I was reading some blog reading this morning as I woke up with the normal laziness of creating fantasy stories in real time for 11 solid hours. Many of you would call that Exalted gaming, but it really is about creating a story constantly. I don’t plan my adventures. At the best, I have a rough idea of what is going on and then just tell 3-7 players to “be your character.” In the 10-12 hour gaming sessions that I play, you cannot plan that well. If you have a straight plot, they’ll avoid it or do something you don’t plan. If you have an idea of how they can defeat some bad guy, they’ll find another way. Instead, I create my worlds by knowing their state, then seeing how things respond, plan, or react around that.
2008-03-02
2008-01-15
Playing different than myself
Had an off day yesterday. I was looking forward to playing in Fightertype’s Exalted game (set in the same universe as my own, using NPC characters from a solo game I ran), but I really wasn’t doing that great. I’m playing an interesting character concept, a female DB who wants to show that performance art with arrows is a valid form, but I seem to be playing a rather high-strung, rather short-tempered prima donna. Not sure if that is what I had in mind, but using her Temperance 2 as a guideline for actions seems to be leaning that way. Normally, I play shy, reserved characters but this is different from my norm.
In other news, I reached a major goal in one of the games I’ve been playing off and on Kingdom of Loathing. I finished one ascension (i.e. finished the game) and started my second. Kind of cool, since there are different challenges with the second ascension. I figured I was going with a hardcore, which means it is like starting from scratch (but you get nifty stuff later), but since I don’t know what it is like doing it softcore (you get to use the equipment from the last ascension), I’d just go with it. Last time, it took me 119 days of playing to finish. I suspect the same, but at 40 turns a day, that is fine with me. So… it’s a nice little thing.
Kitteh Braik (12%)
Scroll of Lands update (35%)
2007-10-02
Choices, choices
I need 11 work/home segments or 5.5 days to get my goal in biking. At 10 km per ride, it makes it a pretty even 110 km to go or just about that. It might be only 10 and something, but I’m not too worried. I think I can do it, though it will be a push to get it before it gets too nippy to really enjoy the bike riding. Unlike a Fluffy, who can work out five hours a week consistently, even an hour is a struggle for me.
I give five projects in the works right now, including two ongoing ones:
- Sepia Throne, my Exalted game
- College of Veils, the new Changling/Hero game I’m starting
- CuteGod and related work with BooGame
- Case of the Morning Zombies which I’m going to write in November
- Ponies Among Us, my 4E6 entry
Of course, I also have my ton of open source projects, Debian work, and everything else. As it always seems, the end of the year is packed. Just packed. But, I don’t think I can do all of that without burning out. So, I’m juggling the various things and seeing what I can handle. The two games are not that hard, most of them take less than a few hours during the week, then a day on the weekend (every two weeks and every four respectively). Morning Zombies is November and the beginning of December, so that is pretty well set.
It comes down to CuteGod verses Ponies. On one side, there is the rush of finally finishing something. CuteGod has been bothering me since I had to stop it, way back in July. But, all the hours I work on CuteGod are hours I don’t work on 4E6 which is something I really want to succeed at. I want to succeed at CuteGod just as much. Goddess, I hate having to decide on my projects.
Summer Biking: (292.2 of 400.0 km)
Change of Honor (3 of 4 rounds)
Another Werewolf’s Tail (3 of 4 rounds)
2007-07-17
Created to Fail
CuteGod Development: (44 / 172 requirements)
Wind, Bear, and Moon Proposal
Muddy Reflections Reading
Summer Biking: (162.7 / 400.0 km)
When you game, the last thing you want to do is have your character fail. Very few people want to roll their dice and barely struggle to do something the rest of the characters excel at. At least, that is what it seems like to me. When I create characters, normally I make them specialized in a few regions and ignore the rest. Basically “all-or-nothing.”
Last night, we played in a little Exalted adventure by fightertype. Its only going to be a few hours once a month, instead of bad movie night, but it will be set in the same world as my Sepia Throne game. Actually, it uses characters from the spin-off series from the original arc. My character, Wind-Sweat Dandelion Seeds, is not a character designed to succeed. Her average die pool is… four. If the die rolls of the night were any indication, I botch about 1 in 4 die rolls.
So, I created a character who will fail at even her primary thing. I mean, its an archer and a performance character, 6-7 dice each where I would have normally made them 9-10′s. Strange, but I think it is important to focus on “not succeeding” at times too. Regardless, I had a stitch with my botches and failures. For the same reason I think I’m a good storyteller makes it difficult for me to enjoy other storytellers. I’m too… flexible in what I want. I also run the game I want to play in, which typically means the people who have the most trouble in my game are the ones that I have the most trouble playing in theirs. Oh well, nature of the beast.
But, I’m planning on enjoying this character, not because I like playing, but because I am playing. I spend most my time running games that it is really nice to just sit back and let someone else create the stories.
2007-07-11
Thoughts on Exalted (2 of 2)
CuteGod Development: (7 / 171 requirements)
Wind, Bear, and Moon Proposal: (2 / 26 weeks)
Muddy Reflections Reading: (2 / 26 weeks)
Summer Biking: (124.6 / 400 km)
Here is the first bit, which I figured was actually two completely different commentaries on Exalted. Or at least my opinions on Exalted.
Needly to say, beyond the normal ideals of playing a game according to the published rules or playing based on what I think is fun, there are still aspects of Exalted that I find frustrating. Just like D20, I find most of the mechanics to be ad-hoc instead of based on a consistent system. I’m a bit too grounded into rules and guidelines, that I sometimes rail against things that don’t appear to be balanced against each other. For example, the ease that a Solar gets a perfect and how easy it is for the players to frustrate the hell out of me when my villians can’t even touch them because they negate everything. This ties into the idea that Exalted is about “being cool and slaughtering your enemies” though I’m lucky to get a good group that doesn’t go for the hack and slash approach of things; not that I would run anything like that.
2007-06-26
Currency in Fantasy Worlds
» My Father’s Bike: 0.714 (28,567 / 40,000 words)
» Wind, Bear, and Moon Query: 0.000 (0 / 26 weeks)
» Summer Biking: 0.228 (91.2 / 400 km)
Currency, it is a strange and terrifying thing. I mean, it is pretty simple since we are all used to dollars, euros, and yen. There are a ton others, but you get the idea at least. In Dangerous Journeys, they use the BUC to represent something costing about a dollar, so if you know that a fast meal costs $10, then it costs 10 BUC in that fantasy world. It basically uses price lists from today’s world to set the fantasy world. I will admit, this is my preferred system of handling prices. Or at least one aspect of my preferred system.
2007-06-19
The Last 24 Hours
» My Father’s Bike: 0.570 (22,814 / 40,000 words)
» Wind, Bear, and Moon Edited: 1.000 (4 / 4 weeks until 2007-06-15)
» Muddy Reflections Query: 0.333 (4 / 12 weeks until 2007-08-10)
» Summer Biking: 0.184 (73.4 / 400 km)
Another day without actual writing. Taking care of the tribble today since Fluffy is downtown babysitting. Hard work, since I usually lose myself during the day, but with Inigo, I have to pay attention every hour to let him out. Not that he actually wants to be let out, apparently. I was just told to let him out.
Since I decided I wanted to write a game to distract me from My Father’s Bike, I had all these ideas. Then I found the CuteGod Prototyping Challenge which is actually a cute idea. This guy creates game art and gives it away for free (damn impressive). He also gave a prototype idea for using his tiles with a little minicontest. It actually looks like a reasonable thing to do in a couple of days (weeks in reality) and would be a nice little “I did this.” I had a bit of trouble sleeping working on ideas for the game. I think I’ll do it since 4E6 hasn’t started yet. After gaming, of course. That will take precedence this weekend.
I’m getting back Wind, Bear, and Moon today. I’m also going to be creating the outlines for the next four books as part of my “series package” I’m going to be sending out as part of the proposal. I think I have a solid round of plots, well within my writing ability. The editor gave me a nice comment:
You did a super job.
I just hope it translates into publishers thinking the same thing. :) But, I think that submission is going out by Sunday and then I’ll be chewing on Inigo’s nails until I get a response. I’m also going to send out a letter to the Muddy Reflections query basically saying its a repeat query, but with proper postage. Since I figured I only have a small percentage change of getting published there (*pout*), it shouldn’t affect it significantly. Or, at least I really hope they love it, sent me a response, and then I look like an idiot for asking for another response.
I also worked on the XSD for Exalted over on patternspider.net. It seems like I’m actually getting some good progress and I can only hope that what I’m producing is actually helpful.
Found an interesting, for-sale knitting pattern: Viking Hats for Babies. I know there are a couple knitters who read my blog, so I figured I’d mention it.
2007-06-12
Plots, Puppies, Paychecks, and Problems
Still sick. Gaming was fun, not as exciting as the one before it, but it basically introduces a bunch of new characters and adds to the general plot going forward for the next couple of sessions. Call it a “wind up” session. In that aspect, I felt pretty good about it. However, my voice started to give out near the end of it and my ear hurt most of the day. On Sunday, Fluffy finally convinced me to go out for… things below and my ear still hurt, so I got a doctor’s appointment and found out that I have an ear infection. So, two more antibotics for a total of four in eight weeks and three days of swimmer’s ear. Hopefully, this one will actually work properly.
As for “things below.” Even though we still talk about Dante, Fluffy found a puppy by random wanderings of friends. So, on Sunday, after she spent three days driving an hour to visit the little brat, we picked up a new Keshound puppy named Inigo, named after his psuedo uncle, Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride. He has a black face and black socks, the rest of him is silver. Everyone at home and at work is cooing over him but I’m just glad the random messes will cut down in a month or two. If I can, I’ll post a picture of the little tribble so you can see what the big deal is. I still miss Dante, more than anyone else in my life at this point, but I’m very happy that Inigo will fill in at least some of the void that aches at Fluffy’s heart. In my case, I’ll just get a bigger heart to fit Dante’s memory and the new ones with Inigo.
We got two paychecks this week, only seven behind now. That means that I might be tiling my living room and altar room much sooner than planned, or I’ll be saving it up to pay next months bills. I suspect both, because it would be really, really nice not to housebreak a puppy on nasty carpet.
» My Father’s Bike: 0.570 (22,814 / 40,000 words)
» Wind, Bear, and Moon Edited: 0.750 (3 / 4 weeks until 2007-06-15)
» Muddy Reflections Query: 0.250 (9 / 12 weeks until 2007-08-10)
» Summer Biking: 0.162 (64.8 / 400 km)
2007-05-29
Weekend Fun
Didn’t get much writing done at all this weekend. Maybe a thousand words on Friday and not much else. Fluffy wasn’t up to exercising so, for the first time, I went to the health club by myself. Despite being sick and unable to swallow, I actually did a decent 1.45 miles in 30 minutes. And I can pull at least eighty pounds without too much trouble.
On Saturday, I had a great gaming session. I was afraid I wouldn’t make it, but I actually talked for nearly ten hours solid without too much trouble. Thank god for cough drops and lots of liquid. And way too many cans of Diet Coke. I had a lot of fun and everyone laughed throughout the game, so frankly I consider that the important parts.
Most of Sunday, I played Wii until my arms hurt and PS3 when they did. Fluffy dragged me out to go tile shopping and we found some lovely pieces of tile we might be putting in our living room. Though, the saleman thought that tiling the floor of a living room was very “strange.” Anyone seen it before or have opinions on putting tile down in living rooms? Monday was the same, except for the fourteen mile bike trip that Fluffy “inflicted” on me. After that, it was PS3, a movie, too much sushi, and moaning about not wanting to get up.
Fluffy read the first two chapters of my book, My Father’s Bike and had some nice compliments. It jumps around too much for her, since I made it topic-based instead chronological. I might consider switching it, but the formatting conventions aren’t there yet. I also found out Machine of Death is extending the reading time by a month, so I won’t hear any results until July.
Other than that, I’m going to write a bit this week, play a few games, and maybe get in a bit of programming. Fightertype told me that I did her Itrifore world in Hero System 5th Edition, she’d run it, so I’m playing around with how to set up her world to fit that game mechanic.
» My Father’s Bike: 0.144 (11,485 / 80,000 words)
» Wind, Bear, and Moon Edited: 0.250 (3 / 4 weeks until 2007-06-15)
» Muddy Reflections Query: 0.083 (11 / 12 weeks until 2007-08-10)
» Summer Biking: 0.161 (64.4 / 400 km)
2007-04-17
A Frustrating Weekend
This weekend, Fluffy had a belt testing and went out town for the entire weekend. She made her belt and is now a Senior Red in Hapkido. That means only three more belts until Black Belt (Junior Deputy, Senior Deputy, and Black). If everything continues as planned, she should hit her black belt right about the time we are planning on moving to Iowa.
As for me, my weekend alternated between frustrating and good.
First the good: gaming was a stitch. I was depressed for the first two hours or so, but I got into the groove and had some fun. People laughed and enjoyed themselves, which was the point. Bunch of magic items got dropped into the player’s hands, including some Heartstone Bracers and female-shape plate which uteck is planning on having shaped to fit him. Interesting characters, interesting locations, and a really cool plot we all came up with that I just have to go with. I actually “killed off” about half the party, but no one really died. There was a nasty botch on one roll so instead of killing them for real, I just gave them a little Wyld mutation that I feel adds to the character. And scienceprincess‘s character got a third eye which I thought was just a cool visual for basically the party’s mage.
The rest of the weekend, not so fun: I had an idea of how to produce a better-quality map with a bit of programming. So, what I thought would be a two day effort to get a prototype (just to see if it works) ended up being two days to get just the windows up and running and a big black screen where I should have a beautifully rendered map of Creation or some other fantasy world. In fact, it is quite depressing in the completely lack of “stuff” I wanted to see. I know that it will eventually work, or I hope it will. I’m going to give it a few days to get out of my head and see if the idea is even viable. Basically, I’m trying to write a Google map based system that lets me generate height maps of a fantasy world, then use that to create the height and depth regions of my vector map. In addition, a good quality terrain map would let me create a bas relief map of a fantasy world. Bas relief happens to be my second favorite type of map.
I also finally got feedback on my Scroll of the Lands:
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