. So instead considering describing that the brazier looks unsteady, or have a PC with a high perception notice that the brazier doesn't seem to be anchored, or even something unusual about it, warranting an active perception check.

So I am going to try and put these to use as best as I can in the coming days.

I really really want to play D&D some more.

2010-01-15T13:03:00.000-08:00

I've been toying around with the idea of implementing quests a little better in D&D. At least than I would have before. Earlier, what I've done is treat them much like quests in a video game function: give the players something to do, with maybe a sub-goal or two and then they complete it for some "Story XP."

This is fine, but my aim is to make D&D more engaging and dynamic when I'm running. My hope is that this will keep people interested in playing consistently, and getting more involved in the game. So I've been thinking about how I can make quests a little more dynamic. Here's what I've come up with, along with some advice from the DMG2.

The first thing is to make quests seem more personal for the characters. The DMG2 says this is an excellent opportunity to build and develop character personality. Give the PCs something personal to try and accomplish and it helps them decide what adventures to take and what decisions to make. This in turn shapes the character on a much subtler level than, say, charging in to attack every time they see an orc (which is another GREAT way of adding character depth by the way).

Plus if the quests hold personal interest for the characters, it, once again, engages them on a deeper level. And then of course you can play with the ideas/goals of the quest, either pushing the party to cooperation or conflict depending, which adds a wonderful dynamic to the party's roleplaying, and helps keep both group and individuals distinct.

So let's say, for example, that I've got an adventure that takes place in a forgotten citadel, where the PCs are going to try and stop some cultists of Orcus from carrying out their diabolical plan. I can use quests to give the characters in the party differing goals that they'll try to fulfill within the dungeon itself. So where the druid might want to travel to the dungeon to try and undo some dark ritual that the Orcus cultists have conducted to drain power from the land, the fighter might be motivated to retrieve the sword of a legendary warrior, said to be entombed within the walls of the imposing fortress. And while this is happening, the rogue's nemesis' trail leads to the citadel. Already this gives the party three different goals to pursue there, and it prompts further roleplaying/involvement in the adventure.

There's the dynamic of the party trying to decide which goals to pursue first, which promotes some intraparty roleplay, and then there's the added focus on each character as they near the climactic encounter of their personal quests (maybe the Fighter has to deal with the Spirit of the Warrior somehow, or while fighting off cultists, the druid has to counteract the ritual) which opens up new options for the group besides simply combat. It's even better if this happens during a fight when player energy levels are already high, or works to punch up a lower energy transitional moment within the game.

And this means that I can hand out rewards a little more personally, and be a little more forthcoming in encouraging the players to be proactive about having their characters come up with their own quests. The DMGs say that D&D is a cooperative storytelling game, and the latest one encourages players to be more involved in the narrative process. I'm inclined to agree, and I hope that this will make for a more engaging game all around.

I got schooled.

2010-01-14T20:33:00.000-08:00

And now, I am going to be schooled again.

You see, classes started this week for me. So far I've been spending a lot of time trying to reorient myself to the schedule I'm on, which mostly consists of me trying not to stay up so late. So far sleep is losing out on the deal, but last night was pretty promising in the waking refreshed and ready to go department.

But enough about that, let's get to what's been keeping me up late as of, well, late. Viz and to wit, I am speaking of Dragon Age: Origins. It's the latest offering from Bioware (as far as I know), and while it's not the revolutionary game I'd hoped it would be, it was still pretty fun.

What's more, while playing it, I kept imagining the game I'd like to play, imagining what I'd do differently if I had designed the game. Or any game, really. This last thought is the one that drove me to see the end of it, to keep exploring and playing and trying to see the shape of the game that could have been.

You see, in doing so, I found some really nifty ideas that I could use when running my next game, that will hopefully make it a more robust experience for everyone involved.

I'll start with my biggest issue with the game; it's a problem I have with many rpgs in video game form, limited options. Now, I understand perfectly well that the resources of a programmer are limited and there are only so many things you can program in. Sure, and in a game you have the flexibility to allow players to come up with ideas you might not have thought of (which is another post in and of itself), but the ideas you plan for don't always have to be the same binary template that many games lay before you: one good option and one bad option for completing each quest.

For example: I've fought my way through an ancient temple and retrieved a sacred artifact as part of a quest. This is pretty standard but often hearty fantasy fare, the meat and potatoes if you will, of many an adventure. You can do all kinds of things with this idea. The artifact can be holy, unholy, prove the existence of a forgotten deity, exonerate someone who has been wronged, and so on. And that's not even counting getting there, the temple can be all kinds of things as well. But then when the adventure is done, and the heroes return with the artifact, a lot of times, there's only two things to be done. Either use the artifact positively (and in doing so, generally benefitting society as a whole) or negatively (either for solely personal gain, or to the direct detriment of the people invested in the artifact). Dragon Age is no different.

But what else can you do? Well, one thing I'd like to see, and would absolutely love to play around with, is the idea of competing factions, each with a valid claim to or plan for the artifact. Suppose I have found the resting place of the Lost Branch of EL TREE, Mightiest of the Ancient Trees and Lord of ALL FORESTS! Pretty awesome, no? Now getting there is a perilous endeavor (or endeavour if I'm British) which only I and my trusty companions can undertake. You with me so far?

Now for the interesting part, let's say that there are a number of people interested in our party's undertakings. So how about a group of druids who want to use the branch to breathe life into a nearby wasteland? And then we'll create a group of mages who can use the branch to weave a protective spell around something important. Then we have a group of priests who can use the branch to help grow more food for the people of the land.

And that's just on the "good" side of things. Let's assume that I like to keep my options open, and have been at least a little evil-curious, so there's a shadowy order of mages that can distill the branch down to concentrated essence of EL TREE, Mightiest of the Ancient Trees and Lord of ALL FORESTS! With this essence, they can bind a powerful demon to serve them. And let's say that there's a ritual I've found that will let me imbibe the concentrated essence, making myself even more powerful than I already am. And last but not least we'll say there's an organization who can use the branch to subjugate all living on the land connected to it, bending them to their will, and they'll let me rule in exchange for this.

Now the branch can only go to one group/person, so I've got to decide to whom to give it. Which is pretty cool already, because it means my actions have a meaningful impact on the world. We'll go beyond the personal power that the decision places in my hands, and say that it causes me, as a player, to become more invested in the quest, because now that I've decided which group to throw in with, I have a personal stake in the endeavor (unless I'm British). Beyond that, I could have members of my party who work for one of the other organizations, leading to conflict within my group, and depending on who I choose (if indeed I choose any) I could have to deal with attempts by the others to take the Lost Branch of EL TREE, Mightiest of the Ancient Trees and Lord of ALL FORESTS! for themselves.

This also adds to the depth of a game, because it reinforces the idea that my actions in the game have consequences, and that I'm not limited to being rewarded by one group and attacked by the other. It also imposes some responsibility on myself, as I must consider what the implications of my actions are. The important thing is for every option to have both positive and negative consequences. It makes them all equally appealing.

Lastly, it adds to the flexibility of the world, which helps it seem more real. Because nothing quite disrupts the suspension of disbelief like not being able to do something I've thought of, and want to do, but can't because someone else hasn't thought of it. This goes for both video games and pen-and-paper games like D&D. I think this is why both dungeon master's guides encourage you to say "yes" to nearly every player idea and action. It helps that as DM you're able to adapt on the fly, sure, but even in video games, giving me more than just the standard really good or really horrible options, especially giving me multiple good and evil options, helps me to feel more like I'm experiencing the game, rather than just doing a slightly more active version of reading a book.

Such is the power of choice.

Notes from the Past

2009-12-12T23:04:00.000-08:00

I uncovered a time capsule full of treasure earlier today. I was cleaning out some of my old stuff, when I discovered a few of my old notebooks from my first few classes at ACC.

I've been kinda wandering the halls of memories, finding lost gems amidst old formulae and hasty notes scribbled about the Civil War with illustrations of swordfights in the margin.

I'll share with you my favorite one. It's an entry of adventure notes jotted down in between acting class review notes. It reads:

Magic Traps
AoE Attacks
NINJAS

Life, she is good.

Whapow

2009-12-11T14:39:00.000-08:00

I updated the Saga of Arnthorr.

We'll see how it goes tonight. I like that I have a character equally at home in D&D as Shadowrun here.

More on this later on. Stay tuned!

Questar!

2009-12-10T12:29:00.001-08:00

No not this one.
.

Wait... why aren't we talking about him? I mean, do you not see this?

Well, be that as it may, I was going to talk about quests in D&D. And Questar seemed like a cool title.

Seriously? I mean look! Dinosaurs! LASERS!

But... quests and laser... dinosaurs. Holy cow, are those missile pods on a Diplodocus? Is he riding a deinonychus? Well, dang. I guess it's on now.

Dang skippy.

Are those a smaller set of robot T-Rex arms underneath the gatling lasers? Gah, I, buh.

Um.

So... awesome...

Okay okay. You got me. We'll talk about Questar. He's the leader of the Valorians, a noble race of space-faring humans. They have telepathic abilities and advanced technology, including the STEP (Space Time Energy Projection) which allows them faster than light travel.

Besieged by the evil Rulon armada, Questar was forced to abandon the Valorian's home planet, and flee. While attempting STEP they were caught in the Rulon flagship's tractor beams, and both leaders of the warring empires were transported back through space/time to prehistoric Earth.

There, the peaceful Valorians befriended the dinosaurs with their psychic powers, while the ruthless Rulons used "Brain Box" technology to enslave their own army of tyrant lizards, including the mighty, nigh-unstoppable Tyrannosaurus Rex, ridden by Emperor Krulos himself.

Their evil ways were no match for the brave leadership of Questar, however. He marshalled his forces beautifully, using dinosaurs to fortify their ship and the valley into which they had crashed, and disguised the weapons they'd equipped the dinosaurs with, so that when the Rulons came, looking for trouble, they were prepared.

The Rulons were driven back, and Questar triumphed.

This is the story of the Dino Riders.

Tomorrow I'll talk about Quests in D&D. Assuming I can survive this much awesomeness.

The Saga of Arnthorr

2009-12-09T22:30:00.000-08:00

Real men wear tights.

"When I met him, it was like one of our album covers walked in through the door and sat down to eat some cheese fries." -- Ufthak Orcobal, lead guitarist of Ragna-ROKK.

Born in 2051 to a human father and an Orkish mother, the Ork known as Arnthorr Odinkarr lived a reasonably normal life until the 9th day of his 9th year. Tormented by visions of the world consumed by fire, and its people trapped in the nightmares of a dying god, he Awakened.

It was not a peaceful Awakening. His power manifested without prelude or overture; it was a sudden crescendo of energies burning through his body, overwhelming him with its symphony of destruction.

He claims to have survived due to the grace of the All-Father, who left him bloodied for nine days, hanging from Yggdrasil, the World Tree, during which he learned the secrets of the runes.

While this may or may not be true, exactly nine days after his Awakening left him in Intensive Care, he was completely healed. School was troubling for him after that, he was placed in a program for Awakened youths, but found himself chafing against the program's more formulaic, hermetic structure.

In 2064, he found himself once again troubled by dark dreams. This time it was the 13th day of his 13th year that he claims to have been visited again by the Grey Wanderer, and the meaning of his dreams revealed. The Norse cult known as Winternight, in collusion with the corrupt Otaku, Pax, unleashed the Jormungand Mega-Worm upon the Matrix, and struck with electromagnetic pulse devices, bringing down the informational infrastructure of the world. They claimed to be ushering in Ragnarok.

There is little record of what happened in those dark days before the Matrix 2.0 was unveiled and some semblance of order reestablished. Fighting had spilled over into the streets, and Arnthorr disappeared.

He resurfaces some years later, in the service of an order of warrior priests. It is unknown when he adopted his current alias, but for some months now he has, as he puts it, "Wandered the Land in homage to the Grey Wanderer," finding his particular skill set suited to life as a small time mercenary.

He has recently arrived in the Auburn district of Seattle, as a result. He has fallen in with the Ork Underground there, his friendly nature and slightly unusual convictions netting him friends in the all too cynical world of today. Helping him to acquaint to life on the shadier side of the street is an Ork going by the name of Ufthak Orcobal, the lead guitarist in the Goblin rock Band, Ragna-ROKK.

Suspected of having ties to the Sons of Sauron, Ufthak has introduced him to other figures in the Ork underground. While he might not agree with the Sons' violent 'extreme' methods, Arnthorr cannot help but support their cause. Perhaps one day he can turn his friend from the path of violence, but in the meantime, he enjoys their shows and has found part-time work as one of their roadies.

As far as Seattle's occult community goes, he's reacquainted himself with a familiar face from his school days. Now an antiquities and oddities dealer, the Elf known as Asgrim Rauðskeggjaði has taken to entertaining his fellow Icelander, even going so far as to introduce him to Etehe Golden Eagle, an Amerind Shaman and Talismonger who has taken it upon herself to fill in the gaps in Arnthorr's magical knowledge in exchange for his patronage of her talismongering services exclusively.

Though he is a bit of an oddity in his "traditional" garb, complete with chain tunic and floppy pointy hat, and possessed of a prideful and fiery nature, he's willing to help people, and that counts for a lot in Auburn.

This may be the most metal character I've ever thought of

2009-12-08T16:56:00.000-08:00

I'm going to be playing Shadowrun in the near future.

I am excited about the character I will be playing. He is a nordic warrior-priest-skald who fights the unrighteous with a magic sword and chainmail armor. He is also an ork. His primary means of attack is by shooting things that will either set you on fire or on lightning with Magic.

All I need now is like, a wicked guitar solo or truly earth-shattering power chord to announce his presence, and like some lightning crashing in the background, and people holding up their lighters in awe and I am set.

Oh yeah... his name? ARNTHORR ODINKARR.

A Day in the Life

That is one of the things I love about Shadowrun. Stuff like the above picture can fit in perfectly with the world. People don't bat an eye. Another of the things I love about it is illustrated in Arsenal, the Sears catalog of the year 2077, specifically in the armor section.

They feature several lines of designer armored clothing, so that you can look incredibly stylish while at the same time not getting as shot as you might otherwise get. But that's not the part that sends me into giddy fits of why don't more people wear these... no that comes from the Heritage Line of clothing, designed by Zoe, who if you are not familiar with the setting is THE Fashion Designer's Fashion Designer. It doesn't get more high class than Zoe's. The Heritage Line was created after researching the cultural roots of Scottish Highland society. So yeah, they have designer armored kilts... but not only that... "Pueblo, Navajo, Salish, Spanish courtesan, Italian Renaissance, fifteenth-century French royal court, Hanseatic trader, Russian Cossack, Confederate aristocrat, Indian Maharajah, Aztec, Mayan, Imperial Rome, feudal Japanese, traditional Chinese, Nubian, Victorian-era colonial gentleman, and Scottish Highlander."

This means that at a gala event, like a black tie super elegant party type gala, it is not only not frowned upon to wear, say, samurai robes or a poofy renaissance outfit, but in fact, it is considered to be the epitome of style, grace, and class. Did I mention Victorian-era colonial gentleman's clothing?

Some day.

Some day.

A cultured gentleman

2009-12-08T00:13:00.001-08:00

I have been working on the various cultures for the game I'd like to run.

Again, bearing in mind that these ones are created with the Explorer in mind, I'll go ahead and talk about what I have in mind so far.

Apparently I didn't actually enter something here. Anywho...

The characters will start off in a feudal society. Perhaps a little more oriented around defense, as it is a necessary part of day to day life. I'm going with feudalism because it implies that the social order is more stratified and likewise control of information and education is pretty sparse.

As I'm making up the world, and hoping to encourage the Explorer to learn more about it, I can situate the characters in a backwoods farming type village and it would make sense for them not to know too much about the world at large.

Also by setting up society as stratified it makes it a little easier to contrast it with other cultures. When you know a lot about the system you're in, it makes the other ones seem novel and cool. Or so I would hope.

You shall have my update...

2009-12-07T01:09:00.001-08:00

For those times when you must simply ROCK into Mordor.

The Cultural Attache

2009-12-05T23:54:00.000-08:00

I am still working on creating an interesting cultural encounter. At least something more so than the usual stuff I'd do, which is try and present the players with something familiar with fantastic elements.

My friend Frank has said that it's good to draw on something familiar, because it "fills in the blanks," meaning that from what everyone knows about, say, feudal society, they can infer all of the little details that I don't give out when describing the society. This in turn lets them draw their own conclusions as they synthesize the data I give to them with the rest of what they know, making it easier for them to get involved in the (social) action.

So what I have done so far is taken a look at other "created cultures" to see how they've taken the fantastic elements of the worlds they're from and how they relate/effect the society that makes use of them.

The best example of this I can think of is from the show Avatar: The Last Airbender. They have four distinct cultures, each loosely based around a certain vaguely Eastern type of society and the mastery of one of the four classic elements, Earth, Fire, Air, and Water. The four different elements equate to four different styles of dress, methods of defense, cultural mores, etc. And of course, four different kinds of awesome powers. Another thing that I've noticed tends to shape the behaviors of the nations in this show (and hopefully in any game I'd run) is the effect that worldwide events are having on the interactions between each culture.

The Fire Nation is attempting to conquer the world. To this end, they are very industrialized, focused on making machines of war. As a result, their nation is militarized, their structure is very strict. Duels of honor known as Agni Kai are a very striking and visual example of this society. Two combatants square off fighting each other in a manner displaying their skill at Firebending.

Whereas the Earth Kingdom, having been invaded, is heavily focused on defense. They combine the strength of the earth with the intractability of stone. Combat (of the non-lethal variery) tends to be focused on moving your opponent, or crushing them beneath the weight of the earth. Their society, while structured, affords a greater deal of freedom.

Now I am not sure what about meeting a new culture would appeal to any given Explorer, so what I plan to do is come up with encounters among culture that run the gamut from diplomacy to combat. In the examples above, both nations, Fire and Earth come equipped with different devices that can be used to make encounters in either feel different; whether an Agni Kai or an Earth Rumble (kinda like the Royal Rumble, but with more boulders) the fights can feel different, as can the mannerisms of any given subject. I know there's more to society than just its mannerisms, there's also the values, and by extensions taboos to consider, alongside of the style of dress and even local flora and fauna.

So in building the social encounters, I will try and keep these ideas in mind, remembering that my world is as fantastic as I make it. I have a wide variety of elements to choose from. So for example, I could take the Agni Kai and apply it to the Dragonborn, and maybe call it the Breath of Honor, or something, which would be a fight between two Dragonborn, with the goal being to wear one combatant down and render them unconscious with a single, powerful breath weapon blast. Or I could steal a little less blatantly and describe an inn in one of these Dragonborn cities, where the chef happens to be heating food by breathing fire.

And that's just one race. The key here, I think, will be keeping in mind both what races and classes the pcs are, and their backgrounds, so that I can lead them to cultures different from the one they've gotten to know in their first few levels. And in order to speed up the process of developing expectations, I can start them off in a very standard, very generic fantasy/pseudo-medieval feudal society. I'll have them be above serfs, but in a village full of them, so they can see firsthand what life is like. And as mentioned before, the players should fill in the blanks on society.

Then after a while, when they encounter a new culture, they'll be a little more surprised, as it will be something different from what they've experienced to this point. It will be new enough that they won't immediately know everything about it, but easy enough to pick up the information, allowing them to get more and more involved.

That's the main goal, to keep the players interested and involved.

Close Encounters of the I made a bad joke

2009-12-04T23:56:00.000-08:00

Today, I've been back to world building. As I said earlier, I've always been kind of fascinated with the Explorer.

So while exploring ways to interest and engage an explorer, both with cool cultures and exotic locales, I've been looking at designing encounters that would appeal to this kind of player as well. With that in mind, I'm going to take a look at a sample encounter I might build with an appeal to the explorer. To make it a little simpler, I'm going to focus more on exotic locale, rather than cool culture for this encounter.

One of the big keys seems to be in setting the scene. It's the chance to really convey where the players are, allowing me to differentiate between fallen ruins that act as difficult terrain, or thick gnarly vines which are difficult terrain, and so on, which is itself, difficult terrain. I know right?

But it's not enough to set one encounter apart from the others with a description of the environment. I've got to try and make encounters in the more "explorey" locations stand out from the others. One thing I am thinking of doing, is giving the terrain a bigger part in the scene. It is already an important part of any combat, what with difficult terrain slowing up monsters, and cover and concealment allowing lurkers to get around to shank more vulnerable PCs. But I think I can try and give it a little more active role, whether through traps/hazards or interesting terrain effects.

So, say I send the party deep into the Shadowfell. Possibly so deep they are in Shadow Shadow bo Badow, and they come through this twisting shadowy mist into a cavern. In this cavern there's a copse of exotic ghost mushrooms the size of trees that give off a faint bluish/white glow. They are slightly translucent, perhaps they have grown so large from eating the dead and decaying ghosts and specters and other haunted souls that roam the lands of the dead. All around them motes of dust and spores dance in their light.

So let's say I have a few stands of these giant mushrooms spread around the cavern. That's kinda cool in and of itself. Maybe if I gave the mushrooms some kind of importance to the story it might make them a little more interesting, maybe they need to harvest young mushrooms for a cure to a deadly disease, or something like that. I don't know, as I've said, I've never really done up encounters/locations like this before.

Now amidst these rare mushrooms, maybe there are ghosts that are trapped, slowly being digested by these giant fungi colonies. And to top it off, there are some monsters here they'll have to fight. Maybe they've been tracked here by their enemies, or maybe it's just a bunch of shadowy cavern monsters. Either way, there's a fight.

So when the fight breaks out, I could probably try and encourage the PCs to explore around the mushrooms, by hinting that say, the shadows around the mushrooms seem eerily thick, they provide concealment to adjacent creatures. Or maybe give players that fight in squares filled with floating mushroom spores a bonus to their attacks at the cost of a penalty to defense.

At some point, the half-digested ghosts might wake up, and either join the fray if the fight is going too easy, or perhaps they start thrashing about, which would give me the excuse I need to change the effects of the mushroom. Maybe this causes clouds of spores to move around, or a different kind of ghost spore to be emitted, which damages anyone caught in it, storing the life energy of creatures within the mushroom stalks. Maybe at this point, they could try and free a ghost from a mushroom, which would allow them to spend a healing surge, or regain a healing surge or something like that.

That seems kinda cool. I like the idea of the dynamics of the encounter changing over the course of the fight. It would encourage people to revisit the terrain. I guess the danger here is in not being clear about when things are changing, but if I can describe the shifting of spores or something, then I could prompt active perception or dungeoneering checks or something, to give players the opportunity to use their skills and feel like they were worth taking. Oooh, I could totally have freeing the ghosts be a skill challenge or something.

That's how I might engage the explorer in an exotic location. Tune in soon for cultural encounters of the third kind.

Dangit.

Dungeons and Dragons Bloggin' 2: This time, it's Personal.

2009-12-03T10:08:00.000-08:00

When D&D 4th Edition first came out, everyone in my gaming group was amazed. Everything was new and shiny, and just seemed so cool. Then came creating characters, which brought with it the following proclamation: "You don't need an 18 in this edition."

For those of you who weren't there in 3rd edition, if you didn't have an 18, or better yet, a 20 in your main stat (generally Strength or Intelligence, but possibly Dexterity) and proceed to acquire the magic items to boost that by whatever was reasonably priced, you were shooting yourself in the foot. Trying to be a fighter with a strength of 16 was like trying to take on three machine gun nests at the top of Tiger Mountain: unless you were Yogendra Singh Yadav you were going to die a bloody bloody death.

Today, we've a few more games of D&D under our belts, and it looks like you do really need an 18 in your primary stat, and if you can swing it, a 20 is the way to go. It makes sense, too. You've got to hit to do most of the cool stuff in the game.

But I stand by our original claim, and I also stand by the Standard Array (rray ray ay). Mind you, this takes a lot more work and the style of play it caters to isn't everyone's cup of tea. More on that style after the jump, but suffice it to say that it hits my secret weak points for enjoying a game.

You guys have one of these... right?

It is also important to bear in mind that these are based on my own, admittedly limited, observations from playing D&D, and also a lot of looking at theoretical situations. So, it may be that I am just making things up, but I still think it is possible.

So let's take a look at the style of play that I was talking about earlier. It consists of three things which hit my secret weak points; running around doing crazy stuff with my friends, combos stretching across multiple characters (like dual and triple techs in Chrono Trigger), and the Grand Gesture (like in StarCraft, when you build up a massive invasion fleet that you teleport in to your enemy's unsuspecting base and completely wipe them out--I don't win many games of StarCraft). I'll illustrate this kind of play with two examples in my recent gaming experience.

The first comes from a delve my friend Tim ran Sunday last. I was playing a two-sword Fighter, and also in our party was a Bard with Virtue of Cunning, another Fighter who was all about the Sword and Board, an Avenger with the Oath of Pursuit, and a Warlord with Tactical Presence. We were level 7 and fighting a draconic warforged solo that could breathe force, fly, and had reach. It was pretty rough going, as well you might imagine. As far as ranged powers go, we had our Bard and the Warlord had a throwing shield. That was it. So we resorted to things like leaping through the air to make attacks, while trying to pull down the dragon robot. We were getting roughed up pretty bad, but then, we got it together and pulled off some amazing teamwork.

My favorite round came after the dragon made a melee attack on the Warlord. He was at the edge of her reach, and the Bard had a power that would cause her to miss, sliding both of them one square. When that happened, we looked around the table and said, "alright, does anyone have something amazing coming up?" After a moment's discussion, we figured out that, yes, we did. I still had two encounter powers, one of which was a two attack power. The Bard said, "Oh really? I have just the thing." And so we hatched our plan. The dragon missed. As a result of the miss, the Bard slid the dragon down one square, putting her in easy melee reach.

And then it was on. The bard laid in with a damage boosting power, the warlord used an attack boosting power, the other fighter moved in to flanking to use an ac penalizing power, and on my turn I charged in and action pointed with both of my encounter powers, one of which left the dragon granting combat advantage for the Avenger, who charged in and mopped up with one of his dailies and a heaping pile of damage. The net result was a super bloodied dragon who now had to worry about the Fighter combat challenges and opportunity attacks and so on.

I like to think it kinda looked like this.

The next example comes from the Star Wars game I'm in, in which we're all playing Fighter Pilots, who fly around in X-Wings being awesome. especially so since Frank and I have both taken an Attack Pattern maneuver, which results in us being more defensive while flying in formation. As a result, we synchronized our initiatives and flew around using the attack run maneuver to get us up close, or at least within torpedo range. It felt really cool, like actually being a starfighter squadron. As a result, we were able to dish out some nice damage and were still able to protect each other. Everything had a certain strategy to it.

Pictured: Strategy

I love stuff like that. And I love the camaraderie that comes from being an awesome team. It's the same in video games and even board games. I have more fun planning stuff out with someone than on my own. Which is where the being able to live long and prosper with only a 16 comes in. It's a lot harder to do on your own. You've got to be able to rely on the rest of the group to be keyed in to the fight, and willing/able to help each other out. It lets you do all kinds of things that you oughtn't survive otherwise. And for the love of everything, remember the Aid Another action! It makes such a huge difference but no one ever does it.

Like, ever.

Now, in the former example, there were a lot of rounds where we'd miss the dragon and get hit and bitten and thrown. It wasn't until we started giving up an attack or two here and there that we started hitting and turning things around. There's something to be said for not having to give up an action to help someone else hit. It's way cooler to be the one doing all of the awesome stuff all the time. I like the breakup of pacing, and the fumbling around for crazy bs to pull off to help you out.

And a lot of times you have to work harder to leverage the crazy options you've got. You have to look through the volume of feats out there and pick something that you think you can make work. It's true, it's kinda like doing your D&D homework, and nobody likes that. Above everything else, gaming should be fun. It's why we play the games instead of doing them. Heheh. Doing games.

But I digress. It's just as fun (and way more consistent) to pick a stat, give it a lot of points, and hit all the time. You get to feel meaningful with every action, because you're almost always hitting and doing a fair amount of damage. It's a ton of fun to be like, "What was your AC? I don't care, I have plus your AC to hit. Ahahah, now here have all the damage in the world."

I just wanted to show it can be done, it can be fun, and um, something else that rhymes, like bun.

The Explorer and You. Or. Well. Me.

2009-12-02T12:01:00.000-08:00

Man, I guess it's been a while. Let's dust off the old blog.

This means you!

Sorry about that.

Now, on to business. I've been thinking of running a D&D game as of late. It all started back in historic This One Time. The scene went a little something like this:

It was a busy night at Chuy's. Thanksgiving was around the corner, and darned if the hungry masses were gonna cook up a hot meal at home. There'd be time enough for that come Thursday. But tonight, the city was one hotbed of dining out. Money would change hands more than once tonight, and the people? They'd pay.

But that didn't matter, not to me. I'd seen too many lives wasted in the gutter, too many dames with sob stories and killer instincts. A dame a dime a dozen, you could say.

I thought I'd take in the scenery, with my closest buddies. Sometimes it feels like they're the only ones I can trust, but I know it's only because I know where the bodies are buried. That kinda sentiment really gets ya, right here.

The waitress broad brought our orders, and Pat, formerly Big Angry Pat, formerly "Knuckles Mahoney" Pat, the kinda guy who'd bust your nose for lookin' at him funny, reminded me that my life wasn't really a film noir scene, and try as I might, I don't really sound like Humphrey Bogart. (Sadly.)

So Pat spake, proclaiming: "You want to run a game."
And lo, did I ask of them, "I do?"
Verily, did Frank reply, his voice portending the future to mine ears, "Yeah, kinda."

Which brings me to today. I've been doing a little bit of world building, and with a lot of help from Frank I think I have a winner. What really struck me as interesting about the whole process, is the amount of thought put into the various cultures in the game, and the cool/unique scenic and aesthetic elements that I'll be describing.

I don't want to give away too much here. Not yet anyway, but suffice it to say, this has struck a chord with me, as I've always been fascinated by one type of player, the Explorer.

For those of you who don't know, the Explorer is the kind of player who delights in getting to see new parts of your campaign world. When there's a lull in the plot, they're the ones who want to travel somewhere new to see what's out there, they long to climb the next hill, meet the next interesting people, and take in as much of the game world as is possible.

This is easy to understand. After all, part of the appeal of D&D or any similar game is getting to explore a more fantastic world. But for me, it's always been exploration through, either combat with its inhabitants or through the unfolding of a story. The setting has always been kind of a secondary character.

In my experience, the players in the group I'm with have always been more interested in doing than seeing. Often times, travel through the countryside is hand-waved, reduced to something along the lines of "A few days pass of you walking through the woods and you get there." Even if there's an encounter in the wilderness, it's never really described beyond, "And there's totally some trees here, which count as blocking terrain, and some bushes here which are difficult, but provide cover." Everything is always laid out simply and practically, with an eye towards the mechanics.

There's a dearth of flavor text in my gaming experience. Now, mind you, this is probably just my group, but as such, I've often wondered how to describe something effectively enough to invoke a sense of wonder, or at least stoke the fires of nascent explorers. How does one describe "the woods" in order to make them as engaging and interesting as the owlbear that just came crashing through them? How do you convey the timeless sense of ancient ruins and a bygone civilization that wrought such works upon the world, only to fade with time, without having an all too jaded/detached party of players encourage you to get to the fightin'?

So in building this world, I'm attempting to put in details to try and encourage exploration. This means I'm gonna have to practice description. The DMG advises showing, not telling, as a means of encouraging player interest, and engaging all of the senses. Coincidentally, or not, this is also an acting exercise that is used to really evoke "the scene" for you and for the audience, making it more real; they can tell if you're "smelling something good" vs. "smelling freshly baked cookies." The latter is more specific, and it lends a kind of emotional weight that other people pick up on. It helps to fill in the blanks and engage the senses of the audience.

With that in mind, as Frank and I have been coming up with peoples and places, I've been trying to picture them as detailed as I possibly can. I'm still kind of at a loss, but then, this is new territory for me. It seems a pity to give up on exploring it now.

You saw that one coming, right?

Now, if you'll excuse me, I must continue to atone for my misdeeds and redeem/regain my lost honor! Details at 11.

Herein lies the Saga

2009-11-23T13:10:00.000-08:00

Fair was the morning, but dark was the day that brought doom upon us. Lo, it had been foretold by the seven winds to Gromnil the Skjald, that the morning of Three Bright Stars would herald a moment of destiny.

Gromnil proclaimed that upon this day, a great king from days long past would return, bringing with him ships and weapons of war, weapons forged in the hell hot fires of our enemy's darkest fears. Young Skaerlas went to the edge of the gray woods, and thereupon did he see the return of King Glaumnisson, astride a White-Maned Beast, which snarled and growled as it trod upon the ancient grounds of our ancestors.

Skaerlas called for the horns to sound, and called for the men to gather their gifts of tribute and prepare to hail the new king, when it happened. The Three Bright Stars shone down, and about the feet of Glaumnisson's beast, the Njaerdling, there was a mist which left the ground frozen in its wake.

More and more of the lands of our fathers was covered in this mist, and it seemed that the breath of Fenris was upon us, for then, Skaerlas beheld the Glaumnisson's host.

Behind the Njaerdling, armed with weapons of the stuff of nightmares and madness, they marched. Our ancestors, unliving, with eyes that screamed from the blackest depths of the night, They fell upon our town, and shattered the kingly tribute that had been gathered.

The winds howled and the beasts roared terribly, but though they were fearsome, we won BECAUSE WE SHOT THEM WITH OUR MIGHTY LASER BEAMS BECAUSE WE ARE ACTUALLY A HIGHLY ADVANCED SOCIETY! IN YOUR FACE!!!!! BOO-YAH! YEAH! LASERS! THAT'S RIGHT!!!

ALSO WE HAVE LASER SHARKS!!!!

THAT'S RIGHT! SUCK IT UNDEAD GHOST MONSTER VIKING ANCESTORS! LASER SHARKS IN YOUR FACE!!!?!!1!

What did you saaay?! Your face was asking!

2009-11-17T19:50:00.001-08:00

For your amusement, and also mine, the 50 worst video game voice acting things.

Among my favorites:

"Please don't kill me, but I suppose you have to!"

"Now withstand my arctic blast!"

"Interested in my body?" "No." "Oh, you're into that." "I like girls, but today, it's about Justice."

"Yesterday is today's history and blaghraugfesifhufigawyagf"

I seem to have lost a little gray matter there. Anyway, watch on...

Hooray! Space!

2009-11-13T20:02:00.000-08:00

In case you haven't heard, they found water on the moon. This is amazing, and not just because it's a potential resource for humanity and any moon base we might wish to establish (albeit at the cost of a bloody man-machine-space gorilla war), but because it means that here is some strong material evidence for the exploration of space.

It's theorized that water might actually form on the moon in an endogenic process from an interaction between solar winds and moon rocks. Something to do with charged hydrogen breaking apart oxygen bonds in the soil and creating trace amounts of water/ice. Here is something which doesn't happen on Earth, but at the same time is in reach.

Who knows what might be discovered on the other planets in our Solar System? Or beyond even the furthest reaches of our own Sun?

I have always been fascinated by the prospect of exploring space. Ever since we learned about it in elementary school, the idea's been emblazoned in my mind. I don't know if I'll ever be an astronaut, but someday, I'd like to go beyond the Earth. Someday, I'd like Mankind to reach out for the stars, and to know them, to understand the cosmos.

I believe that understanding is the key to our future, to the galaxy's even, if you think of it as one big organism. It's been said that we are a mechanism for the cosmos to know itself.

I'm inclined to agree.

Where now, and to what end?

2009-11-12T19:57:00.000-08:00

Quick update:

The writing process is coming along full speed ahead.

Cracked.com is the devil.

New zombie articles soon.

It was Carl Sagan's birthday a while back

2009-11-11T23:30:00.000-08:00

I can't believe I had forgotten.

Carl Sagan was one of my heroes. He told stories about the universe, and our place in it. He made the unknowable seem wondrous, and the vastness of space seem filled with delicate joy.

In his writings, science and poetry come together, and the universe is a beautiful place to be.

From Cosmos to Contact, I admire them all.

Here's one last little thing to think about.

Games I aim to try

2009-11-10T22:09:00.000-08:00

The title says it all. These are a number of games I'd like to play, ranging from board games to video games. As I've got some considerable free time regarding a gaming schedule at the moment, I'm compiling a list of all the ones I want to try. Games marked with * indicate I want to play this in as fancy-pants a manner as possible.

Board Games:

Role-Playing Games:

Video Games:

Now if only I had some kind of time machine, so all of these could be out now, and I'd have the time to play them.

I have had some serious sci-fi on the brain lately

2009-11-09T22:29:00.000-08:00

This is likely because the novel attempt I am making is a science fiction story. I've been rereading a lot of my favorite stories in this vein, because I'm of the belief that much as milk smells like what it's been next to in the refrigerator so too is the writing style influenced by what has been read recently.

It is my hope that it'll help me get past writing the first chapter, which is about where I am stuck at the moment. I keep going back and redoing the beginning. I keep telling myself that I should press on and write some more, but it's a habit I picked up writing papers. I've found that once I get going on a topic, I can keep going, the words and ideas just fall into place.

But without that solid beginning, I don't really have anyplace to go. So for now, I have written the first couple of pages over once or twice. I find myself staring down a blank page. But no fear, I shall prevail.

Timeline restored.

2009-11-09T22:21:00.001-08:00

Reinitializing reality.

Data corruption detected, backup systems coming online.

Error: backup systems offline.

Attempting reality restore.

Restore complete. Initialize Y/N?l

Space/time causality error detected.

2009-11-09T22:19:00.000-08:00

Preparing for temporal restabilization.

Please, evacuate sector 3.

Please, evacuate sector 4.

Prepare for restabilization.

Temporal anomaly isolated.

Restabilization imminent.

Please do not^#H!ND,.1.094-09818(*398

Prepare to face my fury!

2009-11-07T21:54:00.000-08:00

I have traveled back from the future to deliver this message: your doom is at hand! Prepare for fury the likes of which you've not seen before. Quickly, before it is too late, develop an unstoppable technique, or failing that, a style that cannot be bested by anyone.

Hah! Employment!

2009-11-06T21:23:00.001-08:00

I have a job now. My job, such as it is, consists on covering zombies in Austin. Now, mind you, I'm not real sure that I've ever seen zombies in Austin, outside of maybe one or two philosophical zombies, but as we all know, that's just the old "I'm only ever sure of my own consciousness" argument, but sexed up with the living dead. The dinosaurs agree with me on this one, so again, not sure.

But I'm going to keep making stuff up until they tell me to stop, so it should be totally awesome. Also, in the process, I'm learning about Search Engine Optimization, creating easier to read articles, and how to avoid some journalistic pitfalls. Bet you wish I had a link for that one.

Me too.

Anyway, that's it for now. Time to celebrate my being published. On the internet. Hooray!

Prepare to meet your doom!

2009-11-05T08:11:00.000-08:00

There are some phrases that everyone should have the opportunity to say in their life. Some opportunity in which it's appropriate that anyone be saying these things. For example, saying, "Gentlemen... BEHOLD!" and then unveiling a bowl of cereal doesn't carry the same weight as the same phrase but unveiling a death ray.

Which would you rather unveil?

Actually, now that I think about it, it would be kind of awesome to unveil a bowl of cereal like that. It's worth trying in the name of science, which brings me to the next phrase on the list of awesome stuff to say:

"FOR SCIENCE!"

Because sometimes you need to have a reason to do whatever you are about to do. So you should announce it in the name of SCIENCE! For example, whenever the people at CERN are about do do, I don't know, anything, I am certain that their employees probably shout the reason they are doing this.

Now, as you may know, the Large Hadron Collider over at CERN has had a great deal of trouble in the past. People were worried it might create a black hole and kill us all. While that would be a terrible tragedy, it would have given at least one scientist to utter...

"You insolent fool! You've doomed us all!"

While the potential destruction of the planet is certainly one of the most fitting examples, there are plenty of opportunities to say this in a grave, if melodramatic voice. Mind you, don't go overdoing it. Nobody cares if someone burned the coffee. Unless doing so breaks the LHC, in which case, it's all yours.

That's all I dare post for now, lest the concentrated power of these phrases tear my computer asunder, unleashing their awesome might. No, the world is not yet ready for this.

There is this club that I think you should join

2009-11-04T07:32:00.000-08:00

Picture this:

It is midnight and the woods are quiet. Only the sounds of crickets disturb the chill air of the night. Moonlight illuminates the mist coiling on the ground, and an ill wind blows. Suddenly a murder of crows takes flight, and you know in your heart that the hour of destiny is at hand! Slowly you turn towards the encroaching darkness of the forest and face your foe. With a clash of steel and an exalted shout, the battle begins.

This is what it is like to be a member of the Midnight Samurai Dueling Club. You too can experience this feeling of total awesomeness.

It is important to follow the rules though, lest you dishonor yourself and your ancestors.

Tell Freaking EVERYBODY about Midnight Samurai Dueling Club, because it's awesome.
Don't actually try and hurt anyone. Samurai Duels are all about the shouting and the running around and honoring your ancestors and getting revenge for what that insolent dog has done/retrieving your clan's family sword.
Honor above all else!
Shout loudly! Do not be afraid to call your attacls!
Be Awesome to your Foe.

That's it! Following these simple rules will prepare you for your very own Midnight Duel.

What's that make us?

2009-11-03T21:30:00.001-08:00

NLooking at the different heroes in some of my favorite shows, I've realized something. I really really like it when they are heroic because they choose to be, rather than being forced to do the right thing. It gives their heroics much more meaning. Consider: in the episode Jaynestown, of the show Firefly, Jayne is revered as a hero by the mudders. Initially he revels in their worship, but as the show goes on, you get to see how affected he is by the tale of his heroism. He knows full well that their story isn't true, but when push comes to shove he fights for them anyhow, because it's what he feels is right. It makes the conflicting emotions he's feeling the more viable to have them be in his control, allowing Jayne to develop more fully as a character, instead of a victim of circumstances.

I love that kind of thing. I've even had the opportunity to play a character like that once. His name was Balasar Vel, a Half-Elf Paladin who wanted nothing more than to be a knight out of legend. He wanted to show people that they could shape their own destiny, they just had to want to. He is easily my most favorite character, and was a blast to play. I found I never had any problem taking part in the game. If I needed motivation, it was easy to draw on, which gave me the freedom to choose how to be affected by events. Also, if there was ever a shortness of something to do, it was easy to figure out where to go next, because the character's drive was to be a hero. It was totally sweet.

What other kind of heroics appeal to you guys?

D'awww

2009-11-02T22:51:00.000-08:00

One last video update, and then on to some thoughts on heroism and such. But first...

Are you looking for a challenge?!?!!

2009-11-01T21:59:00.000-08:00

It seems fitting that the Day of the Dead is also the month that a challenge is issued to the people of America: write a novel in a month. What constitutes a novel? 50,000 words or more, presumably put together in a coherent fashion, if not spelled correctly.

The idea is that anyone can write a novel, they simply have to try, laying word after word as a bricklayer might in order to construct first a wall, then a grand manor. You don't need to make a poignant commentary on civilization, this challenge is all about getting something done. It's about expressing yourself and overcoming your fears. Most importantly, it is about accomplishment.

It often takes time for us to see the fruits of our labors, especially so for some jobs, but this contest is the opportunity to get something done for yourself. There is a pride that comes in having accomplished something, moreso if it's something you've been meaning to do, but never had the gumption to.

So this is it, the chance of a lifetime, the chance to endure despite school, work, and life. Even if you don't decide to try, it gets you thinking.
If you wrote a novel, what would it be about?

Me Am Play Gods!

2009-10-31T23:01:00.000-07:00

Have you ever tried to explain science fiction to anyone? Here's how.

Comics courtesy of Dresden Codak. If you've never read this, go back and read every last one of them. They are awesome.

For Halloween

2009-10-30T22:53:00.000-07:00

Nothing beats the classics.

Pumpkin Blog!

2009-10-30T00:21:00.000-07:00

Pumpkins! In a blog! Gourdtastic!

By your command!

I was a robot pumpkin before it was cool

That's no moon...

All work and no play...

That one pumpkin just looks so angry that it is getting chewed on.

The Pumpkin King

Ziggy Stardust and the Pumpkin From Mars

Hargablargh

2009-10-29T02:21:00.000-07:00

Bluhhhhh

Braaaaiiiiiinnnns

Blog in problems

2009-10-27T23:35:00.000-07:00

So lately I have had problems logging in to my blog, or blogging in, if you will. But they seem to be corrected. I found yesterday's update hadn't posted, and today's update has been eaten twice now. I shall attempt this again when things seem to have settled. I only hope that this does not herald the robot uprising, because I really don't want to have to join a rag-tag band of rebels fighting against the machine.

Wait. What am I thinking? Bring it on! YEAH!

Zombies?

2009-10-26T23:34:00.000-07:00

You've seen it over and over, whether in movies, games, or stories; the dead start to rise, for whatever reason, and the effect is devastating. Quickly the world is reduced to rubble, and all semblance of civilization falls. As the dust of a once proud society clears, there are a few left surviving, while the numbers of the hungry dead are bolstered with the unwary, the unprepared.

These survivors must contend with a number of problems, but before those can be addressed, steps must be taken to ensure that you, dear reader, are numbered among the living. Though it seems daunting, the prospect of a zombie outbreak can be dealt with simply if, and this is the most important point, IF you are prepared. For zombies are dangerous, but only to the unprepared. With regards to the undead, forewarned is forearmed.

But what can be done to prepare for the dead rising? First and foremost, think ahead. Federal law requires all public buildings to have fire escape plans, and you would do well to follow this example. Planning out an escape route for the places you frequent the most can help save valuable time when the dead start going for your throat. Coordinating your escape plan with others into a Zombie Action Plan ensures your ability to find friendly faces amidst a world gone mad.

Once you have escaped and grouped up, knowing where to go and what to look for are your top priorities. You should know where to find adequate shelter from the ravening dead, and where the nearest supply of anti-zombie weaponry can be found. With these few simple steps, you too can remain among the living when the dead begin to crave braiiiiins.

For Science?

2009-10-25T23:35:00.001-07:00

I have been attempting to fine tune my Tau army list for the past few days now. Maybe I have been focusing too much on the role of the battlesuits, but I'm not sure what else to focus on. I have come up with something satisfactory for the time being. It seems like it'd be decent in theory, but as They Might Be Giants suggest, I'll have to, in the coming days, Put It To The Test!

It is fall

2009-10-24T23:39:00.000-07:00

What do you get when you divide the circumference of a pumpkin by its radius? Pumpkin pi!

Once more into the breach!

2009-10-23T23:21:00.000-07:00

At least with the Tau.

For anyone reading this who doesn't know much about Warhammer 40k, well, you're in the same boat as me. But I'll try and explain some of the more complicated jargon. Maybe make some kind of Illustrated Primer.

Anyway, back to the jargon. In Warhammer, and indeed any miniatures wargame worth its salt, you buy units from an allotment of points. In my case it's two thousand points. The majority of this is spent on general infantry units and their transports. The transports keep the infantry alive (ostensibly) until they can take hold of an objective or something else. This generally goes kinda poorly for me, but I'm working on that. Aside from that, I can't do much with them, there's not much customization for them.

Beyond that, I have a few units of battlesuits and tanks to bring the heavier firepower. Therein lies the customization of the units. And I've got my tanks all kitted out as much as I'd like, so instead, I will focus on the suits. The way I run them now, they're meant as throwaway units, they show up for a turn and try to kill stuff, then get killed vaingloriously. I try and field them as cheap as I can, and maximize their weaponry. To this end I give them melta guns (so they can take out heavy vehicles from up close) and flamers (for light infantry from up close). I a, considering switching out the melta guns on one of the units of battlesuits and taking missile pods in their stead, to give me a little ranged power, and something that I can use on light vehicles, so that my heavier guns I can dedicate to the heavier vehicles.

My poor poor Tau

2009-10-22T23:15:00.000-07:00

Earlier today I had a game at Battleforge Games. My Tau army faced a monstrous horde of orks. The battle did not go very well for me at all. I lost all of my forces and managed to take out maybe a third of my opponent's in return.

Part of that was due to a run of bad luck, but I attribute my crushing defeat also to my relative inexperience with the game. I wasn't aware of what certain units did and in turn was off balance for the whole game. I found myself more or less reacting to one part of the board and allowing my forces to get trapped and killed.

The next time I run up against Snikrot and his Commandos I have a better idea of what they'll throw at me. And Frank taught me a valuable lesson: if you don't know what something does, ask. That would've garnered me some information which would've helped me out a great deal.

Presently my army list is focused on destruction of enemy armor, with flamers and submunitions from railguns to take out enemy infantry. I'm looking at varying that a little, because as I play more and more games, I find the focus tends to leave me wanting against certain armies. But then, I'm still learning the game, and building a cool list is all a part of it. It's very interesting, I just wish I had more time to play.

2009-10-21T22:07:00.000-07:00

I've been feeling all philosophical today. In a big thinking kind of mood. I've got a post here somewhere about the natures of different players in games, but I can't quite elucidate my thoughts on the matter.

So for now, what I'll do is tell you two of my favorite philosophy jokes:

Renee Descartes is walking up to his favorite restaurant when a friend stops him, pointing at a horse loitering at the restaurant. "He's waiting to be seated," his friend says, to which Descartes replies, "That's preposterous. They'll never seat him. Go and put my name on the list so we can get our food." His friend attempts to do so, but returns dejectedly with the news, "I'm sorry Renee, but they wouldn't let me put Descartes before the horse."

Descartes walks into his favorite restaurant (horse free this time). The waiter asks him, "Would you like some soup?" He replies, "I think not," and then poof, he disappears.

My cat Grady.

2009-10-20T21:48:00.000-07:00

Today, I took my cat Grady in to the vets. I didn't take him home. Yesterday I noticed he was kind of sluggish and weak, so I thought I'd take him in. I was so worried I sat up all night, thinking about him and trying not to worry about it.

It turns out he was more sick than I thought, and now he is at peace.

I remember the day when he showed up at our doorstep some twelve or thirteen years ago. My sister Harmony found him mewling at our doorstep. He so tiny then, I could hold him in one hand. Winter was around the corner at the time, so we took him in, and it wasn't long before he was named Grady (because he was gray) and from then on he was one of the family.

Let me tell you about Grady. He was one of the most sensitive, loving souls I've ever met. Shy, but affectionate, he loved nothing more than rolling over so his belly could be rubbed. He had the loudest purr you ever heard, and nearly everything would make him purr. He didn't really care for catnip, but instead loved to eat sticks and lizards and other outdoorsy types of things. He was always kind of fluffy, and very gentle. He was my friend.

Rest in Peace Grady, you will be missed.

From the Graveyard

2009-10-18T21:43:00.001-07:00

It was quiet. All the excitement of the evening had faded away, and in its place? The comfort of a dull, routine graveyard shift.

The monitoring systems hummed quietly, beeping at regular intervals to inform their attendants that no new activity had been detected. The attendants watched, looking for patterns outside to keep engaged. It was like finding shapes in clouds, except that shattered chunks of what was once Alderaan substituted for fluffy masses of water vapor, blown by wind. More, "That one looks like a rock," and less, "That one looks like a cotton ball."

The quiet was the foremost thing on Jenros' mind at the moment. Laying there on his bed, with his eyes shut tight, he was acutely aware of a dull humming in the background, as though someone had left a vidscreen on somewhere. Aside from that, there was nothing. No wind, no speeders, just... space. That kind of quiet always unnerved him. Something about leaky pipes or rickety ductwork was kind of comforting. Like a lullaby almost. How anyone could sleep with all of this quiet around was beyond him.

He felt the metallic cylinder dig into his chest as he shifted on his bed, and thought bitterly to himself about how none of the stories he'd read ever talked about how uncomfortable and cold these things were. He cracked open his eyes, made sure nobody was in the room, and for the seventh time since being left alone in his room, took out the... flashlight. He'd found that if he squinted his eyes, and never turned it on, he was sure it was just a flashlight; and the night's earlier meeting was something he'd dreamed up. There was no way any of that could be true. The Jedi were gone, right? And, he told himself, even if they had managed to survive, there was bound to be someone else. Never mind that for the first time since setting out on his own, he felt like he was in the right place, this was crazy. And yet...

It was these unthinkable, if hopeful, thoughts, these "And Yets" that kept him from anything close to a good night's rest.

A long time ago...

2009-10-17T21:57:00.000-07:00

In a galaxy far, far away...

Tonight, I got to play Star Wars with my friends. It was amazing. I haven't had this much fun in a gaming session in a while; I was surprised by some of the things I found myself enjoying and wanting to do in the game, but I'll get to that in a little while.

First and foremost, the game was enjoyable because it was a chance to just sit and hang out with my friends. Gaming is a marvelous activity because it is so social. It brings us together, as I've said, and it has been a while since I've had the chance to sit down and spend an evening with some of these folks, namely Mike and Jordan, so that was particularly nice. They're good guys, all of them. And the kind of atmosphere that a role-playing session creates is a little more intimate than an evening of wargaming I feel, because it brings you together to tell a story, and you have to connect with the others in order to participate on the same level. Also it's a quieter environment, limited to only a few people, so there's a narrower focus for interaction, which means you get both quality and quantity time.

I talk more about Star Wars after the jump

Secondly, I think Star Wars has a way of bringing people together in a world we know and love. The images that accompany words like X-Wing, Jedi, Lightsaber, Death Star, or even Darth Vader are something ingrained in our consciousness. This made it easier for everyone to tune into the world of the game, and to get more in tune with their characters. Getting to see my friends take on their characters was fascinating, and it was partly due to their interaction that I was so surprised by the game.

Going into tonight, I had it in my head that my character was a little headstrong and a daring man of action. But as the game played out, I found that this wasn't the case. I found that my character had a voice, nay, a life of his own. Perhaps he thought himself a bold figure, but found that he was quite afraid of what had been going on. He was reluctant to be a hero, which is something I'd never have thought I'd enjoy playing, but it feels right somehow. I had fun. I'm not really sure how to pull off playing the reluctant hero like this, but it's exciting, it's uncharted territory, so to speak. I think one of the most memorable moments of this was feeling a bit of hero worship towards one of the other characters during the course of play. It was cool! It was everything I like about acting and gaming all at once! But I digress, back to the game.

Cast o' Characters:

Me: Jenros Vel, Human Scout and Reluctant Adventurer
Frank: E. B. MacPhail, Human Noble and Notorious Space Privateer
John: Via El Camina, Zeltron Scoundrel and Master Computer Hacker
Jordan: Raawrarn (I think), Wookie Soldier and Martial Artist
Pat: Mac Doshtaun, Mon Calamari Soldier and Sniper
Mike: Everyone Else (Because he's the GM)

We started off our careers as space adventurers on the eighth moon of Istvan, a gas giant. Istvan-8 was the home of a prominent (I thought so anyway) flight school, though in the wake of the destruction of the Death Star at the Battle of Yavin, the academy had come under Imperial scrutiny, with students disappearing into the night. Our group might have suffered the same fate, if not for the aid of a Sullustan instructor named Qui-Gal. We found notes from him informing us that we would be arrested by the Empire, and if we wished to avoid such a fate, to meet at a hangar at midnight.

Doing so, our party became embroiled in battle against the forces of the Empire. A troop of stormtroopers came to arrest us, prisoners in tow, and the situation quickly turned life-threatening. As the storm troopers spread out, I found myself getting a feel for how my character felt. He ran for the gun of a nearby ship, and after failing to impress the stormtroopers, I imagined him feeling in over his head, sort of realizing just how deep in it he was now. That was when I got even more engaged. The fact that I wasn't able to hit things didn't bother me, it made sense. I was failing to succeed in combat, but I didn't care, it felt the way I thought it should, if that makes sense. And from that point, Jenros had a life of his own, whether in desperately spraying blaster fire at storm troopers, or admiring the heroics of the other party members, it was fantastic.

As I said, I haven't had that much fun in a while.

I can't wait to play again, though sadly, we'll have to.

Zoh my gosh!

2009-10-16T21:50:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow is the start of the Star Wars campaign. I am so excited. I have created my character, Jenros Vel, a human scout, and man of action. At least that is what he'd say. He tries to be taken seriously, really he does.

Anyway, while I compose his backstory into something intelligible and fun to read, here's the numbers that will soon be turned from raw statistics into a living breathing being with his own likes (witnessing new parts of the galaxy) and dislikes (the smell of bars). Maybe a favorite vegetable. Who knows! Anyway, the numbers for Jenros Vel, Human Scout:

Strength: 8
Dexterity: 15
Constitution: 13
Intelligence: 10
Wisdom: 14
Charisma: 12

He has the following feats: Force Sensitivity and Vehicle Combat (as he is an experienced pilot)

Jenros Vel, Space Explorer is proficient in the following skills: Pilot, Perception, Initiative, Jump, Galactic Lore, and Use the Force.

My latest project

2009-10-15T22:14:00.000-07:00

I've finished work on my financial aid applications, and am waiting around to hear from the other universities I applied from, so that I can get my schooling underway next semester.

While I wait, though, I've been keeping myself busy. Whether painting up my Tau or dreaming about the upcoming release of Dragon Age Origins, I've kept myself entertained.

But now, I am taking a big step forward. Sort of. I've put together an adventure pitch and sent it to WotC, with the hopes that they will think it awesome. I hope that they do, and what's more, that they print it up in Dungeon or something. That would be sweet, but you know what? If they don't take it, I'll print it here myself, so it's a win-win.

But that's how it goes, really. I have found that in general, it is always worth it to try something, to take the risk in putting yourself out there in some way. Whether auditioning for a part in a play or applying to school, even asking someone out on a date, it's scary, sure, but the worst that happens is they say no, and you're no worse off than you were to begin with.

Anyways, I'll keep track of my adventure in um, adventurerering here. Let's see what happens. :D

30 days later

2009-10-14T23:30:00.001-07:00

Holy cow! I cannot believe I have been keeping up with this blog for a month. As of right now, this is the longest I have ever maintained a web type thing with any regularity.

It has been fun, actually, and what's more, I learned a great deal from my experience as well. For starters, I learned that it takes time to compile my thoughts properly, and that often it will take a draft or two before I've said what I want to say. I also found myself thinking about what has been going on around me a lot more. At first it was just to figure out what to say in my blog, but as the days went by, I fell into the habit of being more attentive to the world. That was pretty cool.

I also found I have a few bad habits with regards to keeping up with deadlines. For a while, most of my updates were made at the end of the day, right before bed, when my brain was tired, ready to shut down. There are a few updates that I am quite proud of though, and by and large they were the ones I spent at least an hour working on.

Blogging also gave me the impetus to finally upload a number of pictures to my camera, and also helped me to figure out a schedule for writing.

Things still in progress: I'm still finding my voice, and learning how to work with html. I still am developing my writing habits, and collating my thoughts, but I feel that as the days go by, I'll enjoy it even more than I do now.

Anyway, that's all for now. As a reflection on the end of my month o' blogging, I thought I'd save this update for bedtime. Or I got lazy again, I forget. In any case, I have not yet made my save, so you can expect another 30 days from me. :D

It's Rocktober 13th!

2009-10-13T20:34:00.000-07:00

Today is Rocktober 13th! Brutal Legend came out today. If you don't already know, this should tell you why you want to play it:

Conversion Beam

2009-10-13T01:28:00.000-07:00

I have begun work on a conversion project for my Tau army. For those of you who don't know, conversion, with regards to Warhammer 40K means taking an existing model and redoing it, making it look cooler, often by adding new parts, or changing the look of it through resculpting.

My project is to take the current model of Tau stealth suit:

And give it a more agile look. Mostly this will consist of cutting off the "pod" featured in the inset, and remodeling it so that it appears more like a light battle suit. I think this will look totally awesome. Pictures to follow as soon as my camera is working again.

In the future...

2009-10-11T23:02:00.000-07:00

All of our problems will be solved with lasers. Can't see well? Lasers. Regret that tattoo? Lasers. Hurricane a-brewing? Lasers. Alien robot battles? Lasers. Too many arms? Lasers. Not enough arms? Lasers. I'm sure.

You get the idea.

Tools of T3h Future

2009-10-10T23:21:00.000-07:00

The following is a list of helpful references for creating a more "crunchy" science fiction setting. At least, after reading them, I felt inspired to think about a cool new futureverse, which is totally a word and has been for more than just the last sentence.

In No Particular Order:

The Kardashev Scale: This is useful twofold. First, it provides a means of measuring any interstellar society's level of power. And by consulting the scale, you can nget an idea of the kind of resources at their disposal, and also the kind of infrastructure needed to sustain such a civilization. It also outlines the scope of futuristic civilization from a perspective not often considered. In other words, Dyson Spheres for everyone.

The Turing Website: This provides the history of computing, along with several articles on the nature of AI, including strong and weak AI. And as everyone knows, it's not the future if you don't have at least one AI.

Or, if you prefer, RAMPANT! Because it's not really an AI if it hasn't gone at least slightly mad.

And also, lasers. This article gives you an idea of the consequences of everyone having lasers all the time, forever and always.

These are but a few of the myriad of resources available to aid in the creating of a sci-fi setting, as they will show some common, albeit oft overlooked concerns that ought to be considered.

It's on now

2009-10-10T00:59:00.000-07:00

Today, I got accepted into Saint Edward's University.

Also, my camera is not showing that I have taken pictures of my fire warrior heads.

I think, all things considered, I'll take that.

Just a quick update

2009-10-09T00:03:00.000-07:00

My Tau have two models with bare heads. This presented a unique challenge to me, in that I had to paint, in addition to the rest of the stuff, an alien fleshy type tone. Typically the Tau are pictured with bluish-grayish skin... the same color I picked for my cloth.

So what I did was take a brushful of the gray, and a brushful of white paint and mix them together for a lighter shade, and then I added a drop of water to the mix, to make it much thinner. I've found that watering down the paint used for flesh gives it a much more natural feel. It allows for varying shades to come through the paint more readily. For instance, the areas on the model that would be in shadow tended to show up a little darker, and the head didn't look unnaturally uniform. Which makes sense, given that our skin color is generally the same, but it varies ever so slightly from place to place.

I will show you pictures of this process later. For now, my camera has to recharge, and I have to hit the hay. But tomorrow, I'll post the pictures here, and have another update. So say we all!

A blast from the past!

2009-10-07T22:37:00.001-07:00

I was going to write about a road trip I took to Gettysburg with my friends Frank and Abe, but then I realized that I can tell a much better story with the pictures I took:

In AD 2101, War was beginning...

"WHAT HAPPEN!!!"

"SOMEBODY SET UP US THE BOMB!"

"We get signal. MAIN SCREEN TURN ON!"

"Its you!"

"HOW ARE YOU GENTLEMEN!!!!"

"ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US"

"YOU ARE ON THE WAY TO DESTRUCTION"

"YOU HAVE NO CHANCE TO SURVIVE, MAKE YOUR TIME!!!!"

"WHAT YOU SAY!!!!"
"YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DOING!"

"MOVE ZIG!"
"TAKE OFF EVERY ZIG!"

"MOVE ZIG FOR GREAT JUSTICE!!!!"

The Cosmos

2009-10-06T21:59:00.000-07:00

Watch this:

Now go outside and look up at the sky and beyond it the universe in all its majesty.

The best part about that is that we're a part of it. You, me, everyone and everything. It's wonderful. I don't know what else to say.

Painted Tau, return of the revenge!

2009-10-05T21:37:00.000-07:00

I finished painting my Tau. There's only one thing left to do:

Fashion Show, after the jump.

This stack of books and games served as the runway.

Here's Action Tau, decked out in red accents.
I created these by painting a wash of red ink over the areas I wanted to be red, then went over it with a brighter Blood Red to illustrate the highlights.

Next up Dashing Tau is demonstrating the all Bronze accent pattern. I cannot decide which I like better, red or bronze.

Dynamic Tau combines both colors, but I don't think I like it as much as I do just one color.

Action Tau is always ready, even during fashion shows.

I really liked the way that Dashing Tau's helmet turned out. The lining around the eyepiece is my favorite.

I spent way too much time painting butts these last few days. Oh, and backpacks.

The shoulder pad emblem turned out nicely as well.

Did you really scroll down all this way? Well what fashion show is complete without a behind the scenes look at the photographer. And what photographer is complete without a fancy beret? So here we go!

Re: Your Brains

2009-10-04T20:36:00.000-07:00

Zombies are all the rage these days. They're everywhere! Whether in zombie attack preparation quizzes (which makes sense, as zombies are the biggest threat to the unprepared), books about how to survive the zombie outbreak, or just books that take beloved characters and throw them up against zombies. Then there's all the zombie movies. Some seem pretty realistic, but I think if anyone truly captures the essence of what a zombie attack would be like, it's Jonathan Coulton.

Speaking of Tau...

2009-10-04T00:00:00.000-07:00

I have been painting my Tau lately, and with a tournament coming up on Saturday, I'm hoping that I'll have them all painted up in time. For now, here's how I'm painting up my Fire Warriors.

Pictures after the jump:

First, I prime them gray, then apply a heavy black wash:

Then, I paint the cloth sections of the mini a bluish gray, shadow gray to be specific.

After that, I hit the cloth with a dark blue wash.

Not that you can really tell in these pictures.

Now I'm ready to apply the white paint. My friend Thomas showed me how to paint this on quick and dirty. The key is to simply tap the paint in along the edges of each surface. To illustrate this, I'll show you the shoulder pad in progress.

Here's the shoulder pad at the beginning. Note that it's divided into 4 planes, the top and bottom wedges, and the left and right sides.

I start by dabbing some whtie paint onto the top wedge:

Next I fill in along the bottom wedge as well:

I'm careful to keep the white paint only on the individual section I'm painting, to leave some darker colors to create the appearance of separate pieces of armor:

By putting on white up to the edges, the black and gray lining still shows through, which gives the illusions of straight lines and evenly divided sections of composite armor. You can really see this on the Leg Armor:

I also go in with a little red for accent. The same principle of creating the illusion of solid/straight lines by filling in the planes of each piece of armor helps to create a very distinct look.

I'm still experimenting with what I'll ultimately do for the gun. Right now I like painting the panels of the rifle in white and using another color for the top accent:

I am thinking a metallic color, like a bronze would provide a nice contrast and help to make the rifle pop a little more.

Regarding Warhammer 40k Planetstrike:

2009-10-03T00:27:00.001-07:00

There are bastions for the Greater Good. They are Tauwers. That is all.

The Rock Opera... of DOOM!

2009-10-01T23:59:00.000-07:00

Earlier today, while hanging out with my friends up at BFG, we came up with the perfect way to create a rock opera:

Take a stack of magic cards, lay them out randomly, then using the power of metal and rock, string them together in a way that is awesome.

If the cards themselves do not seem awesome enough, the solution is thus: add the phrase ...of DOOM to the end of its name.

I tried it with some cards I had laying around, here's what I came up with.

It was a dark night in the Mountains of Doom!
We performed an Unholy Ritual
And raised the Goblin King from his Ancient Tomb

He called out to the Goblins
Tapped the Mountains to call down Kaboom
Then he summoned the Avalanche Riders...
The Avalanche Riders of DOOM!

Avalanche Riders of DOOM
Avalanche Riders of DOOM
How can you hope to stand against the
Avalance Riders of your DOOM!

All I need now are some totally sweet pyrotechnics, and maybe a verse about the Shivan Dragon or something, and maybe a line about how the Serra Angel of doom doesn't have to tap or something, and bam! Rock Opera.

This is so metal.

2009-09-30T21:19:00.000-07:00

While I'm on the subject of college entrance essays, I'd like to share with you one of my favorites. By far the best essay question I came across was the following:

You are in the van on the way to the battle of the bands when you find out the world will end after your set. Your performance could change everything. Tell us what happens in 500 words or less.

Read what I said after the jump.

I was riding in a van when I knew the world would end. My band and I were on the way to the biggest show ever, the worldwide Battle of the Bands streaming live to every country. It was our chance to play for the whole world. The uneasy panic before a big show had taken hold of us, so the van was quiet when something came over the radio garbled and broken, an otherworldly prophecy of doom that each of us knew in our hearts to be true. It was our drummer who first broke the deathly silence, suggested we call it off and find shelter. At least we could survive, he said, and eke out an existence afterward. The rest of the band seemed to agree, but I looked around and saw in their faces the fears and hopes of all humanity. Here was its destiny in the aftermath of doomsday.

No, I told them, we can’t abandon our music any more than we could abandon the world. This was our moment of destiny. We had a chance to speak to the whole world through our music, and with it a chance to change the future. We could leave the world with a message of hope, and so it was decided: the show must go on.

The arena watched with enthusiasm as set after set was played. It seemed fitting that we were the last act, the ones who would be bringing down the house. With breathless anticipation, they awaited our performance. The lights dimmed, and I looked out at the sea of faces in the audience. It was all I could do not to weep and tell them to run for shelter while the announcer gave us our introduction. Then there was no time left for thought, all that we had left was the music.

We started off slow, building a world in our song, and as we played, I felt a fiery determination grip me by the spine. Looking out at all the people, and through the cameras, all of the world, I found myself playing more powerfully than I ever had. My hands ached, my voice was dry, but we played on, each note buying the world another heartbeat. The whole band was with me, our hearts and souls poured through our instruments into the world, and we spoke to the people, awakening in them that fiery spirit that refuses to give up, that fights on when all hope has faded.

The world came crashing down as our song ended, but instead of fear, resolve was in the faces of the audience. That’s when I knew that we’d done all we could. I knew we’d given humanity a fighting chance.

--How Rock and Roll Saved the World, a Memoir of the End and Beginning.

Games.

2009-09-29T22:10:00.001-07:00

A while back, I wrote about my history with games. Sort of. I was incredibly tired and ready for bed. But since then, I've actually organized my thoughts, and made things a little more coherent. So much so in fact, that I'm using this as a basis for some of my entrance exams. Games are an important part of who we are. More after the jump.

I’m a gamer. You name it, I’ve played it; video games, role-playing games, board games, I’ve played them all. I mention this because games are an important part of who I am. When I was a shy kid who had trouble making new friends, games brought me closer to my family. My dad and I bonded over our Nintendo. Our interests were so different: he liked golf, I liked skateboards (you can’t really combine the two, believe me) but we found common ground in video games. We played every kind of game we could find, and to our amazement, we liked the same kind of games. Nowadays we reminisce about the good ol’ days, reliving our shared triumphs, like finally getting past the lava troll in Shadowgate, and our defeats, like never actually beating the game.

At summer camp one year, I remember hearing some of the other kids talking about their Nintendo, and right away, I had a connection with them. We talked for a while, and I realized just how cool these guys were. Not only did they know about Super Mario Brothers Three, but they knew how to find the Warp Whistle which let you skip levels. I told them how to get the Tanooki Suit and change into statues that enemies couldn’t touch. We talked excitedly, and even though we’d never met before, it was like we’d played this game together. It was an instant bond. And, as it happens, they brought a game with them to camp. It was called Dungeons and Dragons and it changed my life. Here was a game that you didn’t need a console for, or even a TV. All you needed was your imagination and some dice I thought were pretty funny looking. I didn’t really understand the game at first, but I caught on. We would pretend to be these fantastic heroes, like knights or magic users, or elves, as this was back in the days when elf was a viable career path in life. And we fought monsters and saved towns together. And the shy kid who couldn’t make friends suddenly did. I never met them after that, it was my last year at that camp, but those two short months of gaming and camaraderie have affected me to this day.

When my parents divorced, it was hard on me and my sisters. It felt like our family was tearing itself apart, and nothing would ever be okay again. I was twelve and suddenly I was the ‘man of the house.’ Adolescence was rearing its pimply head, my voice was cracking, I suddenly understood why people liked rock, and secretly watched MTV when nobody was looking. Games helped me to deal with all of that. After all, compared to having to travel through time to stop an alien parasite from devouring the world, the rest of my problems seemed not so grim.

My sisters got into games then. They gave us common ground that we could connect over, just as I had with my friends at summer camp. My sister Sierra especially; she and I spent so many hours playing video games together. We started off with games like Mario Kart and Street Fighter Two, and found we loved playing against each other, so we soon moved to more action-packed games like Perfect Dark in which we could shoot rockets at each other. It was a healthy (for the most part) outlet for the competitiveness that sibling rivalry brings. It didn’t matter that she ratted me out for not cleaning my room, because I could just shoot her with rockets over and over. That was fun, for a while, but I learned a valuable lesson playing games with my sister; you don’t have to win all the time. I got to experience the whole ‘it’s not whether you win or lose’ lecture I’d heard a dozen times before first hand, and you know what? It’s true. There’s no fun in winning if nobody else will play with you, and so I worried less about beating my sisters and just had fun playing with them.

In high school, I found myself being drawn in to role-playing games again. My freshman year, I made fast friends with one of the seniors, Josh Bennett, who played this game called Magic the Gathering, He showed me how you play, but I wasn’t paying attention, I was thinking, ‘this is like Dungeons and Dragons, but with cards!’ I wasn’t entirely accurate there, but he taught me to play while I asked him about everything I could think of. It was like summer camp all over again. Here was someone whom I could talk with, and talk I did. I’d had all of the books for Dungeons and Dragons, but I never really had anyone to play it with before, and so I asked him all about it and I’m sure it annoyed him, but nevertheless, we became friends. After that, high school wasn’t as scary as I thought it’d be; I felt more confident, I could talk to people without feeling nervous inside, and felt like a door had opened. It was amazing.

Far from just influencing my social development, games also fueled my imagination and creativity. They opened up fantastic worlds populated with aliens and knights and everything in between for me. They showed me stories that couldn’t be told any other way, whether through immersing myself in the life of another character, or poring through tomes of background information, gleaning from their storied depths kernels of insight about the world of the game. Pen and paper games like Dungeons and Dragons combined the best of both worlds for me, providing my friends and I with the tools to tell stories of our own making both to and with each other. Lunchtime and any other break between classes became filled with stories of epic fights between heroes and monsters, our Beowulfs and Grendels battling across battered desks covered in graph paper to the clattering of a twenty-sided die.

Those stories are still with me today. Games are still with me today. I met my best friend in a game of Dungeons and Dragons. When my friends get together, we play games or we talk about them or we play one while talking about another. They are the core of our social experience. And it’s not just me and my friends, either. This is true of people across the globe. Games reach across the barriers of culture and generation. People of all ages know who Mario is, or that if it is very dark, you are likely to be eaten by a grue. It’s true today more so than ever, because games are such a large part of our collective culture. It used to be that games were once only available on specialized machines for playing games, but now they’re everywhere, on our phones, on our computers, even social networking sites have them.

Games bring us together. They provide us with challenges that people can tackle together. More and more games feature cooperative play modes, and gaming consoles like the Wii are giving games a much broader appeal, making them easily accessible to people who’ve never so much as picked up a controller. All of this, so that we can come together and play.

Chekhov's Gun Shoots Bullets

2009-09-28T22:11:00.000-07:00

So the other day, I watched Jet Li and Bridget Fonda in Kiss of the Dragon. This is a martial arts movie that takes place in France, which if you don't already know, means that it will be one hundred and over nine thousaaaaand per cent awesome. What nine thousand?! Yes, Virginia, over nine thousand.

I call it the French Connection, at least until I get sued. What it boils down to is that France acts as a melting pot, with its brazenness (google French movies and you'll see some brazenness) allowing standard martial arts action tropes to live up to their fullest potential. The movie doesn't even have to take place entirely in France. For proof of this, go watch Wasabi. Right now. It proves my theory so correct I don't even have to replicate it under controlled experiment conditions, so in your face Scientific Method! Huh? What's that? That's right, you've got nothing! NOTHING!

But I digress. Back to Kiss of the Dragon, after the jump.

This movie is fantastic. In it, Jet Li is inspector ~~Wong Fei-Hung~~ Liu Jian, China's top agent, skilled at everything including acupuncture, who has been sent to help the French police stop a heroin smuggling ring or something, and in the process gets framed for murder. He must clear his name. The only way to do this is to go underground and fight against the real killers.

The plot may sound a bit simplistic, and, sure, if this movie took place in any other country it would probably get very dramatic and try and fill out the plot with psychodrama or some kind of commentary on the nature of crime, but again, this movie takes place in France, so it doesn't need any of that. It has brazen outrageousness to make up for it.

For instance: Jet Li must face a corrupt policeman who frames him for murder. This policeman isn't just any guy, he's the top cop in all of France and ALSO its secret shadowy puppet master, who has supplanted the country's police force with his own goons, and is also like a heroin smuggler and a pimp or something. Pretty much if it's criminal, he's doing it. I'm sure he cheats on his taxes too. And he doesn't do anything halfway. Why stop at firing a pistol at a guy when you can try to set him on fire and blow him up with a grenade while he's stuck in a laundry chute (this happens,) or why just addict your favorite prostitute to heroin after she quit when you can also hold her daughter hostage in a ~~decrepit~~ TOTALLY SECURE SECRET ~~orphanage~~ FACILITY(this also happens). I can't remember his name, so I'll call him Jerkface.

"We are totally cops. Totally."

But wait, there's more. The sheer over the top quality to the movie is more than enough to make it awesome. What really makes it a winner is that they know all about Chekhov's Gun. I'd go so far as to say that it gets used more than the actual guns in the movie.

Seriously. Anything that shows up, even for a minute, becomes significant rather quickly. Allow me to illustrate: Jet Li shows up at the hotel to meet with the french police. Along the way, he attracts some stares from people sitting in the hotel lobby and standing by pillars. He goes to the bar to meet with his contact, a guy pretending (I think) to be a drunken pilot, passing a pool table along the way. He meets with some rather goonly looking police officers (see above), who take him to meet their boss, Jerkface, who is in the middle of beating up a chinese guy for his cop friends, so that one of them can roundhouse jump kick the chinese guy to death, showing how they do things here in France. They take Jet Li's gun, saying how he won't need it, and then send him down to spy on a chinese businessman there for a meeting. The spying is interrupted when a greasy looking guy shows up with two prostitutes who ask the businessman if he wants to "go to Heaven." Then it's revealed that the businessman's room is bugged, and the police are next door, watching on their X-10 Spy Cameras.

About ten minutes later, the businessman has been stabbed repeatedly by one of the prostitutes in his hotel room, while the other pukes up in the bathroom. Jerkface shoots the stabtress and the businessman with Jet Li's gun, framing him for double murder. Jet Li dives out of the window and climbs next door and retrieves the tape recorded by the cameras. Then some fight scenes happen, which end up with the failed attempt at exploderating, and Jet Li running through the hotel lobby being shot at by the goonly police, including drunken pilot guy, who had been sitting at a chair using a newspaper to hide A PAIR OF GIANT UZIS. He empties his PAIR OF GIANT UZIS at Jet Li across the crowded lobby, shooting up the pillars only to be stopped when Jet Li uses his kung-fu skills on the pool table to kick a pool ball right between drunken pilot guy's eyes, rendering him instantly unconscious and showing us both that there is NOTHING in this movie that will not later be used in a fight scene, and the extent of Jerkface's control of France.

See, they didn't just shoot at him in an isolated room. They fired down into the streets of Paris, repeatedly. Then there was the bit when Jet Li tried to climb in a laundry chute and Jerkface tries to use a grenade. And need I mention the PAIR OF GIANT UZIS in the crowded lobby? Does Jerkface get fired for this? No? Well, he at least gets some kind of reprimand, right? Ooh maybe his boss tells him that he's a loose cannon who doesn't play by the rules, and then partners him up with the evil version of Danny Glover, who is still too old for this sht, butwaitno.

There're no official consequences whatsoever (outside of Jet Li now being wanted for a crime he did not commit, which is actually a pretty serious consequence, but it's not an official consequence, so there), and in fact, Jerkface meets with the Chinese Ambassador, telling him that Jet Li went all crazy and they have to help catch him now. There's an added bonus here when the Ambassador's aide tells Jerkface just how badass Jet Li is. The look on Jerkface's jerk face, is priceless, but still, that this man who has just unleashed a 2.2 Imperial butt tons of firepower in a ritzy hotel is allowed anywhere for anything, is amazing. Some might say this doesn't make sense, but I say it only serves to show you just how in control of the country Jerkface is. He can shoot everything and nobody can stop him.*

And that's just the first act of the movie. There's a great deal more during which Jet Li learns to love, shows off his acupuncture skills (they're important later) and beats up like fifty guys. Including a room full of black belts.

"The black belt, it does nothing."

And a fight scene in an orphanage.

I don't really want to give away any more if you haven't seen it, but let me just say that even the movie's title is used in a fight scene.

Now, why haven't you watched this movie yet?

In case you were wondering...

2009-09-27T22:34:00.001-07:00

This weekend was pretty good, all things considered. There were a few moments which were either scary or boggling, but ultimately it was quite nice.

Friday started off with a bang, literally, which resulted in my rear windshield being shattered, so I had to repair that, which put a dent in the old pocketbook, but I got to go run around the mall with my girlfriend while they were fixing it. What's more, she tried out the Wii at the Gamestop, and actually had fun playing Wii Swordplay, which I think is fantastic. We all know it's a slippery slope from enjoying casual type games on the Wii to pwning n00bs in multiplayer on anything, so woo! It's only a matter of time now! BWAHAHAHAHAHA.

Then on Saturday I got to go up to Battleforge Games and hang out with my friends. I finished generating my Star Wars character, all that's left now is to flesh out his backstory and take him from being a collection of notes to a (hopefully) fun and well-developed character. And even better, I learned some really cool techniques that I can put to use in painting my Tau army. So hopefully soon I'll have some pictures of my painted up models to show you, for the Greater Good.

And today was pretty nifty as well. I was planning on swinging by BFG again to try the Battlestar Galactica Board Game out, as it was being demo'd today, but I missed that. It was okay though, I got invited to play in a one shot with some folks I do not get to see enough of, so it worked out. I played a Half-Elf Historian, who was about as scholarly as Indiana Jones, and fought with two swords. The Tempest build out of Martial Power is quite fun and entertaining to play. I got a lot of mileage out of several of the powers, although if there is one thing I cannot recommend enough regarding that build: take powers that let you attack more than one creature at a time. It will make the world a better place.

Anyway, that was my weekend, I hope yours have been as fun.

We all need one

2009-09-26T23:29:00.000-07:00

A Walker Texas Ranger Lever.

I know if I had one, it'd be roundhouse kicks for everyone!

It's Just Around the Corner

2009-09-26T00:54:00.000-07:00

They're putting up Thanksgiving and Halloween decorations in the store. I've even seen Christmas tree displays at the hobby shop. This can only mean one thing...

It's almost Pretend to be a Time Traveler Day!

Get your Event Horizon Calendars all hung up, hang your tachyon flux array by the chimney with care. Only a few months worth of shopping days left, which is like no time at all if you're a time traveler. Or is it all the time in the world? I forget. I stop now. Head hurt from write.

OMG Star Wars!

2009-09-24T23:25:00.000-07:00

Working on my character background for the Star Wars campaign has me thinking about watching the movies when I was much younger. I remember I had a list of things I wanted to do, should I ever find myself in the Star Wars world. It went a little something like this:

Become a Jedi.
Be best friends with a Wookiee.
Fly an X-Wing
Talk to Jawas
Talk to C-3PO and R2-D2
Get to meet other Jedi
Ride on a Tauntaun (and see if they smelled bad on the outside)
Go to the Rebel Base and be cool.

I am sure there's more to it, but that's about all I can remember right now. Anyway, this list is fascinating because, although I've never done any of these things, I can remember imagining so vividly that I knew what it would feel like to fly in a spaceship or swing a lightsaber (I definitely knew what it would sound like: kssshhzzzsshhwommmmwomwomwwwooommm), and that drops me right into a galaxy far far away.

Actors call this sense memory (I should know), drawing upon memories of sensations you've had in the past to connect you with a world you're pretending to inhabit. For example, if you start thinking about cheeseburgers, and find yourself remembering the smell and taste of them and then getting hungry for a moment, that's recreating the sensation of being hungry, even if you're not actually in the mood for some food, dude.

Roleplaying games are another venue for acting, and while they might not have the audiences of movies and plays... well... most plays,* they do have by and large more awesome plots. I mean think about it? If there were more plays that had evil cultists trying to take over the world by finding the hand of a powerful undead deity, you'd so be there. Or if plays started featuring orcs standing around guarding pies or treasure chests, and now that I think of it, what play wouldn't be better by including a Gelatinous Cube or Sith Lord?

MACBETH: Is this a dagger I see before me, handle pointed toward my hand? Come let me clutch you.

(Macbeth reaches out for the dagger, only to be engulfed by a quivering mass of CUBE)

MACBETH: Aaarblhglubglubaaauughblubglugglub.

CUBE: (Wiggling and jiggling noises as the CUBE trembles extemporaneously)

-OR-

HAMLET: To be or not to be, that is the question...

(DARTH VADER stands slightly upstage of HAMLET, looking unimpressed and menacing.)

VADER: (After two deep, respirator enhanced breaths) I find your lack of faith disturbing.

(VADER extends one hand, fingers curled as though crushing something towards HAMLET who proceeds to choke and gasp)

HAMLET: Hurrrk! Gaarrrk!

VADER: The power to destroy your uncle is insignificant next to the power of the Force.

(HAMLET'S FATHER'S GHOST appears, shimmering and blue, like Obi-Wan)

GHOST: Run Halmet, run! Use the Force! Trust your feelings!

I mean, I'd pay to see that.

Makes Sense to Me

2009-09-23T21:38:00.000-07:00

I went to the book store today and I saw this:

What I love best is the look in his eyes. It's as though he's saying, from the bottom of his heart(s?), "I glub you."

Wham bam update you ma'am.

2009-09-22T23:16:00.000-07:00

Painting Experiment: Day Two.

The paint scheme continues to elude me. I fear that I have not seen the last of this occurrence. But I must steel myself for the coming battle. I must remind myself of all I strive for. It is not just for myself that I prime and paint and curse the very pigment I am attempting to apply, but rather it is for the good of the world that I do this. For if I can prove that miniatures can be painted, then shall our mastery of life and death be complete! They said it couldn't be done! They called me mad, but soon... soon I shall show them, show them all! Muhuhuhuahahahahahahahahaa!

In the meantime, I've a quick story to tell you.

Earlier today, I went over to my girlfriend's house to re-hang a tarp she'd put up to give her dogs a dry spot to hang out in. No big deal, I thought, five quick minutes and I'll be done. I think that was where I went wrong. If I'd just thought it would be this horrifically complicated mess that would take all afternoon and, say, catch half of the neighborhood on fire, I'd be fine.*

The tarp was laying on the ground when I arrived. A pool of slightly dirty water had formed in th center of it, but that was easily dealt with. Water ran down the blue material and quickly soaked into the mud all around the tarp, forming a kind of shoe-grabbing, nigh inescapable bog. That wasn't a big problem, in itself.

It was the dogs stomping around in it, and then all over me, that really made the mud pit any kind of issue. But even then, who doesn't like to get muddy every now and then? Again, no big problem. It was when the dogs decided to make a break for it that it all went pear-shaped.

I can only imagine what the neighbors must have thought when they saw me, covered in mud and looking like I'd been that way for days, chasing this HUGE black lab type dog, and this teeny dachsund-esque dog all around the neighborhood. They're running and all excited because they're free, I'm shouting invectives at them for much the same reason, and the big one has slipped free of her collar--a metal chain--which I am clutching, no, brandishing as I corner them in a backyard down a nearby side street. It's worth mentioning a third dog was following me, pawing excitedly at the fracas.

But in the end, the dogs were returned safely, the tarp hung, and no harm done. In fact, the further and further I get from this, the funnier the whole misadventure seems. I expect this time tomorrow it'll be a shenaningan. Maybe a caper.

2009-09-21T23:00:00.000-07:00

Today I started to paint my Tau for Warhammer 40k. So far I've only got 4 models painted, and I'm still experimenting with the final technique of painting them, before I start in on the rest of them.

The color scheme I have so far is a dark blue/gray for the cloth, with stark white coloring on the armored plates of their uniform. A metallic copper paint fills in the gun. I'm still not sure what I shall do for the lenspiece on the helmet. So far, I like the idea of painting it either a darker gray or black and painting the inside copper, so as to make it distinct. Although it may well be fine just as white.

Another of my models is drying right now. Once it's painted, I'll post a picture so as to show the progress I have made. I think the colors work out wonderfully, but I've been told (and am finding out) that applying white paint is a pain.

I am not allowed to write a Die Hard Movie.

2009-09-20T22:07:00.001-07:00

The Trailer:

The camera fades in on a vaguely European dude barking orders in a thickly accented voice.

European Dude: I don't care who zey send, once ve have taken control of the banks and planted ze bombs in the city's water and orphan supply, they will be powerless to stop us!

Cut to a shot of bombs being lowered into a stream of water, then a shot of bombs being taped to orphans. We can still get away with doing that, right?

Narrator: When terror strikes.

Cut to a shot of those goons from Die Hard 2 looking all tough and menacing.

Narrator: The world is helpless

Have the goons open fire, sending policemen or possibly some national guardsmen running.

Narrator: But this Summer one man will refuse to give up. Show a silhouetted figure moving behind a wall, lurking in the shadows near the goons. One man will refuse to lay down and take it.

Cut to shot of someone bursting through the walls, tackling some goons while roaring angrily. Slow pan down to reveal our hero:

Rasputin

Narrator: This Summer, Rasputin will Die Hard!

Cut to shot of Rasputin screaming all angry like while one of the Die Hard Goons shoots him, but it doesn't stop him because he's Rasputin.

Rasputin: RAAAAAARRRRRGHAAAARRRRRGH!

He knocks the goon aside with one sweep of his terrible iron fist, only to be stabbed by another goon. Again though, he's Rasputin, and so he grabs the other guy by the throat and throws him off of the building that they're totally on top of. Cut to a shot of Rasputin sitting in a cafe, enjoying some soup.

WWaiter: Sir, I've been instructed to give you this note. The note reads, "HAHA, I Poisoned your food!"

Rasputin: RAAAAAAAAARRRRGHHHHAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGGRRAAAAAARRRRGH

Cut to the cafe exploding.

Cut to a shot of Rasputin landing, but looking all exploded, and killing a goon buy punching through his heart. Cut to goons talking about him.

Goons: We can't kill him! We've tried everything! We even tried to hang him! He won't die? What do we do? What do we do?

Rasputin: RAAAAAAAAARRRRGHHHHAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGGRRAAAAAARRRRGH

Rasputin bursts through the wall behind him and stabs him a couple of times with a knife that had previously been stabbed into his chest.

European Dude: Who are you? Why won't you die?!

Cut to a shot of Rasputin on the phone, talking to his estranged wife about his daughter's wedding.

REstranged Wife: So you'll be there? She wants you to give her away.

Rasputin: RAAAAAAAAARAAAAAARRRRGH!

Reveal Rasputin being choked by yet another goon that he destroys. He hangs up the phone. Cut to second explosion.

When the smoke clears, show Rasputin looking banged up, but not quite as much as Bruce Willis at the end of Die Hard 3, smoking from the blast.

Rasputin: I'm too old for this sh-- Cut to a third explosion, which reveals the title of the movie:

DIE HARD: RASPUTIN.

2009-09-19T22:38:00.000-07:00

Speaking of roleplaying games, the other great thing about this game starting up is that I'll get to create a new character. Breathing life into a character concept is one of the things I love the most about gaming. It's almost more fun than actually playing the game, because when you're creating a character, you are still dealing in the primordial ooze of fertile ideas. Your character has unlimited potential, they can be anything. Here you have the most freedom. Your whims dictate who your character knows, where they've come in life and where they think they're going.

Seeing where the process of creating and fleshing out a character leads is fascinating. There are times when it's as though the character has a mind of their own, and certain things just seem to make sense. Other times, I'm looking at you Shadowrun, you're at kind of a loss for words, aside from, "I DON'T KNOW BLARGHABLAGHABLARGH."

Once you start playing, then the waveform collapses, and your character ceases to exist in potentia... that is another kind of fun in and of itself. You see, I'm also an actor, and I love trying to figure out the personality of another character. It's an exercise in exploration both of the human experience and of the self. Through putting yourself in someone else's shoes, you not only allow yourself to experience things you wouldn't have otherwise gotten to do, you can afford yourself a glimpse into the other realms of your persona, seeing how, for example, the parts of you that glower at the jerkface who just cut you off in traffic, would respond given other stimuli.

It can be kind of cathartic in a way. Sadly, this doesn't happen too often, either in acting or in gaming. I feel it's because we've built for ourselves a kind of ingrained sense of detatchment. This lets us distance ourselves from what is going on, keeping us from feeling foolish if we're caught doing something silly ("Oh, I was doing that ironically,") but it also keeps us from getting to step outside of our own experiences and truly embrace another self.

Either that or we keep cracking bad jokes about the name of the ship, or the fact that the party has a donkey, so it's like unlimited ass jokes time.

Maybe a little of column A, a little of column B. I find though, that I have the most fun, and the characters feel the most vibrant when they go for the gusto. When I say, 'you know what? I'm just going to do this and it will be awesome,' then it usually is. I've seen other people do this as well. My friend Frank has done this a few times. His last character, Edward Bartholomew MacPhail was larger than life. On the surface his mannerisms were completely ridiculous, like something you might expect from an ostentatious Ming the Merciless impersonator, with a more benevolent megalomania, but that's what makes him so completely awesome. He knew what he wanted and was not afraid to go after it.

I hope the character I end up playing in this Star Wars game ends up as much a bon viveur as that. Given the kind of adventure the setting lends itself to, I'm pretty hopeful this will be the case.

Tomorrow, I'll include the backstory for my character, one Jenros Vel, MASTER OF THE well, okay maybe not.

From a Galaxy Far Far Away...

2009-09-18T23:47:00.000-07:00

My friend Mike is starting up a Star Wars role-playing game, and I get to be in it.

This is all kinds of awesome, and here's why:

Star Wars is a setting that I've never really played in before but at the same time it's something that is so iconic, because well, it's Star Wars, which means that I get the excitement of something new and the comfort of the familiar at the same time!

Also, seriously, it's Star Wars. Playing in this game means I get to go out and have adventures in space, flying in spaceships, fighting the Empire, shooting lasers, talking to Wookiees... man, that gets me all giddy just thinking about it. I mean come on, who hasn't wanted to make friends with a walking carpet bag and then go flying around the galaxy having adventures and fighting evil?

Nobody, that's who. Star Wars speaks to something deep inside everyone's cultural experience (hell, for most of us it is a part of everyone's cultural experience), because the characters and the story are so universally human. They're archetypal examples of figures that span the human experience time and again. Joseph Campbell wrote about this in The Hero with a Thousand Faces, which George Lucas drew on when making the movies. So Star Wars is something that reaches out and grabs everyone.

And it's such a staggeringly huge setting. It takes place in a galaxy far far away, as well you know, with whole encyclopedias and almanacs dedicated to detailing the various planets, species, weapons, ships, customs, etc. of this universe it inhabits, a handy summary of this is included in every sourcebook for the game! This makes it incredibly easy for me to figure out a place for my character, since there's a rich history to draw upon. And being able to learn more details of the setting means I can build this rich history and add another layer of immersion to the game world, so that I can make a Knowledge check and be like, "Why yes, it was in fact the Sith Lord Exar Kun who, along with Ulic Qel-Droma used the Dark Reaper superweapon to devastate Yavin back in the days of the Old Republic*," instead of having to basically parrot whatever it is the GM tells me is the stuff I know to everyone else. It makes me feel more involved, more invested in the game.

And most importantly... this is the kind of adventure I love. It's so melodramatic. Heroes are larger than life, villains are undeniably evil, and a sense of mystery pervades even the most mundane parts of the setting. This makes for rich, cinematic gaming, and it's the kind of stuff I crave.

Finally: Wookiees. I'm just sayin': Roooorwooorghworgh.

*I am not making this up. That this is a factual statement in the world of Star Wars makes me squee with delight.

T3h Games!

2009-09-17T20:53:00.000-07:00

So today I entered an Essay contest for the ESRB which asked why I thought game rating summaries were important. That got me thinking about why it is that games are so important:

Games bring us together. During childhood, I bonded with my family over games. My dad and I fought off demons together in Act Raiser, looked for the Seven Mystic Runes of the 7th Saga, even stomped around as Godzilla saving both Tokyo AND Outer Space. How's that for being involved with your kids? Nothing quite like beating up UFOs and King Gidorah AT THE SAME TIME to warm the heart and create memories that last a lifetime. We still talk about games to this day, reminiscing about how we never did stop the Warlock in Shadowgate. Freaking Shadowgate.

Yeah, that sad little "you're out of lives" jingle from Mario Bros. has NOTHING on the grinning specter of Death looming ominously on your TV screen, mocking your inadequacies with his silent rictus, and those soulless, all-consuming, ever baleful eyes.

But I digress. It wasn't just father-son bonding that these games fostered. The advent of the n64, and Goldeneye in particular helped me make friends and influence people. Well, I shot them a bunch with the golden gun anyway. It's a kind of influence.

What really made the game great was that it allowed up to four people to play the game at once, so my friends and I would sit there, joking and trash-talking with each other, while we fought to the death on screen. Unless you were a vile screen-watcher, in which case the fighting spilled over into the meat world, and rightly so.

The best thing about Goldeneye, though, was what its success bore: Perfect Dark.

Easily one of the best games I've ever played, Perfect Dark brought my sister Sierra and I together like nothing else. We could spend hours together, fighting bots, fighting against each other, but never fighting each other. This game provided rocket-powered catharsis, and a competitive story mode I have not seen in any game before or since. Also, it had this guy:

It's time to admit it, games are how we relate to each other. My group of friends comes together to play role-playing games, which gives us an excuse to socialize with one another. My girlfriend and I play games of Scrabble together on quiet nights. Earlier tonight I played Warhammer 40k with my best friend, and we spent the whole time laughing.

The point of all of this is that games bring us together. Through them, people get involved with one another across barriers both real and imagined. Anyway, that's all I can really think to say for now. But I do believe I'll write more about this subject soon.

30 Days of Updates (Save Ends)

2009-09-16T13:46:00.001-07:00

In an effort to jam pack my blog with awesomeness, well, really just to see if I can update on a regular basis, I am going to update my blog at least once a day for the next thirty days. Hopefully I can stick to it, rain or shine. We'll see what kind of stuff* this brings.

*I reserve the right to substitute things instead of stuff with no prior notice.

Don't worry, I'm from Space.

2009-09-16T00:05:00.000-07:00

So a while back, all of the cool kids decided that they would make web logs, or "blogs." These "blogs" contained the collective thoughts of humanity and were a repository of the wisdom of the ages, a digital Library of Alexandria. However, like the Library of Alexandria, they too were besieged by Nega Beings from the Xth Dimensionoid, hell bent on revenge. Such was the force of this manxome foe, that a blog force had to be created, and even that was not enough. So with the help of a bunch of crackling lightning and some totally sweet theme music, they combined, forming the blog-o-sphere. Even then, if they hadn't formed that energy sword right after the last commercial break we might not be here today.

I know because I was there. I saw it all (from Space, naturally). Now that the world is safe for blogination I'm making one. This is it. I'm not really sure what else to say.