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November 30, 2007
Bang! Bang!
Hello All!
I'm typing away on my new super sytem that I got on Monday after major technical issues over the weekend with my laptop shut things down.
As luck would have it, a super deal on a Seagate Externall 500 GB HDD lured me out of the house where I was able to snag something to back up all my writing which I dutifully did just three days before my computer sytem went on the fritz. I'm sending it off to the darkness of space (errr, system repair) and will anxiouslly await its return.
When I got my new system and plugged it all in and booted it up, the thing sounded like a chopper coming down over 'Nam and I ducked for cover, but the thing never booted up, so I low crawled over and unplugged it, said a few choice words, tromped back to the store (that shall remain nameless), and the guys there checked it and indeed agreed it was broken, so I got another system, came home, booted it up, and was relieved that it booted up just fine. However...after a few moments of browsing around Vista...which I've never seen outside of the stores, commercials, and catalogs, and the disc that I've got for my laptop, but have yet to install...find the sytem falling apart around me, like I'm in some kind of Salvador Dali painting. I find some repair feature that works...for about 5 minutes until the system says I have an inadequate graphics card and starts melting down even faster. At that point, I say a few more choice words to myself, vowing vengeance upon the store if I can't get this thing operational, and do a complete system reimage (which took an hour and a half to two hours, at this point, I think I'm somehow sharing time and space with a gremlin (or two). Magically, this longshot reimage idea fixed things up and the system is now as stable as can be. Though, I have backed everything up on this machine as well, just in case.
At any rate, work continues apace, and the only reason I post this here is that there is oftimes a tenuous relationship between the writer and his machine. Regardless of our background, technical or otherwise, we just want it to work and be a transparent helper in our creative business endeavors. To that end, I do believe this new machine is going to really ramp up productivity!
Who knows? I might even install BioShock on this if I get it for Christmas. (Ummmm...this counts as research for work, right?);)
Regards,
Sean
Posted by razorwise at 04:12 PM
November 20, 2007
Synergies
Hello there and welcome to the Thanksgiving edition of RWR. This week we dispense with the writing and huckstering rather quickly and get on to some philosophies and ideologies. (Yes, we'd love you to buy our stuff. Lots of our stuff. In fact, buy some copies of RunePunk for yourself and your friends if you don't have it and snag a few adventures too. we'd certainly appreciate it.)
Okay, now that that's out of the way. Let's talk gaming principles. Something I've drifted from in awhile, but a good topic to revisit often. First off, none of us create in a vacuum. We are influenced, for good or ill, by everything around us. The noisy neighbors across the street. The streak of hot weather. Arguments initiated or overheard. Everything impacts us and is absorbed by us on an almost eerily cellular level. The thing is what to do with all this stuff, because all this stuff isn't good. Some books I've read by greatly learned people discuss the whole cerebral deal and it boils down to what some of the more analytical like to call the filter, while the more prosaic of our ilk like to call the muse. You can even call it intuition, gut, or common sense. Whatever it is, it's important as it helps you decide what to keep in and what to throw out. Influences, in what is obviously my opinion, are not bad things. They can provide needed nourishment to seedlings of ideas and help them flourish into incredbile, vital oaks of awesome proportions. Of course, some influences, as we all know, are not good things and are more akin to pouring antifreeze on a delicate African violet. Not highly recommended. Some ideas are fragile and need isolation, but eventually, any idea, project, whatever, to transcend the status of trunk book or pet project, must get thrown into the mix and see if it has what it takes to survive. One can only hope their ideas have the vitality and clarity of vision to survive.
My influences inform me and expand my horizons. My influences add to the robustness of my visions. My influences are me and I, in turn, are them. A wise man told me to focus on the setting...the world...and he was write and I tip my hat to that my and offer my thanks for what's been a great year for my friends and family and we look forward to what tomorrow holds in store.
Is every day great? Of course not. Am I informed by the pain intrinsic to life? Of course. Those are more influences and of use to one honing his craft. Now, lest you think I've drank a gallon of perfumed arrogance and am vomiting up billious words, I shall leave you with a few of my latest influences...Myths and Legends of Japan, Seven Swords, and the PS3 with the amazing games I've already accumulated of Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Heavenly Sword, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (which I hope to explore a bit more tonight), and the most amazing Assassin's Creed, that I find a true watershed moment for gaming and a glimpse at the potential of electronic interactivity the future holds.
There. I've bared enough of what's bouncing around in my brain for one week. Take care and look for more ruminations coming soon.
Game on!
Sean
Posted by razorwise at 07:20 PM
November 10, 2007
Strange Days
Hello All...
Chaos seems to be the theme for fall. I've written as much as I could these few months and a lot of words have been spilled across monitors, notebooks, and scribbled upon random fragments of paper. However, none of those words found their way to the Reality Blurs website. Apologies all around. The thing is, time has been precious here, and I've been narrowed my focus to what I've been working on to the near-exclusion of all else, but it's essential I maintain contact with you guys. I need it as much as you do. It's good to tell you what's been going on and what hasn't.
Rest assured that we haven't disappeared. We're daily working on goodness for RunePunk, Iron Dynasty, and Agents of Oblivion and happily look forward to the day that all three campaign books are out and in your hands so we can work on more killer adventures for your pleasure and mine.
If you haven't read elsewhere, I'm hoping to get a new RunePunk adventure out before the end of the year while the guys are playtesting Iron Dynasty. Yes. When you keep a lot of balls in the air, you have little time for talks like these, but it's certainly nice to drop in, give you all a heads up and say hello!
Take care!
Regards,
Sean
Posted by razorwise at 12:57 PM