In what's become something of a tradition, one of my friends hosted an all day session of the Magic: The Gathering card game on Black Friday, since none of us wanted to brave the jungles of retail. I spent some time this past week making sure I had a decent mix of decks (old vs. new, previously successful decks vs. experiments, etc.) to use for the occasion, so I didn't get a lot done other than that and work during that time.
I've finally figured out how to solve my "too many decks" problem by focusing on a few at a time in a rotation system, and must've done a good job of choosing my deck mix, as I won a lot this past Friday, especially with my newest decks. For the benefit of those who play the game, you'll understand that getting a 23/23 creature into play (and keeping it there) is a lot of fun. I've puzzled out a few new things about how the game works, and I'm starting to see results from that.
I have two problems associated with my recent Magic obsession. One problem is that I have ideas for new decks (associated with my new ideas about the game) that I can't actually implement right now. I own the cards to implement them, but I've packed away most of my Magic cards (except for working decks and new cards) preparatory to eventually moving, and it'd be a royal pain to dig them out. I've written some notes to remind myself of those ideas later, but they're still lurking around in the back of my mind, taking up head space because I can't follow through on them.
This leads into problem number two, which is that my RPG writing has slowed because my mind has been elsewhere. Now that the Black Friday session has been played, maybe I can fix that, since it's unlikely I'll play much Magic until the new year. I did spend some time on the characters for my newest In Nomine scenario during this long weekend, though it felt more like paperwork than creativity. Hopefully I'll have more positive things to talk about by next week.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Rolling Right Along
I was able to get out to our storage unit and retrieve copies of my earlier convention scenarios more easily than I'd planned, which is a Good Thing. I should be able to finish "Fear Itself" very soon as a result.
"Too Much is Never Enough" for Don't Rest Your Head has been progressing nicely. I've had a few of those enjoyable moments in the last week, when I realized that things I hadn't intended to connect had come together in unanticipated and beautiful ways. This is usually a sign that I'm on the right track. I get the sense that this one's going to run like my Sorcerer games, which have gone well, on the whole. The main difference is going to be that surreal element. The rule book intentionally leaves the setting quite undefined, while still giving me a certain feel to shoot for, and I'd like to get it right.
I just received my copy of GURPS Martial Arts, which should come into play for the next installment of GURPS Cabal. I haven't had time to even look at the table of contents yet, but it looks like my next three projects are all making significant progress in the same week.
"Too Much is Never Enough" for Don't Rest Your Head has been progressing nicely. I've had a few of those enjoyable moments in the last week, when I realized that things I hadn't intended to connect had come together in unanticipated and beautiful ways. This is usually a sign that I'm on the right track. I get the sense that this one's going to run like my Sorcerer games, which have gone well, on the whole. The main difference is going to be that surreal element. The rule book intentionally leaves the setting quite undefined, while still giving me a certain feel to shoot for, and I'd like to get it right.
I just received my copy of GURPS Martial Arts, which should come into play for the next installment of GURPS Cabal. I haven't had time to even look at the table of contents yet, but it looks like my next three projects are all making significant progress in the same week.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Current RPG Projects
I've made some progress on writing projects this weekend. I'm probably going to use the title "Fear Itself" for my newest In Nomine scenario, which is now finished except for the player character write-ups. I'm going to use characters who were NPCs in a prior scenario as the player characters for this one, so I'll have to wait until I can dig that scenario out of storage to finish up. Player character write-ups are fun for me, so that part's easy, once I get to it.
In the meantime, I'm moving on to the next project. I had a couple of options here. I'd like to have the next installment of my GURPS Cabal series ready for 2008, but I'd also like to do more indie stuff, since the prep time is usually much shorter. I had some ideas for a scenario for the indie game "Don't Rest Your Head", so I decided to do that one before anything else.
My working title is "Too Much is Never Enough", which essentially sums up the attitude of three of the four player characters (the fourth is veering into excess, but hasn't quite arrived there yet). I'm well into the character write-ups as a starting point for this one, and have some idea as to where I'm going in terms of plot, though I suspect this will play a lot differently every time, depending on the players' approach. GM prep time should be minimal for DRYH, so I should be able to finish this scenario before the end of the year without too much trouble.
I'm torn on what to do after that, and will probably just roll with my mood at the time. GURPS Cabal is likely, since I'll need it for DexCon 2008, but the other option is to be daring and write something to run at conventions using my own Fluid system. Fluid would be extremely low prep, but it'd be hard to draw players with it, and I'm not sure I'm ready to put it out there to the public yet without further refinement. I'll try it at PoliCon, if anything.
So looking ahead to 2008, I'll need to finish "Fear Itself" and "Too Much is Never Enough", plus write the next installment of GURPS Cabal to be ready, and I won't need a description for the Cabal scenario until March or so. I need to get back into the writing habit if I want to keep that schedule.
In the meantime, I'm moving on to the next project. I had a couple of options here. I'd like to have the next installment of my GURPS Cabal series ready for 2008, but I'd also like to do more indie stuff, since the prep time is usually much shorter. I had some ideas for a scenario for the indie game "Don't Rest Your Head", so I decided to do that one before anything else.
My working title is "Too Much is Never Enough", which essentially sums up the attitude of three of the four player characters (the fourth is veering into excess, but hasn't quite arrived there yet). I'm well into the character write-ups as a starting point for this one, and have some idea as to where I'm going in terms of plot, though I suspect this will play a lot differently every time, depending on the players' approach. GM prep time should be minimal for DRYH, so I should be able to finish this scenario before the end of the year without too much trouble.
I'm torn on what to do after that, and will probably just roll with my mood at the time. GURPS Cabal is likely, since I'll need it for DexCon 2008, but the other option is to be daring and write something to run at conventions using my own Fluid system. Fluid would be extremely low prep, but it'd be hard to draw players with it, and I'm not sure I'm ready to put it out there to the public yet without further refinement. I'll try it at PoliCon, if anything.
So looking ahead to 2008, I'll need to finish "Fear Itself" and "Too Much is Never Enough", plus write the next installment of GURPS Cabal to be ready, and I won't need a description for the Cabal scenario until March or so. I need to get back into the writing habit if I want to keep that schedule.
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Another Shot of Fluid
My home roleplaying group assembled to play this past Sunday, and my expectation was that at the end of the session, we'd vote on whether to return to GURPS Firefly, continue developing Fluid Firefly, or do something else entirely. I was fully ready to proceed with any of those options. The group's decision was one that wasn't even on the chart.
The consensus of the group was to continue with Fluid as a system, and with Firefly as a setting, but reboot the campaign and start with an entirely new cast of characters. I truly hadn't seen that one coming. And so instead of playing that session, we spent the time creating a new cast of characters with (hopefully) better conceived personal relationships. Now I'm really curious about what the next session will bring.
The upside of this for me is that I keep the group's help in further developing Fluid as an enjoyable system to use for the campaign. It's a validation that the players liked the system enough to date to choose it when other options were on the table. It's a good sign.
On the downside, my GURPS GMing skills are bound to slide a bit from lack of practice, and I'll need them for the next convention season. But I suppose I could always run some kind of GURPS mini-campaign in the spring to get back up to speed.
The consensus of the group was to continue with Fluid as a system, and with Firefly as a setting, but reboot the campaign and start with an entirely new cast of characters. I truly hadn't seen that one coming. And so instead of playing that session, we spent the time creating a new cast of characters with (hopefully) better conceived personal relationships. Now I'm really curious about what the next session will bring.
The upside of this for me is that I keep the group's help in further developing Fluid as an enjoyable system to use for the campaign. It's a validation that the players liked the system enough to date to choose it when other options were on the table. It's a good sign.
On the downside, my GURPS GMing skills are bound to slide a bit from lack of practice, and I'll need them for the next convention season. But I suppose I could always run some kind of GURPS mini-campaign in the spring to get back up to speed.
Monday, November 05, 2007
Ethics for the New Millenium
Yes, it's been awhile again between posts. The excrement impacted upon the rotary oscillating device at work, and I was busy for a while.
In all of that, however, I managed to read a particularly good book, "Ethics for the New Millennium" by the Dalai Lama. In this book, the Dalai Lama makes a case that it's more than a Good Idea for human beings to get along; it's essential to our survival as a species. It all made so much sense to me. Highly recommended reading for anyone interested in the importance of human beings learning to get along and how they can do it. I'd cheerfully lend my copy to anyone who asks. The world just might be an incrementally better place each time someone reads this book.
I'm currently reading "Dalai Lama: Man, Monk, Mystic", which is supposed to be a biography, and reads more like a history of Tibet once you get past his childhood. I'd been hoping for a non-Buddhist's take on who he is as a human being, even though the book is officially authorized, but the books he's written himself tell me more about who he is than this one does. Informative, and I enjoyed reading it, but wouldn't recommend it unless you have a special interest.
I'm not sure what I'm going to read next, but I don't think it'll be about the Dalai Lama or written by him. :-)
In all of that, however, I managed to read a particularly good book, "Ethics for the New Millennium" by the Dalai Lama. In this book, the Dalai Lama makes a case that it's more than a Good Idea for human beings to get along; it's essential to our survival as a species. It all made so much sense to me. Highly recommended reading for anyone interested in the importance of human beings learning to get along and how they can do it. I'd cheerfully lend my copy to anyone who asks. The world just might be an incrementally better place each time someone reads this book.
I'm currently reading "Dalai Lama: Man, Monk, Mystic", which is supposed to be a biography, and reads more like a history of Tibet once you get past his childhood. I'd been hoping for a non-Buddhist's take on who he is as a human being, even though the book is officially authorized, but the books he's written himself tell me more about who he is than this one does. Informative, and I enjoyed reading it, but wouldn't recommend it unless you have a special interest.
I'm not sure what I'm going to read next, but I don't think it'll be about the Dalai Lama or written by him. :-)
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