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Below are the most recent 15 friends' journal entries.

    Thursday, May 22nd, 2008
    macklinr
         		3:31a
    Damned Anonymous: Mission Statement
    It's 3:30am. I haven't slept since my nap earlier. I tried to an hour ago, and when I crawled into bed I had a million thoughts about Damned Anonymous.

    (I really should stat up my personal demon of being driven as a Sorcerer demon.)

    I figured out a lot of crap regarding how the play should feel, how the overall mechanics should work, how those mechanics serve the story and not vice versa, etc.

    Here's what might be the most important thing for me to keep in mind -- the cornerstone, if you will:
    Do you take the easy road and give into what the Evil demands, knowing that down that road lies ruin & doom for everyone you care about? Or do you fight against the Evil's compulsions, knowing that sometimes you'll fail hard and be worse off than if you had given in?

    That is what the game is about -- it's very much an exploration of character, of how ordinary people deal with life-destroying addiction & compulsion. It's not going to try to be anything beyond that -- but that land bears some wicked fruit.

    You know, a fucking happy game with ponies and shit.
    macklinr
         		12:13a
    So, I just downloaded the demo for Penny Arcade's new game, On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode One. After around 20 minutes of play, I'm damned sure going to buy a copy. For only $20, it has rumor & some decent game play (though, I've only made this observation after 20 minutes of play). I'm going to wait until June to get it, being slammed-busy and all, but yeah. This is on my much-play list.

    Anyway, check out the demo if you like PA, "pulpthulhu" style* CRPGs, or the like. I'm sure I'll have some thoughts later on the game from a design perspective, since apparently that's all I think about.

    (*By which I mean the genre of "two-fisted, supernatural/abomination-fighting badassery," not specifically Lovecraftian elements.)
    Wednesday, May 21st, 2008
    macklinr
         		8:54p
    I just got back from quick shopping trip, after a fantastic nap -- the really resortative kind, where you wake up naturally and have that after-glow, that "damn, I really needed that...and now the world is awesome!" vibe.

    So, that brings to mind a question: Hey, how are y'all doing lately? How's the beginning of summer weather treating you (if it's come to you yet like it has to me)?
    macklinr
         		8:11a
    Lately, I've woken up with an immediate urge to write -- which doesn't work well when you have to get ready for work right away and rush out. [info]tobin & I discussed why so many writers talk about writing in the morning, and I think he hit it on the head when he said that you don't have the funk of the day getting in your way.

    Something for me to think about, as I'm adjusting my life.
    Tuesday, May 20th, 2008
    swordsman
         		7:48p
    Me=science whiz (as long as there's no math).
    After finishing my astrobiology final tonight, McDaid stepped out into the hall to say, "I'm surprised you showed up for the final, since your average is 104." I had forgotten he drops one test score during the semester, and the final is no more than another test, so I technically did not have to take it. That would explain why there were only a handful of people in the classroom tonight. Then he suggested I might like to do some tutoring next semester - surely some kind of punishment for showing up to take a test I didn't need - the other nerds escaped by realizing they had clinched their A's. :)




    And, just moments ago, I got promoted to Brigadier in CoD4!
    Sunday, May 18th, 2008
    the_7th_guest
         		8:06p
    Tomorrow is a new day
    I'm going back to work tomorrow for the first time in two months and am a bit nervous. Not because I don't know what I will be doing, but because I know it will take a bit to get back into the swing of things, and according to them, I supposedly violated a couple of company rules that I must own up to when I come back. I am waiting to find out exactly what those are. I have the feeling they are trying to come up with something to get rid of me so they can't fire me over my medical issues that have been plaguing me for the last 3 years since my car accident. As of lately I have had shots in my back, have been put on a higher dose of pain meds, as well as an anti seisure drug that is supposed to help with muscle and nerve pain, and am working with a TENS machine which sends electrical impulses into my muscles. Hopefully the combination of these things will help. I am crossing my fingers. Wish me luck!

    Current Mood: worried
    Current Music: None
    swordsman
         		4:24p
    Don't say he never did anything good....
    Today, George W. Bush bought me a Wii.
    That was nice of him.
    Saturday, May 17th, 2008
    macklinr
         		1:12a
    When I have time, I'll have to write up two AP posts:

    * A kick-ass IAWA chapter that Lenny Balsera, Matt Gandy & I just finished up. (As we play over Skype and not for very long in any one session, we've decided a chapter takes up two sessions...though, this first one took three.)

    I really enjoyed how tense the atmosphere was during the last scenes, and I'm looking forward to the next chapter. Finally, a chance to see how IAWA works from one chapter to the next.

    * A kick-ass PTA pilot that my home group did for our Dresden Files game. We're waiting for the new magic rules to come out, as our very next session will involve a lot of thaumaturgy. So, while we're waiting for that, after Paul introduced us to PTA a couple weeks ago and hearing about how some of his peeps did their own PTA prequel for his Burning Empires game (hi, I'm a run-on sentence!), I decided to pitch a PTA prequel of our Dresden game to them. They settled on playing two minor NPCs & one of the PCs from the current game, years before the other PCs came into town.

    Holy shit, it was awesome. We have created some really rich backstory now, and even though two PCs aren't yet involved, their players are, which will create all sorts of awesome buy-in. Which is way great, since the reason for the thaumaturgy is to track down where one of those minor NPCs is, after being kidnapped.
    Friday, May 16th, 2008
    macklinr
         		3:09a
    Quick mechanic idea note
    Quick DRYH/FATE-inspired die mechanic:

    Whenever you roll for something, you roll Xd6 [where X >= 1]. Depends on the die throw, you total your results differently:
    * If there are any '1's in the roll, your result is a flat 1.
    * Otherwise, your result is the total of your dice.
    Compare with TN or another roll, highest wins.

    So, the more dice you bring in, the more likely that both you'll succeed grandly and that you'll fail. A potential location for a point of tension.

    Potential "crunchiness handles":
    * Fail number (in this case 1, but maybe "1 & 2" for really rough checks)
    * Number of dice
    * Die size (maybe larger for more competence or something, as a 1 is less likely)
    * Other, special dice that don't trigger failure if they come up 1
    * The number of fail dice needed to trigger failure (in this case 1, but maybe something would be "needs two or more dice to be 1 in order to FUBAR it up.")

    Potential "narrative handles:"
    * Additional dice beyond some starting number are gained through descriptive action or incorporation of color, like in Wushu
    I'm sure there's more, but it is after 3am.

    ("Crunchiness handle" term courtesy of Robin Laws. It is probably my favorite term as of late.)
    Wednesday, May 14th, 2008
    macklinr
         		10:53p
    "Apple" is a synonym for "poor shielding"
    I have found out, a little late, that the iPhone is a poor choice of phone for a podcaster. It leaks EM worse than other phones. I just ran a battery of tests with my equipment using my iPhone & Jerry's new LG Rumor, and my phone causes EM spikes on all my equipment -- mic, XLR cable, recording device.

    This annoys me, not just because I bought an iPhone, but because they're popular -- I can't trust a convention hall to not spike my equipment now, when I do remotes.
    swordsman
         		2:38a
    Ad Astra Per Aspera...
    ... that's the title - it's 6213 words; just a little over 19 pages. This is my "final paper" for my science fiction class that ends tomorrow.

    On Monday I learned that this little assignment was due Wednesday; I had barely formed an idea over the weekend for one of the essay prompts we were offered. I had been thinking the paper would be due the following Monday (the beginnign of Finals Week) at the earliest. After spending an hour or so trying to start the prompted essay (analyzing whether or not, in this case, Y.T. from Snow Crash acts from free will or if she is pushed by outside forces into events), I gave it up as a bad job and took Option B.

    Since it's a sci-fi "appreciation" class more than an intense literary-analysis type deal (like English Lit. or something would be), the instructor gave us the option to engage in a little creative writing for our second required paper. The first had to be analytical (mine was a comparison of the dystopias in A Clockwork Orange and The Forever War), but the second could be fiction. Provided, of course, that it was solid creative writing - real top grade stuff. I sure hope this counts. I certainly wouldn't try to publish it anywhere, but I'm reasonably confident it'll fit the bill he's looking for.

    I didn't have an idea what I might write if I took the Fiction Option. In describing the stuff he's gotten in the past, he says he's gotten some really polished pieces of fanfic based on one of the books we read during the semester. The only book I even considered writing fanfic from was Snow Crash - and then I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Then, lo and behold, salvation appears in the form of an outline. An outline of part of a story idea I had batted around a few months ago with [info]raybrandle about humans reaching Mars and finding out that Martians exist and have been spoofing our probes to keep us from coming to fuck up their planet. So I started to write up a stripped-down version of that idea.

    A couple false starts had to be ripped out and re-written, but each one gave me a little something, even if it was just a name for a character. Then I had to remind myself constantly that this was a short story, and it had to have an ending. I sacrificed over-generous descriptions and much characterization to these needs. I had to keep going back to cut out extraneous semi-crunchy science bits Ray and I had talked about - they were taking up too much space and time. In the end, after a very long seeming period (mostly the last six or seven hours or so) I am done. This is the first time I've actually gotten an ending onto a story in... just about EVER... or so it seems. The final product is definitely not as fleshed out and complicated as I would have liked, but for that I guess I would have had to start a couple years ago and have been living off a very generous publisher's advance during the process. But it's done; it's got a little science-crunch (more along the lines of crisped rice than granola, I admit) and some Hollywood flash - especially the ending.

    I think I might be vaguely proud of this damn thing.

    Current Mood: exhausted
    Current Music: Holy crap! It's Queen doing "Princes of the Universe"!
    Sunday, May 11th, 2008
    swordsman
         		6:07p
    Rick bought himself a motorcycle - a 250cc Korean job. I rode it home for him after he bought it, since he'd never been on a bike before. Nice learning bike - not too torque-y and the transmission doesn't have a steep powerband or anything. It's a little more comfortable than the Ninja 250 I had, despite the low-set handlebars.
    Of course, Mark had to buy himself one too, so he could teach Rick how to ride. Just got back from cruising around town with them a bit. My Suzuki now has a little over 4000 miles on it.



    Oh yeah, I made Lt. Col. on CoD4 and I'm closing in on Full Bird! Ha! You thought this post was CoD4-frei!
    macklinr
         		12:50p
    My now-stated goal for the end of June: write up a first draft for Mythender Battles -- at least, the parts ones I know.

    This mainly means writing up the Battle, Relic, Mortality & Advancment bits. I think I like character generation as-is for a battle game, though I may also write up a "quick-generation" method too. The parts I don't get mainly revolved in balancing the opponent with a given set of PCs, as I'm purely doing it by gut right now and the PCs are ever-evolving. Plenty of advice text should be in there, too.
    Saturday, May 10th, 2008
    faeviljen
         		10:30p
    Battlestar Galactica Video
    join the fight .. come be a cylon!

    Thursday, May 8th, 2008
    macklinr
         		7:05p
    Master Plan #29 is up!
    http://masterplanpodcast.net/index.php?post_id=337390

    Master Plan #29: Designing from Other Games 2, John Wick

    After the beach sabbatical that was Have Master, Will Plan #1, Ryan goes back to his series of designers talking about their experiences working with other games. This week, he talks with John Wick about his now-in-preorder game, Houses of the Blooded. Along with talking about where various parts of the game were inspired, John drops a bit of insight into some other games and shares some stories where he's collaborated with and contributed to other designers. Then Ryan talks briefly about the part he really thinks is cool, which is what John's doing with the Limited Edition of Houses of the Blooded, particularly the Graphics Pack.
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