Great Bird of The Galaxy and Allfather's Beard I do so despise Windows 8.
Frustrating to use when it does anything you want it to at all, it is also incompatible with half the programs I had on my old computer and does wonders with formatting for my blog. By 'wonders' I mean, of course, that it is a wonder that the creators and programmers of this monstrosity are allowed to wipe their own butts since I wouldn't put it past them to mess up something that simple either.
Anyway, as I stated in the previous post, these next two weeks or so will likely be light as I decide exactly what I am going to do in regards to my current computer dilemma. Most likely I will be uninstalling this OS (and I use the term OS very loosely here) and installing Windows 7 and some version of Office prior to '365'. I have not made a definitive decision on that latter part. I simply know that Office 365 was made to go with Windows 8 and based on the poor design and performance of that, the idea of using Office 365 has me more than a little wary.
***
In other news, I also have a few personal things to take care of, which will also contribute to the lightness of posts for the next two weeks. Don't worry all you cool cats and kidding kittens, your chronically hip Barking Alien is fit and fine. I just have to make some serious changes around here and I need time to do it.
***
Yeah, life has me feeling kind of blue and for a Green Dog, that's no fun let me tell you.
On a positive notes, actually two positive notes, our second Traveller session went well and we are starting up a new Champions campaign in the very near future (completely unrelated to the previous one).
These things (and my dog) make me smile.
***
Fret not, I will be by periodically to toss out some bizarre thought, crazy campaign idea or simply remind you all that I ain't dead. Nice of me I think.
Later days,
Adam
AD
Barking Alien
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
User Unfriendly - Inter Face-Off
I got a new computer.
Yay!
It uses Windows 8 (for now).
Boo! Hiss! Punch the developers in their short-sighted, low intelligence, do-these-people-actually-use-computers hipster-nerd faces.
I can barely do anything with this thing, none of my favorite programs (including and especially my art programs) are compatible with it and any time spent on it is an exercise in utter frustration so...don't expect a lot of posts this month unless I can fix this.
By fix I mean I am either going to figure out how to make it work passably, downgrade to Windows 7 or through the whole think out a window.
Place ya bets!
AD
Barking Alien
Yay!
It uses Windows 8 (for now).
Boo! Hiss! Punch the developers in their short-sighted, low intelligence, do-these-people-actually-use-computers hipster-nerd faces.
I can barely do anything with this thing, none of my favorite programs (including and especially my art programs) are compatible with it and any time spent on it is an exercise in utter frustration so...don't expect a lot of posts this month unless I can fix this.
By fix I mean I am either going to figure out how to make it work passably, downgrade to Windows 7 or through the whole think out a window.
Place ya bets!
AD
Barking Alien
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Might As Well Jump
If you haven't already checked out Erin Palette's post on how Maneuver and Jump Drives work in Traveller, take a moment to do so. It's really good stuff. Plus, it's Erin Palette actually talking about gaming and how often does that happen? ;)
I kid, I kid, I am the kidder.
Now, I have nothing so cool as an intelligent and well thought out scientific essay on the technobabble of our mutual favorite Sci-Fi RPG (or at least one of them). Instead, I have a cool illustration of the alien Za'Tachk, another member of the Hive Federation...
And a cool chart showing how 'fast' Traveller's Jump Drive goes IMTU. See, in the Traveller Universe I have been using for the last 20+ years or so, Jump Drive is slightly different than the way it has been traditionally presented in canon.
Generally, when a starship enters Jump Space, it is there for a week. So, a Jump-1 vessel goes 1 parsec in 1 week. Likewise, a Jump-6 vessel (the most powerful and effective Jump Drive there is) goes 6 parsecs in 1 week. Now, how long would it take a Jump-6 vessel to go 1 parsec.
Simple. 1 week. It takes 1 week to go from Normal Space to Jump Space and back. It always takes 1 week.
That did not sit well with my collection of Star Trek, Star Wars and related Sci-Fi IP buddies, so we have an alternate breakdown of how long a starship is in Jump Space and how long it takes to travel a given distance. Like so...
So the skinny here is that as drives improve in power they are also more efficient to some degree. Regardless however, the key is always that it takes 1 week to go the number of parsecs equal to the drive designation. Also, if you have a Jump-5 Drive it should take you two week (2 x The Drive Designation) to go 10 parsecs. A Jump-2 vessel will take two weeks to go 4 parsecs, etc.
The change doesn't have a major effect on the game except that the character's don't age as quickly just getting from place to place. Also, it does (somewhat) encourage a bit more traveling in Traveller, which I am all for, but I am aware not every Traveller GM enjoys. Many prefer that their PC crews hang out in one place for a while. Not me. Part of the reason for this chart is that I want to play Traveller not Settler.
AD
Barking Alien
I kid, I kid, I am the kidder.
Now, I have nothing so cool as an intelligent and well thought out scientific essay on the technobabble of our mutual favorite Sci-Fi RPG (or at least one of them). Instead, I have a cool illustration of the alien Za'Tachk, another member of the Hive Federation...
And a cool chart showing how 'fast' Traveller's Jump Drive goes IMTU. See, in the Traveller Universe I have been using for the last 20+ years or so, Jump Drive is slightly different than the way it has been traditionally presented in canon.
Generally, when a starship enters Jump Space, it is there for a week. So, a Jump-1 vessel goes 1 parsec in 1 week. Likewise, a Jump-6 vessel (the most powerful and effective Jump Drive there is) goes 6 parsecs in 1 week. Now, how long would it take a Jump-6 vessel to go 1 parsec.
Simple. 1 week. It takes 1 week to go from Normal Space to Jump Space and back. It always takes 1 week.
That did not sit well with my collection of Star Trek, Star Wars and related Sci-Fi IP buddies, so we have an alternate breakdown of how long a starship is in Jump Space and how long it takes to travel a given distance. Like so...
So the skinny here is that as drives improve in power they are also more efficient to some degree. Regardless however, the key is always that it takes 1 week to go the number of parsecs equal to the drive designation. Also, if you have a Jump-5 Drive it should take you two week (2 x The Drive Designation) to go 10 parsecs. A Jump-2 vessel will take two weeks to go 4 parsecs, etc.
The change doesn't have a major effect on the game except that the character's don't age as quickly just getting from place to place. Also, it does (somewhat) encourage a bit more traveling in Traveller, which I am all for, but I am aware not every Traveller GM enjoys. Many prefer that their PC crews hang out in one place for a while. Not me. Part of the reason for this chart is that I want to play Traveller not Settler.
AD
Barking Alien
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
When Not Preaching To The Choir
I've got a few things I want to talk about in the fields of Science Fiction (Our Traveller campaign!) and Supers (Our upcoming, brand new Champions campaign!) RPGing, so I hope I have time available to do so this month. At the moment, things are looking to be pretty busy.
February was, as I noted recently, pretty low on page views, very likely because it was also pretty low on posts. A real bummer and a little bit of a surprise since the posts I did make were largely focused on Traveller and Supers, two things that usually bring a lot of people 'round the campfire. Ooh, s'mores are almost done! Where was I? Ah yes...
I did get more comments than usual and that's a good sign but my goal is to get a little more of both. I want a lot of people to come visit, stay a bit and talk. It's lonely here in this orbital pod all by myself.
Moving along...
As recent as yesterday morning, I was having a conversation with Erin Palettle about some material she created for a Traveller game she is running. The conversation inspired me to post something about the particulars of Jump Drive 'In My Traveller Universe' (IMTU TM*), which differ a bit from the traditional canon of the game.
I would prefer to post my material after she posts hers, so I am going to hold off on that for the moment. Instead, I will address something of the Superheroic persuasion, which I feel is of interest to gamers in other genres as well, although I've seen it in Supers more than anywhere else. This posts inspiration comes from conversations I've had with a fellow you may know as WQRobb. If you don't know him, well, consider what you're missing out on!
A Superheroes RPG is an extremely difficult game to run if your players aren't comic book fans.
I will amend that statement slightly. A Superheroes RPG is an extremely difficult game to run if your players aren't comic book fans and you are hoping for a Superhero Comic Book style campaign.
While it isn't too difficult to explain Dungeons & Dragons to someone who hasn't read Lord of The Rings or get someone who's never seen Babylon 5 into a session of Traveller, I would wish you good luck running Supers for someone who doesn't have a few dozen issues of The Avengers or Teen Titans under their belt.
With the Fantasy and Science Fiction genres, you can easily point to the medieval period of European history or an issue of Discover Magazine that discusses exo-planets and space travel. Fantasy goes back to fairy tales and the time of kings and knights. Science Fiction looks toward the future and the What If? of where we are going with technology and culture.
Supers is a strange bird (no, it's a plane...no, it's Super...ahem). It postulates an impossible now in which certain utterly ridiculous constants are common place and excepted.
For example...
One running gag in our previous Champions campaign was that one player refused to have his PC wear a costume, when all the other Supers of the world thought of it as not only normal but a given. Decked out in his leather jacket and shades he viewed himself as looking way cooler and more logical than any of the colorfully garbed, spandex lot. Unfortunately, all the NPCs, from fellow Supers to the Police to Reporters failed to understand why he dressed so strangely for an official Superhero. Many times our SHIELD-like organizations (PRIMUS and UNTIL) would tell him to get out of the way and get to safety, thinking he wasn't supposed to be at the battle.
PRIMUS Officer: "I'm sorry sir. This is a restricted area. There is a superhuman battle going on. All civilians must get to a safe distance."
ARCANE: "I'm a member of Project: UNITY. I have superpowers." (Shows Officer his ID).
PRIMUS Officer: "Oh I see. Sorry. Why aren't you in costume? How is anyone supposed to know?"
It was viewed as normal to wear a costume and a mask if you were a Superhero. It was tradition. Otherwise you're just some metahuman yahoo or worse, a poser.
On a related note, here is something that gets me (mini-rant warning)...
Sometimes, you have a group of players, all about the same age, who ARE big comic book fans. They've read and like a lot of the same comics and talk about what's happening in different titles all the time. Then, when you get together to create characters for a Supers RPG (Yes CREATE, not Generate, as the most popular Supers RPGs, Champions and Mutants & Masterminds, are both point-based systems that let you create the character you want to play) you get characters you would almost never see in an American Superhero Comic.
Why?! Please someone tell me why this is! It defies all logic. I get it if some of the players are familiar with comics and some aren't but when you gather a group of comic book fans and get un-comic book like characters...well...What the Hell?! Seriously.
(End rant)
I have tried to run Supers RPGs for those who don't know much about or even aren't into comics and it never goes well. It has gone less-than-horribly a few times but rarely close to what I would deem 'really good'. Maybe once but I got lucky, I had great players.
Why is this? That is to say, why is Supers hard to comprehend for the non-comic reader? Aren't comic books and comic book heroes the modern myths, filled with present day Daedaluses and Dianas? If you can understand a Wizard battling a Dragon why is Superman striving to fell Chemo so hard to wrap one's head around?
I honestly don't have an answer for this since I get it.
What do you all think?
AD
Barking Alien
*There is no actual trademarking going on here. ;)
February was, as I noted recently, pretty low on page views, very likely because it was also pretty low on posts. A real bummer and a little bit of a surprise since the posts I did make were largely focused on Traveller and Supers, two things that usually bring a lot of people 'round the campfire. Ooh, s'mores are almost done! Where was I? Ah yes...
I did get more comments than usual and that's a good sign but my goal is to get a little more of both. I want a lot of people to come visit, stay a bit and talk. It's lonely here in this orbital pod all by myself.
Moving along...
As recent as yesterday morning, I was having a conversation with Erin Palettle about some material she created for a Traveller game she is running. The conversation inspired me to post something about the particulars of Jump Drive 'In My Traveller Universe' (IMTU TM*), which differ a bit from the traditional canon of the game.
I would prefer to post my material after she posts hers, so I am going to hold off on that for the moment. Instead, I will address something of the Superheroic persuasion, which I feel is of interest to gamers in other genres as well, although I've seen it in Supers more than anywhere else. This posts inspiration comes from conversations I've had with a fellow you may know as WQRobb. If you don't know him, well, consider what you're missing out on!
***
A Superheroes RPG is an extremely difficult game to run if your players aren't comic book fans.
I will amend that statement slightly. A Superheroes RPG is an extremely difficult game to run if your players aren't comic book fans and you are hoping for a Superhero Comic Book style campaign.
While it isn't too difficult to explain Dungeons & Dragons to someone who hasn't read Lord of The Rings or get someone who's never seen Babylon 5 into a session of Traveller, I would wish you good luck running Supers for someone who doesn't have a few dozen issues of The Avengers or Teen Titans under their belt.
With the Fantasy and Science Fiction genres, you can easily point to the medieval period of European history or an issue of Discover Magazine that discusses exo-planets and space travel. Fantasy goes back to fairy tales and the time of kings and knights. Science Fiction looks toward the future and the What If? of where we are going with technology and culture.
Supers is a strange bird (no, it's a plane...no, it's Super...ahem). It postulates an impossible now in which certain utterly ridiculous constants are common place and excepted.
One running gag in our previous Champions campaign was that one player refused to have his PC wear a costume, when all the other Supers of the world thought of it as not only normal but a given. Decked out in his leather jacket and shades he viewed himself as looking way cooler and more logical than any of the colorfully garbed, spandex lot. Unfortunately, all the NPCs, from fellow Supers to the Police to Reporters failed to understand why he dressed so strangely for an official Superhero. Many times our SHIELD-like organizations (PRIMUS and UNTIL) would tell him to get out of the way and get to safety, thinking he wasn't supposed to be at the battle.
PRIMUS Officer: "I'm sorry sir. This is a restricted area. There is a superhuman battle going on. All civilians must get to a safe distance."
ARCANE: "I'm a member of Project: UNITY. I have superpowers." (Shows Officer his ID).
PRIMUS Officer: "Oh I see. Sorry. Why aren't you in costume? How is anyone supposed to know?"
It was viewed as normal to wear a costume and a mask if you were a Superhero. It was tradition. Otherwise you're just some metahuman yahoo or worse, a poser.
On a related note, here is something that gets me (mini-rant warning)...
Sometimes, you have a group of players, all about the same age, who ARE big comic book fans. They've read and like a lot of the same comics and talk about what's happening in different titles all the time. Then, when you get together to create characters for a Supers RPG (Yes CREATE, not Generate, as the most popular Supers RPGs, Champions and Mutants & Masterminds, are both point-based systems that let you create the character you want to play) you get characters you would almost never see in an American Superhero Comic.
Why?! Please someone tell me why this is! It defies all logic. I get it if some of the players are familiar with comics and some aren't but when you gather a group of comic book fans and get un-comic book like characters...well...What the Hell?! Seriously.
(End rant)
I have tried to run Supers RPGs for those who don't know much about or even aren't into comics and it never goes well. It has gone less-than-horribly a few times but rarely close to what I would deem 'really good'. Maybe once but I got lucky, I had great players.
Why is this? That is to say, why is Supers hard to comprehend for the non-comic reader? Aren't comic books and comic book heroes the modern myths, filled with present day Daedaluses and Dianas? If you can understand a Wizard battling a Dragon why is Superman striving to fell Chemo so hard to wrap one's head around?
I honestly don't have an answer for this since I get it.
What do you all think?
AD
Barking Alien
*There is no actual trademarking going on here. ;)
Saturday, March 2, 2013
From The Far Future To The Silver Age
Short one today as I am heading out the door in a few moments...
As I prepare to continue our Traveller campaign, I am also gearing up for a side or 'back-up' campaign of Champions. I will be using Champions 6th Edition for the first time ever and I am a little unsure about how this will turn out since our last Champions campaign started out AWE-to-the-SOME and ended with a whimper.
Part of the reason the last Champions game went south toward the end was because of the player dynamic we had and my getting so tired and fed up with them that I dropped the ball and let them get away with crap just to get it over with. That is a damn shame. I am ashamed. That campaign world, that universe deserved better. They, the PCs, deserved to die and I was too afraid of hurt feelings to kill them. I am not normally like that but I began to realize that they (the players) just weren't on the level of my older groups. They couldn't handle it. It I went all out and did what I can do, what I should have done, we'd have been making up new PC's every three weeks (and it was a weekly game).
This current group, well, I have high hopes but I am also committed to not being a pansy. If these guys screw up, they buy the farm, no ifs ands or buts. At the same time, knowing what I know now and having some of the previous game's players joining in here, I am setting my sights on a less deadly game overall.
William's Champions World (Champions Earth Wilco Charlie-1 and my variant of it, Champions Earth Alpha Delta-1) was a deadlier, more brutal place. The villains were out to accomplish their goals, willing to kill each other in the process and the heroes were largely viewed as annoying speed bumps that periodically got in their way and slowed them down.
This new setting, which is largely based on an old Villains & Vigilantes campaign of mine, is far more Silver Age DC with Bronze Age Marvel undertones. There is angst and melodrama and the occaisional Gwen Stacy being tossed off a bridge but the villains are a bit more, mmm, 'Comic Book-y' overall. Quirky power or gizmo baddies are numerous, with a good number of smart, mid-level villains, followed by a few of your master villains and then the rare but astonishing cosmic nemesis.
I will have more to say on both this and my Traveller campaign very soon. Until then, enjoy the weekend and good gaming to one and all.
AD
Barking Alien
As I prepare to continue our Traveller campaign, I am also gearing up for a side or 'back-up' campaign of Champions. I will be using Champions 6th Edition for the first time ever and I am a little unsure about how this will turn out since our last Champions campaign started out AWE-to-the-SOME and ended with a whimper.
Part of the reason the last Champions game went south toward the end was because of the player dynamic we had and my getting so tired and fed up with them that I dropped the ball and let them get away with crap just to get it over with. That is a damn shame. I am ashamed. That campaign world, that universe deserved better. They, the PCs, deserved to die and I was too afraid of hurt feelings to kill them. I am not normally like that but I began to realize that they (the players) just weren't on the level of my older groups. They couldn't handle it. It I went all out and did what I can do, what I should have done, we'd have been making up new PC's every three weeks (and it was a weekly game).
This current group, well, I have high hopes but I am also committed to not being a pansy. If these guys screw up, they buy the farm, no ifs ands or buts. At the same time, knowing what I know now and having some of the previous game's players joining in here, I am setting my sights on a less deadly game overall.
William's Champions World (Champions Earth Wilco Charlie-1 and my variant of it, Champions Earth Alpha Delta-1) was a deadlier, more brutal place. The villains were out to accomplish their goals, willing to kill each other in the process and the heroes were largely viewed as annoying speed bumps that periodically got in their way and slowed them down.
This new setting, which is largely based on an old Villains & Vigilantes campaign of mine, is far more Silver Age DC with Bronze Age Marvel undertones. There is angst and melodrama and the occaisional Gwen Stacy being tossed off a bridge but the villains are a bit more, mmm, 'Comic Book-y' overall. Quirky power or gizmo baddies are numerous, with a good number of smart, mid-level villains, followed by a few of your master villains and then the rare but astonishing cosmic nemesis.
I will have more to say on both this and my Traveller campaign very soon. Until then, enjoy the weekend and good gaming to one and all.
AD
Barking Alien
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