The hidden consequences of HDD failure…

Computer Games, Tech

So, loss of my storage drive doesn’t seem too bad at first.

I lost my local Copy/Dropbox folders (but they’re in the Cloud, so no problem) view it now.
I lost my Downloads and Torrents, but I can always re-download things I downloaded before – biggest issue there is going to be remembering where I was with some series.
I lost my game installs, but they’re all on Steam so I can just reinstall them no problem.

Then it hit me. All my game installs. Which means that my Skyrim progress is lost… dammit. I was so close to One-Handed 100 and now I have to start over? I mean, I can do things better the second time around, but having to restart is just annoying – losing everything I’ve built up is just annoying.

Ink

Me, Musings, Tattoos, , ,

I’m getting inked in half an hour. I booked it a month ago, and I arrived in the nearest Starbucks nearly an hour ago. I’m a little nervous.

Excited, but nervous. You should be able to tell this from the fact I’m writing something in order to calm myself.

It’s my first ink, and I want it to be “right”. It’s the stepping stone to more – I know that – I want more and I need to take this step first. But I’m still nervous – I think it’d be weirder if I wasn’t.

Of course, this unnatural bright hot weather isn’t helping – hard enough not to sweat from nervousness without sweating from the heat even in the shade…

New projects

LRP, Me, Musings, NERF, Work

Few things make me as energised as a new project, even if starting from a tabula rasa isn’t ideal. At work, I do a lot of projects that are repeating work that’s been done before, whether it’s integrating a feature I built elsewhere into a new place, or replicating a website wholesale with a new skin – it bores the crap out of me.

This week, I’ve been doing a project that is a clone of one of my old projects and the only thing keeping me interested is the fact I haven’t worked on this iteration of the code for around a year so it’s different to other things I’ve been doing.

We’re looking to start a new LARP next year, and that has me wanting to start looking at building a rules system, and a website, and a character builder… except it’s way too early for any of that.

I’m looking to start a new game, and the idea of writing up stuff for that is exciting me.

I also have to modify an old system to have a new feature and that bores the hell out of me.  I just don’t want to do it, but I’ve got a hard deadline on it, and the soft deadline was two weeks ago so I should really get a move on on it.

The points at work where I want to murder people are often when all I have to distract myself with are rehashes of old projects with nothing new in site to actually engage my mind on. I have yet to try automatic fire with Nerf weaponry to resolve issues, but my thought is that it wouldn’t go down very well with most of the office. Oh well.

Anyone else find the same thing? That they always want to be working on the new thing, not maintaining the old one?

So, I want to run a game

Computer Games, Me, Roleplaying, , , , ,

As I’ve posted elsewhere, I’m looking to run a game. What I want to do is be able to run it as and when both my players and I are available/up for it. So some weeks we could play three sessions, and other weeks just the one (or not at all); I want to be able to run without some players and potentially with a completely different group session to session, so I want it to be the sort of game where you can complete things in a session while still having the potential for an overarching campaign. I also want to play it online, without a lot of rules getting in the way of online RP.

Along those lines, I’ve picked out three settings that I like and would like to run a game in.

orpheusThe first is Orpheus, a game I’ve loved for over a decade – one of the first tabletop games I played. In Orpheus, a cryogenic research company called The Orpheus Group was developing cryogenic technology for medical research, and have developed the first cryogenic process that allows for a stable freeze and thawing of living beings. In their tests of this process, they discovered that their human test subjects reported back having dreams while they slept – dreams that they were watching the Orpheus staff at work. This wasn’t considered particularly noteworthy until one of them recounted incidents that had happened in the lab in perfect detail – incidents they had no way to know about without having been there or being told. Further research was done, and it was established that the cryogenically frozen subjects experienced astral projection and could perceive events around them. Experimentation continued and revealed that post-life entities (PLEs, or ghosts) were also present in the astral state that the sleepers found themselves in. Not only this, but PLEs and the astral projections could wield supernatural power. In a stroke, The Orpheus Group had proven ghosts were real, and that they could affect the world in unknown ways. Studies continued, but this discovery explained every story of supernatural happenings throughout history, and a paranormal investigation division was set up. Orpheus became a paranormal service organisation, investigating and dealing with hauntings for a sizable fee. You, as players, are members of the investigation teams who are either projectors (living people who project their consciousness from their body) or PLEs (ghosts) working for fantastic sums of cash and dealing with the supernatural on a regular basis.

Demon HuntersThe second is Demon Hunters. I’m never going to explain it better than the guys who made it, so here’s the Brotherhood of the Celestial Torch Orientation Video which came with the field operative training manual (RPG).[1] Basically, you’re a bunch of misfits who fight the agents of Hell (the Order of the Infernal Sceptre). All the monsters and dark things from your favourite films and TV shows are real, and it’s the job of the Brotherhood to take them down before they get to humanity. On the bright side, you have access to a Warehouse 13/Ark of the Covenant-style warehouse of infinite size that might just have the tools you need for the job – if you can find them. It’s a comedy-action-investigation game, and I have both the original RPG and the playtest version of the new edition (the new edition still being finalised).

Cowboy BebopThe third setting I’m contemplating is essentially Cowboy Bebop/Outlaw Star. Bounty hunters/freelancers roaming human-colonised spaaaaaace in search of enough money to buy fuel, food, and ammunition while they try for the big score that’ll set them up for life (assuming they don’t blow it on an act of charity/abandon it to save someone/give up the treasure for love/die in the process.

System-wise, I’m looking at FATE-based solutions. I’ve got a homebrew conversion for Orpheus to FATE Accelerated, the new Demon Hunters edition is based on FATE Accelerated, and the Bebop-style setting can either be run with FATE or something else. FATE Accelerated should be pretty easy for people to pick up, without getting in the way of the story, and it should also allow people to create characters pretty quickly so they can get involved without a length character creation process.

As I said, I’m looking to run things online. Thoughts are to use Google Hangouts for communication, and maybe use Roll20 as well (this will involve me learning Roll20).

I’ve had a few people express interest, but I’ve not had any indication of a setting preference. If you’re interested, and have a preferred setting out of these three (or have an alternate idea I might be interested in), let me know.

Featured image choice is solely because Outlaw Star kicks ass, and I have to watch it again.

Footnotes   [ + ]

1. ↑ The orientation video along with the original films are now available to everyone on the Dead Gentlemen YouTube channel. Incidentally, go watch everything they and Zombie Orpheus Entertainment do.

All of the numbers

LRP, No Rest for the Wicked, ,

I’ve been working on the new No Rest for the Wicked trade system for a while. For a very long time I was just staring at a wall of numbers willing them to make sense. Then I sent them round to Rob, who provided some input and based on that input I rewrote the entire system (kind of) in a way that (a) didn’t make my brain hurt, (b) made a lot more sense, and (c) was almost fun to work with.

The updated trade system is now out for preview with some people. If you’re interested in being one of the people helping make it make sense, let me know.

Jurassic World

Jurassic World

Films, ,

Last night, I went to see Jurassic World because I was in town and there was a showing still on and I really wanted to see it. I was not disappointed. There’s a bunch of moments that stuck out at me and I had a lot of fun.

So, in no particular order:

  • Lowery (Jake M Johnson) having a Jurassic Park t-shirt. Not only because it’s really cool, but because it foreshadowed the entire movie.[1]
  • The original John Williams sequence being used to accentuate both the glorious and creepy moments including the flyover of the new park, and the kids entering the old one. It was really great to pick out the theme and it accentuated things in entirely the right way while being part of an original soundtrack.
  • The old park. I loved watching that and seeing the kids explore the old park set. Especially how the raptor painting looked like it was going to jump out of the wall.
  • Jimmy Fallon doing the safety intro for the gyrosphere.
  • The hedging and hawing about what went into the Indominus Rex from Dr Henry Wu
  • Military applications for raptors. Have these people not been listening to Randall Munroe’s warnings?[2]
  • Indominus Rex’s genetics revealed. No really, have InGen not been listening to the warnings?
  • Kids being cleverer than the adults, getting a car sorted and getting out of dodge while the adults become the new prey.[3]

See also: Howard Tayler’s review of Jurassic World

Footnotes   [ + ]

1. ↑ “Sure, they ended in disaster…”
2. ↑ xkcd – prophet of the raptor apocalypse
3. ↑ Kids being cleverer than the adults seeming to be a common theme in Jurassic films

#rpgaday2015

Roleplaying,

I intend to take part in #rpgaday2015, a continuation of last year’s #rpgaday. Basically, it’s a list of topics which you write about (one a day) over August. The list is available on the Facebook page, but also below in a non-image form as while all the fancy graphics in the world might look nice, nothing beats text for readability and ease of grabbing the topics.

  1. Forthcoming game you’re most looking forward to
  2. Kickstarted game you’re most pleased you backed
  3. Favourite new game of the last 12 months
  4. Most surprising game
  5. Most recent RPG purchase
  6. Most recent RPG played
  7. Favourite free RPG
  8. Favourite appearance of RPGs in the media
  9. Favourite media you wish was an RPG
  10. Favourite RPG publisher
  11. Favourite RPG writer
  12. Favourite RPG illustration
  13. Favourite RPG podcast
  14. Favourite RPG accessory
  15. Longest campaign played
  16. Longest game session played
  17. Favourite fantasy RPG
  18. Favourite sci-fi RPG
  19. Favourite supers RPG
  20. Favourite horror RPG
  21. Favourite RPG setting
  22. Perfect gaming environment
  23. Perfect game for you
  24. Favourite house rule
  25. Favourite revolutionary game mechanic
  26. Favourite inspiration for your game
  27. Favourite idea for merging two games into one
  28. Favourite game you no longer play
  29. Favourite RPG website/blog
  30. Favourite RPG playing celebrity
  31. Favourite non-RPG thing to come out of RPGing roleplaying[1]

I’ve already seen some flak come up about the chosen topics, and I think there’s a lack of clarity in some of them, or that some have been added just for buzzwords. “Revolutionary game mechanic” being one of the prime examples there, as it’s the sort of term that could be used in derision of the idea, or even just to mock every new game system for using the buzzword in their press releases.

Still, I appreciate a topic list to work to, and I can build these up over time as well.

Footnotes   [ + ]

1. ↑ I was just looking over my notes and realised that this said “RPGing”. Who would say “role-playing games”-ing? Even “role-playing gaming” sounds wrong. It’s just roleplaying, and I’ve amended as such.

Orpheus LARP

LRP, Musings,

I’m working on a conversion of the Orpheus RPG by White Wolf to a simplified LARP format.

The reason I’m doing this is because (a) I love Orpheus, and (b) I don’t want to have to have people rolling dice or using another type of randomiser to resolve things in game. I want people to just be able to do things.

The problem with this is coming up with a balance factor. I haven’t decided whether I want to go for a contact system or not, and I don’t know how well what I’m working on is going to work.

Currently, I’m looking at having skills (abilities) that enable you to do a thing rather than being levelled and dropping attributes entirely. So Brawl gives you the ability to strike effectually in unarmed combat, and Melee lets you do the same with knives, while Dodge lets you avoid some strikes.

I’m trying to draw on the source material as much as possible – using the set rules rather than making my own where I can, but I don’t know if I shouldn’t just be trying to create a new system whole-cloth or just running it as if it were a tabletop system with acting the same way the Isles of Darkness do.

Empire 379YE Spring Equinox

Empire, LRP,

My Good, Bad, and Ugly from the the Spring Equinox, 379YE. This was far and away my best Empire event (and my best event as a player of anything, I reckon) and being away from the office for nigh-on a week was something I desperately needed. Having as much fun as I did was just a bonus.

The Ugly

  • Nothing!
  • The Bad
  • Selling half of the salted caramel cream liqueur (that stuff was really really nice)
  • Aching heels from walking around the entire site several times organising rituals
  • Forgetting the names of runes partway through a ritual
  • Rituals could use some flash and pomp
  • Left my make-up at home
  • Blister on my palm from hammering tent pegs – betadine stings!
  • Barely being in Wintermark
  • Barely seeing friends on the field

The Good

  • BEST CONCLAVE EVER!
    • Fighting Heralds of Arhallogen in the Hall of Worlds
    • Pulling both Pavul and Jessica out of the fighting to Gudrun and realising afterwards that I might have just saved Jessica’s life
    • Running the timers after the civil servant had to run off because of the Empress election
  • Being the lead ritualist in six rituals
  • Becoming known by archmages, the warmage, and grandmasters
  • Making a name for myself in the Shuttered Lantern
  • Making three crowns from my booze
  • Organising scrying rituals for the military council
  • Finding a rhythm for my rituals that meant I was pretty much perfect on timing
  • Lights in the regio stones
  • Enjoying every minute of Conclave (I must be getting weird)
  • James managed to pick up my make-up
  • Arriving on Thursday makes everything else so much more relaxed (being on site 28 hours before time in was weird)
  • Feeling so much better after being away for the weekend
  • Froth lunch at Buddy’s with the Glasgow lot
  • Salted caramel cream liqueur
  • First magical traumatic wound
  • Mhorish
  • Holtoberfest sausages
  • Team Human Centipede!
  • Stab-safe mage staffs are big and clever – I need to make myself one
  • Learning how to make Cesare speechless
  • Witnessing Astrid’s joining the League ceremony
  • Cunts and first kisses in the pub

 

I have a few IC letters and some reports to write, and I’m resisting the urge to talk in TLAs about everything that happened[1].

Footnotes   [ + ]

1. ↑ TRV did ESM and EHP on various locations. Fighting HoA in HoW was awesome.

Vegan Superpowers

LRP, Musings,

Someone proposed using snake-skin in a LARP as a prop (by which I mean shed snake skin, not harvested skin) and some other people from “Team Vegan” piped up and said “not for us thanks” and went on to explain that they didn’t care how it came off of the snake, they want nothing to do with it.

I’m now wondering if they feel the same way about wool. Both snakes and sheep must shed their outer layers for their own comfort on a regular basis. Sheep can’t do it themselves (due to those traits being bred out of them) and need our help to do so. Not helping a sheep shed its wool in the summer is actually crueller than shearing it as it won’t be able to cope with summer heat with the thermal layers of wool. Snakes shed their skin as they grow, squeezing out of the tighter layer being shed to be more comfortable in the new larger scales beneath.

Jeremy is currently in blue at the moment (preparing to shed) which may be part of my reaction to this, but all I can think is that “Team Vegan” is so against any kind of animal product being used that they’re objecting even to the use of naturally discarded bits. I don’t get that. I can understand working against animal cruelty, and modifying your lifestyle to match, but not using natural discards seems overboard to me.

Antlers are discarded by deer every year, scales are shed by snakes regularly, sharks constantly replace their teeth. You can collect all of these things and more without ever harming or even capturing the animals in question – there’s no cruelty involved. It strikes me as being similar to objecting to cutting down forests and refusing to use fallen branches in a fire to keep you warm. It also strikes me that such extreme attitudes will lead to an increase in the use of synthetics, which will pollute the earth faster and cause more damage to animals in the long-term.

I don’t know – I just don’t get the extremism. Unless you really do get Vegan Superpowers from it.