Sometimes things fall together in a game perfectly. Today's Pendragon was just that. There was a lot different about it - all five people present, an extended session covering two years and enterting into 'Excalibur' territory - but in the end, it boiled down to this.
In one scene we rode as knights serving our King, we battled through ranks of warriors, took grave wounds and captured an enemy King.
In another scene we fought as knights serving our King, battled through ranks of warriors, took few wounds and killed a King.
The first was Octa and we were JUBILANT. It was our first real battle as effective knights rather than pieces on the board. My character took charge of the line of battle (I don't care if you have a Battle 15, noob, I have a Proud of 16!) and did some Battle stuff like reforming lines for charges etc. Our tactic for engaging Octa worked (just) as we realised that we were not the uber warriors we appear to be - but we won and were feted with Glory.
A scant two hours later, our jubilation had turned to a palpable sense of unease as we made war with King Gorlois for daring to not let King Uther boff his wife. He had broken the rules of hospitality and therefore .... must die? Wasn't he the King that broken the saxon flank at Lindsey? Not only did we make war upon him, but in defence of the dead Prince Madoc, we five hacked that King to pieces as he struggled to release his sword. And some of our knights then turned Terrabil into a carnal house.
You can say a lot about this game - the emerging personalities of the knights, the growing mass of children and the complications they create, the holdings that we develop, the relationships - but this is a game of Arthurian myth and in the end it is these extremes of emotion, caused by the vagries of the customs of the time that really stand out. We, the Heroes of Lindsey, sided with the King in a case of Super Horny Regicide, because we is our Liege. We, the players in the 21st century, fully appreciate the ludicrous nature of that action.
Powerful stuff!
Neil
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Monday, November 27, 2006
One Year Later
As I was standing in the middle of the Academy last night, listening to the Wonder Stuff, I realised that it was roughly a year since I started my blogging exploits and my exploration of my various gaming hobbies. With that in mind, I thought it would be cute to examine where each of them is ... one year later!
Collectible Card Games?
DEAD as a dead thing from dead land. The WoW CCG passed me by with barely a whimper. The new iteration of Raw Deal looks interesting but without a group to play with and with limited time the likelihood of me rekindling the glory days seems to have passed. If there was a major casualty of the last year, it was CCGs.
Roleplaying?
Growing from strength to strength really. Have one game that has been played steadily for a while now (Pendragon). Have the embers of a 'fill in week' group that could well be doing Burning Wheel. I'm also starting a little rp project with my girls which could be fun or a disaster. Hey, and then there is my fledgling RP game which is currently in the very first stages of playtest. Loads of RP stuff going on.
Comics?
Still reading them, still enjoying them. No real change. Actually there has been an associated change in that I have started reading novels again, which waned a little for a while. Lots of input into the old grey matter.
Fanfiction?
Oh, big changes there! Rather than being the hobby that I aspire to, it's one that I am not actively involved in again. So I'm writing for the DCInfinity site with Green Lantern and Zatanna and it's a whole lot of fun. There seems to be the old inversely proportional relationship between my RP exploits and my fanfic exploits going on at the minute - some things never change really.
World of Warcraft?
Well, I'm still playing it but a lot of the enthusiasm has waned since the schism that shattered the quiet fun house that was the Dungeoneers. I'm once again at an impasse with it. I like playing it, but I'm going to have to pay it a little more attention if I am going to get the most from The Burning Crusade and I'm not sure I want to pay it more attention. Strange.
Anyway, thats about it really. Certainly things have stabalised a little with the removal of the CCG side of things and the retirement of my website empire. However, I'm always a builder so who knows what might be around the corner?
Neil
Collectible Card Games?
DEAD as a dead thing from dead land. The WoW CCG passed me by with barely a whimper. The new iteration of Raw Deal looks interesting but without a group to play with and with limited time the likelihood of me rekindling the glory days seems to have passed. If there was a major casualty of the last year, it was CCGs.
Roleplaying?
Growing from strength to strength really. Have one game that has been played steadily for a while now (Pendragon). Have the embers of a 'fill in week' group that could well be doing Burning Wheel. I'm also starting a little rp project with my girls which could be fun or a disaster. Hey, and then there is my fledgling RP game which is currently in the very first stages of playtest. Loads of RP stuff going on.
Comics?
Still reading them, still enjoying them. No real change. Actually there has been an associated change in that I have started reading novels again, which waned a little for a while. Lots of input into the old grey matter.
Fanfiction?
Oh, big changes there! Rather than being the hobby that I aspire to, it's one that I am not actively involved in again. So I'm writing for the DCInfinity site with Green Lantern and Zatanna and it's a whole lot of fun. There seems to be the old inversely proportional relationship between my RP exploits and my fanfic exploits going on at the minute - some things never change really.
World of Warcraft?
Well, I'm still playing it but a lot of the enthusiasm has waned since the schism that shattered the quiet fun house that was the Dungeoneers. I'm once again at an impasse with it. I like playing it, but I'm going to have to pay it a little more attention if I am going to get the most from The Burning Crusade and I'm not sure I want to pay it more attention. Strange.
Anyway, thats about it really. Certainly things have stabalised a little with the removal of the CCG side of things and the retirement of my website empire. However, I'm always a builder so who knows what might be around the corner?
Neil
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Baby Steps
A few posts ago, I mentioned that I wanted to write a roleplaying game and since then, I have been reading and listening to quite a bit about the subject. Well, finally this weekend the ideas and concepts came together into something that resembled a system. It's nowhere near the outside world seeing it yet and has to get a large swathe of testing under it's belt BUT at least we have a start.
One thing that has become readily apparent is that whilst, in some of the current models of indie games, this could be a future money spinner - thats not what I want to achieve. I've set myself (initially) a little challenge.
1. The main rules shall be no longer than 12 pages of A5
2. I have to say everything I want to say about the system for the players in those 12 pages
3. There will be a 12 page 'GM' book as well - more of a discussion document than rules really.
4. Setting books will be 8 pages long.
Settings books? Well, what struck me was that the system I have created mirrors the gaming practices of my group pretty well, and thats a penchant for world building within game. Indeed, much of character creation revolves around the creation of the world as well as the character. However, it's very very difficult to create a world in a vacuum and even harder to create characters therein. So why not have tiny little seeder books which give the barest bones of a campaign for people to use/discard/adapt and moreover grow their characters from, changing the world as they go in character generation.
This is in no way, shape or form a handy dumping ground for ideas that I have had that never got past the conceptual stage...honest! However, the first one I have in mind is MI:666 - modern horror in a world where the Powers That Be *know* that Hell exists....
Anyway, progress is a good thing!
Neil
One thing that has become readily apparent is that whilst, in some of the current models of indie games, this could be a future money spinner - thats not what I want to achieve. I've set myself (initially) a little challenge.
1. The main rules shall be no longer than 12 pages of A5
2. I have to say everything I want to say about the system for the players in those 12 pages
3. There will be a 12 page 'GM' book as well - more of a discussion document than rules really.
4. Setting books will be 8 pages long.
Settings books? Well, what struck me was that the system I have created mirrors the gaming practices of my group pretty well, and thats a penchant for world building within game. Indeed, much of character creation revolves around the creation of the world as well as the character. However, it's very very difficult to create a world in a vacuum and even harder to create characters therein. So why not have tiny little seeder books which give the barest bones of a campaign for people to use/discard/adapt and moreover grow their characters from, changing the world as they go in character generation.
This is in no way, shape or form a handy dumping ground for ideas that I have had that never got past the conceptual stage...honest! However, the first one I have in mind is MI:666 - modern horror in a world where the Powers That Be *know* that Hell exists....
Anyway, progress is a good thing!
Neil
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
When Wheel meets Dragon...
It could be a long one this...
I have been voraciously reading Burning Empires and wallowing in the wonderful structure of the game. One very interesting bit is the splitting and allocation of screen time into Conflicts, Building, Intersital and Colour phases. In the text, Luke Crane actually says that some experienced roleplayers may be rolling their eyes at the constructed nature of it, but it is what we do naturally anyway - just writ large. I was indeed, one of those eye-rollers.
Cut forwards to our session of Pendragon. It's 489 and nothing much was happening. Next year, 490, is a HUGE year with battles and stuff apparently. This is the lull before the storm. Bearing this in mind, I was quite interested in seeing what Nigel would come up with, especially as we are a player down. The game started as usual with the post Winter Phase, pre Winter Court activity and the perennial question 'Is there anything you want to do?'
And yes, my eyebrow raised as I thought 'Hmm...it's a potential building phase, isn't it?'. So I thought, what could I do? And then I made a decision - I would not do anything trivial. If I did something it would have to serve the story and generate some sort of conflict. So I stayed at home and looked after the babies.
At Winter Court it become apparent that Sir Jarradan has been blown off by Rhiannon and she has turned her attentions to Sir Merrick. This was quite a revelation and hammered home one of the parts of the game that sometimes gets missed. It's been over two YEARS since the scheming harridan started whispering in the ear of the aspiring household knight, and he is still an aspiring household knight. So she has cut her losses and gone elsewhere. In 'normal' games radical change like that takes months of play but in Pendragon it can be realistically done in two weeks. Thats interesting...
And then a saxon trundles up to Sarum and the game changes for me totally. The Black Bear clan have been so pissed off by my overt twatting of the Saxons that they have declared 'blood feud' on me and my family. Now THATS interesting. Naturally I accepted it with vigour but now I have reason to start really *playing*.
- I start taking a greater interest in the disposition of the Saxons with Sir Madoc and Sir Brastias (that'll be an intersital moment, I believe)
- I send a message back to my clan in the Long Isles warning them of the impending clash with the Saxons. (building and bringing my family in Ireland into play for the first time)
- I look to extend my communication with the band of mercenary Kerns that fight for Uther (more building)
And then, I authored a scene where Brion (in preperation for his imminent rise to Pagan Knight) goes to Glastonbury to receive the blessing of Morrigan. He sacrifices the sword given to him by Sir Madoc for his actions at Bayeux and accepts, voluntarily, a Geas. Now, I have no idea whether this will benefit me in the future but it HAMMERED home more about my character than anything else I have done before, in my eyes. It was a colour scene that could be used later for something greater.
Onwards and a possible moment with Rhiannon as Merrick invites me to dine with them. Epona (bless her) declines on my behalf. Now, lets look at that. I've been constantly bleating on about how proud I am about having the kids and my great wife. We appear to act as one when it comes to matters of her sister. Thats very cool whether intentional or not and acts as a sure sign that if something nasty is going to happen to my family, for dramas sake, it should happen to Epona... but after what happens next, will anyone be silly enough?
We go to war with Cornwall and after their surrender we march to reinforce Lindsey. There the three of us intercept a Saxon raiding party - six foot soldiers and a chieftain. We take their shield wall head on with a charge and smash it and I engage the Chieftain. Sir Merrick tries to intervene and I snarl him off - *my* fight. We kill them, but the Chieftain is unconscious. I wake him up and then despatch him with this rather chilling message.
"This is a message, to your Gods from mine. Kill me if you can... Survive if I let you!" and off comes his head. ECWs Taz never delievered that line in a more appropriate setting! Later we stumble on 15 saxon raiders from the Black Bear tribe. Rather than battle them (which would have been very foolish) I confront them and hurl the Chieftains head at their feet, proclaiming that this was just the first of many that would fall until they called off their feud.
And then the game ended before the Winter phase.
Maybe the catalyst for this was during the last session when Sir Brion was described as 'likeable' and 'sociable' etc. by the court. Maybe it was to ensure that Brion=Hardass Warrior archetype is not forgotten or missed again? I dunno, but a definite darker turn for the character has ensued - all fuelled by the need to protect his family (thats Love:Family 18 folks...) and suddenly he is SO MUCH MORE entertaining to play!
Great great game. Can't wait till the next session. It struck us, on the way home, that the two games in question - Pendragon and Burning Wheel - aren't actually that different in their outlook. You have to force the drama or as Ian has pointed out on fandomlife.net, it is like being in the middle of your own medieval documentary!
Later, I plan to burn Brion as a Burning Wheel character, to see whether my idea is right.
N.
I have been voraciously reading Burning Empires and wallowing in the wonderful structure of the game. One very interesting bit is the splitting and allocation of screen time into Conflicts, Building, Intersital and Colour phases. In the text, Luke Crane actually says that some experienced roleplayers may be rolling their eyes at the constructed nature of it, but it is what we do naturally anyway - just writ large. I was indeed, one of those eye-rollers.
Cut forwards to our session of Pendragon. It's 489 and nothing much was happening. Next year, 490, is a HUGE year with battles and stuff apparently. This is the lull before the storm. Bearing this in mind, I was quite interested in seeing what Nigel would come up with, especially as we are a player down. The game started as usual with the post Winter Phase, pre Winter Court activity and the perennial question 'Is there anything you want to do?'
And yes, my eyebrow raised as I thought 'Hmm...it's a potential building phase, isn't it?'. So I thought, what could I do? And then I made a decision - I would not do anything trivial. If I did something it would have to serve the story and generate some sort of conflict. So I stayed at home and looked after the babies.
At Winter Court it become apparent that Sir Jarradan has been blown off by Rhiannon and she has turned her attentions to Sir Merrick. This was quite a revelation and hammered home one of the parts of the game that sometimes gets missed. It's been over two YEARS since the scheming harridan started whispering in the ear of the aspiring household knight, and he is still an aspiring household knight. So she has cut her losses and gone elsewhere. In 'normal' games radical change like that takes months of play but in Pendragon it can be realistically done in two weeks. Thats interesting...
And then a saxon trundles up to Sarum and the game changes for me totally. The Black Bear clan have been so pissed off by my overt twatting of the Saxons that they have declared 'blood feud' on me and my family. Now THATS interesting. Naturally I accepted it with vigour but now I have reason to start really *playing*.
- I start taking a greater interest in the disposition of the Saxons with Sir Madoc and Sir Brastias (that'll be an intersital moment, I believe)
- I send a message back to my clan in the Long Isles warning them of the impending clash with the Saxons. (building and bringing my family in Ireland into play for the first time)
- I look to extend my communication with the band of mercenary Kerns that fight for Uther (more building)
And then, I authored a scene where Brion (in preperation for his imminent rise to Pagan Knight) goes to Glastonbury to receive the blessing of Morrigan. He sacrifices the sword given to him by Sir Madoc for his actions at Bayeux and accepts, voluntarily, a Geas. Now, I have no idea whether this will benefit me in the future but it HAMMERED home more about my character than anything else I have done before, in my eyes. It was a colour scene that could be used later for something greater.
Onwards and a possible moment with Rhiannon as Merrick invites me to dine with them. Epona (bless her) declines on my behalf. Now, lets look at that. I've been constantly bleating on about how proud I am about having the kids and my great wife. We appear to act as one when it comes to matters of her sister. Thats very cool whether intentional or not and acts as a sure sign that if something nasty is going to happen to my family, for dramas sake, it should happen to Epona... but after what happens next, will anyone be silly enough?
We go to war with Cornwall and after their surrender we march to reinforce Lindsey. There the three of us intercept a Saxon raiding party - six foot soldiers and a chieftain. We take their shield wall head on with a charge and smash it and I engage the Chieftain. Sir Merrick tries to intervene and I snarl him off - *my* fight. We kill them, but the Chieftain is unconscious. I wake him up and then despatch him with this rather chilling message.
"This is a message, to your Gods from mine. Kill me if you can... Survive if I let you!" and off comes his head. ECWs Taz never delievered that line in a more appropriate setting! Later we stumble on 15 saxon raiders from the Black Bear tribe. Rather than battle them (which would have been very foolish) I confront them and hurl the Chieftains head at their feet, proclaiming that this was just the first of many that would fall until they called off their feud.
And then the game ended before the Winter phase.
Maybe the catalyst for this was during the last session when Sir Brion was described as 'likeable' and 'sociable' etc. by the court. Maybe it was to ensure that Brion=Hardass Warrior archetype is not forgotten or missed again? I dunno, but a definite darker turn for the character has ensued - all fuelled by the need to protect his family (thats Love:Family 18 folks...) and suddenly he is SO MUCH MORE entertaining to play!
Great great game. Can't wait till the next session. It struck us, on the way home, that the two games in question - Pendragon and Burning Wheel - aren't actually that different in their outlook. You have to force the drama or as Ian has pointed out on fandomlife.net, it is like being in the middle of your own medieval documentary!
Later, I plan to burn Brion as a Burning Wheel character, to see whether my idea is right.
N.
Friday, November 03, 2006
What can RPGs learn from MMOs?
Another little thread on rpg.net, another musing thought rumbling in my head that has been answered.
I finally realised why I like parts of WoW and why some of my roleplaying habits may have changed.
WoW delivers the 'explore places, kill things, take their stuff and get tougher in the process' needs that 'traditional' rpgs - like D&D3e - deliver normally and do it 100% better. The gameplay has the social interaction (via voicecomms) and the fantastical scenery but without worrying about modifiers and AoO and other such nonsense. Basically, WoW does D&D better than D&D does.
(and as an aside, when we have played D&D post-WoW, it has been very difficult to take the game seriously when combat happens and not degenerate into a reference-fest.)
However, with that itch well and truly scratched, my other requirements from roleplaying - social advancement, character development, storylines and such - have to be dealt with within the games I am choosing to play.
Is that one of the contributing factors to my current chomping away at new and relatively obscure RPG material? Maybe it is. Who knows?
Neil
I finally realised why I like parts of WoW and why some of my roleplaying habits may have changed.
WoW delivers the 'explore places, kill things, take their stuff and get tougher in the process' needs that 'traditional' rpgs - like D&D3e - deliver normally and do it 100% better. The gameplay has the social interaction (via voicecomms) and the fantastical scenery but without worrying about modifiers and AoO and other such nonsense. Basically, WoW does D&D better than D&D does.
(and as an aside, when we have played D&D post-WoW, it has been very difficult to take the game seriously when combat happens and not degenerate into a reference-fest.)
However, with that itch well and truly scratched, my other requirements from roleplaying - social advancement, character development, storylines and such - have to be dealt with within the games I am choosing to play.
Is that one of the contributing factors to my current chomping away at new and relatively obscure RPG material? Maybe it is. Who knows?
Neil
Talkin' bout a Revolution (Part Two)
What thing revolve? Wheels. What things make my brain revolve? Burning Wheels!
I picked up Burning Empires last night and oh, is it a thing of beauty. £26 of pure gaming BLING! It's like a roleplaying version of the Gideon bible. Hard backed, novel sized and arted (so no worries about reading this bad boy in public!) 650+ pages of crisp, glossy, colour game with copious, relevant artwork. And with all these embelishments, it's still a fully functional and very well produced game.
What it does is take the Burning Wheel mechanic and graft.... no, graft is the wrong work - merge it with a very distinct setting. The human galaxy is being invaded by these little worm things called the Vaylen (very Mr Mind for the comics literate of you) who control bodies and subvert wills. Your characters for the central protaganists in the resistance against the almost unstoppable march of the Worm. Oh theres a whole lot more to it than that, but thats the central plot.
However, it is the realisation of the plot that makes this so sweet. As a group you 'burn' the world that the invasion takes place on - developing the exact physical, social and governmental structure that will fire your play. Your characters are all very experienced, central figures - 7-8 lifepaths (normal BW uses 4-5). The campaign structure is built around the progression of the Invasion - moving from infiltration of the populace to the usurption of the decision makers and then the military invasion. As a campaign it looks awesome. Reading the first couple of chapters just fills you with ideas and when you're done with the Worm-thing, I reckon the system and what it creates could well be used to model any number of plucky rebellions against the evil Empire of Doom campaigns.
It is a beautiful thing indeed. The sad thing is that with our teeth firmly into the Great Pendragon Campaign (Battle of Lindsey coming soon!) the chances of me ever getting to run this monster under our current structure is low. I'd either have to set up a second RP night (not likely considering the time constraints of this one) or find a new group of players to try it out on (and thats a hit and miss affair at best.)
One for the future maybe?
Neil
I picked up Burning Empires last night and oh, is it a thing of beauty. £26 of pure gaming BLING! It's like a roleplaying version of the Gideon bible. Hard backed, novel sized and arted (so no worries about reading this bad boy in public!) 650+ pages of crisp, glossy, colour game with copious, relevant artwork. And with all these embelishments, it's still a fully functional and very well produced game.
What it does is take the Burning Wheel mechanic and graft.... no, graft is the wrong work - merge it with a very distinct setting. The human galaxy is being invaded by these little worm things called the Vaylen (very Mr Mind for the comics literate of you) who control bodies and subvert wills. Your characters for the central protaganists in the resistance against the almost unstoppable march of the Worm. Oh theres a whole lot more to it than that, but thats the central plot.
However, it is the realisation of the plot that makes this so sweet. As a group you 'burn' the world that the invasion takes place on - developing the exact physical, social and governmental structure that will fire your play. Your characters are all very experienced, central figures - 7-8 lifepaths (normal BW uses 4-5). The campaign structure is built around the progression of the Invasion - moving from infiltration of the populace to the usurption of the decision makers and then the military invasion. As a campaign it looks awesome. Reading the first couple of chapters just fills you with ideas and when you're done with the Worm-thing, I reckon the system and what it creates could well be used to model any number of plucky rebellions against the evil Empire of Doom campaigns.
It is a beautiful thing indeed. The sad thing is that with our teeth firmly into the Great Pendragon Campaign (Battle of Lindsey coming soon!) the chances of me ever getting to run this monster under our current structure is low. I'd either have to set up a second RP night (not likely considering the time constraints of this one) or find a new group of players to try it out on (and thats a hit and miss affair at best.)
One for the future maybe?
Neil
Talkin' bout a Revolution (Part One)
Two posts, two subjects - one applicable title! Thats Value!
Regardless of my fervour in avoiding them, I keep getting dragged back to CCGs. Whether it is an underlying need to participate in some form of collective competition, an addiction to collecting or simply a desire to be closer to a massive group of friends around the world, they always pop up now and again.
The WoW CCG has been released and it is very simple, very smooth and looks very nice. This, essentially, is the local game if it is anything and my participation would be reliant on the guys down the pub buying into it as well. I'm not sure they will, because a lot of them have dumped out of the CCG game in favour of the MMORPG world totally. It's still a tantalising prospect - getting in one the ground floor of something new and exciting. Possibly meeting new players as well. The one deciding factor could well be the expense - £2.99 a booster is too much in my beer-economics view of the world.
And then there is Revolution.
The new incarnation of Raw Deal is coming for Christmas and it is wonderful. Through my previous associations with Comic Images, I have been privy to a full set of the final spoilers and I have to say that the reimagining of the game is spectacular. It's like a reset to Premier with five years of experience and design heaped into the mix. The game promises to be MUCH faster, have far fewer dull negative play experiences (the new mechanics make mono-decks and pure control decks almost impossible to achieve), smaller quicker tournaments, better prizes and some engaging new deck construction techniques.
And the reason why this game doesn't fall foul of the 'local players needed' problem? Well, there are some nearby players in Middlesborough and Scarborough and York. Thats relatively near obviously, but I'm a big lad, I can travel. And this morning I received the great news that the Middlesborough manager has decided to run Revolution-only tournaments. That buys me in, in all probability.
The overriding stipulation for my participation however will be fun over involvement. Controlling my urge to help out, get involved or any other sort of organisation has to be kept under control. A year ago, I was pretty much at the centre of all things Raw Deal and it consumed my life and spare time. I can't afford to let that happen again. Of course, that means I may have to actually BUY cards - a new and scary prospect if ever there was one....
We shall see what comes around (see the revolution motif? hehehe)
Neil
Regardless of my fervour in avoiding them, I keep getting dragged back to CCGs. Whether it is an underlying need to participate in some form of collective competition, an addiction to collecting or simply a desire to be closer to a massive group of friends around the world, they always pop up now and again.
The WoW CCG has been released and it is very simple, very smooth and looks very nice. This, essentially, is the local game if it is anything and my participation would be reliant on the guys down the pub buying into it as well. I'm not sure they will, because a lot of them have dumped out of the CCG game in favour of the MMORPG world totally. It's still a tantalising prospect - getting in one the ground floor of something new and exciting. Possibly meeting new players as well. The one deciding factor could well be the expense - £2.99 a booster is too much in my beer-economics view of the world.
And then there is Revolution.
The new incarnation of Raw Deal is coming for Christmas and it is wonderful. Through my previous associations with Comic Images, I have been privy to a full set of the final spoilers and I have to say that the reimagining of the game is spectacular. It's like a reset to Premier with five years of experience and design heaped into the mix. The game promises to be MUCH faster, have far fewer dull negative play experiences (the new mechanics make mono-decks and pure control decks almost impossible to achieve), smaller quicker tournaments, better prizes and some engaging new deck construction techniques.
And the reason why this game doesn't fall foul of the 'local players needed' problem? Well, there are some nearby players in Middlesborough and Scarborough and York. Thats relatively near obviously, but I'm a big lad, I can travel. And this morning I received the great news that the Middlesborough manager has decided to run Revolution-only tournaments. That buys me in, in all probability.
The overriding stipulation for my participation however will be fun over involvement. Controlling my urge to help out, get involved or any other sort of organisation has to be kept under control. A year ago, I was pretty much at the centre of all things Raw Deal and it consumed my life and spare time. I can't afford to let that happen again. Of course, that means I may have to actually BUY cards - a new and scary prospect if ever there was one....
We shall see what comes around (see the revolution motif? hehehe)
Neil
Monday, October 30, 2006
Understanding what makes my gaming 'click'
So, as my exploration of other sorts of rpgs continues slowly but surely, I've began to question what I want from a roleplaying game. Moreover, it's a challenge to myself based around three core concepts:
1. The ascertion that if you ignore the rules of a game that you are playing, you might not be using the correct game for the campaign you want to run/play.
2. That when I am GMing I am all about the intricacies of character generation and then almost AWOL when it comes to other rules.
3. That in certain systems there are things which really get under my skin that can, I believe, be answered within rules design.
1. Is abandoning rules a reason for jettisoning a system? Or do you play the rules where they lie?
Or in other words, if you are playing D&D3e and not using AoO, are you really playing D&D3e? After all, that one change to the rules permeates virtually every aspect of the game. Not just combat, but also spellcasting and feat selection (and therefore character customisation). Attacks of Opportunity are as central to 3e as well.... feats and skills!
However, I have never used them nor can I envisage a time when I would. I abhore that 'minatures without minatures' style of combat and much prefer the more descriptive cinematic style which plays fast and loose with movement and positioning to make things more exciting. So, is D&D3e the system for my games then?
Well I would suggest that yes it is, for a number of reasons. The first is that by jettisoning a game you can lose the baby with the metaphoric bathwater. You can lose a lot of good stuff if you cannot handle one mechanic. Secondly, I think that this attitude is driven by a massive knowledge and availability of roleplaying games. I simply cannot just reference a dozen replacement rules options and then go and sample them to get the perfect system. It's wholly impractical. Needs must etc. Lastly, if the GM is going to be able to work the rules to the benefit of the story then he needs to be able to change things a little. Being a captive of the ruleset simply isn't appropriate.
However, I do agree that sometimes you have to look at the metagame you are playing within and the accepted styles of play of your group and see whether something different might be more appropriate. For example, the intricate group play we have had before was coming undone at the seams by player absenteeism (for very good reasons). Pendragon solves that through the mechanics it promotes and the year-on-year pace of the game. That was a positive change.
2. Absentee Gamesmastering - When is a game not a game? When it's a storytelling session!
I'm not a great one for rules outside character generation. I love them in character generation. Char Gen can be as complicated and intricate as it likes as far as I am concerned. Bring it on! I want to know every single aspect of my character. I want it down there on a piece of paper as the best aide memoire I can get. I don't care whether it is a very mechanistic method with stats and skills for everything and then some, or something a little more fluffy with contacts and feelings and agendas and whatnot. I just love seeing this new person come into being, there, on the page and in my mind. I use the rules as a tool to help build the character in my mind - rather than, as some do, create the character in my mind and then make the shape fit within the rules, or even the rules fit around the shape. I find that the process of Char Gen fires for me, and makes me think about new and different avenues for the character.
And then the rules stop. In my games I couldn't really care less about movement grids, movement rates, attacks of bloody opportunity, encumberance and other such nonsense. Money usually sees the door early too. Unnecessary for many of the genres that I play within. NPC interaction rules are another early victim of my sweeping scythe - if you want to fast talk the NPC then you'll roleplay it and I'll decide whether it passes muster or not. Yes, I know - what about people that don't have good verbose skills - couldn't care less. Roleplaying games require you to develop your oral presentation skills and now is as good a time as any!
Now this might seem a little strange, but I kind of like rules when I am a player. I like those little nuances of the rules that allow your character to do cool stuff like Fighting Defensively. I absolutely adore the Winter Phase business in Pendragon and all the blue booking potential that delivers. Essentially, my expectations appear to be different as a player and a GM. What a freak?!
Freak I may be, but it's something that I want to get my head around because there has to be a middle ground.
3. Rules that grind my gears.
Or rather an explanation of a passage of play that really doesn't make sense to me as a player. We are playing Pendragon and during a battle our forces are trying to breach a gate. We have made a small opening but the enemy are trying to close the gate again. Myself and another player decide to put our not inconsiderable bulk into the effort. Now, the knight that was doing it with me is, in a one sentence build, the repentent Christian seeking to cast off the shadow of his fathers dodgy past. I am, literally, the massive reckless Irish giant warrior always ready to fight.
So we roll the dice. And I fail. And the little Christian succeeds. Now, with my SIZ 17 and STR 16 and Giant distinguishing feature and general demeanour as a combat beast I felt slightly aggrieved that my knight could not bust that door open. It felt somewhat like gimmick infringement, in wrestling parlance. All because of a dice roll. Thats one of the things that I'm growing to dislike about straight dice roll games. I may have all the benefits of size and strength and character concept but a Knight with STR 11 is going to (quick number crunch) beat me in a feat of Strength around 22% of the time... on the whim of the dice. Note: I don't have a problem with the game, nor the players or the GM (*waves* Hi guys!) but the system doesn't quite convey that sense of character identity in that mechanic.
So what now?
Well I guess I feed all of that quietly into my expanding mental portfolio of games design. With one question to be answered - who do you design a game for? The Players, The GM or both... and whilst the answer may be easy, the solution to the problems that brings may not be as simple.
Neil
1. The ascertion that if you ignore the rules of a game that you are playing, you might not be using the correct game for the campaign you want to run/play.
2. That when I am GMing I am all about the intricacies of character generation and then almost AWOL when it comes to other rules.
3. That in certain systems there are things which really get under my skin that can, I believe, be answered within rules design.
1. Is abandoning rules a reason for jettisoning a system? Or do you play the rules where they lie?
Or in other words, if you are playing D&D3e and not using AoO, are you really playing D&D3e? After all, that one change to the rules permeates virtually every aspect of the game. Not just combat, but also spellcasting and feat selection (and therefore character customisation). Attacks of Opportunity are as central to 3e as well.... feats and skills!
However, I have never used them nor can I envisage a time when I would. I abhore that 'minatures without minatures' style of combat and much prefer the more descriptive cinematic style which plays fast and loose with movement and positioning to make things more exciting. So, is D&D3e the system for my games then?
Well I would suggest that yes it is, for a number of reasons. The first is that by jettisoning a game you can lose the baby with the metaphoric bathwater. You can lose a lot of good stuff if you cannot handle one mechanic. Secondly, I think that this attitude is driven by a massive knowledge and availability of roleplaying games. I simply cannot just reference a dozen replacement rules options and then go and sample them to get the perfect system. It's wholly impractical. Needs must etc. Lastly, if the GM is going to be able to work the rules to the benefit of the story then he needs to be able to change things a little. Being a captive of the ruleset simply isn't appropriate.
However, I do agree that sometimes you have to look at the metagame you are playing within and the accepted styles of play of your group and see whether something different might be more appropriate. For example, the intricate group play we have had before was coming undone at the seams by player absenteeism (for very good reasons). Pendragon solves that through the mechanics it promotes and the year-on-year pace of the game. That was a positive change.
2. Absentee Gamesmastering - When is a game not a game? When it's a storytelling session!
I'm not a great one for rules outside character generation. I love them in character generation. Char Gen can be as complicated and intricate as it likes as far as I am concerned. Bring it on! I want to know every single aspect of my character. I want it down there on a piece of paper as the best aide memoire I can get. I don't care whether it is a very mechanistic method with stats and skills for everything and then some, or something a little more fluffy with contacts and feelings and agendas and whatnot. I just love seeing this new person come into being, there, on the page and in my mind. I use the rules as a tool to help build the character in my mind - rather than, as some do, create the character in my mind and then make the shape fit within the rules, or even the rules fit around the shape. I find that the process of Char Gen fires for me, and makes me think about new and different avenues for the character.
And then the rules stop. In my games I couldn't really care less about movement grids, movement rates, attacks of bloody opportunity, encumberance and other such nonsense. Money usually sees the door early too. Unnecessary for many of the genres that I play within. NPC interaction rules are another early victim of my sweeping scythe - if you want to fast talk the NPC then you'll roleplay it and I'll decide whether it passes muster or not. Yes, I know - what about people that don't have good verbose skills - couldn't care less. Roleplaying games require you to develop your oral presentation skills and now is as good a time as any!
Now this might seem a little strange, but I kind of like rules when I am a player. I like those little nuances of the rules that allow your character to do cool stuff like Fighting Defensively. I absolutely adore the Winter Phase business in Pendragon and all the blue booking potential that delivers. Essentially, my expectations appear to be different as a player and a GM. What a freak?!
Freak I may be, but it's something that I want to get my head around because there has to be a middle ground.
3. Rules that grind my gears.
Or rather an explanation of a passage of play that really doesn't make sense to me as a player. We are playing Pendragon and during a battle our forces are trying to breach a gate. We have made a small opening but the enemy are trying to close the gate again. Myself and another player decide to put our not inconsiderable bulk into the effort. Now, the knight that was doing it with me is, in a one sentence build, the repentent Christian seeking to cast off the shadow of his fathers dodgy past. I am, literally, the massive reckless Irish giant warrior always ready to fight.
So we roll the dice. And I fail. And the little Christian succeeds. Now, with my SIZ 17 and STR 16 and Giant distinguishing feature and general demeanour as a combat beast I felt slightly aggrieved that my knight could not bust that door open. It felt somewhat like gimmick infringement, in wrestling parlance. All because of a dice roll. Thats one of the things that I'm growing to dislike about straight dice roll games. I may have all the benefits of size and strength and character concept but a Knight with STR 11 is going to (quick number crunch) beat me in a feat of Strength around 22% of the time... on the whim of the dice. Note: I don't have a problem with the game, nor the players or the GM (*waves* Hi guys!) but the system doesn't quite convey that sense of character identity in that mechanic.
So what now?
Well I guess I feed all of that quietly into my expanding mental portfolio of games design. With one question to be answered - who do you design a game for? The Players, The GM or both... and whilst the answer may be easy, the solution to the problems that brings may not be as simple.
Neil
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Interesting Roleplaying Stuff
First: I have discovered the joy of rpg podcasts. I already enjoyed WoWRadio but it is always very negative and snarky about the game. Sometimes humourous, but usually so 'I'm cooler than the devs' that it's not entertaining. However, I stumbled over a thread on rpg.net regarding rpg podcasts and discovered a treasure trove of stuff. The thread is :
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=292152
And I can recommend the Sons of Kryos and Have Games Will Travel. I'm listening to them at the moment and then I'll venture elsewhere. The difference about this stuff when compared to WoWRadio is that these people are so positive about gaming and the games they choose to play - it's very refreshing.
And I pick my words there very carefully - the games they CHOOSE to play. Sometimes too much of the negativity around WoW seems to stem from the massive buy-in that people have made to it and thus the disproportionate negative impact when something minor changes or doesn't happen.
These podcasts are great - full of ideas, polite and considered discussion and general entertainment. A great find.
Secondly, I wanted to muse on one of the things that I heard on these podcasts. It was from the mouth of Ed Greenwood, who is the bloke responsible for Forgotten Realms. Why add that? Well, I think that sometimes the mainstream gaming 'personalities' get a little maligned and I was a little taken aback that something so profound came from one. Silly me
Anyway, the idea was thus:
Roleplaying games are about creating great memories.
Now isn't that just the crux of it? A great game should be one where you can remember, many months past the end of the game, great moments and not so great moments. It should stand out as a different and exciting episode in your life - akin to a great football victory or a particularly *ahem* memorable sexual liaison.
The reason this gelled with me so well, was that we were talking about a campaign on Sunday that must have been nearly 10 years old - Earthdawn - and some of the scenes and the climax were still fresh in my mind and that of Nigel, the surviving player.
I wonder what memories we will take from our current Pendragon campaign and what we, as players, can do to make the game more memorable for ourselves and the GM?
Neil
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=292152
And I can recommend the Sons of Kryos and Have Games Will Travel. I'm listening to them at the moment and then I'll venture elsewhere. The difference about this stuff when compared to WoWRadio is that these people are so positive about gaming and the games they choose to play - it's very refreshing.
And I pick my words there very carefully - the games they CHOOSE to play. Sometimes too much of the negativity around WoW seems to stem from the massive buy-in that people have made to it and thus the disproportionate negative impact when something minor changes or doesn't happen.
These podcasts are great - full of ideas, polite and considered discussion and general entertainment. A great find.
Secondly, I wanted to muse on one of the things that I heard on these podcasts. It was from the mouth of Ed Greenwood, who is the bloke responsible for Forgotten Realms. Why add that? Well, I think that sometimes the mainstream gaming 'personalities' get a little maligned and I was a little taken aback that something so profound came from one. Silly me
Anyway, the idea was thus:
Roleplaying games are about creating great memories.
Now isn't that just the crux of it? A great game should be one where you can remember, many months past the end of the game, great moments and not so great moments. It should stand out as a different and exciting episode in your life - akin to a great football victory or a particularly *ahem* memorable sexual liaison.
The reason this gelled with me so well, was that we were talking about a campaign on Sunday that must have been nearly 10 years old - Earthdawn - and some of the scenes and the climax were still fresh in my mind and that of Nigel, the surviving player.
I wonder what memories we will take from our current Pendragon campaign and what we, as players, can do to make the game more memorable for ourselves and the GM?
Neil
Friday, October 20, 2006
Feedback plx - the plight of the fanfic writer
http://www.dcinfinity.ca/
Pimped.
My fanfic output has taken an upturn (fuelled admittedly by me being ill with dread manflu). Green Lantern has hit #5 and Zatanna will get her second issue next week. My problem, as is normal, is an almost total lack of feedback.
I've tried the normal route - you give someone else feedback and they reciprocate. That doesn't seem to be happening. There are other methods - working the lists with your titles in sig or just downright feedback whoring. I'm loathe to be doing them for a number of reasons, mostly that I have had some rather painful experiences with bad feedback in the past.
Note please - the quality of the feedback was bad, not the feedback in relation to my work. I hate feedback in the 'OHMIGOD I LOVE YOU!!' shit as much as I hate the 'This makes me want to poke my eyes out' rubbish. Something moderated so that I can use it to improve my work would be nice.
Ho hum - maybe this just means that no-one is reading it. Wouldn't be the first time.
Neil
Pimped.
My fanfic output has taken an upturn (fuelled admittedly by me being ill with dread manflu). Green Lantern has hit #5 and Zatanna will get her second issue next week. My problem, as is normal, is an almost total lack of feedback.
I've tried the normal route - you give someone else feedback and they reciprocate. That doesn't seem to be happening. There are other methods - working the lists with your titles in sig or just downright feedback whoring. I'm loathe to be doing them for a number of reasons, mostly that I have had some rather painful experiences with bad feedback in the past.
Note please - the quality of the feedback was bad, not the feedback in relation to my work. I hate feedback in the 'OHMIGOD I LOVE YOU!!' shit as much as I hate the 'This makes me want to poke my eyes out' rubbish. Something moderated so that I can use it to improve my work would be nice.
Ho hum - maybe this just means that no-one is reading it. Wouldn't be the first time.
Neil
More Itching and a possible salve; and Pendragon musing
Gah!
The Itch to write a roleplaying game is still there, annoyingly so. What didn't help was me stumbling across a massive rpg-related podcast archive and stumbling across a 30-diatribe by the guy that designed Sorceror on the print-on-demand style of publishing. Everything he said fits in perfectly to my imagined 'business plan' on this type of stuff. Furthermore, I already know my artist and his rates. I know my layout man and his rates (nowt, it's me!). I know at least a couple of alpha and beta tester groups with very different styles. And I have a large wodge of inheritance cash coming my way soon. Even a small introduction of capital could make something like this come off and well.... well, theres a bit of an ancient pact between me and my wife to fulfil. If it isn't publishing something, it's running a comic shop and the former is waaay cheaper!!
It seems rather fanciful doesn't it? A 'normal person' writing and shockingly publishing an rpg? But surely everyone that starts off in any sort of small press endeavour is just an ordinary person with a bit of self belief? Someone who is willing to go beyond the gaming table and step up, make the gut check and do something bigger? Designers aren't some race of demigods - they're just gamers. My time working with Comic Images has proved to me that given enough confidence, hard work bloody mindedness, your gaming hobby can take you anywhere you want to - even Wrestlemania!
Nothing is impossible.
Of course, there is one small fly in the ointment. Actually, it's more of a large rotten grey whale in the ointment.
Inspiration.
Where do you start?
What do you want to do - a new game? a new mechanic? something that meets a need that isn't being reached at our gaming table? A genre product? A pastiche of a licenced product? What about? What area of the world do I feel confident enough about to be able to write confidently about it - an area that isn't smothered already....
And then the doubts start - does the world need another rpg?
Then again, if that was the case, surely everyone would be playing GURPS.
Even as an intellectual exercise - IGNORE the stuff about publishing - this feels like something I should work through. Something that allows me to take everything that has changed in my gaming over the last six years and focus it. Coming up with a gaming mechanic that matches my love for character crunch and my predeliction towards minimal rules interference when the game actually starts. Something I would be happy playing -and- refereeing.
I think this one is going to rumble on here for a while
---
And now, more on Pendragon!
Sunday should be a full group game again, which is awesome. I'm really pleased that Nigel has managed to bring a game to the table that appears to have solved our one Achilles heel in gaming - inconsistency of group appearance. The year-by-year nature of the campaign and the vast array of alternate activities that characters can be undertaking make accommodating a player no-show very easy. The campaign really doesn't stand a chance of being derailed unless there is a major - and that means more than 2 of 4 players - no-show.
After the mini-session that introduced Andrews new character, I feel that I am finally finding a true 'voice' for Sir Brion. I envisaged him initially as a bit of an oaf, but once again I find it extremely difficult playing 'slow' or 'socially inept' characters. I like to make speeches and engage in verbal sparring etc. Brion has settled into his role as 'enforcer knight' quite well and I'm looking forward to Sunday as I want to present my squire in a very positive light, I want to run an Imbolc festival and I want to give Sir Fancy Pants Swordsman a piece of my (hopefully Proud) mind.
Good gaming makes for a happy gamer. I can tell I am a happy gamer because I am beginning to think around the character rather than just through the adventures. Very happy indeed.
N.
The Itch to write a roleplaying game is still there, annoyingly so. What didn't help was me stumbling across a massive rpg-related podcast archive and stumbling across a 30-diatribe by the guy that designed Sorceror on the print-on-demand style of publishing. Everything he said fits in perfectly to my imagined 'business plan' on this type of stuff. Furthermore, I already know my artist and his rates. I know my layout man and his rates (nowt, it's me!). I know at least a couple of alpha and beta tester groups with very different styles. And I have a large wodge of inheritance cash coming my way soon. Even a small introduction of capital could make something like this come off and well.... well, theres a bit of an ancient pact between me and my wife to fulfil. If it isn't publishing something, it's running a comic shop and the former is waaay cheaper!!
It seems rather fanciful doesn't it? A 'normal person' writing and shockingly publishing an rpg? But surely everyone that starts off in any sort of small press endeavour is just an ordinary person with a bit of self belief? Someone who is willing to go beyond the gaming table and step up, make the gut check and do something bigger? Designers aren't some race of demigods - they're just gamers. My time working with Comic Images has proved to me that given enough confidence, hard work bloody mindedness, your gaming hobby can take you anywhere you want to - even Wrestlemania!
Nothing is impossible.
Of course, there is one small fly in the ointment. Actually, it's more of a large rotten grey whale in the ointment.
Inspiration.
Where do you start?
What do you want to do - a new game? a new mechanic? something that meets a need that isn't being reached at our gaming table? A genre product? A pastiche of a licenced product? What about? What area of the world do I feel confident enough about to be able to write confidently about it - an area that isn't smothered already....
And then the doubts start - does the world need another rpg?
Then again, if that was the case, surely everyone would be playing GURPS.
Even as an intellectual exercise - IGNORE the stuff about publishing - this feels like something I should work through. Something that allows me to take everything that has changed in my gaming over the last six years and focus it. Coming up with a gaming mechanic that matches my love for character crunch and my predeliction towards minimal rules interference when the game actually starts. Something I would be happy playing -and- refereeing.
I think this one is going to rumble on here for a while
---
And now, more on Pendragon!
Sunday should be a full group game again, which is awesome. I'm really pleased that Nigel has managed to bring a game to the table that appears to have solved our one Achilles heel in gaming - inconsistency of group appearance. The year-by-year nature of the campaign and the vast array of alternate activities that characters can be undertaking make accommodating a player no-show very easy. The campaign really doesn't stand a chance of being derailed unless there is a major - and that means more than 2 of 4 players - no-show.
After the mini-session that introduced Andrews new character, I feel that I am finally finding a true 'voice' for Sir Brion. I envisaged him initially as a bit of an oaf, but once again I find it extremely difficult playing 'slow' or 'socially inept' characters. I like to make speeches and engage in verbal sparring etc. Brion has settled into his role as 'enforcer knight' quite well and I'm looking forward to Sunday as I want to present my squire in a very positive light, I want to run an Imbolc festival and I want to give Sir Fancy Pants Swordsman a piece of my (hopefully Proud) mind.
Good gaming makes for a happy gamer. I can tell I am a happy gamer because I am beginning to think around the character rather than just through the adventures. Very happy indeed.
N.
Thursday, October 19, 2006
The Eternal Itch has returned
No, I don't mean returning to the GM position.
This is worse.
It happens about every two years. It is fruitless and pointless but it hits me really bad.
I want to write a roleplaying game.
Ever since I first got my hands on the red box D&D I have been writing roleplaying stuff. Within two years of first feeling a d20 smothered in wax crayon I had hand-written a 200 page fantasy world. A really really bad fantasy world, admittedly, but a fully fledged one nonetheless.
Years later, before Uni, I did write my own system and we played it, altered it and tested it to death. It was .... well, before it's time. High fantasy and then some. It was Exalted but in 1988. I have no idea where my Big Red Book of notes went but the tables and charts and general notes are a great loss to me. The modern day irony of a Dreamweaver class would be funny too.
When I was deeply immersed in the CCG hobby, I wanted to make a CCG. A Red Dwarf CCG. My theory was solid, my gameplay (in my eyes) decent and fun. However, being a perfectionist that I was, my inability to actually produce cards was my downfall. Thankfully my photoshop-fu has increased substantially. Thats no longer a problem!
(I have to say that I did scratch the itch a little by playtesting Raw Deal for many years....)
Since then, the urge has come and gone. The slew of more generic systems available to the market have made custom gaming much easier. My understanding of the theory of gaming and how I prefer to play has grown immensely. However, so has my ability to write, desktop publish, internet publish and project manage. Now I am more than aware that I have the practical tools to produce a professional looking roleplaying project to share with others. And I have the resources to do it rather cheaply as well.
The return of The Itch isn't a shock. I'm writing again, reading again and very happily playing our Pendragon campaign. World of Warcraft appears to be the casualty of this latest change of focus - I'll comment on that one some day when I can get my thoughts together about it. A happy Neil I may be, but that usually means I need some project to work on and fanfic writing simply isn't enough.
Of course the downside of the entire affair is that I'm a flighty little thing and really, I doubt anything I do will get finished. Also, I don't really think the world needs a new system or game. Maybe a setting booking for Unisystem Lite? Who knows.
Anyway, the Itch is back. Now I just need to know what to do with it
Neil
This is worse.
It happens about every two years. It is fruitless and pointless but it hits me really bad.
I want to write a roleplaying game.
Ever since I first got my hands on the red box D&D I have been writing roleplaying stuff. Within two years of first feeling a d20 smothered in wax crayon I had hand-written a 200 page fantasy world. A really really bad fantasy world, admittedly, but a fully fledged one nonetheless.
Years later, before Uni, I did write my own system and we played it, altered it and tested it to death. It was .... well, before it's time. High fantasy and then some. It was Exalted but in 1988. I have no idea where my Big Red Book of notes went but the tables and charts and general notes are a great loss to me. The modern day irony of a Dreamweaver class would be funny too.
When I was deeply immersed in the CCG hobby, I wanted to make a CCG. A Red Dwarf CCG. My theory was solid, my gameplay (in my eyes) decent and fun. However, being a perfectionist that I was, my inability to actually produce cards was my downfall. Thankfully my photoshop-fu has increased substantially. Thats no longer a problem!
(I have to say that I did scratch the itch a little by playtesting Raw Deal for many years....)
Since then, the urge has come and gone. The slew of more generic systems available to the market have made custom gaming much easier. My understanding of the theory of gaming and how I prefer to play has grown immensely. However, so has my ability to write, desktop publish, internet publish and project manage. Now I am more than aware that I have the practical tools to produce a professional looking roleplaying project to share with others. And I have the resources to do it rather cheaply as well.
The return of The Itch isn't a shock. I'm writing again, reading again and very happily playing our Pendragon campaign. World of Warcraft appears to be the casualty of this latest change of focus - I'll comment on that one some day when I can get my thoughts together about it. A happy Neil I may be, but that usually means I need some project to work on and fanfic writing simply isn't enough.
Of course the downside of the entire affair is that I'm a flighty little thing and really, I doubt anything I do will get finished. Also, I don't really think the world needs a new system or game. Maybe a setting booking for Unisystem Lite? Who knows.
Anyway, the Itch is back. Now I just need to know what to do with it
Neil
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
A Different Sort of Roleplay: Pendragon
One of my hidden RPG passions is Pendragon, an Arthurian roleplaying system. I have been fascinated with the Arthurian legends from quite a young age and during my early 20s did quite a lot of reading around the subject. So when Nigel offered to not only run the game, but also to run the Great Pendragon Campaign - the campaign of Mallory's Le Morte de Arthur.
We're onto the second session now and I'm loving every minute of it. However, it does present a different view of roleplaying than the scenarios we are used to. The campaigns I have ran have been heavily character-driven, story-based affairs with a lot of player driven ideas for metaplot and not a lot of system at all. We've been playing in that style for the best part of five years. It's bound to become engrained.
Pendragon is, at first glance, a totally different beast. Firstly, it has a lot of 'crunch' about it, but the crunch is essential to deliver the punch of the game. I'll take a few examples:
Passions: Each character has opposed traits (like Valourous/Cowardly) which define the personality of the character. The players control these traits in a modelling sense at char gen but afterwards, they must act within them or pay the consequences. So, say a knight with Valourous 17 (highly renowned for his bravery) decides to run away from battle against a weaker foe. He would not be acting valourously at all and would probably get a check on his Cowardly. At the end of the year, if he rolled over 3 (his cowardly) he would move to Valourous 16/Cowardly 4 - less brave. The passions, in the right amounts and combinations also give bonuses towards being knightly or religious. The genius of this system is that it links the characters actions directly to their aspirations and you live with the consequences of your actions, sometimes painfully. A Religious knight that falls from the tenets of his chosen path will become a fallen knight and must do deeds to make amends. Far better than any silly alignment system.
Glory: Glory is the ranking system for knights - a knight with 1500 Glory 'outranks' a knight with 1450 by popular acclaim. You get glory by a number of means - mostly battle, deeds and presence at great events. You also get glory by just surviving and being a knight. This really underlines that you are playing an ARTHURIAN game rather than a fantasy game. You meld the actions of the adventurous knight and the medieval lord together as one.
Year-to-Session Play: Each session encompasses one whole year of play. It starts with a Spring Court, then knightly adventuring, then whatever service your Lord requires and then the Winter Court and the bluebooked Winter Phase. This seems wholly at odds to the previous games we have played where one session might encompass three hours and an entire campaign might have lasted one summer of bloody conflict. Again, it is the modelling of the ARTHURIAN aspect of the game that we see here. The swathe of the Arthurian mythos is played against a historical backdrop and you can only really appreciate that if you are moving through that backdrop at a reasonable rate of knots. The actions of medieval knights were maintained around short bursts of indentured warfare and then lots of mundane rogering, healing and harvesting. It models the genre beautifully.
So how do we, very story-based players, handle this strange system?
The first thing I would suggest is to embrace the basic heart of the game and that is that it still revolves around the characters. We have already seen Excalibur and aided Merlin, in a very small and dismissive manner. However, we are essentially 'First Level Knights' interacting amidst 20th Level Druids! I'm pretty sure that our actions will catapult us to knightly stardom and we will soon be the movers and shakers in the Court of Earl Roderick.
Secondly, we have to grab our chances to roleplay when we can and create the tensions and conflicts that we are used to dealing with. So if Sir Guillame challenges me to lead a charge and I do, he damned well owes me a challenge - even if it is at a feast. If Sir Guillame fathers a bastard child by a lady in waiting, he will have to pay the consequences. Alongside that I also feel that we have a responsibility as players to badger the referee senseless for details, especially of the meta-history in the background. Whats happening with the Saxons? Are they near Sarum? Why were we left on garrison duty when we could have been fighting? etc.
Finally, I think we have to realise that this is a very different style of roleplaying. And thats not in a bad way either. This is ARTHURIAN roleplaying and as such mirrors the genre tropes of the source material - be that dark ages poetry, Mallory, T.H.White, Cornwell, Zimmer-Bradley or even Geoffrey of Monmouth! The mechanics of the game mirror and model these genre tropes brilliantly and if you use them as a tool that acts in the background to reinforce the game, it allows this new style of roleplay to come fully to fruition.
It has indeed, picqued my interest on whether the same type of system could be adapted to mirror other historical roleplay scenarios? I've never seen a game that centres around say, the heroes of Ancient Greece, but I can see a derivative Pendragon system working there too.
We're onto the second session now and I'm loving every minute of it. However, it does present a different view of roleplaying than the scenarios we are used to. The campaigns I have ran have been heavily character-driven, story-based affairs with a lot of player driven ideas for metaplot and not a lot of system at all. We've been playing in that style for the best part of five years. It's bound to become engrained.
Pendragon is, at first glance, a totally different beast. Firstly, it has a lot of 'crunch' about it, but the crunch is essential to deliver the punch of the game. I'll take a few examples:
Passions: Each character has opposed traits (like Valourous/Cowardly) which define the personality of the character. The players control these traits in a modelling sense at char gen but afterwards, they must act within them or pay the consequences. So, say a knight with Valourous 17 (highly renowned for his bravery) decides to run away from battle against a weaker foe. He would not be acting valourously at all and would probably get a check on his Cowardly. At the end of the year, if he rolled over 3 (his cowardly) he would move to Valourous 16/Cowardly 4 - less brave. The passions, in the right amounts and combinations also give bonuses towards being knightly or religious. The genius of this system is that it links the characters actions directly to their aspirations and you live with the consequences of your actions, sometimes painfully. A Religious knight that falls from the tenets of his chosen path will become a fallen knight and must do deeds to make amends. Far better than any silly alignment system.
Glory: Glory is the ranking system for knights - a knight with 1500 Glory 'outranks' a knight with 1450 by popular acclaim. You get glory by a number of means - mostly battle, deeds and presence at great events. You also get glory by just surviving and being a knight. This really underlines that you are playing an ARTHURIAN game rather than a fantasy game. You meld the actions of the adventurous knight and the medieval lord together as one.
Year-to-Session Play: Each session encompasses one whole year of play. It starts with a Spring Court, then knightly adventuring, then whatever service your Lord requires and then the Winter Court and the bluebooked Winter Phase. This seems wholly at odds to the previous games we have played where one session might encompass three hours and an entire campaign might have lasted one summer of bloody conflict. Again, it is the modelling of the ARTHURIAN aspect of the game that we see here. The swathe of the Arthurian mythos is played against a historical backdrop and you can only really appreciate that if you are moving through that backdrop at a reasonable rate of knots. The actions of medieval knights were maintained around short bursts of indentured warfare and then lots of mundane rogering, healing and harvesting. It models the genre beautifully.
So how do we, very story-based players, handle this strange system?
The first thing I would suggest is to embrace the basic heart of the game and that is that it still revolves around the characters. We have already seen Excalibur and aided Merlin, in a very small and dismissive manner. However, we are essentially 'First Level Knights' interacting amidst 20th Level Druids! I'm pretty sure that our actions will catapult us to knightly stardom and we will soon be the movers and shakers in the Court of Earl Roderick.
Secondly, we have to grab our chances to roleplay when we can and create the tensions and conflicts that we are used to dealing with. So if Sir Guillame challenges me to lead a charge and I do, he damned well owes me a challenge - even if it is at a feast. If Sir Guillame fathers a bastard child by a lady in waiting, he will have to pay the consequences. Alongside that I also feel that we have a responsibility as players to badger the referee senseless for details, especially of the meta-history in the background. Whats happening with the Saxons? Are they near Sarum? Why were we left on garrison duty when we could have been fighting? etc.
Finally, I think we have to realise that this is a very different style of roleplaying. And thats not in a bad way either. This is ARTHURIAN roleplaying and as such mirrors the genre tropes of the source material - be that dark ages poetry, Mallory, T.H.White, Cornwell, Zimmer-Bradley or even Geoffrey of Monmouth! The mechanics of the game mirror and model these genre tropes brilliantly and if you use them as a tool that acts in the background to reinforce the game, it allows this new style of roleplay to come fully to fruition.
It has indeed, picqued my interest on whether the same type of system could be adapted to mirror other historical roleplay scenarios? I've never seen a game that centres around say, the heroes of Ancient Greece, but I can see a derivative Pendragon system working there too.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Double Decker Buses
As in two come at once.
The demise of P&P has meant that another referee, Nigel, has stepped into the breach and like buffoons we have started The Great Pendragon Campaign. Hot off the press, this is a massive expansion and revamp of the classic 'Boy King' supplement. It will take YEARS to complete. It is ludicrous to even consider that we would do it. It's bloody great!
I love Pendragon. I love every bit of the system because it drips flavour. My character is Brion O'Hara, the son of an irish squire from Skye. He's a big lad with red hair, strong, good with the spear and the horse and a master of the hounds. I am ignoring his Orate 10 because frankly, anything sniffing of Bard would drive me insane with my self-stereotyping.
As with all textbook Pendragon games, we are vassals of Sir Roderick (and yes, we did the joke) in Sarum, Logres. We were knighted (and the big lug made his horse vault as well!), we have our demenses. We met some etheral woman, met challenges, found pledged wives and fought saxons to a stand-off in our first massed battle. Brion even distinguished himself by leading the charge on his new uber-fast horse after being challenged by one of our gallic brothers.
Great stuff. I loved it. I was buzzing at the game (which may have been the wine) and buzzing after the game. If we can keep the atmosphere and the general tone of the game, I think the characters are going to shine.
Now thats a lot more positive, isn't it?
Warcraft is plodding along. I have been turning attention to Gortessa in the end game a little and levelling Kylea (to 47 now) before she returns to the pvp arena. I have a feeling that the guild may be coming to an impasse as Burning Crusade approaches. A little more hardcore, a little less forgiving - a cull may be coming, the numpties should watch themselves!
I got Green Lantern#4 sent off to the editor at DC Infinity last week, which was a relief, and he gave the green light (ha! no pun intended) to a new title, Zatanna. That should be fun. Oh, and I was namechecked on Other People's Toys, a podcast about fanfic. It titilated me!
So, in general, whilst I am still knackered, things seem to have calmed down a little bit.
I do have a yearning though. I haven't been on a road trip for months. I'm getting itchy feet and that cannot be good.
Neil
The demise of P&P has meant that another referee, Nigel, has stepped into the breach and like buffoons we have started The Great Pendragon Campaign. Hot off the press, this is a massive expansion and revamp of the classic 'Boy King' supplement. It will take YEARS to complete. It is ludicrous to even consider that we would do it. It's bloody great!
I love Pendragon. I love every bit of the system because it drips flavour. My character is Brion O'Hara, the son of an irish squire from Skye. He's a big lad with red hair, strong, good with the spear and the horse and a master of the hounds. I am ignoring his Orate 10 because frankly, anything sniffing of Bard would drive me insane with my self-stereotyping.
As with all textbook Pendragon games, we are vassals of Sir Roderick (and yes, we did the joke) in Sarum, Logres. We were knighted (and the big lug made his horse vault as well!), we have our demenses. We met some etheral woman, met challenges, found pledged wives and fought saxons to a stand-off in our first massed battle. Brion even distinguished himself by leading the charge on his new uber-fast horse after being challenged by one of our gallic brothers.
Great stuff. I loved it. I was buzzing at the game (which may have been the wine) and buzzing after the game. If we can keep the atmosphere and the general tone of the game, I think the characters are going to shine.
Now thats a lot more positive, isn't it?
Warcraft is plodding along. I have been turning attention to Gortessa in the end game a little and levelling Kylea (to 47 now) before she returns to the pvp arena. I have a feeling that the guild may be coming to an impasse as Burning Crusade approaches. A little more hardcore, a little less forgiving - a cull may be coming, the numpties should watch themselves!
I got Green Lantern#4 sent off to the editor at DC Infinity last week, which was a relief, and he gave the green light (ha! no pun intended) to a new title, Zatanna. That should be fun. Oh, and I was namechecked on Other People's Toys, a podcast about fanfic. It titilated me!
So, in general, whilst I am still knackered, things seem to have calmed down a little bit.
I do have a yearning though. I haven't been on a road trip for months. I'm getting itchy feet and that cannot be good.
Neil
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Arse! (will contain profanity)
Well, I have to say that I am totally and utterly arsed off with life at the moment. For the last few years I have been waging a silent and not-so-silent war against real life and advancing 'age' and the battle ground has been my plethora of hobbies.
Yesterday I realised that I may have met a rather metaphoric Waterloo.
Over the years, I have had to rationalise a number of the things that I do in order to compensate for the responsibilities of married life and fatherhood. No longer can I travel the length and breadth of the country playing cards. No longer can I watch the Wrestling Channel at the drop of a hat. No longer can I roleplay every weekend and alternating week nights etc. No longer can I be a slave to a far away company and their website.
However, changes in my workplace have meant that I am now, at my traditionally busiest time of the year doing not one (Marketing Manager), not two (Marketing Manager and Marketing Sales Assistant) but THREE (Marketing Manager, Marketing Sales Assistant and Print Shop Administrator) jobs. Thats a lot of work and a lot of mental fatigue. I thought I could handle it. I suppose I can, but the side effects are hellish. In short, I am mentally (and increasingly physically) knackered.
So whats the effect been?
- I have, after much thought and soul searching, had to cancel Pulsars and Privateers. This was not an easy decision because it may have further implications for my play group than simply the end of a game. I don't feel easy doing it, but in the end I had to face up to the fact that I was simply unable to raise my enthusiasm and creativity out of the gutter when I returned from work to do ANY preparatory work for the project. Normally, I can feed off the enthusiasm of others as well, but a number of the players have been on holiday or had life stresses of their own and you cannot rely on that. Hopefully, a Pendragon game is going to spring from the ashes, but for the next seven months I think I can safely say that my tenure as the Iron GM has concluded.
- I now grab maybe half an hours wrestling TV a week because I have simply lost the ability to stay up late and watch it and the kids holidays have allowed them to encamp the teatime telly. It really really exposes the child in you when you have to exert Daddy Power Privilege to get to see the week old repeat of RAW!
- I've been passing on raids in Warcraft a little more than usual because I am simply too tired to go through the repeated tasks over and over again. Sure I'm still playing but that's more because it is almost an effortless pursuit.
- Did I mention that I'm writing fanfic again? In a week 'off work' - where I did little else but think about work - I wrote four paragraphs of one issue. Not through the want of trying, more through the want of sleeping!
- I have an RPG group on the horizon playing in a superhero game but everytime I sit down to write out some details on the character, my mind is a blank. It may happen - the GM is churning out some quality background guff for it - but in the end I'm sceptical. Our first character generation session was cancelled due to a last minute withdrawal by one of the players for no specific reason. Deja vu?
So here I am - drained - absolutely fucking drained. I'm so absorbed with the pressures of work that I cannot even muster the energy to have a self-brainstorming session on the Metro like I used to do, because every time I do, it just resets back to thinking about the next piece of work that needs to be done and how little time I have to do it.
Pretty much hobbywise at my lowest ebb. Which is shite.
Hey, if this is the bottom of the glass, maybe it's time for a refill?
Neil
Yesterday I realised that I may have met a rather metaphoric Waterloo.
Over the years, I have had to rationalise a number of the things that I do in order to compensate for the responsibilities of married life and fatherhood. No longer can I travel the length and breadth of the country playing cards. No longer can I watch the Wrestling Channel at the drop of a hat. No longer can I roleplay every weekend and alternating week nights etc. No longer can I be a slave to a far away company and their website.
However, changes in my workplace have meant that I am now, at my traditionally busiest time of the year doing not one (Marketing Manager), not two (Marketing Manager and Marketing Sales Assistant) but THREE (Marketing Manager, Marketing Sales Assistant and Print Shop Administrator) jobs. Thats a lot of work and a lot of mental fatigue. I thought I could handle it. I suppose I can, but the side effects are hellish. In short, I am mentally (and increasingly physically) knackered.
So whats the effect been?
- I have, after much thought and soul searching, had to cancel Pulsars and Privateers. This was not an easy decision because it may have further implications for my play group than simply the end of a game. I don't feel easy doing it, but in the end I had to face up to the fact that I was simply unable to raise my enthusiasm and creativity out of the gutter when I returned from work to do ANY preparatory work for the project. Normally, I can feed off the enthusiasm of others as well, but a number of the players have been on holiday or had life stresses of their own and you cannot rely on that. Hopefully, a Pendragon game is going to spring from the ashes, but for the next seven months I think I can safely say that my tenure as the Iron GM has concluded.
- I now grab maybe half an hours wrestling TV a week because I have simply lost the ability to stay up late and watch it and the kids holidays have allowed them to encamp the teatime telly. It really really exposes the child in you when you have to exert Daddy Power Privilege to get to see the week old repeat of RAW!
- I've been passing on raids in Warcraft a little more than usual because I am simply too tired to go through the repeated tasks over and over again. Sure I'm still playing but that's more because it is almost an effortless pursuit.
- Did I mention that I'm writing fanfic again? In a week 'off work' - where I did little else but think about work - I wrote four paragraphs of one issue. Not through the want of trying, more through the want of sleeping!
- I have an RPG group on the horizon playing in a superhero game but everytime I sit down to write out some details on the character, my mind is a blank. It may happen - the GM is churning out some quality background guff for it - but in the end I'm sceptical. Our first character generation session was cancelled due to a last minute withdrawal by one of the players for no specific reason. Deja vu?
So here I am - drained - absolutely fucking drained. I'm so absorbed with the pressures of work that I cannot even muster the energy to have a self-brainstorming session on the Metro like I used to do, because every time I do, it just resets back to thinking about the next piece of work that needs to be done and how little time I have to do it.
Pretty much hobbywise at my lowest ebb. Which is shite.
Hey, if this is the bottom of the glass, maybe it's time for a refill?
Neil
Monday, July 24, 2006
Horde Paladins and the End of the World Show
World of Warcraft is coming to an end. No really. Ignore the burgeoning conflict in the middle east or the crumbling edifice that once was our democratic system. The real drama is the utter and contemptuous destruction of SACRED LORE within World of Warcraft. You see, after the new expansion, the new Horde race will be able to create the formerly alliance-only class of paladin and the new Alliance race will be able to create the formerly horde-only class of shamen.
ZOMG!
I have never in the entire history of the game seen such concentrated wailing, screaming and gnashing of teeth and general grief that something as horrendous as this could be being brought into play. People are now constantly threatening to quit the game and worse. It is hilarious.
OK, lets take some of the 'facts' being quoted and see whether they stand up:
1. THERE IS NO MORE DIVERSITY IN THE GAME
Apparently, the only thing that seperated Alliance and Horde was the Paladin/Shaman thing. Hot races and geography and starting areas and lore and quests and quest hubs. No. Two classes. A subset of these whines have been the people who have realised that the game isn't actually that diverse *shock* Only about a year late on that one then...
2. THE LORE! THE SACRED LORE! THINK ABOUT THE LORE!
Yes, apparently this change is 'against Lore'. Lore, for those that don't know, is the word used for the established backstory of Warcraft, as established through the three Warcraft games and their expansions. It explains who, for example, Thrall is, where he came from and why he never moves from his throne in Orgrimmar. For an elite subset of folks, for whom Lore is everything, changes to Lore are devastating. It's heinous. How could it happen? What's even better is they think they have more of a connection to the lore than the developers at Blizzard or even the Chief Lore Monkey at Blizz. NEWSFLASH - they don't call them developers for nothing. The Lore is not held in a static holding pattern at the end of WC3. It moves, it develops and it changes. All ready, WoW has introduced new places, new legends, a massive joint effort on behalf of both sides in Silithus and at Naxxaramas. Things change, the lore changes.
Oh and there is nothing so hilrious as someone called 'IPWNNOOBS' crying about the fate of the blessed lore....
3. IT's IMBA!
Thats 'imbalanced' for those of us still capable of using real language. Yes, apparently the changes will make the horde/alliance imbalanced in pvp/pve and thus cause the demise of existing paladins/shaman (delete where applicable...). Now, historians of the Warcraft forums will know that two of the major threads that have been flying around for ages have been:
ZOMG!
I have never in the entire history of the game seen such concentrated wailing, screaming and gnashing of teeth and general grief that something as horrendous as this could be being brought into play. People are now constantly threatening to quit the game and worse. It is hilarious.
OK, lets take some of the 'facts' being quoted and see whether they stand up:
1. THERE IS NO MORE DIVERSITY IN THE GAME
Apparently, the only thing that seperated Alliance and Horde was the Paladin/Shaman thing. Hot races and geography and starting areas and lore and quests and quest hubs. No. Two classes. A subset of these whines have been the people who have realised that the game isn't actually that diverse *shock* Only about a year late on that one then...
2. THE LORE! THE SACRED LORE! THINK ABOUT THE LORE!
Yes, apparently this change is 'against Lore'. Lore, for those that don't know, is the word used for the established backstory of Warcraft, as established through the three Warcraft games and their expansions. It explains who, for example, Thrall is, where he came from and why he never moves from his throne in Orgrimmar. For an elite subset of folks, for whom Lore is everything, changes to Lore are devastating. It's heinous. How could it happen? What's even better is they think they have more of a connection to the lore than the developers at Blizzard or even the Chief Lore Monkey at Blizz. NEWSFLASH - they don't call them developers for nothing. The Lore is not held in a static holding pattern at the end of WC3. It moves, it develops and it changes. All ready, WoW has introduced new places, new legends, a massive joint effort on behalf of both sides in Silithus and at Naxxaramas. Things change, the lore changes.
Oh and there is nothing so hilrious as someone called 'IPWNNOOBS' crying about the fate of the blessed lore....
3. IT's IMBA!
Thats 'imbalanced' for those of us still capable of using real language. Yes, apparently the changes will make the horde/alliance imbalanced in pvp/pve and thus cause the demise of existing paladins/shaman (delete where applicable...). Now, historians of the Warcraft forums will know that two of the major threads that have been flying around for ages have been:
- Nerf Shaman because they are IMBA with their totems and shocks and self res
- Nerf Paladins because they are IMBA with their blessing and healing and bubbles
So now, each side is equal and still apparenly it is IMBA? /sigh
4. IT IS THE DEATH OF SHAMAN
I'm going to make a generalisation here - paladins have more pvp useability than shaman. I could be wrong, but the whining voices of 1000 posters couldn't be wrong, could they? The question being raised is - why would you put a shaman into a raid when you could have a paladin? Now, coming from a guild where we have a pretty laise faire attitude to class allocations this seems a little mad, but upon closer examination... We know that we have a problem sometimes with Shaman who think of themselves as Mages in Chainmail rather than Priests with Shocks. Getting some of our Shaman to heal is a nightmare - indeed on a recent raid two shaman were outhealed by a bandaging warlock! Paladins are more actively used as healers and therefore they are, apparently, less likely to suffer this culture shock. And they have blessings and blessings are far more useful than bloody totems!
However, to all the shaman who are bemoaning the demise of their raid place, my only reaction is ... cry me a river! As a feral druid I have HAD to change the way I play and the equipment I wear to become a raid healer. Why? Because thats the part of my hybrid class that the raid needs me to do the most. So what makes you think you are so special that your horridly mana inefficient burst dps is going to make a snot of difference to the raid? Adapt your class to the raiding mentality or be cast aside. I have a L60 Shaman and I would be hard pressed to justify her coming to MC because I could not see where I could be of assistance with anything like the utility that my druid does.
5. ITS AN EASY BALANCE TO THE GAME
And saving the silliest to the last - apparently it is a quick cop-out on balancing the sides. Let me see - I'm at work and we have a problem, and we have a quick, efficient easy solution that answers a number of other problems we have faced and cuts development time on future products down too. Do we take it? Hmmm.... well, the only reason not to would be if it was going to be a massive marketing looser.
And herein lies the real comedy of this all - EVERY SINGLE CHANGE MADE TO WORLD OF WARCRAFT IS MET WITH THE SAME REACTION - and therefore the WoW community has fallen into the trap of the boy that cried wolf. If you are going to leave en masse in a protest at the raping of the SACRED LORE then for Gods sake, do so now. NOW. Not later, N-O-W. Because Blizz have grown used to the willy waving and the sabre-rattling and they simply will not reverse their huge plans for you. Mr 14-year old computer user who will next year discover sex and never play their game again.
Change - learn to love it, or living in angsty horror for the rest of your days!
Neil
More advert madness
Another day, another hilarious advert, this time for Boots Soltan (I think) - a suntan lotion. The crux of their arguement is that 'if you realised that 50% of your childs exposure to UV rays was during the summer holidays, you would protect them too!' - accompanied, of course, by the sweating, tanned picture of some waif on a lilo.
Lets think about that for a second. 52 weeks in the year right? In Newcastle we are lucky if we get anything that could be reasonably called direct sunlight between October and March. Thats six months of the year. So 26 weeks of the year have gone already.
Right, of the other 26 weeks or 182 days we have Easter, Whit and Summer school holidays. A total of 9 weeks off school. For the remaining 17 weeks, the kids are indoors during the majority of the sunshine. 85 days of school, resulting in a max of 1 hour per day sunshine (at lunchtime) and 34 days of weekend, for the purposes of this experiment, say 6 hours each weekend day. Thats 289 scorching hours of sunshine.
During the two shorter holidays, again assuming that the cherubs get 7 days of blistering sun and spend 6 hours out, baking - we have another 126 hours of sun.
So outside the summer holidays, assuming a roasting year of sun and nothing else but sunbathing, the combined total for the year sans summer hols is 415 hours of sun.
During the summer holidays, we have six weeks and six hours of sun, a paltry 252 hours of solar illness.
Hmmm...I detect sums that aren't adding up... Maybe the sunshine stuff gets more intense during the summer, that must be it? Regardless I suggest that if for the rest of the year, during the times when the sun is in the sky, the kids are either under a cover of clouds or in a classroom it makes perfect sense that they should get the majority of their exposure to sunshine when the sun in clearly in the sky and they are outside!
Neil
Lets think about that for a second. 52 weeks in the year right? In Newcastle we are lucky if we get anything that could be reasonably called direct sunlight between October and March. Thats six months of the year. So 26 weeks of the year have gone already.
Right, of the other 26 weeks or 182 days we have Easter, Whit and Summer school holidays. A total of 9 weeks off school. For the remaining 17 weeks, the kids are indoors during the majority of the sunshine. 85 days of school, resulting in a max of 1 hour per day sunshine (at lunchtime) and 34 days of weekend, for the purposes of this experiment, say 6 hours each weekend day. Thats 289 scorching hours of sunshine.
During the two shorter holidays, again assuming that the cherubs get 7 days of blistering sun and spend 6 hours out, baking - we have another 126 hours of sun.
So outside the summer holidays, assuming a roasting year of sun and nothing else but sunbathing, the combined total for the year sans summer hols is 415 hours of sun.
During the summer holidays, we have six weeks and six hours of sun, a paltry 252 hours of solar illness.
Hmmm...I detect sums that aren't adding up... Maybe the sunshine stuff gets more intense during the summer, that must be it? Regardless I suggest that if for the rest of the year, during the times when the sun is in the sky, the kids are either under a cover of clouds or in a classroom it makes perfect sense that they should get the majority of their exposure to sunshine when the sun in clearly in the sky and they are outside!
Neil
Thursday, July 20, 2006
The Wall
Sometimes, even the nicest things can throw up unexpected problems.
I have been recruited to play in a Mutants and Masterminds campaign. This makes me all sorts of happy. Firstly, because I get to play, secondly because it's M&M and thirdly because of the new experience side of it. It's has the potential to be quite an eye-opener after playing within the same group for umpteen years.
I have had the basic influences of the campaign explained to me by the GM, Ben. It's going to be a campaign similar to The Ultimates and The Authority, whilst not having the same power level of the latter. I'm imagining a rather Morrison-/Millar-esque tone to the entire thing. This is exactly what I wanted. Giddy, I am...giddy!
So, I now have the chance to create a character. As always, I create the stated up character alongside the more fluffy side of the character because I have always found that I gain some degree of synergy from the process. I have my spanking new copy of M&M2 (which is very nice) and I am indeed, ready to rumble.
Or am I?
I suddenly realised that this is it. On balance of probability this is the only character I am going to be able to play for a fair while. Being 'The Iron GM' is a wonderful thing, but as playing comes few and far between, you want to get it right. When we dabbled with Exalted, I got it all sorts of wrong. My idiot brawling giant was a great concept and a cracking character but the limitations that he had made him a very awkward vessel to explore the setting with. Total play time, maybe two sessions. I had an Arab teacher (Bard....) in a nice medieval D20 D&D game - that was much better but he was still a very cunning niche character that played great in his particular arena, but not magnificently elsewhere. Total play time, two sessions. I also had a warrior (of barbaric origins) in our rotating DM game of D20 D&D. That was much better in that he was a very basic character which roamed around within the setting. Total play time, four sessions I believe.
Hey, throw in two sessions of the infamous Shadowrun game and I've had 10 weeks playing in five years. What am I complaining about?!
So the mission is to make a relatively generic character who isn't designed into a corner. Something that can run with the campaign.
At this point I thought, hey - why not access your encyclopedic knowledge of the comic genre and see what you can come up with?
Guess what I came up against? THE WALL
Too much knowledge is a bad thing folks. Every power in the book is a 'oh, I could do that with this and then...oh no, what about this. Oh and that!'
Maybe it's not a wall. Maybe I'm a kid locked in a sweetshop desperately trying to find the key and the great sweets without stumbling outside grasping onto a bag of parma violets.
More later. This isn't as easy as I thought.
Neil
I have been recruited to play in a Mutants and Masterminds campaign. This makes me all sorts of happy. Firstly, because I get to play, secondly because it's M&M and thirdly because of the new experience side of it. It's has the potential to be quite an eye-opener after playing within the same group for umpteen years.
I have had the basic influences of the campaign explained to me by the GM, Ben. It's going to be a campaign similar to The Ultimates and The Authority, whilst not having the same power level of the latter. I'm imagining a rather Morrison-/Millar-esque tone to the entire thing. This is exactly what I wanted. Giddy, I am...giddy!
So, I now have the chance to create a character. As always, I create the stated up character alongside the more fluffy side of the character because I have always found that I gain some degree of synergy from the process. I have my spanking new copy of M&M2 (which is very nice) and I am indeed, ready to rumble.
Or am I?
I suddenly realised that this is it. On balance of probability this is the only character I am going to be able to play for a fair while. Being 'The Iron GM' is a wonderful thing, but as playing comes few and far between, you want to get it right. When we dabbled with Exalted, I got it all sorts of wrong. My idiot brawling giant was a great concept and a cracking character but the limitations that he had made him a very awkward vessel to explore the setting with. Total play time, maybe two sessions. I had an Arab teacher (Bard....) in a nice medieval D20 D&D game - that was much better but he was still a very cunning niche character that played great in his particular arena, but not magnificently elsewhere. Total play time, two sessions. I also had a warrior (of barbaric origins) in our rotating DM game of D20 D&D. That was much better in that he was a very basic character which roamed around within the setting. Total play time, four sessions I believe.
Hey, throw in two sessions of the infamous Shadowrun game and I've had 10 weeks playing in five years. What am I complaining about?!
So the mission is to make a relatively generic character who isn't designed into a corner. Something that can run with the campaign.
At this point I thought, hey - why not access your encyclopedic knowledge of the comic genre and see what you can come up with?
Guess what I came up against? THE WALL
Too much knowledge is a bad thing folks. Every power in the book is a 'oh, I could do that with this and then...oh no, what about this. Oh and that!'
Maybe it's not a wall. Maybe I'm a kid locked in a sweetshop desperately trying to find the key and the great sweets without stumbling outside grasping onto a bag of parma violets.
More later. This isn't as easy as I thought.
Neil
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
A Sign of the Apocalypse
http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/sayuncle/trailer/
Finally, madness has come full circle. Yes folks, a comedy film about a man who has a natural affinity with children being victimised as a paedophile. What next?
Neil
Finally, madness has come full circle. Yes folks, a comedy film about a man who has a natural affinity with children being victimised as a paedophile. What next?
Neil
BREAKING NEWS: RolePLAYING on the cards?
I received an email last night from a friend asking to be part of a new Mutants and Masterminds campaign that he is starting. Me, actually playing, in a superhero game? For the first time since 1988?
I'm giddy with excitement!
Neil
I'm giddy with excitement!
Neil
Addiction Overload
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/5034756.stm
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=274459
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sf9kX6ujz9w
Three things in two days is going to provoke a reaction from me. This is one topic that strikes close to home and really (REALLY) annoys me.
As a society, we are obsessed with obsession. Our pursual of normalisation with culture has created a monster that condemns those who are somehow different and the weapon of choice is the accusation of obsession and addiction. And what a wonderful weapon it is as well because it latches onto two phenomena.
The first is social norms. It is very easy to accuse someone of addiction if they do something out of the ordinary. Something strange. Dare I say geeky. Secondly, it is an unbeatable arguement because any attempt to defend yourself is met with the panacea of 'denial'. Echoes of middle age ducking stool interrogations methinks?
Online gaming is a major target for the obsession obsessed at the moment and naturally it is something that has effected me. I play World of Warcraft a lot. Usually a couple of hours every night (when I am in the house). And yes, I have been accused of being addicted to it. Which, I have to say, is a load of bollocks.
The truth of the matter is that it is a past-time that I enjoy, that helps me relax and that allows me to stay in contact with my friends from the comfort of my own living room. I have a family and the responsibilities that come with that, so I cannot be out roleplaying and card playing and pubbing three or four nights a week anymore. However, I see no reason not to socialise with my mates. The internet (as a medium of communication) allows that. I can sit, watch the TV, play WoW, talk to my wife - all at the same time. Thats decent time management in my book.
However, one of the real bugbears of my interaction with this subject is the issue of stopping and letting people down. Note in the (actually very funny) advert, the woman expects the man to stop playing as soon as she approaches him with the offer of sex? The expectation I and many of my friends have met, is that playing Warcraft is like reading a book or drawing a picture. Something that you can drop instantly and pick up again.
Really, it isn't. In virtually all activities you are working as part of a group and have an essential part of that group. In our game, I am a healer and my job is to keep people's characters alive. If I walk away in the middle of an encounter for a quick shag, those characters WILL 'die' and that means that everyone I am playing with will be inconvenienced. In fact, if I go AWOL in the wrong place I can create a situation where the entire event will have to stop. Now, no doubt some of you are reading this and thinking - so what? It's only a game?.
Next time you are say, playing a game of football, take the goalkeeper away from the game. What would the reaction be? Would he be able to say 'sorry lads, it's just a game...wife wanted a shag ASAP!'. Imagine a horse race where the jockey you backed pulled up and got off his horse for three minutes to check out a nice patch of greenery?
Just not going to happen is it?
Time is another factor that enters into these calls of obsession quite a lot. The length of time played in one 'sitting'. Now, lets consider how long some other activities take? Like golf? A proper game of tennis? A long hike up a mountain? Going to see Pirates of the Caribeean II? A night out on the beers with the lads?
Not really short passages of time are they?
However, they are all socially acceptable because the Obsession Obsessed cannot rally against anything socially accaptable like sport, outdoor pursuits, cinema or face-to-face social interaction*. ANYTHING involving technology is fair game though. Open house for the OOs to vent their spleen.
Don't misunderstand my ranting - I know that there are many people who are truly addicted to gaming. Those people that take time off work to game, that pull sickies to game, that care more about the game than their families, those that spend inordinate amounts of money they cannot afford on gaming and those that game for so long that it makes them ill. They all need help.
However there are some of us that have a happy balance between our gaming hobby and our private lives and our work lives. Sure, sometimes things need a little tweaking - more often between work and private, than private and hobby. But please don't just knee-jerk and associate everyone who games with obsessive buffoons who cannot differentiate life from pixels
Neil
* I stand constantly amazed how, when it suits, going out on the piss is bona fide social interaction encouraged by society - whilst at other times it is virtually criminalised, akin to an attack by marauding hordes!
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=274459
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sf9kX6ujz9w
Three things in two days is going to provoke a reaction from me. This is one topic that strikes close to home and really (REALLY) annoys me.
As a society, we are obsessed with obsession. Our pursual of normalisation with culture has created a monster that condemns those who are somehow different and the weapon of choice is the accusation of obsession and addiction. And what a wonderful weapon it is as well because it latches onto two phenomena.
The first is social norms. It is very easy to accuse someone of addiction if they do something out of the ordinary. Something strange. Dare I say geeky. Secondly, it is an unbeatable arguement because any attempt to defend yourself is met with the panacea of 'denial'. Echoes of middle age ducking stool interrogations methinks?
Online gaming is a major target for the obsession obsessed at the moment and naturally it is something that has effected me. I play World of Warcraft a lot. Usually a couple of hours every night (when I am in the house). And yes, I have been accused of being addicted to it. Which, I have to say, is a load of bollocks.
The truth of the matter is that it is a past-time that I enjoy, that helps me relax and that allows me to stay in contact with my friends from the comfort of my own living room. I have a family and the responsibilities that come with that, so I cannot be out roleplaying and card playing and pubbing three or four nights a week anymore. However, I see no reason not to socialise with my mates. The internet (as a medium of communication) allows that. I can sit, watch the TV, play WoW, talk to my wife - all at the same time. Thats decent time management in my book.
However, one of the real bugbears of my interaction with this subject is the issue of stopping and letting people down. Note in the (actually very funny) advert, the woman expects the man to stop playing as soon as she approaches him with the offer of sex? The expectation I and many of my friends have met, is that playing Warcraft is like reading a book or drawing a picture. Something that you can drop instantly and pick up again.
Really, it isn't. In virtually all activities you are working as part of a group and have an essential part of that group. In our game, I am a healer and my job is to keep people's characters alive. If I walk away in the middle of an encounter for a quick shag, those characters WILL 'die' and that means that everyone I am playing with will be inconvenienced. In fact, if I go AWOL in the wrong place I can create a situation where the entire event will have to stop. Now, no doubt some of you are reading this and thinking - so what? It's only a game?.
Next time you are say, playing a game of football, take the goalkeeper away from the game. What would the reaction be? Would he be able to say 'sorry lads, it's just a game...wife wanted a shag ASAP!'. Imagine a horse race where the jockey you backed pulled up and got off his horse for three minutes to check out a nice patch of greenery?
Just not going to happen is it?
Time is another factor that enters into these calls of obsession quite a lot. The length of time played in one 'sitting'. Now, lets consider how long some other activities take? Like golf? A proper game of tennis? A long hike up a mountain? Going to see Pirates of the Caribeean II? A night out on the beers with the lads?
Not really short passages of time are they?
However, they are all socially acceptable because the Obsession Obsessed cannot rally against anything socially accaptable like sport, outdoor pursuits, cinema or face-to-face social interaction*. ANYTHING involving technology is fair game though. Open house for the OOs to vent their spleen.
Don't misunderstand my ranting - I know that there are many people who are truly addicted to gaming. Those people that take time off work to game, that pull sickies to game, that care more about the game than their families, those that spend inordinate amounts of money they cannot afford on gaming and those that game for so long that it makes them ill. They all need help.
However there are some of us that have a happy balance between our gaming hobby and our private lives and our work lives. Sure, sometimes things need a little tweaking - more often between work and private, than private and hobby. But please don't just knee-jerk and associate everyone who games with obsessive buffoons who cannot differentiate life from pixels
Neil
* I stand constantly amazed how, when it suits, going out on the piss is bona fide social interaction encouraged by society - whilst at other times it is virtually criminalised, akin to an attack by marauding hordes!
Thursday, July 13, 2006
How NOT to have a WOW Holiday
I rarely get free holiday time. Much of my work occurs during the summer and as such my holiday time is split into occassional days. This means that I rarely get to holiday with my family. Sad, I know, but you have to live with it. So the last two days I took off were a chance to just loaf around the house and do nothing.
Catch that euphimism for playing Warcraft?
So on Tuesday morning I waved my wife off to work and happily logged on, ready for a days adventuring in Azeroth. Sadly, no-one else had decided that this particular Tuesday was a good day to join me. I could have logged in on Gorthaal and done ... something, but essentially he's my Raid character and he was parked at Dustwallow ready for the assault on Onyxia. I could have farmed with Gortessa, but everywhere I want to farm I have to compete with bots which annoys me no-end. So I logged onto Kylea in the hope of pushing my PvP Rank to the exalted heights of .... 3!
Kylea is an interesting experiment - I have decided that I should try PvP, if only to see what I have been missing. I have been missing a lot apparently, because I have been loving it. Very interesting situations and interesting group interactions. Most of the time, now that I have the hang of things, we win 3-0. We lost once on Tuesday because the raid leader instructed our flag carrier (who had the flag in our flagroom, we were at 2-2 and the Alliance had our flag somewhere) to hide, so they could hunt down our flag. Well, you can guess what happened?! However, the problem is that well, the Alliance don't like losing to they don't instantly sign up again, which we do, naturally. So you have to wait and wait and wait. Of course, I can't do anything else because Kylea is a nasty little L39 twink and if she levels she becomes dogfood in the 40-49 BGs. So ..... I levelled my fishing.
Oh the adventure of it all.
And then I was summoned to the ritual humiliation that is Sports Day. Youngest child, Emma, was participating for Yew house. Now this isn't your normal 100m, egg race, sack race style sports day. These are modern grouo-competitive sports like bean bag throwing and other nicities. Lots of happy parents watching their cherubs run around like loons. Lots of kids (including Emma, bless) running the relay and waving as she passed by. In the end, Yew came second and Elm won. Hurrah! Free icepops all round.
Home again and Onyxia got pwned, first time, by 33 people.....which personally, I thought was pretty impressive. It's obviously going to be a while before everyone gets their T2 Helms etc but it is definitely now on the raiding schedule.
So anyway, Wednesday comes and of course, it's maintainence so I do some writing and pottering and then log on again and find...exactly the same thing. The bots come on as soon as the server starts so farming is a nonsense. I cut some leather with Gorth to send to Dave to pass the time as I watch a DVD and then it's off to Sports Day part 2
Eldest daughter, Lara, is not an athlete in any description of the word although she has aspirations as a gymnast or a footballer. Neither, I believe, will come to fruition. Its actually quite hard as a parent to see a child motoring towards that inevitable time when her peers will tell her, bluntly, that she is too big and uncoordinated and no, she can't be on their team - but she can help them with their homework. I was there once and I know how hurtful it can be, especially for one so innocent and trusting as Lara. Anyway, sports day was more advanced with hurdles and relays and such. Elm, Laras house, came second. Hurrah! Free icepops all round.
One thing I did notice was the propensity, even at that young age, for the little buggers to cheat in any way, shape or form. I wonder whether the headmasters much vaunted School Code has anything in it about cheating? Hmmm....
WoW was dull again in the evening. The majority of the guild were in Zul Gurub and once again I had precious little to do. I was tired, I put some shelves up. I ate. Zzzzzz.
So, two days holiday and nothing really achieved? The lesson here? Be more bloody productive with what precious time you have available to you - and avoid sports days!
Catch that euphimism for playing Warcraft?
So on Tuesday morning I waved my wife off to work and happily logged on, ready for a days adventuring in Azeroth. Sadly, no-one else had decided that this particular Tuesday was a good day to join me. I could have logged in on Gorthaal and done ... something, but essentially he's my Raid character and he was parked at Dustwallow ready for the assault on Onyxia. I could have farmed with Gortessa, but everywhere I want to farm I have to compete with bots which annoys me no-end. So I logged onto Kylea in the hope of pushing my PvP Rank to the exalted heights of .... 3!
Kylea is an interesting experiment - I have decided that I should try PvP, if only to see what I have been missing. I have been missing a lot apparently, because I have been loving it. Very interesting situations and interesting group interactions. Most of the time, now that I have the hang of things, we win 3-0. We lost once on Tuesday because the raid leader instructed our flag carrier (who had the flag in our flagroom, we were at 2-2 and the Alliance had our flag somewhere) to hide, so they could hunt down our flag. Well, you can guess what happened?! However, the problem is that well, the Alliance don't like losing to they don't instantly sign up again, which we do, naturally. So you have to wait and wait and wait. Of course, I can't do anything else because Kylea is a nasty little L39 twink and if she levels she becomes dogfood in the 40-49 BGs. So ..... I levelled my fishing.
Oh the adventure of it all.
And then I was summoned to the ritual humiliation that is Sports Day. Youngest child, Emma, was participating for Yew house. Now this isn't your normal 100m, egg race, sack race style sports day. These are modern grouo-competitive sports like bean bag throwing and other nicities. Lots of happy parents watching their cherubs run around like loons. Lots of kids (including Emma, bless) running the relay and waving as she passed by. In the end, Yew came second and Elm won. Hurrah! Free icepops all round.
Home again and Onyxia got pwned, first time, by 33 people.....which personally, I thought was pretty impressive. It's obviously going to be a while before everyone gets their T2 Helms etc but it is definitely now on the raiding schedule.
So anyway, Wednesday comes and of course, it's maintainence so I do some writing and pottering and then log on again and find...exactly the same thing. The bots come on as soon as the server starts so farming is a nonsense. I cut some leather with Gorth to send to Dave to pass the time as I watch a DVD and then it's off to Sports Day part 2
Eldest daughter, Lara, is not an athlete in any description of the word although she has aspirations as a gymnast or a footballer. Neither, I believe, will come to fruition. Its actually quite hard as a parent to see a child motoring towards that inevitable time when her peers will tell her, bluntly, that she is too big and uncoordinated and no, she can't be on their team - but she can help them with their homework. I was there once and I know how hurtful it can be, especially for one so innocent and trusting as Lara. Anyway, sports day was more advanced with hurdles and relays and such. Elm, Laras house, came second. Hurrah! Free icepops all round.
One thing I did notice was the propensity, even at that young age, for the little buggers to cheat in any way, shape or form. I wonder whether the headmasters much vaunted School Code has anything in it about cheating? Hmmm....
WoW was dull again in the evening. The majority of the guild were in Zul Gurub and once again I had precious little to do. I was tired, I put some shelves up. I ate. Zzzzzz.
So, two days holiday and nothing really achieved? The lesson here? Be more bloody productive with what precious time you have available to you - and avoid sports days!
Thursday, July 06, 2006
Hypocrisy
Getting away from hobbies for a moment, I need to vent my spleen on one of the aspects of modern life which I believe is strangling our civilisation - moral hypocrisy. Every day I am bombarded via the media and, by osmosis, the opinions of my friends and colleagues with a barrage of seemingly contradictory messages. It drives me mental. Here are a couple of my favourites of the moment:
The Great Food and Bodyshape Debacle.
Being fat is bad. Really bad. Being fat encourages heart attacks, asthma, diabetes and a number of other diseases and illnesses that costs the NHS £X billion pounds a year. Thats an unacceptable burden that the tax payer should not have to pay and is singularly the fault of the fat bastard.
Being thin is bad. Poor Keira Knightley (known universally as a stick insect) is so thin she MUST have anorexia. She really needs to pork up a little because she is a role model for hundreds of young girls.
What? The 100s of young girls that you have just scared senseless about the dire consequences of eating too much, now must eat enough to make them 'the perfect weight'? OK, everything in moderation - no-one is allowed to be fat and no-one is allowed to be thin. Well, expect female media stars like Brittney Spears who is vilified in the popular press for succumbing to the bodily ravages of having one child soon after another and has put on a few pounds. ZOMG! She's fat! She has let herself go! She must slim down NOW!
And then we have the food debacle that goes along with it! I have been following the case of William Guntrip, a kid who has been punished at school for selling his classmates sweets when they have been removed from school canteen. Fair enough, the school probably sees this as wrong but the reactions in the ever entertaining 'Metro' newspaper have been nothing short of hilarious. "[Guntrip] ...is little better that selling alcohol/drugs to addicts in rehabilitation"
The Jamie Oliver revolution continues apace with chubby kids being forced to run fat laps during games and the proposal that kids should be weighed and graded on their fitness as part of their school assessment.
Of course, this would all be great if we all ate the correct foods and this message is pummelled into us ad infinitum at the moment by either Findus or Birds Eye with the most annoying, patronising adverts I have ever witnessed. If you haven't seen them, they have found an actor that looks as near to Ray Mears as you can get without being accused of genetic modification and had him investigate the dodgy practices of the fishing industry. This includes the shocking revelations that cod which isn't frozen goes off quickly, farmed salmon has a colourant added to food to make it shocking pink like fresh salmon due to the lack of prawns in their diet and that fish fingers sometimes have preservatives in them. What makes the adverts so annoying is the way that the actor manages to look as if these revelations are as serious as say, discovering a sight of mass genocide or having your grandmother impaled on a spike before you. The utter disappointment he puts into his voice when he reveals 'I thought they were joking?' regarding fish flesh colour charts is Oscar nomination stuff. What the crafty fucker does so well is divert attention from the clever words in the advert - Findus never claim to not use stale cod in their meals, they just say it is frozen (not when, which is the issue). They say they use fresh salmon in their dishes, but they never mention that the colourant is only used sometimes and that by flying pacific salmon across the world, your nice steaks have not only contributed to over--fishing but the air freight emissions have blasted another chunk out of the ozone layer!
I remember a time when it was considered the height of political incorrectness to accuse a woman of being fat and to do such was to be enforcing a gender stereotype onto them. Nowadays, being fat is the last taboo. Unlike being black or gay or disabled it is something that you change and has a palpable cost to society - similarly, being too thin.
But what about other things with palpable costs to society? What about tobacco? What about alcohol (and I mean ALL alcohol, including Sherry!)? What about extreme sports? Hell, what about all sport? What about outward bounds exploits that force brave men and women to risk their lives because you were not competent enough to complete what you set out to do? What about David Walliams risking his life swimming the Channel?
All of these things, in theory, could cause the NHS to spend money on things that are avoidable by the performers....they should ALL be banned. We should live in a society where our every action has to be judged to minimalise risk of injury or illness lest we drain our scant resources. No? Then why pick on fat and thin people?
Why pick on William Guntrip for showing a little initiative to buck the system and stand up for the kids who want to eat sweets like their parents did in their school days. What Guntrip does at that age is frowned upon - trust me, in a few years time it will be called an Enterprise Unit at University and will get the lad a great degree. The entire thing is riddled with... hypocrisy.
The Two Johns: Reid and Prescott
We hate politicians. Whatever colour of rosette lies on their shirt we hate them. Why? Because they are the fractured gods of modern society. Flawed deities placed above us all, yet easily accessible. Trapped between the truth and the media, the modern politician is typified by the question-dodging cabinet minister being pursued by Jeremy Paxman to show one chink of vulnerability, yet knowing that one chink will be torn open to reveal a human and thus end their careers in the gods.
Except for Reid and Prescott.
Reid is termed as Blairs Enforcer - why? Because he tells a modicum of the truth. Reid's admission that his department was a shambles and needed twatting into shame from top to bottom was an amazing piece of politics. His unveiled threats to be sacking a number of high ranking civil servants was welcomed. His suggestion that we, the public, should look after our own neighbourhoods a little instead of waiting for someone to do it for us was too much for everyone involved.
I mean, God help us if we cannot look after ourselves! If we cannot forge communities and relationships with other human beings without the way it is done being prescribed in an Act fo Parliament. To suggest this was, apparently, condoning vigilantes. No, it was condemning people who sit, do nothing and whine that no-one helps them. The paladin against all evil, the Bobby on the Beat, does not police on his own - the community creates an atmosphere where wrong-doings are seen as unacceptable. And yes, that means that you sometimes might have to cross paths with a young kid who is doing something wrong - but talk to them, suggest an alternative action. Hell, have a laugh with them about it - it works you know?!
Alternatively, you might consider toning down your expectations of young people. In a society where gatherings of more than two kids seems to signify a riot in the making and the sight of a ball being kicked is the equivalent of the drawing of swords on a battlefield, it gives them little option but to be seen as toerags.
Of course, these are the kids that are out of the house, searching for somewhere to play or hang-out in our prescribed suburban jungle. Not like the fat ones, who are indoors playing on their computers. Naturally the fat ones should be outside (so they can be chased and told to go indoors) and the thinner ones should be indoors (where they can be accused of being sedintary and told to get out and play)
Sigh
And finally John Prescott. My god, what exactly has this man done to deserve this level of abuse? I'll tell you what he has done.... he's *shock* had an affair. Now, with the majority of marriages ending in divorce I'm going to bet that a fair few of the people who are lambasting him have ducked onto the other side during their partnerships.
But lets be fair, theres more than that! He did it on government property! He broke rules!
Lets be honest - a fat man in his late 50s with a face like a sack of spanners and the sex appeal of a pound of tripe managed, for sometime, to get his leg over with a younger, attractive woman....at the office. He didn't show her civil defence secrets, he didn't turn up to meet the survivors of a bomb attack smelling of vadge - he just got some sex.
In some circles, the man would be hailed as a hero!
But no, because then he was seen playing crochet with his staff. OH THE FUCKING NOES! I don't know what was worse - that he was the defacto 'PM in da House' at the time and should clearly have been bombing someone - or that the game he played was not Bar Billiards or Darts like a true Northern lad.
And now he spent a weekend at the ranch of a man he knew but whose business dealings had nothing to do with his department.
So, to sum it up, comedy fat guy gets shag, bunks off work early once and has weekend at ranch.
I'd hate to see what would have happened to him if he had oh, collapsed the economy, engineered an illegal war and occupation of another sovereign state, manipulated an election or ten, had dozens of people held without trial for being foriegn. You know, THE REAL PROBLEMS CAUSED BY GOVERNMENTS!!!
Gah!
And don't get me started on Sepp Blatter. Thats another entire column!
Neil
The Great Food and Bodyshape Debacle.
Being fat is bad. Really bad. Being fat encourages heart attacks, asthma, diabetes and a number of other diseases and illnesses that costs the NHS £X billion pounds a year. Thats an unacceptable burden that the tax payer should not have to pay and is singularly the fault of the fat bastard.
Being thin is bad. Poor Keira Knightley (known universally as a stick insect) is so thin she MUST have anorexia. She really needs to pork up a little because she is a role model for hundreds of young girls.
What? The 100s of young girls that you have just scared senseless about the dire consequences of eating too much, now must eat enough to make them 'the perfect weight'? OK, everything in moderation - no-one is allowed to be fat and no-one is allowed to be thin. Well, expect female media stars like Brittney Spears who is vilified in the popular press for succumbing to the bodily ravages of having one child soon after another and has put on a few pounds. ZOMG! She's fat! She has let herself go! She must slim down NOW!
And then we have the food debacle that goes along with it! I have been following the case of William Guntrip, a kid who has been punished at school for selling his classmates sweets when they have been removed from school canteen. Fair enough, the school probably sees this as wrong but the reactions in the ever entertaining 'Metro' newspaper have been nothing short of hilarious. "[Guntrip] ...is little better that selling alcohol/drugs to addicts in rehabilitation"
The Jamie Oliver revolution continues apace with chubby kids being forced to run fat laps during games and the proposal that kids should be weighed and graded on their fitness as part of their school assessment.
Of course, this would all be great if we all ate the correct foods and this message is pummelled into us ad infinitum at the moment by either Findus or Birds Eye with the most annoying, patronising adverts I have ever witnessed. If you haven't seen them, they have found an actor that looks as near to Ray Mears as you can get without being accused of genetic modification and had him investigate the dodgy practices of the fishing industry. This includes the shocking revelations that cod which isn't frozen goes off quickly, farmed salmon has a colourant added to food to make it shocking pink like fresh salmon due to the lack of prawns in their diet and that fish fingers sometimes have preservatives in them. What makes the adverts so annoying is the way that the actor manages to look as if these revelations are as serious as say, discovering a sight of mass genocide or having your grandmother impaled on a spike before you. The utter disappointment he puts into his voice when he reveals 'I thought they were joking?' regarding fish flesh colour charts is Oscar nomination stuff. What the crafty fucker does so well is divert attention from the clever words in the advert - Findus never claim to not use stale cod in their meals, they just say it is frozen (not when, which is the issue). They say they use fresh salmon in their dishes, but they never mention that the colourant is only used sometimes and that by flying pacific salmon across the world, your nice steaks have not only contributed to over--fishing but the air freight emissions have blasted another chunk out of the ozone layer!
I remember a time when it was considered the height of political incorrectness to accuse a woman of being fat and to do such was to be enforcing a gender stereotype onto them. Nowadays, being fat is the last taboo. Unlike being black or gay or disabled it is something that you change and has a palpable cost to society - similarly, being too thin.
But what about other things with palpable costs to society? What about tobacco? What about alcohol (and I mean ALL alcohol, including Sherry!)? What about extreme sports? Hell, what about all sport? What about outward bounds exploits that force brave men and women to risk their lives because you were not competent enough to complete what you set out to do? What about David Walliams risking his life swimming the Channel?
All of these things, in theory, could cause the NHS to spend money on things that are avoidable by the performers....they should ALL be banned. We should live in a society where our every action has to be judged to minimalise risk of injury or illness lest we drain our scant resources. No? Then why pick on fat and thin people?
Why pick on William Guntrip for showing a little initiative to buck the system and stand up for the kids who want to eat sweets like their parents did in their school days. What Guntrip does at that age is frowned upon - trust me, in a few years time it will be called an Enterprise Unit at University and will get the lad a great degree. The entire thing is riddled with... hypocrisy.
The Two Johns: Reid and Prescott
We hate politicians. Whatever colour of rosette lies on their shirt we hate them. Why? Because they are the fractured gods of modern society. Flawed deities placed above us all, yet easily accessible. Trapped between the truth and the media, the modern politician is typified by the question-dodging cabinet minister being pursued by Jeremy Paxman to show one chink of vulnerability, yet knowing that one chink will be torn open to reveal a human and thus end their careers in the gods.
Except for Reid and Prescott.
Reid is termed as Blairs Enforcer - why? Because he tells a modicum of the truth. Reid's admission that his department was a shambles and needed twatting into shame from top to bottom was an amazing piece of politics. His unveiled threats to be sacking a number of high ranking civil servants was welcomed. His suggestion that we, the public, should look after our own neighbourhoods a little instead of waiting for someone to do it for us was too much for everyone involved.
I mean, God help us if we cannot look after ourselves! If we cannot forge communities and relationships with other human beings without the way it is done being prescribed in an Act fo Parliament. To suggest this was, apparently, condoning vigilantes. No, it was condemning people who sit, do nothing and whine that no-one helps them. The paladin against all evil, the Bobby on the Beat, does not police on his own - the community creates an atmosphere where wrong-doings are seen as unacceptable. And yes, that means that you sometimes might have to cross paths with a young kid who is doing something wrong - but talk to them, suggest an alternative action. Hell, have a laugh with them about it - it works you know?!
Alternatively, you might consider toning down your expectations of young people. In a society where gatherings of more than two kids seems to signify a riot in the making and the sight of a ball being kicked is the equivalent of the drawing of swords on a battlefield, it gives them little option but to be seen as toerags.
Of course, these are the kids that are out of the house, searching for somewhere to play or hang-out in our prescribed suburban jungle. Not like the fat ones, who are indoors playing on their computers. Naturally the fat ones should be outside (so they can be chased and told to go indoors) and the thinner ones should be indoors (where they can be accused of being sedintary and told to get out and play)
Sigh
And finally John Prescott. My god, what exactly has this man done to deserve this level of abuse? I'll tell you what he has done.... he's *shock* had an affair. Now, with the majority of marriages ending in divorce I'm going to bet that a fair few of the people who are lambasting him have ducked onto the other side during their partnerships.
But lets be fair, theres more than that! He did it on government property! He broke rules!
Lets be honest - a fat man in his late 50s with a face like a sack of spanners and the sex appeal of a pound of tripe managed, for sometime, to get his leg over with a younger, attractive woman....at the office. He didn't show her civil defence secrets, he didn't turn up to meet the survivors of a bomb attack smelling of vadge - he just got some sex.
In some circles, the man would be hailed as a hero!
But no, because then he was seen playing crochet with his staff. OH THE FUCKING NOES! I don't know what was worse - that he was the defacto 'PM in da House' at the time and should clearly have been bombing someone - or that the game he played was not Bar Billiards or Darts like a true Northern lad.
And now he spent a weekend at the ranch of a man he knew but whose business dealings had nothing to do with his department.
So, to sum it up, comedy fat guy gets shag, bunks off work early once and has weekend at ranch.
I'd hate to see what would have happened to him if he had oh, collapsed the economy, engineered an illegal war and occupation of another sovereign state, manipulated an election or ten, had dozens of people held without trial for being foriegn. You know, THE REAL PROBLEMS CAUSED BY GOVERNMENTS!!!
Gah!
And don't get me started on Sepp Blatter. Thats another entire column!
Neil
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
DRAMA!!1!
Ah, never a day goes past without some drama occuring within World of Warcraft. Yesterdays was the guildkicking of a rather annoying new member. Oh the sheer human tragedy of it all.
This guy was, to be fair, a pillock. He didn't sound young on comms, probably in his early 30s. He just couldn't understand what was going on around him. Every so often he would go postal on comms, getting VERY irate. He would harass officers in /w. He would /w people spreading sedition about the guild. (oh God! I used the word 'sedition' - how sad.)
Most of all though, he refused to take any instruction in raids and thus died very quickly and caused numerous problems. Bad play we can abide. Bad play that is repeatedly pointed out and the advice ignored or worse, blatantly disregarded...well, thats just not acceptable.
What people in the guild maybe don't realise is that we have pondered over the decision to kick this guy for WEEKS. We absolutely HATE kicking people from the guid. In some way it infers that we have failed in our mission to be the broad-church welcoming guild. We have only done it a scant handful of times.
And the reprecussions will no doubt start soon. Which is the silly part. It's a microcosm of our take-all, give-nothing society. The whining players who are not officers will complain that the officers have in some way abused their power. And yet, in the next breath,they will complain that the same officers have not organised their game for them in terms of raiding. Cake, Eating it. etc.
Oh the drama!1!!. How can something so silly be taken so seriously.
On a brighter note, Kylea the Mage won her first WSG this weekend. I was so proud.
Neil
This guy was, to be fair, a pillock. He didn't sound young on comms, probably in his early 30s. He just couldn't understand what was going on around him. Every so often he would go postal on comms, getting VERY irate. He would harass officers in /w. He would /w people spreading sedition about the guild. (oh God! I used the word 'sedition' - how sad.)
Most of all though, he refused to take any instruction in raids and thus died very quickly and caused numerous problems. Bad play we can abide. Bad play that is repeatedly pointed out and the advice ignored or worse, blatantly disregarded...well, thats just not acceptable.
What people in the guild maybe don't realise is that we have pondered over the decision to kick this guy for WEEKS. We absolutely HATE kicking people from the guid. In some way it infers that we have failed in our mission to be the broad-church welcoming guild. We have only done it a scant handful of times.
And the reprecussions will no doubt start soon. Which is the silly part. It's a microcosm of our take-all, give-nothing society. The whining players who are not officers will complain that the officers have in some way abused their power. And yet, in the next breath,they will complain that the same officers have not organised their game for them in terms of raiding. Cake, Eating it. etc.
Oh the drama!1!!. How can something so silly be taken so seriously.
On a brighter note, Kylea the Mage won her first WSG this weekend. I was so proud.
Neil
P&P Returns....at last.
Three months between games was always going to be a tough task for a campaign and especially when the set-up for the next session (zombies!) had been spoiled to the players and hyped them up a little.
Well, to cut a long story short it worked in the most chaos filled freeform sort of way.
I had a number of problems going into the session other than the obvious 3 month gap. The first was zombies and combat. There were 10,000 people on that ship and most of them were transformed into nanite-controlled zombies. Thats a lot of people to fight. In the end, the Zombies were just mooks and then real villain of the piece was the Plasma Warp that the ship was falling into. Oh the tension. Still, the zombies had to be fought and they were, in a very cinematic, running-combat way. NPC survivors were eaten and heroes were grappled only to shoot their way free.
The second problem was that of the rather ship-bound Zeb character. He naturally functions better when he is plugged into the Khanjar, but that means that he is always looking for a high-tech way to get out of a problem. A bit like a runner in a Cyberpunk game. However, the tactics used by the crew and their need to transmit and analyse information within the chaos made him rather active, which worked well.
The third thing was that the rather ridiculous plot would ruin it for the players. This was blatantly a double homage episode to films like Posiedon and The Towering Inferno, as well as Event Horizon and any number of '...of the Dead' films. However, it also had the machinations of an insane pirate lord, a massive complicated double-cross and a random (yet dramatically useful) cosmic event all slammed together with cliche after cliche.
Bless my players! They picked up that particular ball and ran with it as fast as they could. The session started slowly with the players testing theories and then landing on the ship. From then on in, the game entered a searching mode until a sublime scene where Zeb told the 'away team' the fate of the crew, according to the Captains Log, whilst they were standing in a room of dead bodies.... and then *wham* it was Aliens speed from there till the end. And the twist at the end left a great cliffhanger for the next session.
The Ideas Factory questioned in his blog whether the use of cliches and genre stereotypes added or detracted from the session as I planned it. I don't think it did, especially considering the nature of the timing of the session. We needed a good session, a great laugh and something that moved the campaign on to the next series of adventures after the introductory sorties. I think this did it.
Next time, the final face off with One Eyed Elijah ... and an explanation of the intricate plotting that caused the ship to be filled with Zombie Gas...honest!
Neil
Well, to cut a long story short it worked in the most chaos filled freeform sort of way.
I had a number of problems going into the session other than the obvious 3 month gap. The first was zombies and combat. There were 10,000 people on that ship and most of them were transformed into nanite-controlled zombies. Thats a lot of people to fight. In the end, the Zombies were just mooks and then real villain of the piece was the Plasma Warp that the ship was falling into. Oh the tension. Still, the zombies had to be fought and they were, in a very cinematic, running-combat way. NPC survivors were eaten and heroes were grappled only to shoot their way free.
The second problem was that of the rather ship-bound Zeb character. He naturally functions better when he is plugged into the Khanjar, but that means that he is always looking for a high-tech way to get out of a problem. A bit like a runner in a Cyberpunk game. However, the tactics used by the crew and their need to transmit and analyse information within the chaos made him rather active, which worked well.
The third thing was that the rather ridiculous plot would ruin it for the players. This was blatantly a double homage episode to films like Posiedon and The Towering Inferno, as well as Event Horizon and any number of '...of the Dead' films. However, it also had the machinations of an insane pirate lord, a massive complicated double-cross and a random (yet dramatically useful) cosmic event all slammed together with cliche after cliche.
Bless my players! They picked up that particular ball and ran with it as fast as they could. The session started slowly with the players testing theories and then landing on the ship. From then on in, the game entered a searching mode until a sublime scene where Zeb told the 'away team' the fate of the crew, according to the Captains Log, whilst they were standing in a room of dead bodies.... and then *wham* it was Aliens speed from there till the end. And the twist at the end left a great cliffhanger for the next session.
The Ideas Factory questioned in his blog whether the use of cliches and genre stereotypes added or detracted from the session as I planned it. I don't think it did, especially considering the nature of the timing of the session. We needed a good session, a great laugh and something that moved the campaign on to the next series of adventures after the introductory sorties. I think this did it.
Next time, the final face off with One Eyed Elijah ... and an explanation of the intricate plotting that caused the ship to be filled with Zombie Gas...honest!
Neil
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Great Responsibility!
I have always been of the opinion that the social aspect Warcraft is a microcosm of the real world, with it's good points and it's bad points. This last week, I have seen some of the worst points mirroring the apparent threats to our society.
Identity Theft - The Case of the Miscreant Brother
Our guild had a new member, called Gungajin, skillful level 60 Warrior, very knowledgeable about the game and apparently the reason for this was that his Alliance alt is Gromagrim. Who? Gromagrim is one of those 'active' realm members - a person who is in the battlegrounds a lot, on the boards a lot. I believe he is the off-tank of Inner Sanctum, the best guild on the server in terms of progression. A true 'star'. Gungajin was given props for this and we all felt a little touched by this and then someone questioned whether he was actually Gromogrim, or whether he was lying. This second guessing continued for some days until the inevitable happened - Gungajin was playing in an instance and our guild master downed a dwarf in WSG... and it was Gromagrim. The scam was up! The pretense was exposed! BUT... that was not the end of it.
When confronted, Gungajin span out that oldest and best of anonymous excuses - that wasn't me, it was my brother playing my account. And yes, indeed, the voice of Gungajin had never admitted that he was Gromagrim - only the words typed into the screen. The guild decided to offer Gungajin the benefit of the doubt and kept him as a member - and a damned good member he is.
However, now, I have noticed that a number of other players have began to react to this - my brother threatened to quit the guild, my brother was messing with my mic, lend me money because my g/f has changed my talents etc. It is a very pleasant excuse.
Another upshot is that certain players are watching other players and waiting for them to make a mistake. Any claim of previous guild activities are dealt with in a 'guilty until proven innocent' manner. Someone even said to Gungajin last night 'Last time you said that, it was Dementation not Praetorians...at least keep your lies coordinated'. It's a level of distrust that I find distasteful and also niaive. After all, we are all simply personalities hidden behind pixelated avatars on a screen. The anonimity of the internet provides the perfect facade for someone to create a new identity....or to steal another one!
Social Responsibility - the Patch 1.11 Drip Feed
Patch 1.11 has arrived to the starved masses of Silvermoon's level 60s. I think this was probably the most anticipated patch I can remember for a long time, even though the big inclusion, the necropolis of Naxxaramas is essentially about six months off for many of us....if at all. 1.11 has been on the cards for weeks now and the patch notes have been available for a month. A full MONTH. So we have all had some time to peruse them, disgest them and generally understand the way they work, right? WRONG!
Last night was a literal cacophony of people in chat, ventrillo and in /general simply bumbling around wondering what was happening! How could the game have changed so much? How could this new content not be BLINDINGLY obvious? Why did they have to search out the new questing targets? Couldn't someone just take time to explain everything to them and spoon feed them the answers?
My annoyance with this is two fold. Firstly, a number of the complaints about the game revolve around it not having enough new content and that the new content that is added is targetted at the very best players. Poppicock is what I say! How can someone who has never set foot in Blackwing Lair say that there is no new content? They have at least three entire instanced dungeons that they have never even entered! That smells like new to me?! Similarly, they devour any new content that is available like rabid animals - I wonder how many people have completed the Midsummer quests already? And yet on the flip side of that, we have the tactic that Blizzard uses to give these events a little longevity - they make them into extended 'grinds'. Now, the new attacks on the cities are quite exciting I think, and have a definite script, but they are essentially grinds in the same way that the elemental lords in Silithus are. For some people, starved of so-called new content, these quests do not deliver quickly enough, For others, they are zoomed through. You cannot have your cake and eat it I'm afraid.
And secondly, there are the people who never learn. The perennial spongers of information who rely on others to spoonfeed them their entertainment on one hand and the people for whom the expectations of great things that have never occured and thus disappoint, are so easily raised as to be annoying! Look, how obvious is it that dancing around a Maypole is NOT going to give you any sort of phat epix? It's a bit of fun. And yes, the rewards for visiting a load of bonfires will be 'chaff' - it's supposed to be a bit of fun, to add depth to the game. Of course, it doesn't help you with your plunge into Molten Core... but it might save your soul.
(News just in - dancing around the maypole gives you a +FR buff....so it will be mandatory for MC. *shakes head*)
ASBOs - The Horror of Global Barrens Chat
A while ago a number of players complained that the Looking For Group channel (LFG) was restricted to the area you were stood in. Therefore if you wanted to say, start the Battle of Darrowshire, you would be unable to because there were not enough people to help even though in Orgrimar there were dozens of happy recruits. Blizzard decided to solve this by introducing the Global LFG channel - a worldwide channel for seeking help with quests.
You can see what was coming, right?
There is no other global channel. Even /general is kept within your area. Thus every simple minded little fucktard in the game had an open channel to expose their specific brand of fucktardery to the masses. Why annoy maybe 100 people in the Barrens with your opinion that 'teh rouges r teh ghey!' when you can spam 5000 people?
However, the worse thing is that when people try to stop them, they realise that they are indeed, holding the channel to ransom! The only real avenue that players have to avoid these imbeciles is the /leave! And indeed, thats what people have done in their droves. In our guild after only a couple of hours of play, the default answer to anyone complaining about the channel was 'it's your own fault for not leaving already'.
So there we have it - a society where your identity can be stolen and the anonimity of the system creates a viable blame avoidance culture, a society where people want someone to always be helping them to greater, free-er rewards with minimal effort on their parts and a society where the slightest of freedoms for the masses are spoiled by the actions of a few idiots.
Familiar?
Identity Theft - The Case of the Miscreant Brother
Our guild had a new member, called Gungajin, skillful level 60 Warrior, very knowledgeable about the game and apparently the reason for this was that his Alliance alt is Gromagrim. Who? Gromagrim is one of those 'active' realm members - a person who is in the battlegrounds a lot, on the boards a lot. I believe he is the off-tank of Inner Sanctum, the best guild on the server in terms of progression. A true 'star'. Gungajin was given props for this and we all felt a little touched by this and then someone questioned whether he was actually Gromogrim, or whether he was lying. This second guessing continued for some days until the inevitable happened - Gungajin was playing in an instance and our guild master downed a dwarf in WSG... and it was Gromagrim. The scam was up! The pretense was exposed! BUT... that was not the end of it.
When confronted, Gungajin span out that oldest and best of anonymous excuses - that wasn't me, it was my brother playing my account. And yes, indeed, the voice of Gungajin had never admitted that he was Gromagrim - only the words typed into the screen. The guild decided to offer Gungajin the benefit of the doubt and kept him as a member - and a damned good member he is.
However, now, I have noticed that a number of other players have began to react to this - my brother threatened to quit the guild, my brother was messing with my mic, lend me money because my g/f has changed my talents etc. It is a very pleasant excuse.
Another upshot is that certain players are watching other players and waiting for them to make a mistake. Any claim of previous guild activities are dealt with in a 'guilty until proven innocent' manner. Someone even said to Gungajin last night 'Last time you said that, it was Dementation not Praetorians...at least keep your lies coordinated'. It's a level of distrust that I find distasteful and also niaive. After all, we are all simply personalities hidden behind pixelated avatars on a screen. The anonimity of the internet provides the perfect facade for someone to create a new identity....or to steal another one!
Social Responsibility - the Patch 1.11 Drip Feed
Patch 1.11 has arrived to the starved masses of Silvermoon's level 60s. I think this was probably the most anticipated patch I can remember for a long time, even though the big inclusion, the necropolis of Naxxaramas is essentially about six months off for many of us....if at all. 1.11 has been on the cards for weeks now and the patch notes have been available for a month. A full MONTH. So we have all had some time to peruse them, disgest them and generally understand the way they work, right? WRONG!
Last night was a literal cacophony of people in chat, ventrillo and in /general simply bumbling around wondering what was happening! How could the game have changed so much? How could this new content not be BLINDINGLY obvious? Why did they have to search out the new questing targets? Couldn't someone just take time to explain everything to them and spoon feed them the answers?
My annoyance with this is two fold. Firstly, a number of the complaints about the game revolve around it not having enough new content and that the new content that is added is targetted at the very best players. Poppicock is what I say! How can someone who has never set foot in Blackwing Lair say that there is no new content? They have at least three entire instanced dungeons that they have never even entered! That smells like new to me?! Similarly, they devour any new content that is available like rabid animals - I wonder how many people have completed the Midsummer quests already? And yet on the flip side of that, we have the tactic that Blizzard uses to give these events a little longevity - they make them into extended 'grinds'. Now, the new attacks on the cities are quite exciting I think, and have a definite script, but they are essentially grinds in the same way that the elemental lords in Silithus are. For some people, starved of so-called new content, these quests do not deliver quickly enough, For others, they are zoomed through. You cannot have your cake and eat it I'm afraid.
And secondly, there are the people who never learn. The perennial spongers of information who rely on others to spoonfeed them their entertainment on one hand and the people for whom the expectations of great things that have never occured and thus disappoint, are so easily raised as to be annoying! Look, how obvious is it that dancing around a Maypole is NOT going to give you any sort of phat epix? It's a bit of fun. And yes, the rewards for visiting a load of bonfires will be 'chaff' - it's supposed to be a bit of fun, to add depth to the game. Of course, it doesn't help you with your plunge into Molten Core... but it might save your soul.
(News just in - dancing around the maypole gives you a +FR buff....so it will be mandatory for MC. *shakes head*)
ASBOs - The Horror of Global Barrens Chat
A while ago a number of players complained that the Looking For Group channel (LFG) was restricted to the area you were stood in. Therefore if you wanted to say, start the Battle of Darrowshire, you would be unable to because there were not enough people to help even though in Orgrimar there were dozens of happy recruits. Blizzard decided to solve this by introducing the Global LFG channel - a worldwide channel for seeking help with quests.
You can see what was coming, right?
There is no other global channel. Even /general is kept within your area. Thus every simple minded little fucktard in the game had an open channel to expose their specific brand of fucktardery to the masses. Why annoy maybe 100 people in the Barrens with your opinion that 'teh rouges r teh ghey!' when you can spam 5000 people?
However, the worse thing is that when people try to stop them, they realise that they are indeed, holding the channel to ransom! The only real avenue that players have to avoid these imbeciles is the /leave! And indeed, thats what people have done in their droves. In our guild after only a couple of hours of play, the default answer to anyone complaining about the channel was 'it's your own fault for not leaving already'.
So there we have it - a society where your identity can be stolen and the anonimity of the system creates a viable blame avoidance culture, a society where people want someone to always be helping them to greater, free-er rewards with minimal effort on their parts and a society where the slightest of freedoms for the masses are spoiled by the actions of a few idiots.
Familiar?
Thursday, June 01, 2006
Changing Infrastructure
Two days ago, the computer died. It was old, it was more patched parts than original, but it died. It is time to update into the 21st Century in the PC sense.
Originally, we planned on getting a nice new desktop - nothing fancy, no great indepth searching, just a Dimension 5150 from Dell (like I use at work). It's fast, it's fruity and most of all it's reasonably cheap! The spec' is perfect for the web and graphics work I do as well as running WoW.
However, in the interim period, I have been playing WoW on the laptop (owner: Mrs G.) and it has ran perfectly well. It has also illustrated some of the unseen stresses that furniture positioning puts on the household. For example, when I use the desktop, I have my back to the rest of the room, facing the corner. This is not seen as the most sociable of things and indeed, when I am mic'd up it generates quite a bit of tension and frustration. It can also be a tad claustrophobic.
So we discussed getting another laptop... and this lead to a number of other revelations. We could get rid of the PC table/shelf array in the corner and clear that corner as a toy-area for the kids. That would mean that the current pile of toys could be replaced by our new spangly 27" flatscreen HD TV thats coming tomorrow...which would mean that the TV area could be shelved and we would have more bookspace and DVD space. And that means that if we are both watching TV on different sofas, one of us will no longer have their back to the other, as it is at the moment.
Hey, and if I am working (or playing - lets be honest) on the laptop, our super-duper wireless system will allow me to sit in the kitchen or the conservatory and watch the kids play etc. whilst doing it - rather than being pinned in one hole.
Now there are downsides - laptops are a lot less adaptable than desktops and when they break, they BREAK! However, the prices of an Inspiron 6400 and the Dimension 5150 are not that different for very similar specs. And we do need to take into account the massive social implications that this could have. We are a computer-house, but being a social computer house would be even better.
Not something about hobbies really, but something I fancied putting down for perpetuity!
Neil
Originally, we planned on getting a nice new desktop - nothing fancy, no great indepth searching, just a Dimension 5150 from Dell (like I use at work). It's fast, it's fruity and most of all it's reasonably cheap! The spec' is perfect for the web and graphics work I do as well as running WoW.
However, in the interim period, I have been playing WoW on the laptop (owner: Mrs G.) and it has ran perfectly well. It has also illustrated some of the unseen stresses that furniture positioning puts on the household. For example, when I use the desktop, I have my back to the rest of the room, facing the corner. This is not seen as the most sociable of things and indeed, when I am mic'd up it generates quite a bit of tension and frustration. It can also be a tad claustrophobic.
So we discussed getting another laptop... and this lead to a number of other revelations. We could get rid of the PC table/shelf array in the corner and clear that corner as a toy-area for the kids. That would mean that the current pile of toys could be replaced by our new spangly 27" flatscreen HD TV thats coming tomorrow...which would mean that the TV area could be shelved and we would have more bookspace and DVD space. And that means that if we are both watching TV on different sofas, one of us will no longer have their back to the other, as it is at the moment.
Hey, and if I am working (or playing - lets be honest) on the laptop, our super-duper wireless system will allow me to sit in the kitchen or the conservatory and watch the kids play etc. whilst doing it - rather than being pinned in one hole.
Now there are downsides - laptops are a lot less adaptable than desktops and when they break, they BREAK! However, the prices of an Inspiron 6400 and the Dimension 5150 are not that different for very similar specs. And we do need to take into account the massive social implications that this could have. We are a computer-house, but being a social computer house would be even better.
Not something about hobbies really, but something I fancied putting down for perpetuity!
Neil
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Blockbuster Reviews Part One
Ah, the summer months - lots of films to be seen and chewed over. I love the summer blockbuster season because I am a sucker for popcorn action movie fun! Without further ado, here's my scores on the doors for the films I have seen so far...
Mission Impossible III - 6/10
Good film, worth the ticket price, but definitely signalling the end of the franchise for me as it seemed to have ran out of ideas. Nice sideways look at the way the MI thing works. Too much of a Tom Cruise Message film for me to like more.
The Da Vinci Code - 8/10
Liked the book and the film was essentially the book on the screen. Covered all of the aspects I wanted to see on screen well, and glossed over some of the slower bits. I think some people may have expected more action, but I just wanted the clever history bits cos I'm a geek for that stuff.
X-Men III: The Last Stand - tbc
Posiedon - tbc
Nacho Libre - tbc
Superman Returns - tbc
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - tbc
And there's bound to be more! I haven't even considered the Childrens Animated Quota yet
Mission Impossible III - 6/10
Good film, worth the ticket price, but definitely signalling the end of the franchise for me as it seemed to have ran out of ideas. Nice sideways look at the way the MI thing works. Too much of a Tom Cruise Message film for me to like more.
The Da Vinci Code - 8/10
Liked the book and the film was essentially the book on the screen. Covered all of the aspects I wanted to see on screen well, and glossed over some of the slower bits. I think some people may have expected more action, but I just wanted the clever history bits cos I'm a geek for that stuff.
X-Men III: The Last Stand - tbc
Posiedon - tbc
Nacho Libre - tbc
Superman Returns - tbc
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - tbc
And there's bound to be more! I haven't even considered the Childrens Animated Quota yet
News of my demise has been grossly exaggerated!
Welcome back. It's been a while.
Over a month since I last looked at the bottom of the glass and well, it's been a bitch. A week in hospital with a nasty internal abcess and infection, the family leaving me home alone in my convalenscence as they toddle off the France, work being on the verge of bankruptcy. All the fun of the fair. But we're not here to talk about life - we're here to talk about hobbies.
It's all change.
Goddamit, just when you thought the hobby rollercoaster was finished - WHAM - we're off again. Where to start?
I'm writing fan fiction again, as a direct result of my newly enthused view of comics brought around by DC's Infinity Crisis event and the massive reprecussions it has brought. I am buying comics again. I am reading comics again and I am writing again. Green Lantern, to be precise, at a site called DC Infinity (www.dcinfinity.ca) with some of my old buddies and some new ones. I wrote two 3.5k word issues in one weekend and it was wonderful. Oh to be creative again. I'll keep everyone up to date on how the feedback pans out (so far it has been good)
Raw Deal has gone - Glasgow would appear to have been my last hurrah with that particular CCG. Too much infighting, too much involvement to be part of but let go and really, the longer I remain attached, the longer Comic Images are going to retain me as their web-dude. I gave them a one month extension, but it might well last longer the way things are panning out. Hopefully not. A new CCG, Universal Fighting System, seems to have risen to the top of the pile as the prominent replacement (in waiting for the WOW CCG naturally). It's very very gentle in the play, no-one getting too hot under the collar about it, just another pastime (although I have already managed to score a box and a set of promos from the company for setting up a UK message board....hehehe)
Roleplaying is on standby at the moment - between hospital, recovery, holidays and marking we are all pretty much timed out. Mind you, I have asked the question on our little message board - are we too busy to roleplay. I'm not sure what my reaction would be if the answer comes back 'actually yes, lets leave it there.' I suspect I would be initially relieved for some sort of gap in my timetable, but then sad and remorseful and eventually I would either start something again or join another group. RPG Addicts Ahoy!
Which brings us to World of Warcraft?
So I was sat at home, with a massive gash in my groin, wondering what I was going to do for the next two weeks. I could barely move, although I could sit (just). I rearranged the room so I had my PC next to me and logged onto Scarshield Legion. Nothing. Nada. No-one in my tiny guild online. Infact, not a lot happening at all. I considered. I pondered. I weighed up the consequences and then.....I logged back onto Silvermoon.
And everything changed.
This wasn't quite a Blues Brothers-esque ray of light shining from the sky...but it was close. I have been like a spoiled little child whose parent has remarried and now has to share with his step-siblings. Instead of playing, I have just locked myself in the loft, talked to my imaginary friends and pretended it was better. Here's what's different.
1. I have been raiding Molten Core. I put the time aside for it on Fridays, like we used to. It has been exhilartings, exasperating, fun, horrific, embarrassing and adventurerous - all at the same time. It has redefined Gorthaal into a new role (as a healer again) but in a very different way. I'm gathered and refined equipment to suit the role. Hell, I've had to think very hard about the way I play and the options I have. It's made me a better player!
2. I talk to people on voice comms now. I have discovered that what I was told is true, the personalities of people written are totally different from those of people speaking. One of the guys I really had a problem with on the forums I have developed a real liking to on comms, and a great deal of respect. It's very strange.
3. I did some PvP. This was the biggest departure for me, as it was something that I have never done and never wanted to do....but the guild were going in en masse, thus reducing the embarassment factor if I got it wrong. Guess what? It was GREAT. I loved it. I stayed in Alterac Valley for nearly 5 hours having a whale of a time. I made Rank Two (Grunt) which gets me my little PvP trinket thing - something I have coveted for a long time. The howls of disbelief from the guild when they saw where I was were priceless.
In generally, I'm enjoying WoW more now than I have for ages. The Dungeoneers are now the biggest guild on the server, but it appears that they have overcame their identity crisis - they are a raiding guild, with a massive slice of fun attached. And thats cool.
And so...well, it appears that everything has changed. Will it change again? Probably. It's all a little mad in my life at the moment and shift priorities mean I look to strange places for entertainment and release. Who knows what will come up next!
Over a month since I last looked at the bottom of the glass and well, it's been a bitch. A week in hospital with a nasty internal abcess and infection, the family leaving me home alone in my convalenscence as they toddle off the France, work being on the verge of bankruptcy. All the fun of the fair. But we're not here to talk about life - we're here to talk about hobbies.
It's all change.
Goddamit, just when you thought the hobby rollercoaster was finished - WHAM - we're off again. Where to start?
I'm writing fan fiction again, as a direct result of my newly enthused view of comics brought around by DC's Infinity Crisis event and the massive reprecussions it has brought. I am buying comics again. I am reading comics again and I am writing again. Green Lantern, to be precise, at a site called DC Infinity (www.dcinfinity.ca) with some of my old buddies and some new ones. I wrote two 3.5k word issues in one weekend and it was wonderful. Oh to be creative again. I'll keep everyone up to date on how the feedback pans out (so far it has been good)
Raw Deal has gone - Glasgow would appear to have been my last hurrah with that particular CCG. Too much infighting, too much involvement to be part of but let go and really, the longer I remain attached, the longer Comic Images are going to retain me as their web-dude. I gave them a one month extension, but it might well last longer the way things are panning out. Hopefully not. A new CCG, Universal Fighting System, seems to have risen to the top of the pile as the prominent replacement (in waiting for the WOW CCG naturally). It's very very gentle in the play, no-one getting too hot under the collar about it, just another pastime (although I have already managed to score a box and a set of promos from the company for setting up a UK message board....hehehe)
Roleplaying is on standby at the moment - between hospital, recovery, holidays and marking we are all pretty much timed out. Mind you, I have asked the question on our little message board - are we too busy to roleplay. I'm not sure what my reaction would be if the answer comes back 'actually yes, lets leave it there.' I suspect I would be initially relieved for some sort of gap in my timetable, but then sad and remorseful and eventually I would either start something again or join another group. RPG Addicts Ahoy!
Which brings us to World of Warcraft?
So I was sat at home, with a massive gash in my groin, wondering what I was going to do for the next two weeks. I could barely move, although I could sit (just). I rearranged the room so I had my PC next to me and logged onto Scarshield Legion. Nothing. Nada. No-one in my tiny guild online. Infact, not a lot happening at all. I considered. I pondered. I weighed up the consequences and then.....I logged back onto Silvermoon.
And everything changed.
This wasn't quite a Blues Brothers-esque ray of light shining from the sky...but it was close. I have been like a spoiled little child whose parent has remarried and now has to share with his step-siblings. Instead of playing, I have just locked myself in the loft, talked to my imaginary friends and pretended it was better. Here's what's different.
1. I have been raiding Molten Core. I put the time aside for it on Fridays, like we used to. It has been exhilartings, exasperating, fun, horrific, embarrassing and adventurerous - all at the same time. It has redefined Gorthaal into a new role (as a healer again) but in a very different way. I'm gathered and refined equipment to suit the role. Hell, I've had to think very hard about the way I play and the options I have. It's made me a better player!
2. I talk to people on voice comms now. I have discovered that what I was told is true, the personalities of people written are totally different from those of people speaking. One of the guys I really had a problem with on the forums I have developed a real liking to on comms, and a great deal of respect. It's very strange.
3. I did some PvP. This was the biggest departure for me, as it was something that I have never done and never wanted to do....but the guild were going in en masse, thus reducing the embarassment factor if I got it wrong. Guess what? It was GREAT. I loved it. I stayed in Alterac Valley for nearly 5 hours having a whale of a time. I made Rank Two (Grunt) which gets me my little PvP trinket thing - something I have coveted for a long time. The howls of disbelief from the guild when they saw where I was were priceless.
In generally, I'm enjoying WoW more now than I have for ages. The Dungeoneers are now the biggest guild on the server, but it appears that they have overcame their identity crisis - they are a raiding guild, with a massive slice of fun attached. And thats cool.
And so...well, it appears that everything has changed. Will it change again? Probably. It's all a little mad in my life at the moment and shift priorities mean I look to strange places for entertainment and release. Who knows what will come up next!
Sunday, April 23, 2006
There's Nowt as Funny as Folk
I realised something this weekend, that has really caused me to cast some of the decisions I have made in this little experiment in a different light. See, I was under the impression that my increasing despair with the state of some of my hobbies was to do with disenchantment, time management and clashes of priority. The one thing I missed was the madness that is 'other people'
I've been away playing Raw Deal this weekend in Glasgow. OK, the RD is really just an excuse to see some friends, have a drink and get out of the house when Mrs Gow and the kids are away with the in-laws. It was awesome to see the guys (and gals) again and even though I didn't perform too well in the tournament, I had a good laugh. However, in the background, a drama was unfolding...
The UK Nationals are approaching and the venue for the nationals is always controversial. Generally, it should be central and big. This year, Reading was earmarked. Not really central but the player base of the game is skewed somewhat to the south so it's not insane to do so - and the southern players deserve a PPV. Now the manager from that area has known this for months, but like anyone else, he left the organisation of the venue to the last minute and then found out that it wasn't suitable. Now, there are a lot of people who are wanting to know when the event is happening - holidays need booking etc. and a new card set is imminent, which causes complications as well. Also, it cannot be too late as it causes a 'log jam' of PPV dates which can cause chaos. So, my successor as Commissioner, after chatting to me, approached a different venue in Shrewsbury who organised themselves in under one day. Good yeah?
Nope. The Reading Manager tendered his resignation (which was refused, because he really was being a drama queen) because he had let down the Raw Deal community. And then the manager from Southampton resigned because he saw the emergency change as a slur upon the southern players. Why wasn't anyone consulted? Why wasn't it put in Southampton? The fact that the Teams event later in the year has been rescheduled to Reading/Southampton (hardly twinned cities..) and another one is in Cardiff (a similarly deemed 'southern' venue) is apparently null and void.
Whether he is right or not, the entire thing has embroiled a number of people in long and heated conversations. Entire plans and counter plans have been talked about. Conspiracy theories, claims, rebuttals - oh for fucks sake guys, it's just a bloody card game! Stop being so bloody damned melodramatic. Nobody actually gives a flying fuck whether you resign or not, where the venue for a tournament is, or whether a group of self-appointed organisers are, or are not, consulted.
And this is the sort of small minded shennanagins that I have been living with for the last four years. Everyone double guessing everyone else about their ways of doing things, what the real meaning is behind what they are saying - it's really quite pathetic. Hell, the new Commissioner was asking me what sort of things he should and should not say to the creator of the game in order to curry favour with him because said creator is notoriously ... difficult! Duplicity, double talk and drama. Hell, Vince McMahon should really just hire these guys to write Smackdown! and it would be better.
Now, this is rather similar to the situation I had with the Dungeoneers. A lot of people getting very hot under the collar about the stupidest of minor things in a computer game. The mind boggles, I know...but the atmosphere was such that I really just found it easier not to be there. So I posted up a note on our site saying that I would relieve myself of the bankers duties in the guild.
So what do I get? A mail from the guildmaster - a guy I have known for years - 'hoping that we can still be friends..'. I mean, what in the blue fucking hell of shite made him think that because I didn't want to be an active part of his guild, it meant that we wouldn't be able to be friends! The week beforehand he was suggesting that his son and my daughters should spend some time together during the holidays. It's madness - utter utter madness.
To be honest, I'm glad I'm out of it. It's hard - I still have a lot of attachment to these things - especially the Raw Deal 'scene' - and when things are nasty, they hurt. These people are my friends. However, there are so many more important things in life. Whether it is the care and upbringing of family and children, participating in other socially valuable activities or simply appreciating that there are people in this world that don't know if they will be alive tomorrow - and we argue about what voice comms server we use?
My shining light through this is my roleplaying group. We missed one player last week, so we sat around and chatted about...stuff. And the conversation became, at times, 'heated' - but in the way that people who are totally assured of their actions in the presence of their friends can be. No-one taking umbrage at disagreements, no-one leaving the gaming group because of a difference of opinion. All people, I believe, who have some degree of grasp on their life's priorities. Sanity, amidst the madness.
I think I shall steer towards the sanity
Neil
I've been away playing Raw Deal this weekend in Glasgow. OK, the RD is really just an excuse to see some friends, have a drink and get out of the house when Mrs Gow and the kids are away with the in-laws. It was awesome to see the guys (and gals) again and even though I didn't perform too well in the tournament, I had a good laugh. However, in the background, a drama was unfolding...
The UK Nationals are approaching and the venue for the nationals is always controversial. Generally, it should be central and big. This year, Reading was earmarked. Not really central but the player base of the game is skewed somewhat to the south so it's not insane to do so - and the southern players deserve a PPV. Now the manager from that area has known this for months, but like anyone else, he left the organisation of the venue to the last minute and then found out that it wasn't suitable. Now, there are a lot of people who are wanting to know when the event is happening - holidays need booking etc. and a new card set is imminent, which causes complications as well. Also, it cannot be too late as it causes a 'log jam' of PPV dates which can cause chaos. So, my successor as Commissioner, after chatting to me, approached a different venue in Shrewsbury who organised themselves in under one day. Good yeah?
Nope. The Reading Manager tendered his resignation (which was refused, because he really was being a drama queen) because he had let down the Raw Deal community. And then the manager from Southampton resigned because he saw the emergency change as a slur upon the southern players. Why wasn't anyone consulted? Why wasn't it put in Southampton? The fact that the Teams event later in the year has been rescheduled to Reading/Southampton (hardly twinned cities..) and another one is in Cardiff (a similarly deemed 'southern' venue) is apparently null and void.
Whether he is right or not, the entire thing has embroiled a number of people in long and heated conversations. Entire plans and counter plans have been talked about. Conspiracy theories, claims, rebuttals - oh for fucks sake guys, it's just a bloody card game! Stop being so bloody damned melodramatic. Nobody actually gives a flying fuck whether you resign or not, where the venue for a tournament is, or whether a group of self-appointed organisers are, or are not, consulted.
And this is the sort of small minded shennanagins that I have been living with for the last four years. Everyone double guessing everyone else about their ways of doing things, what the real meaning is behind what they are saying - it's really quite pathetic. Hell, the new Commissioner was asking me what sort of things he should and should not say to the creator of the game in order to curry favour with him because said creator is notoriously ... difficult! Duplicity, double talk and drama. Hell, Vince McMahon should really just hire these guys to write Smackdown! and it would be better.
Now, this is rather similar to the situation I had with the Dungeoneers. A lot of people getting very hot under the collar about the stupidest of minor things in a computer game. The mind boggles, I know...but the atmosphere was such that I really just found it easier not to be there. So I posted up a note on our site saying that I would relieve myself of the bankers duties in the guild.
So what do I get? A mail from the guildmaster - a guy I have known for years - 'hoping that we can still be friends..'. I mean, what in the blue fucking hell of shite made him think that because I didn't want to be an active part of his guild, it meant that we wouldn't be able to be friends! The week beforehand he was suggesting that his son and my daughters should spend some time together during the holidays. It's madness - utter utter madness.
To be honest, I'm glad I'm out of it. It's hard - I still have a lot of attachment to these things - especially the Raw Deal 'scene' - and when things are nasty, they hurt. These people are my friends. However, there are so many more important things in life. Whether it is the care and upbringing of family and children, participating in other socially valuable activities or simply appreciating that there are people in this world that don't know if they will be alive tomorrow - and we argue about what voice comms server we use?
My shining light through this is my roleplaying group. We missed one player last week, so we sat around and chatted about...stuff. And the conversation became, at times, 'heated' - but in the way that people who are totally assured of their actions in the presence of their friends can be. No-one taking umbrage at disagreements, no-one leaving the gaming group because of a difference of opinion. All people, I believe, who have some degree of grasp on their life's priorities. Sanity, amidst the madness.
I think I shall steer towards the sanity
Neil
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