| Looking for players for a new DnD 3.5 game. |
[Dec. 16th, 2009|08:52 pm] |
EDIT: Lolololol
Forgot to mention, it'll be in Findlay, Ohio.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Probably gonna' cross-post this to Facebook, as well. I'm looking to get a new group of players for a game of Dungeons and Dragons. Below are the general statistics.
( Game Statistics )
The following is the basic concept of the campaign. Remember that this is but a general outline - it is not the full list of details. It is, however, enough to grant players enough information to properly influence character creation.
( Campaign Background )
Players who provide me with various "fluff pieces" will begin the campaign with additional experience points. The components that are eligible for starting XP are listed below by the amount of XP they are worth. These items are mostly cumulative.
( XP Awards )
If I can get the players, I'm hoping to have the first session planned for the first Wednesday of January - that would be January sixth, 2010. |
|
|
| Meeeeeeeeeh. |
[Nov. 16th, 2009|10:51 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Sadville | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  cold | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Noooooone. | ] |
As posted on DA.
----------------
I must have the worst luck in the world. Today is such a horrible day. I thought I'd go to sleep early, and not wake up until tomorrow. Such was not to be. I thought, at least, sleeping might help make up for the shittyness that was earlier today. Nope. Things only got worse.
Now it feels like someone I'd like to consider a good friend hates me. It seems like she's constantly avoiding me and ignoring me, and when I finally got a hold of her she was so...cold. I don't know any other way to put it.
Am I just a bad friend? Did I do something to deserve this? I wish I knew what I did, so that I could try to fix it. >.<
EDIT
----
Oh, wow.
You told me that you wanted me to leave you alone, because you were to busy to talk since you were doing school stuff. But you have the time to do a facebook meme?
Ouch. Damn, that stings. TT-TT |
|
|
| Trying to Reach Out... |
[Nov. 8th, 2009|11:40 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Between Days... | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  frustrated | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Something playing on Cold Case | ] |
It's insanely frustrating when you're trying to reach out and help a friend, but they just ignore you.
>. |
|
|
| Feel Like Crawling into a Hole... |
[Nov. 6th, 2009|09:52 pm] |
There's a girl I know. Years ago, I fell in love with her. Hard. We used to talk all the time, but we never officially dated. She didn't want to get involved in a long-distance relationship. But she was so...I don't know how to put it. She was everything I wanted in a woman, at the time. Fiercely independent, she knew exactly what she wanted... I let myself become sexual with her. And things were good, for a while. But then my life was starting to overwhelm me, and I did something stupid. I loosened my bond with her, and put her on the back-burner in my mind so that I could focus on other things.
Just today...I saw a journal she had posted on Deviant Art, where she stated that her father had hit her. And I felt so...hollow. Like someone had carved out my core. What hit me worst is that... I wasn't there. I told her that I loved her, and that I would always be there to listen to her problems. But I...I made a choice, even if it was a subconscious one...and I chose to fucking IGNORE her.
But all in all, I guess this was an educational experience. I always knew that I'm a horrible person... But I never knew just how deep that aberration went. Because, the kicker? I was more upset when I found out that she already had a boyfriend. What the Hell is that, huh? How do I even get OFF feeling hurt about that? I had no right to expect that she would put her life on hold for me.
I guess she was right not to want to get involved in something long distance. I can't even imagine how much worse it would have been for her if I had been her boyfriend and then ignored her through all of that.
I feel so selfish... I can't stop wondering if this is something I deserved. I have a rule. Never be sexually intimate, on-line or offline, with anyone I'm not dating. I've only broken that rule with two people. Her, and one other. But to have this happen, after I told myself I'd never break that rule...
Is this what I had in store for me? |
|
|
| I am Master; Ruler of Lives. |
[Nov. 5th, 2009|11:49 am] |
WARNING: This entire journal is just me writing out some thoughts so that I can later organize them properly. While there is a consistent theme, here, don't expect it to be organized coherently. XD
( NSFW ) |
|
|
| New Story Idea! XD |
[Nov. 4th, 2009|11:14 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Hoooome | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  creative | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | None | ] |
So, I was out helping Mary clean out the last of the trash from her old apartment today. Later, during the evening, we were talking about a tiiiiny porn pic that she and her old room mates found a long time ago. She mentioned that she realized it was the same size as the pictures in a high school year book.
Then I said, "New story idea! Pornography High!"
XD |
|
|
| What an Absence. XD |
[Nov. 3rd, 2009|11:51 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Findlay, Ohio | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  blank | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Genocide, by Ra | ] |
Man, I haven't used this thing in, like, FOREVER. About the time I moved over to Myspace, and then onto Facebook. XD And even recently, I've been posting my journals on Deviant Art, instead of here. rofl Whatever. I'm going to try and update this thing at least once every weekday. Not so sure 'bout the weekends, though.
As early in the day as it is, not much to report. So far, it's turned out to be a rather depressing day. One of my girlfriends is stuck in a hospital over in... Minnesota, I think? It's some "M" state. The other is fighting with her mother, whose making her feel like a horrible daughter with uncalled-for words. And one of my friends is having some kind of trouble, it seems. She seems to be depressed about something, but I haven't gotten a chance to talk to her about it. D: I left her my new number, and I'm hoping she'll give me a call or I'll see her online sometime soon.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In other news, I'm still not completely settled since the move. XD I've got a bunch of stuff I kept, that I thought I'd end up using at some point, but it's all just collecting dust. XD Ah well. I have laundry to do later today. TT-TT
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Speaking of the day's plans, I've got my DnD game today. It's one of the two days a week that I run. Tuesdays and Thursdays. Warren runs on Saturdays. Plus my other group on Sundays.
Man, I play too much DnD. XD
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So, as some of you may know from status messages on Facebook, I'm looking for another girlfriend. It's been something that's been percolating in the back of my mind for quite some time, now, but I put it off so that I could better deal with the current events of my life. Troubles with the lovers I already have taking first place in that list, but other, more domestic issues have arisen over the last few months.
But now that I'm a lot more settled, and have refocused the direction I intend to take my life in, I feel that it's time to move on with that goal again. As all of the lovers I have at the moment are long-distance, I would be happier if I could find something much closer to home. Unfortunately, I live in a town full of the sludgy bottom of the gene pool. I live in a town where most of the people can't do basic subtraction, multiplication or division. XD And the few people that I do feel some sort of attraction for, are either not looking for a relationship or are already in one which is monogamous. Ah, the highlights of my life. XD |
|
|
| Hasta Manana, Amigos. (I wish I could do ~ symbols...) |
[Aug. 11th, 2008|01:19 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Finally Home | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  content | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | None | ] |
Anyway, Hooray for a fun Spadecon! :D
Jori wanted me to post, letting people know we made it back safely.
So here I am. Posting.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have an backlogged avanlanche of DA messages to check... TT-TT |
|
|
| DnD Quiz |
[Mar. 20th, 2008|03:47 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Faerun, Apparently. | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | calm | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | The Memory Remains, by Metallica | ] |
I Am A: Chaotic Good Human Sorcerer (3rd Level)
Ability Scores:
Strength-13
Dexterity-15
Constitution-14
Intelligence-12
Wisdom-15
Charisma-14
Alignment:
Chaotic Good A chaotic good character acts as his conscience directs him with little regard for what others expect of him. He makes his own way, but he's kind and benevolent. He believes in goodness and right but has little use for laws and regulations. He hates it when people try to intimidate others and tell them what to do. He follows his own moral compass, which, although good, may not agree with that of society. Chaotic good is the best alignment you can be because it combines a good heart with a free spirit. However, chaotic good can be a dangerous alignment because it disrupts the order of society and punishes those who do well for themselves.
Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.
Class:
Sorcerers are arcane spellcasters who manipulate magic energy with imagination and talent rather than studious discipline. They have no books, no mentors, no theories just raw power that they direct at will. Sorcerers know fewer spells than wizards do and acquire them more slowly, but they can cast individual spells more often and have no need to prepare their incantations ahead of time. Also unlike wizards, sorcerers cannot specialize in a school of magic. Since sorcerers gain their powers without undergoing the years of rigorous study that wizards go through, they have more time to learn fighting skills and are proficient with simple weapons. Charisma is very important for sorcerers; the higher their value in this ability, the higher the spell level they can cast.
Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)
Detailed Results:
Alignment:
Lawful Good ----- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (19)
Neutral Good ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (24)
Chaotic Good ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (26)
Lawful Neutral -- XXXXXXXXXX (10)
True Neutral ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (15)
Chaotic Neutral - XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (17)
Lawful Evil ----- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (18)
Neutral Evil ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (23)
Chaotic Evil ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (25)
Law & Chaos:
Law ----- XXXXX (5)
Neutral - XXXXXXXXXX (10)
Chaos --- XXXXXXXXXXXX (12)
Good & Evil:
Good ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXX (14)
Neutral - XXXXX (5)
Evil ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXX (13)
Race:
Human ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXX (14)
Dwarf ---- XXXXXX (6)
Elf ------ XXXXXXXX (8)
Gnome ---- XXXXXX (6)
Halfling - XXXXXXXX (8)
Half-Elf - XXXXXXXXXXX (11)
Half-Orc - XXXXXXXX (8)
Class:
Barbarian - (-2)
Bard ------ XXXX (4)
Cleric ---- (-4)
Druid ----- (-23)
Fighter --- (-4)
Monk ------ (-25)
Paladin --- (-21)
Ranger ---- (-6)
Rogue ----- XXXX (4)
Sorcerer -- XXXXXXXX (8)
Wizard ---- XXXXXX (6) |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Feb. 19th, 2008|08:59 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Home | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  cheerful | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Get Out Alive, by Three Days Grace | ] |
( Stolen Quizzes ) |
|
|
| Is This an Issue? |
[Feb. 19th, 2008|08:51 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Home | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  discontent | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | None | ] |
So, I've noticed something...odd lately. Truth be told, I've been experiencing it as long as I can remember, but having been listening to some great auditory illusions has really made me wonder about it.
See, when my right ear experiences any kind of close stimulation, I get this really queer sensation shooting down my spine. I don't quite know how to explain it properly. It's like, even if you just get up in my ear and whisper, it's like a jolt of electricity constantly runs up and down the right side of my back. The weird thing is, this doesn't happen with my left ear. Only the right one. I have no clue what that means. XD Does anyone else?
--------------------------------------------
And if you're wondering what it is that I've been listening to, it's these samples.
http://www.savemtkids.org/2007/03/26/incredible-auditory-illusions/
Trust me. Go there. Make sure you have headphones in, because you won't get quite the right effect if you don't. They're WONDERFUL. You actually think that you're in the example yourself. |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Dec. 16th, 2007|09:18 am] |
THE BEST EMO QUIZ: what kind of emo are you?
You are Nerdy/Geek Emo. You don't put in effort to look exceptionally good. You buy clothes that are cheap and don't care too much about what they look like. You are really just an apathetic person waiting for something interesting to happen.
Take this quiz!
Quizilla |
Join
| Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code
|
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Dec. 7th, 2007|05:29 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Home | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | blank | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Total Silence | ] |
So, as it turns out, I'll be running yet another group in addition to the one I've recently been talking about. This one is going to just be close friends, but I still need to come up with a place for us to meet, since Brian wants to join this one too, but isn't allowed over at my place.
Great job, Warren. XD
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
YES, WEEKEND. Let's see...what do I need to work on?
1. User Friendly.
2. Smadja/Barrier/Whatever I end up calling it.
3. TOGA.
4. My letter to Pet...
5. Laundry needs to be done.
6. I should probably start work on Jynnx's story, too.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I really should see if restoring Windows doesn't fix whatever problem is preventing me from playing Oblivion. I never thought I'd ever say this, but... I miss Cyrodil. And it's not even the land that bothers me; it's the people in it. And even then, it's not everyone; it's the hom race, the Imperials. They bug me. They do do more than bug me; they bother me.
I've never placed much respect in a society that thinks the use of violence to force those around them to adhere to their beliefs and philosophies, because they think that their such things are somehow "better". If they really are that much better, than force and violence wouldn't be necessary from the start.
That, and Imperials are just down-right...arrogant. They run around with a holier-than-thou attitude, seeing themselvs as the heroes of all of Tamriel. Yet, all the problems that have happened in which they were involved; only happened because of their need to fuck with everyone around them. If the Imperials hadn't annexed Morrowind, Dagoth Ur would have been content to topple the Tribunal and leave the rest of Tamriel alone. If the Mage's Guild didn't have such a heavy history of necromancer persocution (which, by the way, as with all official Mage's Guild dogma starts in Cyrodil; where the HQ is), they would not have rise to the attempt of destroying the guild. Really, the only catastrophe that isn't directly their fault is the invastion of the Prince of Rape. I'd like to be able to blame it on the Imperial attitude of religious intolerance, especially towards Daedra worship, but Mehrunes Dagon would have pushed foreward regardless; it isn't a matter of justice or vegence for him, it's about fulfilling his namesakes. By taking over everything he can, and destroying the rest of it.
Now, that's not to say that the Cyrodilic nature of intolerance won't get them in trouble with the other Daedra lords...
Hm... Now there's a mod idea.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I need to get to work on Pet's Xmas present, too. I have some ideas, but I need to find out what's the most feasible for what I want to do.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Need to iron out webcomic ideas. I'd like to to start one, probably partnered with someone else; them illustrating, while I write.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
|
|
| Dear Pet. |
[Dec. 6th, 2007|03:58 pm] |
OMG
OMG
OMG
It all finally arrived.
Thank you, Pet. Gods, I love you.
<3
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On another note; Nothing's bringing me down from Cloud Nine for the rest of the night. Probably for a good long while after that, too. *sighs* |
|
|
| Gaming Community Schisms |
[Dec. 5th, 2007|06:16 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Home | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | restless | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Goodbye Beautiful Day, by Aviatic | ] |
So, we have another two-hour delay today. Though, this one wasn't planned. It's actually snowing with some energy, outside.
Well, of course it's snowing outside. If it were snowing inside, Gaea and I would be having some very potent words.
And if I'd known there was going to be a delay, I'd have gone back to sleep for a couple of hours. For some reason, I was up and awake at 2:30 this morning. DX
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So, today's the day I start DMing for Brian's group. I have my own copy of the PHB and DMG, so that's not an issue. What is an issue is getting monster stats. I'm waffling between writing them out by hand, or scanning/printing them out. Meh.
Today's session is just going to be an introductory one. The players are going to get acquainted with the new world the characters find themselves dumped in. They're going to find out what in the Nine Hells is going on, and how it relates to them.
They're also going to find out that I don't give nearly as much XP for combat as other DM's. I hope these people can roleplay, or it's going to be a long time before they hit level 10.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So... I seem to be doing pretty good with this gaming theme, here, so let's keep on that, shall we?
A while ago, while I was taking a cursory glance over indie TTRPG (Table-Top Role-Playing Game, obviously) publishers, I came across The Forge. Place looked nice enough, but, something said, by one Ron Edwards, disturbed me a little. Both as a gamer, and as a (insert whatever term here) master; but most importantly, as a designer. There were a myriad of individual little things I would like to nit-pick apart, but what I want to focus on right now is the nature of the article as a whole.
http://www.indie-rpgs.com/_articles/system_does_matter.html
The entire purpose of the article is to serve as disproof towards the concept that, if the G/D/P/WM knows what he or she is doing, than the system of a game really doesn't matter in regards to how enjoyable it is. Now, this attempt in and of itself is just fine and dandy. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions (so long as those opinions are the same as mi-...never mind. ~_^ ), and it would be ignorance to suggest that, with however many people are gaming on a daily basis today, there aren't some gamers in the community who fall under the tone of the article.
But...I guess I would be lying if what bothers me isn't their very existence in the first place. I don't mean that they bother me in the sense that I want to run them out of town for their heathenist ways, but more along the lines of, it bothers me because I'm seeing more and more of them, and less and less of us. For sanity's sake, let me lay down a couple of definitions.
The them that I refer to, I call Sheet-Hawkers. That is, they rely almost entirely on the mechanics of a game; on how the numbers stack or fall, on how the clockwork inner-cogs turn to make the rules work. In their most extreme form, they are rules-lawyers. They contend that it is the rules of a game that make the game, and everything else is secondary in importance. In their least extreme form, they attempt to add too much a dose of realism; so much so, that they end up killing the experience for the group of gamers that I belong to. On average, though, their eyes never, or rarely, leave the statistical information on their character sheet, especially when they're trying to come up with a solution to a problem. If the answer isn't there, chances are most of them aren't going to come up with one. Hence, the term Sheet-Hawker. They watch their CS the way a wild hawk were watch her prey before striking.
So, who is the us that I prescribe to? We are almost, if not absolutely, the polar opposite to the Sheet-Hawkers. If they are purely the Gamers in RPG, than we are the Role-Players. We prefer a good inter-character banter session over combat; unless that combat contains some serious story-driving objects. For us, the rules exist for the same reason that you might find a metal railing on a bridge or mountain road that takes a sharp turn before a cliff. You hope you never have to use them, and you know they're only there to at least try to keep you from falling to your doom. In this sense, the rules become secondary to story, RP, and how the players interact with the game world "around" them. It's more of a way to prevent the players, and even the GM, from squabbling over what does or does not happen; because when a situation cannot be resolved with reason between them, the rules provide a (hopefully) linear and streamlined solution to the conflict. In the most extreme incarnation, which even I don't like, we can be so free-form with it that we may as well not even have bothered buying and bringing the books to the table; since they're not even going to be cracked open once.
Mind you, that these are both extreme generalizations. Only an contemptuous idiot would think that these definitions are exact and absolute. As with any group of people, there are exceptions to every rule, and members who are more a middle-ground between the two than either one dichotomy itself.
You may be wondering, then, what the problem I have is. Well, part of it is the obvious. We're losing ground to the Sheet-Hawkers. That is to say, every year, there are less of us in the community, while more SH's step in to take those new holes. And while I don't have game rules, this causes a severe issue for me. I don't like playing with these kinds of people. Yes, I like the fighting aspect of it. Yes, I love shoving a fireball down some one's throat. But, I like to do that in line with not only the character, but also in the story. I like games where my actions don't only have direct consequences ("I cast fireball, and deal 20 damage"), but also long-term effects that can come back days, weeks, even months or years in the future to pat me on the back or bite me in the ass.
The other part of the problem is that, I can't help but wonder. With more and more people coming into the gaming community who are concerned more with the rules than the game, what does that mean for the future of the community as a whole? I mean to say, why are they, why are we, still playing these games? For what they want, it'd be much easier, much simpler, to buy a computer or video game and play that. There'd be no mess involved (of paper, pencils, etc), not to mention it'd be a lot faster to set up and get straight to playing. So I have to ask; is that what the TTRPG community is going to eventually mutate into? Just another adjunct to the DRPG (Digital Role-Playing Game) market? Will publishing books and table-top materials become a thing of the past, obsolete, and leave us with nothing more than crap like Dungeons and Dragon's Online (where are the dragons, people?
But the real question is, who will care if that does happen? By that point, I don't think my kind of gamers will still exist. At least, not in any significant numbers. And the Sheet-Hawkers, who will already be the majority of the gaming community, won't notice any real difference; only in how they interface with the game. So will gamers like me become some kind of legend, as the people with enough patience to sit down at a table for hours and play the game without "real visuals"? Or will we be the bogeyman, the caveman even; a throwback to an archaic gaming age that everyone assumes was, in effect, barbaric and primitive?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Methinks that my brain works far too much. If thoughts were money.
Whee. |
|
|
| 24 Hours? Yeah, I can do it. |
[Dec. 4th, 2007|04:16 pm] |
So...
Remember how I talked about DMing a DnD game at PlaNet for Brian? Well, as it turns out, that's not exactly what he wanted. The first difference, is that he wasn't asking me to start up a different group away from Josh's game. He actually wants me to step in and take over for Josh. Mm... Okay. Secondly, they aren't doing it at PlaNet, but rather George House.
So, once I got this details, my "Yes" answer didn't change.
Oh, wait a second. There's just one problem with that...
They're meeting again tomorrow, and want me start then.
...
Well, that's what I get for not getting all the crucial details. X3
BUT IT WILL PREVAIL! 24 hours is more than enough time for me to come up with a good, working campaign. Just to give you a frame of reference of just how much enough time that is, I managed to come up with overall plot ideas, a map of the section of the world the players are going to be in (including towns, and important places), and a world back-story all just in school today.
Like, in a single period.
And since we had a 2 hour delay today, we had shortened periods.
Like, 20 minute periods. Well, the one I did this all in was 20. Second period (the one I did it in) and eighth always get gipped 10 minutes for some reason. *shrugs*
At any rate, it's a good thing I have some 3rd ed books. That's what they're running. Well, 3.5, technically, but the difference is more or less negligable. So... Checklist of what I need to get done by 4 tomorrow.
1. Some NPCs
2. A campaign starter
3. Plans to fix the PC's if Josh overpowered them.
4. Reacquaint myself with the Third Edition rules.
5. Copy some basic monsters for random encounters
6. Come up with miniquests
7. Figure out how the plot as a whole is going to unfold.
Well, wish me luck! :D |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Dec. 4th, 2007|09:03 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Out the Door | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  listless | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Taka-Taka-Taka | ] |
Two-hour delay for school, today. Well, looking back on what was said yesterday, I know it was either today or tomorrow. I'm pretty sure it was for today, though. In either case, it isn't labeled in the handbook; I already looked. I tried IMing Brian, but it doesn't look like he's actually at the computer. Ah well. If it's not today, I'll get a detention. Big deal. Pft.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So I started work on User Friendly again, doing yet another edition update. This would technically bring UF up to third edition, but seeing as that's three editions in the span of a year and a half, I'm going to market it as the first. Maybe I could just pretend the other editions never existed, or maybe acknowledge their existance but call them the Alpha and Beta editions.
So why, if I've done three editions in such a, relatively, short span of time, am I doing yet another?
When I first began work on User Friendly, I hade two goals in mind. First, that it should be one of, if not the, most open-ended table top RPG in terms of system mechanics; that is, that it should allow players to envision virtually any character and any world, and then allow that character and world to be brough to life. Secondly, that it should be simple, fast and bare-bones so that GMs/DMs/what-have-you have unlimited room to build their own world from the ground up.
The problem is not with the first goal, but the second. I do understand the reason a niche for such games exists within the gaming community. Yes, I think there are times when base, fleshless system mechanics are helpful; especially as a sort of "portal drug" to the bigger, badder RPGs out there like DnD and Rifts. And even I enjoy playing them myself, from time to time, as a sort of "recharge" period for my creative energies. However, that simply is not the direction I want to take with my projects. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that I want to create games so hopeless complex, convoluted, heavy-worded and needlessly and redundently overcomplicated (I'm looking at you, Siembieda *glare*). I do, however, want to make games hat have a certain level of refined complexity to them, to the point where just enough detail is added to make the game more interesting, albeit at the cost of making any given event take less time to resolve.
Over the years, I've developed my own way of dealing with system rules. Most RPGs just throw them in wherever they seem to fit, and from an Old-School formatting PoV, this makes sense. I mean, it's perfectly logical to throw in the descriptions of how money works in the game into the economics/equipment chapter. However, from the PoV of a player or game master who wants to be able to cross-reference rules of different types, not to mention players and game masters who don't want to flip through an entire rule book to find a particular system, this is more of a hindrance than a help. That's why I always collect the overall game rules (mind you these are the rules that apply to the game as a whole; situational systems, like the mechanics of character powers, follow the same format as OS), in two chapters; one for story-telling systems (such as the flow of time, movement rates, falling damage, etc) and then one for combat systems (such as how to resolve an attack, what damage is and how to calculate it, etc). These chapters are then split into two sections; one for the basic game systems which are all you really need to follow in order to play the game effectively, and then one for the more complex systems which are there to add an extra element of realism to the game, but aren't inherent requirments of how the game actually works.
To make a long story short (too late, 'eh?), I'm doing another edition of User Friendly because I no longer want to have the game as simplistic as it was. Originally, it was all based on d6's; every roll you made was d6's. The purpose of this was simple; what's the most common type of die you encounter on a day-to-day basis? I bet it's not a d20, d12, d10 or even d4; and I guarantee it's not a d100 (unless you make d100's...). It's a d6. That's the one almost everyone has at least one of. Why? Who knows. That's just how the world has turned out to work. But I realized that that really limited the functionality of UF. If you had a power that did a maximum of 35 damage; how would you resolve that? The most obvious ways would be to either make a roll of 5d6+5, or 6d6-1. Both of these have inherent problems. The first one makes it impossible to any less than 10 damage. The other prevents you from achieving the fullest potential of the designated die roll. Now it's more of a d? system. That is, a wide variety of dice rolls are used, ranging from a mere d2 all the way up to d100 (percentile) rolls. The main purpose of this is the added numerical variety.
But I suppose all of this is irrelevant, as I've hit up against a...wall. A self-imposed glass ceiling, you could say. See, User Friendly is not hte only game I've ever made. Not by far. And while it is one I'm not too sure about selling (not because I don't think it will sell; I know it will probably sell rather well), I have others that I do plan to make a profit off of. But this smacks me in two ways, ethical and practical. I've never really been comfortable with the idea of making people pay for entertainment. As far as I see it, entertainment is vital cog in the machine that is life. It's one of those few things that seperate actually living from simply surviving. And I don't know about you, but I'd rather not survive if I could never live again.
This means that I don't necessarily like the idea of selling my creations. Take UF, for example. Once this new edition is finished, it's going right up online like all the others. All you'll have to do is click a few buttons, and download the book straight off the net. But with my other creations, including my other current project, I have...designs for the income. And yet, even if I manage to get past my ethical dillema (it's a matter of which matters more to me; my Master and my Pet, or one of my lesser ethical standards), I run into the practical issue.
How, exactly, does one go about publishing a table-top? I'm sure it must be a little more complicated than going to a publishing house and saying, "Print this. I want income." I mean, I could go to one of the already established RPG publishers, but I'm really not willing to let their hands into my pockets. I could try to publish it myself, but that requires money I don't even have yet. Then there's Lulu.com, but... I really don't trust that place. Not yet. It smacks of scam, of "we'll take most of your profits. Now bend over, bitch, thanks," to me.
Ah well. An answer will come, it always does.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For some reason or another, I can't play Oblivion anymore. I don't get what the problem is. I installed my graphics card, and I even reinstalled my drivers in case that was the problem. I'm still getting a "No Go, Boss." It's really weird, not to mention frustrating. I don't not have anything now that I didn't have before the system restore, but it still won't run. Grr.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Speaking of the restore. I got a virus ages ago. Rather annoying one, though not necessarily as malicious as it could have been. All it did was open advertisements in my IE from time to time. Though, the longer I let my computer run, the more close together they would appear. It really did become a problem when I was playing Morrowind or Oblivion, though, because they'd pre-empt my game. And Oblivion's always had issues reloading after being minimized. That got real irritating, real quick.
So then I finally got around to backing up my data and doing a full system restore.
I started it at 3 in the afternoon.
I wasn't done until eight that night.
No shit.
And that was just restoring Windows; I didn't reinstall any of my programs until the day after.
So, I start having an anger break-down with my computer because it's even more noticably fucked up after the restore than before. Only, this was generic Windows crap that it pulls when you try to set stuff up for the first time. Then I had issues getting all of my hardware to read each other. Oh joy. I actually had to walk away for a while, because I was literally pissed off so badly that my eye started twitching. That doesn't happen often; though that's not to say it hasn't happened before.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brian wants me to run a DnD game over at PlaNet. He's playing with some Josh kid, who apparently doesn't do DnD worth shite. Yes, that "e" is there on purpose. At any rate. That means I have to eventually trudge down there to see if the owner charges people to sit around at a table and play table-tops. I don't think he does, at least, that's what I heard, but I'd rather not get any nasty surprises, ja?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I need to recharge my cell phone when I get home today.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I've slowly been regaining my book marks since the system restore. I had a retard moment, and didn't back up half the crap I shoud have. 2+ years of book marks being among them. Ah well. I've been focusing on my web comic and Furrie ones, as well as some art sites. And my ES mod sites.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hm. I really need to start writing my fursona's story. I know where I want to take Jynnx, I just haven't had the time to sit down and actaully write it out. Which is just as good, because it meant that my Pet uploaded hers to her lj before I really got anything of any consequence done.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hm.
Peace. |
|
|
| Skanked from ayeayes... |
[Dec. 3rd, 2007|07:56 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Home | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | blank | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | I Hate Everything About You, by Three Days Grace | ] |
| That Personality Test :: Your Results | | The latest personality test from ThatSurveySite... now featuring more and better questions than ever! | | | | Emotional (66%) | [.......|||..........] | Logical (34%) | | Concerned about self (42%) | [..........||........] | Concerned about others (58%) | | Atheist (64%) | [.......|||..........] | Religious (36%) | | Loner (42%) | [..........||........] | Dependent (58%) | | Laid-back (57%) | [.........|..........] | Driven (43%) | | Traditional (29%) | [..........||||......] | Rebel (71%) | | Impetuous (53%) | [.........|..........] | Organized (47%) | | Engineering mind (34%) | [..........|||.......] | Artistic mind (66%) | | Cynical (56%) | [.........|..........] | Idealist (44%) | | Follower (69%) | [......||||..........] | Leader (31%) | | Introverted (97%) | [.|||||||||..........] | Extroverted (3%) | | Conservative (37%) | [..........|||.......] | Liberal (63%) | | Logical (17%) | [..........|||||||...] | Romantic (83%) | | Uninterested (24%) | [..........|||||.....] | Sexual (76%) | | Insecure (31%) | [..........||||......] | Confident (69%) | | Selective (80%) | [....||||||..........] | Tolerant (20%) | | Pessimistic (58%) | [........||..........] | Optimistic (42%) | | Principled (25%) | [..........|||||.....] | Pragmatic (75%) | | Tolerant (9%) | [..........||||||||..] | Opinionated (91%) | | Humble (10%) | [..........||||||||..] | Elitist (90%) | | | | Take the test! |
|
|
|
| navigation |
| [ |
viewing |
| |
most recent entries |
] |
| [ |
go |
| |
earlier |
] |
| |
|
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
snowy1's journal
contemplative
