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May 22, 2006
Back on Track
Hello All.
Here it is, before noon on Monday and I'm wrapping up the website updates already. How excellent is that? The sun is shining. I'm feeling healthier every day and I actually got a decent amount of sleep last night.
It's Wiggy's birthday today, so hats off to him. Who's Wiggy? He's a RPG writer guy that you should know if you've wandered on my site. A pleasantly prolific Brit who is the chief staff writer for Pinnacle operating under the guidance of Simon, Shane, and their shadow council. :) So, a toast to you!
As for me, I've no shadow council, but am developing a pretty decent network of folks to work with and put out a call today for more. I'm curious as to what the response will be. Shall I be deafened by a great stampede or shall I hear the lone cricket in the night? Only time will tell.
But until then, all is relatively well in the world. My health is on the upswing at the moment, putting all my other minor annoyances into perspective until I take my health for granted. A buddy of mine told me there are something like seven things we need to have in ideal balance in our life or we feel like we've got something to complain about. I dunno. For me, I'm pretty happy with enough sleep, enough food, and an opportunity for friends, laughter, and abundance of time to write.
To help with a bit of this stuff, I've put out an open call for people in the Dirt this week. Go check it out.
Speaking of which, it's good to be back to work and back on track!
Regards,
Sean
Posted by razorwise at 11:49 AM
May 17, 2006
Consistently Inconsistent
Hello All.
The evil symbiote that has attached itself to my neural network is finally sick of its host body and is beginning to lose strength. (Yes, the obvious joke that it was malnourished is there. :P)
At any rate, I'm again days late because motivation has been hard to come by in light of the energy drain. However, I'm on the upswing and apologize for bringing any semblance of humanity into the impersonal world of gaming. ;)
What have I accomplished during this langorous period? Let's do a brief recap.
I've gotten the Player's Guide for RunePunk integrated and off to Clint later than I wished. I've read through Sovereign Nation...again, later than I wished. Update some Iron Dynasty stuff for the playtester's and have dabbled a little bit on a secret project and sketched out what the rest of the year should look like more or less.
We'll see how all that goes.
As for being on track next week, that's the plan. Keeping my fingers crossed and taking my echinacea and multivitamins with regularity.
Keep it real.
Regards,
Sean
Posted by razorwise at 08:17 PM
May 10, 2006
Late by Daze
Hello All.
It's not a habit, I swear it. I'm late a couple of days because I can't shake this friggin' sinus thing that's invaded my skull. The Dream Police song suddenly comes to mind and then a riff from the Split Enz, but never mind. I'm late and I apologize, but let it be known that I've been doing good works.
In between obsessing over RunePunk, I've recently begun obsessing over social systems in RPGs which are entirely annoying and altogether abstractly remove me from my focus on creating a framework to enable people to tell cool stories. To that end, however, I think I finally struck upon a happy medium with the development of a simple, clear caste system for Iron Dynasty which does not impede play and integrates nicely with what already exists in the system, mainly by tying into Charisma modifiers. However, as a bit more details are added to the world, how caste systems interact should prove to be a bit more clearer.
That being said, while I prefer a bit more samurai action than tea ceremonies, I'm pleased to say that I think I've done it justice.
Actually, it adds an elegant robustness to the game and I'm curious to see how the playtesters receive it.
In between that, I've been splicing all the revamps I've done on RunePunk into the Master Player's Guide so I can see how it all shapes up. That should be complete by the end of the week, this weekend, and then I'll ship it off to Clint to review before moving it into the que proper. So, yes, I said it out loud. Please remember, however, that the GM's Section is going to need a bit of tweaking after that, but we're learning how to improve our processes one step at a time.
Other than that, I've been watching a lot of CSI in the evenings on the DVR and trying to get well. My sleep has been sporadic and the weird rain and the cold has done nothing to improve my mental state. On the plus side, I often come up with some interesting ideas when driven by distraction, so I'm trying to make the most of it.
Regards,
Sean
Posted by razorwise at 06:44 PM
May 01, 2006
A Mere Mention of Fatigue and Gaming Design Notes (Maps and Names)
Already, I feel beat. The past two weeks have worn me out a bit, but there's no letting up. Orwell Industries has consumed a lot of time and we're proud of it, and sincerely hope it continues to gain momentum. If you like M&M Superlink, spread the word will ya?
Okay, enough huckstering. I've done that all over the website this week, but that's not why you're here. You're here for my insight into the industry, I suppose, and my honest opinion, good or bad, right?
Hmmm. Let's see what I can muster up. Okay, maps. I mentioned them on another part of this week's site, but they bear talking about a bit and while I'm at that, let's hit names a little bit and then I'll wrap up with a minor rant about something entirely unrelated to either maps or names. We'll call the rant "my observations" and let it go at that, shall we?
Maps. You gotta have 'em. Moving on now. Hah. Had to do it. When you're dealing with a fantasy creation, there comes a point where you have to have some sort of maps. For me, it's early on. If it's a straight up conjuration torn from my head, I want something substantial, something I can look at other than a white screen to focus my thoughts. A map is ideal. It doesn't even have to be a good map. I've started with blobs and squiggles and then define where points of interest should be. Don't worry about names yet. They'll come when they're ready, but should they be ready, be prepared to write them down. Never, ever trust your memory. One day it will let you down and you'll not be able to remain that "really cool name you came up with". I'd jot them down on a sheet of paper and shove it and your squiggle map into a file or scan them and then file them if you're really paranoid or a bit challenged by the organization required to stave off entropy.
After you've got your map, you can then proceed to drop in names. Oddly, no one has ever asked me where I get my names or how I come up with them, which is odd because I've always been ready. Instead, I get drawn quite frequently into comparisons and contrasts of rules sets and mechanics of all things. Play balance has come to the fore and grown a lot easier for me over the years. Please remember I was a liberal arts major and I am a story-forward thinker. With that in mind, however, I want to reach the broadest audience I am able which is why, at present, I choose to align myself with established companies and license their mechanics rather than throw our endeavors willy-nilly into the wind.
Orwell Industries is an interesting experiment in that regard. It's targeting the M&M Superlink audience which is bombarded with various products and no guarantee of quality assurance. To them, Reality Blurs is an unknown variable. Just another name? We'll see how things shape up. Persistence, I imagine, is the key.
Well, I drifted way off from names tonight. I really should write this at the beginning of the day rather than the end, so here's attempt two at addressing my initial commentary about the importance of names in a game context. Here's a punch list that comes to mind:
1. Make sure to select setting appropriate names. If dealing with high space adventure, don't go with mundane names like Tom or John for your NPCs.
2. Broaden your horizons. Anglo names aren't the only ones in the world. Go to english to another language dictionaries and discover cool words for common things.
3. Smash words together. This is one of my favorite. Being a liberal arts major, I've got that whole "poetry in my blood" thing going for me, so I tend to have an ear for what sounds "right".
4. Say the names out loud. When I mentioned ear, above, this is what I'm talking about. Some names look nifty on paper, but if you can't say them out loud without tangling them up into a twisted verbal maelstrom of unpronounceability, they problem should be left to float amongst the flotsam of your mind.
5. Don't be avant-garde. Sometimes, mundane is fine and possibly even preferred. My name is Sean, which is kinda weird considering how it's pronounced and is something that throws some foreign people off to this day. It's what got me interested in linguistics long ago, but that's another story. Suffice it to say, if people need a language key to say the word correctly, you probably can go with something else, especially if it's common. However, this rule is often broken by some of the greats who opted to come up with some weird name which plagues readers to this day with the "correct" pronunciation whether it be Moorcock's Melnibone' or Lovecraft's Cthulhu. Yes, I've heard them pronounced a multitude of ways. Yes, I know I probably are pronouncing them incorrectly even though I know the correct way, but forgive me this trespass will you?
That's enough of that. I've wandered all over the map and named names and given you some more things to think about. Now go do something useful with this stuff, will ya?
Regards,
Sean
Posted by razorwise at 09:02 PM