Blackmoor Vituperative

For the first time in a very long time, I got a good night’s sleep and woke up refreshed on New Year’s Day. I woke up late, but not hung over. The party at Mike & Rob’s was fun. I enjoyed the hospitality and the company. However, if I was a bore or a boor, I have only myself to blame, as I only had two glasses of wine all night.

I am not done writing Bulletproof Blues, which is disappointing. I’d hoped to have the text done by now, and be working on the layout. I am not in panic mode yet. As long as it’s done and up for sale on DriveThruRPG by Mysticon in February, I’ll be happy.

I am a little worried about when I’ll be able to play after we move, though. I game rarely enough as it is. Once we relocate to Charlottesville, I’ll be at least an hour away from any gamers I know — or, indeed, from anyone I know, other than my sweetheart. Kind of a bummer, that.

On the bright side, I have recovered from the horrific food poisoning I got at Carytown Sushi on Wednesday. I am actually hungry for the first time in four days.

It’s been a crazy December. The craziness actually started in October, with my wife being in car #2 in a five-car accident on the freeway. She is almost healed up from that, and she has a shiny new Honda, so all’s well that ends well, but still, it was a crazy time for a while there.

I am spending a lot of time working. I haven’t counted the hours, but I would estimate somewhere around 60 to 70 per week. I don’t mind that: it’s close to the end of the project, and everyone’s antsy — and I love my job. But it means that I have not had as much time to indulge my hobbies as I would like.

One of those hobbies is my car, a 2003 Hyundai Tiburon. I have been meaning to do some cosmetic work to it for, well, months, but for a lot of those months, every weekend it was either raining or over 100 degrees outside. Bleh. Lucky me, my car was hit in a restaurant parking lot. That time of the year, I guess. The lady who hit me was honorable and asked around for the owner of the car. The insurance settlement was enough to repair the damage she did, and also took care of the cosmetic stuff I had been planning to work on.

Another hobby is a superhero roleplaying game I am working on. I would really, really like to have it completed by the end of the month, and on DriveThruRPG by mid-January. But we’ll see.

I am not the only one with problems. A dear friend of mine —

Let’s sidebar, for a moment. English is a great language, rich with the diversity of the many cultures we have absorbed or conquered, but I feel it has a few serious deficiencies. One of these is our word “friend”. I think we need at least three words for what is currently referred to as “friend”. We have “acquaintance”, of course — someone whom we have met, and perhaps encounter socially from time to time, but whom we do not actually know and with whom we do not intentionally socialize. Then we have:

The social friend: You drink with him at parties, and maybe have lunch with him once in a while just to have some company. He’s amusing, most of the time, and you don’t mind talking to him, as long as the conversation stays light. You might know his political or philosophical beliefs, but if so, it’s because he volunteers that information to anyone within earshot, not because you actually want to know, and not because he has any interest in what you think. You’ve never met his family, nor he yours, and if something serious happened in your life, you’d probably think of telling him the time you ran into him, but you would never make a call specifically to tell him your personal problems, nor would he think to make such a call to you.

The good friend: You have lunch because you enjoy each other’s company. You help each other move, if you don’t have plans. You talk about your kids, or your spouses, and you actually listen to the other person. On the other hand, you probably don’t talk about the intimate details of your marriage problems, or how broken up you really were when your cat died. You might not ever be truly close, but you respect each other and you like each other.

The dear friend: You have known each other through good times and bad. You have disagreed, sometimes quite seriously, but your friendship has persisted long after those disagreements have been forgotten. If you go out of town, he’s the first one you ask to watch your cat, and if he asks, you agree immediately. If he calls you and needs a ride because his car broke down in Pennsylvania, you ask him for directions. If he is in trouble, you respond. It’s just that simple.

So, as I was saying, a dear friend of mine had some personal issues a week or so ago, and for a while I was worried about him. I still am, actually, but not as much as I was a week ago. But it was really surreal for a while.

On the other hand, it hasn’t been all bad. After literally years of searching, we have finally found a house that is closer to where my wife works (she commutes an hour each way right now) and which she likes. This was no small feat. It’s also nearly $100,000 less than some other houses we were looking at just a few weeks ago, which pleases my wife more than pretty much anything else ever will. As it happens, the interest rates just bottomed out, so we are getting a good deal all around. Barring unforeseen catastrophe, we should be moved into our new (to us) house by the end of February, which is outstanding.

So… crazy, crazy month. That’s what I am saying.

My day job (which I truly enjoy) has kept me really busy over the past couple of weeks, so I have not made as much progress on Bulletproof Blues as I had hoped. I do still plan to have the book finished by the end of December, but I will have to hustle!

In the last day or so, I have decided on a format for the power listing, and wrote up two powers which will be the template that the rest of the powers follow: Paralysis and Mental Paralysis.

Paralysis

Activation: Attack

Task roll: Accuracy vs. Agility

Target: Single target

Range: Firefight

Cost: 1 character point per rank

The Paralysis power prevents a character from moving or taking physical actions. The mechanism which causes the Paralysis must be specified when this power is purchased. For example, the target might be entangled in webs, encased in ice, bound by rings of magical force, or they could be literally paralyzed by some form of toxic gas.

Attacking a character under the effects of Paralysis provides a +6 attack bonus (the standard attribute bonus for attacking a helpless target).

Using Paralysis requires an Accuracy task roll against the Agility of the intended target. If the attacker achieves a massive success, then the rank of the Paralysis is increased by three for the purposes of breaking out of it. For example, if a character is affected by a rank 4 Paralysis, and the attacker achieved a massive success, they would need to make a Brawn task roll against task difficulty 15 (4 + 3 + 8‌) to break out of the Paralysis.

To break out of the Paralysis, the target must make a successful Brawn task roll against the rank of the Paralysis. If the character succeeds at this task roll, they may use their remaining movement action. If the paralyzed character gets a massive success on this roll, then they break out as a free action. For example, if a character is affected by a rank 5 Paralysis, they would need to make a Brawn task roll against task difficulty 13 (5 + 8‌). If they roll a 16 or more, they achieve a massive success, and breaking out is a free action rather than a task action.

If the character has not broken out of the Paralysis by the end of the scene, then they break out of it shortly thereafter. How long thereafter is largely plot-dependent. For example, if the target of the Paralysis is left behind for the police to apprehend, then the Paralysis lasts long enough for them to do so.

Mental Paralysis

Activation: Attack

Task roll: Willpower vs. Willpower

Target: Single target

Range: Visual

Cost: 2 character points per rank

The Mental Paralysis power prevents a character from moving, thinking, or taking any actions. While affected by Mental Paralysis, only a moment seems to pass for the target, but after they break out of it, they are aware that something unusual has happened, and that they have “lost time”. For example, the “lost time” might appear as a brief “white out” of the target’s vision, or perhaps the target simply falls asleep for a time. The mechanism which causes the Mental Paralysis must be specified when this power is purchased. For example, the target might be frozen in time, commanded to “Sleep!”, or they could be knocked out by some form of toxic gas.

Attacking a character under the effects of Mental Paralysis provides a +6 attack bonus (the standard attribute bonus for attacking a helpless target).

Using Mental Paralysis requires a Willpower task roll against the Willpower of the intended target. If the attacker achieves a massive success, then the rank of the Mental Paralysis is increased by three for the purposes of breaking out of it. For example, if a character is affected by a rank 6 Mental Paralysis, and the attacker achieved a massive success, they would need to make a Willpower task roll against task difficulty 17 (6 + 3 + 8‌) to break out of the Mental Paralysis.

To break out of the Mental Paralysis, the target must make a successful Willpower task roll against the rank of the Mental Paralysis. If the character succeeds at this task roll, they may use their remaining movement action. If the paralyzed character gets a massive success on this roll, then they break out as a free action. For example, if a character is affected by a rank 6 Mental Paralysis, they would need to make a Willpower task roll against task difficulty 14 (6 + 8‌). If they roll a 17 or more, they achieve a massive success, and breaking out is a free action rather than a task action.

If the character has not broken out of the Mental Paralysis by the end of the scene, then they break out of it shortly thereafter. How long thereafter is largely plot-dependent. For example, if the target of the Mental Paralysis is left behind for the police to apprehend, then the Mental Paralysis lasts long enough for them to do so.

Pretty good week, aside from dealing with the repercussions from Susan’s car accident. Made pretty good progress on a work project, caught up so that I am no longer behind in my class, more or less finished the cover for my first commercial game product in 16 years, and contacted a few publishers who might be interested in releasing source material for the aforementioned game.

Thinking about starting a YahooGroup to discuss new homebrewed rule systems, modifications and house rules for existing systems, and so on. A game design workshop, if you will.

On the one hand, I’m not sure there is much interest in that, despite what people are prone to say. On the other hand, I am not sure YahooGroups is best suited for that sort of discussion nowadays. My perception is that most substantive discussions have moved elsewhere, and what remain on YahooGroups are relatively insular islands of thought. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s not the environment I’d be looking for.

If you are aware of a venue for lively but civil discussion of practical game design (as opposed to theoretical navel-gazing, which again, is not necessarily bad, but not what I am looking for), feel free to mention it.

I suppose I should clarify what I mean by “lively but civil”. Here are a couple of benchmarks:

1. Conversation is focused on game design, not on politics or controversies. (There are plenty of other places to discuss evolution or the Tea Party or Justin Bieber.)
2. Critique of ideas is accepted and encouraged: critique of people is not. (It is sad how many people can’t tell the difference.)

Ideally, this is the sort of interaction I would have with my local game group. Sadly, real life has taken its toll, and my local game group is no more.

Hexographer and Dungeonographer received major updates a week or two ago. If you’ve used either tool since then, you’ve probably noticed the changes.

Both tools received layout changes which reduced the number of menu items by placing buttons for many of those features in panels dedicated to those features. For example, the ability to add custom map items is now a button on the map items tab/toolbox.

There were a great many other changes, as well. You can read more about it at the Inkwell Ideas web site.

Five or six years ago, I tossed out shelves and shelves of role-playing games and sourcebooks. Many were games that I had never played: all were games that I never intended to play again. All of my 2nd edition D&D books, nearly all of my indie RPG books, all of my Hero System/Champions books — all went. I saved books for games I still played, or still wanted to play, but this was a very small pile compared to what I got rid of. I also saved a few books that, for one reason or another, were special to me.

Nobilis was one of those games. I had a first edition copy of Nobilis, and I will have it as long as I own any books at all. You see, I was there when Nobilis was written. Oh, I didn’t contribute to it. Not directly. But I was there while the author played with ideas — strange, magical ideas. And in my small, probably insignificant way, I encouraged her. And when the book was published, I bought it.

Well, Nobilis is in its third edition now. Go buy it. Even if you never play it (as I likely never shall), it is worth it. It is strange and magical, much like its author.

P.S. A special, limited-edition autographed copy is available for a limited time. I am tempted. Sorely tempted.

This is not urban fantasy

We are home, safe and sound, from MystiCon 2011. We had a good time, and we are glad we went. Here are some thoughts in no particular order.

I liked Brinke Stevens. I can’t recall (offhand) ever enjoying a guest of honor as much at a con. I wish her luck with her writing.

It annoys me that “horror” is apparently no longer a genre, and that all of these vampire romance novels are called “urban fantasy”. WTF. I have an easy test for anyone wondering if a book is “urban fantasy”: if the protagonist or antagonist in your novel is one of the Universal Studios classic movie monsters, it’s not fantasy, much less “urban fantasy”. Storm Front is urban fantasy. Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter is not. War For The Oaks is urban fantasy. Dead Until Dark is not. This is not rocket science.

We really enjoyed hanging out with Carla and Brian. Fun folks. I hope they come to RavenCon some day (although they won’t this year). We met several other fun people, as well, but I am terrible with names, so I can’t tell you theirs.

The character sheet for Greg Porter’s new Verne game is simply amazing. Also, CORPS has been replaced with EABA… as of eight years or so ago, which shows you how out of touch I am.

The podcast thing worked out pretty well, I think, but I have learned something in the process: I am painfully tedious. There are some people who are so tedious that I can barely stand to be in the same room with them when they are talking. I am one of those people. I don’t know how anyone else stands me. Aside from my annoying nasal voice, I combine the worst aspects of someone who can’t string together two coherent thoughts and someone who appears convinced of their own brilliance. If I was in the audience for a panel I was on, I would probably just leave. No accounting for taste, I guess.

I need to find a way to tether my phone to my laptop, so that I won’t be dependent on a malfunctioning hotel internet connection. I know that there are Android tethering apps; I am just not sure if my phone can do it.

I would like to play in a superhero LARP some time. We were too busy for me to participate in one this time.

Having pizza in the con suite Friday night was awesome. Having a hotel room across the hall and one door down from the con suite was doubly awesome.

In general, I am glad we went.

My final “podcast” from MystiCon 2011: myself, John Meagher, and Travis Surber on the Creating A Unique Magic System panel at MystiCon 2011, 2011-02-27 @ 11:00. Technically, John and I were the panelists, and Travis and his wife were the audience, but in practice the three of us just chatted for 45 minutes.

Creating A Unique Magic System podcast (mp3, 42 MB)

I still really hate my voice.

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I filled in on this panel at the last minute. Susan and I did run a LARP at SheVaCon back in 2003 or so that went really well: “The Hotel On Haunted Hill”. It’s where we met our friend Bob. But I am hardly an expert or anything, and honestly I did not expect the panel to be interesting at all. I was wrong about that: it was very entertaining, and packed with people.

This is my second “podcast”: myself, Rod Belcher, Bob Flack, Dave Lystlund, Owen Anderson, and Jestin Jeffries, on the Running a LARP panel at MystiCon 2011, 2011-02-26 @ 13:00.

Running a LARP podcast (mp3, 50 MB)

I had another panel at 15:00, on Game Publishing, but no one showed up. It was just me, Greg Porter, and John Meagher. John and Greg chatted about fonts and pull quotes for a bit, then I took off. I did not bother recording it.

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